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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and
+Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827
+
+Author: Various
+
+Posting Date: December 6, 2011 [EBook #9919]
+Release Date: February, 2006
+First Posted: October 31, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIRROR OF LITERATURE, JULY 28, 1827 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram and Project Gutenberg
+Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note: In "A Churchyard Scene" the word "iugrate" occurs in
+                    the original text. This was probably a typographical
+                    error, and the correct word was likely "ingrate."
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
+
+VOL. 10, No. 266.] SATURDAY, JULY 28, 1827. [PRICE 2d.
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CROYDON PALACE.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The palace of Croydon is a building of great antiquity, and was for
+several centuries the magnificent abode of the haughty dignitaries of
+Canterbury. At the period of the Conquest, Lanfranc resided here, and
+most of the decrees and audits of his successors were issued from, and
+held at, this palace. It was here that Archbishop Parker entertained his
+queen, Elizabeth and her august court, with great splendour and
+festivity; as also did the celebrated Whitgift, who refused to accept of
+the high office of lord chancellor. Courtney received his pall here with
+great solemnity and pomp in the presence of the chief nobility of the
+realm; and Chichley, Stafford, Laud, Juxon, Wake, and Herring, made it
+their frequent residence, and were liberal contributors to its
+architectural beauties. The remains of this interesting fabric are, with
+the exception of the hall, composed entirely of brick, occupying a
+considerable space on the south-west side of Croydon church, and are in
+some points peculiarly striking in local appearance; but on account of
+their unconnected state, with the intervening screens of garden walls,
+&c. the view is confined and partial.
+
+The grand hall is a lofty imposing structure, and at a casual
+computation appears to contain an area of eight hundred square yards;
+between which and the cornice, at the height of about fifteen feet, a
+moulding or frieze is carried over the surface of each wall, from
+whence, resting their bases on angels bearing, shields variously
+blazoned, issue in the alternate spaces of twelve feet, five ligneous
+pillars, supporting immense beams traversing the intervening distances
+of the confronting sides. The roof is formed of large solid pieces of
+timber, running diagonally to a point; the upper compartment of which
+(springing from perpendicular posts), is ribbed so as to make it have
+the appearance of a polygonal ellipsis.
+
+On the right of the southern entrance an escutcheon, surmounted by a
+canopy, is fixed at a considerable height from the pavement, and must
+have had formerly a splendid appearance, as faint traces even now of its
+original pomp are discernible in the faint glittering of the gilding,
+and the exquisite symmetry of its execution. The bearings appeared to me
+as--party per pall,--dexter division.--Sapphire a cross gules ensigned
+with fleur de lis between six martlets topaz.--Sinister--quarterly
+sapphire and ruby, first and third, three fleur de lis; topaz, second
+and fourth, three lions passant gardant of the same, supported by two
+angels, and surmounted by a coronet; the whole resting on an angel
+bearing a scroll with a motto in old English text, but illegible.[1]
+
+    [1] I should feel highly obliged if any of your valuable
+    correspondents would favour me, through the medium of the
+    MIRROR, with the name of the noble to whom the above arms
+    appertained.
+
+This hall is now occupied by a carpenter, and is almost filled with old
+furniture and timber; other parts of the building are appropriated for
+charity-schools, and the trade of bleaching is practised in its
+precincts.
+
+SAGITTARIUS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+FINE ARTS
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+ENGLISH ACADEMIES FOR PAINTING ANTERIOR TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE
+ROYAL ACADEMY IN LONDON.
+
+
+The first attempt to form an academy for the encouragement of the fine
+arts in this country was made in Great Queen-street, in the year 1697.
+The laudable design was undertaken by Sir Godfrey Kneller, and by the
+most respectable artists of the day, who endeavoured to imitate the
+French Academy founded by Lewis XIV. Their undertaking, however, was
+wholly without success; jealousies arose among the members, and they
+were ultimately compelled to relinquish the project as fruitless. Sir
+James Thornhill, a few years afterwards, commenced an academy in a room
+he had built for the purpose at the back of his own residence, near
+Covent-garden theatre; but his attempt, likewise, proved abortive.
+Notwithstanding these failures, Mr. Vanderbank, a Dutchman, headed a
+body of artists, and converted an old Presbyterian meeting-house into an
+academy. Besides plaster figures, Mr. Vanderbank and his associates
+procured a living female figure for study, which circumstance tended to
+gain a few subscribers; but, in a very short space of time, for want of
+money sufficient to defray the necessary expenses, all the effects
+belonging to the establishment were seized for rent, and the members, in
+disgust, accordingly separated.
+
+On the demise of Sir James Thornhill, in 1734, the celebrated William
+Hogarth became possessed of part of his property.[2] Although much
+averse to the principles on which academies were generally founded, Mr.
+Hogarth considered that one conducted wisely would probably be of great
+advantage to the public, as well as to the artists in general. He,
+therefore, proposed, that a body of artists should enter into a
+subscription for the purchase of a house sufficiently large and
+capacious to admit thirty or forty persons to draw from a naked figure.
+This proposition being unanimously agreed to, a place was forthwith
+taken in St. Martin's-lane; and Hogarth, to forward the undertaking as
+far as he could, lent them the furniture, &c. formerly belonging to Sir
+James Thornhill's academy.
+
+    [2] The remaining part was left to Lady Thornhill, who lived
+    several years with her son-in-law after the death of Sir James.
+
+The failure of all preceding attempts to form an academy was attributed
+by Mr. Hogarth to the principal members assuming too much authority over
+their brother artists; he, therefore, proposed, that every member should
+contribute an equal sum of money to the establishment, and should have
+an equal right to vote on every question relative to the society. He
+considered electing presidents, directors, and professors, to be a
+ridiculous imitation of the forms of the French Academy, and liable to
+create jealousies.[3] Under Hogarth's guidance, the Academy continued
+for thirty years, with little alteration, to the high satisfaction of
+its several members, and the public in general.
+
+    [3] Our Royal Academy is _now_ governed precisely on the same
+    principles as is the French Academy. What would Hogarth have
+    said, had he lived at the present day?
+
+On ascending the British throne, George III. evinced so much interest
+for the arts, that most of the members of the academy (though contrary
+to the wishes of their leader, who possessed a most independent spirit,)
+solicited the royal patronage to a plan they had in view of establishing
+an academy for _painting, sculpture_, and _architecture_. The success of
+this appeal is too well known to English readers to need much comment.
+His majesty was pleased to appropriate those very splendid apartments in
+Somerset-house for the use of artists, who shortly formed a _new_
+society, over which, by his majesty's special command, the great Sir
+Joshua Reynolds presided.
+
+G.W.N.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+VOLCANOES.
+
+(_For the Mirror_.)
+
+
+To describe the awful grandeur and terrific phenomena of volcanic
+eruptions in an adequate manner, is perhaps beyond the power of
+language. The number of volcanoes now known is about four hundred;
+nearly all of them are situated a small distance from the sea, and many
+appear to have been burning from time immemorial.
+
+A certain mixture of sulphur, steel-filings and water, buried a short
+depth from the ground, will exhibit a kind of miniature volcano; and
+hence some philosophers have concluded, that in the bowels of burning
+mountains there are various sorts of bodies which probably ferment by
+moisture, and being thus expanded, at last produce eruptions and
+explosions. The mouth or chimney of a burning mountain is, in many
+instances, upwards of a mile across! from which, in an eruption, are
+emitted torrents of smoke and flame, rivers of lava, (consisting chiefly
+of bitumen and melted metal,) and clouds of cinders, stones, &c. to an
+immense distance. The wonderful quantity of these materials thrown out
+from the orifice almost exceeds belief; the lava rushes like a fiery
+torrent at a very rapid pace,--ravages the labours of agriculture,
+overthrows houses, and in a few seconds utterly destroys the hopes of
+hundreds of families--the toils of hundreds of years. Nothing impedes
+its awful course; when interrupted by stone walls, or even rocks, it
+collects in a few moments to the height of eight or ten feet; its
+immense heat and violent pressure quickly batter down the obstacle,
+which is literally made rotten by the fire, and the whole mass seems to
+melt together into the lava, which again continues its progress until
+exhausted by the distance of its destructive march.
+
+An English traveller, who was at Naples during the eruption of Mount
+Vesuvius, on the 10th of September, 1810, thus describes the scene:--
+
+"Curious to witness the volcano as near as possible, I set out for
+Portici, where I arrived at eight in the evening; from thence to the
+summit of the mountain the road is long and difficult; having procured a
+guide about the middle of the distance, we had to climb a mountain of
+cinders, every step nearly knee-deep; this made it near midnight when we
+reached the crater, which we approached as near as the heat would
+permit. The fire of the mountain served us for a beacon, and we set
+light to our sticks in the lava, which slowly ran through the hollows of
+the crater. The surface of the inflamed matter nearly resembles metal in
+a state of fusion, but as it flows it carries a kind of scum, which
+gradually hardens into scoria and rolls like fire-balls to the bottom of
+the mountain. We thought ourselves pretty secure in this spot, and had
+no wish to retire; but shortly a most terrific explosion which launched
+to an inconceivable height in the air, immense fragments of burning
+rocks, &c. reminded us of our dangerous situation. We lost not a moment
+in retreating, and driven on by fear almost with miraculous speed,
+cleared in about five minutes, a space we had taken two hours to climb;
+we had hardly gained this spot when a second explosion more terrible, if
+possible, than the former was heard. The volcano in all its fury vomited
+forth some thousands of cart-loads of stones and burning lava. As the
+projection was nearly vertical, the greater part fell back again into
+the mouth of the mountain and this was again vomited forth as before. On
+the 11th and 12th, the fury somewhat abated, but on the 13th a fresh
+eruption commenced, and burning matter flowed down all the sides of the
+volcano;--all Vesuvius itself seemed on fire,--not a vestige of property
+for miles could be discovered, and thousands of families were ruined."
+
+JACOBUS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+A CHURCHYARD SCENE.
+
+
+    How sweet and solemn, all alone,
+    With reverend steps, from stone to stone,
+    In a small village churchyard lying,
+    O'er intervening flowers to move!
+    And as we read the names unknown
+    Of young and old to judgment gone,
+    And hear in the calm air above
+    Time onwards softly flying,
+    To meditate, in Christian love,
+    Upon the dead and dying!
+    Across the silence seem to go
+    With dream-like motion, wavery, slow,
+    And shrouded in their folds of snow,
+    The friends we loved long, long ago!
+    Gliding across the sad retreat,
+    How beautiful their phantom feet!
+    What tenderness is in their eyes,
+    Turned where the poor survivor lies
+    'Mid monitory sanctities!
+    What years of vanished joy are fanned
+    From one uplifting of that hand
+    In its white stillness! when the shade
+    Doth glimmeringly in sunshine fade
+    From our embrace, how dim appears
+    This world's life through a mist of tears!
+    Vain hopes! blind sorrows! needless fears!
+
+    Such is the scene around me now:
+    A little churchyard on the brow
+    Of a green pastoral hill;
+    Its sylvan village sleeps below,
+    And faintly here is heard the flow
+    Of Woodburn's summer rill;
+    A place where all things mournful meet,
+    And yet the sweetest of the sweet,
+    The stillest of the still!
+    With what a pensive beauty fall
+    Across the mossy, mouldering wall
+    That rose-tree's clustered arches! See
+    The robin-redbreast warily,
+    Bright through the blossoms, leaves his nest:
+    Sweet iugrate! through the winter blest
+    At the firesides of men--but shy
+    Through all the sunny summer-hours,
+    He hides himself among the flowers
+    In his own wild festivity.
+    What lulling sound, and shadow cool
+    Hangs half the darkened churchyard o'er,
+    From thy green depths so beautiful
+    Thou gorgeous sycamore!
+    Oft hath the holy wine and bread
+    Been blest beneath thy murmuring tent,
+    Where many a bright and hoary head
+    Bowed at that awful sacrament.
+    Now all beneath the turf are laid
+    On which they sat, and sang, and prayed.
+    Above that consecrated tree
+    Ascends the tapering spire, that seems
+    To lift the soul up silently
+    To heaven with all its dreams,
+    While in the belfry, deep and low,
+    From his heaved bosom's purple gleams
+    The dove's continuous murmurs flow,
+    A dirge-like song, half bliss, half woe,
+    The voice so lonely seems!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+ANECDOTES AND RECOLLECTIONS
+
+    Notings, selections,
+    Anecdote and joke:
+    Our recollections;
+    With gravities for graver folk.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+SHERIDAN.
+
+
+It was at the strongly contested election for Westminster, when Sheridan
+was opposed by Sir Francis Burdett and Lord Cochrane, that the latter,
+in allusion to the orator's desire of ameliorating his situation on the
+poll by endeavouring to blend his cause with that of the baronet,
+characteristically observed, "that the right honourable gentleman sought
+to have his _little skiff_ taken _in tow_ by the _line of battle ship_
+of Sir Francis." Sheridan, in whom the metaphor had awakened the
+remembrance of the remarkable and successful influence of his speech in
+the House of Commons on the occasion of the mutiny at the Nore, in
+calming the irritation of the rebels and reducing them to obedience, in
+reply to his lordship, bade him "to recollect that it was that _little
+skiff_ which once brought the whole navy of England safely into port."
+
+The election drew towards its termination, but all the efforts of his
+friends had proved unavailing to secure Sheridan's return, although his
+minority was any thing but formidable. The interest that attended the
+contest had, at its close, become intense; and every spot, whence the
+candidates might be seen or heard, was crowded in the extreme. A sailor,
+anxious to acquire a view of the scene of action, after all his exertion
+to push his way through the crowd had proved fruitless, resorted to the
+nautical expedient of climbing one of the poles which supported a booth
+directly in front of the hustings, from the very top of which Jack was
+enabled to contemplate all that occurred below. As the orator commenced
+his speech, his eye fell on the elevated mariner, whom he had no sooner
+observed than he rendered his situation applicable to his own, by
+stating that "had he but other five hundred voters as _upright_ as the
+_perpendicular_ gentleman before him, they would yet place him where
+_he_ was--_at the head of the pole_."
+
+Often were his addresses to his constituents interrupted by the tumult
+that arose from the anxiety of the public to get within hearing of him.
+A person, mounted on horseback, had penetrated to the very centre of the
+crowd, with more regard for himself than consideration towards others,
+as the animal he rode, affrighted by the noise, became equally annoying
+and dangerous to those by whom he was surrounded. The outcry was
+excessive, and, while some strove to appease the clamour, others urged
+Sheridan to proceed. "Gentlemen," replied he to the latter, "when the
+_chorus of the horse and his rider_ is finished, I shall commence."
+
+His good humour was at no time disturbed during the election, although
+the observations of his noble Caledonian opponent manifested no amicable
+disposition towards the orator. As it terminated, a mutual friend of the
+rival candidates expressed a hope that, with the contest, all animosity
+should cease; and that the gallant officer should drown the memory of
+differences in a friendly bottle. "With all my heart," said Sheridan,
+"and will thank his lordship to make it _a Scotch pint_."
