summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/old/8m32110h.htm
blob: 99bd9443454a800f16266b30fcbf6c6e566e4426 (plain) 
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898
899
900
901
902
903
904
905
906
907
908
909
910
911
912
913
914
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
942
943
944
945
946
947
948
949
950
951
952
953
954
955
956
957
958
959
960
961
962
963
964
965
966
967
968
969
970
971
972
973
974
975
976
977
978
979
980
981
982
983
984
985
986
987
988
989
990
991
992
993
994
995
996
997
998
999
1000
1001
1002
1003
1004
1005
1006
1007
1008
1009
1010
1011
1012
1013
1014
1015
1016
1017
1018
1019
1020
1021
1022
1023
1024
1025
1026
1027
1028
1029
1030
1031
1032
1033
1034
1035
1036
1037
1038
1039
1040
1041
1042
1043
1044
1045
1046
1047
1048
1049
1050
1051
1052
1053
1054
1055
1056
1057
1058
1059
1060
1061
1062
1063
1064
1065
1066
1067
1068
1069
1070
1071
1072
1073
1074
1075
1076
1077
1078
1079
1080
1081
1082
1083
1084
1085
1086
1087
1088
1089
1090
1091
1092
1093
1094
1095
1096
1097
1098
1099
1100
1101
1102
1103
1104
1105
1106
1107
1108
1109
1110
1111
1112
1113
1114
1115
1116
1117
1118
1119
1120
1121
1122
1123
1124
1125
1126
1127
1128
1129
1130
1131
1132
1133
1134
1135
1136
1137
1138
1139
1140
1141
1142
1143
1144
1145
1146
1147
1148
1149
1150
1151
1152
1153
1154
1155
1156
1157
1158
1159
1160
1161
1162
1163
1164
1165
1166
1167
1168
1169
1170
1171
1172
1173
1174
1175
1176
1177
1178
1179
1180
1181
1182
1183
1184
1185
1186
1187
1188
1189
1190
1191
1192
1193
1194
1195
1196
1197
1198
1199
1200
1201
1202
1203
1204
1205
1206
1207
1208
1209
1210
1211
1212
1213
1214
1215
1216
1217
1218
1219
1220
1221
1222
1223
1224
1225
1226
1227
1228
1229
1230
1231
1232
1233
1234
1235
1236
1237
1238
1239
1240
1241
1242
1243
1244
1245
1246
1247
1248
1249
1250
1251
1252
1253
1254
1255
1256
1257
1258
1259
1260
1261
1262
1263
1264
1265
1266
1267
1268
1269
1270
1271
1272
1273
1274
1275
1276
1277
1278
1279
1280
1281
1282
1283
1284
1285
1286
1287
1288
1289
1290
1291
1292
1293
1294
1295
1296
1297
1298
1299
1300
1301
1302
1303
1304
1305
1306
1307
1308
1309
1310
1311
1312
1313
1314
1315
1316
1317
1318
1319
1320
1321
1322
1323
1324
1325
1326
1327
1328
1329
1330
1331
1332
1333
1334
1335
1336
1337
1338
1339
1340
1341
1342
1343
1344
1345
1346
1347
1348
1349
1350
1351
1352
1353
1354
1355
1356
1357
1358
1359
1360
1361
1362
1363
1364
1365
1366
1367
1368
1369
1370
1371
1372
1373
1374
1375
1376
1377
1378
1379
1380
1381
1382
1383
1384
1385
1386
1387
1388
1389
1390
1391
1392
1393
1394
1395
1396
1397
1398
1399
1400
1401
1402
1403
1404
1405
1406
1407
1408
1409
1410
1411
1412
1413
1414
1415
1416
1417
1418
1419
1420
1421
1422
1423
1424
1425
1426
1427
1428
1429
1430
1431
1432
1433
1434
1435
1436
1437
1438
1439
1440
1441
1442
1443
1444
1445
1446
1447
1448
1449
1450
1451
1452
1453
1454
1455
1456
1457
1458
1459
1460
1461
1462
1463
1464
1465
1466
1467
1468
1469
1470
1471
1472
1473
1474
1475
1476
1477
1478
1479
1480
1481
1482
1483
1484
1485
1486
1487
1488
1489
1490
1491
1492
1493
1494
1495
1496
1497
1498
1499
1500
1501
1502
1503
1504
1505
1506
1507
1508
1509
1510
1511
1512
1513
1514
1515
1516
1517
1518
1519
1520
1521
1522
1523
1524
1525
1526
1527
1528
1529
1530
1531
1532
1533
1534
1535
1536
1537
1538
1539
1540
1541
1542
1543
1544
1545
1546
1547
1548
1549
1550
1551
1552
1553
1554
1555
1556
1557
1558
1559
1560
1561
1562
1563
1564
1565
1566
1567
1568
1569
1570
1571
1572
1573
1574
1575
1576
1577
1578
1579
1580
1581
1582
1583
1584
1585
1586
1587
1588
1589
1590
1591
1592
1593
1594
1595
1596
1597
1598
1599
1600
1601
1602
1603
1604
1605
1606
1607
1608
1609
1610
1611
1612
1613
1614
1615
1616
1617
1618
1619
1620
1621
1622
1623
1624
1625
1626
1627
1628
1629
1630
1631
1632
1633
1634
1635
1636
1637
1638
1639
1640
1641
1642
1643
1644
1645
1646
1647
1648
1649
1650
1651
1652
1653
1654
1655
1656
1657
1658
1659
1660
1661
1662
1663
1664
1665
1666
1667
1668
1669
1670
1671
1672
1673
1674
1675
1676
1677
1678
1679
1680
1681
1682
1683
1684
1685
1686
1687
1688
1689
1690
1691
1692
1693
1694
1695
1696
1697
1698
1699
1700
1701
1702
1703
1704
1705
1706
1707
1708
1709
1710
1711
1712
1713
1714
1715
1716
1717
1718
1719
1720
1721
1722
1723
1724
1725
1726
1727
1728
1729
1730
1731
1732
1733
1734
1735
1736
1737
1738
1739
1740
1741
1742
1743
1744
1745
1746
1747
1748
1749
1750
1751
1752
1753
1754
1755
1756
1757
1758
1759
1760
1761
1762
1763
1764
1765
1766
1767
1768
1769
1770
1771
1772
1773
1774
1775
1776
1777
1778
1779
1780
1781
1782
1783
1784
1785
1786
1787
1788
1789
1790
1791
1792
1793
1794
1795
1796
1797
1798
1799
1800
1801
1802
1803
1804
1805
1806
1807
1808
1809
1810
1811
1812
1813
1814
1815
1816
1817
1818
1819
1820
1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
1853
1854
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859
1860
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content=
"text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
<title>The Mirror of Literature, &amp;c. NO. 321</title>
</head>
<body>
<pre>
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror, 1828.07.05, by Various

Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.

This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file.  Please do not remove it.  Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.

Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file.  Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in
how the file may be used.  You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.


**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**

**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**

*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****


Title: The Mirror, 1828.07.05, Issue No. 321
       The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction

Author: Various

Release Date: August, 2005 [EBook #8640]
[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
[This file was first posted on July 29, 2003]

Edition: 10

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR, 1828.07.05 ***




Produced by The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team





</pre>

<h1>THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1>

<hr>
<h2>[NO. 321.] SATURDAY, JULY 5, 1828. [PRICE 2d.]</h2>

<hr>
<h2>EATON HALL, CHESHIRE,</h2>

<p><i>The Seat of the Rt. Hon. Earl Grosvenor</i>.</p>

<p><img width="100%" src="images/eaton_hall.png" alt=
"EATON HALL, CHESHIRE"></p>

<p>This mansion is a princely specimen of Gothic architecture;
and is in every respect calculated for the residence of its noble
possessor, whose taste and munificence in patronizing the Fine
Arts are well known to our readers. Nevertheless, it is worthy of
special remark, that not only is the name of GROSVENOR
conspicuous in this patronage, but his lordship has further
evinced his love of art in the construction of one of the most
splendid buildings in the whole empire,&mdash;the present mansion
having been completed within a few years.<sup><a name=
"footnote_tag_1"></a><a href="#footnote_1">[1]</a></sup> Here the
noble founder seems to have realized all that the ingenious Sir
Henry Wotton considered requisite for a man's "house and
home&mdash;the theatre of his hospitality, the seat of
self-fruition, a kind of PRIVATE PRINCEDOM; nay, to the
possessors thereof, an epitome of the whole world."</p>

<blockquote><sup><a name="footnote_1"></a><a href=
"#footnote_tag_1">[1]</a></sup> At this moment, Earl Grosvenor
has in progress a splendid gallery for the reception of his
superb collection of pictures, adjoining his town mansion, in
Grosvenor-street. This is one of the few "Private Collections" to
which, through the good taste and courtesy of the proprietor, the
public are admitted, on specified days, and under certain
restrictions. The nucleus of Earl Grosvenor's collection, was the
purchase of Mr. Agar's pictures for &pound;30,000; since which it
has been enlarged, till it has at length become one of the finest
in England. In the drawing-room at Eaton are, <i>Our Saviour on
the Mount of Olives</i>, by Claude Lorraine, which is the largest
painting known to have been executed by him; and <i>A Port in the
Mediterranean</i>, by Vernet. In the dining-room, <i>Rubens with
his Second Wife</i>; by himself; and <i>The Judgment of
Paris</i>, a copy, by Peters, after Rubens. In the dressing-room
of the state bed-room, <i>David and Abigail</i>, also by Rubens.
Over the ornamented chimney-pieces of the hall are, West's
<i>Dissolution of the Long Parliament</i>, and <i>The Landing of
Charles the Second</i>.</blockquote>

