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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/14011-0.txt b/14011-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..85b364a --- /dev/null +++ b/14011-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1558 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14011 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 14011-h.htm or 14011-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/0/1/14011/14011-h/14011-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/0/1/14011/14011-h.zip) + + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XIV., NO. 389.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1829. [PRICE 2d. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +SION HOUSE. + + +[Illustration: Sion House.] + + +Taylor, the water poet, or Samuel Ireland, the picturesque Thames +tourist, could not, in all their enthusiasm of jingling rhymes and +aquatint plates, have exceeded our admiration of Sion House. Its +whitened towers and battlemented roof are known to all the swan-hopping +and steam navigators of our day, and none who have floated + + To where the silver Thames first rural grows,-- + + +can be strangers to the magnificence of the river-front. + +Sion House stands in the parish of Isleworth, on the Middlesex bank +of the Thames, and opposite Richmond gardens. It is called Sion +from a nunnery of Bridgetines of the same name, originally founded at +Twickenham, by Henry V. in 1414, and removed to this spot in 1432. +This conventual association consisted of sixty nuns, the abbess, +thirteen priests, four deacons, and eight lay brethren; the whole thus +corresponding, in point of number, with the Apostles and seventy-two +disciples of Christ. But the inmates were neither sinless nor spotless; +many irregularities existed in the foundation, and consequently, Sion +was among the first of the larger monastic institutions suppressed by +Henry VIII. The estimated yearly value was 1,944 l. 11 s. 8-1/2 d., +now worth 38,891 l. 14 s. 2d. + +After the dissolution of this convent, in 1532, it continued in the +crown during the remainder of Henry's reign; and the King confined here +his unfortunate Queen, Catherine Howard, from November 14, 1541, to +February 10, 1542, being three days before her execution. Edward VI. +granted it to his uncle, the Duke of Somerset, who, in 1547, began to +build this spacious structure, and finished the shell of it nearly as it +now remains. The house is a majestic edifice of white stone, built in a +quadrangular form, with a flat and embattled roof, with a square turret +at each of the outward angles. In the centre is an enclosed area, now +laid out as a flower garden. The gardens were originally enclosed by +high walls before the east and west fronts, so as to exclude all +prospect; but the Protector, to remedy this inconvenience, built a high +terrace in the angle between the walls of the two gardens. After his +execution, in 1552, Sion was forfeited; and the house, which was given +to John, Duke of Northumberland, then became the residence of his son, +Lord Guildford Dudley, and of his daughter-in-law, the unfortunate Lady +Jane Grey, who resided at this place when the Duke of Northumberland and +Suffolk, and her husband, came to prevail upon her to accept the fatal +present of the crown. The duke being beheaded in 1553, Sion House +reverted to the crown. Queen Mary restored it to the Bridgetines, who +possessed it till they were finally expelled by Elizabeth. In 1604, Sion +House was granted to Henry Percy, ninth Earl of Northumberland, in +consideration of his eminent services. His son, Algernon, employed Inigo +Jones to new face the inner court, and to finish the great hall in the +manner in which it now appears. In 1682, Charles, Duke of Somerset, by +his marriage with the only child of Joceline, Earl of Northumberland, +became possessed of Sion House: he lent the mansion to the Princess +Anne, who resided here during the misunderstanding between her and Queen +Mary. Upon the duke's death, in 1748, his son, Algernon, gave Sion House +to Sir Hugh and Lady Elizabeth Smithson, his son-in-law and daughter, +afterwards Duke and Duchess of Northumberland, who made many fine +improvements here, under the direction of Robert Adam, Esq. The late +duke (who distinguished himself at the battle of Bunker's Hill) passed +the principal part of his time at this seat; and here, also, he died, +in the year 1815. The present duke has expended immense sums in the +improvement of the mansion, grounds, and gardens. + +The entrance is from the great road through a fine gateway, having on +each side an open colonnade, and on the top a lion passant, the crest +of the noble house of Northumberland. A flight of steps leads into the +great hall, sixty-six feet by thirty-one feet, and thirty-four in +height, paved with white and black marble, and ornamented with colossal +statues, and an extremely fine bronze cast of the Dying Gladiator, cast +at Rome, by Valadier. A flight of veined marble steps leads to the +vestibule, with a floor of scagliola, and twelve large Ionic columns +and sixteen pilasters of _verde antique_. This leads to the dining +room, ornamented with marble statues and paintings in _chiaro +oscuro_, after the antique, with, at each end, a circular recess, +separated by Corinthian columns, fluted, and a ceiling in stucco, gilt. +The drawing room has a rich carved ceiling; and the sides are hung with +three-coloured silk damask, the finest of the kind ever executed in +England. The antique mosaic tables, and the chimney-piece of this +apartment are very splendid, as are also the glasses, which are 108 +inches by 65. The great gallery, serving for the library and museum, is +133-½ feet by 14, is in stucco, after the finest remains of antiquity, +and is remarkable as the first specimen of stucco work finished in +England. A series of medallion-paintings here represents the portraits +of all the earls of Northumberland, in succession, and other principal +persons of the houses of Percy and Seymour. At each end is a little +pavilion, finished in exquisite taste; as is also a beautiful closet +in one of the square turrets rising above the roof, which commands an +enchanting prospect. + +From the east end of the gallery is a suite of private apartments +leading back to the great hall, and hung with valuable paintings, +among which are the following portraits: Henry Percy, ninth Earl of +Northumberland, who was implicated in the Gunpowder Plot, and imprisoned +in the Tower; he died November 5, 1632, the anniversary of the day so +fatal to his happiness. Lucy, Countess of Carlisle, his daughter, one of +the most admired beauties of her time; she also died November 5, 1660. +Algernon Percy, tenth Earl of Northumberland. Charles I. and one of his +sons, by Sir P. Lely. Charles I. by Vandyke. Queen Henrietta Maria, +Vandyke. The Duke of Gloucester, son of Charles I. The Princess +Elizabeth, daughter of Charles I.; this is believed to be the only +picture extant of this lady. The above portraits of the Stuart family +are placed in the apartments in which Charles had so many tender +interviews with his children, after the latter were committed to the +charge of Earl Algernon Percy, and removed to Sion House, in August, +1646. The earl treated them with parental attention, and obtained a +grant of Parliament for the king to be allowed to see them; and in +consequence of this indulgence, the latter, who was then under restraint +at Hampton Court, often dined with his family at Sion House. + +Two of the principal fronts of Sion House command very beautiful +scenery; for even the Thames itself appears to belong to the gardens, +which are separated into two parts by a serpentine river that +communicates with the Thames. + +The gardens were principally laid out by Brown: they have, however, +been lately improved and re-arranged; and the kitchen-garden is almost +unequalled by any thing in the kingdom. Here is a range of hothouses +upwards of 400 feet in length, constructed of metal, even to the +wall-plates, the doors, and framing of the sashes; the whole being +glazed with plate-glass. It is impossible for us to describe the extent +and completeness of these improvements, connected with which, Mr. Loudon +observes--"nothing can be more gratifying than to see a nobleman +employing a part of his income in so judicious and spirited a +manner."[1] + + [1] Mr Loudon promises an account of these improvements for the next + number of his valuable _Gardener's Magazine_. + + + * * * * * + + + + +RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS. + + * * * * * + + +MONKISH VERSES. + +(For the _Mirror_.) + + +MIRROR, vol. xii. pp. 98, 165. + +The following is said to have been the epitaph on the tomb of Fair +Rosamond, at Godstow:-- + + _Hic jacet in tomba, Rosamundae non Rosamundi, + Non redolet sed olet quae redolere solet_. + + +TRANSLATED. + + Within this tomb lies the world's fairest rose; + Whose scent now charms not, but offends the nose. + + MIRROR, vol. xiii. p. 98. + + +The couplet on York Minster, translated. + + As of all flowers the rose is still the sweetest, + So of all churches this is the completest. + + +On the stone in the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey. + + _Ni fallat fatum, Scoti quocunque loquitur, + Inveniant lapidem, regnare teneter ibidem_. + + +TRANSLATED. + + Unless old proverbs fail, and wizard's wits be blind, + The Scots shall surely reign, where'er this stone they find. + + +Luther sent a glass to Dr. Justus Jonas, with the following verses:-- + + _Dat vitrum vitro, Jonae, vitro ipse Lutherus, + Se similem ut fragili noscat uterque vitro_. + + +TRANSLATED. + + Luther a glass, to Jonas Glass, a glass doth send, + That both may know ourselves to be but glass, my friend. + + +PRIOR. + +MIRROR, vol. xii. p. 184. + + +Prior's epitaph on himself was parodied as follows:-- + + Hold Mathew Prior, by your leave, + Your epitaph is very odd: + Bourbon and you are sons of Eve, + Nassau the offspring of a God. + + +Which being shewn to Swift he wrote the following:-- + + Hold, Mathew Prior, by your leave, + Your epitaph is barely civil; + Bourbon and you are sons of Eve, + Nassau the offspring of the devil. + + +In the "Spectator," is part of an epitaph by Ben Jonson, on Mary +Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, and sister of Sir Philip Sidney. The +following is the whole, taken from the first edition of Jonson's works, +collected as they were published:-- + + Underneath this stone doth lie, + As much virtue as could die; + Which when alive did vigour give, + To as much beauty as could live; + If she had a single fault, + Leave it buried in this vault. + + +Another on the same, from the same source:-- + + Underneath this sable hearse, + Lies the subject of all verse, + Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother, + Death ere thou hast slain another, + Fair, and good, and learn'd as she, + Time shall throw a dart at thee; + Marble piles, let no man raise + To her fame; for after days, + Some kind woman born as she, + Reading this, like Niobe, + Shall turn statue and become + Both her mourner and her tomb. + + +A CORRESPONDENT. + + * * * * * + + +The Londiners pronounce woe to him, that buyes a horse in Smith-field, +that takes a Seruant in Paul's Church, that marries a Wife out of +Westminster. Londiners, and all within the sound of Bow-Bell, are in +reproch called Cocknies, and eaters of buttered tostes. The Kentish +men of old were said to haue tayles, because trafficking in the Low +Countries, they neuer paid full payments of what they did owe, but still +left some part vnpaid. Essex men are called calues, (because they abound +there,) Lankashire eggepies, and to be wonne by an Apple with a red +side. Norfolke wyles (for crafty litigiousness:) Essex stiles, (so many +as make walking tedious,) Kentish miles (of the length.) + +--_Moryson's Itinerary_, 1617. + + * * * * * + + +ORIGIN OF THE WORD SMECTYMNUUS. + +(For the _Mirror_.) + + +This was a cant term that made some figure in the time of the Civil War, +and during the Interregnum. It was formed of the initial letters of the +names of five eminent Presbyterian ministers of that time, viz. Stephen +Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William +Spenstow; who, together, wrote a book against Episcopacy, in the year +1641, whence they and their retainers were called Smectymnuans. They +wore handkerchiefs about their necks for a note of distinction (as the +officers of the parliament-army then did) which afterwards degenerated +into cravats. + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + +CIVIC FEAST IN 1506. + +(For the _Mirror_.) + + +In the court room of Salters' Hall there appears, framed and glazed, the +following "Bill of fare for fifty people of the Company of Salters, A.D. +1506." + + s. d. + Thirty-six chickens 4 5 + One swan and four geese 7 0 + Nine rabbits 1 4 + Two rumps of beef tails 0 2 + Six quails 1 6 + Two oz. of pepper 0 2 + Two oz. of cloves and mace 0 4 + One and a half oz. of saffron 0 6 + Eight lbs. of sugar 0 8 + Two lbs. of raisins 0 4 + One lb. of dates 0 4 + One and a half lb. of comfits 0 2 + Half a hundred eggs 0 2-1/2 + Four gallons of curds 0 4 + One ditto gooseberries 0 2 + Bread for the company 1 1 + One kilderkin of ale 2 3 + Herbs 1 0 + Two dishes of butter 0 4 + Four breasts of veal 1 5 + Brawn 0 6 + Quarter load of coals 0 4 + Faggots 0 2 + Three and a half gallons of + Gascoigne wine 2 4 + One bottle of Muscovadine 0 8 + Cherries and tarts 0 8 + Verjuice and vinegar 0 2 + Paid the cook 3 4 + Perfume 0 2 + One bushel and a half of meal 0 8 + Water 0 3 + Garnishing the vessels 0 3 + ------------- + Total of feast for 50 people £1 13 2-1/2 + ------------- + + +CURIOS. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS. + + * * * * * + + +VIDOCQ. (Concluded.) + + +We have a vulgar book called _Frauds of London laid open_, and +Vidocq's fourth volume will serve for Paris, since he defines the +nomenclature--nay the very craft of thieves with great minuteness: +thus-- + + +_The Chevaliers Grimpants_. + +"The Chevaliers Grimpants, called also _voleurs au bonjour_, _donneurs +de bonjours_, _bonjouriers_, are those who introduce themselves into a +house and carry off in an instant the first movable commodity that falls +in their way. The first _bonjouriers_ were I am assured, servants +out of place. They were at first few in number, but, soon acquiring +pupils, their industry increased so rapidly, that from 1800 to 1812, +there was scarcely a day that robberies were not committed in Paris of +from a dozen to fifteen baskets of plate. + +"The _Almanach du commerce, l'Almanach royal_, and that with +twenty-five thousand addresses in it, are, for bonjouriers, the most +interesting works that can be published. Every morning, before they go +out, they consult them; and when they propose visiting any particular +house, it is very seldom that they are not acquainted with the names of +at least two persons in it; and that they may effect an entrance, they +inquire for one when they see the porter, and endeavour to rob the other. + +"A _bonjourier_ has always a gentlemanly appearance, and his shoes +always well made and thin. He gives the preference to kid before any +other leather, and takes care to bruise and break the sole that it may +not creak or make any noise; sometimes the sole is made of felt; at +other times, and especially in winter, the kid slipper, or dogskin shoe, +is replaced by list shoes, with which they can walk, go up stairs, or +descend a staircase, without any noise. The theft _au bonjour_, is +effected without violence, without skeleton keys, without burglariously +entering. If a thief sees a key in a door of a room, he first knocks +very gently, then a little harder, then very loudly; if no person +answers, he turns the handle, and thus enters the antechamber. +He then advances to the eating-room, penetrates even to the adjoining +apartments, to see if there be any person there; returns, and if the key +of the sideboard is not to be seen, he looks in all the places in which +he knows it is generally deposited, and if he finds it, he instantly +uses it to open the drawers, and taking out the plate, he places it +generally in his hat, after which, he covers it with a napkin, or fine +cambric handkerchief, which, by its texture and whiteness, announces the +gentleman. Should the _bonjourier_, whilst on his enterprise, hear +any person coming, he goes straight towards him, and accosting him, +wishes him good morning (_le bonjour_) with a smiling and almost +familiar air, and inquires if it be not Monsieur 'such a one,' to whom +he has the honour of addressing himself. He is directed to the story +higher or lower, and, then still smiling, evincing the utmost politeness +and making a thousand excuses and affected bows, he withdraws. It may so +happen, that he has not had time to consummate his larceny, but most +frequently the business is perfected, and the discovery of loss only +made too late to remedy it. + +"The majority of the thieves in this particular line commence their +incursions with morning, at the hour when the housekeepers go out for +their cream, or have a gossip whilst their masters and mistresses are in +bed. Other _bonjouriers_ do not open the campaign until near dinner +time; they pitch upon the moment when the plate is laid upon the table. +They enter, and in the twinkling of an eye, they cause spoons, forks, +ladles, &c. to vanish. This is technically termed _goupiner à la +desserte_, (clearing the cloth). + +"One day one of these _goupineurs à la desserte_ was on the look +out in a dining room, when a servant entered carrying two silver dishes, +between which were some fish. Without being at all disconcerted, he went +up to her, and said--'Well, go and bring up the soup, the gentlemen are +in a hurry.' + +"'Yes, sir,' said the maid, taking him for one of the guests, 'it is +quite ready, and if you please you can announce the dinner.' + +"At the same time she ran to the kitchen, and the _goupineur_, +after having hastily emptied the dishes, thrust them between his +waistcoat and shirt. The girl returned with the broth, the pretended +guest had retired, and there was not a single piece of silver left on +the table. They denounced this theft to me, and from the statement +given, as well as the description of the person committing the robbery, +I thought I had recognised my man. He was called _Cheinaux_, alias +_Bayer_, and was discovered and apprehended in Saint Catherine's +market. His shirt was marked with the circumference of the dishes, in +consequence of the remains of the sauce left in them. + +"Another body of _bonjouriers_ more particularly direct their +talents to furnished houses. + +"The individuals forming this class are on foot from the dawn of day. +Their talent is evinced by the adroit mode in which they baffle the +vigilance of the porters. They go up the staircase, sometimes on one +pretext, and sometimes on another, look round them, and if they find any +keys in the doors, which is common enough, they turn them with the least +possible noise. Once in the room, if the occupant be asleep, farewell to +his purse, his watch, his jewels, and all that he has that is valuable. +If he awakes, the visiter has a thousand excuses ready. + +"'A thousand pardons, sir, I thought this was No. 13;' or, 'Was it you, +sir, who sent for a bootmaker, tailor, hairdresser,'" &c. &c. + + +_The Detourneurs and Detourneuses_. + +"The robbery _à la detourne_ is that which is effected whilst +making purchases at a shop. This species of plunder is practised by +individuals of both sexes; but the _détourneuses_, or _lady prigs_, +are generally esteemed more expert than the _detourneurs_, or +_gentlemen prigs_. The reason of this superiority consists entirely in +the difference of dress; women can easily conceal a very large parcel. + +"In retail shops it would be an advisable plan, when there are many +customers to serve, that from time to time the shopmen should say to +each other, _deux sur dix_ (two on ten), or else _allumez les +gonzesses_ (twig the prigs). I will bet a thousand to one, that on +hearing these words, the thieves, who have very fine ears, will make +haste to take themselves away. + +"Shopkeepers of what class soever, particularly retailers, cannot be +too much on their guard; they should never forget that in Paris there +are thousands of male and female thieves _à la detourne_, I here +only speak of robbers by profession; but there are also _amateurs_, +who, beneath the cover of a well-established reputation, make small +acquisitions slyly and unsuspectedly. They are very honest people they +say, who with little scruple indulge their propensity for a rare book, +a miniature, a cameo, a mosaic, a manuscript, a print, a medal, or +a jewel that pleases them; they are called _Chipeurs_. If the +_Chipeur_ be rich, no heed is paid to him, he is too much above +such a larceny to impute it to him as a crime; if he be poor, he is +denounced to the attorney-general, and sent to the galleys, because +he robbed from necessity. It must be owned that we have strange ideas +as to honesty and dishonesty." + +This is what we call _Shoplifting_. A milliner once told us that +ribands and flowers not unfrequently attach themselves to the cuffs and +sleeves of fair purchasers. + + +_Careurs_ + +Belong to the same class of thieves, and are gipsies, Italians, or Jews. +The female Careurs are very expert in robbing priests; and Vidocq +apprehended a mother and daughter for more than sixty such offences. + +"The gipsies do not confine themselves to these means of appropriating +to themselves the property of another: they frequently commit murder, +and they have the less objection to commit a murder, because they have +no feeling of any kind of remorse; and they have a peculiar kind of +expiation whereby they purify themselves. For a year they wear a coarse +woollen shirt, and abstain from '_work_' (robbing). This period +elapsed, they believe themselves white as snow. In France, the majority +of the persons of this caste call themselves Catholics, and have every +external show of great devotion. They always carry about them rosaries +and a crucifix; they say their prayers night and morning, and follow +the service with much attention and precision. In Germany, they seldom +exercise any other calling than that of horse doctor, or herbalist: +some addict themselves to medicine, that is to say, profess to be in +possession of secret means of effecting cures. A vast number of them +travel in bodies, some tell fortunes, others mend glass, china, pots, +and pans; woe to the inhabitants of the country overrun by these +vagabonds. There will infallibly be a mortality amongst the cattle, for +the gipsies are very clever in killing them, without leaving any traces +which can be converted into a charge of malevolence against them. They +kill the cows by piercing them to the heart with a long and very fine +needle, so that the blood flowing inwardly, it may be supposed that the +animal died of disease. They stifle poultry with brimstone; they know +that then they will give them the dead birds; and whilst they imagine +that they have a taste for carrion, they make good cheer, and eat +delicious meat. Sometimes they want hams, and then they take a red +herring and hold it under the nose of a pig, which, allured by the +smell, would follow them to the world's end." + + +_Rouletiers_ + +Are fellows who plunder carriages of portmanteaus, imperials, &c. + +"One day I followed a famous _rouletier_ named _Gosnet_. On reaching +the Rue Saint Denis, he jumped up on a coach, put on a cloak and cotton +cap which he found lying close to his hand, and in this dress got down +again with a portmanteau under his arm. It was not later than two +o'clock in the afternoon; but to elude all suspicion, Gosnet, on +alighting, went straight to the _conducteur_ (guard), and after +having spoken to him, turned down a street close at hand. I was in +waiting for him, he was apprehended and sentenced." + + +_Tireurs_, + +Or pickpockets are as abundant as mushrooms. + +"There was in Paris a thief of such incredible dexterity that he robbed +without an accomplice. He placed himself in front of a person, put his +hand behind him, and took either a watch or some other valuable. This +species of thievery is called the _vol à la chicane_. + +"A fellow named Molin, alias _Moulin le Chapelier_, being under the +portico des Français, was desirous of stealing a gentleman's purse: the +sufferer, who was near the wall, thought he felt some one picking his +pocket; Molin, full of presence of mind, effected his object in an +instant, the purse was torn from the pocket, he opened it, and taking +out a coin, asked for a ticket for the play. At the same moment the +person robbed said to him--'But, sir, you have taken my purse, give it +to me.'--'The devil I have,' replied Molin with an air of affected +surprise, 'are you quite sure?' Then looking attentively at it--'By +heavens! I thought it was mine. Oh! sir, I ask your pardon.' + +"At the same time he returned the purse, and all the bystanders were +persuaded that he had done it involuntarily. This is being _fly_, +or I know nothing about it. + +"At the time of the great fog, Molin and a _pal_ named Dorlé were +stationed at the environs of the Place des Italiens. An old gentleman +passed, and Dorlé stole his watch which he passed to Molin. The darkness +was so great that he could not discern if it were a repeater or not, and +to ascertain this, Molin pressed down the spring: the hammer instantly +struck on the bell, and by the sound the old man knew his watch, and +instantly cried out--'My watch! my watch! pray restore me my watch, +it belonged to my grandfather, and is a family piece.' + +"Whilst uttering these lamentations, he endeavoured to go in the +direction whence the sound had proceeded, to get his watch as he +expected and hoped to do. He came close up to Molin, who, under cover +of the dense fog, put his hand with the watch in it close to the old +gentleman's ear, and pushing the spring again, said, whilst the watch +was striking--'Listen then to its sounds for the last time;' and with +this cruel advice the two thieves then went away, leaving the worthy +undone elderly to bewail his loss. + +"The ancient _voleurs à la tire_ cite still, as amongst the +celebrated personages of their profession, two Italians, the brothers +Verdure, the eldest of whom, convicted of forming one of a band of +chauffeurs, was sentenced to death. On the day of execution, the +younger, who was at liberty, wished to see his brother as he left the +prison, and with several of his comrades took his station on the road. +When thieves go out in the evening into a crowd they generally have a +preconcerted word of alarm or summons, by which to call or distinguish +their accomplices. Young Verdure, on seeing the fatal car, uttered +his, which was _lorge_, to which the criminal, looking about him, +replied _lorge_. This singular salute given and returned, it may be +imagined that young Verdure retired. On his road he had already stolen +two watches; he saw his brother's head fall from the block, and either +before or afterwards he was determined to carry matters to their utmost. + +"The crowd having dispersed he returned to the cabaret with his +comrades. 'Well, well,' said he, laying down on the table four watches +and a purse, 'I think I have not played my cards amiss. I never thought +to have made such a haul at my _frater's_ death; I am only sorry +he's not here to have his share of the _swag_.'" + +Ring-droppers, and _Emporteurs_ ("gentlemen who lose themselves") are +next shown up: to the latter class belong the fellows who, under +pretence of inquiring their road, fall into conversation with you, +invite you to billiards, and cheat you.[2] Ring-droppers are very +troublesome in Paris, especially in the _Champs Elyseés_, where +you may be teazed to buy a copper-framed eye-glass which they have +just "found." + + +_Riffaudeurs, or Chauffeurs_, + +Were thieves assuming the garb of country dealers, or travelling +hawkers; and they sought to wring from their victims a confession of +where they had concealed their treasure, by applying fire to the soles +of their feet. + +The Fourth Volume closes abruptly with a story of a gang of them, which +has all the horrors of rack and torture. In the Translator's sequel we +find the following:-- + +"Since the commencement of these Memoirs, M. Vidocq has given up his +paper manufactory at St. Mandé, and has been subsequently confined in +Sainte Pelagie for debt. His embarrassments are stated to have arisen +from a passion for gambling, a propensity which, once indulged, takes +deep root in the human mind; and few indeed, lamentably few, are those +who can effectually eradicate the fatal passion. Vidocq, who could +assume all shapes like a second Proteus, who underwent bitter hardships, +and unsparingly jeopardized his life at any time, could not resist the +fell temptation which has brought him to distress and a prison. + +"It has been stated in some of the Journals that Vidocq has a son +named Julius, who was condemned to the galleys, and when liberated was +employed by his father at Sainte Mandé. This must be another bitter +in his life's cup, which Vidocq seems condemned to drain to the very +dregs." + +We need hardly be told why Vidocq has withheld the information +respecting the state of crime in France, which he promised, and made a +grand parade of possessing. The length to which his Memoirs have been +spun out is tedious, and the air of romance which he has given to some +scenes in the concluding volume, almost invalidates its forerunners. +Still we are bound to confess that his adventures are equal in interest +to any work of fact or fiction that has appeared for several years. +We omit the translations of some slang songs, one of which appeared +recently in _Blackwood's Magazine_; still, they are exceedingly +clever in their way. + +The present volume has a portrait of Vidocq, upon which we hope the +physiognomists will speculate; for with all his peccadilloes, (and a +hard set of features which the engraver has probably hardened) the +author must be a clever and a very pleasant fellow; and we wish some +myrmidon of our police--some English Vidocq--would write four pretty +pocket volumes like those of the French policeman. Perhaps some of the +new appointed will take this hint. + +To conclude, after what we have said, our readers need not be +recommended to turn to _Vidocq's Memoirs_. They will find the +translation generally well executed, although we have detected several +slips in the last volume. + + + [2] A _ruse_ of this description will be found in the MIRROR, + vol. X. page. 305, prefixed to a paper on French Gaming Houses. + + + * * * * * + + + + +SOUTHWELL CHURCH. + + +[Illustration: Southwell Church.] + + +The town of Southwell, in the county of Nottingham, is situated in the +midst of an amphitheatre of well-wooded hills; the soil is rich, and the +air, from the vicinity of the River Trent, is remarkably pure. It is +fourteen miles north-east of Nottingham, about as many south-east of +Mansfield, and eight south-west from Newark; the River Greet, famous +for red trout, runs by the side of the town, falling into the Trent, +at about three miles distance. + +The most ancient part of the church is of the order usually called +Saxon, and from tradition is said to have been built in the time of +Harold, predecessor of William I. But there is no history or written +instrument of any kind now extant, concerning the origin of this +structure. The two side aisles are of pure Norman architecture. +The choir was built in the reign of Edward III. as appears by a license +of the eleventh year of that king's reign, to the chapter, to get +stones from a quarry in Shirewood Forest for building the choir. The +chapter-house is a detached building, connected by a cloister with +the north aisle of the choir, and is on the model of that at York. +The arch of entrance from the aisle, is said to exceed in elegance and +correctness of execution, almost every thing of the kind in the kingdom; +the chapter-house is of Gothic architecture, and the arch forming the +approach is considered of modern insertion, the sculpture being finer +and more delicate than any thing near it. This church and Ripon are +said to be the only parochial, as well as collegiate, churches now in +England, the rest having been dissolved by Henry VIII. or his +successors. + +At the Reformation, its chantries were dissolved, and the order of +priests expelled about the year 1536. In 1542, Lee, then Archbishop +of York, granted, by indenture to the king, the manor of Southwell. +In the thirty-fourth year of his reign, Henry VIII., by act of +parliament, declared Southwell the head and mother church of the town +and county of Nottingham, and soon afterwards re-founded and re-endowed +it, probably at the instance of Cranmer, at that time in the height of +favour, who was a native of Nottinghamshire, not far from Southwell. +Soon after the accession of Edward VI. the chapter was again dissolved, +and its prebendal, and other estates granted to John, Earl of Warwick, +afterwards made Duke of Northumberland; by him they were sold to John +Beaumont, Master of the Rolls, and coming soon afterwards to the crown, +by escheat, were granted to the favourite Northumberland, who retained +them until his attainder in 1553, when they again reverted to the crown; +and by Queen Mary were restored to the Archbishop of York, in as ample +manner as they had before been holden. It appears from the _Registrum +Album_, a register of the church, that in the latter end of the +reign of William I. there were at least ten prebends. In the office of +augmentation, an estimate of Southwell College, in the first of Edward +VI. states King Edgar to have been the founder of the church, which +consisted of sixteen prebends, and sixteen vicars. There are now +sixteen prebends, of which the Archbishop of York is sole patron, a +vicar-general appointed out of the prebendaries by the chapter, six +vicars, and six choristers. Alfric, appointed to the See of York in +1023, gave two large bells to the church of Southwell (William of +Malmsbury.) This was about the time of bells coming generally into use. +King Stephen granted that the canons of Southwell should hold the woods +of their prebends, in their own hands, which succeeding monarchs, Henry +II. Richard, John, and Henry III. confirmed. There are two fellowships, +and two scholarships, founded in St. John's College, Cambridge, by Dr. +Keton, canon of Sarum, twenty-second Henry VI. to be presented by the +master, fellows, and scholars of that college, to persons having served +as choristers in the chapter of Southwell. In the civil wars nearly all +the records of Southwell Church were destroyed, the _Registrum +Album_ escaping, which contains grants of most of the revenues +belonging to the church, from soon after the conquest, nearly to the end +of Henry VIII. Southwell is supposed by antiquarians to be the "_Ad +Pontem_" of the Romans, one of the stations on the Roman Way from +London to Lincoln, situated at a distance from any route of importance +between the most frequented part of the kingdom. For many centuries it +was hardly known by name--and, till within thirty years there was no +turnpike road to it in any direction. Thus denied access to the rest +of the world, the people of Southwell lived a separate and distinct +society, retaining their own manners untainted by the world; and +among them traditions were handed down pure and unadulterated by the +speculations of the learned, or the discoveries of antiquarians. + +NEMO. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SKETCH-BOOK. + + * * * * * + + +SIGHMON DUMPS. + + +Anthony Dumps, the father of my hero (the subject matter of a story +being always called the hero, however little heroic he may personally +have been) married Dora Coffin on St. Swithin's day in the first year +of the last reign. + +Anthony was then comfortably off, but through a combination of adverse +circumstances he went rapidly down in the world, became a bankrupt, and +being obliged to vacate his residence in St. Paul's Churchyard, he +removed to No. 3, Burying Ground Buildings, Paddington Road, where Mrs. +Dumps was delivered of a son. + +The depressed pair agreed to christen their babe Simon, but the +name was registered in the parish book with the first syllable spelt +"S--I--G--H;"--whether the trembling hand of the afflicted parent +orthographically erred, or whether a bungling clerk caused the error +I know not; but certain it is that the infant Dumps was registered +SIGHMON. + +Sighmon sighed away his infancy like other babes and sucklings, and when +he grew to be a hobedy-hoy, there was a seriousness in his visage, and +a much-ado-about-nothing-ness in his eye, which were proclaimed by good +natured people to be indications of deep thought and profundity; while +others less "flattering sweet," declared they indicated naught but want +of comprehension, and the dulness of stupidity. + +As he grew older he grew graver, sad was his look, sombre the tone of +his voice, and half an hour's conversation with him was a very serious +affair indeed. + +Burying Ground Buildings, Paddington Road, was the scene of his infant +sports. Since his failure, his father had earned his _lively_hood, +by letting himself out as a mute, or mourner, to a furnisher of +funerals. + +"_Mute_" and "_voluntary woe_" were his stock in trade. + +Often did Mrs. Dumps ink the seams of his small-clothes, and darken his +elbows with a blacking brush, ere he sallied forth to follow borrowed +plumes; and when he returned from his public performance (_oft +rehearsed_) Master Sighmon did innocently crumple his crapes, and +sport with his weepers. + +His melancholy outgoings at length were rewarded by some pecuniary +incomings. The demise of others secured a living for him, and after a +few unusually propitious sickly seasons, he grimly smiled as he counted +his gains: the mourner exulted, and, in praise of his profession, the +mute became eloquent. + +Another event occurred: after burying so many people professionally, he +at length buried Mrs. Dumps; _that_, of course, was by no means a +matter of business. I have before remarked that she was descended from +the Coffins; she was now gathered to her ancestors. + +Dumps had long been proud of gentility of appearance, a suit of black +had been his working day costume, nothing therefore could be more easy +than for Dumps to turn gentleman. He did so; took a villa at Gravesend, +chose for his own sitting room a chamber that looked against a dead +wall, and whilst he was lying in state upon the squabs of his sofa, he +thought seriously of the education of his son, and resolved that he +should be instantly taught the dead languages. + +Sighmon Dumps was decidedly a young man of a serious turn of mind. +The metropolis had few attractions for him, he loved to linger near +the monument; and if ever he thought of a continental excursion, the +Catacombs and Père la Chaise were his seducers. + +His father died, his old employer furnished him with a funeral; the mute +was silenced, and the mourner was mourned. + +Sighmon Dumps became more serious than ever; he had a decided nervous +malady, an abhorrence of society, and a sensitive shrinking when he felt +that any body was looking at him. He had heard of the invisible girl; he +would have given worlds to have been an invisible young gentleman, and +to have glided in and out of rooms, unheeded and unseen, like a draft +through a keyhole. This, however, was not to be his lot; like a man +cursed with creaking shoes, stepping lightly, and tiptoeing availed not; +a _creak_ always betrayed him when he was most anxious to creep +into a corner. + +At his father's death he found himself possessed of a competency and a +villa; but he was unhappy, he was known in the neighbourhood, people +called on him, and he was expected to call on them, and these calls and +recalls bored him. He never, in his life, could abide looking any one +straight in the face; a pair of human eyes meeting his own was actually +painful to him. It was not to be endured. He sold his villa, and +determined to go to some place where, being a total stranger, he might +pass unnoticed and unknown, attracting no attention, no remarks. + +He went to Cheltenham and consulted Boisragon about his nerves, was +recommended a course of the waters, and horse exercise. + +The son of the weeper very naturally thought he had already "too much +of water;" he, however, hired a nag, took a small suburban lodging, and +as nobody spoke to him, nor seemed to care about him, he grew better, +and felt sedately happy. This blest seclusion, "the world forgetting, +by the world forgot," was not the predestined fate of Sighmon: odd +circumstances always brought him into notice. The horse he had hired was +a piebald, a sweet, quiet animal, warranted a safe support for a timid +invalid. On this piebald did Dumps jog through the green lanes in brown +studies. + +One day as he passed a cottage, a face peered at him through an open +window; he heard an exclamation of delight, the door opened, and an +elderly female ran after him, entreating him to stop; much against the +grain he complied. + +"'Twas heaven sent you, sir," said his pursuer, out of breath; "give me +for the love of mercy the cure for the rhumatiz." + +"The what?" said Dumps. + +"The rhumatiz, sir; I've the pains and the aches in my back and my +bones--give me the dose that will cure me." + +In vain Dumps declared his ignorance of the virtues of "medicinal gums." +The more he protested, the more the old woman sued; when to his horror a +reinforcement joined her from the cottage, and men, women, and children +implored him to cure the good dame's malady. At length watching a +favourable opportunity, he insinuated his heel into the side of the +piebald, and trotted off, while entreaties mingled with words of anger +were borne to him on the wind. + +He determined to avoid that green lane in future, and rode out the next +day in an opposite direction: as he trotted through a village a girl ran +after him, shouting for a cure for the hooping cough, a dame with a low +curtsey solicited a remedy for the colic, and an old man asked him what +was good for the palsy. These unforeseen, these unaccountable attacks +were fearful annoyances to so retiring a personage as Dumps. Day after +day, go where he would, the same things happened. He was solicited to +cure "all the ills that flesh is heir to." He was not aware (any more +than the reader very possibly may be) that in some parts of England the +country people have an idea that a quack doctor rides a piebald horse; +_why_, I cannot explain, but so it is, and that poor Dumps felt to +his cost. Life became a burthen to him; he was a marked man; _he_, +whose only wish was to pass unnoticed, unheard, unseen; _he_, who +of all the creeping things on the earth, pitied the glowworm most, +because the spark in its tail attracted observation. He gave up his +lodgings and his piebald, and went "in his angry mood to Tewksbury." + +I ought ere this to have described my hero. He was rather _embonpoint_, +but fat was not with him, as it sometimes is, twin brother to fun; +_his_ fat was weighty, he was inclined to _blubber_. He wore a wig, and +carried in his countenance an expression indicative of the seriousness +of his turn of mind. + +He alighted from the coach at the principal inn at Tewksbury; the +landlady met him in the hall, started, smiled, and escorted him into a +room with much civility. He took her aside, and briefly explained that +retirement, quiet, and a back room to himself were the accommodations +he sought. + +"I understand you sir," replied the landlady, with a knowing wink, +"a little quiet will be agreeable by way of change; I hope you'll find +every thing here to your liking." She then curtseyed and withdrew. + +"Frank," said the hostess to the head waiter, "who _do_ you think +we've got in the blue parlour? you'll never guess! I knew him the minute +I clapped eyes on him; dressed just as I saw him at the Haymarket +Theatre, the only night I ever was at a London stage play. The gray +coat, and the striped trousers, and the hessian boots over them, and the +straw hat out of all shape, and the gingham umbrella!" + +"Who is he, ma'am?" said Frank. "Why, the great comedy actor, Mr. +Liston," replied the landlady, "come down for a holiday; he wants to be +quiet, so we must not blab, or the whole town will be after him." + +This brief dialogue will account for much disquietude which subsequently +befell our ill fated Dumps. People met him, he could not imagine why, +with a broad grin on their features. As they passed they whispered to +each other, and the words "inimitable," "clever creature," "irresistibly +comic," evidently applied to himself, reached his ears. + +Dumps looked more serious than ever; but the greater his gravity, the +more the people smiled, and one young lady actually laughed in his face +as she said aloud, "Oh, that mock heroic tragedy look is _so_ like +him!" + +Sighmon sighed for the seclusion of number three, Burying Ground +Buildings, Paddington Road. + +One morning his landlady announced, with broader grin than usual, that a +gentleman desired to speak with him; he grumbled, but submitted, and the +gentleman was announced. + +"My name, sir, is Opie," said the stranger; "I am quite delighted to see +you here. You intend gratifying the good people of Tewksbury of course?" + +"Gratifying! what _can_ you mean?" + +"If your name is announced, there'll not be a box to be had." + +"I always look after my own boxes, I can tell you," replied Dumps. + +"By all means, you _will_ come out here of course?" + +"Come out? to be sure, I sha'n't stay within doors always." + +"What do you mean to come out in?" + +"Why, what I've got on will do very well." + +"Oh, that's so like you," said Opie, shaking his sides with laughter, +"you really _are_ inimitable!--What character do you select here?" + +"Character!" said Dumps, "the stranger." + +"The Stranger! _you?