+
+His treatment of Coleridge, the poet, who had submitted a tragedy to his
+managerial decision, was wholly unmerited by the author, the success of
+whose piece subsequently so well justified the better claims it had on
+Sheridan's attention. In the cavern scene, where the silence of the
+place is presumed to be only broken by the slow dropping of the water
+from its vault, Sheridan, in reading it to his friends, repeated the
+words of one of the characters, in a solemn tone, "Drip! drip! drip!"
+adding, "Why, here's nothing but _dripping_:" but the story is told by
+Coleridge himself, in the preface to his tragedy, with that good humour
+and frankness becoming one sensible of his powers, and conscious that
+the witty use of an unfortunate expression (were it such) could but
+little affect the real and numerous beauties of the production.
+
+An author, whose comedies, when returned upon his hands, were generally
+reduced, by the critical amputation of managers, from the fair
+proportion of five acts to two, or even one, with the ordinary
+suggestion of "_necessary alteration_," &c. complained in wrath and
+bitterness to Sheridan, who, it is said, attempted to console him, by
+saying, "Why, my good fellow, what I would advise you is, to present a
+comedy of a _score_ of acts, and the devil will be in it if _five_ be
+not saved."
+
+I have heard it said, that, at the first performance of _The Critic_,
+Sheridan had adopted, as the representative of Lord Burleigh, an actor
+whose "looks profound" accorded with his "ignorance;" but who, until
+then, had only aspired to the livery of the theatre--the placing of
+chairs, or the presentation of a letter; yet who, in this humble display
+of histrionic art, generally contrived to commit some egregious blunder.
+He was remonstrated with, on his choice, by one of the performers, who
+demonstrated the excessive dulness of apprehension of _the would-be
+Minister of State_; and, like other and recent instances in that
+capacity, his singular aptitude to error, however simple the part he had
+to enact, or clear and concise the instructions with which it might be
+accompanied. As Sheridan had planned the character, the face was every
+thing, and the lengthened, dull, and inexpressive visage of the subject
+was too _strictly ministerial_ to be lost; and the author would, as he
+said, "defy him to go wrong," Still his friend was sceptical; nor were
+his doubts removed by Sheridan's assuring him that the representative of
+Lord Burleigh "would have only to look wise, shake his head, and hold
+his tongue;" and he so far persisted as to lay a bet with the author
+that some capital blunder would nevertheless occur. The wager was
+accepted, and, in the fulness of his confidence, Sheridan insisted that
+the actor should not even rehearse the part, and yet that he should get
+through with it satisfactorily to the public and himself on the night of
+the first performance. It came. The arbiter of hopes and fears appeared
+in all the "bearded majesty" of the age of Elizabeth; and, flattered by
+the preference of the great author, had carefully conned over the
+following instructions:--"Mr. ----, as Lord Burleigh, will advance from
+the prompter's side;--proceed to the front of the stage;--fall back to
+where Mr. G---- stands as Sir Christopher Hatton,--shake his head and
+exit." The important moment came. With "stately step and slow," Lord
+Burleigh advanced in face of the audience. "Capital!" exclaimed the
+gratified author;--with equal correctness he retreated to the side of
+Sir Christopher, without _literally falling back_, which Sheridan had
+for a moment doubted might be the case. "Good! a lucky escape though."
+half faltered the anxious poet. "Now! now!" he continued, with eager
+delight at having got so far so well; but, what was his horror, when his
+unlucky pupil, instead of shaking his _own_ blundering head, in strict
+but unfortunate interpretation of his orders, took _that_ of Sir
+Christopher within his hands, shook it long and manfully, and then
+walked off with a look of exultation at having so exactly complied with
+his lesson.--_New Monthly Magazine_.
+
+
+WONDERFUL PECULIARITY IN THE ENGLISH CHARACTER!
+
+
+The French, however wretched may be their condition, are attached to
+life, while the English frequently detest life in the midst of affluence
+and splendour. English criminals are not dragged, but run to the place
+of execution, where they laugh, sing, cut jokes, insult the spectators;
+_and if no hangman happens to be present, frequently hang
+themselves_.--_Memoirs of Lewis Holberg_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+STANZAS.
+
+BY THE AUTHOR OF "FIELD FLOWERS," &C.
+
+(_For the Mirror_.)
+
+
+    I smiled, for not a cloud was seen o'er the blue heaven's expanse,
+    As summer's myriad insect tribe led on the winged dance;
+    The gaudy butterfly was there ranging from flower to flower,
+    And by its side the wild bee humm'd amid the woodbine bower.
+
+    I sighed, for when I looked again the sky was overcast,
+    The summer insect's winged dance was o'er, yet on I past,
+    The gaudy butterfly was gone, the bee away had fled,
+    While on each fairest, brightest flower the wasteful locust fed.
+
+    Yet e'en this simple scene to youth a moral shall convey,
+    Since thus full oft misfortune's clouds obscure life's summer ray;
+    To-day we smile, for beauty smiles in all her spring-tide bloom--
+    To-morrow sigh, for beauty's bower has now become her tomb!
+
+H. B.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+SELECT BIOGRAPHY.
+
+No. LVI.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+GILBERT BURNS.
+
+
+Gilbert Burns was born about the year 1760. He was eighteen months
+younger than his brother Robert, Scotland's most gifted bard. With him
+he was early inured to toil, and rendered familiar with the hardships of
+the peasant's lot; like him, too, he was much subject to occasional
+depression of spirits, and from whatever cause, he had contracted a
+similar bend or stoop in the shoulders; his frame, like that of Robert,
+was cast in a manly and symmetrical mould. The profile of his
+countenance resembled that of his brother, and their phrenological
+developments are said to have been not dissimilar; the principal
+disparity lay in the form and expression of the eye, which in Gilbert
+was fixed, sagacious, and steady--in Robert, almost "in a fine
+frenzy rolling."
+
+Gibert Burns was the archetype of his father, a very remarkable man; his
+piety was equally warm and sincere; and, in all the private relations of
+life, as an elder of the church, a husband, a father, a master, and a
+friend, he was preeminent. His writings want that variety, originality,
+and ease, which shine so conspicuously even in the prose works of the
+poet; but they have many redeeming points about them. His taste was as
+pure as his judgment was masculine. He has been heard to say, that the
+two most pleasurable moments of his life were--first, when he read
+Mackenzie's story of La Roche, and secondly, when Robert took him apart,
+at the breakfast or dinner hour, during harvest, and read to him, while
+seated on a barley sheaf, his MS. copy of the far-famed Cotter's
+"Saturday Night."
+
+When Robert Burns was invited by Dr. Blacklock to visit Edinburgh,
+Gilbert was struggling in the unthrifty farm of Mosgiel, and toiling
+late and early to keep a house over the heads of his aged mother and
+unprotected sisters. The poet's success was the first thing that stemmed
+the ebbing tide of his fortunes. On settling with Mr. Creech, in
+February, 1788, he received, as the profits of his second publication,
+about 500l.; and, with that generosity which formed a part of his
+nature, he immediately presented Gilbert with nearly half of his whole
+wealth. Thus succoured, Gilbert married a Miss Breconridge, and removed
+to a better farm at Dinning, in Dumfriesshire. While there, he was
+recommended to Lady Blantyre, whose estates in East Lothian he
+subsequently managed for nearly a quarter of a century. He died at
+Grant's Braes, in the neighbourhood of Haddington, on one of the
+Blantyre farms, on the 8th of April. He had no fixed complaint; but, for
+several months preceding his dissolution, a gradual decay of nature had
+been apparent. It is probable that his death was accelerated by severe
+domestic afflictions; as, on the 4th of January, he lost a daughter, who
+had long been the pride of his family hearth; and, on the 26th of
+February following, his youngest son, a youth of great promise, died at
+Edinburgh, of typhus fever, on the eve of his being licensed for the
+ministry. Mrs. Burns, who brought him a family of six sons and five
+daughters, of whom five sons and one daughter are living, survivors.
+
+It ought to be mentioned that the two hundred pounds which Robert Burns
+lent to his brother, in the year 1788, was not repaid till 1820. Gilbert
+was far from affluent; in early life he had to struggle even for
+existence; and, therefore, to know that his aged mother and one or two
+sisters, were properly supported, was, in the poet's eyes, a full
+acquittance of all claims. The children of Robert viewed the subject in
+the same light. In 1819, Gilbert Burns was invited by Messrs. Cadell and
+Davies, to revise a new edition of his brother's works; to supply
+whatever he found wanting, and correct whatever he thought amiss. He
+accepted the invitation; and, by appending much valuable matter to the
+late Dr. Currie's biography, he at once vindicated his brother's memory
+from many aspersions which had been cast upon it, and established his
+own credit as an author. On receiving payment for his labour, the first
+thing he did was, to balance accounts, to the uttermost farthing, with
+the widow and family of his deceased brother. The letter which
+accompanied the remittance of the money was, in the highest degree,
+creditable to his feelings.
+
+_Monthly Magazine_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS.
+
+No. XI.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+SPORTS OF THE BURMESE.
+
+
+Shortly after our arrival at Prome we had an opportunity of witnessing
+some boxing and wrestling matches, exercises which the Burmahs are very
+fond of, and which they pride themselves much on excelling in. The
+challenge is given by stepping to the front, and with the right hand
+slapping the left shoulder, at the same time taunting the opponent in
+order to excite him; the struggle does not last long, and when ended, no
+animosity remains between the parties.
+
+Another amusement of the Burman youth deserves mentioning on account of
+its singularity. This is a game at ball, played by six or eight young
+men, formed in a circle; the ball is hollow, and made of wicker work;
+and the art of the game consists in striking this upwards with the foot,
+or the leg below the knee. As may be conceived, no little skill is
+required to keep the ball constantly in motion; and I have often been
+much entertained in watching the efforts made by the players to send the
+ball high in the air, so that it should fall within the limits of the
+ring, when it is again tossed by the foot of another. The natives of
+Hindostan are not acquainted with this game, but it is said to be common
+amongst the Chinese, Japanese, and other nations east of the Ganges. But
+by far the most favourite amusements of the Burmahs are acting and
+dancing, accompanied by music, which to my ear appeared very discordant,
+although occasionally a few rather pleasing notes might be
+distinguished. The principal instrument used in the Burman bands of
+music is the kiezoop, which is formed of a number of small gongs,
+graduated in size and tone on the principle of the harmonica, and
+suspended in a circular frame about four feet high and five feet wide;
+within which the performer stands, and extracts a succession of soft
+tones, by striking on the gongs with two small sticks. Another circular
+instrument (the boundah) serves as a bass; it contains an equal number
+of different-sized drums, on which the musician strikes with violence,
+with a view perhaps to weaken the shrill, discordant notes of a very
+rude species of flageolet, and of an equally imperfect kind of trumpet,
+which are usually played with a total disregard of time, tune, or
+harmony. Two or three other instruments, similar in principle to the
+violin, complete the orchestra. To Europeans, there was not much to
+admire in the sounds produced by these instruments; neither did our
+music appear to have many charms for the Burmahs, whom I have seen
+present at the performance of some of Rossini's most beautiful airs, and
+of different martial pieces, by one of our best regimental bands,
+without expressing, either by their words or gestures, the least
+satisfaction at what they heard.
+
+In condemning, however, the Bunnaa instrumental music generally, I would
+observe, that some of the vocal airs have a very pleasing effect when
+accompanied by the Patola. This is an instrument made in the fantastic
+shape of an alligator; the body of it is hollow, with openings at the
+back, and three strings only are used, which are supported by a bridge,
+as in a violin.
+
+I chanced one day to meet with a young Burman who had been stone blind
+from his birth, but who, gifted with great talent for music, used to
+console himself for his misfortune by playing on this species of guitar,
+and accompanying his voice. When I expressed a wish to hear him perform,
+he immediately struck out a most brilliant prelude, and then commenced a
+song, in a bold tone, the subject of which was a prophecy that had been
+current at Rangoon before we arrived. It predicted the appearance of
+numerous strangers at that place, and that two-masted ships would sail
+up the Irrawaddy, when all trouble and sorrow would cease! Animated by
+his subject, his voice gradually became bolder and more spirited, as
+well as his performance, and without any hesitation he sung with much
+facility two or three stanzas composed extempore.
+
+Changing suddenly from the enthusiastic tone, he commenced a soft
+plaintive love-song, and then, after striking the chords for some time
+in a wild but masterly manner, retired. I confess I felt much interested
+in this poor fellow's performance, he seemed so deeply to feel every
+note he uttered, particularly at one time, when he touched upon his own
+misfortune, that it appeared Providence, in ordaining he should never
+see, had endowed him with this "soul-speaking" talent in some measure to
+indemnify him.
+
+The Burmahs, generally speaking, are fond of singing, and, in some
+instances, I have heard many very good songs. The war-boat song, for
+example, is remarkably striking. The recitative of the leading songster,
+and then the swell of voices when the boatmen join in chorus, keeping
+time with their oars, seemed very beautiful when wafted down the
+Irrawaddy by the breeze; and the approach of a war-boat might always be
+known by the sound of the well-known air.
+
+I have sometimes heard a trio sung in parts by three young girls, with a
+correctness of ear and voice which would do credit to others than the
+self-taught Burmahs. Many little songs, amongst others that commencing
+"Tekien, Tekien," were composed and sung by the Burman fair in
+compliment to their new and welcome visiters, the white strangers; but
+these, of course, are long since consigned to oblivion, unless they
+recollect with pleasure
+
+    --"The grateful breath of song,
+    That once was heard in happier hours;"
+
+for it is very certain that the Bunnahs considered themselves quite
+happy, when enjoying the transient glimpse of liberty, and the
+advantages of a just government which were offered them during the short
+stay of the British army at Prome.
+
+The Burman plays do not appear to be remarkable for the number of their
+_dramatis personæ_. In most there is a prince, a confidant, a buffoon or
+two, and a due proportion of female characters, represented by boys
+dressed in female attire. The dresses are handsome; and in one which I
+attended, the dialogue appeared to be lively and well supported, as far
+as I can judge from the roars of laughter which resounded from the
+Burman part of the audience. One sentimental scene, in which the loving
+prince takes leave of his mistress, and another where, after much
+weeping and flirtation, she throws herself into his arms, were
+sufficiently intelligible to us; but some, in which the jokes of the
+clown formed the leading feature, were quite lost upon those who did not
+understand the language. The place chosen for the representation was a
+spot of ground outside of our houses, the heat being very great; and
+here a circle was formed of carpets and chairs, lighted by torches
+dipped in petroleum, which threw a brilliant flare around, though
+accompanied by a most unpleasant odour.
+
+Dancing succeeded, and one or two young women were the performers; like
+the Hindostanee Nautch, it merely consisted in throwing the body and
+arms into numerous graceful and rather voluptuous postures; at the same
+time advancing slowly, with a short steady step, and occasionally
+changing it for a more lively figure.
+
+All this time the drums, cymbals, and clarionets were unceasing in their
+discordant sounds, and, before long, fairly drove me from the field.