<p><i>Eaton</i> is situated about three miles to the south of
Chester, on the verge of an extensive park, thickly studded with
fine old timber. The present "Hall" occupies the site of the old
mansion, which is described as a square and spacious brick
building erected by Sir Thomas Grosvenor, in the reign of William
III. The architect was Sir John Vanbrugh, who likewise laid out
the gardens with straight walks and leaden statues, in the formal
style of his age. In the reconstruction, the fine vaulted
basement story of the old Hall was preserved, as were also the
external foundations, and some subdivisions; but the
superstructure was altered and entirely refitted, and additional
apartments erected on the north and south sides, so as to make
the area of the new house twice the dimensions of the old
one.</p>

<p>The style of architecture adopted in the new Hall is that of
the age of Edward III, as exhibited in that Parthenon of Gothic
architecture, York Minster; although the architect, Mr. Porden,
has occasionally availed himself of the low Tudor arch, and the
forms of any other age that suited his purpose, so as to adapt
the rich variety of our ancient ecclesiastical architecture to
modern domestic convenience. Round the turrets, and in various
parts of the parapets are shields, charged in relievo with the
armorial bearings of the Grosvenor family, and of other ancient
families that, by intermarriages, the Grosvenors are entitled to
quarter with their own. The windows, which are "richly dight"
with tracery, are of cast-iron, moulded on both sides, and
grooved to receive the glass. The walls, battlements, and
pinnacles, are of stone, of a light and beautiful colour, from
the Manly quarry about ten miles distant.</p>

<p>The annexed engraving represents the west-front of the house,
in the centre of which is the entrance, by a vaulted porch, which
admits a carriage to the steps that lead to the Hall, a spacious
and lofty room, occupying the height of two stories, with a
groined ceiling, embellished with the Grosvenor arms, and other
devices, in the bosses that cover the junction of the ribs. The
pavement is of variegated marble in compartments. At the end of
the Hall, a screen of five arches support a gallery which
connects the bed-chambers on the north side of the house with
those on the south, which are separated by the elevation of the
Hall. Under this gallery, two open arches to the right and left
conduct to the grand staircase, the state bed-room, and the
second staircase; and opposite to the door of the hall is the
entrance to the saloon. The grand staircase is elaborately
ornamented with niches and canopies, and with tracery under the
landings; and in the principal ceiling, which is surmounted with
a double skylight of various coloured glass. The state bed-room
is lighted by two painted windows, with tracery and armorial
bearings. In the saloon are three lofty and splendidly painted
windows, which contain, in six divisions,&mdash;the portraits of
the conqueror's nephew, Gilbert le Grosvenor, the founder of the
Grosvenor family, and his lady; of William the Conqueror, with
whom Gilbert came into England; the Bishop of Bayeux, uncle to
the conqueror; the heiress of the house of Eaton; and Sir Robert
le Grosvenor, who signalized himself in the wars of Edward
III.</p>

<p>The saloon is a square of thirty feet, formed into an octagon
by arches across the angles, which give to the vaultings a
beautiful form. Opposite to the chimney piece is an organ richly
decorated. On the left of the saloon is an ante-room leading to
the dining-room; and on the right, another leading to the
drawing-room: the windows of these rooms are glazed with a light
Mosaic tracery, and exhibit the portraits of the six Earls of
Chester, who, after Hugh Lupus, governed Cheshire as a County
Palatine, till Henry III bestowed the title on his son Edward;
since which time the eldest sons of the kings of England have
always been Earls of Chester.</p>

<p>The dining-room, situated at the northern extremity of the
east front, is about 50 feet long and 30 feet wide, exclusive of
a bay-window of five arches, the opening of which is 30 feet. In
the centre window is the portrait of Hugh Lupus; which, with the
portraits of the six Earls of Chester, in the ante-room windows,
were executed from cartoons, at Longport, Staffordshire. The
ceiling is of bold and rich tracery, with a profuse emblazoning
of heraldic honours, and a large ornamented pendant for a
chandelier.</p>

<p>The drawing room, which is at the southern extremity of the
east front, is of the same form and dimensions as the
dining-room, with the addition of a large window to the south,
commanding the luxuriant groves of meadows of Eaton, and the
village and spire of Oldford above them. All the windows of this
room are adorned with heads and figures of the ancestors of the
family; also the portraits of the present Earl and Countess, in a
beautiful brown <i>chiaro-scuro</i>. The ceiling is tracery of
the nicest materials and workmanship emblazoned with the arms of
the Grosvenor family, and those of Egerton, Earl of Wilton, the
father of the present Countess Grosvenor.</p>

<p>Eaton became the property of the Grosvenor family through the
marriage of Ralph Grosvenor, in the reign of Henry VI with Joan,
daughter of John Eaton, then owner of this estate. The Grosvenor
family, as we have already intimated, came into England with
William the Conqueror; they derived their name from the office of
chief huntsmen, which they held in the Norman court; and, when
"chivalry was the fashion of the times," says Pennant, "few
families shone in so distinguished a manner: none shewed equal
spirit in vindicating their rights to their looms." He then
mentions the celebrated legal contest with Sir Richard le
Scroope, for the family arms&mdash;<i>Azure, a bend or</i>. This
cause was tried before the High Constable and the Earl Marshal of
England, in the reign of Richard II. It lasted three years;
kings, princes of the blood, and most of the nobility, and among
the gentry, Chaucer, the poet, gave evidence on the trial. "The
sentence," says Pennant, "was conciliating; that both parties
should bear the same arms; but the <i>Grosvenours avec une
bordure d'argent</i>. Sir Robert resents it, and appeals to the
king. The judgment is confirmed; but the choice is left to the
defendant, either to use the <i>bordure</i>, or bear the arms of
their relations, the ancient Earls of Chester, <i>azure, a gerb
d'or</i>. He rejected the mortifying distinction, and chose a
<i>gerb</i>: which is the family coat to this day."</p>

<p>Hitherto we have only spoken of the artificial splendour of
Eaton. The natural beauties with which it is environed will,
however, present equal, if not superior, attraction for the
tourist. The stiff, formal walks of Vanbrugh no longer disfigure
the grounds, which are now made to harmonize with the contiguous
landscape, and are enlivened by an inlet of the Dee, which
intervenes between the eastern front of the mansion, and the
opposite plantations. These alterations have, however, been made
with great judgment, and a few of the venerable beauties of the
park remain. Thus, a fine aged avenue extends westward to a
Gothic lodge in the hamlet of Belgrave, about two miles distant
from the Hall. Another lodge, in a similar style of design, is
approached by a road, which diverges from this avenue towards
Chester, and crosses the park, through luxuriating plantations,
which open occasionally in glade views of the Broxton and Welsh
Hills. The most pleasing approach to this noble mansion is one
which has been cut through the plantations, towards the
north-east angle of the house, so as to throw the whole building
into perspective.</p>

<p>Viewed from either of the beautiful sites with which the park
abounds, Eaton is a magnificent display of towers, and turrets,
pinnacles and battlements, partly embosomed in foliage, and
belted with one of the richest domains in England. Indeed, its
splendour seldom fails to strike the overweening admirer of art
with devotional fondness, which is not lessened by his approach
to the fabric.<sup><a name="footnote_tag_2"></a><a href=
"#footnote_2">[1]</a></sup> The most favourable distant views are
from the Aldford road, and from the romantic banks of the Dee,
whence there is a proud display of architectural grandeur. In
every point, however, the grounds and mansion of Eaton will
abundantly gratify the expectations of the visiter. Altogether,
they present a rich scene of nature, diversified and embellished
by the attributes of art; and the admiration of the latter will
be not a little enhanced by the reflection that the building of
this sumptuous pile provided employment for a large portion of
the poor of Chester during one of the most calamitous periods of
the late war.</p>

<blockquote><sup><a name="footnote_2"></a><a href=
"#footnote_tag_2">[1]</a></sup> One view from the interior
deserves special mention: viz. from the saloon, upon a terrace
350 feet in length, commanding one of the richest landscapes on
the banks of Dee. The boasted terrace at Versailles is but 400
feet in length; yet, how many Englishmen, who have seen the
latter, are even ignorant of that at Eaton.</blockquote>

<p>The noble founder of Eaton has indeed learned to "build
stately," and "garden finely;" and has thus made the personal
fruition of his wealth subservient to its real use&mdash;the
distribution.</p>

<hr>
<h3>ORIGIN OF CHESS.</h3>

<p>(<i>To the Editor of the Mirror</i>.)</p>

<p>SIR,&mdash;In vol. 3, page 211, of the MIRROR, is an account
of the origin of the scientific game of chess, the invention of
which, your correspondent <i>F. H. Y.</i> has attributed to a
brahmin, named Sissa. But I believe it is entirely a matter of
doubt, both as to where, and by whom it was invented; it is
evidently of very high antiquity, and if we recur to the original
names of the pieces with which it is played, we shall readily be
convinced it is of Asiatic original. The honour of inventing it,
is contended for by several nations, but principally by the
Hindoos, the Chinese, and the Persians. In support of the first,
we are told, by Sir William Jones, in the 2nd vol. of his
<i>Asiatic Researches</i>, that the game of chess has been
immemorably known in Hindostan, by the name of Chaturanga, or the
four members of an army, viz. elephants, horses, chariots, and
foot soldiers. And yet, the same learned author observes, that no
account of the game has hitherto been discovered in the classical
writings of the brahmins. Mr. Daines Barrington supposed the
Chinese to be the inventers, and in this he is supported by a
paper published in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy,
for 1794, vol. 5, by Mr. Eyles Irwin. It states, that when Mr.
Irwin was at Canton, a young mandarin, on seeing the English
chess-board, recognised its similarity with that used for a game
of their own; and brought his board and equipage for Mr. Irwin's
inspection, and soon after gave him a manuscript extract from a
book, relating the invention of the Chinese game, called by them
chong-he, or the royal game, which it attributed to a Chinese
general (about 1,965 years ago) who by its means reconciled his
soldiers to passing the winter in quarters in the country of
Shensi, the cold and inconvenience of which were likely to have
occasioned a mutiny among them. Other writers contend that chess
is a game of Persian invention, since <i>scah muth</i> is the
Persic term for check-mate; and since the Persians were sedulous
in recommending it to their young princes, as a game calculated
to instruct kings in the art of war. It has been attributed to
Palamedes, who lived during the Trojan war; but it was a game
played with pebbles, or cubes, of which he was the inventer.
Palamedes was so renowned for his sagacity, that almost every
early discovery was ascribed to him. Whether the Greeks or Romans
were acquainted with this game is doubtful. Of the three
contending nations, the claim of the Persians appears to me to be
least eligible, and that of the Chinese the most.</p>