_" + +"Yes, _I._" + +"And you really mean to come out here as the Stranger?" said Opie. + +"Why, yes to be sure--I'm but just come." + +"Then I shall put your name in large letters immediately, we will open +this evening; and as to terms, you shall have half the receipts of the +house." + +Off ran Mr. Opie, who was no less a personage than the manager of the +theatre, leaving Dumps fully persuaded that he had been closeted with +a lunatic. + +Shortly afterwards he saw a man very busy pasting bills against a wall +opposite his window, and so large were the letters that he easily +deciphered, "THE CELEBRATED MR. LISTON IN TRAGEDY. This evening THE +STRANGER, the Part of THE STRANGER BY MR. LISTON." Dumps had never seen +the inimitable Liston, indeed comedy was quite out of his way. But now +that the star was to shine forth in tragedy, the announcement was +congenial to the serious turn of his mind, and he resolved to go. + +He ate an early dinner, went by times to the theatre, and established +himself in a snug corner of the stage box. The house filled, the hour +of commencement arrived, the fiddlers paused and looked towards the +curtain, but hearing no signal they fiddled another strain. The audience +became impatient; they hissed, they hooted, and they called for the +manager: another pause, another yell of disapprobation, and the manager +pale and trembling appeared, and walked hat in hand to the front of the +stage. To Dumps's great surprise it was the very man who visited him in +the morning. Mr. Opie cleared his throat, bowed repeatedly, moved his +lips, but was inaudible amid the shouts of "hear him." At length silence +was obtained, and he spoke as follows:-- + +"Ladies and Gentlemen, + +"I appear before you to entreat your kind and considerate forbearance; +I lament as much, nay more than you, the absence of Mr. Liston; but, in +the anguish of the moment, one thought supports me, the consciousness +of having done my duty. (_Applause_.) I had an interview with +your deservedly favourite performer this morning, and every necessary +arrangement was made between us. I have sent to his hotel, and he is not +to be found. (_Disapprobation_.) I have been informed that he dined +early, and left the house, saying that he was going to the theatre; what +accident _can_ have prevented his arrival I am utterly unable to--" + +Mr. Opie now happened to glance towards the stage box, surprise! doubt! +anger! certainty! were the alternate expressions of his pale face, and +widely opened eyes; and at length pointing to Dumps he exclaimed-- + +"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my painful duty to inform you that Mr. +Liston is now before you; there he sits at the back of the stage box, +and I trust I may be permitted to call upon him for an explanation of +his very singular conduct." + +Every eye turned towards Dumps, every voice was uplifted against him; +the man who could not endure the scrutiny of _one_ pair of eyes, +now beheld a house full of them glaring at him with angry indignation. +His head became confused, he had a slight consciousness of being elbowed +through the lobby, of a riot in the crowded street, and of being +protected by the civil authorities against the uncivil attacks of the +populace. He was conveyed to bed, and awoke the next morning with a very +considerable accession of nervous malady. + +He soon heard that the whole town vowed vengeance against the infamous +and unprincipled impostor who had so impudently played off a practical +joke on the public, and at dead of night did he escape from the town of +Tewksbury, in a return mourning coach, with which he was accommodated +by his tender hearted landlady. + +Our persecuted hero next occupied private apartments at a boarding-house +at Malvern. Privacy was refreshing, but, alas! its duration was doomed +to be short. A young officer who had witnessed the embarrassment of "the +stranger" at Tewksbury, recognised the sufferer at Malvern, and knowing +his nervous antipathy to being noticed, he wickedly resolved to make him +the lion of the place. + +He dined at the public table, spoke of the gentleman who occupied the +private apartments, wondered that no one appeared to be aware who he +was, and then _in confidence_ informed the assembled party that +the recluse was the celebrated author of the "Pleasures of Memory," now +engaged in illustrating "HIS ITALY" with splendid embellishments from +the pencils of Stothard and Turner. + +Dumps again found himself an object of universal curiosity, every body +became officiously attentive to him, he was waylaid in his walks, and +_intentionally_ intruded upon _by accident_ in his private apartments; +a travelling artist requested to be permitted to take his portrait for +the exhibition, a lady requested him to peruse her manuscript romance +and to give his unbiassed opinion, and the master of the boarding-house +waited upon him by desire of his guests to request that he would honour +the public table with his company. Several ladies solicited his +autograph for their albums, and several gentlemen called a meeting +of the inhabitants, and resolved to give him a public dinner; a +craniologist requested to be permitted to take a cast of his head, +and as a climax to his misery, when he was sitting in his bedchamber +thinking himself at least secure for the present, the door being bolted; +he looked towards the Malvern Hills, which rise abruptly immediately +at the back of the boarding-house, and there he discovered a party of +ladies eagerly gazing at him with long telescopes through the open +windows! + +He left Malvern the next morning, and went to a secluded village on the +Welsh coast, not far from Swansea. + +The events of the last few weeks had rendered poor Sighmon Dumps more +sensitively nervous than ever. His seclusion became perpetual, his blind +always down, and he took his solitary walks in the dusk of the evening. +He had been told that sea sickness was sometimes beneficial in cases +resembling his own; he, therefore, bargained with some boatmen, who +engaged to take him out into the channel, on a little experimental +medicinal trip. At a very early hour in the morning he went down to the +beach, and prepared to embark. He had observed two persons who appeared +to be watching him, he felt certain they were dogging him, and just as +he was stepping into the boat they seized him, saying, "Sir, we know you +to be the great defaulter who has been so long concealed on this coast; +we know you are trying to escape to America, but you must come with us." + +Sighmon's heart was broken. He felt it would be useless to endeavour to +explain or to expostulate; he spoke not, but was passively hurried to a +carriage in which he was borne to the metropolis as fast as four horses +could carry him, without rest or refreshment. Of course, after a minute +examination, he was declared innocent, and was released; but justice +smiled too late, the bloom of Sighmon's happiness had been prematurely +nipped. + +He called in the aid of the first medical advice, grew a little better; +and when the doctor left him he prescribed a medicine which he said he +had no doubt would restore the patient to health. The medicine came, +the bottle was shaken, the contents taken--Sighmon died! + +It was afterwards discovered that a mistake had occasioned his premature +departure; a healing liquid had been prescribed for him, but the +careless dispenser of the medicine had dispensed with caution on the +occasion, and Dumps died of a severe _oxalic_ acidity of the +stomach! By his own desire he was interred in the churchyard opposite to +Burying Ground Buildings, Paddington Road. His funeral was conducted +with _almost_ as much decorum as if his late father the mute had +been present, and he was left with-- + + "At his head a green grass turf, + And at his heels a stone." + + +But even there he could not rest! The next morning it was discovered +that the body of Sighmon Dumps had been stolen by resurrection +men!--_Sharpe's Mag._ + + * * * * * + + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + * * * * * + + +MARIA GRAY.--A SONG. + + +BY THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD. + + + Who says that Maria Gray is dead, + And that I in this world can see her never? + Who says she is laid in her cold death-bed, + The prey of the grave and of death for ever? + Ah! they know little of my dear maid, + Or kindness of her spirit's giver! + For every night she is by my side, + By the morning bower, or the moonlight river. + + Maria was bonny when she was here, + When flesh and blood was her mortal dwelling; + Her smile was sweet, and her mind was clear, + And her form all human forms excelling. + But O! if they saw Maria now, + With her looks of pathos and of feeling, + They would see a cherub's radiant brow, + To ravish'd mortal eyes unveiling. + + The rose is the fairest of earthly flowers-- + It is all of beauty and of sweetness-- + So my dear maid, in the heavenly bowers, + Excels in beauty and in meetness. + She has kiss'd my cheek, she has komb'd my hair, + And made a breast of heaven my pillow, + And promised her God to take me there, + Before the leaf falls from the willow. + + Farewell, ye homes of living men! + I have no relish for your pleasures-- + In the human face I nothing ken + That with my spirit's yearning measures. + I long for onward bliss to be, + A day of joy, a brighter morrow; + And from this bondage to be free, + Farewell thou world of sin and sorrow! + + +_Blackwood's Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +BEWICK, THE ENGRAVER. + +By a Correspondent of the _Magazine of Natural History_. + + +Bewick's first tendency to drawing was noticed by his chalking the +floors and grave-stones with all manner of fantastic figures, and by +sketching the outline of any known character of the village, dogs, or +horses, which were instantly recognised as faithful portraits. The +halfpence he got were always laid out in chalk or coarse pencils; with +which, when taken to church, he scrawled over the ledges of the bench +ludicrous caricatures of the parson, clerk, and the more prominent of +the congregation. These boards are now in the possession of the Duke +of Northumberland, by whom they were replaced; and when his chalk +was exhausted, he resorted to a pin or a nail as a substitute. In +consequence of this propensity to drawing, some liberal people, of whom +he says, there were many in Newcastle, got him bound apprentice to a Mr. +Bielby, an engraver on copper and brass. During this period he walked +most Sundays to Ovingham (ten miles,) to see his parents; and, if the +Tyne was low, crossed it on stilts; but, if high-flowing, hollaed across +to inquire their health, and returned. This infant genius (but it was +the infant Hercules struggling with the snakes) was bound down by his +master to cut clock-faces and door-knockers--ay, clock-faces and +door-knockers!--and he actually showed me several in the streets of +Newcastle he had cut. At this time he was employed by Bielby to cut +on wood the blocks for Dr. Hutton's great work on _Mensuration_. +Hutton was then a schoolmaster at Newcastle (1770.) + +After his apprenticeship, he worked a short time for a person in Hatton +Garden; but he disliked London extremely, still panting for his native +home, to whose braes and bonny banks he joyously returned; where he was +occupied in cutting figures and ornaments for books; and now received +his first prize from the Society of Arts for the "Old Hound," in an +edition of Gay's _Fables_. A glance at this cut will show what a +low state wood-engraving was at, when a public society deemed it worthy +a reward; yet even in this are readily visible some lines and touches of +the future great master of this delicious art. He never omitted visiting +itinerant caravans of animals, from whose living looks and attitudes he +made spirited drawings. This led to his _History of Quadrupeds_, +1790; the first block, however, of which, he cut the very day of his +father's death, Nov. 15, 1785. From this work he obtained very +considerable celebrity; which led him shortly to draw and engrave the +wild bull at Chillingham, Lord Tankerville's, the largest of all his +wood-cuts, impressions of which have actually been sold at twenty +guineas each; and also the zebra, elephant, lion, and tiger, for Pidcock +(Exeter 'Change,) copies whereof are now extremely scarce and valuable. +He also executed some curious works on copper, to illustrate a _Tour +through Lapland_, by Matthew Consett, Esq.; and his _Quadrupeds_ +having passed through seven editions, his fame was widely and well +established. The famous typographer, Bulmer, of the Shakspeare Press +(a native of Newcastle,) now employed John Bewick, who, at the age of +fourteen, had also been aprenticed to Bielby, in co-operation with +his brother Thomas, to embellish a splendid edition of Goldsmith's +_Deserted Village_ and _Hermit_, Parnell's _Poems_, and Somerville's +_Chase_. The designs and execution of these were so admirable and +ingenious, that the late king, George III. doubted their being worked +on wood, and requested a sight of the blocks, at which he was equally +delighted and astonished. It is deeply to be lamented we have so few +specimens of the talents of John Bewick, who died of a pulmonary +complaint, 1795, at the early age of thirty-five. + +I now, in this hasty, feeble, and divaricated biographical sketch, +approach the great and favourite work of my admired friend, _The +History of British Birds_. The first volume of this all-delighting +work was published in 1797, jointly by Bielby and Bewick, but was +afterwards continued by Bewick. This beautiful, accurate, animated, +and (I may really add) wonderful production, having passed through six +editions, each of very numerous impressions, is now universally known +and admired. + +The first time I had _personal_ interview with my venerable friend +was at Newcastle upon Tyne, on Wednesday, October 1, 1823, after +perambulating the romantic regions of Cumberland and Westmoreland, with +my friend, John E. Bowman, Esq., F.L.S. We had been told that he retired +from his workbench on evenings to the "Blue Bell on the side," for the +purpose of reading the news. To this place we repaired, and readily +found ourselves in the presence of the great man. For my part, so warm +was my enthusiasm, that I could have rushed into his arms, as into +those of a parent or benefactor. He was sitting by the fire in a large +elbow-chair, smoking. He received us most kindly, and in a very few +minutes we felt as old friends. He appeared a large, athletic man, then +in his seventy-first year, with thick, bushy, black hair, retaining his +sight so completely as to read aloud rapidly the smallest type of a +newspaper. He was dressed in very plain, brown clothes, but of good +quality, with large flaps to his waistcoat, grey woollen stockings, +and large buckles. In his under-lip he had a prodigious large quid of +tobacco, and he leaned on a very thick oaken cudgel, which, I afterwards +learned, he cut in the woods of Hawthornden. His broad, bright, and +benevolent countenance at one glance, bespoke powerful intellect and +unbounded good-will, with a very visible sparkle of merry wit. The +discourse at first turned on politics (for the paper was in his hand,) +on which he at once openly avowed himself a warm whig, but clearly +without the slightest wish to provoke opposition. I at length succeeded +in turning the conversation into the fields of natural history, but +not till after he had scattered forth a profusion of the most humorous +anecdotes, that would baffle the most retentive memory to enumerate, +and defy the most witty to depict. I succeeded by mentioning an error +in one of his works; for which, when I had convinced him, he thanked +me, and took the path in conversation we wished. In many instances, +I must remark, though frequently succeeding to the broadest humour, his +countenance and conversation assumed the emitted flashes and features +of absolutely the highest sublimity; indeed, to an excitement of awful +amazement, particularly when speaking on the works of the Deity. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE NATURALIST. + + * * * * * + + +DURATION OF LIFE. + +It appears from well authenticated documents, that the mean term of Roman +life, among the citizens, was 30 years--that is to say, taking 1,000 +persons, adding the years together they each attained, and dividing the +total by the number of persons, the result is 30. In England, at the +present time, the expectation of life, for persons similarly situated, +is at least 50 years, giving a superiority of 20 years above the Roman +citizen. The mean term of life among the _easy_ classes at Paris is +at present 42. At Florence, to the _whole_ population, it is still +not more than 30. + +We have gleaned these interesting facts from a review of Dr. Hawkins's +_Elements of Medical Statistics;_ and as the subject is like human +life itself, of exhaustless interest, we shall proceed with a few more: + + +Counties of England and Wales. + +In 1780, the annual mortality of England and Wales was 1 in 40. +By the last census (of 1821,) the yearly mortality had fallen to +1 in 58, nearly one-third. The rate of mortality is of course not +equal throughout the country. According to Dr. Hawkins, this is mainly +influenced by the proportion of large towns which any district or county +contains. The lowest well-ascertained rate of mortality in any part of +Europe is that of Pembrokeshire and Anglesey, in Wales, where only one +death takes place annually out of eighty-three individuals. Sussex +enjoys the lowest rate of mortality of any English county; it is there +1 in 72. Middlesex, on the other hand, affords the other extreme, +1 in 47; yet here, where the rate of mortality is higher than in any +part of England, great improvements in the mean duration of life are +taking place; for in 1811, the mortality was as great as 1 in 36. Kent, +Surrey, Lancashire, Warwickshire, and Cheshire, are the counties where, +next to Middlesex, the deaths are most numerous. The three last named +counties enjoy many natural advantages, but these are more than +counterbalanced by the number and density of their manufacturing towns. +It is a circumstance well worthy of note, that the aguish counties of +England do not, as might have been expected, stand high in the list. +In Lincolnshire, the rate of mortality is only 1 in 62. Dr. Hawkins +hesitates whether to attribute this to the large proportion of dry and +elevated district which that county possesses, or to the exemption of +fenny countries generally from consumption. We are strongly inclined to +suspect that the latter is the true explanation of the fact. The notion +was originally thrown out by the late ingenious physician, Dr. Wells, +who even went so far as to advise the removal of consumptive patients +to the heart of the Cambridgeshire fens, rather than to Hastings or +Sidmouth. + +The author goes on to remark, "that the decline in the mortality is +even more striking in our cities than in our rural districts. While the +metropolis has extended itself in all directions, and multiplied its +inhabitants to an enormous amount,--in other words, while the seeming +sources of its unhealthiness have been largely augmented, it has +actually become more friendly to health." In the middle of the last +century, the annual mortality was about 1 in 20. By the census of 1821, +it appeared as 1 in 40: so that in the space of seventy years, the +chances of existence are exactly _doubled_ in London,--a progress +and final result, adds the author, without a parallel in the history of +any other age or country. The high rate of mortality in London about the +year 1750, exceeding considerably that of former years, has been +attributed to the great, abuse of spirituous liquors, which were then +sold without the very necessary check of high duties. One of the results +of these statistical investigations which, _a priori_, we should +least have been prepared for, is the uncommon healthiness of Manchester. +The rate of mortality there at the present time does not appear to +exceed 1 in 74. + +The statistics of the sexes afford some curious results. The relative +numbers of the sexes are the same in all parts of the world,--namely, +at birth, twenty-one males to twenty females, but as the mortality +among males during infancy exceeds that of females, the sexes at the +age of fifteen are nearly equal. A late French writer, M. Giron, thinks +himself warranted in the opinion, that agricultural pursuits favour an +increase in the male, while commerce and manufactures encourage the +female population. There exists throughout the world considerable +variety in the proportion of births to marriages, but, upon an average, +we may state it at about four to one. It has been uniformly found, +however, that improvements in the public health are attended by a +_diminution_ of marriages and births. The great principle is this: +as the number of men cannot exceed their means of subsistence, _if men +live longer, a less number is born_, and the human race is maintained +at its due complement with fewer deaths and fewer births, a contingency +favourable in every respect to happiness. The author illustrates this +very important principle by the population returns both of England and +France. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GATHERER. + + + A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. + SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +On reading in a provincial paper,[3] a passage entitled, "_Ornaments +of the Bench and Bar_." + + Imitate no one you despise, + _Said_ one _whose_ mind was _great_, + Did he not _think_? despise not him + You _cannot_ imitate. + + +TALBOTE. + + [3] The Manchester Courier, 25th July. + + * * * * * + + +SIMPLICITY. + +Major R---- was not long since riding near a building which presented +to his admiring gaze a fine specimen of antique Saxon architecture. +Desirous to learn something respecting it, he made some inquiries of +a man, who as it happened was the _souter_ of the village. This +learned wight informed the inquisitive stranger that the building in +question was reckoned a noble specimen of _Gothic_ architecture, +and was built by the _Romans_, who came over with Julius Caesar. +"Friend," said the Major, "you make anachronisms." "No, no, Sir," +replied the man, "indeed I don't make _anachronisms_, for I never +made any thing but _shoes_ in my life." + +The same gentleman, one day fitting on a new under-waistcoat, which he +had ordered to be made of a material that should resist rain and damp, +said to the tailor in attendance, "But are you sure that it is +impervious." "O dear, no, Sir," replied the man, with a look of +astonishment, "I certainly can't pretend to say that it is +_impervious_, for it is _wash-leather_." + +M.L.B. + + * * * * * + + +Some men make a vanity of telling their faults; they are the strangest +men in the world; they cannot dissemble; they own it is a folly; they +have lost abundance of advantage by it; but if you would give them the +world, they cannot help it. + + * * * * * + + +ARLEQUINS. + + +In Paris, small lumps of mixed meats sold in the market for cats, dogs, +and the poor, are called _Arlequins_. They are the relics collected +from the plates of the rich, and from the restaurateurs. + + * * * * * + + +By love's delightful influence the attack of ill-humour is resisted; the +violence of our passions abated; the bitter cup of affliction sweetened; +all the injuries of the world alleviated; and the sweetest flowers +plentifully strewed along the path of life. + + * * * * * + + +At the meeting on the Covent Garden stage, the other day, a gentleman +inquired for Mr. Kemble: "He's just _gone off_," replied another, +evidently connected with the theatre. Such is the force of habit. + + * * * * * + + +The late Murgravine of Anspach wrote an impromptu charade, and presented +it to her husband, Lord C., as the person most interested in the subject +of it, and most capable of judging of its truth:-- + + "Mon premier est un tyran-- mari- + Mon second est un monstre-- age; + Et mon tout est--le diable-- mariage." + + + * * * * * + + +A farmer applied to a county magistrate for a warrant:--"A warrant, for +what?" says the magistrate, "To _take up the weather_, please your +worship." + +P.T.W. + +N.B. Warrant refused. + + * * * * * + + +CONVERSATION, (from Swift.) + + +Nature hath left every man a capacity of being agreeable, though not of +shining in company; and there are a hundred men sufficiently qualified +for both, who, by a very few faults, that they might correct in half an +hour, are not so much as tolerable. + + * * * * * + + +LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THE + +Following Novels is already Published: + + s. d. + Mackenzie's Man of Feeling 0 6 + Paul and Virginia 0 6 + The Castle of Otranto 0 6 + Almoran and Hamet 0 6 + Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia 0 6 + The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne 0 6 + Rasselas 0 8 + The Old English Baron 0 8 + Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield 0 10 + Sicilian Romance 1 0 + The Man of the World 1 0 + A Simple Story 1 4 + Joseph Andrews 1 6 + Humphry Clinker 1 8 + The Romance of the Forest 1 8 + The Italian 2 0 + Zeluco, by Dr. Moore 2 6 + Edward, by Dr. Moore 2 6 + Roderick Random 2 6 + The Mysteries of Udolpho 3 6 + Peregrine Pickle 4 6 + + + * * * * * + +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 14011 *** diff --git a/14011-h/14011-h.htm b/14011-h/14011-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6e82862 --- /dev/null +++ b/14011-h/14011-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2138 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 14, Issue 389, September 12, 1829, by Various</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;} + .figure p + a:link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:#ff0000} + --> + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14011 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and +Instruction, Vol. 14, Issue 389, September 12, 1829, by Various</h1> + <hr class="full" /> + <span class="pagenum"><a id="page161" name="page161"></a>[pg 161]</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. XIV., NO. 389.]</b></td> + <td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1829.</b></td> + <td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr class="full" /> + + +<h2> + SION HOUSE. +</h2> + + +<div class="figure" style="width: 100%;"> +<a href="images/389-1.png"><img width="100%" src="images/389-1.png" +alt="Sion House." /></a><br /> +<b>SION HOUSE.</b> +</div> + + + +<p> +Taylor, the water poet, or Samuel Ireland, the picturesque Thames +tourist, could not, in all their enthusiasm of jingling rhymes and +aquatint plates, have exceeded our admiration of Sion House. Its +whitened towers and battlemented roof are known to all the swan-hopping +and steam navigators of our day, and none who have floated +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> To where the silver Thames first rural grows,—</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +can be strangers to the magnificence of the river-front. +</p> + +<p> +Sion House stands in the parish of Isleworth, on the Middlesex bank +of the Thames, and opposite Richmond gardens. It is called Sion +from a nunnery of Bridgetines of the same name, originally founded at +Twickenham, by Henry V. in 1414, and removed to this spot in 1432. +This conventual association consisted of sixty nuns, the abbess, +thirteen priests, four deacons, and eight lay brethren; the whole thus +corresponding, in point of number, with the Apostles and seventy-two +disciples of Christ. But the inmates were neither sinless nor spotless; +many irregularities existed in the foundation, and consequently, Sion +was among the first of the larger monastic institutions suppressed by +Henry VIII. The estimated yearly value was 1,944<i>l</i>. 11<i>s</i>. 8-1/2<i>d</i>., +now worth 38,891<i>l</i>. 14<i>s</i>. 2<i>d</i>. +</p> + +<p> +After the dissolution of this convent, in 1532, it continued in the +crown during the remainder of Henry's reign; and the King confined here +his unfortunate Queen, Catherine Howard, from November 14, 1541, to +February 10, 1542, being three days before her execution. Edward VI. +granted it to his uncle, the Duke of Somerset, who, in 1547, began to +build this spacious structure, and finished the shell of it nearly as it +now remains. The house is a majestic edifice of white stone, built in a +quadrangular form, with a flat and embattled roof, with a square turret +at each of the outward angles. In the centre is an enclosed area, now +laid out as a flower garden. The gardens were originally enclosed by +high walls before the east and west fronts, so as to exclude all +prospect; but the Protector, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page162" name="page162"></a>[pg 162]</span> +to remedy this inconvenience, built a high +terrace in the angle between the walls of the two gardens. After his +execution, in 1552, Sion was forfeited; and the house, which was given +to John, Duke of Northumberland, then became the residence of his son, +Lord Guildford Dudley, and of his daughter-in-law, the unfortunate Lady +Jane Grey, who resided at this place when the Duke of Northumberland and +Suffolk, and her husband, came to prevail upon her to accept the fatal +present of the crown. The duke being beheaded in 1553, Sion House +reverted to the crown. Queen Mary restored it to the Bridgetines, who +possessed it till they were finally expelled by Elizabeth. In 1604, Sion +House was granted to Henry Percy, ninth Earl of Northumberland, in +consideration of his eminent services. His son, Algernon, employed Inigo +Jones to new face the inner court, and to finish the great hall in the +manner in which it now appears. In 1682, Charles, Duke of Somerset, by +his marriage with the only child of Joceline, Earl of Northumberland, +became possessed of Sion House: he lent the mansion to the Princess +Anne, who resided here during the misunderstanding between her and Queen +Mary. Upon the duke's death, in 1748, his son, Algernon, gave Sion House +to Sir Hugh and Lady Elizabeth Smithson, his son-in-law and daughter, +afterwards Duke and Duchess of Northumberland, who made many fine +improvements here, under the direction of Robert Adam, Esq. The late +duke (who distinguished himself at the battle of Bunker's Hill) passed +the principal part of his time at this seat; and here, also, he died, +in the year 1815. The present duke has expended immense sums in the +improvement of the mansion, grounds, and gardens. +</p> + +<p> +The entrance is from the great road through a fine gateway, having on +each side an open colonnade, and on the top a lion passant, the crest +of the noble house of Northumberland. A flight of steps leads into the +great hall, sixty-six feet by thirty-one feet, and thirty-four in +height, paved with white and black marble, and ornamented with colossal +statues, and an extremely fine bronze cast of the Dying Gladiator, cast +at Rome, by Valadier. A flight of veined marble steps leads to the +vestibule, with a floor of scagliola, and twelve large Ionic columns +and sixteen pilasters of <i>verde antique</i>. This leads to the dining +room, ornamented with marble statues and paintings in <i>chiaro +oscuro</i>, after the antique, with, at each end, a circular recess, +separated by Corinthian columns, fluted, and a ceiling in stucco, gilt. +The drawing room has a rich carved ceiling; and the sides are hung with +three-coloured silk damask, the finest of the kind ever executed in +England. The antique mosaic tables, and the chimney-piece of this +apartment are very splendid, as are also the glasses, which are 108 +inches by 65. The great gallery, serving for the library and museum, is +133-½ feet by 14, is in stucco, after the finest remains of antiquity, +and is remarkable as the first specimen of stucco work finished in +England. A series of medallion-paintings here represents the portraits +of all the earls of Northumberland, in succession, and other principal +persons of the houses of Percy and Seymour. At each end is a little +pavilion, finished in exquisite taste; as is also a beautiful closet +in one of the square turrets rising above the roof, which commands an +enchanting prospect. +</p> + +<p> +From the east end of the gallery is a suite of private apartments +leading back to the great hall, and hung with valuable paintings, +among which are the following portraits: Henry Percy, ninth Earl of +Northumberland, who was implicated in the Gunpowder Plot, and imprisoned +in the Tower; he died November 5, 1632, the anniversary of the day so +fatal to his happiness. Lucy, Countess of Carlisle, his daughter, one of +the most admired beauties of her time; she also died November 5, 1660. +Algernon Percy, tenth Earl of Northumberland. Charles I. and one of his +sons, by Sir P. Lely. Charles I. by Vandyke. Queen Henrietta Maria, +Vandyke. The Duke of Gloucester, son of Charles I. The Princess +Elizabeth, daughter of Charles I.; this is believed to be the only +picture extant of this lady. The above portraits of the Stuart family +are placed in the apartments in which Charles had so many tender +interviews with his children, after the latter were committed to the +charge of Earl Algernon Percy, and removed to Sion House, in August, +1646. The earl treated them with parental attention, and obtained a +grant of Parliament for the king to be allowed to see them; and in +consequence of this indulgence, the latter, who was then under restraint +at Hampton Court, often dined with his family at Sion House. +</p> + +<p> +Two of the principal fronts of Sion House command very beautiful +scenery; for even the Thames itself appears to belong to the gardens, +which are separated into two parts by a serpentine river that +communicates with the Thames. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page163" name="page163"></a>[pg 163]</span> +</p> + +<p> +The gardens were principally laid out by Brown: they have, however, +been lately improved and re-arranged; and the kitchen-garden is almost +unequalled by any thing in the kingdom. Here is a range of hothouses +upwards of 400 feet in length, constructed of metal, even to the +wall-plates, the doors, and framing of the sashes; the whole being +glazed with plate-glass. It is impossible for us to describe the extent +and completeness of these improvements, connected with which, Mr. Loudon +observes—"nothing can be more gratifying than to see a nobleman +employing a part of his income in so judicious and spirited a +manner."<a id="footnotetag1" name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a> +</p> + + + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS. +</h2> + + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + MONKISH VERSES. +</h3> + +<center> +(<i>For the Mirror</i>.) +</center> + + +<center> +MIRROR, vol. xii. pp. 98, 165. +</center> + +<p> +The following is said to have been the epitaph on the tomb of Fair +Rosamond, at Godstow:— +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> <i>Hic jacet in tomba, Rosamundae non Rosamundi</i>,</p> + <p> <i>Non redolet sed olet quae redolere solet</i>.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<center> + TRANSLATED. +</center> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Within this tomb lies the world's fairest rose;</p> + <p> Whose scent now charms not, but offends the nose.</p> +</div></div> + +<center> MIRROR, vol. xiii. p. 98.</center> + +<p> +The couplet on York Minster, translated. +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> As of all flowers the rose is still the sweetest,</p> + <p> So of all churches this is the completest.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +On the stone in the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey. +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> <i>Ni fallat fatum, Scoti quocunque loquitur</i>,</p> + <p> <i>Inveniant lapidem, regnare teneter ibidem</i>.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<center> + TRANSLATED. +</center> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Unless old proverbs fail, and wizard's wits be blind,</p> + <p> The Scots shall surely reign, where'er this stone they find.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +Luther sent a glass to Dr. Justus Jonas, with the following verses:— +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> <i>Dat vitrum vitro, Jonae, vitro ipse Lutherus</i>,</p> + <p> <i>Se similem ut fragili noscat uterque vitro</i>.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<center> + TRANSLATED. +</center> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Luther a glass, to Jonas Glass, a glass doth send,</p> + <p> That both may know ourselves to be but glass, my friend.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<h3> + PRIOR. +</h3> + +<center> +MIRROR, vol. xii. p. 184. +</center> + + +<p> +Prior's epitaph on himself was parodied as follows:— +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Hold Mathew Prior, by your leave,</p> +<p class="i2"> Your epitaph is very odd:</p> + <p> Bourbon and you are sons of Eve,</p> +<p class="i2"> Nassau the offspring of a God.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +Which being shewn to Swift he wrote the following:— +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Hold, Mathew Prior, by your leave,</p> +<p class="i2"> Your epitaph is barely civil;</p> + <p> Bourbon and you are sons of Eve,</p> +<p class="i2"> Nassau the offspring of the devil.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +In the "Spectator," is part of an epitaph by Ben Jonson, on Mary +Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, and sister of Sir Philip Sidney. The +following is the whole, taken from the first edition of Jonson's works, +collected as they were published:— +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Underneath this stone doth lie,</p> + <p> As much virtue as could die;</p> + <p> Which when alive did vigour give,</p> + <p> To as much beauty as could live;</p> + <p> If she had a single fault,</p> + <p> Leave it buried in this vault.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +Another on the same, from the same source:— +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Underneath this sable hearse,</p> + <p> Lies the subject of all verse,</p> + <p> Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother,</p> + <p> Death ere thou hast slain another,</p> + <p> Fair, and good, and learn'd as she,</p> + <p> Time shall throw a dart at thee;</p> + <p> Marble piles, let no man raise</p> + <p> To her fame; for after days,</p> + <p> Some kind woman born as she,</p> + <p> Reading this, like Niobe,</p> + <p> Shall turn statue and become</p> + <p> Both her mourner and her tomb.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<h4> + A CORRESPONDENT. +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<p> +The Londiners pronounce woe to him, that buyes a horse in Smith-field, +that takes a Seruant in Paul's Church, that marries a Wife out of +Westminster. Londiners, and all within the sound of Bow-Bell, are in +reproch called Cocknies, and eaters of buttered tostes. The Kentish +men of old were said to haue tayles, because trafficking in the Low +Countries, they neuer paid full payments of what they did owe, but still +left some part vnpaid. Essex men are called calues, (because they abound +there,) Lankashire eggepies, and to be wonne by an Apple with a red +side. Norfolke wyles (for crafty litigiousness:) Essex stiles, (so many +as make walking tedious,) Kentish miles (of the length.) +</p> + +<p style="text-align: right;"> +—<i>Moryson's Itinerary</i>, 1617. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + ORIGIN OF THE WORD SMECTYMNUUS. +</h3> + +<center> +(<i>For the Mirror</i>.) +</center> + + +<p> +This was a cant term that made some figure in the time of the Civil War, +and during the Interregnum. It was formed of the initial letters of the +names of five eminent Presbyterian ministers of that time, viz. Stephen +Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William +Spenstow; who, together, wrote a book against Episcopacy, in the year +1641, whence they and their retainers were called Smectymnuans. They +wore handkerchiefs about their necks for a note of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page164" name="page164"></a>[pg 164]</span> +distinction (as the +officers of the parliament-army then did) which afterwards degenerated +into cravats. +</p> + +<h4> +P.T.W. +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + CIVIC FEAST IN 1506. +</h3> + +<center> +(<i>For the Mirror</i>.) +</center> + + +<p> +In the court room of Salters' Hall there appears, framed and glazed, the +following "Bill of fare for fifty people of the Company of Salters, A.D. +1506." +</p> + + +<table align="center" width="90%" summary=""> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td><i>s.</i></td><td><i>d.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> Thirty-six chickens </td><td> </td><td> 4 </td><td>5</td></tr> +<tr><td> One swan and four geese </td><td> </td><td> 7 </td><td>0</td></tr> +<tr><td> Nine rabbits </td><td> </td><td> 1 </td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td> Two rumps of beef tails </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>2</td></tr> +<tr><td> Six quails </td><td> </td><td> 1 </td><td>6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Two oz. of pepper </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>2</td></tr> +<tr><td> Two oz. of cloves and mace </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td> One and a half oz. of saffron </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Eight lbs. of sugar </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>8</td></tr> +<tr><td> Two lbs. of raisins </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td> One lb. of dates </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td> One and a half lb. of comfits </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>2</td></tr> +<tr><td> Half a hundred eggs </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>2½</td></tr> +<tr><td> Four gallons of curds </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td> One ditto gooseberries </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>2</td></tr> +<tr><td> Bread for the company </td><td> </td><td> 1 </td><td>1</td></tr> +<tr><td> One kilderkin of ale </td><td> </td><td> 2 </td><td>3</td></tr> +<tr><td> Herbs </td><td> </td><td> 1 </td><td>0</td></tr> +<tr><td> Two dishes of butter </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td> Four breasts of veal </td><td> </td><td> 1 </td><td>5</td></tr> +<tr><td> Brawn </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Quarter load of coals </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td> Faggots </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>2</td></tr> +<tr><td> Three and a half gallons of Gascoigne wine </td><td> </td><td> 2 </td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td> One bottle of Muscovadine </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>8</td></tr> +<tr><td> Cherries and tarts </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>8</td></tr> +<tr><td> Verjuice and vinegar </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>2</td></tr> +<tr><td> Paid the cook </td><td> </td><td> 3 </td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td> Perfume </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>2</td></tr> +<tr><td> One bushel and a half of meal </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>8</td></tr> +<tr><td> Water </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>3</td></tr> +<tr><td> Garnishing the vessels </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>3</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td colspan="3"><hr class="full"/></td></tr> +<tr><td> Total of feast for 50 people </td><td>£1 </td><td>13 </td><td>2½</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td colspan="3"><hr class="full" /></td></tr> +</table> + + + + +<h4> + CURIOS. +</h4> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> +THE SELECTOR;<br /> AND<br /> LITERARY NOTICES OF<br /><i>NEW WORKS</i>. +</h2> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +VIDOCQ. (<i>Concluded</i>.) +</h3> + + +<p> +We have a vulgar book called <i>Frauds of London laid open</i>, and +Vidocq's fourth volume will serve for Paris, since he defines the +nomenclature—nay the very craft of thieves with great minuteness: +thus— +</p> + + +<center> +<i>The Chevaliers Grimpants</i>. +</center> + + +<p> +"The Chevaliers Grimpants, called also <i>voleurs au bonjour</i>, <i>donneurs +de bonjours</i>, <i>bonjouriers</i>, are those who introduce themselves into a +house and carry off in an instant the first movable commodity that falls +in their way. The first <i>bonjouriers</i> were I am assured, servants +out of place. They were at first few in number, but, soon acquiring +pupils, their industry increased so rapidly, that from 1800 to 1812, +there was scarcely a day that robberies were not committed in Paris of +from a dozen to fifteen baskets of plate. +</p> + +<p> +"The <i>Almanach du commerce, l'Almanach royal</i>, and that with +twenty-five thousand addresses in it, are, for bonjouriers, the most +interesting works that can be published. Every morning, before they go +out, they consult them; and when they propose visiting any particular +house, it is very seldom that they are not acquainted with the names of +at least two persons in it; and that they may effect an entrance, they +inquire for one when they see the porter, and endeavour to rob the other. +</p> + +<p> +"A <i>bonjourier</i> has always a gentlemanly appearance, and his shoes +always well made and thin. He gives the preference to kid before any +other leather, and takes care to bruise and break the sole that it may +not creak or make any noise; sometimes the sole is made of felt; at +other times, and especially in winter, the kid slipper, or dogskin shoe, +is replaced by list shoes, with which they can walk, go up stairs, or +descend a staircase, without any noise. The theft <i>au bonjour</i>, is +effected without violence, without skeleton keys, without burglariously +entering. If a thief sees a key in a door of a room, he first knocks +very gently, then a little harder, then very loudly; if no person +answers, he turns the handle, and thus enters the antechamber. +He then advances to the eating-room, penetrates even to the adjoining +apartments, to see if there be any person there; returns, and if the key +of the sideboard is not to be seen, he looks in all the places in which +he knows it is generally deposited, and if he finds it, he instantly +uses it to open the drawers, and taking out the plate, he places it +generally in his hat, after which, he covers it with a napkin, or fine +cambric handkerchief, which, by its texture and whiteness, announces the +gentleman. Should the <i>bonjourier</i>, whilst on his enterprise, hear +any person coming, he goes straight towards him, and accosting him, +wishes him good morning (<i>le bonjour</i>) with a smiling +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page165" name="page165"></a>[pg 165]</span> +and almost +familiar air, and inquires if it be not Monsieur 'such a one,' to whom +he has the honour of addressing himself. He is directed to the story +higher or lower, and, then still smiling, evincing the utmost politeness +and making a thousand excuses and affected bows, he withdraws. It may so +happen, that he has not had time to consummate his larceny, but most +frequently the business is perfected, and the discovery of loss only +made too late to remedy it. +</p> + +<p> +"The majority of the thieves in this particular line commence their +incursions with morning, at the hour when the housekeepers go out for +their cream, or have a gossip whilst their masters and mistresses are in +bed. Other <i>bonjouriers</i> do not open the campaign until near dinner +time; they pitch upon the moment when the plate is laid upon the table. +They enter, and in the twinkling of an eye, they cause spoons, forks, +ladles, &c. to vanish. This is technically termed <i>goupiner à la +desserte</i>, (clearing the cloth). +</p> + +<p> +"One day one of these <i>goupineurs à la desserte</i> was on the look +out in a dining room, when a servant entered carrying two silver dishes, +between which were some fish. Without being at all disconcerted, he went +up to her, and said—'Well, go and bring up the soup, the gentlemen are +in a hurry.' +</p> + +<p> +"'Yes, sir,' said the maid, taking him for one of the guests, 'it is +quite ready, and if you please you can announce the dinner.' +</p> + +<p> +"At the same time she ran to the kitchen, and the <i>goupineur</i>, +after having hastily emptied the dishes, thrust them between his +waistcoat and shirt. The girl returned with the broth, the pretended +guest had retired, and there was not a single piece of silver left on +the table. They denounced this theft to me, and from the statement +given, as well as the description of the person committing the robbery, +I thought I had recognised my man. He was called <i>Cheinaux</i>, alias +<i>Bayer</i>, and was discovered and apprehended in Saint Catherine's +market. His shirt was marked with the circumference of the dishes, in +consequence of the remains of the sauce left in them. +</p> + +<p> +"Another body of <i>bonjouriers</i> more particularly direct their +talents to furnished houses. +</p> + +<p> +"The individuals forming this class are on foot from the dawn of day. +Their talent is evinced by the adroit mode in which they baffle the +vigilance of the porters. They go up the staircase, sometimes on one +pretext, and sometimes on another, look round them, and if they find any +keys in the doors, which is common enough, they turn them with the least +possible noise. Once in the room, if the occupant be asleep, farewell to +his purse, his watch, his jewels, and all that he has that is valuable. +If he awakes, the visiter has a thousand excuses ready. +</p> + +<p> +"'A thousand pardons, sir, I thought this was No. 13;' or, 'Was it you, +sir, who sent for a bootmaker, tailor, hairdresser,'" &c. &c. +</p> + + +<center> +<i>The Detourneurs and Detourneuses</i>. +</center> + + +<p> +"The robbery <i>à la detourne</i> is that which is effected whilst +making purchases at a shop. This species of plunder is practised by +individuals of both sexes; but the <i>détourneuses</i>, or <i>lady prigs</i>, +are generally esteemed more expert than the <i>detourneurs</i>, or +<i>gentlemen prigs</i>. The reason of this superiority consists entirely in +the difference of dress; women can easily conceal a very large parcel. +</p> + +<p> +"In retail shops it would be an advisable plan, when there are many +customers to serve, that from time to time the shopmen should say to +each other, <i>deux sur dix</i> (two on ten), or else <i>allumez les +gonzesses</i> (twig the prigs). I will bet a thousand to one, that on +hearing these words, the thieves, who have very fine ears, will make +haste to take themselves away. +</p> + +<p> +"Shopkeepers of what class soever, particularly retailers, cannot be +too much on their guard; they should never forget that in Paris there +are thousands of male and female thieves <i>à la detourne</i>, I here +only speak of robbers by profession; but there are also <i>amateurs</i>, +who, beneath the cover of a well-established reputation, make small +acquisitions slyly and unsuspectedly. They are very honest people they +say, who with little scruple indulge their propensity for a rare book, +a miniature, a cameo, a mosaic, a manuscript, a print, a medal, or +a jewel that pleases them; they are called <i>Chipeurs</i>. If the +<i>Chipeur</i> be rich, no heed is paid to him, he is too much above +such a larceny to impute it to him as a crime; if he be poor, he is +denounced to the attorney-general, and sent to the galleys, because +he robbed from necessity. It must be owned that we have strange ideas +as to honesty and dishonesty." +</p> + +<p> +This is what we call <i>Shoplifting</i>. A milliner once told us that +ribands and flowers not unfrequently attach themselves to the cuffs and +sleeves of fair purchasers. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page166" name="page166"></a>[pg 166]</span> +</p> + +<center> +<i>Careurs</i> +</center> + + +<p> +Belong to the same class of thieves, and are gipsies, Italians, or Jews. +The female Careurs are very expert in robbing priests; and Vidocq +apprehended a mother and daughter for more than sixty such offences. +</p> + +<p> +"The gipsies do not confine themselves to these means of appropriating +to themselves the property of another: they frequently commit murder, +and they have the less objection to commit a murder, because they have +no feeling of any kind of remorse; and they have a peculiar kind of +expiation whereby they purify themselves. For a year they wear a coarse +woollen shirt, and abstain from '<i>work</i>' (robbing). This period +elapsed, they believe themselves white as snow. In France, the majority +of the persons of this caste call themselves Catholics, and have every +external show of great devotion. They always carry about them rosaries +and a crucifix; they say their prayers night and morning, and follow +the service with much attention and precision. In Germany, they seldom +exercise any other calling than that of horse doctor, or herbalist: +some addict themselves to medicine, that is to say, profess to be in +possession of secret means of effecting cures. A vast number of them +travel in bodies, some tell fortunes, others mend glass, china, pots, +and pans; woe to the inhabitants of the country overrun by these +vagabonds. There will infallibly be a mortality amongst the cattle, for +the gipsies are very clever in killing them, without leaving any traces +which can be converted into a charge of malevolence against them. They +kill the cows by piercing them to the heart with a long and very fine +needle, so that the blood flowing inwardly, it may be supposed that the +animal died of disease. They stifle poultry with brimstone; they know +that then they will give them the dead birds; and whilst they imagine +that they have a taste for carrion, they make good cheer, and eat +delicious meat. Sometimes they want hams, and then they take a red +herring and hold it under the nose of a pig, which, allured by the +smell, would follow them to the world's end." +</p> + + +<center> +<i>Rouletiers</i> +</center> + + +<p> +Are fellows who plunder carriages of portmanteaus, imperials, &c. +</p> + +<p> +"One day I followed a famous <i>rouletier</i> named <i>Gosnet</i>. On reaching +the Rue Saint Denis, he jumped up on a coach, put on a cloak and cotton +cap which he found lying close to his hand, and in this dress got down +again with a portmanteau under his arm. It was not later than two +o'clock in the afternoon; but to elude all suspicion, Gosnet, on +alighting, went straight to the <i>conducteur</i> (guard), and after +having spoken to him, turned down a street close at hand. I was in +waiting for him, he was apprehended and sentenced." +</p> + + +<center> +<i>Tireurs</i>, +</center> + + +<p> +Or pickpockets are as abundant as mushrooms. +</p> + +<p> +"There was in Paris a thief of such incredible dexterity that he robbed +without an accomplice. He placed himself in front of a person, put his +hand behind him, and took either a watch or some other valuable. This +species of thievery is called the <i>vol à la chicane</i>. +</p> + +<p> +"A fellow named Molin, alias <i>Moulin le Chapelier</i>, being under the +portico des Français, was desirous of stealing a gentleman's purse: the +sufferer, who was near the wall, thought he felt some one picking his +pocket; Molin, full of presence of mind, effected his object in an +instant, the purse was torn from the pocket, he opened it, and taking +out a coin, asked for a ticket for the play. At the same moment the +person robbed said to him—'But, sir, you have taken my purse, give it +to me.'—'The devil I have,' replied Molin with an air of affected +surprise, 'are you quite sure?' Then looking attentively at it—'By +heavens! I thought it was mine. Oh! sir, I ask your pardon.' +</p> + +<p> +"At the same time he returned the purse, and all the bystanders were +persuaded that he had done it involuntarily. This is being <i>fly</i>, +or I know nothing about it. +</p> + +<p> +"At the time of the great fog, Molin and a <i>pal</i> named Dorlé were +stationed at the environs of the Place des Italiens. An old gentleman +passed, and Dorlé stole his watch which he passed to Molin. The darkness +was so great that he could not discern if it were a repeater or not, and +to ascertain this, Molin pressed down the spring: the hammer instantly +struck on the bell, and by the sound the old man knew his watch, and +instantly cried out—'My watch! my watch! pray restore me my watch, +it belonged to my grandfather, and is a family piece.' +</p> + +<p> +"Whilst uttering these lamentations, he endeavoured to go in the +direction whence the sound had proceeded, to get his watch as he +expected and hoped to do. He came close up to Molin, who, under cover +of the dense fog, put his hand with the watch in it close to the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page167" name="page167"></a>[pg 167]</span> +old gentleman's ear, and pushing the spring again, said, whilst the watch +was striking—'Listen then to its sounds for the last time;' and with +this cruel advice the two thieves then went away, leaving the worthy +undone elderly to bewail his loss. +</p> + +<p> +"The ancient <i>voleurs à la tire</i> cite still, as amongst the +celebrated personages of their profession, two Italians, the brothers +Verdure, the eldest of whom, convicted of forming one of a band of +chauffeurs, was sentenced to death. On the day of execution, the +younger, who was at liberty, wished to see his brother as he left the +prison, and with several of his comrades took his station on the road. +When thieves go out in the evening into a crowd they generally have a +preconcerted word of alarm or summons, by which to call or distinguish +their accomplices. Young Verdure, on seeing the fatal car, uttered +his, which was <i>lorge</i>, to which the criminal, looking about him, +replied <i>lorge</i>. This singular salute given and returned, it may be +imagined that young Verdure retired. On his road he had already stolen +two watches; he saw his brother's head fall from the block, and either +before or afterwards he was determined to carry matters to their utmost. +</p> + +<p> +"The crowd having dispersed he returned to the cabaret with his +comrades. 'Well, well,' said he, laying down on the table four watches +and a purse, 'I think I have not played my cards amiss. I never thought +to have made such a haul at my <i>frater's</i> death; I am only sorry +he's not here to have his share of the <i>swag</i>.'" +</p> + +<p> +Ring-droppers, and <i>Emporteurs</i> ("gentlemen who lose themselves") are +next shown up: to the latter class belong the fellows who, under +pretence of inquiring their road, fall into conversation with you, +invite you to billiards, and cheat you.<a id="footnotetag2" name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> Ring-droppers are very +troublesome in Paris, especially in the <i>Champs Elyseés</i>, where +you may be teazed to buy a copper-framed eye-glass which they have +just "found." +</p> + + +<center> +<i>Riffaudeurs, or Chauffeurs</i>, +</center> + + +<p> +Were thieves assuming the garb of country dealers, or travelling +hawkers; and they sought to wring from their victims a confession of +where they had concealed their treasure, by applying fire to the soles +of their feet. +</p> + +<p> +The Fourth Volume closes abruptly with a story of a gang of them, which +has all the horrors of rack and torture. In the Translator's sequel we +find the following:— +</p> + +<p> +"Since the commencement of these Memoirs, M. Vidocq has given up his +paper manufactory at St. Mandé, and has been subsequently confined in +Sainte Pelagie for debt. His embarrassments are stated to have arisen +from a passion for gambling, a propensity which, once indulged, takes +deep root in the human mind; and few indeed, lamentably few, are those +who can effectually eradicate the fatal passion. Vidocq, who could +assume all shapes like a second Proteus, who underwent bitter hardships, +and unsparingly jeopardized his life at any time, could not resist the +fell temptation which has brought him to distress and a prison. +</p> + +<p> +"It has been stated in some of the Journals that Vidocq has a son +named Julius, who was condemned to the galleys, and when liberated was +employed by his father at Sainte Mandé. This must be another bitter +in his life's cup, which Vidocq seems condemned to drain to the very +dregs." +</p> + +<p> +We need hardly be told why Vidocq has withheld the information +respecting the state of crime in France, which he promised, and made a +grand parade of possessing. The length to which his Memoirs have been +spun out is tedious, and the air of romance which he has given to some +scenes in the concluding volume, almost invalidates its forerunners. +Still we are bound to confess that his adventures are equal in interest +to any work of fact or fiction that has appeared for several years. +We omit the translations of some slang songs, one of which appeared +recently in <i>Blackwood's Magazine</i>; still, they are exceedingly +clever in their way. +</p> + +<p> +The present volume has a portrait of Vidocq, upon which we hope the +physiognomists will speculate; for with all his peccadilloes, (and a +hard set of features which the engraver has probably hardened) the +author must be a clever and a very pleasant fellow; and we wish some +myrmidon of our police—some English Vidocq—would write four pretty +pocket volumes like those of the French policeman. Perhaps some of the +new appointed will take this hint. +</p> + +<p> +To conclude, after what we have said, our readers need not be +recommended to turn to <i>Vidocq's Memoirs</i>. They will find the +translation generally well executed, although we have detected several +slips in the last volume. +</p> + + + + +<hr /> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page168" name="page168"></a>[pg 168]</span> +</p> + + + + +<h2> + SOUTHWELL CHURCH. +</h2> + + + + +<div class="figure" style="width: 100%;"> +<a href="images/389-2.png"><img width="100%" src="images/389-2.png" +alt="Southwell Church" /></a><br /> +<b>SOUTHWELL CHURCH</b> +</div> + + + +<p> +The town of Southwell, in the county of Nottingham, is situated in the +midst of an amphitheatre of well-wooded hills; the soil is rich, and the +air, from the vicinity of the River Trent, is remarkably pure. It is +fourteen miles north-east of Nottingham, about as many south-east of +Mansfield, and eight south-west from Newark; the River Greet, famous +for red trout, runs by the side of the town, falling into the Trent, +at about three miles distance. +</p> + +<p> +The most ancient part of the church is of the order usually called +Saxon, and from tradition is said to have been built in the time of +Harold, predecessor of William I. But there is no history or written +instrument of any kind now extant, concerning the origin of this +structure. The two side aisles are of pure Norman architecture. +The choir was built in the reign of Edward III. as appears by a license +of the eleventh year of that king's reign, to the chapter, to get +stones from a quarry in Shirewood Forest for building the choir. The +chapter-house is a detached building, connected by a cloister with +the north aisle of the choir, and is on the model of that at York. +The arch of entrance from the aisle, is said to exceed in elegance and +correctness of execution, almost every thing of the kind in the kingdom; +the chapter-house is of Gothic architecture, and the arch forming the +approach is considered of modern insertion, the sculpture being finer +and more delicate than any thing near it. This church and Ripon are +said to be the only parochial, as well as collegiate, churches now in +England, the rest having been dissolved by Henry VIII. or his +successors. +</p> + +<p> +At the Reformation, its chantries were dissolved, and the order of +priests expelled about the year 1536. In 1542, Lee, then Archbishop +of York, granted, by indenture to the king, the manor of Southwell. +In the thirty-fourth year of his reign, Henry VIII., by act of +parliament, declared Southwell the head and mother church of the town +and county of Nottingham, and soon afterwards re-founded and re-endowed +it, probably at the instance of Cranmer, at that time in the height of +favour, who was a native of Nottinghamshire, not far from Southwell. +Soon after the accession of Edward VI. the chapter was again dissolved, +and its prebendal, and other estates granted to John, Earl of Warwick, +afterwards made Duke of Northumberland; by him they were sold to John +Beaumont, Master of the Rolls, and coming soon afterwards to the crown, +by escheat, were granted to the favourite Northumberland, who retained +them until his attainder in 1553, when they again reverted to the crown; +and by Queen Mary were restored to the Archbishop of York, in as ample +manner as they had before been holden. It appears from the <i>Registrum +Album</i>, a register of the church, that in the latter end of the +reign of William I. there were at least ten prebends. In the office of +augmentation, an estimate of Southwell College, in the first of Edward +VI. states King Edgar to have been the founder of the church, which +consisted of sixteen prebends, and sixteen vicars. There are now sixteen +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page169" name="page169"></a>[pg 169]</span> +prebends, of which the Archbishop of York is sole patron, a +vicar-general appointed out of the prebendaries by the chapter, six +vicars, and six choristers. Alfric, appointed to the See of York in +1023, gave two large bells to the church of Southwell (William of +Malmsbury.) This was about the time of bells coming generally into use. +King Stephen granted that the canons of Southwell should hold the woods +of their prebends, in their own hands, which succeeding monarchs, Henry +II. Richard, John, and Henry III. confirmed. There are two fellowships, +and two scholarships, founded in St. John's College, Cambridge, by Dr. +Keton, canon of Sarum, twenty-second Henry VI. to be presented by the +master, fellows, and scholars of that college, to persons having served +as choristers in the chapter of Southwell. In the civil wars nearly all +the records of Southwell Church were destroyed, the <i>Registrum +Album</i> escaping, which contains grants of most of the revenues +belonging to the church, from soon after the conquest, nearly to the end +of Henry VIII. Southwell is supposed by antiquarians to be the "<i>Ad +Pontem</i>" of the Romans, one of the stations on the Roman Way from +London to Lincoln, situated at a distance from any route of importance +between the most frequented part of the kingdom. For many centuries it +was hardly known by name—and, till within thirty years there was no +turnpike road to it in any direction. Thus denied access to the rest +of the world, the people of Southwell lived a separate and distinct +society, retaining their own manners untainted by the world; and +among them traditions were handed down pure and unadulterated by the +speculations of the learned, or the discoveries of antiquarians. +</p> + +<h4> +NEMO. +</h4> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + THE SKETCH-BOOK. +</h2> + + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + SIGHMON DUMPS. +</h3> + + +<p> +Anthony Dumps, the father of my hero (the subject matter of a story +being always called the hero, however little heroic he may personally +have been) married Dora Coffin on St. Swithin's day in the first year +of the last reign. +</p> + +<p> +Anthony was then comfortably off, but through a combination of adverse +circumstances he went rapidly down in the world, became a bankrupt, and +being obliged to vacate his residence in St. Paul's Churchyard, he +removed to No. 3, Burying Ground Buildings, Paddington Road, where Mrs. +Dumps was delivered of a son. +</p> + +<p> +The depressed pair agreed to christen their babe Simon, but the +name was registered in the parish book with the first syllable spelt +"S—I—G—H;"—whether the trembling hand of the afflicted parent +orthographically erred, or whether a bungling clerk caused the error +I know not; but certain it is that the infant Dumps was registered +SIGHMON. +</p> + +<p> +Sighmon sighed away his infancy like other babes and sucklings, and when +he grew to be a hobedy-hoy, there was a seriousness in his visage, and +a much-ado-about-nothing-ness in his eye, which were proclaimed by good +natured people to be indications of deep thought and profundity; while +others less "flattering sweet," declared they indicated naught but want +of comprehension, and the dulness of stupidity. +</p> + +<p> +As he grew older he grew graver, sad was his look, sombre the tone of +his voice, and half an hour's conversation with him was a very serious +affair indeed. +</p> + +<p> +Burying Ground Buildings, Paddington Road, was the scene of his infant +sports. Since his failure, his father had earned his <i>lively</i>hood, +by letting himself out as a mute, or mourner, to a furnisher of +funerals. +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Mute</i>" and "<i>voluntary woe</i>" were his stock in trade. +</p> + +<p> +Often did Mrs. Dumps ink the seams of his small-clothes, and darken his +elbows with a blacking brush, ere he sallied forth to follow borrowed +plumes; and when he returned from his public performance (<i>oft +rehearsed</i>) Master Sighmon did innocently crumple his crapes, and +sport with his weepers. +</p> + +<p> +His melancholy outgoings at length were rewarded by some pecuniary +incomings. The demise of others secured a living for him, and after a +few unusually propitious sickly seasons, he grimly smiled as he counted +his gains: the mourner exulted, and, in praise of his profession, the +mute became eloquent. +</p> + +<p> +Another event occurred: after burying so many people professionally, he +at length buried Mrs. Dumps; <i>that</i>, of course, was by no means a +matter of business. I have before remarked that she was descended from +the Coffins; she was now gathered to her ancestors. +</p> + +<p> +Dumps had long been proud of gentility of appearance, a suit of black +had been his working day costume, nothing therefore could be more easy +than for Dumps to turn gentleman. He did so; took a villa at Gravesend, +chose for his +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page170" name="page170"></a>[pg 170]</span> +own sitting room a chamber that looked against a dead +wall, and whilst he was lying in state upon the squabs of his sofa, he +thought seriously of the education of his son, and resolved that he +should be instantly taught the dead languages. +</p> + +<p> +Sighmon Dumps was decidedly a young man of a serious turn of mind. +The metropolis had few attractions for him, he loved to linger near +the monument; and if ever he thought of a continental excursion, the +Catacombs and Père la Chaise were his seducers. +</p> + +<p> +His father died, his old employer furnished him with a funeral; the mute +was silenced, and the mourner was mourned. +</p> + +<p> +Sighmon Dumps became more serious than ever; he had a decided nervous +malady, an abhorrence of society, and a sensitive shrinking when he felt +that any body was looking at him. He had heard of the invisible girl; he +would have given worlds to have been an invisible young gentleman, and +to have glided in and out of rooms, unheeded and unseen, like a draft +through a keyhole. This, however, was not to be his lot; like a man +cursed with creaking shoes, stepping lightly, and tiptoeing availed not; +a <i>creak</i> always betrayed him when he was most anxious to creep +into a corner. +</p> + +<p> +At his father's death he found himself possessed of a competency and a +villa; but he was unhappy, he was known in the neighbourhood, people +called on him, and he was expected to call on them, and these calls and +recalls bored him. He never, in his life, could abide looking any one +straight in the face; a pair of human eyes meeting his own was actually +painful to him. It was not to be endured. He sold his villa, and +determined to go to some place where, being a total stranger, he might +pass unnoticed and unknown, attracting no attention, no remarks. +</p> + +<p> +He went to Cheltenham and consulted Boisragon about his nerves, was +recommended a course of the waters, and horse exercise. +</p> + +<p> +The son of the weeper very naturally thought he had already "too much +of water;" he, however, hired a nag, took a small suburban lodging, and +as nobody spoke to him, nor seemed to care about him, he grew better, +and felt sedately happy. This blest seclusion, "the world forgetting, +by the world forgot," was not the predestined fate of Sighmon: odd +circumstances always brought him into notice. The horse he had hired was +a piebald, a sweet, quiet animal, warranted a safe support for a timid +invalid. On this piebald did Dumps jog through the green lanes in brown +studies. +</p> + +<p> +One day as he passed a cottage, a face peered at him through an open +window; he heard an exclamation of delight, the door opened, and an +elderly female ran after him, entreating him to stop; much against the +grain he complied. +</p> + +<p> +"'Twas heaven sent you, sir," said his pursuer, out of breath; "give me +for the love of mercy the cure for the rhumatiz." +</p> + +<p> +"The what?" said Dumps. +</p> + +<p> +"The rhumatiz, sir; I've the pains and the aches in my back and my +bones—give me the dose that will cure me." +</p> + +<p> +In vain Dumps declared his ignorance of the virtues of "medicinal gums." +The more he protested, the more the old woman sued; when to his horror a +reinforcement joined her from the cottage, and men, women, and children +implored him to cure the good dame's malady. At length watching a +favourable opportunity, he insinuated his heel into the side of the +piebald, and trotted off, while entreaties mingled with words of anger +were borne to him on the wind. +</p> + +<p> +He determined to avoid that green lane in future, and rode out the next +day in an opposite direction: as he trotted through a village a girl ran +after him, shouting for a cure for the hooping cough, a dame with a low +curtsey solicited a remedy for the colic, and an old man asked him what +was good for the palsy. These unforeseen, these unaccountable attacks +were fearful annoyances to so retiring a personage as Dumps. Day after +day, go where he would, the same things happened. He was solicited to +cure "all the ills that flesh is heir to." He was not aware (any more +than the reader very possibly may be) that in some parts of England the +country people have an idea that a quack doctor rides a piebald horse; +<i>why</i>, I cannot explain, but so it is, and that poor Dumps felt to +his cost. Life became a burthen to him; he was a marked man; <i>he</i>, +whose only wish was to pass unnoticed, unheard, unseen; <i>he</i>, who +of all the creeping things on the earth, pitied the glowworm most, +because the spark in its tail attracted observation. He gave up his +lodgings and his piebald, and went "in his angry mood to Tewksbury." +</p> + +<p> +I ought ere this to have described my hero. He was rather <i>embonpoint</i>, +but fat was not with him, as it sometimes is, twin brother to fun; +<i>his</i> fat was weighty, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page171" name="page171"></a>[pg 171]</span> +he was inclined to <i>blubber</i>. He wore a wig, and +carried in his countenance an expression indicative of the seriousness +of his turn of mind. +</p> + +<p> +He alighted from the coach at the principal inn at Tewksbury; the +landlady met him in the hall, started, smiled, and escorted him into a +room with much civility. He took her aside, and briefly explained that +retirement, quiet, and a back room to himself were the accommodations +he sought. +</p> + +<p> +"I understand you sir," replied the landlady, with a knowing wink, +"a little quiet will be agreeable by way of change; I hope you'll find +every thing here to your liking." She then curtseyed and withdrew. +</p> + +<p> +"Frank," said the hostess to the head waiter, "who <i>do</i> you think +we've got in the blue parlour? you'll never guess! I knew him the minute +I clapped eyes on him; dressed just as I saw him at the Haymarket +Theatre, the only night I ever was at a London stage play. The gray +coat, and the striped trousers, and the hessian boots over them, and the +straw hat out of all shape, and the gingham umbrella!" +</p> + +<p> +"Who is he, ma'am?" said Frank. "Why, the great comedy actor, Mr. +Liston," replied the landlady, "come down for a holiday; he wants to be +quiet, so we must not blab, or the whole town will be after him." +</p> + +<p> +This brief dialogue will account for much disquietude which subsequently +befell our ill fated Dumps. People met him, he could not imagine why, +with a broad grin on their features. As they passed they whispered to +each other, and the words "inimitable," "clever creature," "irresistibly +comic," evidently applied to himself, reached his ears. +</p> + +<p> +Dumps looked more serious than ever; but the greater his gravity, the +more the people smiled, and one young lady actually laughed in his face +as she said aloud, "Oh, that mock heroic tragedy look is <i>so</i> like +him!" +</p> + +<p> +Sighmon sighed for the seclusion of number three, Burying Ground +Buildings, Paddington Road. +</p> + +<p> +One morning his landlady announced, with broader grin than usual, that a +gentleman desired to speak with him; he grumbled, but submitted, and the +gentleman was announced. +</p> + +<p> +"My name, sir, is Opie," said the stranger; "I am quite delighted to see +you here. You intend gratifying the good people of Tewksbury of course?" +</p> + +<p> +"Gratifying! what <i>can</i> you mean?" +</p> + +<p> +"If your name is announced, there'll not be a box to be had." +</p> + +<p> +"I always look after my own boxes, I can tell you," replied Dumps. +</p> + +<p> +"By all means, you <i>will</i> come out here of course?" +</p> + +<p> +"Come out? to be sure, I sha'n't stay within doors always." +</p> + +<p> +"What do you mean to come out in?" +</p> + +<p> +"Why, what I've got on will do very well." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, that's so like you," said Opie, shaking his sides with laughter, +"you really <i>are</i> inimitable!—What character do you select here?" +</p> + +<p> +"Character!" said Dumps, "the stranger." +</p> + +<p> +"The Stranger! <i>you?</i>" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, <i>I.</i>" +</p> + +<p> +"And you really mean to come out here as the Stranger?" said Opie. +</p> + +<p> +"Why, yes to be sure—I'm but just come." +</p> + +<p> +"Then I shall put your name in large letters immediately, we will open +this evening; and as to terms, you shall have half the receipts of the +house." +</p> + +<p> +Off ran Mr. Opie, who was no less a personage than the manager of the +theatre, leaving Dumps fully persuaded that he had been closeted with +a lunatic. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly afterwards he saw a man very busy pasting bills against a wall +opposite his window, and so large were the letters that he easily +deciphered, "THE CELEBRATED MR. LISTON IN TRAGEDY. This evening THE +STRANGER, the Part of THE STRANGER BY MR. LISTON." Dumps had never seen +the inimitable Liston, indeed comedy was quite out of his way. But now +that the star was to shine forth in tragedy, the announcement was +congenial to the serious turn of his mind, and he resolved to go. +</p> + +<p> +He ate an early dinner, went by times to the theatre, and established +himself in a snug corner of the stage box. The house filled, the hour +of commencement arrived, the fiddlers paused and looked towards the +curtain, but hearing no signal they fiddled another strain. The audience +became impatient; they hissed, they hooted, and they called for the +manager: another pause, another yell of disapprobation, and the manager +pale and trembling appeared, and walked hat in hand to the front of the +stage. To Dumps's great surprise it was the very man who visited him in +the morning. Mr. Opie cleared his throat, bowed repeatedly, moved his +lips, but was inaudible amid the shouts of "hear him." At length silence +was obtained, and he spoke as follows:— +</p> + +<p> +"Ladies and Gentlemen, +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page172" name="page172"></a>[pg 172]</span> +</p> + +<p> +"I appear before you to entreat your kind and considerate forbearance; +I lament as much, nay more than you, the absence of Mr. Liston; but, in +the anguish of the moment, one thought supports me, the consciousness +of having done my duty. (<i>Applause</i>.) I had an interview with +your deservedly favourite performer this morning, and every necessary +arrangement was made between us. I have sent to his hotel, and he is not +to be found. (<i>Disapprobation</i>.) I have been informed that he dined +early, and left the house, saying that he was going to the theatre; what +accident <i>can</i> have prevented his arrival I am utterly unable to—" +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Opie now happened to glance towards the stage box, surprise! doubt! +anger! certainty! were the alternate expressions of his pale face, and +widely opened eyes; and at length pointing to Dumps he exclaimed— +</p> + +<p> +"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my painful duty to inform you that Mr. +Liston is now before you; there he sits at the back of the stage box, +and I trust I may be permitted to call upon him for an explanation of +his very singular conduct." +</p> + +<p> +Every eye turned towards Dumps, every voice was uplifted against him; +the man who could not endure the scrutiny of <i>one</i> pair of eyes, +now beheld a house full of them glaring at him with angry indignation. +His head became confused, he had a slight consciousness of being elbowed +through the lobby, of a riot in the crowded street, and of being +protected by the civil authorities against the uncivil attacks of the +populace. He was conveyed to bed, and awoke the next morning with a very +considerable accession of nervous malady. +</p> + +<p> +He soon heard that the whole town vowed vengeance against the infamous +and unprincipled impostor who had so impudently played off a practical +joke on the public, and at dead of night did he escape from the town of +Tewksbury, in a return mourning coach, with which he was accommodated +by his tender hearted landlady. +</p> + +<p> +Our persecuted hero next occupied private apartments at a boarding-house +at Malvern. Privacy was refreshing, but, alas! its duration was doomed +to be short. A young officer who had witnessed the embarrassment of "the +stranger" at Tewksbury, recognised the sufferer at Malvern, and knowing +his nervous antipathy to being noticed, he wickedly resolved to make him +the lion of the place. +</p> + +<p> +He dined at the public table, spoke of the gentleman who occupied the +private apartments, wondered that no one appeared to be aware who he +was, and then <i>in confidence</i> informed the assembled party that +the recluse was the celebrated author of the "Pleasures of Memory," now +engaged in illustrating "HIS ITALY" with splendid embellishments from +the pencils of Stothard and Turner. +</p> + +<p> +Dumps again found himself an object of universal curiosity, every body +became officiously attentive to him, he was waylaid in his walks, and +<i>intentionally</i> intruded upon <i>by accident</i> in his private apartments; +a travelling artist requested to be permitted to take his portrait for +the exhibition, a lady requested him to peruse her manuscript romance +and to give his unbiassed opinion, and the master of the boarding-house +waited upon him by desire of his guests to request that he would honour +the public table with his company. Several ladies solicited his +autograph for their albums, and several gentlemen called a meeting +of the inhabitants, and resolved to give him a public dinner; a +craniologist requested to be permitted to take a cast of his head, +and as a climax to his misery, when he was sitting in his bedchamber +thinking himself at least secure for the present, the door being bolted; +he looked towards the Malvern Hills, which rise abruptly immediately +at the back of the boarding-house, and there he discovered a party of +ladies eagerly gazing at him with long telescopes through the open +windows! +</p> + +<p> +He left Malvern the next morning, and went to a secluded village on the +Welsh coast, not far from Swansea. +</p> + +<p> +The events of the last few weeks had rendered poor Sighmon Dumps more +sensitively nervous than ever. His seclusion became perpetual, his blind +always down, and he took his solitary walks in the dusk of the evening. +He had been told that sea sickness was sometimes beneficial in cases +resembling his own; he, therefore, bargained with some boatmen, who +engaged to take him out into the channel, on a little experimental +medicinal trip. At a very early hour in the morning he went down to the +beach, and prepared to embark. He had observed two persons who appeared +to be watching him, he felt certain they were dogging him, and just as +he was stepping into the boat they seized him, saying, "Sir, we know you +to be the great defaulter who has been so long concealed on this coast; +we know you are trying to escape to America, but you must come with us." +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page173" name="page173"></a>[pg 173]</span> +</p> + +<p> +Sighmon's heart was broken. He felt it would be useless to endeavour to +explain or to expostulate; he spoke not, but was passively hurried to a +carriage in which he was borne to the metropolis as fast as four horses +could carry him, without rest or refreshment. Of course, after a minute +examination, he was declared innocent, and was released; but justice +smiled too late, the bloom of Sighmon's happiness had been prematurely +nipped. +</p> + +<p> +He called in the aid of the first medical advice, grew a little better; +and when the doctor left him he prescribed a medicine which he said he +had no doubt would restore the patient to health. The medicine came, +the bottle was shaken, the contents taken—Sighmon died! +</p> + +<p> +It was afterwards discovered that a mistake had occasioned his premature +departure; a healing liquid had been prescribed for him, but the +careless dispenser of the medicine had dispensed with caution on the +occasion, and Dumps died of a severe <i>oxalic</i> acidity of the +stomach! By his own desire he was interred in the churchyard opposite to +Burying Ground Buildings, Paddington Road. His funeral was conducted +with <i>almost</i> as much decorum as if his late father the mute had +been present, and he was left with— +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "At his head a green grass turf,</p> + <p> And at his heels a stone."</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +But even there he could not rest! The next morning it was discovered +that the body of Sighmon Dumps had been stolen by resurrection +men!—<i>Sharpe's Mag.</i> +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. +</h2> + + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +MARIA GRAY.—A SONG. +</h3> + + +<center> + BY THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD. +</center> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Who says that Maria Gray is dead,</p> +<p class="i2"> And that I in this world can see her never?</p> + <p> Who says she is laid in her cold death-bed,</p> +<p class="i2"> The prey of the grave and of death for ever?</p> + <p> Ah! they know little of my dear maid,</p> +<p class="i2"> Or kindness of her spirit's giver!</p> + <p> For every night she is by my side,</p> +<p class="i2"> By the morning bower, or the moonlight river.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> Maria was bonny when she was here,</p> +<p class="i2"> When flesh and blood was her mortal dwelling;</p> + <p> Her smile was sweet, and her mind was clear,</p> +<p class="i2"> And her form all human forms excelling.</p> + <p> But O! if they saw Maria now,</p> +<p class="i2"> With her looks of pathos and of feeling,</p> + <p> They would see a cherub's radiant brow,</p> +<p class="i2"> To ravish'd mortal eyes unveiling.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> The rose is the fairest of earthly flowers—</p> +<p class="i2"> It is all of beauty and of sweetness—</p> + <p> So my dear maid, in the heavenly bowers,</p> +<p class="i2"> Excels in beauty and in meetness.</p> + <p> She has kiss'd my cheek, she has komb'd my hair,</p> +<p class="i2"> And made a breast of heaven my pillow,</p> + <p> And promised her God to take me there,</p> +<p class="i2"> Before the leaf falls from the willow.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> Farewell, ye homes of living men!</p> +<p class="i2"> I have no relish for your pleasures—</p> + <p> In the human face I nothing ken</p> +<p class="i2"> That with my spirit's yearning measures.</p> + <p> I long for onward bliss to be,</p> +<p class="i2"> A day of joy, a brighter morrow;</p> + <p> And from this bondage to be free,</p> +<p class="i2"> Farewell thou world of sin and sorrow!</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p style="text-align:right;"> +<i>Blackwood's Magazine.</i> +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + BEWICK, THE ENGRAVER. +</h3> + +<center> +<i>By a Correspondent of the Magazine of Natural History.</i> +</center> + + +<p> +Bewick's first tendency to drawing was noticed by his chalking the +floors and grave-stones with all manner of fantastic figures, and by +sketching the outline of any known character of the village, dogs, or +horses, which were instantly recognised as faithful portraits. The +halfpence he got were always laid out in chalk or coarse pencils; with +which, when taken to church, he scrawled over the ledges of the bench +ludicrous caricatures of the parson, clerk, and the more prominent of +the congregation. These boards are now in the possession of the Duke +of Northumberland, by whom they were replaced; and when his chalk +was exhausted, he resorted to a pin or a nail as a substitute. In +consequence of this propensity to drawing, some liberal people, of whom +he says, there were many in Newcastle, got him bound apprentice to a Mr. +Bielby, an engraver on copper and brass. During this period he walked +most Sundays to Ovingham (ten miles,) to see his parents; and, if the +Tyne was low, crossed it on stilts; but, if high-flowing, hollaed across +to inquire their health, and returned. This infant genius (but it was +the infant Hercules struggling with the snakes) was bound down by his +master to cut clock-faces and door-knockers—ay, clock-faces and +door-knockers!—and he actually showed me several in the streets of +Newcastle he had cut. At this time he was employed by Bielby to cut +on wood the blocks for Dr. Hutton's great work on <i>Mensuration</i>. +Hutton was then a schoolmaster at Newcastle (1770.) +</p> + +<p> +After his apprenticeship, he worked a short time for a person in Hatton +Garden; but he disliked London extremely, still panting for his native +home, to whose braes and bonny banks he joyously returned; where he was +occupied in cutting figures and ornaments for books; and now received +his first prize from the Society of Arts for +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page174" name="page174"></a>[pg 174]</span> +the "Old Hound," in an +edition of Gay's <i>Fables</i>. A glance at this cut will show what a +low state wood-engraving was at, when a public society deemed it worthy +a reward; yet even in this are readily visible some lines and touches of +the future great master of this delicious art. He never omitted visiting +itinerant caravans of animals, from whose living looks and attitudes he +made spirited drawings. This led to his <i>History of Quadrupeds</i>, +1790; the first block, however, of which, he cut the very day of his +father's death, Nov. 15, 1785. From this work he obtained very +considerable celebrity; which led him shortly to draw and engrave the +wild bull at Chillingham, Lord Tankerville's, the largest of all his +wood-cuts, impressions of which have actually been sold at twenty +guineas each; and also the zebra, elephant, lion, and tiger, for Pidcock +(Exeter 'Change,) copies whereof are now extremely scarce and valuable. +He also executed some curious works on copper, to illustrate a <i>Tour +through Lapland</i>, by Matthew Consett, Esq.; and his <i>Quadrupeds</i> +having passed through seven editions, his fame was widely and well +established. The famous typographer, Bulmer, of the Shakspeare Press +(a native of Newcastle,) now employed John Bewick, who, at the age of +fourteen, had also been aprenticed to Bielby, in co-operation with +his brother Thomas, to embellish a splendid edition of Goldsmith's +<i>Deserted Village</i> and <i>Hermit</i>, Parnell's <i>Poems</i>, and Somerville's +<i>Chase</i>. The designs and execution of these were so admirable and +ingenious, that the late king, George III. doubted their being worked +on wood, and requested a sight of the blocks, at which he was equally +delighted and astonished. It is deeply to be lamented we have so few +specimens of the talents of John Bewick, who died of a pulmonary +complaint, 1795, at the early age of thirty-five. +</p> + +<p> +I now, in this hasty, feeble, and divaricated biographical sketch, +approach the great and favourite work of my admired friend, <i>The +History of British Birds</i>. The first volume of this all-delighting +work was published in 1797, jointly by Bielby and Bewick, but was +afterwards continued by Bewick. This beautiful, accurate, animated, +and (I may really add) wonderful production, having passed through six +editions, each of very numerous impressions, is now universally known +and admired. +</p> + +<p> +The first time I had <i>personal</i> interview with my venerable friend +was at Newcastle upon Tyne, on Wednesday, October 1, 1823, after +perambulating the romantic regions of Cumberland and Westmoreland, with +my friend, John E. Bowman, Esq., F.L.S. We had been told that he retired +from his workbench on evenings to the "Blue Bell on the side," for the +purpose of reading the news. To this place we repaired, and readily +found ourselves in the presence of the great man. For my part, so warm +was my enthusiasm, that I could have rushed into his arms, as into +those of a parent or benefactor. He was sitting by the fire in a large +elbow-chair, smoking. He received us most kindly, and in a very few +minutes we felt as old friends. He appeared a large, athletic man, then +in his seventy-first year, with thick, bushy, black hair, retaining his +sight so completely as to read aloud rapidly the smallest type of a +newspaper. He was dressed in very plain, brown clothes, but of good +quality, with large flaps to his waistcoat, grey woollen stockings, +and large buckles. In his under-lip he had a prodigious large quid of +tobacco, and he leaned on a very thick oaken cudgel, which, I afterwards +learned, he cut in the woods of Hawthornden. His broad, bright, and +benevolent countenance at one glance, bespoke powerful intellect and +unbounded good-will, with a very visible sparkle of merry wit. The +discourse at first turned on politics (for the paper was in his hand,) +on which he at once openly avowed himself a warm whig, but clearly +without the slightest wish to provoke opposition. I at length succeeded +in turning the conversation into the fields of natural history, but +not till after he had scattered forth a profusion of the most humorous +anecdotes, that would baffle the most retentive memory to enumerate, +and defy the most witty to depict. I succeeded by mentioning an error +in one of his works; for which, when I had convinced him, he thanked +me, and took the path in conversation we wished. In many instances, +I must remark, though frequently succeeding to the broadest humour, his +countenance and conversation assumed the emitted flashes and features +of absolutely the highest sublimity; indeed, to an excitement of awful +amazement, particularly when speaking on the works of the Deity. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + THE NATURALIST. +</h2> + + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + DURATION OF LIFE. +</h3> + +<p> +It appears from well authenticated documents, that the mean term of Roman +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page175" name="page175"></a>[pg 175]</span> +life, among the citizens, was 30 years—that is to say, taking 1,000 +persons, adding the years together they each attained, and dividing the +total by the number of persons, the result is 30. In England, at the +present time, the expectation of life, for persons similarly situated, +is at least 50 years, giving a superiority of 20 years above the Roman +citizen. The mean term of life among the <i>easy</i> classes at Paris is +at present 42. At Florence, to the <i>whole</i> population, it is still +not more than 30. +</p> + +<p> +We have gleaned these interesting facts from a review of Dr. Hawkins's +<i>Elements of Medical Statistics;</i> and as the subject is like human +life itself, of exhaustless interest, we shall proceed with a few more: +</p> + + +<center> +<i>Counties of England and Wales.