+
+_Two Years in Ava._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE NOVELIST.
+
+No. CVI.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+ROSALIE BERTON.
+
+
+While passing some time in the south of France, I spent a few days at
+S----, a town on the banks of the Loire, situated in that province,
+which, from its fertility and beauty, is usually designated the garden
+of France.
+
+S----, I had been informed, was a place famed alike for its vineyards
+and its pretty girls, a coincidence certainly natural, since it fairly
+may be supposed, that the sun which ripens the richest fruit in nature,
+should alike mature its sweetest flowers, and perfect the beauties and
+the charms of that sex, which is literally "like the fair flower in its
+lustre." As the friend, by whom I was accompanied, was well known in the
+place, we were soon introduced to a circle of respectable families; and
+among others, to that of Berton, consisting of the father, mother,
+and daughter.
+
+Rosalie Berton was the _belle_ of S----, or to borrow the far prettier
+French phrase, she was "_la perle de ville_." And a sweet and lovely
+girl she was, as ever the eye of affection hailed with delight. Her
+charms had something of a peculiar style and character; for, with the
+bright black eyes, and fine dark hair of the south, were united the fair
+complexion and delicately tinted cheek of a northern beauty. Her face
+was of a somewhat more pensive turn than usual, and her meek, mild
+features, and soft dark eyes, bore traces of tender feeling and of
+gentle thought; while so expressive was her countenance, that it
+responded, at will, to her feelings, and the eye and the cheek which
+were one moment impressed with melancholy, beamed forth the next with
+all the warmth of intelligence, affection, or delight. Her
+accomplishments were really of a superior kind; she walked with more
+than the usual elegance of her country-women, and danced with equal
+animation and grace. But her most attractive charm consisted in her
+voice, which, though not particularly powerful, had a sweetness and a
+melody which were perfectly delightful; so that never methinks have I
+heard a softer strain, than when that fair girl was wont to sing to her
+guitar the simple ballads and sweet romances of her native land. And her
+musical talents were enhanced by her gentle, complying disposition, and
+by the readiness with which she obeyed every call on her exertions. From
+her music-master, who was a native of Italy, she also learnt Italian,
+which she spoke with more fluency and correctness than is usual among
+the French; she drew, moreover, with considerable taste. So affectionate
+and so amiable was she, that she deserved all the encomiums of her
+friends and even their hyperbolical compliments were scarcely
+extravagant when applied to her. She was literally "_douce comme un
+ange, jolie comme les amours;_" and, as the _ne plus ultra_ of merit in
+France, she was "_tout a fait gentille_." She possessed also,
+considerable dramatic skill and tact, and would, I think, have proved a
+delightful acquisition to the stage, from the skill she displayed in
+those little playful scenes, with which the French delight to
+embellish life.
+
+We were favoured with a specimen of her talents in this way, on the
+evening of our arrival. It was the fête day of madame, the mother of
+Louise, and we were invited to be present. After some time passed in
+taking refreshments, varied by dancing, conversation, &c., the little
+ceremony of the evening commenced; the door opened, and a small but gay
+procession entered the room. It consisted of several young persons, all
+friends of the family, headed by Louise, who was charmingly dressed, and
+looked altogether most lovely. She bore her guitar across her bosom, and
+the instrument was encircled with a wreath of flowers. Each individual
+carried some little offering, such as bottles of wine and liqueurs,
+conserves and sweetmeats, flowers and fruit, &c. &c.; and these were
+placed on the table, the whole group forming a circle round Rosalie, who
+advanced to her mother, and sang to the guitar the well-known verses
+consecrated to such occasions.
+
+    Madame c'est aujourdhui votre fete,
+    C'est aussi celle de nos coeurs;
+    A vous chanter chacun s'apprete!
+    Et veut vous courouner de fleurs!
+
+The lovely girl then loosed the garland from her lyre, placed it with
+light hand on the brow of her mother, and sank in a graceful bending
+attitude to receive her parent's blessing. She was instantly raised,
+fondly embraced by both her admiring parents, and with a repetition of
+the song, the whole party left the room. The scene is long past, but I
+have often recalled it since; and in many an hour of fancy and of
+thought, have again beheld that fair girl kneeling to her mother, again
+beheld her clasped to that mother's heart. Nor was the above the only
+instance of her skill, every day presented some fresh instance of her
+feeling and of taste.
+
+A _plaisanterie_, which proved very successful, was arranged as
+follows:--We were sitting one evening up stairs, when we were attracted
+by the performance of three musicians, who were singing in the _cour_.
+The party consisted of two young men, and a female, who wore a veil;
+they accompanied their songs by playing on the guitar; their performance
+was evidently of a superior character; the music and the words were
+Italian, and the voice of the female performer was eminently sweet and
+touching. After listening some time with great delight--
+
+"Go," said I to one of the party, "find Rosalie, and tell her to come
+and listen to a better singer than herself, who will give her a _lecon
+de chant_."
+
+This was said in the hearing of the foreign songstress, for whom it was
+intended as a compliment, while, at the same time, some silver was
+thrown upon the ground. But what was our surprise, when the lovely girl
+threw aside her veil, exclaiming--
+
+"He! bien messieurs et dames! vous ne connaissez donc plus votre pauvre
+Rosalie!"
+
+Such was one of many pleasantries by which we were diverted and amused.
+Idle fancies these indeed, and such as sterner judgments may deem
+trifling or absurd, yet not uninteresting, since many of them evidently
+afford vestiges of classic times and manners, transmitted through the
+course of ages; nor unuseful, since they tend to smooth and adorn the
+rugged way of life, and to strew its flinty path with flowers.
+
+With the charms and accomplishments which I have described, (and the
+sketch can convey but a faint idea of those which she actually
+possessed,) it cannot be supposed that Rosalie was destitute of
+admirers. She had, indeed, had several, but their suits were all
+unsuccessful. She had been addressed in turn by the _medecin_ of the
+place--by the son of the President of the Tribunal du Commerce--and by a
+nephew to a Monsieur de V----, the seigneur who resided at a
+neighbouring château. But they were all, more or less, improper
+characters; the _medecin_ was a gamester; the president's son a
+drunkard, a character utterly despised in these parts; while the nephew
+to the seigneur, was actually a _mauvais sujet_! What the French
+precisely understand by a _mauvais sujet_, I never could exactly make
+out; for, when impelled by curiosity to inquire, my queries were always
+met by such a volley of vituperation, as left one altogether in the dark
+with regard to the real nature of the charge. On the whole, I presume,
+we are to consider a _mauvais sujet_ as a culprit, compared with whose
+transgressions, the several enormities of gaming, drinking, and the
+like, sink into mere peccadilloes.
+
+The parents of Rosalie (the parents settle all these matters in France),
+on learning the character of their intended sons-in-law, dismissed them
+one after the other; and Rosalie acquiesced in their determination with
+a readiness and a decision, which did equal honour to her affection and
+her judgment.
+
+So interesting a girl, however, was not likely to remain long without a
+suitable admirer, and she speedily had another _affaire du coeur_. A
+young and handsome _militaire_, a sous-lieutenant in the royal guard,
+aspired to gain her hand, and to replace the vacancy in her affections.
+
+Henri Vaucouleurs was a fine, tall, dark, martial-looking young man (the
+French make fine-looking soldiers), and, with his luxuriant mustachios
+and the eager glance of his keen black eye, seemed the very _beau ideal_
+of a modern hero. Born at Mezieres, in the department of Ardennes, he
+was cradled in the very lap of war, and was yet a mere boy; when, in the
+summer of 1813, he joined the corps called the _garde d'honneur_. He
+made the campaign of Germany, and was present in the battles of Leipzig
+and of Hanau, in the last of which he received a ball in the right arm.
+He shortly, however, resumed his post with the army assembled for the
+defence of France, and at the battle of Laon received a severe _coup de
+sabre_ on his forehead, the scar of which added much to the martial
+aspect of his countenance. At the peace he joined the royal guard, in
+which corps he still continued. He was really a very estimable and
+engaging young man; and possessed more candour, intelligence, and good
+sense, than I think I ever witnessed in a military man among the French.
+His account of his campaigns was exceedingly modest, unaffected, and
+intelligent, and his whole conversation and manner were of a superior
+character. I remember, he spoke with great forbearance of the three
+principal nations among the allies, the Russians, Prussians, and
+Austrians; but inveighed, bitterly, against several of the auxiliaries,
+who, he said, having received only benefits of the French emperor,
+embraced the first opportunity offered by a reverse of fortune, to
+desert and betray him. Of Napoleon, he spoke with enthusiasm as a
+soldier; but with detestation, as an intoxicated and deluded tyrant, a
+rash and desperate gamester, who sent forth his attached and devoted
+soldiers, to be devoured by the destroying elements, without provision,
+or scarcely a thought for their natural and indispensable wants.
+
+Such were the character and pretensions of him who was destined to gain
+the affections of Rosalie. At first, he seemed to have but little chance
+of success. Old people commonly entertain a prejudice against the
+character and profession of military men, and are seldom ambitious of
+such an alliance for a daughter. The parents of Rosalie were
+prepossessed against Henri on account of his calling; and, though
+Rosalie herself early entertained an interest in his favour, yet she was
+too good and too _sage_ to cherish in herself, or to encourage in her
+lover, an attachment which her parents might disapprove. Henri was,
+however, admitted as a visiter at the house, and by degrees his amiable
+manners and correct deportment won, first on the old lady, and then on
+the father, till their scruples vanished, and, indeed, they wondered
+they could ever have entertained any against so estimable a young man
+and an officer. He was thus speedily received as the lover of Rosalie,
+and about the time of my visit was installed in all the privileges of a
+_bon ami_. He was equally accomplished with herself; spoke German
+fluently, Italian passably well, and was an excellent performer on the
+flute and the guitar; so that he was a fit companion for his charming
+intended, and was able to assist in those refined and elegant
+recreations, in which she also excelled.
+
+_(To be concluded in our next.)_
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+DOZING.
+
+"Dozing very much delights."
+
+
+Our corporeal machinery requires an occasional relaxation, as much as
+the steam engine does the application of oil to its divers springs; and,
+after a _bonâ fide_ slumber, we rise with a freshness equal to that of
+flowers in the best regulated flower-pots. But dozing must not be
+confounded with legitimate sleep, though frequently tending to the same
+purpose; it may be termed an embryo slumber, that entertaineth the body
+with the most quiescent gentleness, acting on our senses as a sort of
+mental warm bath; till, finally, the "material man" himself luxuriates
+in tepidity.
+
+Nothing can be more ungodly than to enter the church with an express
+purpose of dozing there. Arm-chairs, sofas, and beds are the legitimate
+places for dozers. But there is no accounting for that conquering spirit
+of all-besetting drowsiness that attacks us at sundry times and places.
+It is in vain that we lengthen our limbs into an awakening stretch--that
+we yawn with the expressive suavity of yawning no more--that we
+dislocate our knuckle bones, and ruffle the symmetry of our visage, with
+a manual application; like the cleft blaze of a candle, drowsiness
+returns again. Well, then, what manner of reader is he that hath never
+sinned by drowsing in church time? Let him read on; and I'll realize by
+description what he has realized by endurance.
+
+It is after the embodying of a good dinner with ourselves, that doziness
+is most tempting. You have dined at four o'clock to-day. Well, that's a
+decent Sabbatical hour. After due potations of wine, coffee, &c. your
+gratitude is awakened; and, like a good Christian, you arrange your
+beaver, and walk off steadily to church. Now, remember, I give you full
+credit for your wish to exhibit your external holiness--that you are
+indeed conscious of the reverence that should accompany all your
+engagements in the fane of the Deity; and yet I prognosticate that if
+the Rev. Nabob Narcotic happen to preach this evening, you will, of a
+surety, doze--infallibly doze--in the midst of his sermon!
+
+'Tis a summer month, and the very church windows seem labouring with a
+fit perspiration. Horribly boring--isn't it? How your hat clings to your
+moistened forehead, and the warm gloves droop from your fingers, like
+roasting chicken! Get as much room as possible; tenderly pass little
+miss there, and her unbreeched brother, over to their smiling mamma. Now
+you have the balmy corner to yourself! "Psalms," first lesson--second
+ditto--prayers--thanksgivings--all reverently attended to; there is a
+little dreaminess settling on your lids--your lips begin to close with
+languor; but you have not dozed. Let's hear the sermon. You are seated
+with tolerable erectness; and, judging from the steady determination of
+your eyebrows, one would imagine that your eyes would be open for the
+whole of the discourse. But, alas! 'tis Mr. Narcotic, whose spectacled
+nose is just verging above the crimson horizon of his pulpit.--"Awake,
+thou that sleepest!" Why, the text is quite opposed to DOZINESS! But
+what of this, if the preacher be addicted to drawling, the weather
+unobligingly sultry, and you yourself have gradually been dwindling from
+an uncongenial state of wakefulness into a sleepy calm? 'Tis too much
+for beldame Nature, believe me!
+
+I perceive that you have rubbed the bridge of your nose several
+times--that you have tried to swell forth your eyes with a full round
+stare at the parson; but your stoicism "profiteth nothing." The sermon
+is irreligiously long; and you are nodding--in a doze! Whether there be
+much pleasure in a church doze, I am not presuming enough to determine.
+For myself, I have found nothing more tantalizing than the endeavour to
+restrain from an occasioned doze during church time. After a certain
+period, I have perceived the parson diminishing, like a phantasmagoric
+image--all the ladies' black bonnets sinking away, like a cluster of
+clouds--and (shame on the confession!) I have performed head worship to
+the front of my seat, instead of keeping an immovable post-like
+position, before his reverence. However, a church doze is seldom admired
+by the wakeful. Should an embryo snore escape from one's nose (and this
+is possible,) some old grandam, or an upright piece of masculine
+sanctity, is sure to rouse you; the former will either _hem_ you into
+awakening shame, or drop her prayer-book on the floor; the latter will
+most likely thump the same with the imperative tip of his boot. How
+horridly stupid one seems after being aroused! The woman eyes you with
+the most piquant, self-justifying sneer possible; while all her little
+IMMACULATES, if she have any, look at you like so many hissing young
+turkey cocks; and as for the man--bless his holiness!--he'd frown you
+down to Hades at once.
+
+"My heart leaps up" when I behold a stage coach--that snug, panel
+painted, comfortable wheel-whirling "thing of life." O ye days of
+juvenilian sensibilities--ye eye-feeding, heart-rising scenes of
+remembered felicity!--how glorious was the coach at the school door! The
+whip--Ajax _Mastigoferos_ never had such a powerful one as the modern
+Jehu! The spokes of the wheels--they were handled with admiring fingers!
+That Jupiter-like throne, the coach-box--who would not have risked his
+neck to have been seated on it? When all was "right," how eloquent the
+lip-music of coachee! how fine the introductory frisks of the horses'
+tails, and the arching plunge of the fore-foot--no rainbow-curve ever
+was so beauteous! "Oh, happy days! who would not be a boy again?" But
+away with my puerilities. I intend the reader to take a doze in that
+comfortable repository for the person--the inside of a coach.