<p><i>Near Sheffield.</i></p>

<p>J. M. C-D.</p>

<hr>
<h3>THREE SONNETS TO JOHN KEATS.</h3>

<p>(<i>For the Mirror</i>.)</p>

<pre>
  I can think of thee! now that the light spring
    Showers live in the rich breezes, and the dyes
    Of the glad flowers are won from her blue eyes
  Exulting; whilst loud songs, on the fleet wing
  Of the Earth's seraphs, bear her welcoming
    From it to heaven, and, up to the far skies,
    From turf-born censers floods of incense rise.
  I can think of thee in my wandering;
    And when the heart leaps up within to bless
    The sights of love and beauty, on each hand,&mdash;
    The pouring-out of sky-sprung happiness
      Over the dancing sea and the green land,
    Thought wakes one saddening thrill of bitterness&mdash;
      Thou canst not o'er this Eden smiling stand!
</pre>

<pre>
  Yes! even as the quick glow of Spring's first smile
    Is unto the renewed spirit,&mdash;even
    As that abundant gush of wine from Heaven
  Loosens the dreary grasp of Cares which coil
  Round the lone heart like serpents,&mdash;the sweet toil
    Of draining the dear dream-cup thou hast given
    Is unto me,&mdash;and thoughts which long have striven
    With joyousness, flit far away the while
    My lips are prest to it. By the fire-light,
      Or in full gaze of sun-set, when the choirs
    Of winged minstrels, waking out of light,
      Ring requiem meet to those departing fires&mdash;
    Let me be with thee then&mdash;forgetting quite
    The world, its scornfulness, and its desires.
</pre>

<pre>
  O! I could weep for thee! and yet not tears
    Of hopelessness, but triumph, and sit down
    And weave for thee wet wild-flowers for a crown&mdash;
  Then up, and sound rich music in thine ears;
  And teach thee, that sweet lips, in coming years,
    Shall lisp the songs which cold dull hearts disown,&mdash;
    That all which hope could pant for is thine own,&mdash;
    Dimmed, for a moment's space, with human fears.
    Then watch the new-born glories in thine eye,
    Glancing like lightning from its chariot cloud,
    And list these words, which know not how to die,&mdash;
      Joy's inspiration gushing forth aloud:
    Then back again unto the world and sigh,
      And wrap my heart up in a dusky shroud.
</pre>

<p>THOMAS M&mdash;&mdash; S.</p>

<hr>
<h3>CHOOSING OF BAILIFFS AT BRIDGNORTH.</h3>

<p>(<i>For the Mirror</i>.)</p>

<p>The bailiffs of Bridgnorth are chosen out of the twenty-four
aldermen upon St. Matthew's Day in the following
manner:&mdash;The court having met, the names of twelve aldermen
being separately written on small pieces of paper, are closely
rolled up by the town clerk, and thrown into a purse, which is
shaken by the two chamberlains standing upon the chequer, (a
large table in the middle of the court,) and held open to the
bailiffs, when each, according to seniority, takes out a roll. By
this means the callers are decided, who, mounting the chequer,
alternately call the jury of fourteen out of the burgesses
present. They are then sworn neither to eat nor drink till they,
or twelve of them, have chosen two fit persons, who have not been
bailiffs for three years before, to serve that office for the
ensuing year; they are locked up till they have agreed, which
sometimes occasions long fastings. In 1739, the jury fasted
seventy hours. The persons chosen are sworn into office on
Michaelmas Day.&mdash;W. H.</p>

<hr>
<h3>ON COALS, AND THE PERIOD WHEN THE COAL MINES IN ENGLAND WILL
BE EXHAUSTED.</h3>

<p>(<i>From Bakewell's Introduction to Geology, 3rd Edition,
1828</i>.)</p>

<p>Coal was known, and partially used, at a very early period of
our history. I was informed by the late Marquis of Hastings, that
stone hammers and stone tools were found in some of the old
workings in his mines at Ashby Wolds; and his lordship informed
me also, that similar stone tools had been discovered in the old
workings in the coal-mines in the north of Ireland. Hence we may
infer, that these coal-mines were worked at a very remote period,
when the use of metallic tools was not general. The burning of
coal was prohibited in London in the year 1308, by the royal
proclamation of Edward I. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the
burning of coal was again prohibited in London during the sitting
of parliament, lest the health of the knights of the shire should
suffer injury during their abode in the metropolis. In the year
1643, the use of coal had become so general, and the price being
then very high, many of the poor are said to have perished for
want of fuel. At the present day, when the consumption of coal,
in our iron-furnaces and manufactories and for domestic use, is
immense, we cannot but regard the exhaustion of our coal-beds as
involving the destruction of a great portion of our private
comfort and national prosperity. Nor is the period very remote
when the coal districts, which at present supply the metropolis
with fuel, will cease to yield any more. The annual quantity of
coal shipped in the rivers Tyne and Wear, according to Mr.
Bailey, exceeded three million tons. A cubic yard of coals weighs
nearly one ton; and the number of tons contained in a bed of coal
one square mile in extent, and one yard in thickness, is about
four millions. The number and extent of all the principal
coal-beds in Northumberland and Durham is known; and from these
data it has been calculated that the coal in these counties will
last 360 years. Mr. Bailey, in his Survey of Durham, states, that
one-third of the coal being already got, the coal districts will
be exhausted in 200 years. It is probable that many beds of
inferior coal, which are now neglected, may in future be worked;
but the consumption of coal being greatly increased since Mr.
Bailey published his Survey of Durham, we may admit his
calculation to be an approximation to the truth, and that the
coal of Northumberland and Durham will be exhausted in a period
not greatly exceeding 200 years. Dr. Thomson, in the Annals of
Philosophy, has calculated that the coal of these districts, at
the present rate of consumption, will last 1,000 years! but his
calculations are founded on data manifestly erroneous, and at
variance with his own statements; for he assumes the annual
consumption of coal to be only two million eight hundred thousand
tons, and the waste to be one-third more,&mdash;making three
million seven hundred thousand tons, equal to as many square
yards; whereas he has just before informed us, that two million
chaldrons of coal, of two tons and a quarter each chaldron, are
exported, making four million five hundred thousand tons, beside
inland consumption, and waste in the working<sup><a name=
"footnote_tag_3"></a><a href="#footnote_3">[1]</a></sup>.
According to Mr. Winch, three million five hundred thousand tons
of coal are consumed annually from these districts; to which if
we add the waste of small coal at the pit's mouth, and the waste
in the mines, it will make the total yearly destruction of coal
nearly double the quantity assigned by Dr. Thomson. Dr. Thomson
has also greatly overrated the quantity of the coal in these
districts, as he has calculated the extent of the principal beds
from that of the lowest, which is erroneous; for many of the
principal beds crop out, before they reach the western
termination of the coal-fields. With due allowance for these
errors, and for the quantity of coal already worked out, (which,
according to Mr. Bailey, is about one-third,) the 1,000 years of
Dr. Thomson will not greatly exceed the period assigned by Mr.
Bailey for the complete exhaustion of coal in these counties, and
may be stated at three hundred and fifty years.</p>

<blockquote><sup><a name="footnote_3"></a><a href=
"#footnote_tag_3">[1]</a></sup> The waste of coal at the pit's
mouth may be stated at one-sixth of the quantity sold, and that
left in the mines at one-third. Mr. Holmes, in his Treatise on
Coal Mines, states the waste of small coal at the pit's mouth to
be one-fourth of the whole.</blockquote>

<p>It cannot be deemed uninteresting to inquire what are the
repositories of coal that can supply the metropolis and the
southern counties, when no more can be obtained from the Tyne and
the Wear. The only coal-fields of any extent on the eastern side
of England, between London and Durham, are those of Derbyshire
and those in the west riding of Yorkshire. The Derbyshire
coal-field is not of sufficient magnitude to supply, for any long
period, more than is required for home consumption, and that of
the adjacent counties. There are many valuable beds of coal in
the western part of the west riding of Yorkshire which are yet
unwrought; but the time is not very distant when they must be put
in requisition, to supply the vast demand of that populous
manufacturing county, which at present consumes nearly all the
produce of its own coal mines. In the midland counties,
Staffordshire possesses the nearest coal districts to the
metropolis, of any great extent; but such is the immense daily
consumption of coal in the iron-furnaces and founderies, that it
is generally believed this will be the first of our own
coal-fields that will be exhausted. The thirty-feet bed of coal
in the Dudley coal-field is of limited extent; and in the present
mode of working it, more than two-thirds of the coal is wasted
and left in the mine.</p>

<p>If we look to Whitehaven or Lancashire, or to any of the minor
coal-fields in the west of England, we can derive little hope of
their being able to supply London and the southern counties with
coal, after the import of coal fails from Northumberland and
Durham. We may thus anticipate a period not very remote, when all
the English mines of coal and ironstone will be exhausted; and
were we disposed to indulge in gloomy forebodings, like the
ingenious authoress of the "Last Man," we might draw a melancholy
picture of our starving and declining population, and describe
some manufacturing patriarch, like the late venerable Richard
Reynolds, travelling to see the last expiring English furnace,
before he emigrated to distant regions.<sup><a name=
"footnote_tag_4"></a><a href="#footnote_4">[1]</a></sup></p>

<blockquote><sup><a name="footnote_4"></a><a href=
"#footnote_tag_4">[1]</a></sup> The late Richard Reynolds, Esq.,
of Bristol, so distinguished for his unbounded benevolence, was
the original proprietor of the great iron-works in Colebrook
Dale, Shropshire. Owing, I believe, partly to the exhaustion of
the best workable beds of coal and ironstone, and partly to the
superior advantages possessed by the iron-founders in South
Wales, the works at Colebrook Dale were finally relinquished, a
short time before the death of Mr. Reynolds. With a natural
attachment to the scenes where he had passed his early years, and
to the pursuits by which he had honourably acquired his great
wealth, he travelled from Bristol into Shropshire, to be present
when the last of his furnaces was extinguished, in a valley where
they had been continually burning for more than half a
century.</blockquote>