</i> +</center> + +<p> +In 1780, the annual mortality of England and Wales was 1 in 40. +By the last census (of 1821,) the yearly mortality had fallen to +1 in 58, nearly one-third. The rate of mortality is of course not +equal throughout the country. According to Dr. Hawkins, this is mainly +influenced by the proportion of large towns which any district or county +contains. The lowest well-ascertained rate of mortality in any part of +Europe is that of Pembrokeshire and Anglesey, in Wales, where only one +death takes place annually out of eighty-three individuals. Sussex +enjoys the lowest rate of mortality of any English county; it is there +1 in 72. Middlesex, on the other hand, affords the other extreme, +1 in 47; yet here, where the rate of mortality is higher than in any +part of England, great improvements in the mean duration of life are +taking place; for in 1811, the mortality was as great as 1 in 36. Kent, +Surrey, Lancashire, Warwickshire, and Cheshire, are the counties where, +next to Middlesex, the deaths are most numerous. The three last named +counties enjoy many natural advantages, but these are more than +counterbalanced by the number and density of their manufacturing towns. +It is a circumstance well worthy of note, that the aguish counties of +England do not, as might have been expected, stand high in the list. +In Lincolnshire, the rate of mortality is only 1 in 62. Dr. Hawkins +hesitates whether to attribute this to the large proportion of dry and +elevated district which that county possesses, or to the exemption of +fenny countries generally from consumption. We are strongly inclined to +suspect that the latter is the true explanation of the fact. The notion +was originally thrown out by the late ingenious physician, Dr. Wells, +who even went so far as to advise the removal of consumptive patients +to the heart of the Cambridgeshire fens, rather than to Hastings or +Sidmouth. +</p> + +<p> +The author goes on to remark, "that the decline in the mortality is +even more striking in our cities than in our rural districts. While the +metropolis has extended itself in all directions, and multiplied its +inhabitants to an enormous amount,—in other words, while the seeming +sources of its unhealthiness have been largely augmented, it has +actually become more friendly to health." In the middle of the last +century, the annual mortality was about 1 in 20. By the census of 1821, +it appeared as 1 in 40: so that in the space of seventy years, the +chances of existence are exactly <i>doubled</i> in London,—a progress +and final result, adds the author, without a parallel in the history of +any other age or country. The high rate of mortality in London about the +year 1750, exceeding considerably that of former years, has been +attributed to the great, abuse of spirituous liquors, which were then +sold without the very necessary check of high duties. One of the results +of these statistical investigations which, <i>a priori</i>, we should +least have been prepared for, is the uncommon healthiness of Manchester. +The rate of mortality there at the present time does not appear to +exceed 1 in 74. +</p> + +<p> +The statistics of the sexes afford some curious results. The relative +numbers of the sexes are the same in all parts of the world,—namely, +at birth, twenty-one males to twenty females, but as the mortality +among males during infancy exceeds that of females, the sexes at the +age of fifteen are nearly equal. A late French writer, M. Giron, thinks +himself warranted in the opinion, that agricultural pursuits favour an +increase in the male, while commerce and manufactures encourage the +female population. There exists throughout the world considerable +variety in the proportion of births to marriages, but, upon an average, +we may state it at about four to one. It has been uniformly found, +however, that improvements in the public health are attended by a +<i>diminution</i> of marriages and births. The great principle is this: +as the number of men cannot exceed their means of subsistence, <i>if men +live longer, a less number is born</i>, and the human race is maintained +at its due complement with fewer deaths and fewer +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page176" name="page176"></a>[pg 176]</span> +births, a contingency favourable in every respect to happiness. The +author illustrates this very important principle by the population +returns both of England and France. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + THE GATHERER. +</h2> + + + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> A snapper up of unconsidered trifles.</p> +<p style="text-align: right;"> SHAKSPEARE.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<hr /> + + +<p> +On reading in a provincial paper,<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a> a passage entitled, "<i>Ornaments +of the Bench and Bar</i>." +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Imitate no one you despise,</p> +<p class="i2"> <i>Said</i> one <i>whose</i> mind was <i>great</i>,</p> + <p> Did he not <i>think</i>? despise not him</p> +<p class="i2"> You <i>cannot</i> imitate.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<h4> + TALBOTE. +</h4> + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + SIMPLICITY. +</h3> + +<p> +Major R—— was not long since riding near a building which presented +to his admiring gaze a fine specimen of antique Saxon architecture. +Desirous to learn something respecting it, he made some inquiries of +a man, who as it happened was the <i>souter</i> of the village. This +learned wight informed the inquisitive stranger that the building in +question was reckoned a noble specimen of <i>Gothic</i> architecture, +and was built by the <i>Romans</i>, who came over with Julius Caesar. +"Friend," said the Major, "you make anachronisms." "No, no, Sir," +replied the man, "indeed I don't make <i>anachronisms</i>, for I never +made any thing but <i>shoes</i> in my life." +</p> + +<p> +The same gentleman, one day fitting on a new under-waistcoat, which he +had ordered to be made of a material that should resist rain and damp, +said to the tailor in attendance, "But are you sure that it is +impervious." "O dear, no, Sir," replied the man, with a look of +astonishment, "I certainly can't pretend to say that it is +<i>impervious</i>, for it is <i>wash-leather</i>." +</p> + +<h4> +M.L.B. +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<p> +Some men make a vanity of telling their faults; they are the strangest +men in the world; they cannot dissemble; they own it is a folly; they +have lost abundance of advantage by it; but if you would give them the +world, they cannot help it. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + ARLEQUINS. +</h3> + + +<p> +In Paris, small lumps of mixed meats sold in the market for cats, dogs, +and the poor, are called <i>Arlequins</i>. They are the relics collected +from the plates of the rich, and from the restaurateurs. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<p> +By love's delightful influence the attack of ill-humour is resisted; the +violence of our passions abated; the bitter cup of affliction sweetened; +all the injuries of the world alleviated; and the sweetest flowers +plentifully strewed along the path of life. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<p> +At the meeting on the Covent Garden stage, the other day, a gentleman +inquired for Mr. Kemble: "He's just <i>gone off</i>," replied another, +evidently connected with the theatre. Such is the force of habit. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<p> +The late Murgravine of Anspach wrote an impromptu charade, and presented +it to her husband, Lord C., as the person most interested in the subject +of it, and most capable of judging of its truth:— +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Mon premier est un tyran— mari-</p> + <p> Mon second est un monstre— age;</p> + <p> Et mon tout est—le diable— mariage."</p> +</div></div> + + + +<hr /> + + +<p> +A farmer applied to a county magistrate for a warrant:—"A warrant, for +what?" says the magistrate, "To <i>take up the weather</i>, please your +worship." +</p> + +<h4> +P.T.W. +</h4> + +<p> +N.B. Warrant refused. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +CONVERSATION, (<i>from Swift</i>.) +</h3> + + +<p> +Nature hath left every man a capacity of being agreeable, though not of +shining in company; and there are a hundred men sufficiently qualified +for both, who, by a very few faults, that they might correct in half an +hour, are not so much as tolerable. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THE +<br /> +<i>Following Novels is already Published</i>: +</h3> + + +<table align="center" width="90%" summary="List of Books"> +<tr><td> </td><td><i>s.</i></td><td><i>d.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> Mackenzie's Man of Feeling </td><td>0 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Paul and Virginia </td><td>0 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Castle of Otranto </td><td>0 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Almoran and Hamet </td><td>0 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia </td><td>0 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne </td><td>0 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Rasselas </td><td>0 </td><td> 8</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Old English Baron </td><td>0 </td><td> 8</td></tr> +<tr><td> Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield </td><td>0 </td><td>10</td></tr> +<tr><td> Sicilian Romance </td><td>1 </td><td> 0</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Man of the World </td><td>1 </td><td> 0</td></tr> +<tr><td> A Simple Story </td><td>1 </td><td> 4</td></tr> +<tr><td> Joseph Andrews </td><td>1 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Humphry Clinker </td><td>1 </td><td> 8</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Romance of the Forest </td><td>1 </td><td> 8</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Italian </td><td>2 </td><td> 0</td></tr> +<tr><td> Zeluco, by Dr. Moore </td><td>2 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Edward, by Dr. Moore </td><td>2 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Roderick Random </td><td>2 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Mysteries of Udolpho </td><td>3 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Peregrine Pickle </td><td>4 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a> +<b>Footnote 1</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag1">(return)</a> +Mr Loudon promises an account of these improvements for the next +number of his valuable <i>Gardener's Magazine</i>. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a> +<b>Footnote 2</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag2">(return)</a> +A <i>ruse</i> of this description will be found in the MIRROR, +vol. X. page. 305, prefixed to a paper on French Gaming Houses. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a> +<b>Footnote 3</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag3">(return)</a> +The Manchester Courier, 25th July. +</blockquote> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p> +<i>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.</i> +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14011 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/14011-h/images/389-1.png b/14011-h/images/389-1.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..574bdd3 --- /dev/null +++ b/14011-h/images/389-1.png diff --git a/14011-h/images/389-2.png b/14011-h/images/389-2.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6ab3d0d --- /dev/null +++ b/14011-h/images/389-2.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. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..67f132e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #14011 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14011) diff --git a/old/14011-8.txt b/old/14011-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..02bfcad --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14011-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1952 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and +Instruction, Vol. 14, Issue 389, September 12, 1829, 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: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 14, +Issue 389, September 12, 1829 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: November 10, 2004 [eBook #14011] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, +AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 14, ISSUE 389, SEPTEMBER 12, 1829*** + + +E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, David Garcia, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 14011-h.htm or 14011-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/0/1/14011/14011-h/14011-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/0/1/14011/14011-h.zip) + + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XIV., NO. 389.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1829. [PRICE 2d. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +SION HOUSE. + + +[Illustration: Sion House.] + + +Taylor, the water poet, or Samuel Ireland, the picturesque Thames +tourist, could not, in all their enthusiasm of jingling rhymes and +aquatint plates, have exceeded our admiration of Sion House. Its +whitened towers and battlemented roof are known to all the swan-hopping +and steam navigators of our day, and none who have floated + + To where the silver Thames first rural grows,-- + + +can be strangers to the magnificence of the river-front. + +Sion House stands in the parish of Isleworth, on the Middlesex bank +of the Thames, and opposite Richmond gardens. It is called Sion +from a nunnery of Bridgetines of the same name, originally founded at +Twickenham, by Henry V. in 1414, and removed to this spot in 1432. +This conventual association consisted of sixty nuns, the abbess, +thirteen priests, four deacons, and eight lay brethren; the whole thus +corresponding, in point of number, with the Apostles and seventy-two +disciples of Christ. But the inmates were neither sinless nor spotless; +many irregularities existed in the foundation, and consequently, Sion +was among the first of the larger monastic institutions suppressed by +Henry VIII. The estimated yearly value was 1,944 l. 11 s. 8-1/2 d., +now worth 38,891 l. 14 s. 2d. + +After the dissolution of this convent, in 1532, it continued in the +crown during the remainder of Henry's reign; and the King confined here +his unfortunate Queen, Catherine Howard, from November 14, 1541, to +February 10, 1542, being three days before her execution. Edward VI. +granted it to his uncle, the Duke of Somerset, who, in 1547, began to +build this spacious structure, and finished the shell of it nearly as it +now remains. The house is a majestic edifice of white stone, built in a +quadrangular form, with a flat and embattled roof, with a square turret +at each of the outward angles. In the centre is an enclosed area, now +laid out as a flower garden. The gardens were originally enclosed by +high walls before the east and west fronts, so as to exclude all +prospect; but the Protector, to remedy this inconvenience, built a high +terrace in the angle between the walls of the two gardens. After his +execution, in 1552, Sion was forfeited; and the house, which was given +to John, Duke of Northumberland, then became the residence of his son, +Lord Guildford Dudley, and of his daughter-in-law, the unfortunate Lady +Jane Grey, who resided at this place when the Duke of Northumberland and +Suffolk, and her husband, came to prevail upon her to accept the fatal +present of the crown. The duke being beheaded in 1553, Sion House +reverted to the crown. Queen Mary restored it to the Bridgetines, who +possessed it till they were finally expelled by Elizabeth. In 1604, Sion +House was granted to Henry Percy, ninth Earl of Northumberland, in +consideration of his eminent services. His son, Algernon, employed Inigo +Jones to new face the inner court, and to finish the great hall in the +manner in which it now appears. In 1682, Charles, Duke of Somerset, by +his marriage with the only child of Joceline, Earl of Northumberland, +became possessed of Sion House: he lent the mansion to the Princess +Anne, who resided here during the misunderstanding between her and Queen +Mary. Upon the duke's death, in 1748, his son, Algernon, gave Sion House +to Sir Hugh and Lady Elizabeth Smithson, his son-in-law and daughter, +afterwards Duke and Duchess of Northumberland, who made many fine +improvements here, under the direction of Robert Adam, Esq. The late +duke (who distinguished himself at the battle of Bunker's Hill) passed +the principal part of his time at this seat; and here, also, he died, +in the year 1815. The present duke has expended immense sums in the +improvement of the mansion, grounds, and gardens. + +The entrance is from the great road through a fine gateway, having on +each side an open colonnade, and on the top a lion passant, the crest +of the noble house of Northumberland. A flight of steps leads into the +great hall, sixty-six feet by thirty-one feet, and thirty-four in +height, paved with white and black marble, and ornamented with colossal +statues, and an extremely fine bronze cast of the Dying Gladiator, cast +at Rome, by Valadier. A flight of veined marble steps leads to the +vestibule, with a floor of scagliola, and twelve large Ionic columns +and sixteen pilasters of _verde antique_. This leads to the dining +room, ornamented with marble statues and paintings in _chiaro +oscuro_, after the antique, with, at each end, a circular recess, +separated by Corinthian columns, fluted, and a ceiling in stucco, gilt. +The drawing room has a rich carved ceiling; and the sides are hung with +three-coloured silk damask, the finest of the kind ever executed in +England. The antique mosaic tables, and the chimney-piece of this +apartment are very splendid, as are also the glasses, which are 108 +inches by 65. The great gallery, serving for the library and museum, is +133-½ feet by 14, is in stucco, after the finest remains of antiquity, +and is remarkable as the first specimen of stucco work finished in +England. A series of medallion-paintings here represents the portraits +of all the earls of Northumberland, in succession, and other principal +persons of the houses of Percy and Seymour. At each end is a little +pavilion, finished in exquisite taste; as is also a beautiful closet +in one of the square turrets rising above the roof, which commands an +enchanting prospect. + +From the east end of the gallery is a suite of private apartments +leading back to the great hall, and hung with valuable paintings, +among which are the following portraits: Henry Percy, ninth Earl of +Northumberland, who was implicated in the Gunpowder Plot, and imprisoned +in the Tower; he died November 5, 1632, the anniversary of the day so +fatal to his happiness. Lucy, Countess of Carlisle, his daughter, one of +the most admired beauties of her time; she also died November 5, 1660. +Algernon Percy, tenth Earl of Northumberland. Charles I. and one of his +sons, by Sir P. Lely. Charles I. by Vandyke. Queen Henrietta Maria, +Vandyke. The Duke of Gloucester, son of Charles I. The Princess +Elizabeth, daughter of Charles I.; this is believed to be the only +picture extant of this lady. The above portraits of the Stuart family +are placed in the apartments in which Charles had so many tender +interviews with his children, after the latter were committed to the +charge of Earl Algernon Percy, and removed to Sion House, in August, +1646. The earl treated them with parental attention, and obtained a +grant of Parliament for the king to be allowed to see them; and in +consequence of this indulgence, the latter, who was then under restraint +at Hampton Court, often dined with his family at Sion House. + +Two of the principal fronts of Sion House command very beautiful +scenery; for even the Thames itself appears to belong to the gardens, +which are separated into two parts by a serpentine river that +communicates with the Thames. + +The gardens were principally laid out by Brown: they have, however, +been lately improved and re-arranged; and the kitchen-garden is almost +unequalled by any thing in the kingdom. Here is a range of hothouses +upwards of 400 feet in length, constructed of metal, even to the +wall-plates, the doors, and framing of the sashes; the whole being +glazed with plate-glass. It is impossible for us to describe the extent +and completeness of these improvements, connected with which, Mr. Loudon +observes--"nothing can be more gratifying than to see a nobleman +employing a part of his income in so judicious and spirited a +manner."[1] + + [1] Mr Loudon promises an account of these improvements for the next + number of his valuable _Gardener's Magazine_. + + + * * * * * + + + + +RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS. + + * * * * * + + +MONKISH VERSES. + +(For the _Mirror_.) + + +MIRROR, vol. xii. pp. 98, 165. + +The following is said to have been the epitaph on the tomb of Fair +Rosamond, at Godstow:-- + + _Hic jacet in tomba, Rosamundae non Rosamundi, + Non redolet sed olet quae redolere solet_. + + +TRANSLATED. + + Within this tomb lies the world's fairest rose; + Whose scent now charms not, but offends the nose. + + MIRROR, vol. xiii. p. 98. + + +The couplet on York Minster, translated. + + As of all flowers the rose is still the sweetest, + So of all churches this is the completest. + + +On the stone in the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey. + + _Ni fallat fatum, Scoti quocunque loquitur, + Inveniant lapidem, regnare teneter ibidem_. + + +TRANSLATED. + + Unless old proverbs fail, and wizard's wits be blind, + The Scots shall surely reign, where'er this stone they find. + + +Luther sent a glass to Dr. Justus Jonas, with the following verses:-- + + _Dat vitrum vitro, Jonae, vitro ipse Lutherus, + Se similem ut fragili noscat uterque vitro_. + + +TRANSLATED. + + Luther a glass, to Jonas Glass, a glass doth send, + That both may know ourselves to be but glass, my friend. + + +PRIOR. + +MIRROR, vol. xii. p. 184. + + +Prior's epitaph on himself was parodied as follows:-- + + Hold Mathew Prior, by your leave, + Your epitaph is very odd: + Bourbon and you are sons of Eve, + Nassau the offspring of a God. + + +Which being shewn to Swift he wrote the following:-- + + Hold, Mathew Prior, by your leave, + Your epitaph is barely civil; + Bourbon and you are sons of Eve, + Nassau the offspring of the devil. + + +In the "Spectator," is part of an epitaph by Ben Jonson, on Mary +Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, and sister of Sir Philip Sidney. The +following is the whole, taken from the first edition of Jonson's works, +collected as they were published:-- + + Underneath this stone doth lie, + As much virtue as could die; + Which when alive did vigour give, + To as much beauty as could live; + If she had a single fault, + Leave it buried in this vault. + + +Another on the same, from the same source:-- + + Underneath this sable hearse, + Lies the subject of all verse, + Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother, + Death ere thou hast slain another, + Fair, and good, and learn'd as she, + Time shall throw a dart at thee; + Marble piles, let no man raise + To her fame; for after days, + Some kind woman born as she, + Reading this, like Niobe, + Shall turn statue and become + Both her mourner and her tomb. + + +A CORRESPONDENT. + + * * * * * + + +The Londiners pronounce woe to him, that buyes a horse in Smith-field, +that takes a Seruant in Paul's Church, that marries a Wife out of +Westminster. Londiners, and all within the sound of Bow-Bell, are in +reproch called Cocknies, and eaters of buttered tostes. The Kentish +men of old were said to haue tayles, because trafficking in the Low +Countries, they neuer paid full payments of what they did owe, but still +left some part vnpaid. Essex men are called calues, (because they abound +there,) Lankashire eggepies, and to be wonne by an Apple with a red +side. Norfolke wyles (for crafty litigiousness:) Essex stiles, (so many +as make walking tedious,) Kentish miles (of the length.) + +--_Moryson's Itinerary_, 1617. + + * * * * * + + +ORIGIN OF THE WORD SMECTYMNUUS. + +(For the _Mirror_.) + + +This was a cant term that made some figure in the time of the Civil War, +and during the Interregnum. It was formed of the initial letters of the +names of five eminent Presbyterian ministers of that time, viz. Stephen +Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William +Spenstow; who, together, wrote a book against Episcopacy, in the year +1641, whence they and their retainers were called Smectymnuans. They +wore handkerchiefs about their necks for a note of distinction (as the +officers of the parliament-army then did) which afterwards degenerated +into cravats. + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + +CIVIC FEAST IN 1506. + +(For the _Mirror_.) + + +In the court room of Salters' Hall there appears, framed and glazed, the +following "Bill of fare for fifty people of the Company of Salters, A.D. +1506." + + s. d. + Thirty-six chickens 4 5 + One swan and four geese 7 0 + Nine rabbits 1 4 + Two rumps of beef tails 0 2 + Six quails 1 6 + Two oz. of pepper 0 2 + Two oz. of cloves and mace 0 4 + One and a half oz. of saffron 0 6 + Eight lbs. of sugar 0 8 + Two lbs. of raisins 0 4 + One lb. of dates 0 4 + One and a half lb. of comfits 0 2 + Half a hundred eggs 0 2-1/2 + Four gallons of curds 0 4 + One ditto gooseberries 0 2 + Bread for the company 1 1 + One kilderkin of ale 2 3 + Herbs 1 0 + Two dishes of butter 0 4 + Four breasts of veal 1 5 + Brawn 0 6 + Quarter load of coals 0 4 + Faggots 0 2 + Three and a half gallons of + Gascoigne wine 2 4 + One bottle of Muscovadine 0 8 + Cherries and tarts 0 8 + Verjuice and vinegar 0 2 + Paid the cook 3 4 + Perfume 0 2 + One bushel and a half of meal 0 8 + Water 0 3 + Garnishing the vessels 0 3 + ------------- + Total of feast for 50 people £1 13 2-1/2 + ------------- + + +CURIOS. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS. + + * * * * * + + +VIDOCQ. (Concluded.) + + +We have a vulgar book called _Frauds of London laid open_, and +Vidocq's fourth volume will serve for Paris, since he defines the +nomenclature--nay the very craft of thieves with great minuteness: +thus-- + + +_The Chevaliers Grimpants_. + +"The Chevaliers Grimpants, called also _voleurs au bonjour_, _donneurs +de bonjours_, _bonjouriers_, are those who introduce themselves into a +house and carry off in an instant the first movable commodity that falls +in their way. The first _bonjouriers_ were I am assured, servants +out of place. They were at first few in number, but, soon acquiring +pupils, their industry increased so rapidly, that from 1800 to 1812, +there was scarcely a day that robberies were not committed in Paris of +from a dozen to fifteen baskets of plate. + +"The _Almanach du commerce, l'Almanach royal_, and that with +twenty-five thousand addresses in it, are, for bonjouriers, the most +interesting works that can be published. Every morning, before they go +out, they consult them; and when they propose visiting any particular +house, it is very seldom that they are not acquainted with the names of +at least two persons in it; and that they may effect an entrance, they +inquire for one when they see the porter, and endeavour to rob the other. + +"A _bonjourier_ has always a gentlemanly appearance, and his shoes +always well made and thin. He gives the preference to kid before any +other leather, and takes care to bruise and break the sole that it may +not creak or make any noise; sometimes the sole is made of felt; at +other times, and especially in winter, the kid slipper, or dogskin shoe, +is replaced by list shoes, with which they can walk, go up stairs, or +descend a staircase, without any noise. The theft _au bonjour_, is +effected without violence, without skeleton keys, without burglariously +entering. If a thief sees a key in a door of a room, he first knocks +very gently, then a little harder, then very loudly; if no person +answers, he turns the handle, and thus enters the antechamber. +He then advances to the eating-room, penetrates even to the adjoining +apartments, to see if there be any person there; returns, and if the key +of the sideboard is not to be seen, he looks in all the places in which +he knows it is generally deposited, and if he finds it, he instantly +uses it to open the drawers, and taking out the plate, he places it +generally in his hat, after which, he covers it with a napkin, or fine +cambric handkerchief, which, by its texture and whiteness, announces the +gentleman. Should the _bonjourier_, whilst on his enterprise, hear +any person coming, he goes straight towards him, and accosting him, +wishes him good morning (_le bonjour_) with a smiling and almost +familiar air, and inquires if it be not Monsieur 'such a one,' to whom +he has the honour of addressing himself. He is directed to the story +higher or lower, and, then still smiling, evincing the utmost politeness +and making a thousand excuses and affected bows, he withdraws. It may so +happen, that he has not had time to consummate his larceny, but most +frequently the business is perfected, and the discovery of loss only +made too late to remedy it. + +"The majority of the thieves in this particular line commence their +incursions with morning, at the hour when the housekeepers go out for +their cream, or have a gossip whilst their masters and mistresses are in +bed. Other _bonjouriers_ do not open the campaign until near dinner +time; they pitch upon the moment when the plate is laid upon the table. +They enter, and in the twinkling of an eye, they cause spoons, forks, +ladles, &c. to vanish. This is technically termed _goupiner à la +desserte_, (clearing the cloth). + +"One day one of these _goupineurs à la desserte_ was on the look +out in a dining room, when a servant entered carrying two silver dishes, +between which were some fish. Without being at all disconcerted, he went +up to her, and said--'Well, go and bring up the soup, the gentlemen are +in a hurry.' + +"'Yes, sir,' said the maid, taking him for one of the guests, 'it is +quite ready, and if you please you can announce the dinner.' + +"At the same time she ran to the kitchen, and the _goupineur_, +after having hastily emptied the dishes, thrust them between his +waistcoat and shirt. The girl returned with the broth, the pretended +guest had retired, and there was not a single piece of silver left on +the table. They denounced this theft to me, and from the statement +given, as well as the description of the person committing the robbery, +I thought I had recognised my man. He was called _Cheinaux_, alias +_Bayer_, and was discovered and apprehended in Saint Catherine's +market. His shirt was marked with the circumference of the dishes, in +consequence of the remains of the sauce left in them. + +"Another body of _bonjouriers_ more particularly direct their +talents to furnished houses. + +"The individuals forming this class are on foot from the dawn of day. +Their talent is evinced by the adroit mode in which they baffle the +vigilance of the porters. They go up the staircase, sometimes on one +pretext, and sometimes on another, look round them, and if they find any +keys in the doors, which is common enough, they turn them with the least +possible noise. Once in the room, if the occupant be asleep, farewell to +his purse, his watch, his jewels, and all that he has that is valuable. +If he awakes, the visiter has a thousand excuses ready. + +"'A thousand pardons, sir, I thought this was No. 13;' or, 'Was it you, +sir, who sent for a bootmaker, tailor, hairdresser,'" &c. &c. + + +_The Detourneurs and Detourneuses_. + +"The robbery _à la detourne_ is that which is effected whilst +making purchases at a shop. This species of plunder is practised by +individuals of both sexes; but the _détourneuses_, or _lady prigs_, +are generally esteemed more expert than the _detourneurs_, or +_gentlemen prigs_. The reason of this superiority consists entirely in +the difference of dress; women can easily conceal a very large parcel. + +"In retail shops it would be an advisable plan, when there are many +customers to serve, that from time to time the shopmen should say to +each other, _deux sur dix_ (two on ten), or else _allumez les +gonzesses_ (twig the prigs). I will bet a thousand to one, that on +hearing these words, the thieves, who have very fine ears, will make +haste to take themselves away. + +"Shopkeepers of what class soever, particularly retailers, cannot be +too much on their guard; they should never forget that in Paris there +are thousands of male and female thieves _à la detourne_, I here +only speak of robbers by profession; but there are also _amateurs_, +who, beneath the cover of a well-established reputation, make small +acquisitions slyly and unsuspectedly. They are very honest people they +say, who with little scruple indulge their propensity for a rare book, +a miniature, a cameo, a mosaic, a manuscript, a print, a medal, or +a jewel that pleases them; they are called _Chipeurs_. If the +_Chipeur_ be rich, no heed is paid to him, he is too much above +such a larceny to impute it to him as a crime; if he be poor, he is +denounced to the attorney-general, and sent to the galleys, because +he robbed from necessity. It must be owned that we have strange ideas +as to honesty and dishonesty." + +This is what we call _Shoplifting_. A milliner once told us that +ribands and flowers not unfrequently attach themselves to the cuffs and +sleeves of fair purchasers. + + +_Careurs_ + +Belong to the same class of thieves, and are gipsies, Italians, or Jews. +The female Careurs are very expert in robbing priests; and Vidocq +apprehended a mother and daughter for more than sixty such offences. + +"The gipsies do not confine themselves to these means of appropriating +to themselves the property of another: they frequently commit murder, +and they have the less objection to commit a murder, because they have +no feeling of any kind of remorse; and they have a peculiar kind of +expiation whereby they purify themselves. For a year they wear a coarse +woollen shirt, and abstain from '_work_' (robbing). This period +elapsed, they believe themselves white as snow. In France, the majority +of the persons of this caste call themselves Catholics, and have every +external show of great devotion. They always carry about them rosaries +and a crucifix; they say their prayers night and morning, and follow +the service with much attention and precision. In Germany, they seldom +exercise any other calling than that of horse doctor, or herbalist: +some addict themselves to medicine, that is to say, profess to be in +possession of secret means of effecting cures. A vast number of them +travel in bodies, some tell fortunes, others mend glass, china, pots, +and pans; woe to the inhabitants of the country overrun by these +vagabonds. There will infallibly be a mortality amongst the cattle, for +the gipsies are very clever in killing them, without leaving any traces +which can be converted into a charge of malevolence against them. They +kill the cows by piercing them to the heart with a long and very fine +needle, so that the blood flowing inwardly, it may be supposed that the +animal died of disease. They stifle poultry with brimstone; they know +that then they will give them the dead birds; and whilst they imagine +that they have a taste for carrion, they make good cheer, and eat +delicious meat. Sometimes they want hams, and then they take a red +herring and hold it under the nose of a pig, which, allured by the +smell, would follow them to the world's end." + + +_Rouletiers_ + +Are fellows who plunder carriages of portmanteaus, imperials, &c. + +"One day I followed a famous _rouletier_ named _Gosnet_. On reaching +the Rue Saint Denis, he jumped up on a coach, put on a cloak and cotton +cap which he found lying close to his hand, and in this dress got down +again with a portmanteau under his arm. It was not later than two +o'clock in the afternoon; but to elude all suspicion, Gosnet, on +alighting, went straight to the _conducteur_ (guard), and after +having spoken to him, turned down a street close at hand. I was in +waiting for him, he was apprehended and sentenced." + + +_Tireurs_, + +Or pickpockets are as abundant as mushrooms. + +"There was in Paris a thief of such incredible dexterity that he robbed +without an accomplice. He placed himself in front of a person, put his +hand behind him, and took either a watch or some other valuable. This +species of thievery is called the _vol à la chicane_. + +"A fellow named Molin, alias _Moulin le Chapelier_, being under the +portico des Français, was desirous of stealing a gentleman's purse: the +sufferer, who was near the wall, thought he felt some one picking his +pocket; Molin, full of presence of mind, effected his object in an +instant, the purse was torn from the pocket, he opened it, and taking +out a coin, asked for a ticket for the play. At the same moment the +person robbed said to him--'But, sir, you have taken my purse, give it +to me.'--'The devil I have,' replied Molin with an air of affected +surprise, 'are you quite sure?' Then looking attentively at it--'By +heavens! I thought it was mine. Oh! sir, I ask your pardon.' + +"At the same time he returned the purse, and all the bystanders were +persuaded that he had done it involuntarily. This is being _fly_, +or I know nothing about it. + +"At the time of the great fog, Molin and a _pal_ named Dorlé were +stationed at the environs of the Place des Italiens. An old gentleman +passed, and Dorlé stole his watch which he passed to Molin. The darkness +was so great that he could not discern if it were a repeater or not, and +to ascertain this, Molin pressed down the spring: the hammer instantly +struck on the bell, and by the sound the old man knew his watch, and +instantly cried out--'My watch! my watch! pray restore me my watch, +it belonged to my grandfather, and is a family piece.' + +"Whilst uttering these lamentations, he endeavoured to go in the +direction whence the sound had proceeded, to get his watch as he +expected and hoped to do. He came close up to Molin, who, under cover +of the dense fog, put his hand with the watch in it close to the old +gentleman's ear, and pushing the spring again, said, whilst the watch +was striking--'Listen then to its sounds for the last time;' and with +this cruel advice the two thieves then went away, leaving the worthy +undone elderly to bewail his loss. + +"The ancient _voleurs à la tire_ cite still, as amongst the +celebrated personages of their profession, two Italians, the brothers +Verdure, the eldest of whom, convicted of forming one of a band of +chauffeurs, was sentenced to death. On the day of execution, the +younger, who was at liberty, wished to see his brother as he left the +prison, and with several of his comrades took his station on the road. +When thieves go out in the evening into a crowd they generally have a +preconcerted word of alarm or summons, by which to call or distinguish +their accomplices. Young Verdure, on seeing the fatal car, uttered +his, which was _lorge_, to which the criminal, looking about him, +replied _lorge_. This singular salute given and returned, it may be +imagined that young Verdure retired. On his road he had already stolen +two watches; he saw his brother's head fall from the block, and either +before or afterwards he was determined to carry matters to their utmost. + +"The crowd having dispersed he returned to the cabaret with his +comrades. 'Well, well,' said he, laying down on the table four watches +and a purse, 'I think I have not played my cards amiss. I never thought +to have made such a haul at my _frater's_ death; I am only sorry +he's not here to have his share of the _swag_.'" + +Ring-droppers, and _Emporteurs_ ("gentlemen who lose themselves") are +next shown up: to the latter class belong the fellows who, under +pretence of inquiring their road, fall into conversation with you, +invite you to billiards, and cheat you.[2] Ring-droppers are very +troublesome in Paris, especially in the _Champs Elyseés_, where +you may be teazed to buy a copper-framed eye-glass which they have +just "found." + + +_Riffaudeurs, or Chauffeurs_, + +Were thieves assuming the garb of country dealers, or travelling +hawkers; and they sought to wring from their victims a confession of +where they had concealed their treasure, by applying fire to the soles +of their feet. + +The Fourth Volume closes abruptly with a story of a gang of them, which +has all the horrors of rack and torture. In the Translator's sequel we +find the following:-- + +"Since the commencement of these Memoirs, M. Vidocq has given up his +paper manufactory at St. Mandé, and has been subsequently confined in +Sainte Pelagie for debt. His embarrassments are stated to have arisen +from a passion for gambling, a propensity which, once indulged, takes +deep root in the human mind; and few indeed, lamentably few, are those +who can effectually eradicate the fatal passion. Vidocq, who could +assume all shapes like a second Proteus, who underwent bitter hardships, +and unsparingly jeopardized his life at any time, could not resist the +fell temptation which has brought him to distress and a prison. + +"It has been stated in some of the Journals that Vidocq has a son +named Julius, who was condemned to the galleys, and when liberated was +employed by his father at Sainte Mandé. This must be another bitter +in his life's cup, which Vidocq seems condemned to drain to the very +dregs." + +We need hardly be told why Vidocq has withheld the information +respecting the state of crime in France, which he promised, and made a +grand parade of possessing. The length to which his Memoirs have been +spun out is tedious, and the air of romance which he has given to some +scenes in the concluding volume, almost invalidates its forerunners. +Still we are bound to confess that his adventures are equal in interest +to any work of fact or fiction that has appeared for several years. +We omit the translations of some slang songs, one of which appeared +recently in _Blackwood's Magazine_; still, they are exceedingly +clever in their way. + +The present volume has a portrait of Vidocq, upon which we hope the +physiognomists will speculate; for with all his peccadilloes, (and a +hard set of features which the engraver has probably hardened) the +author must be a clever and a very pleasant fellow; and we wish some +myrmidon of our police--some English Vidocq--would write four pretty +pocket volumes like those of the French policeman. Perhaps some of the +new appointed will take this hint. + +To conclude, after what we have said, our readers need not be +recommended to turn to _Vidocq's Memoirs_. They will find the +translation generally well executed, although we have detected several +slips in the last volume. + + + [2] A _ruse_ of this description will be found in the MIRROR, + vol. X. page. 305, prefixed to a paper on French Gaming Houses. + + + * * * * * + + + + +SOUTHWELL CHURCH. + + +[Illustration: Southwell Church.] + + +The town of Southwell, in the county of Nottingham, is situated in the +midst of an amphitheatre of well-wooded hills; the soil is rich, and the +air, from the vicinity of the River Trent, is remarkably pure. It is +fourteen miles north-east of Nottingham, about as many south-east of +Mansfield, and eight south-west from Newark; the River Greet, famous +for red trout, runs by the side of the town, falling into the Trent, +at about three miles distance. + +The most ancient part of the church is of the order usually called +Saxon, and from tradition is said to have been built in the time of +Harold, predecessor of William I. But there is no history or written +instrument of any kind now extant, concerning the origin of this +structure. The two side aisles are of pure Norman architecture. +The choir was built in the reign of Edward III. as appears by a license +of the eleventh year of that king's reign, to the chapter, to get +stones from a quarry in Shirewood Forest for building the choir. The +chapter-house is a detached building, connected by a cloister with +the north aisle of the choir, and is on the model of that at York. +The arch of entrance from the aisle, is said to exceed in elegance and +correctness of execution, almost every thing of the kind in the kingdom; +the chapter-house is of Gothic architecture, and the arch forming the +approach is considered of modern insertion, the sculpture being finer +and more delicate than any thing near it. This church and Ripon are +said to be the only parochial, as well as collegiate, churches now in +England, the rest having been dissolved by Henry VIII. or his +successors. + +At the Reformation, its chantries were dissolved, and the order of +priests expelled about the year 1536. In 1542, Lee, then Archbishop +of York, granted, by indenture to the king, the manor of Southwell. +In the thirty-fourth year of his reign, Henry VIII., by act of +parliament, declared Southwell the head and mother church of the town +and county of Nottingham, and soon afterwards re-founded and re-endowed +it, probably at the instance of Cranmer, at that time in the height of +favour, who was a native of Nottinghamshire, not far from Southwell. +Soon after the accession of Edward VI. the chapter was again dissolved, +and its prebendal, and other estates granted to John, Earl of Warwick, +afterwards made Duke of Northumberland; by him they were sold to John +Beaumont, Master of the Rolls, and coming soon afterwards to the crown, +by escheat, were granted to the favourite Northumberland, who retained +them until his attainder in 1553, when they again reverted to the crown; +and by Queen Mary were restored to the Archbishop of York, in as ample +manner as they had before been holden. It appears from the _Registrum +Album_, a register of the church, that in the latter end of the +reign of William I. there were at least ten prebends. In the office of +augmentation, an estimate of Southwell College, in the first of Edward +VI. states King Edgar to have been the founder of the church, which +consisted of sixteen prebends, and sixteen vicars. There are now +sixteen prebends, of which the Archbishop of York is sole patron, a +vicar-general appointed out of the prebendaries by the chapter, six +vicars, and six choristers. Alfric, appointed to the See of York in +1023, gave two large bells to the church of Southwell (William of +Malmsbury.) This was about the time of bells coming generally into use. +King Stephen granted that the canons of Southwell should hold the woods +of their prebends, in their own hands, which succeeding monarchs, Henry +II. Richard, John, and Henry III. confirmed. There are two fellowships, +and two scholarships, founded in St. John's College, Cambridge, by Dr. +Keton, canon of Sarum, twenty-second Henry VI. to be presented by the +master, fellows, and scholars of that college, to persons having served +as choristers in the chapter of Southwell. In the civil wars nearly all +the records of Southwell Church were destroyed, the _Registrum +Album_ escaping, which contains grants of most of the revenues +belonging to the church, from soon after the conquest, nearly to the end +of Henry VIII. Southwell is supposed by antiquarians to be the "_Ad +Pontem_" of the Romans, one of the stations on the Roman Way from +London to Lincoln, situated at a distance from any route of importance +between the most frequented part of the kingdom. For many centuries it +was hardly known by name--and, till within thirty years there was no +turnpike road to it in any direction. Thus denied access to the rest +of the world, the people of Southwell lived a separate and distinct +society, retaining their own manners untainted by the world; and +among them traditions were handed down pure and unadulterated by the +speculations of the learned, or the discoveries of antiquarians. + +NEMO. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SKETCH-BOOK. + + * * * * * + + +SIGHMON DUMPS. + + +Anthony Dumps, the father of my hero (the subject matter of a story +being always called the hero, however little heroic he may personally +have been) married Dora Coffin on St. Swithin's day in the first year +of the last reign. + +Anthony was then comfortably off, but through a combination of adverse +circumstances he went rapidly down in the world, became a bankrupt, and +being obliged to vacate his residence in St. Paul's Churchyard, he +removed to No. 3, Burying Ground Buildings, Paddington Road, where Mrs. +Dumps was delivered of a son. + +The depressed pair agreed to christen their babe Simon, but the +name was registered in the parish book with the first syllable spelt +"S--I--G--H;"--whether the trembling hand of the afflicted parent +orthographically erred, or whether a bungling clerk caused the error +I know not; but certain it is that the infant Dumps was registered +SIGHMON. + +Sighmon sighed away his infancy like other babes and sucklings, and when +he grew to be a hobedy-hoy, there was a seriousness in his visage, and +a much-ado-about-nothing-ness in his eye, which were proclaimed by good +natured people to be indications of deep thought and profundity; while +others less "flattering sweet," declared they indicated naught but want +of comprehension, and the dulness of stupidity. + +As he grew older he grew graver, sad was his look, sombre the tone of +his voice, and half an hour's conversation with him was a very serious +affair indeed. + +Burying Ground Buildings, Paddington Road, was the scene of his infant +sports. Since his failure, his father had earned his _lively_hood, +by letting himself out as a mute, or mourner, to a furnisher of +funerals. + +"_Mute_" and "_voluntary woe_" were his stock in trade. + +Often did Mrs. Dumps ink the seams of his small-clothes, and darken his +elbows with a blacking brush, ere he sallied forth to follow borrowed +plumes; and when he returned from his public performance (_oft +rehearsed_) Master Sighmon did innocently crumple his crapes, and +sport with his weepers. + +His melancholy outgoings at length were rewarded by some pecuniary +incomings. The demise of others secured a living for him, and after a +few unusually propitious sickly seasons, he grimly smiled as he counted +his gains: the mourner exulted, and, in praise of his profession, the +mute became eloquent. + +Another event occurred: after burying so many people professionally, he +at length buried Mrs. Dumps; _that_, of course, was by no means a +matter of business. I have before remarked that she was descended from +the Coffins; she was now gathered to her ancestors. + +Dumps had long been proud of gentility of appearance, a suit of black +had been his working day costume, nothing therefore could be more easy +than for Dumps to turn gentleman. He did so; took a villa at Gravesend, +chose for his own sitting room a chamber that looked against a dead +wall, and whilst he was lying in state upon the squabs of his sofa, he +thought seriously of the education of his son, and resolved that he +should be instantly taught the dead languages. + +Sighmon Dumps was decidedly a young man of a serious turn of mind. +The metropolis had few attractions for him, he loved to linger near +the monument; and if ever he thought of a continental excursion, the +Catacombs and Père la Chaise were his seducers. + +His father died, his old employer furnished him with a funeral; the mute +was silenced, and the mourner was mourned. + +Sighmon Dumps became more serious than ever; he had a decided nervous +malady, an abhorrence of society, and a sensitive shrinking when he felt +that any body was looking at him. He had heard of the invisible girl; he +would have given worlds to have been an invisible young gentleman, and +to have glided in and out of rooms, unheeded and unseen, like a draft +through a keyhole. This, however, was not to be his lot; like a man +cursed with creaking shoes, stepping lightly, and tiptoeing availed not; +a _creak_ always betrayed him when he was most anxious to creep +into a corner. + +At his father's death he found himself possessed of a competency and a +villa; but he was unhappy, he was known in the neighbourhood, people +called on him, and he was expected to call on them, and these calls and +recalls bored him. He never, in his life, could abide looking any one +straight in the face; a pair of human eyes meeting his own was actually +painful to him. It was not to be endured. He sold his villa, and +determined to go to some place where, being a total stranger, he might +pass unnoticed and unknown, attracting no attention, no remarks. + +He went to Cheltenham and consulted Boisragon about his nerves, was +recommended a course of the waters, and horse exercise. + +The son of the weeper very naturally thought he had already "too much +of water;" he, however, hired a nag, took a small suburban lodging, and +as nobody spoke to him, nor seemed to care about him, he grew better, +and felt sedately happy. This blest seclusion, "the world forgetting, +by the world forgot," was not the predestined fate of Sighmon: odd +circumstances always brought him into notice. The horse he had hired was +a piebald, a sweet, quiet animal, warranted a safe support for a timid +invalid. On this piebald did Dumps jog through the green lanes in brown +studies. + +One day as he passed a cottage, a face peered at him through an open +window; he heard an exclamation of delight, the door opened, and an +elderly female ran after him, entreating him to stop; much against the +grain he complied. + +"'Twas heaven sent you, sir," said his pursuer, out of breath; "give me +for the love of mercy the cure for the rhumatiz." + +"The what?" said Dumps. + +"The rhumatiz, sir; I've the pains and the aches in my back and my +bones--give me the dose that will cure me." + +In vain Dumps declared his ignorance of the virtues of "medicinal gums." +The more he protested, the more the old woman sued; when to his horror a +reinforcement joined her from the cottage, and men, women, and children +implored him to cure the good dame's malady. At length watching a +favourable opportunity, he insinuated his heel into the side of the +piebald, and trotted off, while entreaties mingled with words of anger +were borne to him on the wind. + +He determined to avoid that green lane in future, and rode out the next +day in an opposite direction: as he trotted through a village a girl ran +after him, shouting for a cure for the hooping cough, a dame with a low +curtsey solicited a remedy for the colic, and an old man asked him what +was good for the palsy. These unforeseen, these unaccountable attacks +were fearful annoyances to so retiring a personage as Dumps. Day after +day, go where he would, the same things happened. He was solicited to +cure "all the ills that flesh is heir to." He was not aware (any more +than the reader very possibly may be) that in some parts of England the +country people have an idea that a quack doctor rides a piebald horse; +_why_, I cannot explain, but so it is, and that poor Dumps felt to +his cost. Life became a burthen to him; he was a marked man; _he_, +whose only wish was to pass unnoticed, unheard, unseen; _he_, who +of all the creeping things on the earth, pitied the glowworm most, +because the spark in its tail attracted observation. He gave up his +lodgings and his piebald, and went "in his angry mood to Tewksbury." + +I ought ere this to have described my hero. He was rather _embonpoint_, +but fat was not with him, as it sometimes is, twin brother to fun; +_his_ fat was weighty, he was inclined to _blubber_. He wore a wig, and +carried in his countenance an expression indicative of the seriousness +of his turn of mind. + +He alighted from the coach at the principal inn at Tewksbury; the +landlady met him in the hall, started, smiled, and escorted him into a +room with much civility. He took her aside, and briefly explained that +retirement, quiet, and a back room to himself were the accommodations +he sought. + +"I understand you sir," replied the landlady, with a knowing wink, +"a little quiet will be agreeable by way of change; I hope you'll find +every thing here to your liking." She then curtseyed and withdrew. + +"Frank," said the hostess to the head waiter, "who _do_ you think +we've got in the blue parlour? you'll never guess! I knew him the minute +I clapped eyes on him; dressed just as I saw him at the Haymarket +Theatre, the only night I ever was at a London stage play. The gray +coat, and the striped trousers, and the hessian boots over them, and the +straw hat out of all shape, and the gingham umbrella!" + +"Who is he, ma'am?" said Frank. "Why, the great comedy actor, Mr. +Liston," replied the landlady, "come down for a holiday; he wants to be +quiet, so we must not blab, or the whole town will be after him." + +This brief dialogue will account for much disquietude which subsequently +befell our ill fated Dumps. People met him, he could not imagine why, +with a broad grin on their features. As they passed they whispered to +each other, and the words "inimitable," "clever creature," "irresistibly +comic," evidently applied to himself, reached his ears. + +Dumps looked more serious than ever; but the greater his gravity, the +more the people smiled, and one young lady actually laughed in his face +as she said aloud, "Oh, that mock heroic tragedy look is _so_ like +him!" + +Sighmon sighed for the seclusion of number three, Burying Ground +Buildings, Paddington Road. + +One morning his landlady announced, with broader grin than usual, that a +gentleman desired to speak with him; he grumbled, but submitted, and the +gentleman was announced. + +"My name, sir, is Opie," said the stranger; "I am quite delighted to see +you here. You intend gratifying the good people of Tewksbury of course?" + +"Gratifying! what _can_ you mean?" + +"If your name is announced, there'll not be a box to be had." + +"I always look after my own boxes, I can tell you," replied Dumps. + +"By all means, you _will_ come out here of course?" + +"Come out? to be sure, I sha'n't stay within doors always." + +"What do you mean to come out in?" + +"Why, what I've got on will do very well." + +"Oh, that's so like you," said Opie, shaking his sides with laughter, +"you really _are_ inimitable!--What character do you select here?" + +"Character!" said Dumps, "the stranger." + +"The Stranger! _you?_" + +"Yes, _I._" + +"And you really mean to come out here as the Stranger?" said Opie. + +"Why, yes to be sure--I'm but just come." + +"Then I shall put your name in large letters immediately, we will open +this evening; and as to terms, you shall have half the receipts of the +house." + +Off ran Mr. Opie, who was no less a personage than the manager of the +theatre, leaving Dumps fully persuaded that he had been closeted with +a lunatic. + +Shortly afterwards he saw a man very busy pasting bills against a wall +opposite his window, and so large were the letters that he easily +deciphered, "THE CELEBRATED MR. LISTON IN TRAGEDY. This evening THE +STRANGER, the Part of THE STRANGER BY MR. LISTON." Dumps had never seen +the inimitable Liston, indeed comedy was quite out of his way. But now +that the star was to shine forth in tragedy, the announcement was +congenial to the serious turn of his mind, and he resolved to go. + +He ate an early dinner, went by times to the theatre, and established +himself in a snug corner of the stage box. The house filled, the hour +of commencement arrived, the fiddlers paused and looked towards the +curtain, but hearing no signal they fiddled another strain. The audience +became impatient; they hissed, they hooted, and they called for the +manager: another pause, another yell of disapprobation, and the manager +pale and trembling appeared, and walked hat in hand to the front of the +stage. To Dumps's great surprise it was the very man who visited him in +the morning. Mr. Opie cleared his throat, bowed repeatedly, moved his +lips, but was inaudible amid the shouts of "hear him." At length silence +was obtained, and he spoke as follows:-- + +"Ladies and Gentlemen, + +"I appear before you to entreat your kind and considerate forbearance; +I lament as much, nay more than you, the absence of Mr. Liston; but, in +the anguish of the moment, one thought supports me, the consciousness +of having done my duty. (_Applause_.) I had an interview with +your deservedly favourite performer this morning, and every necessary +arrangement was made between us. I have sent to his hotel, and he is not +to be found. (_Disapprobation_.) I have been informed that he dined +early, and left the house, saying that he was going to the theatre; what +accident _can_ have prevented his arrival I am utterly unable to--" + +Mr. Opie now happened to glance towards the stage box, surprise! doubt! +anger! certainty! were the alternate expressions of his pale face, and +widely opened eyes; and at length pointing to Dumps he exclaimed-- + +"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my painful duty to inform you that Mr. +Liston is now before you; there he sits at the back of the stage box, +and I trust I may be permitted to call upon him for an explanation of +his very singular conduct." + +Every eye turned towards Dumps, every voice was uplifted against him; +the man who could not endure the scrutiny of _one_ pair of eyes, +now beheld a house full of them glaring at him with angry indignation. +His head became confused, he had a slight consciousness of being elbowed +through the lobby, of a riot in the crowded street, and of being +protected by the civil authorities against the uncivil attacks of the +populace. He was conveyed to bed, and awoke the next morning with a very +considerable accession of nervous malady. + +He soon heard that the whole town vowed vengeance against the infamous +and unprincipled impostor who had so impudently played off a practical +joke on the public, and at dead of night did he escape from the town of +Tewksbury, in a return mourning coach, with which he was accommodated +by his tender hearted landlady. + +Our persecuted hero next occupied private apartments at a boarding-house +at Malvern. Privacy was refreshing, but, alas! its duration was doomed +to be short. A young officer who had witnessed the embarrassment of "the +stranger" at Tewksbury, recognised the sufferer at Malvern, and knowing +his nervous antipathy to being noticed, he wickedly resolved to make him +the lion of the place. + +He dined at the public table, spoke of the gentleman who occupied the +private apartments, wondered that no one appeared to be aware who he +was, and then _in confidence_ informed the assembled party that +the recluse was the celebrated author of the "Pleasures of Memory," now +engaged in illustrating "HIS ITALY" with splendid embellishments from +the pencils of Stothard and Turner. + +Dumps again found himself an object of universal curiosity, every body +became officiously attentive to him, he was waylaid in his walks, and +_intentionally_ intruded upon _by accident_ in his private apartments; +a travelling artist requested to be permitted to take his portrait for +the exhibition, a lady requested him to peruse her manuscript romance +and to give his unbiassed opinion, and the master of the boarding-house +waited upon him by desire of his guests to request that he would honour +the public table with his company. Several ladies solicited his +autograph for their albums, and several gentlemen called a meeting +of the inhabitants, and resolved to give him a public dinner; a +craniologist requested to be permitted to take a cast of his head, +and as a climax to his misery, when he was sitting in his bedchamber +thinking himself at least secure for the present, the door being bolted; +he looked towards the Malvern Hills, which rise abruptly immediately +at the back of the boarding-house, and there he discovered a party of +ladies eagerly gazing at him with long telescopes through the open +windows! + +He left Malvern the next morning, and went to a secluded village on the +Welsh coast, not far from Swansea. + +The events of the last few weeks had rendered poor Sighmon Dumps more +sensitively nervous than ever. His seclusion became perpetual, his blind +always down, and he took his solitary walks in the dusk of the evening. +He had been told that sea sickness was sometimes beneficial in cases +resembling his own; he, therefore, bargained with some boatmen, who +engaged to take him out into the channel, on a little experimental +medicinal trip. At a very early hour in the morning he went down to the +beach, and prepared to embark. He had observed two persons who appeared +to be watching him, he felt certain they were dogging him, and just as +he was stepping into the boat they seized him, saying, "Sir, we know you +to be the great defaulter who has been so long concealed on this coast; +we know you are trying to escape to America, but you must come with us." + +Sighmon's heart was broken. He felt it would be useless to endeavour to +explain or to expostulate; he spoke not, but was passively hurried to a +carriage in which he was borne to the metropolis as fast as four horses +could carry him, without rest or refreshment. Of course, after a minute +examination, he was declared innocent, and was released; but justice +smiled too late, the bloom of Sighmon's happiness had been prematurely +nipped. + +He called in the aid of the first medical advice, grew a little better; +and when the doctor left him he prescribed a medicine which he said he +had no doubt would restore the patient to health. The medicine came, +the bottle was shaken, the contents taken--Sighmon died! + +It was afterwards discovered that a mistake had occasioned his premature +departure; a healing liquid had been prescribed for him, but the +careless dispenser of the medicine had dispensed with caution on the +occasion, and Dumps died of a severe _oxalic_ acidity of the +stomach! By his own desire he was interred in the churchyard opposite to +Burying Ground Buildings, Paddington Road. His funeral was conducted +with _almost_ as much decorum as if his late father the mute had +been present, and he was left with-- + + "At his head a green grass turf, + And at his heels a stone." + + +But even there he could not rest! The next morning it was discovered +that the body of Sighmon Dumps had been stolen by resurrection +men!--_Sharpe's Mag._ + + * * * * * + + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + * * * * * + + +MARIA GRAY.--A SONG. + + +BY THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD. + + + Who says that Maria Gray is dead, + And that I in this world can see her never? + Who says she is laid in her cold death-bed, + The prey of the grave and of death for ever? + Ah! they know little of my dear maid, + Or kindness of her spirit's giver! + For every night she is by my side, + By the morning bower, or the moonlight river. + + Maria was bonny when she was here, + When flesh and blood was her mortal dwelling; + Her smile was sweet, and her mind was clear, + And her form all human forms excelling. + But O! if they saw Maria now, + With her looks of pathos and of feeling, + They would see a cherub's radiant brow, + To ravish'd mortal eyes unveiling. + + The rose is the fairest of earthly flowers-- + It is all of beauty and of sweetness-- + So my dear maid, in the heavenly bowers, + Excels in beauty and in meetness. + She has kiss'd my cheek, she has komb'd my hair, + And made a breast of heaven my pillow, + And promised her God to take me there, + Before the leaf falls from the willow. + + Farewell, ye homes of living men! + I have no relish for your pleasures-- + In the human face I nothing ken + That with my spirit's yearning measures. + I long for onward bliss to be, + A day of joy, a brighter morrow; + And from this bondage to be free, + Farewell thou world of sin and sorrow! + + +_Blackwood's Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +BEWICK, THE ENGRAVER. + +By a Correspondent of the _Magazine of Natural History_. + + +Bewick's first tendency to drawing was noticed by his chalking the +floors and grave-stones with all manner of fantastic figures, and by +sketching the outline of any known character of the village, dogs, or +horses, which were instantly recognised as faithful portraits. The +halfpence he got were always laid out in chalk or coarse pencils; with +which, when taken to church, he scrawled over the ledges of the bench +ludicrous caricatures of the parson, clerk, and the more prominent of +the congregation. These boards are now in the possession of the Duke +of Northumberland, by whom they were replaced; and when his chalk +was exhausted, he resorted to a pin or a nail as a substitute. In +consequence of this propensity to drawing, some liberal people, of whom +he says, there were many in Newcastle, got him bound apprentice to a Mr. +Bielby, an engraver on copper and brass. During this period he walked +most Sundays to Ovingham (ten miles,) to see his parents; and, if the +Tyne was low, crossed it on stilts; but, if high-flowing, hollaed across +to inquire their health, and returned. This infant genius (but it was +the infant Hercules struggling with the snakes) was bound down by his +master to cut clock-faces and door-knockers--ay, clock-faces and +door-knockers!--and he actually showed me several in the streets of +Newcastle he had cut. At this time he was employed by Bielby to cut +on wood the blocks for Dr. Hutton's great work on _Mensuration_. +Hutton was then a schoolmaster at Newcastle (1770.) + +After his apprenticeship, he worked a short time for a person in Hatton +Garden; but he disliked London extremely, still panting for his native +home, to whose braes and bonny banks he joyously returned; where he was +occupied in cutting figures and ornaments for books; and now received +his first prize from the Society of Arts for the "Old Hound," in an +edition of Gay's _Fables_. A glance at this cut will show what a +low state wood-engraving was at, when a public society deemed it worthy +a reward; yet even in this are readily visible some lines and touches of +the future great master of this delicious art. He never omitted visiting +itinerant caravans of animals, from whose living looks and attitudes he +made spirited drawings. This led to his _History of Quadrupeds_, +1790; the first block, however, of which, he cut the very day of his +father's death, Nov. 15, 1785. From this work he obtained very +considerable celebrity; which led him shortly to draw and engrave the +wild bull at Chillingham, Lord Tankerville's, the largest of all his +wood-cuts, impressions of which have actually been sold at twenty +guineas each; and also the zebra, elephant, lion, and tiger, for Pidcock +(Exeter 'Change,) copies whereof are now extremely scarce and valuable. +He also executed some curious works on copper, to illustrate a _Tour +through Lapland_, by Matthew Consett, Esq.; and his _Quadrupeds_ +having passed through seven editions, his fame was widely and well +established. The famous typographer, Bulmer, of the Shakspeare Press +(a native of Newcastle,) now employed John Bewick, who, at the age of +fourteen, had also been aprenticed to Bielby, in co-operation with +his brother Thomas, to embellish a splendid edition of Goldsmith's +_Deserted Village_ and _Hermit_, Parnell's _Poems_, and Somerville's +_Chase_. The designs and execution of these were so admirable and +ingenious, that the late king, George III. doubted their being worked +on wood, and requested a sight of the blocks, at which he was equally +delighted and astonished. It is deeply to be lamented we have so few +specimens of the talents of John Bewick, who died of a pulmonary +complaint, 1795, at the early age of thirty-five. + +I now, in this hasty, feeble, and divaricated biographical sketch, +approach the great and favourite work of my admired friend, _The +History of British Birds_. The first volume of this all-delighting +work was published in 1797, jointly by Bielby and Bewick, but was +afterwards continued by Bewick. This beautiful, accurate, animated, +and (I may really add) wonderful production, having passed through six +editions, each of very numerous impressions, is now universally known +and admired. + +The first time I had _personal_ interview with my venerable friend +was at Newcastle upon Tyne, on Wednesday, October 1, 1823, after +perambulating the romantic regions of Cumberland and Westmoreland, with +my friend, John E. Bowman, Esq., F.L.S. We had been told that he retired +from his workbench on evenings to the "Blue Bell on the side," for the +purpose of reading the news. To this place we repaired, and readily +found ourselves in the presence of the great man. For my part, so warm +was my enthusiasm, that I could have rushed into his arms, as into +those of a parent or benefactor. He was sitting by the fire in a large +elbow-chair, smoking. He received us most kindly, and in a very few +minutes we felt as old friends. He appeared a large, athletic man, then +in his seventy-first year, with thick, bushy, black hair, retaining his +sight so completely as to read aloud rapidly the smallest type of a +newspaper. He was dressed in very plain, brown clothes, but of good +quality, with large flaps to his waistcoat, grey woollen stockings, +and large buckles. In his under-lip he had a prodigious large quid of +tobacco, and he leaned on a very thick oaken cudgel, which, I afterwards +learned, he cut in the woods of Hawthornden. His broad, bright, and +benevolent countenance at one glance, bespoke powerful intellect and +unbounded good-will, with a very visible sparkle of merry wit. The +discourse at first turned on politics (for the paper was in his hand,) +on which he at once openly avowed himself a warm whig, but clearly +without the slightest wish to provoke opposition. I at length succeeded +in turning the conversation into the fields of natural history, but +not till after he had scattered forth a profusion of the most humorous +anecdotes, that would baffle the most retentive memory to enumerate, +and defy the most witty to depict. I succeeded by mentioning an error +in one of his works; for which, when I had convinced him, he thanked +me, and took the path in conversation we wished. In many instances, +I must remark, though frequently succeeding to the broadest humour, his +countenance and conversation assumed the emitted flashes and features +of absolutely the highest sublimity; indeed, to an excitement of awful +amazement, particularly when speaking on the works of the Deity. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE NATURALIST. + + * * * * * + + +DURATION OF LIFE. + +It appears from well authenticated documents, that the mean term of Roman +life, among the citizens, was 30 years--that is to say, taking 1,000 +persons, adding the years together they each attained, and dividing the +total by the number of persons, the result is 30. In England, at the +present time, the expectation of life, for persons similarly situated, +is at least 50 years, giving a superiority of 20 years above the Roman +citizen. The mean term of life among the _easy_ classes at Paris is +at present 42. At Florence, to the _whole_ population, it is still +not more than 30. + +We have gleaned these interesting facts from a review of Dr. Hawkins's +_Elements of Medical Statistics;_ and as the subject is like human +life itself, of exhaustless interest, we shall proceed with a few more: + + +Counties of England and Wales. + +In 1780, the annual mortality of England and Wales was 1 in 40. +By the last census (of 1821,) the yearly mortality had fallen to +1 in 58, nearly one-third. The rate of mortality is of course not +equal throughout the country. According to Dr. Hawkins, this is mainly +influenced by the proportion of large towns which any district or county +contains. The lowest well-ascertained rate of mortality in any part of +Europe is that of Pembrokeshire and Anglesey, in Wales, where only one +death takes place annually out of eighty-three individuals. Sussex +enjoys the lowest rate of mortality of any English county; it is there +1 in 72. Middlesex, on the other hand, affords the other extreme, +1 in 47; yet here, where the rate of mortality is higher than in any +part of England, great improvements in the mean duration of life are +taking place; for in 1811, the mortality was as great as 1 in 36. Kent, +Surrey, Lancashire, Warwickshire, and Cheshire, are the counties where, +next to Middlesex, the deaths are most numerous. The three last named +counties enjoy many natural advantages, but these are more than +counterbalanced by the number and density of their manufacturing towns. +It is a circumstance well worthy of note, that the aguish counties of +England do not, as might have been expected, stand high in the list. +In Lincolnshire, the rate of mortality is only 1 in 62. Dr. Hawkins +hesitates whether to attribute this to the large proportion of dry and +elevated district which that county possesses, or to the exemption of +fenny countries generally from consumption. We are strongly inclined to +suspect that the latter is the true explanation of the fact. The notion +was originally thrown out by the late ingenious physician, Dr. Wells, +who even went so far as to advise the removal of consumptive patients +to the heart of the Cambridgeshire fens, rather than to Hastings or +Sidmouth. + +The author goes on to remark, "that the decline in the mortality is +even more striking in our cities than in our rural districts. While the +metropolis has extended itself in all directions, and multiplied its +inhabitants to an enormous amount,--in other words, while the seeming +sources of its unhealthiness have been largely augmented, it has +actually become more friendly to health." In the middle of the last +century, the annual mortality was about 1 in 20. By the census of 1821, +it appeared as 1 in 40: so that in the space of seventy years, the +chances of existence are exactly _doubled_ in London,--a progress +and final result, adds the author, without a parallel in the history of +any other age or country. The high rate of mortality in London about the +year 1750, exceeding considerably that of former years, has been +attributed to the great, abuse of spirituous liquors, which were then +sold without the very necessary check of high duties. One of the results +of these statistical investigations which, _a priori_, we should +least have been prepared for, is the uncommon healthiness of Manchester. +The rate of mortality there at the present time does not appear to +exceed 1 in 74. + +The statistics of the sexes afford some curious results. The relative +numbers of the sexes are the same in all parts of the world,--namely, +at birth, twenty-one males to twenty females, but as the mortality +among males during infancy exceeds that of females, the sexes at the +age of fifteen are nearly equal. A late French writer, M. Giron, thinks +himself warranted in the opinion, that agricultural pursuits favour an +increase in the male, while commerce and manufactures encourage the +female population. There exists throughout the world considerable +variety in the proportion of births to marriages, but, upon an average, +we may state it at about four to one. It has been uniformly found, +however, that improvements in the public health are attended by a +_diminution_ of marriages and births. The great principle is this: +as the number of men cannot exceed their means of subsistence, _if men +live longer, a less number is born_, and the human race is maintained +at its due complement with fewer deaths and fewer births, a contingency +favourable in every respect to happiness. The author illustrates this +very important principle by the population returns both of England and +France. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GATHERER. + + + A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. + SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +On reading in a provincial paper,[3] a passage entitled, "_Ornaments +of the Bench and Bar_." + + Imitate no one you despise, + _Said_ one _whose_ mind was _great_, + Did he not _think_? despise not him + You _cannot_ imitate. + + +TALBOTE. + + [3] The Manchester Courier, 25th July. + + * * * * * + + +SIMPLICITY. + +Major R---- was not long since riding near a building which presented +to his admiring gaze a fine specimen of antique Saxon architecture. +Desirous to learn something respecting it, he made some inquiries of +a man, who as it happened was the _souter_ of the village. This +learned wight informed the inquisitive stranger that the building in +question was reckoned a noble specimen of _Gothic_ architecture, +and was built by the _Romans_, who came over with Julius Caesar. +"Friend," said the Major, "you make anachronisms." "No, no, Sir," +replied the man, "indeed I don't make _anachronisms_, for I never +made any thing but _shoes_ in my life." + +The same gentleman, one day fitting on a new under-waistcoat, which he +had ordered to be made of a material that should resist rain and damp, +said to the tailor in attendance, "But are you sure that it is +impervious." "O dear, no, Sir," replied the man, with a look of +astonishment, "I certainly can't pretend to say that it is +_impervious_, for it is _wash-leather_." + +M.L.B. + + * * * * * + + +Some men make a vanity of telling their faults; they are the strangest +men in the world; they cannot dissemble; they own it is a folly; they +have lost abundance of advantage by it; but if you would give them the +world, they cannot help it. + + * * * * * + + +ARLEQUINS. + + +In Paris, small lumps of mixed meats sold in the market for cats, dogs, +and the poor, are called _Arlequins_. They are the relics collected +from the plates of the rich, and from the restaurateurs. + + * * * * * + + +By love's delightful influence the attack of ill-humour is resisted; the +violence of our passions abated; the bitter cup of affliction sweetened; +all the injuries of the world alleviated; and the sweetest flowers +plentifully strewed along the path of life. + + * * * * * + + +At the meeting on the Covent Garden stage, the other day, a gentleman +inquired for Mr. Kemble: "He's just _gone off_," replied another, +evidently connected with the theatre. Such is the force of habit. + + * * * * * + + +The late Murgravine of Anspach wrote an impromptu charade, and presented +it to her husband, Lord C., as the person most interested in the subject +of it, and most capable of judging of its truth:-- + + "Mon premier est un tyran-- mari- + Mon second est un monstre-- age; + Et mon tout est--le diable-- mariage." + + + * * * * * + + +A farmer applied to a county magistrate for a warrant:--"A warrant, for +what?" says the magistrate, "To _take up the weather_, please your +worship." + +P.T.W. + +N.B. Warrant refused. + + * * * * * + + +CONVERSATION, (from Swift.) + + +Nature hath left every man a capacity of being agreeable, though not of +shining in company; and there are a hundred men sufficiently qualified +for both, who, by a very few faults, that they might correct in half an +hour, are not so much as tolerable. + + * * * * * + + +LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THE + +Following Novels is already Published: + + s. d. + Mackenzie's Man of Feeling 0 6 + Paul and Virginia 0 6 + The Castle of Otranto 0 6 + Almoran and Hamet 0 6 + Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia 0 6 + The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne 0 6 + Rasselas 0 8 + The Old English Baron 0 8 + Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield 0 10 + Sicilian Romance 1 0 + The Man of the World 1 0 + A Simple Story 1 4 + Joseph Andrews 1 6 + Humphry Clinker 1 8 + The Romance of the Forest 1 8 + The Italian 2 0 + Zeluco, by Dr. Moore 2 6 + Edward, by Dr. Moore 2 6 + Roderick Random 2 6 + The Mysteries of Udolpho 3 6 + Peregrine Pickle 4 6 + + + * * * * * + +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 THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, +AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 14, ISSUE 389, SEPTEMBER 12, 1829*** + + +******* This file should be named 14011-8.txt or 14011-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/0/1/14011 + + + +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 <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 14, Issue 389, September 12, 1829</p> +<p>Author: Various</p> +<p>Release Date: November 10, 2004 [eBook #14011]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 14, ISSUE 389, SEPTEMBER 12, 1829***</p> +<br /><br /><h4>E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, David Garcia,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h4><br /><br /> + <hr class="full" /> + <span class="pagenum"><a id="page161" name="page161"></a>[pg 161]</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. XIV., NO. 389.]</b></td> + <td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1829.</b></td> + <td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr class="full" /> + + +<h2> + SION HOUSE. +</h2> + + +<div class="figure" style="width: 100%;"> +<a href="images/389-1.png"><img width="100%" src="images/389-1.png" +alt="Sion House." /></a><br /> +<b>SION HOUSE.</b> +</div> + + + +<p> +Taylor, the water poet, or Samuel Ireland, the picturesque Thames +tourist, could not, in all their enthusiasm of jingling rhymes and +aquatint plates, have exceeded our admiration of Sion House. Its +whitened towers and battlemented roof are known to all the swan-hopping +and steam navigators of our day, and none who have floated +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> To where the silver Thames first rural grows,—</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +can be strangers to the magnificence of the river-front. +</p> + +<p> +Sion House stands in the parish of Isleworth, on the Middlesex bank +of the Thames, and opposite Richmond gardens. It is called Sion +from a nunnery of Bridgetines of the same name, originally founded at +Twickenham, by Henry V. in 1414, and removed to this spot in 1432. +This conventual association consisted of sixty nuns, the abbess, +thirteen priests, four deacons, and eight lay brethren; the whole thus +corresponding, in point of number, with the Apostles and seventy-two +disciples of Christ. But the inmates were neither sinless nor spotless; +many irregularities existed in the foundation, and consequently, Sion +was among the first of the larger monastic institutions suppressed by +Henry VIII. The estimated yearly value was 1,944<i>l</i>. 11<i>s</i>. 8-1/2<i>d</i>., +now worth 38,891<i>l</i>. 14<i>s</i>. 2<i>d</i>. +</p> + +<p> +After the dissolution of this convent, in 1532, it continued in the +crown during the remainder of Henry's reign; and the King confined here +his unfortunate Queen, Catherine Howard, from November 14, 1541, to +February 10, 1542, being three days before her execution. Edward VI. +granted it to his uncle, the Duke of Somerset, who, in 1547, began to +build this spacious structure, and finished the shell of it nearly as it +now remains. The house is a majestic edifice of white stone, built in a +quadrangular form, with a flat and embattled roof, with a square turret +at each of the outward angles. In the centre is an enclosed area, now +laid out as a flower garden. The gardens were originally enclosed by +high walls before the east and west fronts, so as to exclude all +prospect; but the Protector, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page162" name="page162"></a>[pg 162]</span> +to remedy this inconvenience, built a high +terrace in the angle between the walls of the two gardens. After his +execution, in 1552, Sion was forfeited; and the house, which was given +to John, Duke of Northumberland, then became the residence of his son, +Lord Guildford Dudley, and of his daughter-in-law, the unfortunate Lady +Jane Grey, who resided at this place when the Duke of Northumberland and +Suffolk, and her husband, came to prevail upon her to accept the fatal +present of the crown. The duke being beheaded in 1553, Sion House +reverted to the crown. Queen Mary restored it to the Bridgetines, who +possessed it till they were finally expelled by Elizabeth. In 1604, Sion +House was granted to Henry Percy, ninth Earl of Northumberland, in +consideration of his eminent services. His son, Algernon, employed Inigo +Jones to new face the inner court, and to finish the great hall in the +manner in which it now appears. In 1682, Charles, Duke of Somerset, by +his marriage with the only child of Joceline, Earl of Northumberland, +became possessed of Sion House: he lent the mansion to the Princess +Anne, who resided here during the misunderstanding between her and Queen +Mary. Upon the duke's death, in 1748, his son, Algernon, gave Sion House +to Sir Hugh and Lady Elizabeth Smithson, his son-in-law and daughter, +afterwards Duke and Duchess of Northumberland, who made many fine +improvements here, under the direction of Robert Adam, Esq. The late +duke (who distinguished himself at the battle of Bunker's Hill) passed +the principal part of his time at this seat; and here, also, he died, +in the year 1815. The present duke has expended immense sums in the +improvement of the mansion, grounds, and gardens. +</p> + +<p> +The entrance is from the great road through a fine gateway, having on +each side an open colonnade, and on the top a lion passant, the crest +of the noble house of Northumberland. A flight of steps leads into the +great hall, sixty-six feet by thirty-one feet, and thirty-four in +height, paved with white and black marble, and ornamented with colossal +statues, and an extremely fine bronze cast of the Dying Gladiator, cast +at Rome, by Valadier. A flight of veined marble steps leads to the +vestibule, with a floor of scagliola, and twelve large Ionic columns +and sixteen pilasters of <i>verde antique</i>. This leads to the dining +room, ornamented with marble statues and paintings in <i>chiaro +oscuro</i>, after the antique, with, at each end, a circular recess, +separated by Corinthian columns, fluted, and a ceiling in stucco, gilt. +The drawing room has a rich carved ceiling; and the sides are hung with +three-coloured silk damask, the finest of the kind ever executed in +England. The antique mosaic tables, and the chimney-piece of this +apartment are very splendid, as are also the glasses, which are 108 +inches by 65. The great gallery, serving for the library and museum, is +133-½ feet by 14, is in stucco, after the finest remains of antiquity, +and is remarkable as the first specimen of stucco work finished in +England. A series of medallion-paintings here represents the portraits +of all the earls of Northumberland, in succession, and other principal +persons of the houses of Percy and Seymour. At each end is a little +pavilion, finished in exquisite taste; as is also a beautiful closet +in one of the square turrets rising above the roof, which commands an +enchanting prospect. +</p> + +<p> +From the east end of the gallery is a suite of private apartments +leading back to the great hall, and hung with valuable paintings, +among which are the following portraits: Henry Percy, ninth Earl of +Northumberland, who was implicated in the Gunpowder Plot, and imprisoned +in the Tower; he died November 5, 1632, the anniversary of the day so +fatal to his happiness. Lucy, Countess of Carlisle, his daughter, one of +the most admired beauties of her time; she also died November 5, 1660. +Algernon Percy, tenth Earl of Northumberland. Charles I. and one of his +sons, by Sir P. Lely. Charles I. by Vandyke. Queen Henrietta Maria, +Vandyke. The Duke of Gloucester, son of Charles I. The Princess +Elizabeth, daughter of Charles I.; this is believed to be the only +picture extant of this lady. The above portraits of the Stuart family +are placed in the apartments in which Charles had so many tender +interviews with his children, after the latter were committed to the +charge of Earl Algernon Percy, and removed to Sion House, in August, +1646. The earl treated them with parental attention, and obtained a +grant of Parliament for the king to be allowed to see them; and in +consequence of this indulgence, the latter, who was then under restraint +at Hampton Court, often dined with his family at Sion House. +</p> + +<p> +Two of the principal fronts of Sion House command very beautiful +scenery; for even the Thames itself appears to belong to the gardens, +which are separated into two parts by a serpentine river that +communicates with the Thames. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page163" name="page163"></a>[pg 163]</span> +</p> + +<p> +The gardens were principally laid out by Brown: they have, however, +been lately improved and re-arranged; and the kitchen-garden is almost +unequalled by any thing in the kingdom. Here is a range of hothouses +upwards of 400 feet in length, constructed of metal, even to the +wall-plates, the doors, and framing of the sashes; the whole being +glazed with plate-glass. It is impossible for us to describe the extent +and completeness of these improvements, connected with which, Mr. Loudon +observes—"nothing can be more gratifying than to see a nobleman +employing a part of his income in so judicious and spirited a +manner."<a id="footnotetag1" name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a> +</p> + + + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS. +</h2> + + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + MONKISH VERSES. +</h3> + +<center> +(<i>For the Mirror</i>.) +</center> + + +<center> +MIRROR, vol. xii. pp. 98, 165. +</center> + +<p> +The following is said to have been the epitaph on the tomb of Fair +Rosamond, at Godstow:— +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> <i>Hic jacet in tomba, Rosamundae non Rosamundi</i>,</p> + <p> <i>Non redolet sed olet quae redolere solet</i>.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<center> + TRANSLATED. +</center> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Within this tomb lies the world's fairest rose;</p> + <p> Whose scent now charms not, but offends the nose.</p> +</div></div> + +<center> MIRROR, vol. xiii. p. 98.</center> + +<p> +The couplet on York Minster, translated. +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> As of all flowers the rose is still the sweetest,</p> + <p> So of all churches this is the completest.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +On the stone in the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey. +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> <i>Ni fallat fatum, Scoti quocunque loquitur</i>,</p> + <p> <i>Inveniant lapidem, regnare teneter ibidem</i>.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<center> + TRANSLATED. +</center> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Unless old proverbs fail, and wizard's wits be blind,</p> + <p> The Scots shall surely reign, where'er this stone they find.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +Luther sent a glass to Dr. Justus Jonas, with the following verses:— +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> <i>Dat vitrum vitro, Jonae, vitro ipse Lutherus</i>,</p> + <p> <i>Se similem ut fragili noscat uterque vitro</i>.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<center> + TRANSLATED. +</center> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Luther a glass, to Jonas Glass, a glass doth send,</p> + <p> That both may know ourselves to be but glass, my friend.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<h3> + PRIOR. +</h3> + +<center> +MIRROR, vol. xii. p. 184. +</center> + + +<p> +Prior's epitaph on himself was parodied as follows:— +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Hold Mathew Prior, by your leave,</p> +<p class="i2"> Your epitaph is very odd:</p> + <p> Bourbon and you are sons of Eve,</p> +<p class="i2"> Nassau the offspring of a God.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +Which being shewn to Swift he wrote the following:— +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Hold, Mathew Prior, by your leave,</p> +<p class="i2"> Your epitaph is barely civil;</p> + <p> Bourbon and you are sons of Eve,</p> +<p class="i2"> Nassau the offspring of the devil.