+
+With all the reckless simplicity of boyhood, I maintain that travelling
+by coach is by no means the least of our sublunary pleasures. Man is a
+_wheelable_ animal as well as walking one. Winter is the time for a nice
+inside jaunt. What divine evaporations from the coachman's muzzle! What
+a joyous creak in the down-flying steps!--and, oh! that comfortable
+alertness with which we deposit ourselves in the padded corner, and fold
+our coatflaps over our knees, glance at the frosty steam of the window;
+and then, quite _à la Tityre_, repose our recumbent bodies at our ease!
+Such moments as these are snatches of indefinable bliss. It would appear
+probable, that a coach was a very inconvenient place for a doze; the
+attendant bustle, the whip-smacks, bickering wheels, and
+untranquillizing jolts--
+
+    "Like angels' visits, few and far between,"--
+
+are not calculated for sleepiness. Notwithstanding these correlative
+interruptions, a doze in the coach is by no means uncommon, even in the
+daytime. Let us examine this a little more intellectually.
+
+Suppose a man is returning to his friends, with a mind composed, and
+"all his business settled." (By-the-by, how vastly comprehensive this
+speech is!) Suppose he has entered the coach about four in the
+afternoon, and, by rare luck, finds he is, for the present, the only
+inside passenger. Such a man, I say, will be likely to doze before
+twenty miles have run under the coach-wheels--speaking _Hibernicè_. For
+the last half-hour, he will be thinking of himself--how many commissions
+he has performed--how many he has left undone--and how many he intends
+to do. The next, he will probably give to his home attractions--his
+anxious wife, sat musingly round the tea-table--his favourite son George
+(so like his father)--and all the nine hundred and ninety-nine pretty
+nothings we hear of, after a brief absence. These will send his heart a
+long way from the coach, and therefore keep him in the full enjoyment of
+wakefulness. But this train of delectable musing is by no means
+exhaustless. The roll of the wheels gradually becomes naturalized to the
+ear, and the body moves in sympathy with the coach; the road gets very
+monotonously barren; the lounge in the corner--how suitable then to this
+solitary languor! Lulled here, the traveller for awhile admires the
+leathern trappings of the coach, hums a tune perhaps, and affects a
+dubious whistle. Meantime the operations of _doziness_ have been gently
+applying themselves. His eye is sated with the road and the coach; his
+hands become stationary on his lap; his feet supinely rested on the
+opposite seat; his head instinctively motions to the corner--and he
+dozes! A doze in the coach is the flower of dozes, when you are alone.
+There, you may twist your person into any shape you please, without the
+fear of discomposing a silken dress, or a nursemaid's petticoats. No
+boisterous arguments from snuff-taking sexagenarians: all is placid
+--Eden-like--just as a dozer's _sanctorum_ ought to be! The only thing
+attendant on the doze of an inside passenger, is the great chance of
+being suddenly aroused by the entrance of company. O tell me, ye of the
+fine nerve, what is more vexing than to be startled from your nest by
+the creaking slam of the steps, the bleak winter gales galloping along
+your face, and a whole bundle of human beings pushing themselves into
+your retreat! There is no rose without its thorn, as myriads have said
+before me:--
+
+    ----"O beate Sexti,
+    Vitæ summa brevis SPEM nos vetat inchoare LONGAM!"
+
+Not all the morose sarcasms of Johnson, on the pleasures of rural life,
+have ever weakened my capability for enjoying it at convenient
+intervals. His antipathy to the country resembled his contempt for
+blank-verse--_he_ could not enjoy it. I have now moped away a
+considerable number of months in this city of all things--this--this
+London. "Well?" Pray restrain yourself, reader; I am coming to the point
+in due season. During my metropolitan existence--although I am neither a
+tailor, nor any trade, nor anything exactly--I have never beheld a
+downright intellectual-looking blade of grass. I mean much by an
+intellectual blade of grass. The Londoners--poor conceited
+creatures!--have denominated sundry portions of their Babylon "fields."
+But--I ask it in all the honest pride of sheer ignorance--is there the
+ghost even of a bit of grass to be seen in many of them? I cannot easily
+forget my vexation, when, after a tedious walk to one of those
+misnomered "fields," I found nothing but a weather-beaten, muggy, smoky
+assemblage of houses of all sizes, circumscribed by appropriate filth
+and abundant cabbage-stumps. Innocent of London quackeries, I strolled
+forth with the full hope of laying me down on a velvet carpet of
+grass--the birds carolling around me--and, perchance, a flock of
+lambkins, tunefully baying to their mammas!! "Said I to myself," when I
+reached these fields, "what a fool I am!" I had contemplated a doze on
+the grass.
+
+But leaving all thoughts of disappointment, who will not allow that
+there is something exceedingly delightful in dozing calmly beneath the
+shade of an o'er-arching tree?
+
+    ----"recubans sub tegmine fagi."
+
+Of course, the weather should be fine, to admit of this luxurious
+idleness. Let the blue-bosomed clouds be sailing along, like Peter
+Bell's boat; let the sunbeams be gilding the face of nature, and tinging
+the landscape with multiform hues; let the breezes be gentle, the spot
+retired, and the heart at ease. Now, go and stretch yourself on the
+grassy couch, while the branches of an aged tree shadow forth the imaged
+leaves around you. What a congenial situation for philosophy--under an
+old tree, on a sunny summer day! How much more becoming than the
+immortal tub of the sour-minded Diogenes? Who will be able to refrain
+from philosophizing. I repeat it, beneath such an old tree? 'Tis at such
+times that the heart spontaneously unbends itself--that the fancy
+tranquillizes its thoughts--and that memory awakens her
+
+    ----"treasured pictures of a thousand scenes."
+
+Place the palms of your hands beneath your pole, and survey the
+skies!--calm, beautifully unconscious! By-gone times, and by-gone
+friends--the thousand commingling scenes of varied life--how they all
+recur to you now! You fancy you could lie beneath the tree for
+eternity--so soothing is the employment of doing nothing--or field
+philosophy! Yet, to speak correctly, you are doing a great deal; your
+imagination is flying in all directions--from the death of Caesar to the
+last cup of Congou that you took with a regretted friend. What a mystery
+your existence is! The world turns round as gently as ever; the flowers
+bud into life; and the winter nips them. Man lives, thinks, and dies.
+All very wondrous truisms. Well, after a half-hour--or perchance
+more--you will be gradually relapsing into a state of soporific
+nothing-at-all-ness (the best word I can find to express my meaning.)
+May there be some clear little stream just behind you, laughing along
+its idle way;--some chirping birds, singing their roundelay--some
+buzzing flies--you will then be lulled into doziness. However, with or
+without the purling murmur of the brook--the joyous warbling of the
+birds--the busy bustling flies--you will not be able to resist the
+dozing temptations that will steal over you. Your eyes will close gently
+as flower-leaflets--your thoughts die away in a heavenly confusion--and
+then you doze!--neither sleeping nor waking, but absolved in delicious
+dreaminess! O, for such a doze!--_Monthly Magazine_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE SELECTOR,
+AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE CHINESE ALMANAC.
+
+
+Notwithstanding the aversion of the Chinese to the profession of the
+Roman Catholic religion, which has been shown, first by persecuting, and
+then by expelling the Jesuits from the empire, the Chinese government
+is, however, obliged to keep at least some missionaries at Pekin to
+compile the almanac. While astrology has led in other nations to the
+study of astronomy, the Chinese, though they have studied astrology for
+some thousand years, have made no progress in the real knowledge of the
+stars. Their ancient boasted observations, and the instruments which
+they make use of, were brought by the learned men, whom Koubilaï, the
+grandson of Gingis Khan, had invited from Balk and Samarcand. The
+government, at present, considers the publication of an annual calendar
+of the first importance and utility. It must do every thing in its
+power, not only to point out to its numerous subjects the distribution
+of the seasons, the knowledge of which is essentially necessary to them,
+to arrange the manner of gaining their livelihood, and distributing
+their labour; but on account of the general superstition, it must mark
+in the almanac, the lucky and unlucky days, the best days for being
+married, for undertaking a journey, for making their dresses, for
+buying, or building, for presenting petitions to the emperor, and for
+many other cases of ordinary life. By this means, the government keeps
+the people within the limits of humble obedience; it is for this reason
+that the emperors of China established the academy of astronomy, but we
+must not expect to find men really acquainted with that science. When
+this illustrious body, composed of Mantchoos, and in which Europeans,
+though subordinate, are the most active, condescended to look at the
+planetarium, which was among the presents which the king of England sent
+to the emperor of China by lord Macartney, Mr. Barrow was not able to
+make the president of this learned society understand the real merit of
+that instrument. Besides, how should a people be able to comprehend
+astronomy, to know the position of the heavenly bodies, and determine
+the orbits of the planets, while it is ignorant of the elements of
+mathematics, and makes its calculations by the help of vertical
+arithmetical tables, like those used by the shop-keepers in Russia, and
+who are ignorant both of analysis and geometry?--_Timkowski's Mission
+to China_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+COMPARISON OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH.
+
+
+The following are points of comparison which may be remarked in the
+characters of the French and English. The French are great talkers, the
+English great thinkers; the former excel in vivacity, the latter in
+solidity of intellect. The French dress with splendour, the English with
+neatness; the French live almost exclusively on bread, the English on
+meat. Both are passionate; but it is the blood which rouses the passion
+of a Frenchman, and the bile which exasperates an Englishman. The anger
+of a Frenchman is more violent, that of an Englishman more pertinacious.
+A Frenchman spends his money on his clothes, an Englishman on his belly.
+A Frenchman follows the stream, an Englishman delights in struggling
+against it. The friendships of the French are quickly formed, and as
+quickly dissolved; those of the English are formed slowly, and as slowly
+relinquished. The French respect their superiors, the English respect
+themselves; the former are better citizens, the latter better men. The
+mental endowments of the French are of a more refined, those of the
+English of a loftier, character. The French practise virtue for the sake
+of reputation, and seek the reward of meritorious actions in popular
+applause; the English practise it for its own sake, and seek no reward
+but that which springs from the consciousness of rectitude. There is the
+same relative difference in their vices as in their virtues. Both commit
+crimes; the French from the love of gain, the desire of vengeance or
+similar motives; but the English are often criminal for the mere sake of
+committing crime. The French, like the people of other countries, often
+commit crimes in the hope of escaping punishment, but the English
+frequently commit crimes because they know they cannot escape
+unpunished; so that the very severity of the law, which deters others
+from crime, often operates as an additional stimulus on the English for
+the commission of offences, "I would commit this offence," exclaims the
+Frenchman, "if the law permitted it." "I would not commit this offence,
+if it were not prohibited by law," is frequently the language of the
+Englishman.--_Memoirs of Lewis Holberg_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+LEAVES AND FLOWERS, OR THE LOVER'S WREATH.
+
+
+    With tender vine-leaves wreathe thy brow,
+      And I shall fancy that I see,
+    In the bright eye that laughs below,
+      The dark grape on its parent tree.
+        'Tis but a whim--but, oh! entwine
+        Thy brow with this green wreath of mine.
+
+    Weave of the clover-leaves a wreath,
+      Fresh sparkling with a summer-shower,
+    And I shall, in my fair one's breath,
+      Find the soft fragrance of the flower.
+        'Tis but a whim--but, oh! do thou
+        Twine the dark leaves around thy brow.
+
+    Oh, let sweet-leaved geranium be
+      Entwined amidst thy clustering hair,
+    Whilst thy red lips shall paint to me,
+      How bright its scarlet blossoms are.
+        'Tis but a whim--but, oh! do thou
+        Crown with my wreath thy blushing brow.
+
+    Oh, twine young rose-leaves round thy head,
+      And I shall deem the flowers are there,--
+    The red rose on thy rich cheek spread,
+      The white upon thy forehead fair.
+        'Tis but a whim--but, oh! entwine
+        My wreath round that dear brow of thine.
+
+_The Draught of Immortality, &c._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+ARTS AND SCIENCE
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+FLATTENING OF THE EARTH.
+
+
+At the Academy of Sciences at Paris, a memoir was read by Captain
+Duperrey, on the experiments made with the invariable pendulum, during
+the voyage of the _Coquille_ round the world. He states that various
+experiments confirmed the fact of the flattening of the terrestrial
+globe, conjectured by several travellers, who had remarked that the
+number of oscillations which the pendulum made at certain places,
+differed from what had been observed in the extent of the same parallel.
+The principal anomalies observed by Captain Duperrey were at the Isle of
+France, Mons, Guam, and the Island of Ascension. At the Isle of France,
+the invariable pendulum (as had been remarked by M. Freycinet) made in
+one day, upon an average, thirteen or fourteen oscillations more than it
+ought, supposing the depression to be 1.305, according to the lunar
+theory. At Ascension, the acceleration, as noticed by Captain Sabine,
+was five or six oscillations, even supposing the depression to be 1.228.
+At other stations the difference was almost nothing; and in some, the
+motion of the pendulum was retarded. Such differences, Captain Duperry
+remarks, between the results of experiment and those given by theory,
+cannot be attributed to errors of observation. He is disposed to refer
+the cause of the phenomena, with Captain Sabine, to the want of
+homogeneousness in the earth, considered as a mass, or to the mere
+variations of density in the superficial strata. What tends to confirm
+this hypothesis, he says, is, that all observations show that an
+acceleration of the pendulum generally takes place on volcanic ground
+and a retardation on such as is sandy and argillaceous. A very important
+question to ascertain is, whether the flattening is exactly the same in
+both hemispheres. From the observations of Captains Duperrey and
+Freycinet, it appears that in the southern hemisphere it is 1.291, and
+in the northern 1.288; that is to say, it is sensibly the same, or
+1.290 in both.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+HABITS OF PLANTS.
+
+
+The following curious observations on the habits of plants, were made by
+General Walker, in his address to the Agricultural Society of St.
+Helena, in February last:--"The functions of plants, as well as of
+animals, depend upon the air in which they live. I have observed that
+those of St. Helena, which have been brought from another hemisphere,
+are very irregular in their annual progress; many of them, in the
+development of their foliage, have adopted the law of nature peculiar to
+the country into which they have been transplanted. Others, more
+obstinate, remain faithful to their own habits, and continue to follow
+the stated changes to which they had been accustomed. They all appear to
+maintain a struggle either before they adopt the habits which belong to
+the seasons of their new country, or decide on retaining their relations
+with the old. In yielding to external circumstances, they appear to have
+different tempers. This appearance of contention is often observed in
+plants of the same species; they seem to hesitate and deliberate, ere
+they adopt the mode of performing the functions of life. At length when
+the decision is made, apparently not without pain and effort, we are at
+a loss to discover an adequate cause. An oak, for instance, which loses
+its leaves in a St. Helena winter of 68 degrees, scarcely experiences
+the difference of temperature, which, reasoning by analogy, could cause
+that change. It would have continued to maintain inflexibility, in its
+original climate, its old habits, though exposed to far greater
+irregularity and severity of climate. But though the law is obeyed by
+many plants, it does not determine the periodical changes of the whole,
+nor do they all submit to it with equal readiness and regularity. It
+would add, I conceive, to the natural history of vegetation, and improve
+our knowledge of the geography of plants, were the facts concerning
+their habits and changes, under different temperatures, carefully
+collected."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+MISCELLANIES.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+HUMAN CREDULITY.