<p>Fortunately, however, we have in South Wales, adjoining the
Bristol Channel, an almost exhaustless supply of coal and
ironstone, which are yet nearly unwrought. It has been stated,
that this coal-field extends over about twelve hundred square
miles, and that there are twenty-three beds of workable coal, the
total average thickness of which is ninety-five feet, and the
quantity contained in each acre is 100,000 tons, or 65,000,000
tons per square mile. If from this we deduct one half for waste
and for the minor extent of the upper beds, we shall have a clear
supply of coal, equal to 32,000,000 tons per square mile. Now if
we admit that the five million tons of coal from the
Northumberland and Durham mines is equal to nearly one-third of
the total consumption of coals in England, each square mile of
the Welsh coal-field would yield coal for two years' consumption;
and as there are from one thousand to twelve hundred square miles
in this coal-field, it would supply England with fuel for two
thousand years, after all our English coal-mines are worked
out.</p>

<p>It is true, that a considerable part of the coal in South
Wales is of an inferior quality, and is not at present burned for
domestic use; but in proportion as coal becomes scarce, improved
methods of burning it will assuredly be discovered, to prevent
any sulphureous fumes from entering apartments, and also to
economize the consumption of fuel in all our manufacturing
processes.</p>

<hr>
<h3>SONG.</h3>

<p>(<i>For the Mirror.</i>)</p>

<pre>
  Thou hast not seen the tear-drops fill
    The eyes which worship thee;
  The deepest curse, the darkest ill,
  Hovers above&mdash;around me&mdash;still
    There are no tears for me!

  Thou canst not know, why I should kneel
    For tears to heaven&mdash;in vain;
  The thousand changeless pangs we feel,&mdash;
  The precious drops, perchance, might heal,&mdash;
    They will not start again!

  Thou canst not know what hopes will spring
    When I can gaze on thee,
  Even in the cold heart withering;
  Oh! thou to whom that heart must cling,
    Art more than tears to me!
</pre>

<p>THOMAS M&mdash;&mdash; S.</p>

<hr>
<h3>HINTS FOR HEALTH.</h3>

<blockquote>["A very old and active correspondent," <i>Tim
Tobykin</i>, has furnished us with the following interesting
extracts from Dr. Rennie's <i>Treatise on Gout and Nervous
Diseases</i>, just published. These, however, are but a portion
of our correspondent's selections; and as they are written in a
popular style and appear to be equally applicable to the welfare
of all classes, they will doubtless be acceptable to our readers.
We are not friendly to the introduction of purely professional
matters into the pages of the MIRROR, but the following extracts
are so far divested of technicality as to render their utility
and importance obvious to every reader.]</blockquote>

<p>CLIMATE, LOCALITY, AND SEASONS.</p>

<p>I shall first inquire, says Dr. Rennie, what are the effects
of climate on healthy constitutions, as respects heat, cold,
moisture, and vicissitudes; including also the diurnal and annual
revolutions.</p>

<p>Cold applied to the body acts as a direct sedative. It
diminishes the nervous sensibility, represses the activity of the
circulation, detracts from the sum of the animal heat, and
thereby diminishes stimulation. In the cessation of excitement
and sensibility that ensues, the whole vital actions are
moderated, existing irritation is soothed; and in the same manner
as sleep recruits the wasted powers, so does cold restore and
invigorate the nerves when overstimulated, and in fact promotes
the tone and vigour of the whole body; when again a warmer
atmosphere succeeds a colder, the animal heat increases in its
sum, the surface of the body is re-excited, nervous sensibility
returns, and a reaction of the circulation takes place; so that
the blood diffuses itself in greater abundance towards the remote
and superficial parts of the body, and the secretions are also
promoted.</p>

<p>Alternations of cold and heat therefore in healthy
constitutions within certain limits, are salutary; promoting, on
the one hand, the vigour and tone of the body; on the other, the
due activity and excitement of the various functions.</p>

<p>The temperature occasioned by day and night, and also those
more progressive and slow alternations of heat and cold, on the
large scale, attending the annual revolution of the seasons, are
a natural provision admirably adapted to effect these objects as
described; constituted as our bodies are, such a constant and
regular succession of heat and cold is just such as the
necessities of the human frame require. The alternations of day
and night, of winter and summer, are far from being merely
incidental and unimportant circumstances in the general
adaptation of the earth to man's constitutional wants; neither do
they bear reference solely to the productions of the earth for
his use. They exert a continual and direct influence on his
constitution, calculated to aid the vigorous and healthy
performance of the various functions of the body each in its due
degree and order, and they conduce mainly to the perfection and
longevity of the species.</p>

<p>Let us therefore trace the effects of these changes on the
human body.</p>

<p>During the winter, the prevailing cold acts as a universal
sedative and tonic, soothing the nervous excitement and
sensibility, allaying the activity of the circulation, moderating
the functions of the skin, and diminishing the various
secretions.</p>

<p>As the Spring opens, the sun gains daily in influence,
generating a gradually increasing atmospheric warmth. The body
therefore becomes subject from this heat to a reactive effect,
during which the nervous sensibility and circulation are
gradually re-excited, the blood is more equally diffused towards
the surface and extremities of the body, and the secretion by the
skin is increased.</p>

<p>If the cold of winter were to continue unmitigated from year
to year, without the genial influence of summer, the human race,
as is apparent in polar regions and upland mountainous districts,
would degenerate into dwarfishness.</p>

<p>If the heat of summer were continually maintained the whole
year round, a tendency to degeneracy of the race would be also
observed, as we see in tropical latitudes. It is in the medium
betwixt these extremes, where a moderate and regular winter cold
is succeeded by a mild, genial summer temperature, that the
species approaches most to perfection in stature, health,
strength, and longevity.</p>

<p>In observing also the influence of day and night on the
constitution, there is a sedative effect produced in the morning
before the sun is up, a reactive tendency promoted towards noon
under the solar influence, and again towards evening this
reaction is repressed by the sedative effect of the evening cold;
and this sedative effect is at its maximum at midnight. Hence
those who sit up late feel unusually chilly and depressed towards
midnight, partly owing to exhaustion from want of sleep, but
chiefly from the total absence of solar influence in the
atmospherical temperature. In regular habits this sedative effect
is never thoroughly experienced; for before midnight, the
constitution, enveloped in warm blankets, has experienced the
reaction arising from the accumulation of heat in bed. Whence the
common remark, that one hour's sleep before midnight is worth
three after that hour, is actually true to a certain extent. By
early retirement to rest, the sedative effect on the
constitution, to an extent such as to disturb the functions, is
escaped.</p>

<p>If we connect these two influences, the annual and diurnal
successions of cold and heat, in their joint effect, we find,
that about, or a little after the summer solstice, the influence
of the sun being at its maximum, the nervous sensibility, heat,
circulating excitement, and cutaneous secretions of the body, are
also at their maximum. The temperature of the day and night
differ so little, that the sedative effects of evening and
morning are not sufficient to restore the frame by soothing the
sensibilities, overexcited and irritable from the previous
warmth. Whence the languor and irritability felt in summer, when
the heat is long continued, and the nights are spent in
restlessness and anxious oppression. Exhaustion and relaxation of
the frame are the consequence.</p>

<p>As the autumnal equinox verges on, the mornings and evenings
get cooler in relation to the mid-day heat; and about the
equinox, the difference in the temperature of mid-day and
midnight is at its maximum. We have therefore a powerful sedative
effect in the morning, which braces and invigorates the body; a
powerful reactive effect at mid-day, which rouses and stimulates
the actions and sensibilities of the frame; and again towards
evening a sedative effect, from the increasing cold reaching its
maximum at midnight.</p>

<p>As the season passes on from the Equinox towards the winter
solstice, the heat of the sun daily diminishes, and the cold
gains a daily preponderance. The sedative effect on the body goes
on progressively increasing, being less and less counteracted by
any genial influence from the solar heat at mid-day; whence the
gloom and depression so universally experienced by the nervous in
November and December, which is more and more felt till the
shortest day. So soon as the minimum of solar influence and
maximum of sedative effect on the body has passed over, the sun
gradually acquires more of meridian influence, and a daily
increasing ascendancy over the prevalent cold. The human
constitution at the same time is subject to a proportionate
reactive disposition; which reaction is felt most at noon, and it
daily becomes more and more apparent till the vernal equinox,
when we have the difference betwixt the meridian and midnight
temperature again at a maximum. We have daily a powerful sedative
effect in the morning, a powerful meridian reaction, which again
subsides into a sedative condition on the access of the evening.
This daily effect on the constitution is exactly similar to that
at the autumnal equinox, only it occurs under different
circumstances. In autumn it is connected with departing heat and
progressively increasing cold; in Spring it is connected with
progressively diminishing cold and advancing heat. After the
vernal equinox, the difference in the meridian and midnight
temperature gradually diminishes; the daily sedative effect at
morning and evening becomes less and less apparent as general
atmospheric warmth prevails, till towards the summer solstice,
the general effect on the constitution is stimulation and
excitement by atmospheric heat.</p>

<hr>
<h2>NOTES OF A READER.</h2>

<p>BYRON'S "FARE THEE WELL."</p>

<p>On one occasion of a mediator waiting upon Lord Byron upon the
subject of a reconciliation with his wife, he produced from his
desk a paper on which was written "fare thee well," and said,
"Now these are exactly my feelings on the subject&mdash;they were
not intended to be published, but you may take
them."&mdash;<i>Lit. G.</i></p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>EARLY HOURS.</p>