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +In the "Spectator," is part of an epitaph by Ben Jonson, on Mary +Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, and sister of Sir Philip Sidney. The +following is the whole, taken from the first edition of Jonson's works, +collected as they were published:— +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Underneath this stone doth lie,</p> + <p> As much virtue as could die;</p> + <p> Which when alive did vigour give,</p> + <p> To as much beauty as could live;</p> + <p> If she had a single fault,</p> + <p> Leave it buried in this vault.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +Another on the same, from the same source:— +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Underneath this sable hearse,</p> + <p> Lies the subject of all verse,</p> + <p> Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother,</p> + <p> Death ere thou hast slain another,</p> + <p> Fair, and good, and learn'd as she,</p> + <p> Time shall throw a dart at thee;</p> + <p> Marble piles, let no man raise</p> + <p> To her fame; for after days,</p> + <p> Some kind woman born as she,</p> + <p> Reading this, like Niobe,</p> + <p> Shall turn statue and become</p> + <p> Both her mourner and her tomb.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<h4> + A CORRESPONDENT. +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<p> +The Londiners pronounce woe to him, that buyes a horse in Smith-field, +that takes a Seruant in Paul's Church, that marries a Wife out of +Westminster. Londiners, and all within the sound of Bow-Bell, are in +reproch called Cocknies, and eaters of buttered tostes. The Kentish +men of old were said to haue tayles, because trafficking in the Low +Countries, they neuer paid full payments of what they did owe, but still +left some part vnpaid. Essex men are called calues, (because they abound +there,) Lankashire eggepies, and to be wonne by an Apple with a red +side. Norfolke wyles (for crafty litigiousness:) Essex stiles, (so many +as make walking tedious,) Kentish miles (of the length.) +</p> + +<p style="text-align: right;"> +—<i>Moryson's Itinerary</i>, 1617. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + ORIGIN OF THE WORD SMECTYMNUUS. +</h3> + +<center> +(<i>For the Mirror</i>.) +</center> + + +<p> +This was a cant term that made some figure in the time of the Civil War, +and during the Interregnum. It was formed of the initial letters of the +names of five eminent Presbyterian ministers of that time, viz. Stephen +Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William +Spenstow; who, together, wrote a book against Episcopacy, in the year +1641, whence they and their retainers were called Smectymnuans. They +wore handkerchiefs about their necks for a note of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page164" name="page164"></a>[pg 164]</span> +distinction (as the +officers of the parliament-army then did) which afterwards degenerated +into cravats. +</p> + +<h4> +P.T.W. +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + CIVIC FEAST IN 1506. +</h3> + +<center> +(<i>For the Mirror</i>.) +</center> + + +<p> +In the court room of Salters' Hall there appears, framed and glazed, the +following "Bill of fare for fifty people of the Company of Salters, A.D. +1506." +</p> + + +<table align="center" width="90%" summary=""> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td><i>s.</i></td><td><i>d.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> Thirty-six chickens </td><td> </td><td> 4 </td><td>5</td></tr> +<tr><td> One swan and four geese </td><td> </td><td> 7 </td><td>0</td></tr> +<tr><td> Nine rabbits </td><td> </td><td> 1 </td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td> Two rumps of beef tails </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>2</td></tr> +<tr><td> Six quails </td><td> </td><td> 1 </td><td>6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Two oz. of pepper </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>2</td></tr> +<tr><td> Two oz. of cloves and mace </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td> One and a half oz. of saffron </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Eight lbs. of sugar </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>8</td></tr> +<tr><td> Two lbs. of raisins </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td> One lb. of dates </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td> One and a half lb. of comfits </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>2</td></tr> +<tr><td> Half a hundred eggs </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>2½</td></tr> +<tr><td> Four gallons of curds </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td> One ditto gooseberries </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>2</td></tr> +<tr><td> Bread for the company </td><td> </td><td> 1 </td><td>1</td></tr> +<tr><td> One kilderkin of ale </td><td> </td><td> 2 </td><td>3</td></tr> +<tr><td> Herbs </td><td> </td><td> 1 </td><td>0</td></tr> +<tr><td> Two dishes of butter </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td> Four breasts of veal </td><td> </td><td> 1 </td><td>5</td></tr> +<tr><td> Brawn </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Quarter load of coals </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td> Faggots </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>2</td></tr> +<tr><td> Three and a half gallons of Gascoigne wine </td><td> </td><td> 2 </td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td> One bottle of Muscovadine </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>8</td></tr> +<tr><td> Cherries and tarts </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>8</td></tr> +<tr><td> Verjuice and vinegar </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>2</td></tr> +<tr><td> Paid the cook </td><td> </td><td> 3 </td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td> Perfume </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>2</td></tr> +<tr><td> One bushel and a half of meal </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>8</td></tr> +<tr><td> Water </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>3</td></tr> +<tr><td> Garnishing the vessels </td><td> </td><td> 0 </td><td>3</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td colspan="3"><hr class="full"/></td></tr> +<tr><td> Total of feast for 50 people </td><td>£1 </td><td>13 </td><td>2½</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td colspan="3"><hr class="full" /></td></tr> +</table> + + + + +<h4> + CURIOS. +</h4> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> +THE SELECTOR;<br /> AND<br /> LITERARY NOTICES OF<br /><i>NEW WORKS</i>. +</h2> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +VIDOCQ. (<i>Concluded</i>.) +</h3> + + +<p> +We have a vulgar book called <i>Frauds of London laid open</i>, and +Vidocq's fourth volume will serve for Paris, since he defines the +nomenclature—nay the very craft of thieves with great minuteness: +thus— +</p> + + +<center> +<i>The Chevaliers Grimpants</i>. +</center> + + +<p> +"The Chevaliers Grimpants, called also <i>voleurs au bonjour</i>, <i>donneurs +de bonjours</i>, <i>bonjouriers</i>, are those who introduce themselves into a +house and carry off in an instant the first movable commodity that falls +in their way. The first <i>bonjouriers</i> were I am assured, servants +out of place. They were at first few in number, but, soon acquiring +pupils, their industry increased so rapidly, that from 1800 to 1812, +there was scarcely a day that robberies were not committed in Paris of +from a dozen to fifteen baskets of plate. +</p> + +<p> +"The <i>Almanach du commerce, l'Almanach royal</i>, and that with +twenty-five thousand addresses in it, are, for bonjouriers, the most +interesting works that can be published. Every morning, before they go +out, they consult them; and when they propose visiting any particular +house, it is very seldom that they are not acquainted with the names of +at least two persons in it; and that they may effect an entrance, they +inquire for one when they see the porter, and endeavour to rob the other. +</p> + +<p> +"A <i>bonjourier</i> has always a gentlemanly appearance, and his shoes +always well made and thin. He gives the preference to kid before any +other leather, and takes care to bruise and break the sole that it may +not creak or make any noise; sometimes the sole is made of felt; at +other times, and especially in winter, the kid slipper, or dogskin shoe, +is replaced by list shoes, with which they can walk, go up stairs, or +descend a staircase, without any noise. The theft <i>au bonjour</i>, is +effected without violence, without skeleton keys, without burglariously +entering. If a thief sees a key in a door of a room, he first knocks +very gently, then a little harder, then very loudly; if no person +answers, he turns the handle, and thus enters the antechamber. +He then advances to the eating-room, penetrates even to the adjoining +apartments, to see if there be any person there; returns, and if the key +of the sideboard is not to be seen, he looks in all the places in which +he knows it is generally deposited, and if he finds it, he instantly +uses it to open the drawers, and taking out the plate, he places it +generally in his hat, after which, he covers it with a napkin, or fine +cambric handkerchief, which, by its texture and whiteness, announces the +gentleman. Should the <i>bonjourier</i>, whilst on his enterprise, hear +any person coming, he goes straight towards him, and accosting him, +wishes him good morning (<i>le bonjour</i>) with a smiling +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page165" name="page165"></a>[pg 165]</span> +and almost +familiar air, and inquires if it be not Monsieur 'such a one,' to whom +he has the honour of addressing himself. He is directed to the story +higher or lower, and, then still smiling, evincing the utmost politeness +and making a thousand excuses and affected bows, he withdraws. It may so +happen, that he has not had time to consummate his larceny, but most +frequently the business is perfected, and the discovery of loss only +made too late to remedy it. +</p> + +<p> +"The majority of the thieves in this particular line commence their +incursions with morning, at the hour when the housekeepers go out for +their cream, or have a gossip whilst their masters and mistresses are in +bed. Other <i>bonjouriers</i> do not open the campaign until near dinner +time; they pitch upon the moment when the plate is laid upon the table. +They enter, and in the twinkling of an eye, they cause spoons, forks, +ladles, &c. to vanish. This is technically termed <i>goupiner à la +desserte</i>, (clearing the cloth). +</p> + +<p> +"One day one of these <i>goupineurs à la desserte</i> was on the look +out in a dining room, when a servant entered carrying two silver dishes, +between which were some fish. Without being at all disconcerted, he went +up to her, and said—'Well, go and bring up the soup, the gentlemen are +in a hurry.' +</p> + +<p> +"'Yes, sir,' said the maid, taking him for one of the guests, 'it is +quite ready, and if you please you can announce the dinner.' +</p> + +<p> +"At the same time she ran to the kitchen, and the <i>goupineur</i>, +after having hastily emptied the dishes, thrust them between his +waistcoat and shirt. The girl returned with the broth, the pretended +guest had retired, and there was not a single piece of silver left on +the table. They denounced this theft to me, and from the statement +given, as well as the description of the person committing the robbery, +I thought I had recognised my man. He was called <i>Cheinaux</i>, alias +<i>Bayer</i>, and was discovered and apprehended in Saint Catherine's +market. His shirt was marked with the circumference of the dishes, in +consequence of the remains of the sauce left in them. +</p> + +<p> +"Another body of <i>bonjouriers</i> more particularly direct their +talents to furnished houses. +</p> + +<p> +"The individuals forming this class are on foot from the dawn of day. +Their talent is evinced by the adroit mode in which they baffle the +vigilance of the porters. They go up the staircase, sometimes on one +pretext, and sometimes on another, look round them, and if they find any +keys in the doors, which is common enough, they turn them with the least +possible noise. Once in the room, if the occupant be asleep, farewell to +his purse, his watch, his jewels, and all that he has that is valuable. +If he awakes, the visiter has a thousand excuses ready. +</p> + +<p> +"'A thousand pardons, sir, I thought this was No. 13;' or, 'Was it you, +sir, who sent for a bootmaker, tailor, hairdresser,'" &c. &c. +</p> + + +<center> +<i>The Detourneurs and Detourneuses</i>. +</center> + + +<p> +"The robbery <i>à la detourne</i> is that which is effected whilst +making purchases at a shop. This species of plunder is practised by +individuals of both sexes; but the <i>détourneuses</i>, or <i>lady prigs</i>, +are generally esteemed more expert than the <i>detourneurs</i>, or +<i>gentlemen prigs</i>. The reason of this superiority consists entirely in +the difference of dress; women can easily conceal a very large parcel. +</p> + +<p> +"In retail shops it would be an advisable plan, when there are many +customers to serve, that from time to time the shopmen should say to +each other, <i>deux sur dix</i> (two on ten), or else <i>allumez les +gonzesses</i> (twig the prigs). I will bet a thousand to one, that on +hearing these words, the thieves, who have very fine ears, will make +haste to take themselves away. +</p> + +<p> +"Shopkeepers of what class soever, particularly retailers, cannot be +too much on their guard; they should never forget that in Paris there +are thousands of male and female thieves <i>à la detourne</i>, I here +only speak of robbers by profession; but there are also <i>amateurs</i>, +who, beneath the cover of a well-established reputation, make small +acquisitions slyly and unsuspectedly. They are very honest people they +say, who with little scruple indulge their propensity for a rare book, +a miniature, a cameo, a mosaic, a manuscript, a print, a medal, or +a jewel that pleases them; they are called <i>Chipeurs</i>. If the +<i>Chipeur</i> be rich, no heed is paid to him, he is too much above +such a larceny to impute it to him as a crime; if he be poor, he is +denounced to the attorney-general, and sent to the galleys, because +he robbed from necessity. It must be owned that we have strange ideas +as to honesty and dishonesty." +</p> + +<p> +This is what we call <i>Shoplifting</i>. A milliner once told us that +ribands and flowers not unfrequently attach themselves to the cuffs and +sleeves of fair purchasers. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page166" name="page166"></a>[pg 166]</span> +</p> + +<center> +<i>Careurs</i> +</center> + + +<p> +Belong to the same class of thieves, and are gipsies, Italians, or Jews. +The female Careurs are very expert in robbing priests; and Vidocq +apprehended a mother and daughter for more than sixty such offences. +</p> + +<p> +"The gipsies do not confine themselves to these means of appropriating +to themselves the property of another: they frequently commit murder, +and they have the less objection to commit a murder, because they have +no feeling of any kind of remorse; and they have a peculiar kind of +expiation whereby they purify themselves. For a year they wear a coarse +woollen shirt, and abstain from '<i>work</i>' (robbing). This period +elapsed, they believe themselves white as snow. In France, the majority +of the persons of this caste call themselves Catholics, and have every +external show of great devotion. They always carry about them rosaries +and a crucifix; they say their prayers night and morning, and follow +the service with much attention and precision. In Germany, they seldom +exercise any other calling than that of horse doctor, or herbalist: +some addict themselves to medicine, that is to say, profess to be in +possession of secret means of effecting cures. A vast number of them +travel in bodies, some tell fortunes, others mend glass, china, pots, +and pans; woe to the inhabitants of the country overrun by these +vagabonds. There will infallibly be a mortality amongst the cattle, for +the gipsies are very clever in killing them, without leaving any traces +which can be converted into a charge of malevolence against them. They +kill the cows by piercing them to the heart with a long and very fine +needle, so that the blood flowing inwardly, it may be supposed that the +animal died of disease. They stifle poultry with brimstone; they know +that then they will give them the dead birds; and whilst they imagine +that they have a taste for carrion, they make good cheer, and eat +delicious meat. Sometimes they want hams, and then they take a red +herring and hold it under the nose of a pig, which, allured by the +smell, would follow them to the world's end." +</p> + + +<center> +<i>Rouletiers</i> +</center> + + +<p> +Are fellows who plunder carriages of portmanteaus, imperials, &c. +</p> + +<p> +"One day I followed a famous <i>rouletier</i> named <i>Gosnet</i>. On reaching +the Rue Saint Denis, he jumped up on a coach, put on a cloak and cotton +cap which he found lying close to his hand, and in this dress got down +again with a portmanteau under his arm. It was not later than two +o'clock in the afternoon; but to elude all suspicion, Gosnet, on +alighting, went straight to the <i>conducteur</i> (guard), and after +having spoken to him, turned down a street close at hand. I was in +waiting for him, he was apprehended and sentenced." +</p> + + +<center> +<i>Tireurs</i>, +</center> + + +<p> +Or pickpockets are as abundant as mushrooms. +</p> + +<p> +"There was in Paris a thief of such incredible dexterity that he robbed +without an accomplice. He placed himself in front of a person, put his +hand behind him, and took either a watch or some other valuable. This +species of thievery is called the <i>vol à la chicane</i>. +</p> + +<p> +"A fellow named Molin, alias <i>Moulin le Chapelier</i>, being under the +portico des Français, was desirous of stealing a gentleman's purse: the +sufferer, who was near the wall, thought he felt some one picking his +pocket; Molin, full of presence of mind, effected his object in an +instant, the purse was torn from the pocket, he opened it, and taking +out a coin, asked for a ticket for the play. At the same moment the +person robbed said to him—'But, sir, you have taken my purse, give it +to me.'—'The devil I have,' replied Molin with an air of affected +surprise, 'are you quite sure?' Then looking attentively at it—'By +heavens! I thought it was mine. Oh! sir, I ask your pardon.' +</p> + +<p> +"At the same time he returned the purse, and all the bystanders were +persuaded that he had done it involuntarily. This is being <i>fly</i>, +or I know nothing about it. +</p> + +<p> +"At the time of the great fog, Molin and a <i>pal</i> named Dorlé were +stationed at the environs of the Place des Italiens. An old gentleman +passed, and Dorlé stole his watch which he passed to Molin. The darkness +was so great that he could not discern if it were a repeater or not, and +to ascertain this, Molin pressed down the spring: the hammer instantly +struck on the bell, and by the sound the old man knew his watch, and +instantly cried out—'My watch! my watch! pray restore me my watch, +it belonged to my grandfather, and is a family piece.' +</p> + +<p> +"Whilst uttering these lamentations, he endeavoured to go in the +direction whence the sound had proceeded, to get his watch as he +expected and hoped to do. He came close up to Molin, who, under cover +of the dense fog, put his hand with the watch in it close to the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page167" name="page167"></a>[pg 167]</span> +old gentleman's ear, and pushing the spring again, said, whilst the watch +was striking—'Listen then to its sounds for the last time;' and with +this cruel advice the two thieves then went away, leaving the worthy +undone elderly to bewail his loss. +</p> + +<p> +"The ancient <i>voleurs à la tire</i> cite still, as amongst the +celebrated personages of their profession, two Italians, the brothers +Verdure, the eldest of whom, convicted of forming one of a band of +chauffeurs, was sentenced to death. On the day of execution, the +younger, who was at liberty, wished to see his brother as he left the +prison, and with several of his comrades took his station on the road. +When thieves go out in the evening into a crowd they generally have a +preconcerted word of alarm or summons, by which to call or distinguish +their accomplices. Young Verdure, on seeing the fatal car, uttered +his, which was <i>lorge</i>, to which the criminal, looking about him, +replied <i>lorge</i>. This singular salute given and returned, it may be +imagined that young Verdure retired. On his road he had already stolen +two watches; he saw his brother's head fall from the block, and either +before or afterwards he was determined to carry matters to their utmost. +</p> + +<p> +"The crowd having dispersed he returned to the cabaret with his +comrades. 'Well, well,' said he, laying down on the table four watches +and a purse, 'I think I have not played my cards amiss. I never thought +to have made such a haul at my <i>frater's</i> death; I am only sorry +he's not here to have his share of the <i>swag</i>.'" +</p> + +<p> +Ring-droppers, and <i>Emporteurs</i> ("gentlemen who lose themselves") are +next shown up: to the latter class belong the fellows who, under +pretence of inquiring their road, fall into conversation with you, +invite you to billiards, and cheat you.<a id="footnotetag2" name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> Ring-droppers are very +troublesome in Paris, especially in the <i>Champs Elyseés</i>, where +you may be teazed to buy a copper-framed eye-glass which they have +just "found." +</p> + + +<center> +<i>Riffaudeurs, or Chauffeurs</i>, +</center> + + +<p> +Were thieves assuming the garb of country dealers, or travelling +hawkers; and they sought to wring from their victims a confession of +where they had concealed their treasure, by applying fire to the soles +of their feet. +</p> + +<p> +The Fourth Volume closes abruptly with a story of a gang of them, which +has all the horrors of rack and torture. In the Translator's sequel we +find the following:— +</p> + +<p> +"Since the commencement of these Memoirs, M. Vidocq has given up his +paper manufactory at St. Mandé, and has been subsequently confined in +Sainte Pelagie for debt. His embarrassments are stated to have arisen +from a passion for gambling, a propensity which, once indulged, takes +deep root in the human mind; and few indeed, lamentably few, are those +who can effectually eradicate the fatal passion. Vidocq, who could +assume all shapes like a second Proteus, who underwent bitter hardships, +and unsparingly jeopardized his life at any time, could not resist the +fell temptation which has brought him to distress and a prison. +</p> + +<p> +"It has been stated in some of the Journals that Vidocq has a son +named Julius, who was condemned to the galleys, and when liberated was +employed by his father at Sainte Mandé. This must be another bitter +in his life's cup, which Vidocq seems condemned to drain to the very +dregs." +</p> + +<p> +We need hardly be told why Vidocq has withheld the information +respecting the state of crime in France, which he promised, and made a +grand parade of possessing. The length to which his Memoirs have been +spun out is tedious, and the air of romance which he has given to some +scenes in the concluding volume, almost invalidates its forerunners. +Still we are bound to confess that his adventures are equal in interest +to any work of fact or fiction that has appeared for several years. +We omit the translations of some slang songs, one of which appeared +recently in <i>Blackwood's Magazine</i>; still, they are exceedingly +clever in their way. +</p> + +<p> +The present volume has a portrait of Vidocq, upon which we hope the +physiognomists will speculate; for with all his peccadilloes, (and a +hard set of features which the engraver has probably hardened) the +author must be a clever and a very pleasant fellow; and we wish some +myrmidon of our police—some English Vidocq—would write four pretty +pocket volumes like those of the French policeman. Perhaps some of the +new appointed will take this hint. +</p> + +<p> +To conclude, after what we have said, our readers need not be +recommended to turn to <i>Vidocq's Memoirs</i>. They will find the +translation generally well executed, although we have detected several +slips in the last volume. +</p> + + + + +<hr /> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page168" name="page168"></a>[pg 168]</span> +</p> + + + + +<h2> + SOUTHWELL CHURCH. +</h2> + + + + +<div class="figure" style="width: 100%;"> +<a href="images/389-2.png"><img width="100%" src="images/389-2.png" +alt="Southwell Church" /></a><br /> +<b>SOUTHWELL CHURCH</b> +</div> + + + +<p> +The town of Southwell, in the county of Nottingham, is situated in the +midst of an amphitheatre of well-wooded hills; the soil is rich, and the +air, from the vicinity of the River Trent, is remarkably pure. It is +fourteen miles north-east of Nottingham, about as many south-east of +Mansfield, and eight south-west from Newark; the River Greet, famous +for red trout, runs by the side of the town, falling into the Trent, +at about three miles distance. +</p> + +<p> +The most ancient part of the church is of the order usually called +Saxon, and from tradition is said to have been built in the time of +Harold, predecessor of William I. But there is no history or written +instrument of any kind now extant, concerning the origin of this +structure. The two side aisles are of pure Norman architecture. +The choir was built in the reign of Edward III. as appears by a license +of the eleventh year of that king's reign, to the chapter, to get +stones from a quarry in Shirewood Forest for building the choir. The +chapter-house is a detached building, connected by a cloister with +the north aisle of the choir, and is on the model of that at York. +The arch of entrance from the aisle, is said to exceed in elegance and +correctness of execution, almost every thing of the kind in the kingdom; +the chapter-house is of Gothic architecture, and the arch forming the +approach is considered of modern insertion, the sculpture being finer +and more delicate than any thing near it. This church and Ripon are +said to be the only parochial, as well as collegiate, churches now in +England, the rest having been dissolved by Henry VIII. or his +successors. +</p> + +<p> +At the Reformation, its chantries were dissolved, and the order of +priests expelled about the year 1536. In 1542, Lee, then Archbishop +of York, granted, by indenture to the king, the manor of Southwell. +In the thirty-fourth year of his reign, Henry VIII., by act of +parliament, declared Southwell the head and mother church of the town +and county of Nottingham, and soon afterwards re-founded and re-endowed +it, probably at the instance of Cranmer, at that time in the height of +favour, who was a native of Nottinghamshire, not far from Southwell. +Soon after the accession of Edward VI. the chapter was again dissolved, +and its prebendal, and other estates granted to John, Earl of Warwick, +afterwards made Duke of Northumberland; by him they were sold to John +Beaumont, Master of the Rolls, and coming soon afterwards to the crown, +by escheat, were granted to the favourite Northumberland, who retained +them until his attainder in 1553, when they again reverted to the crown; +and by Queen Mary were restored to the Archbishop of York, in as ample +manner as they had before been holden. It appears from the <i>Registrum +Album</i>, a register of the church, that in the latter end of the +reign of William I. there were at least ten prebends. In the office of +augmentation, an estimate of Southwell College, in the first of Edward +VI. states King Edgar to have been the founder of the church, which +consisted of sixteen prebends, and sixteen vicars. There are now sixteen +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page169" name="page169"></a>[pg 169]</span> +prebends, of which the Archbishop of York is sole patron, a +vicar-general appointed out of the prebendaries by the chapter, six +vicars, and six choristers. Alfric, appointed to the See of York in +1023, gave two large bells to the church of Southwell (William of +Malmsbury.) This was about the time of bells coming generally into use. +King Stephen granted that the canons of Southwell should hold the woods +of their prebends, in their own hands, which succeeding monarchs, Henry +II. Richard, John, and Henry III. confirmed. There are two fellowships, +and two scholarships, founded in St. John's College, Cambridge, by Dr. +Keton, canon of Sarum, twenty-second Henry VI. to be presented by the +master, fellows, and scholars of that college, to persons having served +as choristers in the chapter of Southwell. In the civil wars nearly all +the records of Southwell Church were destroyed, the <i>Registrum +Album</i> escaping, which contains grants of most of the revenues +belonging to the church, from soon after the conquest, nearly to the end +of Henry VIII. Southwell is supposed by antiquarians to be the "<i>Ad +Pontem</i>" of the Romans, one of the stations on the Roman Way from +London to Lincoln, situated at a distance from any route of importance +between the most frequented part of the kingdom. For many centuries it +was hardly known by name—and, till within thirty years there was no +turnpike road to it in any direction. Thus denied access to the rest +of the world, the people of Southwell lived a separate and distinct +society, retaining their own manners untainted by the world; and +among them traditions were handed down pure and unadulterated by the +speculations of the learned, or the discoveries of antiquarians. +</p> + +<h4> +NEMO. +</h4> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + THE SKETCH-BOOK. +</h2> + + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + SIGHMON DUMPS. +</h3> + + +<p> +Anthony Dumps, the father of my hero (the subject matter of a story +being always called the hero, however little heroic he may personally +have been) married Dora Coffin on St. Swithin's day in the first year +of the last reign. +</p> + +<p> +Anthony was then comfortably off, but through a combination of adverse +circumstances he went rapidly down in the world, became a bankrupt, and +being obliged to vacate his residence in St. Paul's Churchyard, he +removed to No. 3, Burying Ground Buildings, Paddington Road, where Mrs. +Dumps was delivered of a son. +</p> + +<p> +The depressed pair agreed to christen their babe Simon, but the +name was registered in the parish book with the first syllable spelt +"S—I—G—H;"—whether the trembling hand of the afflicted parent +orthographically erred, or whether a bungling clerk caused the error +I know not; but certain it is that the infant Dumps was registered +SIGHMON. +</p> + +<p> +Sighmon sighed away his infancy like other babes and sucklings, and when +he grew to be a hobedy-hoy, there was a seriousness in his visage, and +a much-ado-about-nothing-ness in his eye, which were proclaimed by good +natured people to be indications of deep thought and profundity; while +others less "flattering sweet," declared they indicated naught but want +of comprehension, and the dulness of stupidity. +</p> + +<p> +As he grew older he grew graver, sad was his look, sombre the tone of +his voice, and half an hour's conversation with him was a very serious +affair indeed. +</p> + +<p> +Burying Ground Buildings, Paddington Road, was the scene of his infant +sports. Since his failure, his father had earned his <i>lively</i>hood, +by letting himself out as a mute, or mourner, to a furnisher of +funerals. +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Mute</i>" and "<i>voluntary woe</i>" were his stock in trade. +</p> + +<p> +Often did Mrs. Dumps ink the seams of his small-clothes, and darken his +elbows with a blacking brush, ere he sallied forth to follow borrowed +plumes; and when he returned from his public performance (<i>oft +rehearsed</i>) Master Sighmon did innocently crumple his crapes, and +sport with his weepers. +</p> + +<p> +His melancholy outgoings at length were rewarded by some pecuniary +incomings. The demise of others secured a living for him, and after a +few unusually propitious sickly seasons, he grimly smiled as he counted +his gains: the mourner exulted, and, in praise of his profession, the +mute became eloquent. +</p> + +<p> +Another event occurred: after burying so many people professionally, he +at length buried Mrs. Dumps; <i>that</i>, of course, was by no means a +matter of business. I have before remarked that she was descended from +the Coffins; she was now gathered to her ancestors. +</p> + +<p> +Dumps had long been proud of gentility of appearance, a suit of black +had been his working day costume, nothing therefore could be more easy +than for Dumps to turn gentleman. He did so; took a villa at Gravesend, +chose for his +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page170" name="page170"></a>[pg 170]</span> +own sitting room a chamber that looked against a dead +wall, and whilst he was lying in state upon the squabs of his sofa, he +thought seriously of the education of his son, and resolved that he +should be instantly taught the dead languages. +</p> + +<p> +Sighmon Dumps was decidedly a young man of a serious turn of mind. +The metropolis had few attractions for him, he loved to linger near +the monument; and if ever he thought of a continental excursion, the +Catacombs and Père la Chaise were his seducers. +</p> + +<p> +His father died, his old employer furnished him with a funeral; the mute +was silenced, and the mourner was mourned. +</p> + +<p> +Sighmon Dumps became more serious than ever; he had a decided nervous +malady, an abhorrence of society, and a sensitive shrinking when he felt +that any body was looking at him. He had heard of the invisible girl; he +would have given worlds to have been an invisible young gentleman, and +to have glided in and out of rooms, unheeded and unseen, like a draft +through a keyhole. This, however, was not to be his lot; like a man +cursed with creaking shoes, stepping lightly, and tiptoeing availed not; +a <i>creak</i> always betrayed him when he was most anxious to creep +into a corner. +</p> + +<p> +At his father's death he found himself possessed of a competency and a +villa; but he was unhappy, he was known in the neighbourhood, people +called on him, and he was expected to call on them, and these calls and +recalls bored him. He never, in his life, could abide looking any one +straight in the face; a pair of human eyes meeting his own was actually +painful to him. It was not to be endured. He sold his villa, and +determined to go to some place where, being a total stranger, he might +pass unnoticed and unknown, attracting no attention, no remarks. +</p> + +<p> +He went to Cheltenham and consulted Boisragon about his nerves, was +recommended a course of the waters, and horse exercise. +</p> + +<p> +The son of the weeper very naturally thought he had already "too much +of water;" he, however, hired a nag, took a small suburban lodging, and +as nobody spoke to him, nor seemed to care about him, he grew better, +and felt sedately happy. This blest seclusion, "the world forgetting, +by the world forgot," was not the predestined fate of Sighmon: odd +circumstances always brought him into notice. The horse he had hired was +a piebald, a sweet, quiet animal, warranted a safe support for a timid +invalid. On this piebald did Dumps jog through the green lanes in brown +studies. +</p> + +<p> +One day as he passed a cottage, a face peered at him through an open +window; he heard an exclamation of delight, the door opened, and an +elderly female ran after him, entreating him to stop; much against the +grain he complied. +</p> + +<p> +"'Twas heaven sent you, sir," said his pursuer, out of breath; "give me +for the love of mercy the cure for the rhumatiz." +</p> + +<p> +"The what?" said Dumps. +</p> + +<p> +"The rhumatiz, sir; I've the pains and the aches in my back and my +bones—give me the dose that will cure me." +</p> + +<p> +In vain Dumps declared his ignorance of the virtues of "medicinal gums." +The more he protested, the more the old woman sued; when to his horror a +reinforcement joined her from the cottage, and men, women, and children +implored him to cure the good dame's malady. At length watching a +favourable opportunity, he insinuated his heel into the side of the +piebald, and trotted off, while entreaties mingled with words of anger +were borne to him on the wind. +</p> + +<p> +He determined to avoid that green lane in future, and rode out the next +day in an opposite direction: as he trotted through a village a girl ran +after him, shouting for a cure for the hooping cough, a dame with a low +curtsey solicited a remedy for the colic, and an old man asked him what +was good for the palsy. These unforeseen, these unaccountable attacks +were fearful annoyances to so retiring a personage as Dumps. Day after +day, go where he would, the same things happened. He was solicited to +cure "all the ills that flesh is heir to." He was not aware (any more +than the reader very possibly may be) that in some parts of England the +country people have an idea that a quack doctor rides a piebald horse; +<i>why</i>, I cannot explain, but so it is, and that poor Dumps felt to +his cost. Life became a burthen to him; he was a marked man; <i>he</i>, +whose only wish was to pass unnoticed, unheard, unseen; <i>he</i>, who +of all the creeping things on the earth, pitied the glowworm most, +because the spark in its tail attracted observation. He gave up his +lodgings and his piebald, and went "in his angry mood to Tewksbury." +</p> + +<p> +I ought ere this to have described my hero. He was rather <i>embonpoint</i>, +but fat was not with him, as it sometimes is, twin brother to fun; +<i>his</i> fat was weighty, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page171" name="page171"></a>[pg 171]</span> +he was inclined to <i>blubber</i>. He wore a wig, and +carried in his countenance an expression indicative of the seriousness +of his turn of mind. +</p> + +<p> +He alighted from the coach at the principal inn at Tewksbury; the +landlady met him in the hall, started, smiled, and escorted him into a +room with much civility. He took her aside, and briefly explained that +retirement, quiet, and a back room to himself were the accommodations +he sought. +</p> + +<p> +"I understand you sir," replied the landlady, with a knowing wink, +"a little quiet will be agreeable by way of change; I hope you'll find +every thing here to your liking." She then curtseyed and withdrew. +</p> + +<p> +"Frank," said the hostess to the head waiter, "who <i>do</i> you think +we've got in the blue parlour? you'll never guess! I knew him the minute +I clapped eyes on him; dressed just as I saw him at the Haymarket +Theatre, the only night I ever was at a London stage play. The gray +coat, and the striped trousers, and the hessian boots over them, and the +straw hat out of all shape, and the gingham umbrella!" +</p> + +<p> +"Who is he, ma'am?" said Frank. "Why, the great comedy actor, Mr. +Liston," replied the landlady, "come down for a holiday; he wants to be +quiet, so we must not blab, or the whole town will be after him." +</p> + +<p> +This brief dialogue will account for much disquietude which subsequently +befell our ill fated Dumps. People met him, he could not imagine why, +with a broad grin on their features. As they passed they whispered to +each other, and the words "inimitable," "clever creature," "irresistibly +comic," evidently applied to himself, reached his ears. +</p> + +<p> +Dumps looked more serious than ever; but the greater his gravity, the +more the people smiled, and one young lady actually laughed in his face +as she said aloud, "Oh, that mock heroic tragedy look is <i>so</i> like +him!" +</p> + +<p> +Sighmon sighed for the seclusion of number three, Burying Ground +Buildings, Paddington Road. +</p> + +<p> +One morning his landlady announced, with broader grin than usual, that a +gentleman desired to speak with him; he grumbled, but submitted, and the +gentleman was announced. +</p> + +<p> +"My name, sir, is Opie," said the stranger; "I am quite delighted to see +you here. You intend gratifying the good people of Tewksbury of course?" +</p> + +<p> +"Gratifying! what <i>can</i> you mean?" +</p> + +<p> +"If your name is announced, there'll not be a box to be had." +</p> + +<p> +"I always look after my own boxes, I can tell you," replied Dumps. +</p> + +<p> +"By all means, you <i>will</i> come out here of course?" +</p> + +<p> +"Come out? to be sure, I sha'n't stay within doors always." +</p> + +<p> +"What do you mean to come out in?" +</p> + +<p> +"Why, what I've got on will do very well." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, that's so like you," said Opie, shaking his sides with laughter, +"you really <i>are</i> inimitable!—What character do you select here?" +</p> + +<p> +"Character!" said Dumps, "the stranger." +</p> + +<p> +"The Stranger! <i>you?</i>" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, <i>I.</i>" +</p> + +<p> +"And you really mean to come out here as the Stranger?" said Opie. +</p> + +<p> +"Why, yes to be sure—I'm but just come." +</p> + +<p> +"Then I shall put your name in large letters immediately, we will open +this evening; and as to terms, you shall have half the receipts of the +house." +</p> + +<p> +Off ran Mr. Opie, who was no less a personage than the manager of the +theatre, leaving Dumps fully persuaded that he had been closeted with +a lunatic. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly afterwards he saw a man very busy pasting bills against a wall +opposite his window, and so large were the letters that he easily +deciphered, "THE CELEBRATED MR. LISTON IN TRAGEDY. This evening THE +STRANGER, the Part of THE STRANGER BY MR. LISTON." Dumps had never seen +the inimitable Liston, indeed comedy was quite out of his way. But now +that the star was to shine forth in tragedy, the announcement was +congenial to the serious turn of his mind, and he resolved to go. +</p> + +<p> +He ate an early dinner, went by times to the theatre, and established +himself in a snug corner of the stage box. The house filled, the hour +of commencement arrived, the fiddlers paused and looked towards the +curtain, but hearing no signal they fiddled another strain. The audience +became impatient; they hissed, they hooted, and they called for the +manager: another pause, another yell of disapprobation, and the manager +pale and trembling appeared, and walked hat in hand to the front of the +stage. To Dumps's great surprise it was the very man who visited him in +the morning. Mr. Opie cleared his throat, bowed repeatedly, moved his +lips, but was inaudible amid the shouts of "hear him." At length silence +was obtained, and he spoke as follows:— +</p> + +<p> +"Ladies and Gentlemen, +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page172" name="page172"></a>[pg 172]</span> +</p> + +<p> +"I appear before you to entreat your kind and considerate forbearance; +I lament as much, nay more than you, the absence of Mr. Liston; but, in +the anguish of the moment, one thought supports me, the consciousness +of having done my duty. (<i>Applause</i>.) I had an interview with +your deservedly favourite performer this morning, and every necessary +arrangement was made between us. I have sent to his hotel, and he is not +to be found. (<i>Disapprobation</i>.) I have been informed that he dined +early, and left the house, saying that he was going to the theatre; what +accident <i>can</i> have prevented his arrival I am utterly unable to—" +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Opie now happened to glance towards the stage box, surprise! doubt! +anger! certainty! were the alternate expressions of his pale face, and +widely opened eyes; and at length pointing to Dumps he exclaimed— +</p> + +<p> +"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my painful duty to inform you that Mr. +Liston is now before you; there he sits at the back of the stage box, +and I trust I may be permitted to call upon him for an explanation of +his very singular conduct." +</p> + +<p> +Every eye turned towards Dumps, every voice was uplifted against him; +the man who could not endure the scrutiny of <i>one</i> pair of eyes, +now beheld a house full of them glaring at him with angry indignation. +His head became confused, he had a slight consciousness of being elbowed +through the lobby, of a riot in the crowded street, and of being +protected by the civil authorities against the uncivil attacks of the +populace. He was conveyed to bed, and awoke the next morning with a very +considerable accession of nervous malady. +</p> + +<p> +He soon heard that the whole town vowed vengeance against the infamous +and unprincipled impostor who had so impudently played off a practical +joke on the public, and at dead of night did he escape from the town of +Tewksbury, in a return mourning coach, with which he was accommodated +by his tender hearted landlady. +</p> + +<p> +Our persecuted hero next occupied private apartments at a boarding-house +at Malvern. Privacy was refreshing, but, alas! its duration was doomed +to be short. A young officer who had witnessed the embarrassment of "the +stranger" at Tewksbury, recognised the sufferer at Malvern, and knowing +his nervous antipathy to being noticed, he wickedly resolved to make him +the lion of the place. +</p> + +<p> +He dined at the public table, spoke of the gentleman who occupied the +private apartments, wondered that no one appeared to be aware who he +was, and then <i>in confidence</i> informed the assembled party that +the recluse was the celebrated author of the "Pleasures of Memory," now +engaged in illustrating "HIS ITALY" with splendid embellishments from +the pencils of Stothard and Turner. +</p> + +<p> +Dumps again found himself an object of universal curiosity, every body +became officiously attentive to him, he was waylaid in his walks, and +<i>intentionally</i> intruded upon <i>by accident</i> in his private apartments; +a travelling artist requested to be permitted to take his portrait for +the exhibition, a lady requested him to peruse her manuscript romance +and to give his unbiassed opinion, and the master of the boarding-house +waited upon him by desire of his guests to request that he would honour +the public table with his company. Several ladies solicited his +autograph for their albums, and several gentlemen called a meeting +of the inhabitants, and resolved to give him a public dinner; a +craniologist requested to be permitted to take a cast of his head, +and as a climax to his misery, when he was sitting in his bedchamber +thinking himself at least secure for the present, the door being bolted; +he looked towards the Malvern Hills, which rise abruptly immediately +at the back of the boarding-house, and there he discovered a party of +ladies eagerly gazing at him with long telescopes through the open +windows! +</p> + +<p> +He left Malvern the next morning, and went to a secluded village on the +Welsh coast, not far from Swansea. +</p> + +<p> +The events of the last few weeks had rendered poor Sighmon Dumps more +sensitively nervous than ever. His seclusion became perpetual, his blind +always down, and he took his solitary walks in the dusk of the evening. +He had been told that sea sickness was sometimes beneficial in cases +resembling his own; he, therefore, bargained with some boatmen, who +engaged to take him out into the channel, on a little experimental +medicinal trip. At a very early hour in the morning he went down to the +beach, and prepared to embark. He had observed two persons who appeared +to be watching him, he felt certain they were dogging him, and just as +he was stepping into the boat they seized him, saying, "Sir, we know you +to be the great defaulter who has been so long concealed on this coast; +we know you are trying to escape to America, but you must come with us." +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page173" name="page173"></a>[pg 173]</span> +</p> + +<p> +Sighmon's heart was broken. He felt it would be useless to endeavour to +explain or to expostulate; he spoke not, but was passively hurried to a +carriage in which he was borne to the metropolis as fast as four horses +could carry him, without rest or refreshment. Of course, after a minute +examination, he was declared innocent, and was released; but justice +smiled too late, the bloom of Sighmon's happiness had been prematurely +nipped. +</p> + +<p> +He called in the aid of the first medical advice, grew a little better; +and when the doctor left him he prescribed a medicine which he said he +had no doubt would restore the patient to health. The medicine came, +the bottle was shaken, the contents taken—Sighmon died! +</p> + +<p> +It was afterwards discovered that a mistake had occasioned his premature +departure; a healing liquid had been prescribed for him, but the +careless dispenser of the medicine had dispensed with caution on the +occasion, and Dumps died of a severe <i>oxalic</i> acidity of the +stomach! By his own desire he was interred in the churchyard opposite to +Burying Ground Buildings, Paddington Road. His funeral was conducted +with <i>almost</i> as much decorum as if his late father the mute had +been present, and he was left with— +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "At his head a green grass turf,</p> + <p> And at his heels a stone."