+
+
+The wonderful miracles wrought by Bridget Bostock, of Cheshire, who
+healed all diseases by prayer, faith, and an embrocation of fasting
+spittle, induced multitudes to resort to her from all parts of the
+country, and kept her salival glands in full employ. Sir John Pryce,
+with a high spirit of enthusiasm, wrote to this woman to make him a
+visit at Newton Hall, in order to restore to him his third, a favourite,
+wife. His letter will best tell the foundation on which he built his
+strange hope, and every uncommon request.
+
+    _To Mrs. Bridget Bostock._
+
+    Madam,--Having received information, by repeated advices, both
+    public and private, that you have of late performed many
+    wonderful cures, even where the best physicians have failed;
+    and that the means used appear to be very inadequate to the
+    effect produced; I cannot but look upon you as an extraordinary
+    and highly favoured person. And why may not the same most
+    merciful God, who enables you to restore sight to the blind,
+    hearing to the deaf, and strength to the same, also enable you
+    to raise the dead to life? Now, having lately lost a wife, whom
+    I most tenderly loved, my children a most excellent
+    step-mother, and our acquaintances a most dear and valuable
+    friend, you will lay us all under the highest obligations; and
+    I earnestly entreat you, for God Almighty's sake, that you will
+    put up your petitions to the Throne of Grace on our behalf,
+    that the deceased may be restored to us, and the late dame
+    Eleanor Pryce be raised from the dead. If your personal
+    attendance appears to you to be necessary, I will send my coach
+    and six, with proper servants to wait on you hither, whenever
+    you please to appoint. Recompense of any kind that you may
+    please to propose would be made with the utmost gratitude; but
+    I wish the bare mention of it is not offensive to both God
+    and you.
+
+    I am, madam,
+
+    Your most obedient, and very much afflicted, humble servant,
+
+    JOHN PRYCE.
+
+
+THEOLOGICAL WIT.
+
+
+The late Rev. Thomas Toller, an eminent dissenting minister, (joint
+preacher with the celebrated Dr. James Fordyce, at Monkwell-street,)
+resided many years in the Lower-street, Islington. One day, when he got
+into the stage to come to London, he met with two ladies of his
+acquaintance, and a loquacious young Irishman, who was very obtrusive
+with his "would-be wit" to the females. The coachman soon stopped to
+take up another passenger, who, Dutchman-like, was "_slow to make
+haste_." A young dog, being confined in the neighbourhood, bewailed its
+loss of liberty, by making an hideous noise; which all the party agreed
+was very disagreeable. The Hibernian, desirous to display his wit, and
+to _quiz_ the parson, said, "The animal was so unpleasantly noisy, it
+must be a presbyterian _dog_." Mr. Toller calmly, but with much apparent
+confidence, said, "I am sure it is an Irish dog."--"How do you know
+that?" exclaimed the astonished young man with eagerness.--"I know it,
+sir," (replied the divine,) "by its impudence and its howl." This
+seasonable retort cured the garrulity of the patient, and gave him a
+locked-jaw till the stage arrived at the Royal Exchange.
+
+
+RAMSDEN THE OPTICIAN.
+
+
+It was his custom, to retire in the evening to what he considered the
+most comfortable corner in the house, and take his seat close, to the
+kitchen fireside, in order to draw some plan for the forming a new
+instrument, or scheme for the improvement of one already made. There,
+with his drawing implements on the table before him, a cat sitting on
+the one side, and a certain portion of bread, butter, and a small mug of
+porter placed on the other side, while four or five apprentices commonly
+made up the circle, he amused himself with either whistling the
+favourite air, or sometimes singing the old ballad of
+
+        "If she is not so true to me,
+        What care I to whom she be?
+    What care I, what care I, to whom she be!"
+
+and appeared, in this domestic group, contentedly happy. When he
+occasionally sent for a workman, to give him necessary directions
+concerning what he wished to have done, he first showed the recent
+finished plan, then explained the different parts of it, and generally
+concluded by saying, with the greatest good humour, "Now see, man, let
+us try to find fault with it;" and thus, by putting two heads together,
+to scrutinize his own performance, some alteration was probably made for
+the better. But, whatever expense an instrument had cost in forming, if
+it did not fully answer the intended design, he would immediately say,
+after a little examination of the work, "Bobs, man! this won't do, we
+must have at it again;" and then the whole of that was put aside, and a
+new instrument, begun. By means of such perseverance, he succeeded in
+bringing various mathematical, philosophical, and astronomical
+instruments to perfection. The large theodolite for terrestrial
+measurements, and the equal altitude instrument for astronomy, will
+always be monuments of his fertile, penetrating, arduous, superior
+genius! There cannot be a lover (especially of this more difficult part)
+of philosophy, in any quarter of the globe, but must admire the
+abilities, and respect the memory, of Jesse Ramsden--_Practical
+Observations on Telescopes_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE GATHERER.
+
+"I am but a _Gatherer_ and disposer of other men's stuff."--_Wotton_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Mr. Kelly, in his "Reminiscences," relates, that in 1792 he was walking
+in the Place Vendome with two Irish gentlemen, a Colonel Stark Macarthy
+and a Captain Fagan, the latter possessing "a vast portion of the ready
+wit of his country." Coming to the celebrated statue of Victory holding
+the laurel crown over the head of Louis XIV., a French officer was
+enumerating the splendid achievements of that heroic king, and
+particularly desired us to observe the attitude of the figure of
+Victory. "Pray, sir," said Fagan, "may I take the liberty of asking the
+question--Is Victory putting the laurel on his majesty's head, or taking
+it off?" The question puzzled the Frenchman, and made us
+laugh heartily.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Parr carried his compassion towards the inferior tribes so far, that two
+or three hares found a secure asylum for nearly two years in his garden
+at Hatton. He said that they were his clients, for they had placed
+themselves under his protection. He gave strict orders that they should
+not be shot. "It would be a gross violation," he said, "of a tacit
+covenant of hospitality."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+A few months since, a noble marquis bespoke a play at a country
+theatre, the representation of which Mr. Canning, prime minister,
+honoured with his presence. The boxes and other parts of the house were
+crammed, with the exception of the pit, which looked beggarly; on which
+an actor observed to a brother of the sock, "We've no _pit_
+to-night."--"No _Pitt_!" rejoined the other, "and none we want while we
+have a _Canning!_"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+_Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset
+House,) and sold by all Newsmen and Booksellers._
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement,
+and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIRROR OF LITERATURE, JULY 28, 1827 ***
+
+***** This file should be named 9919-8.txt or 9919-8.zip *****
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
+<title>The Mirror of Literature ... Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827, by  Various</title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+<!--
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+  {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;}
+  pre
+  {font-size: 0.7em; background-color: #F0F0F0;}
+  .poetry
+  {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 0%;
+  text-align: left;}
+  .footnote
+  {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;
+  font-size: 0.9em;}
+  .figure
+  {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;
+  text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em;}
+  .figure img
+  {border: none;}
+  span.pagenum
+  {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%;
+  font-size: 0.7em;}
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+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and
+Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827
+
+Author: Various
+
+Posting Date: December 6, 2011 [EBook #9919]
+Release Date: February, 2006
+First Posted: October 31, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIRROR OF LITERATURE, JULY 28, 1827 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram and Project Gutenberg
+Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<p>
+Transcriber's note:&nbsp; In "A Churchyard Scene" the word "iugrate" occurs in
+                        the original text. This was probably a typographical
+                        error, and the correct word was likely "ingrate."
+</p>
+  <br />
+  <br />
+    <br />
+  <br />
+<hr class="full" />
+    <span class="pagenum"><a id="page65" name="page65"></a>[pg 65]</span>
+    <!-- Mirror of Literature header -->
+    <h1>THE MIRROR<br />
+    OF<br />
+    LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <table width="100%">
+      <tr>
+        <td align="left"><b>Vol. 10, No. 266.]</b></td>
+        <td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, JULY 28, 1827.</b></td>
+        <td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <!-- end of header -->
+    <h2>CROYDON PALACE.</h2>
+    <p class="figure"><a href="images/266-1.png"><img width="100%" src="images/266-1.png"
+    alt="" /></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>The palace of Croydon is a building of great antiquity, and was for several
+    centuries the magnificent abode of the haughty dignitaries of Canterbury. At the
+    period of the Conquest, Lanfranc resided here, and most of the decrees and audits of
+    his successors were issued from, and held at, this palace. It was here that
+    Archbishop Parker entertained his queen, Elizabeth and her august court, with great
+    splendour and festivity; as also did the celebrated Whitgift, who refused to accept
+    of the high office of lord chancellor. Courtney received his pall here with great
+    solemnity and pomp in the presence of the chief nobility of the realm; and Chichley,
+    Stafford, Laud, Juxon, Wake, and Herring, made it their frequent residence, and were
+    liberal contributors to its architectural beauties. The remains of this interesting
+    fabric are, with the exception of the hall, composed entirely of brick, occupying a
+    considerable space on the south-west side of Croydon church, and are in some points
+    peculiarly striking in local appearance; but on account of their unconnected state,
+    with the intervening screens of garden walls, &amp;c. the view is confined and
+    partial.</p>
+    <p>The grand hall is a lofty imposing structure, and at a casual computation appears
+    to contain an area of eight hundred square yards; between which and the cornice, at
+    the height of about fifteen feet, a moulding or frieze is carried over the surface of
+    each wall, from whence, resting their bases on angels bearing, shields variously
+    blazoned, issue in the alternate spaces of twelve feet, five ligneous pillars,
+    supporting immense beams traversing the intervening distances of the confronting
+    sides. The roof is formed of large solid pieces of timber, running diagonally to a
+    point; the upper compartment of which (springing from perpendicular posts), is ribbed
+    so as to make it have the appearance of a polygonal ellipsis.</p>
+    <p>On the right of the southern entrance an escutcheon, surmounted by a canopy, is
+    fixed at a considerable height from the pavement, and must have had formerly a
+    splendid appearance, as faint traces even now of its original pomp are discernible
+    <span class="pagenum"><a id="page66" name="page66"></a>[pg 66]</span>in the faint
+    glittering of the gilding, and the exquisite symmetry of its execution. The bearings
+    appeared to me as&mdash;party per pall,&mdash;dexter division.&mdash;Sapphire a cross
+    gules ensigned with fleur de lis between six martlets
+    topaz.&mdash;Sinister&mdash;quarterly sapphire and ruby, first and third, three fleur
+    de lis; topaz, second and fourth, three lions passant gardant of the same, supported
+    by two angels, and surmounted by a coronet; the whole resting on an angel bearing a
+    scroll with a motto in old English text, but illegible.<a id="footnotetag1"
+    name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a></p>
+    <p>This hall is now occupied by a carpenter, and is almost filled with old furniture
+    and timber; other parts of the building are appropriated for charity-schools, and the
+    trade of bleaching is practised in its precincts.</p>
+    <p>SAGITTARIUS.</p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <h2>FINE ARTS</h2>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>ENGLISH ACADEMIES FOR PAINTING ANTERIOR TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY
+    IN LONDON.</h3>
+    <p>The first attempt to form an academy for the encouragement of the fine arts in
+    this country was made in Great Queen-street, in the year 1697. The laudable design
+    was undertaken by Sir Godfrey Kneller, and by the most respectable artists of the
+    day, who endeavoured to imitate the French Academy founded by Lewis XIV. Their
+    undertaking, however, was wholly without success; jealousies arose among the members,
+    and they were ultimately compelled to relinquish the project as fruitless. Sir James
+    Thornhill, a few years afterwards, commenced an academy in a room he had built for
+    the purpose at the back of his own residence, near Covent-garden theatre; but his
+    attempt, likewise, proved abortive. Notwithstanding these failures, Mr. Vanderbank, a
+    Dutchman, headed a body of artists, and converted an old Presbyterian meeting-house
+    into an academy. Besides plaster figures, Mr. Vanderbank and his associates procured
+    a living female figure for study, which circumstance tended to gain a few
+    subscribers; but, in a very short space of time, for want of money sufficient to
+    defray the necessary expenses, all the effects belonging to the establishment were
+    seized for rent, and the members, in disgust, accordingly separated.</p>
+    <p>On the demise of Sir James Thornhill, in 1734, the celebrated William Hogarth
+    became possessed of part of his property.<a id="footnotetag2"
+    name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> Although much averse to
+    the principles on which academies were generally founded, Mr. Hogarth considered that
+    one conducted wisely would probably be of great advantage to the public, as well as
+    to the artists in general. He, therefore, proposed, that a body of artists should
+    enter into a subscription for the purchase of a house sufficiently large and
+    capacious to admit thirty or forty persons to draw from a naked figure. This
+    proposition being unanimously agreed to, a place was forthwith taken in St.
+    Martin's-lane; and Hogarth, to forward the undertaking as far as he could, lent them
+    the furniture, &amp;c. formerly belonging to Sir James Thornhill's academy.</p>
+    <p>The failure of all preceding attempts to form an academy was attributed by Mr.