<p>Dr. Franklin published an ingenious Essay on the advantages of
early rising.&mdash;He called it "an economical project," and
calculated the saving that might be made in the city of Paris, by
using the sunshine instead of the candles&mdash;at no less than
4,000,000l. sterling.</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>SENSITIVE PLANTS.</p>

<p>Light exercises a very remarkable influence upon the
irritability of the sensitive plant. Thus, if a sensitive plant
be placed in complete darkness, by carrying it within an opaque
vessel, it will entirely lose its irritability, and that in a
variable time, according to a certain state of depression or
elevation of the surrounding temperature.</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>At Brussels, the demand for labour is so great, in consequence
of the number of new buildings, that tradesmen consider they
confer a favour on a customer by the execution of his orders. The
lower classes have become, within the last seven years, extremely
dissipated, owing it is supposed to the increase in the wages of
the mechanics and labourers employed in the numerous buildings
erected within that period. During the Kaermess annual feast of
three days, it is calculated 80,000 <i>litres</i> (pots) are
drunk each day!</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>Cooper, the American novelist, has just published two volumes
of "Notions" of his countrymen, in the course of which he bestows
on them the following surperlative epithets: "most active,
quick-witted, enterprising, orderly, moral, simple, vigorous,
healthful, manly, generous, just, wise, innocent, civilized,
liberal, polite, enlightened, ingenious, moderate, glorious,
firm, free, virtuous, intelligent, sagacious, kind, honest,
independent, brave, gallant, intellectual, well-governed,
elevated, dignified, pure, immaculate, extraordinary, wonderful,"
&amp;c. He then calls them the "most improving," which is
painting, nay coating, the lily, to "wasteful and ridiculous
excess."</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>OSTRICHES</p>

<p>Impart a lively interest to a ride in the Pampas. They are
sometimes seen in coveys of twenty or thirty, gliding elegantly
along the undulations of the plain, at half pistol-shot from each
other, like skirmishers. The young are easily domesticated, and
soon become attached to those who caress them; but they are
troublesome inmates; for, stalking about the house, they will,
when full grown, swallow coin, shirt-pins, and every small
article of metal within reach. Their usual food, in a wild state,
is seeds, herbage, and insects; the flesh is a reddish brown, and
if young, not of bad flavour. A great many eggs are laid in the
same nest. Some accounts exonerate the ostrich from being the
most stupid bird in the creation. This has been proved by the
experiment of taking an egg away, or by putting one in addition.
In either case she destroys the whole by smashing them with her
feet. Although she does not attend to secrecy, in selecting a
situation for her nest, she will forsake it if the eggs have been
handled. It is also said that she rolls a few eggs thirty yards
distant from the nest, and cracks the shells, which, by the time
her young come forth, being filled with maggots, and covered with
insects, form the first repast of her infant brood. The male bird
is said to take upon himself the rearing of the young. If two
cock-birds meet, each with a family, they fight for the supremacy
over both; for which reason an ostrich has sometimes under his
tutelage broods of different ages.&mdash;<i>Mem. Gen.
Miller.</i></p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>Dr. Kitchiner recommends a gentleman who has a mind to carry
the arrangement of his clothes to a nicety, to have the shelves
of his wardrobe numbered 30, 40, 50, and 60, and according to the
degree of cold pointed to by his thermometer, to wear a
corresponding defence against it.</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>Dr. Harwood fed two pointers; one he suffered to sleep after
dinner, another he forced to take exercise. In the stomach of the
one who had been quiet and asleep, all the food was digested; in
the stomach of the other, that process was hardly begun.</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>SIR WALTER'S LAST.</p>

<p>At page 354 of our last vol., the reader will find an eloquent
description of Perth, from the Wicks of Beglie, quoted from St.
Valentine's Eve. This turns out to be a topographical blunder,
for the "fair city" cannot be seen at all from the said Wicks,
whereas the author has described it as the best point of view. As
our readers have long since enjoyed the description, we shall
doubtless be pardoned for thus noticing the mistake.</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>TELEGRAPHS.</p>

<p>The system of telegraphs has arrived at such perfection in the
presidency of Bombay, that a communication may be made through a
line of 500 miles in eight minutes.&mdash;<i>Weekly Rev.</i></p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>One of the drawing-room critics who uphold the literature of
lords and ladies, sums up the merits of fashionable novel-writing
as follows:&mdash;"After all, it is something to scrutinize lords
and ladies, recline on satin sofas, eat off silver
dishes&mdash;whose nomenclature is the glory of
<i>l'artiste</i>&mdash;though only in a book."</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>MAHOGANY.</p>

<p>The largest and finest log of mahogany ever imported into this
country has been recently sold by auction at the docks in
Liverpool. It was purchased for 378l., and afterwards sold for
525l., and if it open well, it is supposed to be worth 1,000l. If
sawed into veneers, it is computed that the cost of labour in the
process will be 750l. The weight on the king's beam is six tons
thirteen hundred weight.</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>Dugald Stewart, the celebrated metaphysician, of whom Scotland
has just reason to be proud, died a short time since at
Edinburgh, at the age of seventy-five. He recently published two
volumes, of which a distinguished gentleman in Edinburgh thus
speaks:&mdash;"June 16. Dugald Stewart is to be buried to-morrow.
A great light is gone out, or rather gone down,&mdash;for its
glory will long be in the sky, though its orb be no more visible
above the horizon. He corrected his last two volumes with his own
hand within these three months. What philosopher, especially
palsy-stricken ten years ago,&mdash;could ring in better.
Glorious fellow! I hear his splendid sentences and exquisite
voice sounding in mine ear at the distance of nearly thirty
winters. His peculiar merit was the purity and loftiness of his
moral taste. For about forty years he raised the standard of
thought and feeling among successive generations of young men, to
a range it would never otherwise have attained."</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>OLD AND NEW VAUXHALL.</p>

<p>Of old, a half-crown at the door, and the price of such
comestibles as were devoured, were grumbled at as tax enough; but
now the account stands in a fairer form, because you are charged
distinctly for every item, so that you know what you are paying
for, and may choose or reject, as you think fit. Thus Mr. Bull,
from Aldgate, with Mrs. Bull, and only four of the younger Bulls
and Cows, numbering six in all, make good their entry at the cost
of 1l. 4s.&mdash;Books to tell them what they are to see and
hear, the when and the how are 3s. Seats for the vaudeville
(average of modest places) 9s. Ditto for the ballet 6s. Ditto for
the battle 6s. Ditto for the fire-works 6s.&mdash;Total 2l.
14s.&mdash;But then they are not charged for seeing the lamps;
there is no charge for walking round the walks; there is no
charge for looking at the cosmoramic pictures; there is no charge
for casting a glance at the orchestra; there is no charge for
staring at the other people; there is no charge for bowing or
talking to an acquaintance, if you meet one&mdash;all these are
gratis; and if you neither eat nor drink, there is no charge for
witnessing those who do mangle the long-murdered honours of the
coop, and gulp down the most renovating of liquors, be they hale
or stout, vite vine, red port, or rack punch.&mdash;<i>Lit.
Gaz</i>.</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>Bruges, (celebrated as the birthplace of John Van Eyck, said
to have invented the art of oil-painting), is now in a very
dilapidated condition. It was formerly a place of great commerce,
and the merchants of Bruges were the wealthiest in Europe. The
population is reduced from 100,000 to 25,000.&mdash;<i>Brussels
Companion</i>.</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>DISTURBING THE DEAD.</p>

<p>Mr. Crawfurd, in his recent Mission to <i>Hu&eacute;</i>,
wished to visit the mausoleum of the late king; "but," says he,
"we were politely informed that the king was always reluctant to
permit the visits of strangers, whose presence," he said, "might
'trouble the repose of the spirits of his ancestors.'"</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>Dine with a march-of-intellect man, and only observe the
downcast eyes of his pale-faced, trembling wife&mdash;the knit
brows of his sullen sons&mdash;the sulky sorrows of his
joy-denied daughters. All that comes of your hard-hearted,
hard-headed, music-painting-and-poetry-despising, utilitarian,
intellectual, all-in-all educationists, who know nothing so
admirable as a steam-engine, and would wish to see the whole
world worked by machinery.</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>"FASHIONABLE" NOVELS.</p>

<p>Here is a specimen of the <i>slip-slop</i> with which so many
thousand reams of paper have lately been spoiled. "Tea was
announced, and the ladies adjourned to the saloon; Lady Harriet
and Lady Charlotte, discussing, as they went in together, the
difficult question, whether it was or was not an improvement in
modern arrangements to have tea <i>en-buffet</i>. One of its
advantages the ladies were perfectly aware of, namely, that it
afforded a <i>point de r&eacute;unir</i>, for both beaux and
belles, which is always so much wanted before the music begins;
and calculating on this important circumstance, Lady Charlotte
possessed herself of the chair which was the most accessible of
the whole group. Miss Mortimer, with equal foresight, stationed
herself at the fire:&mdash;"Good generalship," whispered Lady
Hauteville to the duchess, as the two experienced matrons
communicated together <i>sur les petites ruses</i>, which the
actors fancied were unperceived, &amp;c."</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>Dr. Walsh, in his <i>Journey from Constantinople</i>,
describes a species of woodpecker, about the size of a thrush, of
a light, blue colour, with black marks beside the bill. "It
entered my room," says he, "with all the familiarity of an old
friend, hopped on the table, and picked up the crumbs and flies.
It had belonged to the doctor's child, just buried, and by a
singular instinct, left the house of the dead, and flew into my
room. Its habits were curious, and so familiar, that they were
quite attractive; it climbed up the wall by any stick or cord
near it, devouring flies. It sometimes began at my foot, and at
one race, ran up my leg, arm, round my neck, down my other arm,
and so to the table. It there tapped with its bill with a noise
as loud as a hammer. This was its general habit on the wood in
every part of the room; when it did so, it would look intently at
the place, and dart at any fly or insect it saw running. Writers
on Natural History say it makes this noise to disturb the insects
concealed within, so to seize them when they appear."</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>At Brussels apartments are not to be procured for a shorter
term than six months.</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>In the prison at Ghent, spirits are sold, but pens and paper
cannot be obtained without a special application to the
governor.</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>Mr. Brande, in his recent Lecture on Vegetable Chemistry,
says, "Salt has been very much extolled for a manure; I believe
that a great deal more has been said of it than it deserves; it
certainly destroys insects, but I do not believe what has been
said of its value. We are not to infer that because a manure is
found to be useful on one soil in a certain climate, that it
shall prove equally useful in others; experience must direct us
in this particular."</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p>STROLLING SCHOOLS.</p>