</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +But even there he could not rest! The next morning it was discovered +that the body of Sighmon Dumps had been stolen by resurrection +men!—<i>Sharpe's Mag.</i> +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. +</h2> + + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +MARIA GRAY.—A SONG. +</h3> + + +<center> + BY THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD. +</center> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Who says that Maria Gray is dead,</p> +<p class="i2"> And that I in this world can see her never?</p> + <p> Who says she is laid in her cold death-bed,</p> +<p class="i2"> The prey of the grave and of death for ever?</p> + <p> Ah! they know little of my dear maid,</p> +<p class="i2"> Or kindness of her spirit's giver!</p> + <p> For every night she is by my side,</p> +<p class="i2"> By the morning bower, or the moonlight river.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> Maria was bonny when she was here,</p> +<p class="i2"> When flesh and blood was her mortal dwelling;</p> + <p> Her smile was sweet, and her mind was clear,</p> +<p class="i2"> And her form all human forms excelling.</p> + <p> But O! if they saw Maria now,</p> +<p class="i2"> With her looks of pathos and of feeling,</p> + <p> They would see a cherub's radiant brow,</p> +<p class="i2"> To ravish'd mortal eyes unveiling.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> The rose is the fairest of earthly flowers—</p> +<p class="i2"> It is all of beauty and of sweetness—</p> + <p> So my dear maid, in the heavenly bowers,</p> +<p class="i2"> Excels in beauty and in meetness.</p> + <p> She has kiss'd my cheek, she has komb'd my hair,</p> +<p class="i2"> And made a breast of heaven my pillow,</p> + <p> And promised her God to take me there,</p> +<p class="i2"> Before the leaf falls from the willow.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> Farewell, ye homes of living men!</p> +<p class="i2"> I have no relish for your pleasures—</p> + <p> In the human face I nothing ken</p> +<p class="i2"> That with my spirit's yearning measures.</p> + <p> I long for onward bliss to be,</p> +<p class="i2"> A day of joy, a brighter morrow;</p> + <p> And from this bondage to be free,</p> +<p class="i2"> Farewell thou world of sin and sorrow!</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p style="text-align:right;"> +<i>Blackwood's Magazine.</i> +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + BEWICK, THE ENGRAVER. +</h3> + +<center> +<i>By a Correspondent of the Magazine of Natural History.</i> +</center> + + +<p> +Bewick's first tendency to drawing was noticed by his chalking the +floors and grave-stones with all manner of fantastic figures, and by +sketching the outline of any known character of the village, dogs, or +horses, which were instantly recognised as faithful portraits. The +halfpence he got were always laid out in chalk or coarse pencils; with +which, when taken to church, he scrawled over the ledges of the bench +ludicrous caricatures of the parson, clerk, and the more prominent of +the congregation. These boards are now in the possession of the Duke +of Northumberland, by whom they were replaced; and when his chalk +was exhausted, he resorted to a pin or a nail as a substitute. In +consequence of this propensity to drawing, some liberal people, of whom +he says, there were many in Newcastle, got him bound apprentice to a Mr. +Bielby, an engraver on copper and brass. During this period he walked +most Sundays to Ovingham (ten miles,) to see his parents; and, if the +Tyne was low, crossed it on stilts; but, if high-flowing, hollaed across +to inquire their health, and returned. This infant genius (but it was +the infant Hercules struggling with the snakes) was bound down by his +master to cut clock-faces and door-knockers—ay, clock-faces and +door-knockers!—and he actually showed me several in the streets of +Newcastle he had cut. At this time he was employed by Bielby to cut +on wood the blocks for Dr. Hutton's great work on <i>Mensuration</i>. +Hutton was then a schoolmaster at Newcastle (1770.) +</p> + +<p> +After his apprenticeship, he worked a short time for a person in Hatton +Garden; but he disliked London extremely, still panting for his native +home, to whose braes and bonny banks he joyously returned; where he was +occupied in cutting figures and ornaments for books; and now received +his first prize from the Society of Arts for +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page174" name="page174"></a>[pg 174]</span> +the "Old Hound," in an +edition of Gay's <i>Fables</i>. A glance at this cut will show what a +low state wood-engraving was at, when a public society deemed it worthy +a reward; yet even in this are readily visible some lines and touches of +the future great master of this delicious art. He never omitted visiting +itinerant caravans of animals, from whose living looks and attitudes he +made spirited drawings. This led to his <i>History of Quadrupeds</i>, +1790; the first block, however, of which, he cut the very day of his +father's death, Nov. 15, 1785. From this work he obtained very +considerable celebrity; which led him shortly to draw and engrave the +wild bull at Chillingham, Lord Tankerville's, the largest of all his +wood-cuts, impressions of which have actually been sold at twenty +guineas each; and also the zebra, elephant, lion, and tiger, for Pidcock +(Exeter 'Change,) copies whereof are now extremely scarce and valuable. +He also executed some curious works on copper, to illustrate a <i>Tour +through Lapland</i>, by Matthew Consett, Esq.; and his <i>Quadrupeds</i> +having passed through seven editions, his fame was widely and well +established. The famous typographer, Bulmer, of the Shakspeare Press +(a native of Newcastle,) now employed John Bewick, who, at the age of +fourteen, had also been aprenticed to Bielby, in co-operation with +his brother Thomas, to embellish a splendid edition of Goldsmith's +<i>Deserted Village</i> and <i>Hermit</i>, Parnell's <i>Poems</i>, and Somerville's +<i>Chase</i>. The designs and execution of these were so admirable and +ingenious, that the late king, George III. doubted their being worked +on wood, and requested a sight of the blocks, at which he was equally +delighted and astonished. It is deeply to be lamented we have so few +specimens of the talents of John Bewick, who died of a pulmonary +complaint, 1795, at the early age of thirty-five. +</p> + +<p> +I now, in this hasty, feeble, and divaricated biographical sketch, +approach the great and favourite work of my admired friend, <i>The +History of British Birds</i>. The first volume of this all-delighting +work was published in 1797, jointly by Bielby and Bewick, but was +afterwards continued by Bewick. This beautiful, accurate, animated, +and (I may really add) wonderful production, having passed through six +editions, each of very numerous impressions, is now universally known +and admired. +</p> + +<p> +The first time I had <i>personal</i> interview with my venerable friend +was at Newcastle upon Tyne, on Wednesday, October 1, 1823, after +perambulating the romantic regions of Cumberland and Westmoreland, with +my friend, John E. Bowman, Esq., F.L.S. We had been told that he retired +from his workbench on evenings to the "Blue Bell on the side," for the +purpose of reading the news. To this place we repaired, and readily +found ourselves in the presence of the great man. For my part, so warm +was my enthusiasm, that I could have rushed into his arms, as into +those of a parent or benefactor. He was sitting by the fire in a large +elbow-chair, smoking. He received us most kindly, and in a very few +minutes we felt as old friends. He appeared a large, athletic man, then +in his seventy-first year, with thick, bushy, black hair, retaining his +sight so completely as to read aloud rapidly the smallest type of a +newspaper. He was dressed in very plain, brown clothes, but of good +quality, with large flaps to his waistcoat, grey woollen stockings, +and large buckles. In his under-lip he had a prodigious large quid of +tobacco, and he leaned on a very thick oaken cudgel, which, I afterwards +learned, he cut in the woods of Hawthornden. His broad, bright, and +benevolent countenance at one glance, bespoke powerful intellect and +unbounded good-will, with a very visible sparkle of merry wit. The +discourse at first turned on politics (for the paper was in his hand,) +on which he at once openly avowed himself a warm whig, but clearly +without the slightest wish to provoke opposition. I at length succeeded +in turning the conversation into the fields of natural history, but +not till after he had scattered forth a profusion of the most humorous +anecdotes, that would baffle the most retentive memory to enumerate, +and defy the most witty to depict. I succeeded by mentioning an error +in one of his works; for which, when I had convinced him, he thanked +me, and took the path in conversation we wished. In many instances, +I must remark, though frequently succeeding to the broadest humour, his +countenance and conversation assumed the emitted flashes and features +of absolutely the highest sublimity; indeed, to an excitement of awful +amazement, particularly when speaking on the works of the Deity. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + THE NATURALIST. +</h2> + + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + DURATION OF LIFE. +</h3> + +<p> +It appears from well authenticated documents, that the mean term of Roman +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page175" name="page175"></a>[pg 175]</span> +life, among the citizens, was 30 years—that is to say, taking 1,000 +persons, adding the years together they each attained, and dividing the +total by the number of persons, the result is 30. In England, at the +present time, the expectation of life, for persons similarly situated, +is at least 50 years, giving a superiority of 20 years above the Roman +citizen. The mean term of life among the <i>easy</i> classes at Paris is +at present 42. At Florence, to the <i>whole</i> population, it is still +not more than 30. +</p> + +<p> +We have gleaned these interesting facts from a review of Dr. Hawkins's +<i>Elements of Medical Statistics;</i> and as the subject is like human +life itself, of exhaustless interest, we shall proceed with a few more: +</p> + + +<center> +<i>Counties of England and Wales.</i> +</center> + +<p> +In 1780, the annual mortality of England and Wales was 1 in 40. +By the last census (of 1821,) the yearly mortality had fallen to +1 in 58, nearly one-third. The rate of mortality is of course not +equal throughout the country. According to Dr. Hawkins, this is mainly +influenced by the proportion of large towns which any district or county +contains. The lowest well-ascertained rate of mortality in any part of +Europe is that of Pembrokeshire and Anglesey, in Wales, where only one +death takes place annually out of eighty-three individuals. Sussex +enjoys the lowest rate of mortality of any English county; it is there +1 in 72. Middlesex, on the other hand, affords the other extreme, +1 in 47; yet here, where the rate of mortality is higher than in any +part of England, great improvements in the mean duration of life are +taking place; for in 1811, the mortality was as great as 1 in 36. Kent, +Surrey, Lancashire, Warwickshire, and Cheshire, are the counties where, +next to Middlesex, the deaths are most numerous. The three last named +counties enjoy many natural advantages, but these are more than +counterbalanced by the number and density of their manufacturing towns. +It is a circumstance well worthy of note, that the aguish counties of +England do not, as might have been expected, stand high in the list. +In Lincolnshire, the rate of mortality is only 1 in 62. Dr. Hawkins +hesitates whether to attribute this to the large proportion of dry and +elevated district which that county possesses, or to the exemption of +fenny countries generally from consumption. We are strongly inclined to +suspect that the latter is the true explanation of the fact. The notion +was originally thrown out by the late ingenious physician, Dr. Wells, +who even went so far as to advise the removal of consumptive patients +to the heart of the Cambridgeshire fens, rather than to Hastings or +Sidmouth. +</p> + +<p> +The author goes on to remark, "that the decline in the mortality is +even more striking in our cities than in our rural districts. While the +metropolis has extended itself in all directions, and multiplied its +inhabitants to an enormous amount,—in other words, while the seeming +sources of its unhealthiness have been largely augmented, it has +actually become more friendly to health." In the middle of the last +century, the annual mortality was about 1 in 20. By the census of 1821, +it appeared as 1 in 40: so that in the space of seventy years, the +chances of existence are exactly <i>doubled</i> in London,—a progress +and final result, adds the author, without a parallel in the history of +any other age or country. The high rate of mortality in London about the +year 1750, exceeding considerably that of former years, has been +attributed to the great, abuse of spirituous liquors, which were then +sold without the very necessary check of high duties. One of the results +of these statistical investigations which, <i>a priori</i>, we should +least have been prepared for, is the uncommon healthiness of Manchester. +The rate of mortality there at the present time does not appear to +exceed 1 in 74. +</p> + +<p> +The statistics of the sexes afford some curious results. The relative +numbers of the sexes are the same in all parts of the world,—namely, +at birth, twenty-one males to twenty females, but as the mortality +among males during infancy exceeds that of females, the sexes at the +age of fifteen are nearly equal. A late French writer, M. Giron, thinks +himself warranted in the opinion, that agricultural pursuits favour an +increase in the male, while commerce and manufactures encourage the +female population. There exists throughout the world considerable +variety in the proportion of births to marriages, but, upon an average, +we may state it at about four to one. It has been uniformly found, +however, that improvements in the public health are attended by a +<i>diminution</i> of marriages and births. The great principle is this: +as the number of men cannot exceed their means of subsistence, <i>if men +live longer, a less number is born</i>, and the human race is maintained +at its due complement with fewer deaths and fewer +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page176" name="page176"></a>[pg 176]</span> +births, a contingency favourable in every respect to happiness. The +author illustrates this very important principle by the population +returns both of England and France. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + THE GATHERER. +</h2> + + + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> A snapper up of unconsidered trifles.</p> +<p style="text-align: right;"> SHAKSPEARE.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<hr /> + + +<p> +On reading in a provincial paper,<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a> a passage entitled, "<i>Ornaments +of the Bench and Bar</i>." +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Imitate no one you despise,</p> +<p class="i2"> <i>Said</i> one <i>whose</i> mind was <i>great</i>,</p> + <p> Did he not <i>think</i>? despise not him</p> +<p class="i2"> You <i>cannot</i> imitate.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<h4> + TALBOTE. +</h4> + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + SIMPLICITY. +</h3> + +<p> +Major R—— was not long since riding near a building which presented +to his admiring gaze a fine specimen of antique Saxon architecture. +Desirous to learn something respecting it, he made some inquiries of +a man, who as it happened was the <i>souter</i> of the village. This +learned wight informed the inquisitive stranger that the building in +question was reckoned a noble specimen of <i>Gothic</i> architecture, +and was built by the <i>Romans</i>, who came over with Julius Caesar. +"Friend," said the Major, "you make anachronisms." "No, no, Sir," +replied the man, "indeed I don't make <i>anachronisms</i>, for I never +made any thing but <i>shoes</i> in my life." +</p> + +<p> +The same gentleman, one day fitting on a new under-waistcoat, which he +had ordered to be made of a material that should resist rain and damp, +said to the tailor in attendance, "But are you sure that it is +impervious." "O dear, no, Sir," replied the man, with a look of +astonishment, "I certainly can't pretend to say that it is +<i>impervious</i>, for it is <i>wash-leather</i>." +</p> + +<h4> +M.L.B. +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<p> +Some men make a vanity of telling their faults; they are the strangest +men in the world; they cannot dissemble; they own it is a folly; they +have lost abundance of advantage by it; but if you would give them the +world, they cannot help it. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + ARLEQUINS. +</h3> + + +<p> +In Paris, small lumps of mixed meats sold in the market for cats, dogs, +and the poor, are called <i>Arlequins</i>. They are the relics collected +from the plates of the rich, and from the restaurateurs. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<p> +By love's delightful influence the attack of ill-humour is resisted; the +violence of our passions abated; the bitter cup of affliction sweetened; +all the injuries of the world alleviated; and the sweetest flowers +plentifully strewed along the path of life. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<p> +At the meeting on the Covent Garden stage, the other day, a gentleman +inquired for Mr. Kemble: "He's just <i>gone off</i>," replied another, +evidently connected with the theatre. Such is the force of habit. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<p> +The late Murgravine of Anspach wrote an impromptu charade, and presented +it to her husband, Lord C., as the person most interested in the subject +of it, and most capable of judging of its truth:— +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Mon premier est un tyran— mari-</p> + <p> Mon second est un monstre— age;</p> + <p> Et mon tout est—le diable— mariage."</p> +</div></div> + + + +<hr /> + + +<p> +A farmer applied to a county magistrate for a warrant:—"A warrant, for +what?" says the magistrate, "To <i>take up the weather</i>, please your +worship." +</p> + +<h4> +P.T.W. +</h4> + +<p> +N.B. Warrant refused. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +CONVERSATION, (<i>from Swift</i>.) +</h3> + + +<p> +Nature hath left every man a capacity of being agreeable, though not of +shining in company; and there are a hundred men sufficiently qualified +for both, who, by a very few faults, that they might correct in half an +hour, are not so much as tolerable. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THE +<br /> +<i>Following Novels is already Published</i>: +</h3> + + +<table align="center" width="90%" summary="List of Books"> +<tr><td> </td><td><i>s.</i></td><td><i>d.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> Mackenzie's Man of Feeling </td><td>0 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Paul and Virginia </td><td>0 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Castle of Otranto </td><td>0 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Almoran and Hamet </td><td>0 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia </td><td>0 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne </td><td>0 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Rasselas </td><td>0 </td><td> 8</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Old English Baron </td><td>0 </td><td> 8</td></tr> +<tr><td> Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield </td><td>0 </td><td>10</td></tr> +<tr><td> Sicilian Romance </td><td>1 </td><td> 0</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Man of the World </td><td>1 </td><td> 0</td></tr> +<tr><td> A Simple Story </td><td>1 </td><td> 4</td></tr> +<tr><td> Joseph Andrews </td><td>1 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Humphry Clinker </td><td>1 </td><td> 8</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Romance of the Forest </td><td>1 </td><td> 8</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Italian </td><td>2 </td><td> 0</td></tr> +<tr><td> Zeluco, by Dr. Moore </td><td>2 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Edward, by Dr. Moore </td><td>2 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Roderick Random </td><td>2 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Mysteries of Udolpho </td><td>3 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Peregrine Pickle </td><td>4 </td><td> 6</td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a> +<b>Footnote 1</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag1">(return)</a> +Mr Loudon promises an account of these improvements for the next +number of his valuable <i>Gardener's Magazine</i>. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a> +<b>Footnote 2</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag2">(return)</a> +A <i>ruse</i> of this description will be found in the MIRROR, +vol. X. page. 305, prefixed to a paper on French Gaming Houses. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a> +<b>Footnote 3</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag3">(return)</a> +The Manchester Courier, 25th July. +</blockquote> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p> +<i>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.</i> +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 14, ISSUE 389, SEPTEMBER 12, 1829***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 14011-h.txt or 14011-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/0/1/14011">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/0/1/14011</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>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, Vol. 14, +Issue 389, September 12, 1829 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: November 10, 2004 [eBook #14011] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, +AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 14, ISSUE 389, SEPTEMBER 12, 1829*** + + +E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, David Garcia, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 14011-h.htm or 14011-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/0/1/14011/14011-h/14011-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/0/1/14011/14011-h.zip) + + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XIV., NO. 389.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1829. [PRICE 2d. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +SION HOUSE. + + +[Illustration: Sion House.] + + +Taylor, the water poet, or Samuel Ireland, the picturesque Thames +tourist, could not, in all their enthusiasm of jingling rhymes and +aquatint plates, have exceeded our admiration of Sion House. Its +whitened towers and battlemented roof are known to all the swan-hopping +and steam navigators of our day, and none who have floated + + To where the silver Thames first rural grows,-- + + +can be strangers to the magnificence of the river-front. + +Sion House stands in the parish of Isleworth, on the Middlesex bank +of the Thames, and opposite Richmond gardens. It is called Sion +from a nunnery of Bridgetines of the same name, originally founded at +Twickenham, by Henry V. in 1414, and removed to this spot in 1432. +This conventual association consisted of sixty nuns, the abbess, +thirteen priests, four deacons, and eight lay brethren; the whole thus +corresponding, in point of number, with the Apostles and seventy-two +disciples of Christ. But the inmates were neither sinless nor spotless; +many irregularities existed in the foundation, and consequently, Sion +was among the first of the larger monastic institutions suppressed by +Henry VIII. The estimated yearly value was 1,944 l. 11 s. 8-1/2 d., +now worth 38,891 l. 14 s. 2d. + +After the dissolution of this convent, in 1532, it continued in the +crown during the remainder of Henry's reign; and the King confined here +his unfortunate Queen, Catherine Howard, from November 14, 1541, to +February 10, 1542, being three days before her execution. Edward VI. +granted it to his uncle, the Duke of Somerset, who, in 1547, began to +build this spacious structure, and finished the shell of it nearly as it +now remains. The house is a majestic edifice of white stone, built in a +quadrangular form, with a flat and embattled roof, with a square turret +at each of the outward angles. In the centre is an enclosed area, now +laid out as a flower garden. The gardens were originally enclosed by +high walls before the east and west fronts, so as to exclude all +prospect; but the Protector, to remedy this inconvenience, built a high +terrace in the angle between the walls of the two gardens. After his +execution, in 1552, Sion was forfeited; and the house, which was given +to John, Duke of Northumberland, then became the residence of his son, +Lord Guildford Dudley, and of his daughter-in-law, the unfortunate Lady +Jane Grey, who resided at this place when the Duke of Northumberland and +Suffolk, and her husband, came to prevail upon her to accept the fatal +present of the crown. The duke being beheaded in 1553, Sion House +reverted to the crown. Queen Mary restored it to the Bridgetines, who +possessed it till they were finally expelled by Elizabeth. In 1604, Sion +House was granted to Henry Percy, ninth Earl of Northumberland, in +consideration of his eminent services. His son, Algernon, employed Inigo +Jones to new face the inner court, and to finish the great hall in the +manner in which it now appears. In 1682, Charles, Duke of Somerset, by +his marriage with the only child of Joceline, Earl of Northumberland, +became possessed of Sion House: he lent the mansion to the Princess +Anne, who resided here during the misunderstanding between her and Queen +Mary. Upon the duke's death, in 1748, his son, Algernon, gave Sion House +to Sir Hugh and Lady Elizabeth Smithson, his son-in-law and daughter, +afterwards Duke and Duchess of Northumberland, who made many fine +improvements here, under the direction of Robert Adam, Esq. The late +duke (who distinguished himself at the battle of Bunker's Hill) passed +the principal part of his time at this seat; and here, also, he died, +in the year 1815. The present duke has expended immense sums in the +improvement of the mansion, grounds, and gardens. + +The entrance is from the great road through a fine gateway, having on +each side an open colonnade, and on the top a lion passant, the crest +of the noble house of Northumberland. A flight of steps leads into the +great hall, sixty-six feet by thirty-one feet, and thirty-four in +height, paved with white and black marble, and ornamented with colossal +statues, and an extremely fine bronze cast of the Dying Gladiator, cast +at Rome, by Valadier. A flight of veined marble steps leads to the +vestibule, with a floor of scagliola, and twelve large Ionic columns +and sixteen pilasters of _verde antique_. This leads to the dining +room, ornamented with marble statues and paintings in _chiaro +oscuro_, after the antique, with, at each end, a circular recess, +separated by Corinthian columns, fluted, and a ceiling in stucco, gilt. +The drawing room has a rich carved ceiling; and the sides are hung with +three-coloured silk damask, the finest of the kind ever executed in +England. The antique mosaic tables, and the chimney-piece of this +apartment are very splendid, as are also the glasses, which are 108 +inches by 65. The great gallery, serving for the library and museum, is +133-1/2 feet by 14, is in stucco, after the finest remains of antiquity, +and is remarkable as the first specimen of stucco work finished in +England. A series of medallion-paintings here represents the portraits +of all the earls of Northumberland, in succession, and other principal +persons of the houses of Percy and Seymour. At each end is a little +pavilion, finished in exquisite taste; as is also a beautiful closet +in one of the square turrets rising above the roof, which commands an +enchanting prospect. + +From the east end of the gallery is a suite of private apartments +leading back to the great hall, and hung with valuable paintings, +among which are the following portraits: Henry Percy, ninth Earl of +Northumberland, who was implicated in the Gunpowder Plot, and imprisoned +in the Tower; he died November 5, 1632, the anniversary of the day so +fatal to his happiness. Lucy, Countess of Carlisle, his daughter, one of +the most admired beauties of her time; she also died November 5, 1660. +Algernon Percy, tenth Earl of Northumberland. Charles I. and one of his +sons, by Sir P. Lely. Charles I. by Vandyke. Queen Henrietta Maria, +Vandyke. The Duke of Gloucester, son of Charles I. The Princess +Elizabeth, daughter of Charles I.; this is believed to be the only +picture extant of this lady. The above portraits of the Stuart family +are placed in the apartments in which Charles had so many tender +interviews with his children, after the latter were committed to the +charge of Earl Algernon Percy, and removed to Sion House, in August, +1646. The earl treated them with parental attention, and obtained a +grant of Parliament for the king to be allowed to see them; and in +consequence of this indulgence, the latter, who was then under restraint +at Hampton Court, often dined with his family at Sion House. + +Two of the principal fronts of Sion House command very beautiful +scenery; for even the Thames itself appears to belong to the gardens, +which are separated into two parts by a serpentine river that +communicates with the Thames. + +The gardens were principally laid out by Brown: they have, however, +been lately improved and re-arranged; and the kitchen-garden is almost +unequalled by any thing in the kingdom. Here is a range of hothouses +upwards of 400 feet in length, constructed of metal, even to the +wall-plates, the doors, and framing of the sashes; the whole being +glazed with plate-glass. It is impossible for us to describe the extent +and completeness of these improvements, connected with which, Mr. Loudon +observes--"nothing can be more gratifying than to see a nobleman +employing a part of his income in so judicious and spirited a +manner."[1] + + [1] Mr Loudon promises an account of these improvements for the next + number of his valuable _Gardener's Magazine_. + + + * * * * * + + + + +RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS. + + * * * * * + + +MONKISH VERSES. + +(For the _Mirror_.) + + +MIRROR, vol. xii. pp. 98, 165. + +The following is said to have been the epitaph on the tomb of Fair +Rosamond, at Godstow:-- + + _Hic jacet in tomba, Rosamundae non Rosamundi, + Non redolet sed olet quae redolere solet_. + + +TRANSLATED. + + Within this tomb lies the world's fairest rose; + Whose scent now charms not, but offends the nose. + + MIRROR, vol. xiii. p. 98. + + +The couplet on York Minster, translated. + + As of all flowers the rose is still the sweetest, + So of all churches this is the completest. + + +On the stone in the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey. + + _Ni fallat fatum, Scoti quocunque loquitur, + Inveniant lapidem, regnare teneter ibidem_. + + +TRANSLATED. + + Unless old proverbs fail, and wizard's wits be blind, + The Scots shall surely reign, where'er this stone they find. + + +Luther sent a glass to Dr. Justus Jonas, with the following verses:-- + + _Dat vitrum vitro, Jonae, vitro ipse Lutherus, + Se similem ut fragili noscat uterque vitro_. + + +TRANSLATED. + + Luther a glass, to Jonas Glass, a glass doth send, + That both may know ourselves to be but glass, my friend. + + +PRIOR. + +MIRROR, vol. xii. p. 184. + + +Prior's epitaph on himself was parodied as follows:-- + + Hold Mathew Prior, by your leave, + Your epitaph is very odd: + Bourbon and you are sons of Eve, + Nassau the offspring of a God. + + +Which being shewn to Swift he wrote the following:-- + + Hold, Mathew Prior, by your leave, + Your epitaph is barely civil; + Bourbon and you are sons of Eve, + Nassau the offspring of the devil. + + +In the "Spectator," is part of an epitaph by Ben Jonson, on Mary +Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, and sister of Sir Philip Sidney. The +following is the whole, taken from the first edition of Jonson's works, +collected as they were published:-- + + Underneath this stone doth lie, + As much virtue as could die; + Which when alive did vigour give, + To as much beauty as could live; + If she had a single fault, + Leave it buried in this vault. + + +Another on the same, from the same source:-- + + Underneath this sable hearse, + Lies the subject of all verse, + Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother, + Death ere thou hast slain another, + Fair, and good, and learn'd as she, + Time shall throw a dart at thee; + Marble piles, let no man raise + To her fame; for after days, + Some kind woman born as she, + Reading this, like Niobe, + Shall turn statue and become + Both her mourner and her tomb. + + +A CORRESPONDENT. + + * * * * * + + +The Londiners pronounce woe to him, that buyes a horse in Smith-field, +that takes a Seruant in Paul's Church, that marries a Wife out of +Westminster. Londiners, and all within the sound of Bow-Bell, are in +reproch called Cocknies, and eaters of buttered tostes. The Kentish +men of old were said to haue tayles, because trafficking in the Low +Countries, they neuer paid full payments of what they did owe, but still +left some part vnpaid. Essex men are called calues, (because they abound +there,) Lankashire eggepies, and to be wonne by an Apple with a red +side. Norfolke wyles (for crafty litigiousness:) Essex stiles, (so many +as make walking tedious,) Kentish miles (of the length.) + +--_Moryson's Itinerary_, 1617. + + * * * * * + + +ORIGIN OF THE WORD SMECTYMNUUS. + +(For the _Mirror_.) + + +This was a cant term that made some figure in the time of the Civil War, +and during the Interregnum. It was formed of the initial letters of the +names of five eminent Presbyterian ministers of that time, viz. Stephen +Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William +Spenstow; who, together, wrote a book against Episcopacy, in the year +1641, whence they and their retainers were called Smectymnuans. They +wore handkerchiefs about their necks for a note of distinction (as the +officers of the parliament-army then did) which afterwards degenerated +into cravats. + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + +CIVIC FEAST IN 1506. + +(For the _Mirror_.) + + +In the court room of Salters' Hall there appears, framed and glazed, the +following "Bill of fare for fifty people of the Company of Salters, A.D. +1506." + + s. d. + Thirty-six chickens 4 5 + One swan and four geese 7 0 + Nine rabbits 1 4 + Two rumps of beef tails 0 2 + Six quails 1 6 + Two oz. of pepper 0 2 + Two oz. of cloves and mace 0 4 + One and a half oz. of saffron 0 6 + Eight lbs. of sugar 0 8 + Two lbs. of raisins 0 4 + One lb. of dates 0 4 + One and a half lb. of comfits 0 2 + Half a hundred eggs 0 2-1/2 + Four gallons of curds 0 4 + One ditto gooseberries 0 2 + Bread for the company 1 1 + One kilderkin of ale 2 3 + Herbs 1 0 + Two dishes of butter 0 4 + Four breasts of veal 1 5 + Brawn 0 6 + Quarter load of coals 0 4 + Faggots 0 2 + Three and a half gallons of + Gascoigne wine 2 4 + One bottle of Muscovadine 0 8 + Cherries and tarts 0 8 + Verjuice and vinegar 0 2 + Paid the cook 3 4 + Perfume 0 2 + One bushel and a half of meal 0 8 + Water 0 3 + Garnishing the vessels 0 3 + ------------- + Total of feast for 50 people L1 13 2-1/2 + ------------- + + +CURIOS. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS. + + * * * * * + + +VIDOCQ. (Concluded.) + + +We have a vulgar book called _Frauds of London laid open_, and +Vidocq's fourth volume will serve for Paris, since he defines the +nomenclature--nay the very craft of thieves with great minuteness: +thus-- + + +_The Chevaliers Grimpants_. + +"The Chevaliers Grimpants, called also _voleurs au bonjour_, _donneurs +de bonjours_, _bonjouriers_, are those who introduce themselves into a +house and carry off in an instant the first movable commodity that falls +in their way. The first _bonjouriers_ were I am assured, servants +out of place. They were at first few in number, but, soon acquiring +pupils, their industry increased so rapidly, that from 1800 to 1812, +there was scarcely a day that robberies were not committed in Paris of +from a dozen to fifteen baskets of plate. + +"The _Almanach du commerce, l'Almanach royal_, and that with +twenty-five thousand addresses in it, are, for bonjouriers, the most +interesting works that can be published. Every morning, before they go +out, they consult them; and when they propose visiting any particular +house, it is very seldom that they are not acquainted with the names of +at least two persons in it; and that they may effect an entrance, they +inquire for one when they see the porter, and endeavour to rob the other. + +"A _bonjourier_ has always a gentlemanly appearance, and his shoes +always well made and thin. He gives the preference to kid before any +other leather, and takes care to bruise and break the sole that it may +not creak or make any noise; sometimes the sole is made of felt; at +other times, and especially in winter, the kid slipper, or dogskin shoe, +is replaced by list shoes, with which they can walk, go up stairs, or +descend a staircase, without any noise. The theft _au bonjour_, is +effected without violence, without skeleton keys, without burglariously +entering. If a thief sees a key in a door of a room, he first knocks +very gently, then a little harder, then very loudly; if no person +answers, he turns the handle, and thus enters the antechamber. +He then advances to the eating-room, penetrates even to the adjoining +apartments, to see if there be any person there; returns, and if the key +of the sideboard is not to be seen, he looks in all the places in which +he knows it is generally deposited, and if he finds it, he instantly +uses it to open the drawers, and taking out the plate, he places it +generally in his hat, after which, he covers it with a napkin, or fine +cambric handkerchief, which, by its texture and whiteness, announces the +gentleman. Should the _bonjourier_, whilst on his enterprise, hear +any person coming, he goes straight towards him, and accosting him, +wishes him good morning (_le bonjour_) with a smiling and almost +familiar air, and inquires if it be not Monsieur 'such a one,' to whom +he has the honour of addressing himself. He is directed to the story +higher or lower, and, then still smiling, evincing the utmost politeness +and making a thousand excuses and affected bows, he withdraws. It may so +happen, that he has not had time to consummate his larceny, but most +frequently the business is perfected, and the discovery of loss only +made too late to remedy it. + +"The majority of the thieves in this particular line commence their +incursions with morning, at the hour when the housekeepers go out for +their cream, or have a gossip whilst their masters and mistresses are in +bed. Other _bonjouriers_ do not open the campaign until near dinner +time; they pitch upon the moment when the plate is laid upon the table. +They enter, and in the twinkling of an eye, they cause spoons, forks, +ladles, &c. to vanish. This is technically termed _goupiner a la +desserte_, (clearing the cloth). + +"One day one of these _goupineurs a la desserte_ was on the look +out in a dining room, when a servant entered carrying two silver dishes, +between which were some fish. Without being at all disconcerted, he went +up to her, and said--'Well, go and bring up the soup, the gentlemen are +in a hurry.' + +"'Yes, sir,' said the maid, taking him for one of the guests, 'it is +quite ready, and if you please you can announce the dinner.' + +"At the same time she ran to the kitchen, and the _goupineur_, +after having hastily emptied the dishes, thrust them between his +waistcoat and shirt. The girl returned with the broth, the pretended +guest had retired, and there was not a single piece of silver left on +the table. They denounced this theft to me, and from the statement +given, as well as the description of the person committing the robbery, +I thought I had recognised my man. He was called _Cheinaux_, alias +_Bayer_, and was discovered and apprehended in Saint Catherine's +market. His shirt was marked with the circumference of the dishes, in +consequence of the remains of the sauce left in them. + +"Another body of _bonjouriers_ more particularly direct their +talents to furnished houses. + +"The individuals forming this class are on foot from the dawn of day. +Their talent is evinced by the adroit mode in which they baffle the +vigilance of the porters. They go up the staircase, sometimes on one +pretext, and sometimes on another, look round them, and if they find any +keys in the doors, which is common enough, they turn them with the least +possible noise. Once in the room, if the occupant be asleep, farewell to +his purse, his watch, his jewels, and all that he has that is valuable. +If he awakes, the visiter has a thousand excuses ready. + +"'A thousand pardons, sir, I thought this was No. 13;' or, 'Was it you, +sir, who sent for a bootmaker, tailor, hairdresser,'" &c. &c. + + +_The Detourneurs and Detourneuses_. + +"The robbery _a la detourne_ is that which is effected whilst +making purchases at a shop. This species of plunder is practised by +individuals of both sexes; but the _detourneuses_, or _lady prigs_, +are generally esteemed more expert than the _detourneurs_, or +_gentlemen prigs_. The reason of this superiority consists entirely in +the difference of dress; women can easily conceal a very large parcel. + +"In retail shops it would be an advisable plan, when there are many +customers to serve, that from time to time the shopmen should say to +each other, _deux sur dix_ (two on ten), or else _allumez les +gonzesses_ (twig the prigs). I will bet a thousand to one, that on +hearing these words, the thieves, who have very fine ears, will make +haste to take themselves away. + +"Shopkeepers of what class soever, particularly retailers, cannot be +too much on their guard; they should never forget that in Paris there +are thousands of male and female thieves _a la detourne_, I here +only speak of robbers by profession; but there are also _amateurs_, +who, beneath the cover of a well-established reputation, make small +acquisitions slyly and unsuspectedly. They are very honest people they +say, who with little scruple indulge their propensity for a rare book, +a miniature, a cameo, a mosaic, a manuscript, a print, a medal, or +a jewel that pleases them; they are called _Chipeurs_. If the +_Chipeur_ be rich, no heed is paid to him, he is too much above +such a larceny to impute it to him as a crime; if he be poor, he is +denounced to the attorney-general, and sent to the galleys, because +he robbed from necessity. It must be owned that we have strange ideas +as to honesty and dishonesty." + +This is what we call _Shoplifting_. A milliner once told us that +ribands and flowers not unfrequently attach themselves to the cuffs and +sleeves of fair purchasers. + + +_Careurs_ + +Belong to the same class of thieves, and are gipsies, Italians, or Jews. +The female Careurs are very expert in robbing priests; and Vidocq +apprehended a mother and daughter for more than sixty such offences. + +"The gipsies do not confine themselves to these means of appropriating +to themselves the property of another: they frequently commit murder, +and they have the less objection to commit a murder, because they have +no feeling of any kind of remorse; and they have a peculiar kind of +expiation whereby they purify themselves. For a year they wear a coarse +woollen shirt, and abstain from '_work_' (robbing). This period +elapsed, they believe themselves white as snow. In France, the majority +of the persons of this caste call themselves Catholics, and have every +external show of great devotion. They always carry about them rosaries +and a crucifix; they say their prayers night and morning, and follow +the service with much attention and precision. In Germany, they seldom +exercise any other calling than that of horse doctor, or herbalist: +some addict themselves to medicine, that is to say, profess to be in +possession of secret means of effecting cures. A vast number of them +travel in bodies, some tell fortunes, others mend glass, china, pots, +and pans; woe to the inhabitants of the country overrun by these +vagabonds. There will infallibly be a mortality amongst the cattle, for +the gipsies are very clever in killing them, without leaving any traces +which can be converted into a charge of malevolence against them. They +kill the cows by piercing them to the heart with a long and very fine +needle, so that the blood flowing inwardly, it may be supposed that the +animal died of disease. They stifle poultry with brimstone; they know +that then they will give them the dead birds; and whilst they imagine +that they have a taste for carrion, they make good cheer, and eat +delicious meat. Sometimes they want hams, and then they take a red +herring and hold it under the nose of a pig, which, allured by the +smell, would follow them to the world's end." + + +_Rouletiers_ + +Are fellows who plunder carriages of portmanteaus, imperials, &c. + +"One day I followed a famous _rouletier_ named _Gosnet_. On reaching +the Rue Saint Denis, he jumped up on a coach, put on a cloak and cotton +cap which he found lying close to his hand, and in this dress got down +again with a portmanteau under his arm. It was not later than two +o'clock in the afternoon; but to elude all suspicion, Gosnet, on +alighting, went straight to the _conducteur_ (guard), and after +having spoken to him, turned down a street close at hand. I was in +waiting for him, he was apprehended and sentenced." + + +_Tireurs_, + +Or pickpockets are as abundant as mushrooms. + +"There was in Paris a thief of such incredible dexterity that he robbed +without an accomplice. He placed himself in front of a person, put his +hand behind him, and took either a watch or some other valuable. This +species of thievery is called the _vol a la chicane_. + +"A fellow named Molin, alias _Moulin le Chapelier_, being under the +portico des Francais, was desirous of stealing a gentleman's purse: the +sufferer, who was near the wall, thought he felt some one picking his +pocket; Molin, full of presence of mind, effected his object in an +instant, the purse was torn from the pocket, he opened it, and taking +out a coin, asked for a ticket for the play. At the same moment the +person robbed said to him--'But, sir, you have taken my purse, give it +to me.'