+    Hogarth to the principal members assuming too much authority over their brother
+    artists; he, therefore, proposed, that every member should contribute an equal sum of
+    money to the establishment, and should have an equal right to vote on every question
+    relative to the society. He considered electing presidents, directors, and
+    professors, to be a ridiculous imitation of the forms of the French Academy, and
+    liable to create jealousies.<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a
+    href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a> Under Hogarth's guidance, the Academy continued
+    for thirty years, with little alteration, to the high satisfaction of its several
+    members, and the public in general.</p>
+    <p>On ascending the British throne, George III. evinced so much interest for the
+    arts, that most of the members of the academy (though contrary to the wishes of their
+    leader, who possessed a most independent spirit,) solicited the royal patronage to a
+    plan they had in view of establishing an academy for <i>painting, sculpture</i>, and
+    <i>architecture</i>. The success of this appeal is too well known to English readers
+    to need much comment. His majesty was pleased to appropriate those very splendid
+    apartments in Somerset-house for the use of artists, who shortly formed a <i>new</i>
+    society, over which, by his majesty's special command, the great Sir Joshua Reynolds
+    presided.</p>
+    <p>G.W.N.</p>
+    <span class="pagenum"><a id="page67" name="page67"></a>[pg 67]</span>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>VOLCANOES.</h3>
+    <h4>(<i>For the Mirror</i>.)</h4>
+    <p>To describe the awful grandeur and terrific phenomena of volcanic eruptions in an
+    adequate manner, is perhaps beyond the power of language. The number of volcanoes now
+    known is about four hundred; nearly all of them are situated a small distance from
+    the sea, and many appear to have been burning from time immemorial.</p>
+    <p>A certain mixture of sulphur, steel-filings and water, buried a short depth from
+    the ground, will exhibit a kind of miniature volcano; and hence some philosophers
+    have concluded, that in the bowels of burning mountains there are various sorts of
+    bodies which probably ferment by moisture, and being thus expanded, at last produce
+    eruptions and explosions. The mouth or chimney of a burning mountain is, in many
+    instances, upwards of a mile across! from which, in an eruption, are emitted torrents
+    of smoke and flame, rivers of lava, (consisting chiefly of bitumen and melted metal,)
+    and clouds of cinders, stones, &amp;c. to an immense distance. The wonderful quantity
+    of these materials thrown out from the orifice almost exceeds belief; the lava rushes
+    like a fiery torrent at a very rapid pace,&mdash;ravages the labours of agriculture,
+    overthrows houses, and in a few seconds utterly destroys the hopes of hundreds of
+    families&mdash;the toils of hundreds of years. Nothing impedes its awful course; when
+    interrupted by stone walls, or even rocks, it collects in a few moments to the height
+    of eight or ten feet; its immense heat and violent pressure quickly batter down the
+    obstacle, which is literally made rotten by the fire, and the whole mass seems to
+    melt together into the lava, which again continues its progress until exhausted by
+    the distance of its destructive march.</p>
+    <p>An English traveller, who was at Naples during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, on
+    the 10th of September, 1810, thus describes the scene:&mdash;</p>
+    <p>"Curious to witness the volcano as near as possible, I set out for Portici, where
+    I arrived at eight in the evening; from thence to the summit of the mountain the road
+    is long and difficult; having procured a guide about the middle of the distance, we
+    had to climb a mountain of cinders, every step nearly knee-deep; this made it near
+    midnight when we reached the crater, which we approached as near as the heat would
+    permit. The fire of the mountain served us for a beacon, and we set light to our
+    sticks in the lava, which slowly ran through the hollows of the crater. The surface
+    of the inflamed matter nearly resembles metal in a state of fusion, but as it flows
+    it carries a kind of scum, which gradually hardens into scoria and rolls like
+    fire-balls to the bottom of the mountain. We thought ourselves pretty secure in this
+    spot, and had no wish to retire; but shortly a most terrific explosion which launched
+    to an inconceivable height in the air, immense fragments of burning rocks, &amp;c.
+    reminded us of our dangerous situation. We lost not a moment in retreating, and
+    driven on by fear almost with miraculous speed, cleared in about five minutes, a
+    space we had taken two hours to climb; we had hardly gained this spot when a second
+    explosion more terrible, if possible, than the former was heard. The volcano in all
+    its fury vomited forth some thousands of cart-loads of stones and burning lava. As
+    the projection was nearly vertical, the greater part fell back again into the mouth
+    of the mountain and this was again vomited forth as before. On the 11th and 12th, the
+    fury somewhat abated, but on the 13th a fresh eruption commenced, and burning matter
+    flowed down all the sides of the volcano;&mdash;all Vesuvius itself seemed on
+    fire,&mdash;not a vestige of property for miles could be discovered, and thousands of
+    families were ruined."</p>
+    <p>JACOBUS.</p>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>A CHURCHYARD SCENE.</h3>
+    <blockquote class="poetry">
+      How sweet and solemn, all alone,<br />
+      With reverend steps, from stone to stone,<br />
+      In a small village churchyard lying,<br />
+      O'er intervening flowers to move!<br />
+      And as we read the names unknown<br />
+      Of young and old to judgment gone,<br />
+      And hear in the calm air above<br />
+      Time onwards softly flying,<br />
+      To meditate, in Christian love,<br />
+      Upon the dead and dying!<br />
+      Across the silence seem to go<br />
+      With dream-like motion, wavery, slow,<br />
+      And shrouded in their folds of snow,<br />
+      The friends we loved long, long ago!<br />
+      Gliding across the sad retreat,<br />
+      How beautiful their phantom feet!<br />
+      What tenderness is in their eyes,<br />
+      Turned where the poor survivor lies<br />
+      'Mid monitory sanctities!<br />
+      What years of vanished joy are fanned<br />
+      From one uplifting of that hand<br />
+      In its white stillness! when the shade<br />
+      Doth glimmeringly in sunshine fade<br />
+      From our embrace, how dim appears<br />
+      This world's life through a mist of tears!<br />
+      Vain hopes! blind sorrows! needless fears!<br />
+      <br />
+      Such is the scene around me now:<br />
+      A little churchyard on the brow<br />
+      Of a green pastoral hill;<br />
+      Its sylvan village sleeps below,<br />
+      And faintly here is heard the flow<br />
+      Of Woodburn's summer rill;<br />
+      <span class="pagenum"><a id="page68" name="page68"></a>[pg 68]</span>A place where
+      all things mournful meet,<br />
+      And yet the sweetest of the sweet,<br />
+      The stillest of the still!<br />
+      With what a pensive beauty fall<br />
+      Across the mossy, mouldering wall<br />
+      That rose-tree's clustered arches! See<br />
+      The robin-redbreast warily,<br />
+      Bright through the blossoms, leaves his nest:<br />
+      Sweet iugrate! through the winter blest<br />
+      At the firesides of men&mdash;but shy<br />
+      Through all the sunny summer-hours,<br />
+      He hides himself among the flowers<br />
+      In his own wild festivity.<br />
+      What lulling sound, and shadow cool<br />
+      Hangs half the darkened churchyard o'er,<br />
+      From thy green depths so beautiful<br />
+      Thou gorgeous sycamore!<br />
+      Oft hath the holy wine and bread<br />
+      Been blest beneath thy murmuring tent,<br />
+      Where many a bright and hoary head<br />
+      Bowed at that awful sacrament.<br />
+      Now all beneath the turf are laid<br />
+      On which they sat, and sang, and prayed.<br />
+      Above that consecrated tree<br />
+      Ascends the tapering spire, that seems<br />
+      To lift the soul up silently<br />
+      To heaven with all its dreams,<br />
+      While in the belfry, deep and low,<br />
+      From his heaved bosom's purple gleams<br />
+      The dove's continuous murmurs flow,<br />
+      A dirge-like song, half bliss, half woe,<br />
+      The voice so lonely seems!<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <h2>ANECDOTES AND RECOLLECTIONS</h2>
+    <blockquote class="poetry">
+      Notings, selections,<br />
+      Anecdote and joke:<br />
+      Our recollections;<br />
+      With gravities for graver folk.<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>SHERIDAN.</h3>
+    <p>It was at the strongly contested election for Westminster, when Sheridan was
+    opposed by Sir Francis Burdett and Lord Cochrane, that the latter, in allusion to the
+    orator's desire of ameliorating his situation on the poll by endeavouring to blend
+    his cause with that of the baronet, characteristically observed, "that the right
+    honourable gentleman sought to have his <i>little skiff</i> taken <i>in tow</i> by
+    the <i>line of battle ship</i> of Sir Francis." Sheridan, in whom the metaphor had
+    awakened the remembrance of the remarkable and successful influence of his speech in
+    the House of Commons on the occasion of the mutiny at the Nore, in calming the
+    irritation of the rebels and reducing them to obedience, in reply to his lordship,
+    bade him "to recollect that it was that <i>little skiff</i> which once brought the
+    whole navy of England safely into port."</p>
+    <p>The election drew towards its termination, but all the efforts of his friends had
+    proved unavailing to secure Sheridan's return, although his minority was any thing
+    but formidable. The interest that attended the contest had, at its close, become
+    intense; and every spot, whence the candidates might be seen or heard, was crowded in
+    the extreme. A sailor, anxious to acquire a view of the scene of action, after all
+    his exertion to push his way through the crowd had proved fruitless, resorted to the
+    nautical expedient of climbing one of the poles which supported a booth directly in
+    front of the hustings, from the very top of which Jack was enabled to contemplate all
+    that occurred below. As the orator commenced his speech, his eye fell on the elevated
+    mariner, whom he had no sooner observed than he rendered his situation applicable to
+    his own, by stating that "had he but other five hundred voters as <i>upright</i> as
+    the <i>perpendicular</i> gentleman before him, they would yet place him where
+    <i>he</i> was&mdash;<i>at the head of the pole</i>."</p>
+    <p>Often were his addresses to his constituents interrupted by the tumult that arose
+    from the anxiety of the public to get within hearing of him. A person, mounted on
+    horseback, had penetrated to the very centre of the crowd, with more regard for
+    himself than consideration towards others, as the animal he rode, affrighted by the
+    noise, became equally annoying and dangerous to those by whom he was surrounded. The
+    outcry was excessive, and, while some strove to appease the clamour, others urged
+    Sheridan to proceed. "Gentlemen," replied he to the latter, "when the <i>chorus of
+    the horse and his rider</i> is finished, I shall commence."</p>
+    <p>His good humour was at no time disturbed during the election, although the
+    observations of his noble Caledonian opponent manifested no amicable disposition
+    towards the orator. As it terminated, a mutual friend of the rival candidates
+    expressed a hope that, with the contest, all animosity should cease; and that the
+    gallant officer should drown the memory of differences in a friendly bottle. "With
+    all my heart," said Sheridan, "and will thank his lordship to make it <i>a Scotch
+    pint</i>."</p>
+    <br />
+
+    <p>His treatment of Coleridge, the poet, who had submitted a tragedy to his
+    managerial decision, was wholly unmerited by the author, the success of whose piece
+    subsequently so well justified the better claims it had on Sheridan's attention. In
+    the cavern scene, where the silence of the place is presumed to be only broken by the
+    slow dropping of the water from its vault, Sheridan, in reading it to his friends,
+    repeated the words of one of the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page69"
+    name="page69"></a>[pg 69]</span>characters, in a solemn tone, "Drip! drip! drip!"
+    adding, "Why, here's nothing but <i>dripping</i>:" but the story is told by Coleridge
+    himself, in the preface to his tragedy, with that good humour and frankness becoming
+    one sensible of his powers, and conscious that the witty use of an unfortunate
+    expression (were it such) could but little affect the real and numerous beauties of
+    the production.</p>
+    <p>An author, whose comedies, when returned upon his hands, were generally reduced,
+    by the critical amputation of managers, from the fair proportion of five acts to two,
+    or even one, with the ordinary suggestion of "<i>necessary alteration</i>," &amp;c.
+    complained in wrath and bitterness to Sheridan, who, it is said, attempted to console
+    him, by saying, "Why, my good fellow, what I would advise you is, to present a comedy
+    of a <i>score</i> of acts, and the devil will be in it if <i>five</i> be not
+    saved."</p>
+    <br />
+
+    <p>I have heard it said, that, at the first performance of <i>The Critic</i>,
+    Sheridan had adopted, as the representative of Lord Burleigh, an actor whose "looks
+    profound" accorded with his "ignorance;" but who, until then, had only aspired to the
+    livery of the theatre&mdash;the placing of chairs, or the presentation of a letter;
+    yet who, in this humble display of histrionic art, generally contrived to commit some
+    egregious blunder. He was remonstrated with, on his choice, by one of the performers,
+    who demonstrated the excessive dulness of apprehension of <i>the would-be Minister of
+    State</i>; and, like other and recent instances in that capacity, his singular
+    aptitude to error, however simple the part he had to enact, or clear and concise the
+    instructions with which it might be accompanied. As Sheridan had planned the
+    character, the face was every thing, and the lengthened, dull, and inexpressive
+    visage of the subject was too <i>strictly ministerial</i> to be lost; and the author
+    would, as he said, "defy him to go wrong," Still his friend was sceptical; nor were
+    his doubts removed by Sheridan's assuring him that the representative of Lord
+    Burleigh "would have only to look wise, shake his head, and hold his tongue;" and he
+    so far persisted as to lay a bet with the author that some capital blunder would
+    nevertheless occur. The wager was accepted, and, in the fulness of his confidence,
+    Sheridan insisted that the actor should not even rehearse the part, and yet that he
+    should get through with it satisfactorily to the public and himself on the night of
+    the first performance. It came. The arbiter of hopes and fears appeared in all the
+    "bearded majesty" of the age of Elizabeth; and, flattered by the preference of the
+    great author, had carefully conned over the following instructions:&mdash;"Mr.
+    &mdash;&mdash;, as Lord Burleigh, will advance from the prompter's
+    side;&mdash;proceed to the front of the stage;&mdash;fall back to where Mr.
+    G&mdash;&mdash; stands as Sir Christopher Hatton,&mdash;shake his head and exit." The
+    important moment came. With "stately step and slow," Lord Burleigh advanced in face
+    of the audience. "Capital!" exclaimed the gratified author;&mdash;with equal
+    correctness he retreated to the side of Sir Christopher, without <i>literally falling
+    back</i>, which Sheridan had for a moment doubted might be the case. "Good! a lucky
+    escape though." half faltered the anxious poet. "Now! now!" he continued, with eager
+    delight at having got so far so well; but, what was his horror, when his unlucky
+    pupil, instead of shaking his <i>own</i> blundering head, in strict but unfortunate
+    interpretation of his orders, took <i>that</i> of Sir Christopher within his hands,
+    shook it long and manfully, and then walked off with a look of exultation at having
+    so exactly complied with his lesson.&mdash;<i>New Monthly Magazine</i>.</p>
+    <br />
+
+    <h3>WONDERFUL PECULIARITY IN THE ENGLISH CHARACTER!</h3>
+    <p>The French, however wretched may be their condition, are attached to life, while
+    the English frequently detest life in the midst of affluence and splendour. English
+    criminals are not dragged, but run to the place of execution, where they laugh, sing,
+    cut jokes, insult the spectators; <i>and if no hangman happens to be present,
+    frequently hang themselves</i>.&mdash;<i>Memoirs of Lewis Holberg</i>.</p>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>STANZAS.</h3>
+    <h4>BY THE AUTHOR OF "FIELD FLOWERS," &amp;C.</h4>
+    <h4>(<i>For the Mirror</i>.)</h4>
+    <blockquote class="poetry">
+      I smiled, for not a cloud was seen o'er the blue heaven's expanse,<br />
+      As summer's myriad insect tribe led on the winged dance;<br />
+      The gaudy butterfly was there ranging from flower to flower,<br />
+      And by its side the wild bee humm'd amid the woodbine bower.<br />
+      <br />
+      I sighed, for when I looked again the sky was overcast,<br />
+      The summer insect's winged dance was o'er, yet on I past,<br />
+      The gaudy butterfly was gone, the bee away had fled,<br />
+      While on each fairest, brightest flower the wasteful locust fed.<br />
+      <br />
+      Yet e'en this simple scene to youth a moral shall convey,<br />
+      Since thus full oft misfortune's clouds obscure life's summer ray;<br />
+      <span class="pagenum"><a id="page70" name="page70"></a>[pg 70]</span>To-day we
+      smile, for beauty smiles in all her spring-tide bloom&mdash;<br />
+      To-morrow sigh, for beauty's bower has now become her tomb!<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>H. B.</p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <h2>SELECT BIOGRAPHY.</h2>
+    <h4>No. LVI.</h4>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>GILBERT BURNS.</h3>
+    <p>Gilbert Burns was born about the year 1760. He was eighteen months younger than
+    his brother Robert, Scotland's most gifted bard. With him he was early inured to
+    toil, and rendered familiar with the hardships of the peasant's lot; like him, too,
+    he was much subject to occasional depression of spirits, and from whatever cause, he
+    had contracted a similar bend or stoop in the shoulders; his frame, like that of
+    Robert, was cast in a manly and symmetrical mould. The profile of his countenance
+    resembled that of his brother, and their phrenological developments are said to have
+    been not dissimilar; the principal disparity lay in the form and expression of the
+    eye, which in Gilbert was fixed, sagacious, and steady&mdash;in Robert, almost "in a
+    fine frenzy rolling."</p>
+    <p>Gibert Burns was the archetype of his father, a very remarkable man; his piety was
+    equally warm and sincere; and, in all the private relations of life, as an elder of
+    the church, a husband, a father, a master, and a friend, he was preeminent. His
+    writings want that variety, originality, and ease, which shine so conspicuously even
+    in the prose works of the poet; but they have many redeeming points about them. His
+    taste was as pure as his judgment was masculine. He has been heard to say, that the
+    two most pleasurable moments of his life were&mdash;first, when he read Mackenzie's
+    story of La Roche, and secondly, when Robert took him apart, at the breakfast or
+    dinner hour, during harvest, and read to him, while seated on a barley sheaf, his MS.