<p>In Prussia there exist, what are termed <i>Strolling
Schools</i>, having no fixed place. The teacher, with his
scholars or his classical furniture, establishes himself in all
the houses or a village successively, where he affords
instruction; and his stay is determined by the number of persons
he is called upon to instruct under each roof, a week being the
allotted term, for each child, during which period the parents
supply all the wants of the <i>Domine.&mdash;Athenaeum.</i></p>

<hr>
<h2>RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS</h2>

<p>The following extracts from a "roll of the expenses of Edward
I., at Rhuddlan Castle, in Wales, in the tenth and eleventh years
of his reign" (1281 and 1282), may perhaps amuse our readers, as
showing the rates of wages paid to different workmen, tradesmen,
archers, &amp;c. at that period. Under the head of
<i>necessaries</i>, are some curious items. Rhuddlan Castle was
the head quarters of Edward, during an insurrection of the Welsh,
under Llewellin, Prince of Wales, at which time it had many
additions made to it:&mdash;</p>

<p>Paid to Master Peter de Brompton for the wages of 100
carpenters, each receiving 4d. per day, and their constable
receiving 8d. per day; of which five are overseers of twenty, and
each receives 6d. per day for his wages, from Sunday 23rd of
August for the seven following days, 12l. 3s. 9d.</p>

<p>To two smiths, one receiving 4d. per day, and the other 3d.
for their wages, from Sunday 23rd of August to Sunday l2th of
September, <i>each day being reckoned</i>, for twenty one days,
12s. 3d.</p>

<p>Two shoeing smiths by the day, at 3d.</p>

<p>Paid to forty-seven sailors of the king for their wages, seven
days; each receiving per diem 3d., except seven, each of whom
received 6d. per day, 4l. 14s. 6d.</p>

<p>Paid to Geoffry le Chamberlin for the wages of twelve
cross-bowmen and thirteen archers for twenty-four days; each
cross-bowman receiving by the day 4d, and each archer
2d.,&mdash;7l. 8s.</p>

<p>Paid to one master mason, receiving 6d. per diem, and five
masons at 4d., and one workman at 3d.; for twenty-eight days, 3l.
7s. 8d.</p>

<p>Sunday next, after the feast of St. John Baptist, paid to
twenty-two mowers, each receiving 1-1/2d. per day for four days,
11s.</p>

<p>Wednesday following paid to twenty-three mowers, each
receiving 6d. per day for their wages of two days, 1l. 3s.</p>

<p>Paid to fourscore and sixteen <i>spreaders of hay</i> for one
day's wages, whereof fourscore received each per day 1-1/2d, and
each of the others 2d., l2s. 8d.</p>

<p>Paid to 160 spreaders of hay for their wages, Sunday and
Monday, 16s. 6d.</p>

<p><i>Necessaries.</i></p>

<p>For six carts, each with three horses, hired to carry the hay
from the meadows to the castle of Rothelan, for one day, 6s.
10d.</p>

<p>For the carriage of turf, with which the house was covered in
which the hay was placed, 1s. 5d.</p>

<p>For an iron fork bought to turn the hay, 3d.</p>

<p>For making a ditch about the house where the said hay was put,
1s. 8d.</p>

<p>For putting and piling up one rick of hay in the house, 1s.
8d.</p>

<p>Wages of two turf-cutters, seven days, at 5d. per day, 5s.
10d.</p>

<p>For the carriage of turves to cover the king's kitchen, 7s.
6d.</p>

<p>For twenty-two empty casks, bought to make paling for the
queen's court yard, 18s. 4d.</p>

<p>To Wildbor, the fisherman, receiving 10d. per day, and his six
companions, the queen's fishermen, at 3d. per day each, fishing
in the sea, forty-two days, 4l. 18s.</p>

<p>Repairing a cart of the king's, conveying a <i>pipe of
honey</i> from Aberconway to Rothelan, 1s. 4d.</p>

<p>To six men carrying shingles to cover the hall of the castle,
at 2-1/2d each per day, seven days, 8s. 9d.</p>

<p><i>Gifts.</i></p>

<p>To a certain female spy, as a gift, 1s.</p>

<p>To a certain female spy, to purchase her a house, as a gift,
1l.</p>

<p>To Ralph le Vavasour, bringing news to the queen of the taking
of Dolinthalien, as a gift, 5l.</p>

<p>To John de Moese, coming immediately after with the same news,
with letters of the Earl of Gloucester, by way of gift, 5l.</p>

<p>To a certain player, as a gift, 1s.</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p><i>Swan with Two Necks.</i></p>

<p>It appears from the roll of swan's marks, in the time of Henry
VIII., that the king's swans were <i>doubly</i> marked, and had
what were called <i>two nicks</i>, or notches. The term, in
process of time, not being understood, a double animal was
invented, with the name of "The Swan with <i>Two Necks</i>." But
this is not the only ludicrous mistake that has arisen on the
subject, since "swan-upping," or the taking up of swans,
performed annually by the swan companies, with the Lord Mayor at
their head, for the purpose of marking them, has been changed, by
an unlucky asperite, into swan-<i>hopping</i>, which is perfectly
unintelligible.</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p><i>Trial of the Pix.</i></p>

<p>The invention of it, in this kingdom, or at least its
introduction into our courts, is probably of high antiquity,
being mentioned in the time of Edward I., as a mode well known
and of common usage. At present it is seldom required, except on
the removal of the master of the Mint from his office. Upon a
memorial praying for a trial of the Pix by this officer, a
summons issues to certain members of the privy council to meet on
a day fixed. The Lord Chancellor also directs a precept to the
wardens of the Goldsmith's company, requiring them to nominate a
competent number of able freemen of their company, skilful to
judge of, and to present the defaults of the coin, if such be
found, to be of a jury. When the court is formed, twelve of these
persons are sworn, who are directed by the president to examine
whether the moneys were made according to the indenture, and
standard trial pieces, and within the remedies. But in 1754, Lord
Chancellor Talbot directed the jury to express precisely how much
the money was within the remedies; and the practice which he thus
enjoined is still continued. The Pix, or box containing the coins
to be examined, is then delivered to the jury, who retire to the
court room of the Duchy of Lancaster, whither the Pix is removed,
together with the weights of the Exchequer and Mint, and where
the scales used on this occasion are suspended; the beam of which
is so delicate, that it will turn with <i>six grains</i>, when
loaded with the whole of those weights, to the amount of 48 lbs.
8 oz. in each scale. The Pix is then opened, and the money which
had been taken out of each delivery, and enclosed in a parcel
under the seals of the warden, master, and comptroller of the
Mint, is given to the foreman, who reads aloud the endorsement,
and compares it with the account which lies before him; he then
delivers the parcel to one of the jury, who opens it and examines
whether its contents agree with the endorsement. When all the
parcels have been opened, and found right, the moneys contained
in them are mixed together in wooden bowls, and afterwards
weighed. Out of the said moneys so mingled, the jury take a
certain number of each species of coin, to the amount of one
pound for the assay by fire. And the indented trial pieces of
gold and silver, of the dates specified in the indenture, being
produced by the proper officer, a sufficient quantity is cut from
either of them, for the purpose of comparing with it the pound
weight of gold or silver which is to be tried by the usual
methods of assay. The jury then return their verdict, stating how
much the coins examined have varied from the weight and fineness
required, and whether the variations exceed or fall short of the
remedies which are allowed; and according to the terms of the
verdict, the master's quietus is either granted or withheld.</p>

<p><i>Note</i>.&mdash;The <i>remedies</i> are an allowance of one
sixth of a carat, or forty grains, in the pound weight of gold,
and of two pennyweights in that of silver, considered either as
to fineness or weight, or both of them taken together; the
moneyers are, however, at this time so expert, that these
quantities are much greater than are necessary.</p>

<hr>
<h2>SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY</h2>

<p><i>Society of Civil Engineers</i>.</p>

<p>A charter of incorporation has just received the royal
signature, constituting an institution of Civil Engineers, and
naming Mr. Telford its president. The objects of such
institution, as recited in the charter, are, "The general
advancement of mechanical science, and more particularly for
promoting the acquisition of that species of knowledge which
constitutes the profession of a civil engineer; being the art of
directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and
convenience of man, as the means of production and of traffic in
states, both for external and internal trade, as applied in the
construction of roads, bridges, aqueducts, canals, river
navigation, and docks, for internal intercourse and exchange; and
in the construction of ports, harbours, moles, breakwaters, and
light-houses, and in the art of navigation by artificial power,
for the purposes of commerce; and in the construction and
adaptation of machinery, and in the drainage of cities and
towns."</p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p><i>Toads as Ant-eaters</i>.</p>

<p>In the autumn of last year, a pit, wherein I grew melons, was
so much infested with ants, as to threaten the destruction of the
whole crop; which they did, first by perforating the skin, and
afterwards eating their way into the fruit; and, after making
several unsuccessful experiments to destroy them, it occurred to
me that I had seen the toad feed on them. I accordingly put about
half a dozen toads into the pit, and, in the course of a few
days, scarcely an ant was to be found.&mdash;<i>Corresp. Gard.
Mag.</i></p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p><i>Laying out Part of the Calton Hill as
Pleasure-Ground</i>.</p>