--'The devil I have,' replied Molin with an air of affected +surprise, 'are you quite sure?' Then looking attentively at it--'By +heavens! I thought it was mine. Oh! sir, I ask your pardon.' + +"At the same time he returned the purse, and all the bystanders were +persuaded that he had done it involuntarily. This is being _fly_, +or I know nothing about it. + +"At the time of the great fog, Molin and a _pal_ named Dorle were +stationed at the environs of the Place des Italiens. An old gentleman +passed, and Dorle stole his watch which he passed to Molin. The darkness +was so great that he could not discern if it were a repeater or not, and +to ascertain this, Molin pressed down the spring: the hammer instantly +struck on the bell, and by the sound the old man knew his watch, and +instantly cried out--'My watch! my watch! pray restore me my watch, +it belonged to my grandfather, and is a family piece.' + +"Whilst uttering these lamentations, he endeavoured to go in the +direction whence the sound had proceeded, to get his watch as he +expected and hoped to do. He came close up to Molin, who, under cover +of the dense fog, put his hand with the watch in it close to the old +gentleman's ear, and pushing the spring again, said, whilst the watch +was striking--'Listen then to its sounds for the last time;' and with +this cruel advice the two thieves then went away, leaving the worthy +undone elderly to bewail his loss. + +"The ancient _voleurs a la tire_ cite still, as amongst the +celebrated personages of their profession, two Italians, the brothers +Verdure, the eldest of whom, convicted of forming one of a band of +chauffeurs, was sentenced to death. On the day of execution, the +younger, who was at liberty, wished to see his brother as he left the +prison, and with several of his comrades took his station on the road. +When thieves go out in the evening into a crowd they generally have a +preconcerted word of alarm or summons, by which to call or distinguish +their accomplices. Young Verdure, on seeing the fatal car, uttered +his, which was _lorge_, to which the criminal, looking about him, +replied _lorge_. This singular salute given and returned, it may be +imagined that young Verdure retired. On his road he had already stolen +two watches; he saw his brother's head fall from the block, and either +before or afterwards he was determined to carry matters to their utmost. + +"The crowd having dispersed he returned to the cabaret with his +comrades. 'Well, well,' said he, laying down on the table four watches +and a purse, 'I think I have not played my cards amiss. I never thought +to have made such a haul at my _frater's_ death; I am only sorry +he's not here to have his share of the _swag_.'" + +Ring-droppers, and _Emporteurs_ ("gentlemen who lose themselves") are +next shown up: to the latter class belong the fellows who, under +pretence of inquiring their road, fall into conversation with you, +invite you to billiards, and cheat you.[2] Ring-droppers are very +troublesome in Paris, especially in the _Champs Elysees_, where +you may be teazed to buy a copper-framed eye-glass which they have +just "found." + + +_Riffaudeurs, or Chauffeurs_, + +Were thieves assuming the garb of country dealers, or travelling +hawkers; and they sought to wring from their victims a confession of +where they had concealed their treasure, by applying fire to the soles +of their feet. + +The Fourth Volume closes abruptly with a story of a gang of them, which +has all the horrors of rack and torture. In the Translator's sequel we +find the following:-- + +"Since the commencement of these Memoirs, M. Vidocq has given up his +paper manufactory at St. Mande, and has been subsequently confined in +Sainte Pelagie for debt. His embarrassments are stated to have arisen +from a passion for gambling, a propensity which, once indulged, takes +deep root in the human mind; and few indeed, lamentably few, are those +who can effectually eradicate the fatal passion. Vidocq, who could +assume all shapes like a second Proteus, who underwent bitter hardships, +and unsparingly jeopardized his life at any time, could not resist the +fell temptation which has brought him to distress and a prison. + +"It has been stated in some of the Journals that Vidocq has a son +named Julius, who was condemned to the galleys, and when liberated was +employed by his father at Sainte Mande. This must be another bitter +in his life's cup, which Vidocq seems condemned to drain to the very +dregs." + +We need hardly be told why Vidocq has withheld the information +respecting the state of crime in France, which he promised, and made a +grand parade of possessing. The length to which his Memoirs have been +spun out is tedious, and the air of romance which he has given to some +scenes in the concluding volume, almost invalidates its forerunners. +Still we are bound to confess that his adventures are equal in interest +to any work of fact or fiction that has appeared for several years. +We omit the translations of some slang songs, one of which appeared +recently in _Blackwood's Magazine_; still, they are exceedingly +clever in their way. + +The present volume has a portrait of Vidocq, upon which we hope the +physiognomists will speculate; for with all his peccadilloes, (and a +hard set of features which the engraver has probably hardened) the +author must be a clever and a very pleasant fellow; and we wish some +myrmidon of our police--some English Vidocq--would write four pretty +pocket volumes like those of the French policeman. Perhaps some of the +new appointed will take this hint. + +To conclude, after what we have said, our readers need not be +recommended to turn to _Vidocq's Memoirs_. They will find the +translation generally well executed, although we have detected several +slips in the last volume. + + + [2] A _ruse_ of this description will be found in the MIRROR, + vol. X. page. 305, prefixed to a paper on French Gaming Houses. + + + * * * * * + + + + +SOUTHWELL CHURCH. + + +[Illustration: Southwell Church.] + + +The town of Southwell, in the county of Nottingham, is situated in the +midst of an amphitheatre of well-wooded hills; the soil is rich, and the +air, from the vicinity of the River Trent, is remarkably pure. It is +fourteen miles north-east of Nottingham, about as many south-east of +Mansfield, and eight south-west from Newark; the River Greet, famous +for red trout, runs by the side of the town, falling into the Trent, +at about three miles distance. + +The most ancient part of the church is of the order usually called +Saxon, and from tradition is said to have been built in the time of +Harold, predecessor of William I. But there is no history or written +instrument of any kind now extant, concerning the origin of this +structure. The two side aisles are of pure Norman architecture. +The choir was built in the reign of Edward III. as appears by a license +of the eleventh year of that king's reign, to the chapter, to get +stones from a quarry in Shirewood Forest for building the choir. The +chapter-house is a detached building, connected by a cloister with +the north aisle of the choir, and is on the model of that at York. +The arch of entrance from the aisle, is said to exceed in elegance and +correctness of execution, almost every thing of the kind in the kingdom; +the chapter-house is of Gothic architecture, and the arch forming the +approach is considered of modern insertion, the sculpture being finer +and more delicate than any thing near it. This church and Ripon are +said to be the only parochial, as well as collegiate, churches now in +England, the rest having been dissolved by Henry VIII. or his +successors. + +At the Reformation, its chantries were dissolved, and the order of +priests expelled about the year 1536. In 1542, Lee, then Archbishop +of York, granted, by indenture to the king, the manor of Southwell. +In the thirty-fourth year of his reign, Henry VIII., by act of +parliament, declared Southwell the head and mother church of the town +and county of Nottingham, and soon afterwards re-founded and re-endowed +it, probably at the instance of Cranmer, at that time in the height of +favour, who was a native of Nottinghamshire, not far from Southwell. +Soon after the accession of Edward VI. the chapter was again dissolved, +and its prebendal, and other estates granted to John, Earl of Warwick, +afterwards made Duke of Northumberland; by him they were sold to John +Beaumont, Master of the Rolls, and coming soon afterwards to the crown, +by escheat, were granted to the favourite Northumberland, who retained +them until his attainder in 1553, when they again reverted to the crown; +and by Queen Mary were restored to the Archbishop of York, in as ample +manner as they had before been holden. It appears from the _Registrum +Album_, a register of the church, that in the latter end of the +reign of William I. there were at least ten prebends. In the office of +augmentation, an estimate of Southwell College, in the first of Edward +VI. states King Edgar to have been the founder of the church, which +consisted of sixteen prebends, and sixteen vicars. There are now +sixteen prebends, of which the Archbishop of York is sole patron, a +vicar-general appointed out of the prebendaries by the chapter, six +vicars, and six choristers. Alfric, appointed to the See of York in +1023, gave two large bells to the church of Southwell (William of +Malmsbury.) This was about the time of bells coming generally into use. +King Stephen granted that the canons of Southwell should hold the woods +of their prebends, in their own hands, which succeeding monarchs, Henry +II. Richard, John, and Henry III. confirmed. There are two fellowships, +and two scholarships, founded in St. John's College, Cambridge, by Dr. +Keton, canon of Sarum, twenty-second Henry VI. to be presented by the +master, fellows, and scholars of that college, to persons having served +as choristers in the chapter of Southwell. In the civil wars nearly all +the records of Southwell Church were destroyed, the _Registrum +Album_ escaping, which contains grants of most of the revenues +belonging to the church, from soon after the conquest, nearly to the end +of Henry VIII. Southwell is supposed by antiquarians to be the "_Ad +Pontem_" of the Romans, one of the stations on the Roman Way from +London to Lincoln, situated at a distance from any route of importance +between the most frequented part of the kingdom. For many centuries it +was hardly known by name--and, till within thirty years there was no +turnpike road to it in any direction. Thus denied access to the rest +of the world, the people of Southwell lived a separate and distinct +society, retaining their own manners untainted by the world; and +among them traditions were handed down pure and unadulterated by the +speculations of the learned, or the discoveries of antiquarians. + +NEMO. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SKETCH-BOOK. + + * * * * * + + +SIGHMON DUMPS. + + +Anthony Dumps, the father of my hero (the subject matter of a story +being always called the hero, however little heroic he may personally +have been) married Dora Coffin on St. Swithin's day in the first year +of the last reign. + +Anthony was then comfortably off, but through a combination of adverse +circumstances he went rapidly down in the world, became a bankrupt, and +being obliged to vacate his residence in St. Paul's Churchyard, he +removed to No. 3, Burying Ground Buildings, Paddington Road, where Mrs. +Dumps was delivered of a son. + +The depressed pair agreed to christen their babe Simon, but the +name was registered in the parish book with the first syllable spelt +"S--I--G--H;"--whether the trembling hand of the afflicted parent +orthographically erred, or whether a bungling clerk caused the error +I know not; but certain it is that the infant Dumps was registered +SIGHMON. + +Sighmon sighed away his infancy like other babes and sucklings, and when +he grew to be a hobedy-hoy, there was a seriousness in his visage, and +a much-ado-about-nothing-ness in his eye, which were proclaimed by good +natured people to be indications of deep thought and profundity; while +others less "flattering sweet," declared they indicated naught but want +of comprehension, and the dulness of stupidity. + +As he grew older he grew graver, sad was his look, sombre the tone of +his voice, and half an hour's conversation with him was a very serious +affair indeed. + +Burying Ground Buildings, Paddington Road, was the scene of his infant +sports. Since his failure, his father had earned his _lively_hood, +by letting himself out as a mute, or mourner, to a furnisher of +funerals. + +"_Mute_" and "_voluntary woe_" were his stock in trade. + +Often did Mrs. Dumps ink the seams of his small-clothes, and darken his +elbows with a blacking brush, ere he sallied forth to follow borrowed +plumes; and when he returned from his public performance (_oft +rehearsed_) Master Sighmon did innocently crumple his crapes, and +sport with his weepers. + +His melancholy outgoings at length were rewarded by some pecuniary +incomings. The demise of others secured a living for him, and after a +few unusually propitious sickly seasons, he grimly smiled as he counted +his gains: the mourner exulted, and, in praise of his profession, the +mute became eloquent. + +Another event occurred: after burying so many people professionally, he +at length buried Mrs. Dumps; _that_, of course, was by no means a +matter of business. I have before remarked that she was descended from +the Coffins; she was now gathered to her ancestors. + +Dumps had long been proud of gentility of appearance, a suit of black +had been his working day costume, nothing therefore could be more easy +than for Dumps to turn gentleman. He did so; took a villa at Gravesend, +chose for his own sitting room a chamber that looked against a dead +wall, and whilst he was lying in state upon the squabs of his sofa, he +thought seriously of the education of his son, and resolved that he +should be instantly taught the dead languages. + +Sighmon Dumps was decidedly a young man of a serious turn of mind. +The metropolis had few attractions for him, he loved to linger near +the monument; and if ever he thought of a continental excursion, the +Catacombs and Pere la Chaise were his seducers. + +His father died, his old employer furnished him with a funeral; the mute +was silenced, and the mourner was mourned. + +Sighmon Dumps became more serious than ever; he had a decided nervous +malady, an abhorrence of society, and a sensitive shrinking when he felt +that any body was looking at him. He had heard of the invisible girl; he +would have given worlds to have been an invisible young gentleman, and +to have glided in and out of rooms, unheeded and unseen, like a draft +through a keyhole. This, however, was not to be his lot; like a man +cursed with creaking shoes, stepping lightly, and tiptoeing availed not; +a _creak_ always betrayed him when he was most anxious to creep +into a corner. + +At his father's death he found himself possessed of a competency and a +villa; but he was unhappy, he was known in the neighbourhood, people +called on him, and he was expected to call on them, and these calls and +recalls bored him. He never, in his life, could abide looking any one +straight in the face; a pair of human eyes meeting his own was actually +painful to him. It was not to be endured. He sold his villa, and +determined to go to some place where, being a total stranger, he might +pass unnoticed and unknown, attracting no attention, no remarks. + +He went to Cheltenham and consulted Boisragon about his nerves, was +recommended a course of the waters, and horse exercise. + +The son of the weeper very naturally thought he had already "too much +of water;" he, however, hired a nag, took a small suburban lodging, and +as nobody spoke to him, nor seemed to care about him, he grew better, +and felt sedately happy. This blest seclusion, "the world forgetting, +by the world forgot," was not the predestined fate of Sighmon: odd +circumstances always brought him into notice. The horse he had hired was +a piebald, a sweet, quiet animal, warranted a safe support for a timid +invalid. On this piebald did Dumps jog through the green lanes in brown +studies. + +One day as he passed a cottage, a face peered at him through an open +window; he heard an exclamation of delight, the door opened, and an +elderly female ran after him, entreating him to stop; much against the +grain he complied. + +"'Twas heaven sent you, sir," said his pursuer, out of breath; "give me +for the love of mercy the cure for the rhumatiz." + +"The what?" said Dumps. + +"The rhumatiz, sir; I've the pains and the aches in my back and my +bones--give me the dose that will cure me." + +In vain Dumps declared his ignorance of the virtues of "medicinal gums." +The more he protested, the more the old woman sued; when to his horror a +reinforcement joined her from the cottage, and men, women, and children +implored him to cure the good dame's malady. At length watching a +favourable opportunity, he insinuated his heel into the side of the +piebald, and trotted off, while entreaties mingled with words of anger +were borne to him on the wind. + +He determined to avoid that green lane in future, and rode out the next +day in an opposite direction: as he trotted through a village a girl ran +after him, shouting for a cure for the hooping cough, a dame with a low +curtsey solicited a remedy for the colic, and an old man asked him what +was good for the palsy. These unforeseen, these unaccountable attacks +were fearful annoyances to so retiring a personage as Dumps. Day after +day, go where he would, the same things happened. He was solicited to +cure "all the ills that flesh is heir to." He was not aware (any more +than the reader very possibly may be) that in some parts of England the +country people have an idea that a quack doctor rides a piebald horse; +_why_, I cannot explain, but so it is, and that poor Dumps felt to +his cost. Life became a burthen to him; he was a marked man; _he_, +whose only wish was to pass unnoticed, unheard, unseen; _he_, who +of all the creeping things on the earth, pitied the glowworm most, +because the spark in its tail attracted observation. He gave up his +lodgings and his piebald, and went "in his angry mood to Tewksbury." + +I ought ere this to have described my hero. He was rather _embonpoint_, +but fat was not with him, as it sometimes is, twin brother to fun; +_his_ fat was weighty, he was inclined to _blubber_. He wore a wig, and +carried in his countenance an expression indicative of the seriousness +of his turn of mind. + +He alighted from the coach at the principal inn at Tewksbury; the +landlady met him in the hall, started, smiled, and escorted him into a +room with much civility. He took her aside, and briefly explained that +retirement, quiet, and a back room to himself were the accommodations +he sought. + +"I understand you sir," replied the landlady, with a knowing wink, +"a little quiet will be agreeable by way of change; I hope you'll find +every thing here to your liking." She then curtseyed and withdrew. + +"Frank," said the hostess to the head waiter, "who _do_ you think +we've got in the blue parlour? you'll never guess! I knew him the minute +I clapped eyes on him; dressed just as I saw him at the Haymarket +Theatre, the only night I ever was at a London stage play. The gray +coat, and the striped trousers, and the hessian boots over them, and the +straw hat out of all shape, and the gingham umbrella!" + +"Who is he, ma'am?" said Frank. "Why, the great comedy actor, Mr. +Liston," replied the landlady, "come down for a holiday; he wants to be +quiet, so we must not blab, or the whole town will be after him." + +This brief dialogue will account for much disquietude which subsequently +befell our ill fated Dumps. People met him, he could not imagine why, +with a broad grin on their features. As they passed they whispered to +each other, and the words "inimitable," "clever creature," "irresistibly +comic," evidently applied to himself, reached his ears. + +Dumps looked more serious than ever; but the greater his gravity, the +more the people smiled, and one young lady actually laughed in his face +as she said aloud, "Oh, that mock heroic tragedy look is _so_ like +him!" + +Sighmon sighed for the seclusion of number three, Burying Ground +Buildings, Paddington Road. + +One morning his landlady announced, with broader grin than usual, that a +gentleman desired to speak with him; he grumbled, but submitted, and the +gentleman was announced. + +"My name, sir, is Opie," said the stranger; "I am quite delighted to see +you here. You intend gratifying the good people of Tewksbury of course?" + +"Gratifying! what _can_ you mean?" + +"If your name is announced, there'll not be a box to be had." + +"I always look after my own boxes, I can tell you," replied Dumps. + +"By all means, you _will_ come out here of course?" + +"Come out? to be sure, I sha'n't stay within doors always." + +"What do you mean to come out in?" + +"Why, what I've got on will do very well." + +"Oh, that's so like you," said Opie, shaking his sides with laughter, +"you really _are_ inimitable!--What character do you select here?" + +"Character!" said Dumps, "the stranger." + +"The Stranger! _you?_" + +"Yes, _I._" + +"And you really mean to come out here as the Stranger?" said Opie. + +"Why, yes to be sure--I'm but just come." + +"Then I shall put your name in large letters immediately, we will open +this evening; and as to terms, you shall have half the receipts of the +house." + +Off ran Mr. Opie, who was no less a personage than the manager of the +theatre, leaving Dumps fully persuaded that he had been closeted with +a lunatic. + +Shortly afterwards he saw a man very busy pasting bills against a wall +opposite his window, and so large were the letters that he easily +deciphered, "THE CELEBRATED MR. LISTON IN TRAGEDY. This evening THE +STRANGER, the Part of THE STRANGER BY MR. LISTON." Dumps had never seen +the inimitable Liston, indeed comedy was quite out of his way. But now +that the star was to shine forth in tragedy, the announcement was +congenial to the serious turn of his mind, and he resolved to go. + +He ate an early dinner, went by times to the theatre, and established +himself in a snug corner of the stage box. The house filled, the hour +of commencement arrived, the fiddlers paused and looked towards the +curtain, but hearing no signal they fiddled another strain. The audience +became impatient; they hissed, they hooted, and they called for the +manager: another pause, another yell of disapprobation, and the manager +pale and trembling appeared, and walked hat in hand to the front of the +stage. To Dumps's great surprise it was the very man who visited him in +the morning. Mr. Opie cleared his throat, bowed repeatedly, moved his +lips, but was inaudible amid the shouts of "hear him." At length silence +was obtained, and he spoke as follows:-- + +"Ladies and Gentlemen, + +"I appear before you to entreat your kind and considerate forbearance; +I lament as much, nay more than you, the absence of Mr. Liston; but, in +the anguish of the moment, one thought supports me, the consciousness +of having done my duty. (_Applause_.) I had an interview with +your deservedly favourite performer this morning, and every necessary +arrangement was made between us. I have sent to his hotel, and he is not +to be found. (_Disapprobation_.) I have been informed that he dined +early, and left the house, saying that he was going to the theatre; what +accident _can_ have prevented his arrival I am utterly unable to--" + +Mr. Opie now happened to glance towards the stage box, surprise! doubt! +anger! certainty! were the alternate expressions of his pale face, and +widely opened eyes; and at length pointing to Dumps he exclaimed-- + +"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my painful duty to inform you that Mr. +Liston is now before you; there he sits at the back of the stage box, +and I trust I may be permitted to call upon him for an explanation of +his very singular conduct." + +Every eye turned towards Dumps, every voice was uplifted against him; +the man who could not endure the scrutiny of _one_ pair of eyes, +now beheld a house full of them glaring at him with angry indignation. +His head became confused, he had a slight consciousness of being elbowed +through the lobby, of a riot in the crowded street, and of being +protected by the civil authorities against the uncivil attacks of the +populace. He was conveyed to bed, and awoke the next morning with a very +considerable accession of nervous malady. + +He soon heard that the whole town vowed vengeance against the infamous +and unprincipled impostor who had so impudently played off a practical +joke on the public, and at dead of night did he escape from the town of +Tewksbury, in a return mourning coach, with which he was accommodated +by his tender hearted landlady. + +Our persecuted hero next occupied private apartments at a boarding-house +at Malvern. Privacy was refreshing, but, alas! its duration was doomed +to be short. A young officer who had witnessed the embarrassment of "the +stranger" at Tewksbury, recognised the sufferer at Malvern, and knowing +his nervous antipathy to being noticed, he wickedly resolved to make him +the lion of the place. + +He dined at the public table, spoke of the gentleman who occupied the +private apartments, wondered that no one appeared to be aware who he +was, and then _in confidence_ informed the assembled party that +the recluse was the celebrated author of the "Pleasures of Memory," now +engaged in illustrating "HIS ITALY" with splendid embellishments from +the pencils of Stothard and Turner. + +Dumps again found himself an object of universal curiosity, every body +became officiously attentive to him, he was waylaid in his walks, and +_intentionally_ intruded upon _by accident_ in his private apartments; +a travelling artist requested to be permitted to take his portrait for +the exhibition, a lady requested him to peruse her manuscript romance +and to give his unbiassed opinion, and the master of the boarding-house +waited upon him by desire of his guests to request that he would honour +the public table with his company. Several ladies solicited his +autograph for their albums, and several gentlemen called a meeting +of the inhabitants, and resolved to give him a public dinner; a +craniologist requested to be permitted to take a cast of his head, +and as a climax to his misery, when he was sitting in his bedchamber +thinking himself at least secure for the present, the door being bolted; +he looked towards the Malvern Hills, which rise abruptly immediately +at the back of the boarding-house, and there he discovered a party of +ladies eagerly gazing at him with long telescopes through the open +windows! + +He left Malvern the next morning, and went to a secluded village on the +Welsh coast, not far from Swansea. + +The events of the last few weeks had rendered poor Sighmon Dumps more +sensitively nervous than ever. His seclusion became perpetual, his blind +always down, and he took his solitary walks in the dusk of the evening. +He had been told that sea sickness was sometimes beneficial in cases +resembling his own; he, therefore, bargained with some boatmen, who +engaged to take him out into the channel, on a little experimental +medicinal trip. At a very early hour in the morning he went down to the +beach, and prepared to embark. He had observed two persons who appeared +to be watching him, he felt certain they were dogging him, and just as +he was stepping into the boat they seized him, saying, "Sir, we know you +to be the great defaulter who has been so long concealed on this coast; +we know you are trying to escape to America, but you must come with us." + +Sighmon's heart was broken. He felt it would be useless to endeavour to +explain or to expostulate; he spoke not, but was passively hurried to a +carriage in which he was borne to the metropolis as fast as four horses +could carry him, without rest or refreshment. Of course, after a minute +examination, he was declared innocent, and was released; but justice +smiled too late, the bloom of Sighmon's happiness had been prematurely +nipped. + +He called in the aid of the first medical advice, grew a little better; +and when the doctor left him he prescribed a medicine which he said he +had no doubt would restore the patient to health. The medicine came, +the bottle was shaken, the contents taken--Sighmon died! + +It was afterwards discovered that a mistake had occasioned his premature +departure; a healing liquid had been prescribed for him, but the +careless dispenser of the medicine had dispensed with caution on the +occasion, and Dumps died of a severe _oxalic_ acidity of the +stomach! By his own desire he was interred in the churchyard opposite to +Burying Ground Buildings, Paddington Road. His funeral was conducted +with _almost_ as much decorum as if his late father the mute had +been present, and he was left with-- + + "At his head a green grass turf, + And at his heels a stone." + + +But even there he could not rest! The next morning it was discovered +that the body of Sighmon Dumps had been stolen by resurrection +men!--_Sharpe's Mag._ + + * * * * * + + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + * * * * * + + +MARIA GRAY.--A SONG. + + +BY THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD. + + + Who says that Maria Gray is dead, + And that I in this world can see her never? + Who says she is laid in her cold death-bed, + The prey of the grave and of death for ever? + Ah! they know little of my dear maid, + Or kindness of her spirit's giver! + For every night she is by my side, + By the morning bower, or the moonlight river. + + Maria was bonny when she was here, + When flesh and blood was her mortal dwelling; + Her smile was sweet, and her mind was clear, + And her form all human forms excelling. + But O! if they saw Maria now, + With her looks of pathos and of feeling, + They would see a cherub's radiant brow, + To ravish'd mortal eyes unveiling. + + The rose is the fairest of earthly flowers-- + It is all of beauty and of sweetness-- + So my dear maid, in the heavenly bowers, + Excels in beauty and in meetness. + She has kiss'd my cheek, she has komb'd my hair, + And made a breast of heaven my pillow, + And promised her God to take me there, + Before the leaf falls from the willow. + + Farewell, ye homes of living men! + I have no relish for your pleasures-- + In the human face I nothing ken + That with my spirit's yearning measures. + I long for onward bliss to be, + A day of joy, a brighter morrow; + And from this bondage to be free, + Farewell thou world of sin and sorrow! + + +_Blackwood's Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +BEWICK, THE ENGRAVER. + +By a Correspondent of the _Magazine of Natural History_. + + +Bewick's first tendency to drawing was noticed by his chalking the +floors and grave-stones with all manner of fantastic figures, and by +sketching the outline of any known character of the village, dogs, or +horses, which were instantly recognised as faithful portraits. The +halfpence he got were always laid out in chalk or coarse pencils; with +which, when taken to church, he scrawled over the ledges of the bench +ludicrous caricatures of the parson, clerk, and the more prominent of +the congregation. These boards are now in the possession of the Duke +of Northumberland, by whom they were replaced; and when his chalk +was exhausted, he resorted to a pin or a nail as a substitute. In +consequence of this propensity to drawing, some liberal people, of whom +he says, there were many in Newcastle, got him bound apprentice to a Mr. +Bielby, an engraver on copper and brass. During this period he walked +most Sundays to Ovingham (ten miles,) to see his parents; and, if the +Tyne was low, crossed it on stilts; but, if high-flowing, hollaed across +to inquire their health, and returned. This infant genius (but it was +the infant Hercules struggling with the snakes) was bound down by his +master to cut clock-faces and door-knockers--ay, clock-faces and +door-knockers!--and he actually showed me several in the streets of +Newcastle he had cut. At this time he was employed by Bielby to cut +on wood the blocks for Dr. Hutton's great work on _Mensuration_. +Hutton was then a schoolmaster at Newcastle (1770.) + +After his apprenticeship, he worked a short time for a person in Hatton +Garden; but he disliked London extremely, still panting for his native +home, to whose braes and bonny banks he joyously returned; where he was +occupied in cutting figures and ornaments for books; and now received +his first prize from the Society of Arts for the "Old Hound," in an +edition of Gay's _Fables_. A glance at this cut will show what a +low state wood-engraving was at, when a public society deemed it worthy +a reward; yet even in this are readily visible some lines and touches of +the future great master of this delicious art. He never omitted visiting +itinerant caravans of animals, from whose living looks and attitudes he +made spirited drawings. This led to his _History of Quadrupeds_, +1790; the first block, however, of which, he cut the very day of his +father's death, Nov. 15, 1785. From this work he obtained very +considerable celebrity; which led him shortly to draw and engrave the +wild bull at Chillingham, Lord Tankerville's, the largest of all his +wood-cuts, impressions of which have actually been sold at twenty +guineas each; and also the zebra, elephant, lion, and tiger, for Pidcock +(Exeter 'Change,) copies whereof are now extremely scarce and valuable. +He also executed some curious works on copper, to illustrate a _Tour +through Lapland_, by Matthew Consett, Esq.; and his _Quadrupeds_ +having passed through seven editions, his fame was widely and well +established. The famous typographer, Bulmer, of the Shakspeare Press +(a native of Newcastle,) now employed John Bewick, who, at the age of +fourteen, had also been aprenticed to Bielby, in co-operation with +his brother Thomas, to embellish a splendid edition of Goldsmith's +_Deserted Village_ and _Hermit_, Parnell's _Poems_, and Somerville's +_Chase_. The designs and execution of these were so admirable and +ingenious, that the late king, George III. doubted their being worked +on wood, and requested a sight of the blocks, at which he was equally +delighted and astonished. It is deeply to be lamented we have so few +specimens of the talents of John Bewick, who died of a pulmonary +complaint, 1795, at the early age of thirty-five. + +I now, in this hasty, feeble, and divaricated biographical sketch, +approach the great and favourite work of my admired friend, _The +History of British Birds_. The first volume of this all-delighting +work was published in 1797, jointly by Bielby and Bewick, but was +afterwards continued by Bewick. This beautiful, accurate, animated, +and (I may really add) wonderful production, having passed through six +editions, each of very numerous impressions, is now universally known +and admired. + +The first time I had _personal_ interview with my venerable friend +was at Newcastle upon Tyne, on Wednesday, October 1, 1823, after +perambulating the romantic regions of Cumberland and Westmoreland, with +my friend, John E. Bowman, Esq., F.L.S. We had been told that he retired +from his workbench on evenings to the "Blue Bell on the side," for the +purpose of reading the news. To this place we repaired, and readily +found ourselves in the presence of the great man. For my part, so warm +was my enthusiasm, that I could have rushed into his arms, as into +those of a parent or benefactor. He was sitting by the fire in a large +elbow-chair, smoking. He received us most kindly, and in a very few +minutes we felt as old friends. He appeared a large, athletic man, then +in his seventy-first year, with thick, bushy, black hair, retaining his +sight so completely as to read aloud rapidly the smallest type of a +newspaper. He was dressed in very plain, brown clothes, but of good +quality, with large flaps to his waistcoat, grey woollen stockings, +and large buckles. In his under-lip he had a prodigious large quid of +tobacco, and he leaned on a very thick oaken cudgel, which, I afterwards +learned, he cut in the woods of Hawthornden. His broad, bright, and +benevolent countenance at one glance, bespoke powerful intellect and +unbounded good-will, with a very visible sparkle of merry wit. The +discourse at first turned on politics (for the paper was in his hand,) +on which he at once openly avowed himself a warm whig, but clearly +without the slightest wish to provoke opposition. I at length succeeded +in turning the conversation into the fields of natural history, but +not till after he had scattered forth a profusion of the most humorous +anecdotes, that would baffle the most retentive memory to enumerate, +and defy the most witty to depict. I succeeded by mentioning an error +in one of his works; for which, when I had convinced him, he thanked +me, and took the path in conversation we wished. In many instances, +I must remark, though frequently succeeding to the broadest humour, his +countenance and conversation assumed the emitted flashes and features +of absolutely the highest sublimity; indeed, to an excitement of awful +amazement, particularly when speaking on the works of the Deity. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE NATURALIST. + + * * * * * + + +DURATION OF LIFE. + +It appears from well authenticated documents, that the mean term of Roman +life, among the citizens, was 30 years--that is to say, taking 1,000 +persons, adding the years together they each attained, and dividing the +total by the number of persons, the result is 30. In England, at the +present time, the expectation of life, for persons similarly situated, +is at least 50 years, giving a superiority of 20 years above the Roman +citizen. The mean term of life among the _easy_ classes at Paris is +at present 42. At Florence, to the _whole_ population, it is still +not more than 30. + +We have gleaned these interesting facts from a review of Dr. Hawkins's +_Elements of Medical Statistics;_ and as the subject is like human +life itself, of exhaustless interest, we shall proceed with a few more: + + +Counties of England and Wales. + +In 1780, the annual mortality of England and Wales was 1 in 40. +By the last census (of 1821,) the yearly mortality had fallen to +1 in 58, nearly one-third. The rate of mortality is of course not +equal throughout the country. According to Dr. Hawkins, this is mainly +influenced by the proportion of large towns which any district or county +contains. The lowest well-ascertained rate of mortality in any part of +Europe is that of Pembrokeshire and Anglesey, in Wales, where only one +death takes place annually out of eighty-three individuals. Sussex +enjoys the lowest rate of mortality of any English county; it is there +1 in 72. Middlesex, on the other hand, affords the other extreme, +1 in 47; yet here, where the rate of mortality is higher than in any +part of England, great improvements in the mean duration of life are +taking place; for in 1811, the mortality was as great as 1 in 36. Kent, +Surrey, Lancashire, Warwickshire, and Cheshire, are the counties where, +next to Middlesex, the deaths are most numerous. The three last named +counties enjoy many natural advantages, but these are more than +counterbalanced by the number and density of their manufacturing towns. +It is a circumstance well worthy of note, that the aguish counties of +England do not, as might have been expected, stand high in the list. +In Lincolnshire, the rate of mortality is only 1 in 62. Dr. Hawkins +hesitates whether to attribute this to the large proportion of dry and +elevated district which that county possesses, or to the exemption of +fenny countries generally from consumption. We are strongly inclined to +suspect that the latter is the true explanation of the fact. The notion +was originally thrown out by the late ingenious physician, Dr. Wells, +who even went so far as to advise the removal of consumptive patients +to the heart of the Cambridgeshire fens, rather than to Hastings or +Sidmouth. + +The author goes on to remark, "that the decline in the mortality is +even more striking in our cities than in our rural districts. While the +metropolis has extended itself in all directions, and multiplied its +inhabitants to an enormous amount,--in other words, while the seeming +sources of its unhealthiness have been largely augmented, it has +actually become more friendly to health." In the middle of the last +century, the annual mortality was about 1 in 20. By the census of 1821, +it appeared as 1 in 40: so that in the space of seventy years, the +chances of existence are exactly _doubled_ in London,--a progress +and final result, adds the author, without a parallel in the history of +any other age or country. The high rate of mortality in London about the +year 1750, exceeding considerably that of former years, has been +attributed to the great, abuse of spirituous liquors, which were then +sold without the very necessary check of high duties. One of the results +of these statistical investigations which, _a priori_, we should +least have been prepared for, is the uncommon healthiness of Manchester. +The rate of mortality there at the present time does not appear to +exceed 1 in 74. + +The statistics of the sexes afford some curious results. The relative +numbers of the sexes are the same in all parts of the world,--namely, +at birth, twenty-one males to twenty females, but as the mortality +among males during infancy exceeds that of females, the sexes at the +age of fifteen are nearly equal. A late French writer, M. Giron, thinks +himself warranted in the opinion, that agricultural pursuits favour an +increase in the male, while commerce and manufactures encourage the +female population. There exists throughout the world considerable +variety in the proportion of births to marriages, but, upon an average, +we may state it at about four to one. It has been uniformly found, +however, that improvements in the public health are attended by a +_diminution_ of marriages and births. The great principle is this: +as the number of men cannot exceed their means of subsistence, _if men +live longer, a less number is born_, and the human race is maintained +at its due complement with fewer deaths and fewer births, a contingency +favourable in every respect to happiness. The author illustrates this +very important principle by the population returns both of England and +France. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GATHERER. + + + A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. + SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +On reading in a provincial paper,[3] a passage entitled, "_Ornaments +of the Bench and Bar_." + + Imitate no one you despise, + _Said_ one _whose_ mind was _great_, + Did he not _think_? despise not him + You _cannot_ imitate. + + +TALBOTE. + + [3] The Manchester Courier, 25th July. + + * * * * * + + +SIMPLICITY. + +Major R---- was not long since riding near a building which presented +to his admiring gaze a fine specimen of antique Saxon architecture. +Desirous to learn something respecting it, he made some inquiries of +a man, who as it happened was the _souter_ of the village. This +learned wight informed the inquisitive stranger that the building in +question was reckoned a noble specimen of _Gothic_ architecture, +and was built by the _Romans_, who came over with Julius Caesar. +"Friend," said the Major, "you make anachronisms." "No, no, Sir," +replied the man, "indeed I don't make _anachronisms_, for I never +made any thing but _shoes_ in my life." + +The same gentleman, one day fitting on a new under-waistcoat, which he +had ordered to be made of a material that should resist rain and damp, +said to the tailor in attendance, "But are you sure that it is +impervious." "O dear, no, Sir," replied the man, with a look of +astonishment, "I certainly can't pretend to say that it is +_impervious_, for it is _wash-leather_." + +M.L.B. + + * * * * * + + +Some men make a vanity of telling their faults; they are the strangest +men in the world; they cannot dissemble; they own it is a folly; they +have lost abundance of advantage by it; but if you would give them the +world, they cannot help it. + + * * * * * + + +ARLEQUINS. + + +In Paris, small lumps of mixed meats sold in the market for cats, dogs, +and the poor, are called _Arlequins_. They are the relics collected +from the plates of the rich, and from the restaurateurs. + + * * * * * + + +By love's delightful influence the attack of ill-humour is resisted; the +violence of our passions abated; the bitter cup of affliction sweetened; +all the injuries of the world alleviated; and the sweetest flowers +plentifully strewed along the path of life. + + * * * * * + + +At the meeting on the Covent Garden stage, the other day, a gentleman +inquired for Mr. Kemble: "He's just _gone off_," replied another, +evidently connected with the theatre. Such is the force of habit. + + * * * * * + + +The late Murgravine of Anspach wrote an impromptu charade, and presented +it to her husband, Lord C., as the person most interested in the subject +of it, and most capable of judging of its truth:-- + + "Mon premier est un tyran-- mari- + Mon second est un monstre-- age; + Et mon tout est--le diable-- mariage." + + + * * * * * + + +A farmer applied to a county magistrate for a warrant:--"A warrant, for +what?" says the magistrate, "To _take up the weather_, please your +worship." + +P.T.W. + +N.B. Warrant refused. + + * * * * * + + +CONVERSATION, (from Swift.) + + +Nature hath left every man a capacity of being agreeable, though not of +shining in company; and there are a hundred men sufficiently qualified +for both, who, by a very few faults, that they might correct in half an +hour, are not so much as tolerable. + + * * * * * + + +LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THE + +Following Novels is already Published: + + s. d. + Mackenzie's Man of Feeling 0 6 + Paul and Virginia 0 6 + The Castle of Otranto 0 6 + Almoran and Hamet 0 6 + Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia 0 6 + The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne 0 6 + Rasselas 0 8 + The Old English Baron 0 8 + Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield 0 10 + Sicilian Romance 1 0 + The Man of the World 1 0 + A Simple Story 1 4 + Joseph Andrews 1 6 + Humphry Clinker 1 8 + The Romance of the Forest 1 8 + The Italian 2 0 + Zeluco, by Dr. Moore 2 6 + Edward, by Dr. Moore 2 6 + Roderick Random 2 6 + The Mysteries of Udolpho 3 6 + Peregrine Pickle 4 6 + + + * * * * * + +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 THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, +AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 14, ISSUE 389, SEPTEMBER 12, 1829*** + + +******* This file should be named 14011.txt or 14011.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/0/1/14011 + + + +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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