+    copy of the far-famed Cotter's "Saturday Night."</p>
+    <p>When Robert Burns was invited by Dr. Blacklock to visit Edinburgh, Gilbert was
+    struggling in the unthrifty farm of Mosgiel, and toiling late and early to keep a
+    house over the heads of his aged mother and unprotected sisters. The poet's success
+    was the first thing that stemmed the ebbing tide of his fortunes. On settling with
+    Mr. Creech, in February, 1788, he received, as the profits of his second publication,
+    about 500l.; and, with that generosity which formed a part of his nature, he
+    immediately presented Gilbert with nearly half of his whole wealth. Thus succoured,
+    Gilbert married a Miss Breconridge, and removed to a better farm at Dinning, in
+    Dumfriesshire. While there, he was recommended to Lady Blantyre, whose estates in
+    East Lothian he subsequently managed for nearly a quarter of a century. He died at
+    Grant's Braes, in the neighbourhood of Haddington, on one of the Blantyre farms, on
+    the 8th of April. He had no fixed complaint; but, for several months preceding his
+    dissolution, a gradual decay of nature had been apparent. It is probable that his
+    death was accelerated by severe domestic afflictions; as, on the 4th of January, he
+    lost a daughter, who had long been the pride of his family hearth; and, on the 26th
+    of February following, his youngest son, a youth of great promise, died at Edinburgh,
+    of typhus fever, on the eve of his being licensed for the ministry. Mrs. Burns, who
+    brought him a family of six sons and five daughters, of whom five sons and one
+    daughter are living, survivors.</p>
+    <p>It ought to be mentioned that the two hundred pounds which Robert Burns lent to
+    his brother, in the year 1788, was not repaid till 1820. Gilbert was far from
+    affluent; in early life he had to struggle even for existence; and, therefore, to
+    know that his aged mother and one or two sisters, were properly supported, was, in
+    the poet's eyes, a full acquittance of all claims. The children of Robert viewed the
+    subject in the same light. In 1819, Gilbert Burns was invited by Messrs. Cadell and
+    Davies, to revise a new edition of his brother's works; to supply whatever he found
+    wanting, and correct whatever he thought amiss. He accepted the invitation; and, by
+    appending much valuable matter to the late Dr. Currie's biography, he at once
+    vindicated his brother's memory from many aspersions which had been cast upon it, and
+    established his own credit as an author. On receiving payment for his labour, the
+    first thing he did was, to balance accounts, to the uttermost farthing, with the
+    widow and family of his deceased brother. The letter which accompanied the remittance
+    of the money was, in the highest degree, creditable to his feelings.</p>
+    <p><i>Monthly Magazine</i>.</p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <h2>MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS.</h2>
+    <h4>No. XI.</h4>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>SPORTS OF THE BURMESE.</h3>
+    <p>Shortly after our arrival at Prome we had an opportunity of witnessing some boxing
+    and wrestling matches, exercises <span class="pagenum"><a id="page71"
+    name="page71"></a>[pg 71]</span>which the Burmahs are very fond of, and which they
+    pride themselves much on excelling in. The challenge is given by stepping to the
+    front, and with the right hand slapping the left shoulder, at the same time taunting
+    the opponent in order to excite him; the struggle does not last long, and when ended,
+    no animosity remains between the parties.</p>
+    <p>Another amusement of the Burman youth deserves mentioning on account of its
+    singularity. This is a game at ball, played by six or eight young men, formed in a
+    circle; the ball is hollow, and made of wicker work; and the art of the game consists
+    in striking this upwards with the foot, or the leg below the knee. As may be
+    conceived, no little skill is required to keep the ball constantly in motion; and I
+    have often been much entertained in watching the efforts made by the players to send
+    the ball high in the air, so that it should fall within the limits of the ring, when
+    it is again tossed by the foot of another. The natives of Hindostan are not
+    acquainted with this game, but it is said to be common amongst the Chinese, Japanese,
+    and other nations east of the Ganges. But by far the most favourite amusements of the
+    Burmahs are acting and dancing, accompanied by music, which to my ear appeared very
+    discordant, although occasionally a few rather pleasing notes might be distinguished.
+    The principal instrument used in the Burman bands of music is the kiezoop, which is
+    formed of a number of small gongs, graduated in size and tone on the principle of the
+    harmonica, and suspended in a circular frame about four feet high and five feet wide;
+    within which the performer stands, and extracts a succession of soft tones, by
+    striking on the gongs with two small sticks. Another circular instrument (the
+    boundah) serves as a bass; it contains an equal number of different-sized drums, on
+    which the musician strikes with violence, with a view perhaps to weaken the shrill,
+    discordant notes of a very rude species of flageolet, and of an equally imperfect
+    kind of trumpet, which are usually played with a total disregard of time, tune, or
+    harmony. Two or three other instruments, similar in principle to the violin, complete
+    the orchestra. To Europeans, there was not much to admire in the sounds produced by
+    these instruments; neither did our music appear to have many charms for the Burmahs,
+    whom I have seen present at the performance of some of Rossini's most beautiful airs,
+    and of different martial pieces, by one of our best regimental bands, without
+    expressing, either by their words or gestures, the least satisfaction at what they
+    heard.</p>
+    <p>In condemning, however, the Bunnaa instrumental music generally, I would observe,
+    that some of the vocal airs have a very pleasing effect when accompanied by the
+    Patola. This is an instrument made in the fantastic shape of an alligator; the body
+    of it is hollow, with openings at the back, and three strings only are used, which
+    are supported by a bridge, as in a violin.</p>
+    <p>I chanced one day to meet with a young Burman who had been stone blind from his
+    birth, but who, gifted with great talent for music, used to console himself for his
+    misfortune by playing on this species of guitar, and accompanying his voice. When I
+    expressed a wish to hear him perform, he immediately struck out a most brilliant
+    prelude, and then commenced a song, in a bold tone, the subject of which was a
+    prophecy that had been current at Rangoon before we arrived. It predicted the
+    appearance of numerous strangers at that place, and that two-masted ships would sail
+    up the Irrawaddy, when all trouble and sorrow would cease! Animated by his subject,
+    his voice gradually became bolder and more spirited, as well as his performance, and
+    without any hesitation he sung with much facility two or three stanzas composed
+    extempore.</p>
+    <p>Changing suddenly from the enthusiastic tone, he commenced a soft plaintive
+    love-song, and then, after striking the chords for some time in a wild but masterly
+    manner, retired. I confess I felt much interested in this poor fellow's performance,
+    he seemed so deeply to feel every note he uttered, particularly at one time, when he
+    touched upon his own misfortune, that it appeared Providence, in ordaining he should
+    never see, had endowed him with this "soul-speaking" talent in some measure to
+    indemnify him.</p>
+    <p>The Burmahs, generally speaking, are fond of singing, and, in some instances, I
+    have heard many very good songs. The war-boat song, for example, is remarkably
+    striking. The recitative of the leading songster, and then the swell of voices when
+    the boatmen join in chorus, keeping time with their oars, seemed very beautiful when
+    wafted down the Irrawaddy by the breeze; and the approach of a war-boat might always
+    be known by the sound of the well-known air.</p>
+    <p>I have sometimes heard a trio sung in parts by three young girls, with a
+    correctness of ear and voice which would do credit to others than the self-taught
+    Burmahs. Many little songs, amongst others that commencing "Tekien, Tekien," were
+    composed and sung by the Burman fair in compliment to their new and welcome visiters,
+    the white strangers; but <span class="pagenum"><a id="page72" name="page72"></a>[pg
+    72]</span>these, of course, are long since consigned to oblivion, unless they
+    recollect with pleasure</p>
+    <blockquote class="poetry">
+      &mdash;"The grateful breath of song,<br />
+      That once was heard in happier hours;"<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>for it is very certain that the Bunnahs considered themselves quite happy, when
+    enjoying the transient glimpse of liberty, and the advantages of a just government
+    which were offered them during the short stay of the British army at Prome.</p>
+    <p>The Burman plays do not appear to be remarkable for the number of their
+    <i>dramatis person&aelig;</i>. In most there is a prince, a confidant, a buffoon or
+    two, and a due proportion of female characters, represented by boys dressed in female
+    attire. The dresses are handsome; and in one which I attended, the dialogue appeared
+    to be lively and well supported, as far as I can judge from the roars of laughter
+    which resounded from the Burman part of the audience. One sentimental scene, in which
+    the loving prince takes leave of his mistress, and another where, after much weeping
+    and flirtation, she throws herself into his arms, were sufficiently intelligible to
+    us; but some, in which the jokes of the clown formed the leading feature, were quite
+    lost upon those who did not understand the language. The place chosen for the
+    representation was a spot of ground outside of our houses, the heat being very great;
+    and here a circle was formed of carpets and chairs, lighted by torches dipped in
+    petroleum, which threw a brilliant flare around, though accompanied by a most
+    unpleasant odour.</p>
+    <p>Dancing succeeded, and one or two young women were the performers; like the
+    Hindostanee Nautch, it merely consisted in throwing the body and arms into numerous
+    graceful and rather voluptuous postures; at the same time advancing slowly, with a
+    short steady step, and occasionally changing it for a more lively figure.</p>
+    <p>All this time the drums, cymbals, and clarionets were unceasing in their
+    discordant sounds, and, before long, fairly drove me from the field.</p>
+    <p><i>Two Years in Ava.</i></p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <h2>THE NOVELIST.</h2>
+    <h4>No. CVI.</h4>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>ROSALIE BERTON.</h3>
+    <p>While passing some time in the south of France, I spent a few days at
+    S&mdash;&mdash;, a town on the banks of the Loire, situated in that province, which,
+    from its fertility and beauty, is usually designated the garden of France.</p>
+    <p>S&mdash;&mdash;, I had been informed, was a place famed alike for its vineyards
+    and its pretty girls, a coincidence certainly natural, since it fairly may be
+    supposed, that the sun which ripens the richest fruit in nature, should alike mature
+    its sweetest flowers, and perfect the beauties and the charms of that sex, which is
+    literally "like the fair flower in its lustre." As the friend, by whom I was
+    accompanied, was well known in the place, we were soon introduced to a circle of
+    respectable families; and among others, to that of Berton, consisting of the father,
+    mother, and daughter.</p>
+    <p>Rosalie Berton was the <i>belle</i> of S&mdash;&mdash;, or to borrow the far
+    prettier French phrase, she was "<i>la perle de ville</i>." And a sweet and lovely
+    girl she was, as ever the eye of affection hailed with delight. Her charms had
+    something of a peculiar style and character; for, with the bright black eyes, and
+    fine dark hair of the south, were united the fair complexion and delicately tinted
+    cheek of a northern beauty. Her face was of a somewhat more pensive turn than usual,
+    and her meek, mild features, and soft dark eyes, bore traces of tender feeling and of
+    gentle thought; while so expressive was her countenance, that it responded, at will,
+    to her feelings, and the eye and the cheek which were one moment impressed with
+    melancholy, beamed forth the next with all the warmth of intelligence, affection, or
+    delight. Her accomplishments were really of a superior kind; she walked with more
+    than the usual elegance of her country-women, and danced with equal animation and
+    grace. But her most attractive charm consisted in her voice, which, though not
+    particularly powerful, had a sweetness and a melody which were perfectly delightful;
+    so that never methinks have I heard a softer strain, than when that fair girl was
+    wont to sing to her guitar the simple ballads and sweet romances of her native land.
+    And her musical talents were enhanced by her gentle, complying disposition, and by
+    the readiness with which she obeyed every call on her exertions. From her
+    music-master, who was a native of Italy, she also learnt Italian, which she spoke
+    with more fluency and correctness than is usual among the French; she drew, moreover,
+    with considerable taste. So affectionate and so amiable was she, that she deserved
+    all the encomiums of her friends and even their hyperbolical compliments were
+    scarcely extravagant when applied to her. She was literally "<i>douce comme un ange,
+    jolie comme les amours;</i>" and, as the <i>ne plus ultra</i> of merit in France, she
+    was "<i>tout a fait gentille</i>." She possessed also, considerable <span
+    class="pagenum"><a id="page73" name="page73"></a>[pg 73]</span>dramatic skill and
+    tact, and would, I think, have proved a delightful acquisition to the stage, from the
+    skill she displayed in those little playful scenes, with which the French delight to
+    embellish life.</p>
+    <p>We were favoured with a specimen of her talents in this way, on the evening of our
+    arrival. It was the f&ecirc;te day of madame, the mother of Louise, and we were
+    invited to be present. After some time passed in taking refreshments, varied by
+    dancing, conversation, &amp;c., the little ceremony of the evening commenced; the
+    door opened, and a small but gay procession entered the room. It consisted of several
+    young persons, all friends of the family, headed by Louise, who was charmingly
+    dressed, and looked altogether most lovely. She bore her guitar across her bosom, and
+    the instrument was encircled with a wreath of flowers. Each individual carried some
+    little offering, such as bottles of wine and liqueurs, conserves and sweetmeats,
+    flowers and fruit, &amp;c. &amp;c.; and these were placed on the table, the whole
+    group forming a circle round Rosalie, who advanced to her mother, and sang to the
+    guitar the well-known verses consecrated to such occasions.</p>
+    <blockquote class="poetry">
+      Madame c'est aujourdhui votre fete,<br />
+      C'est aussi celle de nos coeurs;<br />
+      A vous chanter chacun s'apprete!<br />
+      Et veut vous courouner de fleurs!<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>The lovely girl then loosed the garland from her lyre, placed it with light hand
+    on the brow of her mother, and sank in a graceful bending attitude to receive her
+    parent's blessing. She was instantly raised, fondly embraced by both her admiring
+    parents, and with a repetition of the song, the whole party left the room. The scene
+    is long past, but I have often recalled it since; and in many an hour of fancy and of
+    thought, have again beheld that fair girl kneeling to her mother, again beheld her
+    clasped to that mother's heart. Nor was the above the only instance of her skill,
+    every day presented some fresh instance of her feeling and of taste.</p>
+    <p>A <i>plaisanterie</i>, which proved very successful, was arranged as
+    follows:&mdash;We were sitting one evening up stairs, when we were attracted by the
+    performance of three musicians, who were singing in the <i>cour</i>. The party
+    consisted of two young men, and a female, who wore a veil; they accompanied their
+    songs by playing on the guitar; their performance was evidently of a superior
+    character; the music and the words were Italian, and the voice of the female
+    performer was eminently sweet and touching. After listening some time with great
+    delight&mdash;</p>
+    <p>"Go," said I to one of the party, "find Rosalie, and tell her to come and listen
+    to a better singer than herself, who will give her a <i>lecon de chant</i>."</p>
+    <p>This was said in the hearing of the foreign songstress, for whom it was intended
+    as a compliment, while, at the same time, some silver was thrown upon the ground. But
+    what was our surprise, when the lovely girl threw aside her veil,
+    exclaiming&mdash;</p>
+    <blockquote>
+      "He! bien messieurs et dames! vous ne connaissez donc plus votre pauvre Rosalie!"