<p>We observe with pleasure plans advertised for in the Edinburgh
newspapers, for this purpose. There is no city in Britain which
presents greater facilities for public walks and gardens than
Edinburgh, notwithstanding the immense injury which it has
sustained in a picturesque point of view by the earthen mound,
and the mean buildings which cover great part of the bottom and
sides of the valley of the North Loch. That valley ought to have
been laid out in terraces, some open, or covered with glazed
verandas, for winter use, and others shaded by trees for summer
walking. The great art in laying out walks for recreation and
ease on sloping surfaces, is so to direct them as not to render
them more fatiguing than straight walks on level ground. But the
grand subject of improvement at Edinburgh, in the way of planting
in the public walks, is the hill of Arthur's Seat, which, planted
and built on, might be rendered one of the most unique scenes in
Europe.&mdash;<i>Gard. Mag.</i></p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p><i>Vegetables.</i></p>

<p>Watering gives vegetables long exposed a fresher colour, and a
more attractive appearance; but repeated waterings are highly
pernicious, as they neutralize the natural juices of some, render
others bitter, and make all others vapid or
disagreeable.&mdash;<i>Ibid.</i></p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p><i>Mortar.</i></p>

<p>The use of lime in mortar, is to fill up the hollow spaces or
vacuities between the grains of sand, and to cement them
together, thereby forming a kind of artificial stone. To add any
more lime than is sufficient to fill up these spaces, seems to be
useless, and to add much more must weaken the mortar; but, if too
little lime be used, there will be cavities left between some of
the grains of sand, and the mortar will consequently be short or
brittle: therefore, when we cannot ascertain the best proportions
of lime and sand, it is better to use too much lime than too
little.&mdash;<i>Ibid.</i></p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p><i>Treatment of Gold and Silver Fish.</i></p>

<p>These beautiful objects of the animal kingdom, though long ago
introduced into Europe from China, their native country, seldom
breed in such numbers as they might be expected to do. It has
been lately discovered that in ponds heated by waste water
discharged from steam factories, the gold and silver fish breed
abundantly. From this circumstance, it has been suggested, that,
as heating hothouses by warm water is now so generally adopted, a
portion of this, led occasionally into a garden basin, would keep
the water in such a temperament as would not only always be
agreeable to the fish, but promote their
breeding.&mdash;<i>Ibid.</i></p>

<p>&mdash;</p>

<p><i>Climate.</i></p>

<p>Professor Schow, of Copenhagen, has lately read a paper "On
the supposed Changes in the Climate of the different parts of the
Earth, during the period of Human History," from which, as far as
it has appeared in our language, it seems to be his opinion,
that, on a general view, climates are the same now as in ancient
times. The identity of the climate of Palestine, now and during
antiquity, is thus beautifully made out:&mdash;"It will be
convenient to begin with Palestine, the Bible being the oldest,
or one of the oldest of books; and, although great uncertainty
exists about the determination of the plants which are mentioned
in it, yet two of them do not admit of any doubt, (and these are
sufficient for the determination of the climate of Palestine, in
former times,) viz. the date-tree and the vine. The date-tree was
frequent, and principally in the southernmost part of the
country. Jericho was called Palm-town. The people had palm
branches in their hands. Deborah's palm-tree is mentioned between
Rama and Bethel. Pliny mentions the palm-tree as being frequent
in Judea, and principally about Jericho. Tacitus and Josephus
speak likewise of woods of palm-trees, as well as Strabo,
Diodorus Siculus, and Theophrastus. Among the Hebrew coins, those
with date-trees are by no means rare, and the tree is easily
recognised, as it is figured with its fruit. The vine, also, was
one of the plants most cultivated in Palestine, and not merely
for the grapes, but really for the preparation of wine. The feast
of the tabernacle of the Jews was a feast on account of the wine
harvest. From a passage where the cultivation of the vine is
mentioned, in the Valley of Engeddy, it is evident that the vine
not only grew in the northernmost mountainous part of the
country, but also in its southern lower part. Besides these,
there are other ancient testimonies in favour of the vine. This
plant, indeed, sometimes occurs on the same coin with the date
palm. The date-tree, in order to bring its fruit to perfection,
requires a mean temperature of 78&deg; Fahr. The vine, on the
other hand, cannot be cultivated to any extent if the mean
temperature be above 72&deg; Fahr. Such, then, must have been the
temperature of Palestine, in former ages; and by all that is
known of its present climate, the mean temperature seems to be
the same now. Nor has the time of harvest undergone any change.
Snow and ice, which were known, though rarely, in ancient times,
are occasionally met with now and at present, as in former times.
The inhabitants make use of artificial heat to warm
themselves."&mdash;<i>Dr. Brewster's Journal</i>.</p>

<hr>
<h2>SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.</h2>

<h3>NUISANCES OF SOCIETY.</h3>

<p>It is quite true that the largest part of conversation turns
upon eating and drinking, the weather, the vices and follies of
our neighbours, and a thousand other trifles that lead not to
dispute; and it must be admitted that it is bad companionship to
be eternally canvassing the greater interests of life, and
forcing upon society opinions upon things in general. There are,
indeed, themes in plenty which belong to the neutral ground of
debate; but it is very pitiable that they should so ill bear
repetition. All the world, if they dared avow as much, are
heartily tired of them. Like cursing and swearing, they are
merely unmeaning expletives to supply the lack of sense, to gain
time, and to give a man the satisfaction of sometimes hearing his
own voice. With all the assistance of cards, music, dancing, and
champagne, society is at best but a dreary business, and it
requires no little animal spirits to undergo the infliction with
decency. Are you admitted on terms of familiarity to the domestic
hearth of your friend, that privilege confers on you the
opportunity of becoming intimately acquainted with the faults of
his servants, and (what is worse) with the merits of his
children.</p>

<p>A dinner of ceremony is a funeral without a legacy; an
assembly is a mob, and a ball a compound of glare, tinsel, noise,
and dust. However amusing in their freshness, after a few
repetitions, they are only rendered endurable by the prospect of
some collateral gain, or the gratification of personal vanity. To
exhibit the beauty of a young wife, or the diamonds of an old
one; to be able to say the best thing that is uttered; to sport a
red ribbon or a Waterloo medal in their first novelty; to carry a
point with a great man, or to borrow money from a rich one, may
pass off an evening very well, with those who happen to be
interested in such speculations; but, these things apart, the
arrantest trifler in the circle must get weary at last, and be
heartily rejoiced when the conclusion of the season spares him
all further reiteration of the mill-horse operation. It is this
insipidity of society that forces so many of its members upon
desperate adventures of gallantry, and upon deep play. Any thing,
every thing is good to escape from the languor and listlessness
of a converse from which whatever interests is banished. Many a
woman loses her character, and many a man incurs a verdict of
ruinous damages, in the simple search of that rarest of all rare
things in society&mdash;a sensation. Neither is the matter much
mended, if, barring the insipidity of bon-ton company, you plunge
into the formal gravity of the middle classes, or into the noisy,
empty mirth of the lower. The man of sense and feeling, wherever
he goes, will find himself in a minority, in which few will speak
his language or comprehend his ideas. He will seldom return to
his home without a weary sense of the "stale, flat, and
unprofitable" nothings he has been compelled to entertain in his
intercourse with the world,&mdash;without the recollection of
some outrage on his independence, some dogmatism that he dared
not question, some impertinence that he dared not confute. With
his ears ringing with blue-stocking literature, threadbare
sophistries, forms erected into important principles, mediocrity
elevated into consideration, and the pre-eminence of the vain,
the ignorant, and the contemptible, he will shut himself up in
his solitude, and say with the Englishman at Paris <i>Je m'ennuis
tr&egrave;s bien ici</i>. Against the recurrence of these
annoyances, day after day renewed, what nerves can hold out? As
life advances, time becomes precious, every moment is counted,
every enjoyment is computed; and while the effort necessary for
pleasing and being pleased becomes greater, the motive for making
that exertion grows less. When the sources of physical
gratification are dried up, and the illusions of life are
dissipated, there remains nothing for enjoyment but a tranquil
fireside, and the mastery of our own ideas and of our own habits
in the privacy of home. But then, to enjoy these, you must not
have a methodist wife, and you must have a porter who can lie
with a good grace, a fellow who could say "not at home," though
death himself knocked at the door. Neither should you read the
newspapers, nor walk the streets. The times are long gone by
since "wisdom cried out there." Folly, impertinence, sheer
impertinence, has exclusive possession of the king's highway; and
a dog with a tin-kettle at tail has as good a chance as the
wretch who dares to tread the pavement without partaking of the
ruling insanity. Oh! Mr. Brougham, Mr. Brougham! your
schoolmaster has a great deal yet to do: pray heaven his rods and
his fools' caps may hold out!&mdash;<i>New Month. Mag.</i></p>

<hr>
<h3>TO "BEAUTY."</h3>

<pre>
  The morn is up! wake, Beauty, wake!
    The flower is on the lea,
  The blackbird sings within the brake,
    The thrush is on the tree;
  Forth to the balmy fields repair,
    And let the breezes mild
  Lift from thy brow the falling hair,
    And fan my little child&mdash;
  Yet if thy step be 'mid the dews,
  Beauty! be sure to change your shoes!

  'Tis noon! the butterfly springs up,
    High from her couch of rest,
  And scorns the little blue-bell cup
    Which all night long she press'd.
  Away! we'll seek the walnut's shade,
    And pass the sunny hour,
  The bee within the rose is laid,
    And veils him in the flower;
  Mark not the lustre of his wing,
  Beauty! be careful of his sting!

  'Tis eve! but the retiring ray
    A halo deigns to cast
  Round scenes on which it shone all day,
    And gilds them to the last:
  Thus, ere thine eyelids close in sleep,
    Let Memory deign to flee
  Far o'er the mountain and the deep,
    To cast one beam on me!
  Yes, Beauty! 'tis mine inmost prayer&mdash;
  But don't forget to curl your hair!
</pre>

<p><i>Blackwood's Mag.</i></p>

<hr>
<h3>GOG AND MAGOG.&mdash;(<i>A Fragment.</i>)</h3>

<p>Pensively and profoundly was I meditating, seated one evening
upon a stone bench in Guildhall, when, as the gathering gloom
invested the solemn faces of Gog and Magog, rendering them
mysteriously dim and indistinct, methought I saw them slowly shut
their eyes, nod their heads, fall asleep, and actually begin to
snore. Never did I hear any thing more sonorously grand and awful
than that portentous inbreathing of Gog and Magog, resounding
through the Gothic vastness of Guildhall; but, behold! how
omnipotent is the dreaming imagination! I myself had been dozing;
the sound of my own nose, transferred by a metonymy of the fancy
to the nostrils of those wooden idols, had become, as it were,
the living apotheosis of a snore, which had subdued me by its
sublimity. Most fortunate was it that I awoke; for, on
attentively inspecting the faces of the figures, I saw them
working and writhing with all the contortions of the Pythoness or
the Sibyl, labouring in the very throes of inspiration,
struggling with the advent of the prophetical afflatus. At length
their lips parted, when, in a low, solemn voice, that thrilled
through the dark, deserted, and silent hall, they poured forth
alternately the following vaticinal strain, each starting and
trembling as he concluded:&mdash;</p>

<pre>
  "From Bank, Change, Mansion-house, Guildhall,
    Throgmorton, and Threadneedle,
  From London-stone, and London wall,
    When City housewife's wheedle
  To Brunswick, Russell, Bedford Squares,
    And Portland-place, their spouses,
  Anxious to give themselves great airs
    Of fashion in great houses,
  Then Gog shall start, and Magog shall
  Tremble upon his pedestal."

  "When merchant, banker, broker, shake
    In Crockford's club their elbow,
  And for St. James's clock forsake
    The chiming of thy bell, Bow:
  When Batson's, Garraway's, and John's,
    At night show empty boxes,
  While cits are playing dice with dons,
    Or ogling opera doxies;
  Then Gog shall start, and Magog shall
  Tremble upon his pedestal."

  "When city dames give routs and reels,
    And ape high-titled prancers,
  When City misses dance quadrilles,
    Or waltz with whisker'd Lancers;
  When City gold is quickly spent
    In trinkets, feasts, and raiment,
  And none suspend their merriment
    Until they all stop payment,
  Then Gog shall start, and Magog shall
  Tremble upon his pedestal."
</pre>

<p>I was reflecting what dire calamities would fall upon the
doomed City, since the era of luxury, corruption, and desertion,
thus denounced, had now manifestly arrived, and Gog and Magog
were actually starting and trembling upon their pedestals, when
the hall-keeper, shaking me by the shoulder,
exclaimed&mdash;"Come, Sir, you musn't be sleeping here all
night! Bundle out, if you please, for I am just going to shut the
great gates!"&mdash;<i>New Monthly Mag.</i></p>

<hr>
<h2>THE GATHERER.</h2>

<blockquote>A snapper up of unconsidered
trifles.&mdash;SHAKSPEARE.</blockquote>

<h3>MODERN SALAMANDER.</h3>

<p>An experiment to ascertain the degree of heat it is possible
for a man to bear, was made a few days ago at the New Tivoli, at
Paris, in the presence of a company of about 200 persons. The man
on whom this experiment was made is a Spaniard of Andalusia,
named Martenez, aged 43. A cylindrical oven, constructed in the
shape of a dome, had been heated for four hours, by a very
powerful fire. At ten minutes past eight, the Spaniard, having on
large pantaloons of red flannel, a thick cloak also of flannel,
and a large felt, after the fashion of straw hats, went into the
oven, where he remained, seated on a foot-stool, during fourteen
minutes, exposed to a heat of from 45 to 50 degrees, of a
metallic thermometer, the gradation of which did not go higher
than 50. He sang a Spanish song while a fowl was roasted by his
side. At his coming out of the oven, the physicians found that
his pulse beat 134 pulsations a minute, though it was but 72 at
his going in, The oven being healed anew for a second experiment,
the Spaniard re-entered and seated himself in the same attitude;
at three quarters past eight, ate the fowl, and drank a bottle of
wine to the health of the spectators. At coming out his pulse was
176, and the thermometer indicated a heat of 110 degrees of
Reaumur. Finally, for the third and last experiment, which almost
immediately followed the second, he was stretched on a plank,
surrounded with lighted candles, and thus put into the oven, the
mouth of which was closed this time. He was there nearly five
minutes, when all the spectators cried out, "Enough, enough," and
anxiously hastened to take him out. A noxious and suffocating
vapour of tallow filled the inside of the oven, and all the
candles were extinguished and melted. The Spaniard, whose pulse
was 200 at coming out of this gulf of heat, immediately threw
himself into a cold bath, and in two or three minutes after was
on his feet safe and sound.</p>



<h3>WILL OF MR. WILLIAM HICKINGTON,</h3>

<p><i>Proved in the Deanery Court of York, 1772.</i></p>

<pre>
  This is my last Will,
  I insist on it still,
  So sneer on and welcome
  And e'en laugh your fill.
  I, William Hickington,
  Poet of Pocklington,
  Do give and bequeathe,
  As free as I breathe,
  To thee, Mary Jaram,
  The queen of my haram,
  My cash and cattle,
  With every chattel,
  To have and to hold,
  Come heat or come cold,
  Sans hindrance or strife,
  (Tho' thou art <i>not</i> my wife,)
  As witness my hand,
  Just here as I stand,
  This 12th of July,
  In the year seventy &mdash;&mdash;

    Signed, &amp;c. W. HICKINGTON.
</pre>

<p>J. W. F. B.</p>


<h3>REGENT'S PUNCH.</h3>

<p>The receipt for this "nectarious drink" is as
follows:&mdash;Three bottles of champagne, a bottle of hock, a
bottle of cura&ccedil;oa, a quart of brandy, a pint of rum, two
bottles of Madeira, two bottles of seltzer water, four pounds of
bloom raisins, Seville oranges, lemons, white sugarcandy, and,
instead of water, green tea. The whole to be highly iced.</p>

<hr>
<p>The Supplement, containing a fine Portrait of CAPTAIN
CLAPPERTON, Memoir, &amp;c. and a Title-Page, Preface, and
copious Index to Vol XI., is now published. It extends beyond the
usual quantity, the Memoir is of original interest, and the price
is (in the present instance only) unavoidably advanced to
Fourpence.</p>

<hr>
<hr>
<p><i>Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near
Somerset House,) London; Published by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New
Market, Leipsic; and Sold by all Newsmen and Booksellers.</i></p>

<pre>




End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror, 1828.07.05, by Various

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR, 1828.07.05 ***

This file should be named 8m32110h.htm or 8m32110h.zip
Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8m32111h.htm
VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8m32110ah.htm

Produced by The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US
unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we usually do not
keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.

We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance
of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.
Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections,
even years after the official publication date.

Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til
midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at
Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
and editing by those who wish to do so.

Most people start at our Web sites at:
http://gutenberg.net or
http://promo.net/pg

These Web sites include award-winning information about Project
Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new
eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!).


Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement
can get to them as follows, and just download by date.  This is
also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the
indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an
announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter.

http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or
ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03

Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90

Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want,
as it appears in our Newsletters.


Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)

We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.   Our
projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If the value
per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text
files per month:  1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+
We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002
If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total
will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end.

The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks!
This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users.

Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated):

eBooks Year Month

    1  1971 July
   10  1991 January
  100  1994 January
 1000  1997 August
 1500  1998 October
 2000  1999 December
 2500  2000 December
 3000  2001 November
 4000  2001 October/November
 6000  2002 December*
 9000  2003 November*
10000  2004 January*


The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created
to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium.

We need your donations more than ever!

As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people
and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut,
Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South
Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West
Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones
that have responded.

As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list
will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states.
Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state.

In answer to various questions we have received on this:

We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally
request donations in all 50 states.  If your state is not listed and
you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have,
just ask.

While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are
not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting
donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to
donate.

International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about
how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made
deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are
ways.

Donations by check or money order may be sent to:

Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
PMB 113
1739 University Ave.
Oxford, MS 38655-4109

Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment
method other than by check or money order.

The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by
the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN
[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154.  Donations are
tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law.  As fund-raising
requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be
made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states.

We need your donations more than ever!

You can get up to date donation information online at:

http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html


***

If you can't reach Project Gutenberg,
you can always email directly to:

Michael S. Hart hart@pobox.com

Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message.

We would prefer to send you information by email.


**The Legal Small Print**


(Three Pages)

***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START***
Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers.
They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from
someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how
you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to.

*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK
By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive
a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by
sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical
medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.

ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS
This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks,
is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart
through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project").
Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
distribute it in the United States without permission and
without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth
below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook
under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.

Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market
any commercial products without permission.

To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable
efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any
medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other
things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer
codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.

LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may
receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims
all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of
receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
time to the person you received it from. If you received it
on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
copy. If you received it electronically, such person may
choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
receive it electronically.

THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
may have other legal rights.

INDEMNITY
You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation,
and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated
with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including
legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
following that you do or cause:  [1] distribution of this eBook,
[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook,
or [3] any Defect.

DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by
disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
or:

[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
     eBook or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
     if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable
     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
     including any form resulting from conversion by word
     processing or hypertext software, but only so long as
     *EITHER*:

     [*]  The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
          does *not* contain characters other than those
          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
          author, and additional characters may be used to
          indicate hypertext links; OR

     [*]  The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at
          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
          form by the program that displays the eBook (as is
          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
          OR

     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
          eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
          or other equivalent proprietary form).

[2]  Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this
     "Small Print!" statement.

[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the
     gross profits you derive calculated using the method you
     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
     payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation"
     the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were
     legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent
     periodic) tax return.  Please contact us beforehand to
     let us know your plans and to work out the details.

WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of
public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
in machine readable form.

The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time,
public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses.
Money should be paid to the:
"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."

If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or
software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at:
hart@pobox.com

[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only
when distributed free of all fees.  Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by
Michael S. Hart.  Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be
used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be
they hardware or software or any other related product without
express permission.]

*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END*



</pre>
</body>
</html>
generated by cgit v1.2.3 (git 2.25.1) at 2026-01-25 16:43:48 +0000