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>Such was one of many pleasantries by which we were diverted and amused. Idle
+    fancies these indeed, and such as sterner judgments may deem trifling or absurd, yet
+    not uninteresting, since many of them evidently afford vestiges of classic times and
+    manners, transmitted through the course of ages; nor unuseful, since they tend to
+    smooth and adorn the rugged way of life, and to strew its flinty path with
+    flowers.</p>
+    <p>With the charms and accomplishments which I have described, (and the sketch can
+    convey but a faint idea of those which she actually possessed,) it cannot be supposed
+    that Rosalie was destitute of admirers. She had, indeed, had several, but their suits
+    were all unsuccessful. She had been addressed in turn by the <i>medecin</i> of the
+    place&mdash;by the son of the President of the Tribunal du Commerce&mdash;and by a
+    nephew to a Monsieur de V&mdash;&mdash;, the seigneur who resided at a neighbouring
+    ch&acirc;teau. But they were all, more or less, improper characters; the
+    <i>medecin</i> was a gamester; the president's son a drunkard, a character utterly
+    despised in these parts; while the nephew to the seigneur, was actually a <i>mauvais
+    sujet</i>! What the French precisely understand by a <i>mauvais sujet</i>, I never
+    could exactly make out; for, when impelled by curiosity to inquire, my queries were
+    always met by such a volley of vituperation, as left one altogether in the dark with
+    regard to the real nature of the charge. On the whole, I presume, we are to consider
+    a <i>mauvais sujet</i> as a culprit, compared with whose transgressions, the several
+    enormities of gaming, drinking, and the like, sink into mere peccadilloes.</p>
+    <p>The parents of Rosalie (the parents settle all these matters in France), on
+    learning the character of their intended sons-in-law, dismissed them one after the
+    other; and Rosalie acquiesced in their determination with a readiness and a decision,
+    which did equal honour to her affection and her judgment.</p>
+    <p>So interesting a girl, however, was not likely to remain long without a suitable
+    <span class="pagenum"><a id="page74" name="page74"></a>[pg 74]</span>admirer, and she
+    speedily had another <i>affaire du coeur</i>. A young and handsome <i>militaire</i>,
+    a sous-lieutenant in the royal guard, aspired to gain her hand, and to replace the
+    vacancy in her affections.</p>
+    <p>Henri Vaucouleurs was a fine, tall, dark, martial-looking young man (the French
+    make fine-looking soldiers), and, with his luxuriant mustachios and the eager glance
+    of his keen black eye, seemed the very <i>beau ideal</i> of a modern hero. Born at
+    Mezieres, in the department of Ardennes, he was cradled in the very lap of war, and
+    was yet a mere boy; when, in the summer of 1813, he joined the corps called the
+    <i>garde d'honneur</i>. He made the campaign of Germany, and was present in the
+    battles of Leipzig and of Hanau, in the last of which he received a ball in the right
+    arm. He shortly, however, resumed his post with the army assembled for the defence of
+    France, and at the battle of Laon received a severe <i>coup de sabre</i> on his
+    forehead, the scar of which added much to the martial aspect of his countenance. At
+    the peace he joined the royal guard, in which corps he still continued. He was really
+    a very estimable and engaging young man; and possessed more candour, intelligence,
+    and good sense, than I think I ever witnessed in a military man among the French. His
+    account of his campaigns was exceedingly modest, unaffected, and intelligent, and his
+    whole conversation and manner were of a superior character. I remember, he spoke with
+    great forbearance of the three principal nations among the allies, the Russians,
+    Prussians, and Austrians; but inveighed, bitterly, against several of the
+    auxiliaries, who, he said, having received only benefits of the French emperor,
+    embraced the first opportunity offered by a reverse of fortune, to desert and betray
+    him. Of Napoleon, he spoke with enthusiasm as a soldier; but with detestation, as an
+    intoxicated and deluded tyrant, a rash and desperate gamester, who sent forth his
+    attached and devoted soldiers, to be devoured by the destroying elements, without
+    provision, or scarcely a thought for their natural and indispensable wants.</p>
+    <p>Such were the character and pretensions of him who was destined to gain the
+    affections of Rosalie. At first, he seemed to have but little chance of success. Old
+    people commonly entertain a prejudice against the character and profession of
+    military men, and are seldom ambitious of such an alliance for a daughter. The
+    parents of Rosalie were prepossessed against Henri on account of his calling; and,
+    though Rosalie herself early entertained an interest in his favour, yet she was too
+    good and too <i>sage</i> to cherish in herself, or to encourage in her lover, an
+    attachment which her parents might disapprove. Henri was, however, admitted as a
+    visiter at the house, and by degrees his amiable manners and correct deportment won,
+    first on the old lady, and then on the father, till their scruples vanished, and,
+    indeed, they wondered they could ever have entertained any against so estimable a
+    young man and an officer. He was thus speedily received as the lover of Rosalie, and
+    about the time of my visit was installed in all the privileges of a <i>bon ami</i>.
+    He was equally accomplished with herself; spoke German fluently, Italian passably
+    well, and was an excellent performer on the flute and the guitar; so that he was a
+    fit companion for his charming intended, and was able to assist in those refined and
+    elegant recreations, in which she also excelled.</p>
+    <p><i>(To be concluded in our next.)</i></p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <h2>SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS</h2>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>DOZING.</h3>
+    <blockquote class="poetry">
+      "Dozing very much delights."
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>Our corporeal machinery requires an occasional relaxation, as much as the steam
+    engine does the application of oil to its divers springs; and, after a <i>bon&acirc;
+    fide</i> slumber, we rise with a freshness equal to that of flowers in the best
+    regulated flower-pots. But dozing must not be confounded with legitimate sleep,
+    though frequently tending to the same purpose; it may be termed an embryo slumber,
+    that entertaineth the body with the most quiescent gentleness, acting on our senses
+    as a sort of mental warm bath; till, finally, the "material man" himself luxuriates
+    in tepidity.</p>
+    <p>Nothing can be more ungodly than to enter the church with an express purpose of
+    dozing there. Arm-chairs, sofas, and beds are the legitimate places for dozers. But
+    there is no accounting for that conquering spirit of all-besetting drowsiness that
+    attacks us at sundry times and places. It is in vain that we lengthen our limbs into
+    an awakening stretch&mdash;that we yawn with the expressive suavity of yawning no
+    more&mdash;that we dislocate our knuckle bones, and ruffle the symmetry of our
+    visage, with a manual application; like the cleft blaze of a candle, drowsiness
+    returns again. Well, then, what manner of reader is he that hath never sinned by
+    drowsing in church time? Let him read <span class="pagenum"><a id="page75"
+    name="page75"></a>[pg 75]</span>on; and I'll realize by description what he has
+    realized by endurance.</p>
+    <p>It is after the embodying of a good dinner with ourselves, that doziness is most
+    tempting. You have dined at four o'clock to-day. Well, that's a decent Sabbatical
+    hour. After due potations of wine, coffee, &amp;c. your gratitude is awakened; and,
+    like a good Christian, you arrange your beaver, and walk off steadily to church. Now,
+    remember, I give you full credit for your wish to exhibit your external
+    holiness&mdash;that you are indeed conscious of the reverence that should accompany
+    all your engagements in the fane of the Deity; and yet I prognosticate that if the
+    Rev. Nabob Narcotic happen to preach this evening, you will, of a surety,
+    doze&mdash;infallibly doze&mdash;in the midst of his sermon!</p>
+    <p>'Tis a summer month, and the very church windows seem labouring with a fit
+    perspiration. Horribly boring&mdash;isn't it? How your hat clings to your moistened
+    forehead, and the warm gloves droop from your fingers, like roasting chicken! Get as
+    much room as possible; tenderly pass little miss there, and her unbreeched brother,
+    over to their smiling mamma. Now you have the balmy corner to yourself! "Psalms,"
+    first lesson&mdash;second ditto&mdash;prayers&mdash;thanksgivings&mdash;all
+    reverently attended to; there is a little dreaminess settling on your lids&mdash;your
+    lips begin to close with languor; but you have not dozed. Let's hear the sermon. You
+    are seated with tolerable erectness; and, judging from the steady determination of
+    your eyebrows, one would imagine that your eyes would be open for the whole of the
+    discourse. But, alas! 'tis Mr. Narcotic, whose spectacled nose is just verging above
+    the crimson horizon of his pulpit.&mdash;"Awake, thou that sleepest!" Why, the text
+    is quite opposed to DOZINESS! But what of this, if the preacher be addicted to
+    drawling, the weather unobligingly sultry, and you yourself have gradually been
+    dwindling from an uncongenial state of wakefulness into a sleepy calm? 'Tis too much
+    for beldame Nature, believe me!</p>
+    <p>I perceive that you have rubbed the bridge of your nose several times&mdash;that
+    you have tried to swell forth your eyes with a full round stare at the parson; but
+    your stoicism "profiteth nothing." The sermon is irreligiously long; and you are
+    nodding&mdash;in a doze! Whether there be much pleasure in a church doze, I am not
+    presuming enough to determine. For myself, I have found nothing more tantalizing than
+    the endeavour to restrain from an occasioned doze during church time. After a certain
+    period, I have perceived the parson diminishing, like a phantasmagoric
+    image&mdash;all the ladies' black bonnets sinking away, like a cluster of
+    clouds&mdash;and (shame on the confession!) I have performed head worship to the
+    front of my seat, instead of keeping an immovable post-like position, before his
+    reverence. However, a church doze is seldom admired by the wakeful. Should an embryo
+    snore escape from one's nose (and this is possible,) some old grandam, or an upright
+    piece of masculine sanctity, is sure to rouse you; the former will either <i>hem</i>
+    you into awakening shame, or drop her prayer-book on the floor; the latter will most
+    likely thump the same with the imperative tip of his boot. How horridly stupid one
+    seems after being aroused! The woman eyes you with the most piquant, self-justifying
+    sneer possible; while all her little IMMACULATES, if she have any, look at you like
+    so many hissing young turkey cocks; and as for the man&mdash;bless his
+    holiness!&mdash;he'd frown you down to Hades at once.</p>
+    <p>"My heart leaps up" when I behold a stage coach&mdash;that snug, panel painted,
+    comfortable wheel-whirling "thing of life." O ye days of juvenilian
+    sensibilities&mdash;ye eye-feeding, heart-rising scenes of remembered
+    felicity!&mdash;how glorious was the coach at the school door! The whip&mdash;Ajax
+    <i>Mastigoferos</i> never had such a powerful one as the modern Jehu! The spokes of
+    the wheels&mdash;they were handled with admiring fingers! That Jupiter-like throne,
+    the coach-box&mdash;who would not have risked his neck to have been seated on it?
+    When all was "right," how eloquent the lip-music of coachee! how fine the
+    introductory frisks of the horses' tails, and the arching plunge of the
+    fore-foot&mdash;no rainbow-curve ever was so beauteous! "Oh, happy days! who would
+    not be a boy again?" But away with my puerilities. I intend the reader to take a doze
+    in that comfortable repository for the person&mdash;the inside of a coach.</p>
+    <p>With all the reckless simplicity of boyhood, I maintain that travelling by coach
+    is by no means the least of our sublunary pleasures. Man is a <i>wheelable</i> animal
+    as well as walking one. Winter is the time for a nice inside jaunt. What divine
+    evaporations from the coachman's muzzle! What a joyous creak in the down-flying
+    steps!&mdash;and, oh! that comfortable alertness with which we deposit ourselves in
+    the padded corner, and fold our coatflaps over our knees, glance at the frosty steam
+    of the window; and then, quite <i>&agrave; la Tityre</i>, repose our recumbent bodies
+    at our ease! Such moments as these are snatches of indefinable <span
+    class="pagenum"><a id="page76" name="page76"></a>[pg 76]</span>bliss. It would appear
+    probable, that a coach was a very inconvenient place for a doze; the attendant
+    bustle, the whip-smacks, bickering wheels, and untranquillizing jolts&mdash;</p>
+    <blockquote class="poetry">
+      "Like angels' visits, few and far between,"&mdash;<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>are not calculated for sleepiness. Notwithstanding these correlative
+    interruptions, a doze in the coach is by no means uncommon, even in the daytime. Let
+    us examine this a little more intellectually.</p>
+    <p>Suppose a man is returning to his friends, with a mind composed, and "all his
+    business settled." (By-the-by, how vastly comprehensive this speech is!) Suppose he
+    has entered the coach about four in the afternoon, and, by rare luck, finds he is,
+    for the present, the only inside passenger. Such a man, I say, will be likely to doze
+    before twenty miles have run under the coach-wheels&mdash;speaking
+    <i>Hibernic&egrave;</i>. For the last half-hour, he will be thinking of
+    himself&mdash;how many commissions he has performed&mdash;how many he has left
+    undone&mdash;and how many he intends to do. The next, he will probably give to his
+    home attractions&mdash;his anxious wife, sat musingly round the tea-table&mdash;his
+    favourite son George (so like his father)&mdash;and all the nine hundred and
+    ninety-nine pretty nothings we hear of, after a brief absence. These will send his
+    heart a long way from the coach, and therefore keep him in the full enjoyment of
+    wakefulness. But this train of delectable musing is by no means exhaustless. The roll
+    of the wheels gradually becomes naturalized to the ear, and the body moves in
+    sympathy with the coach; the road gets very monotonously barren; the lounge in the
+    corner&mdash;how suitable then to this solitary languor! Lulled here, the traveller
+    for awhile admires the leathern trappings of the coach, hums a tune perhaps, and
+    affects a dubious whistle. Meantime the operations of <i>doziness</i> have been
+    gently applying themselves. His eye is sated with the road and the coach; his hands
+    become stationary on his lap; his feet supinely rested on the opposite seat; his head
+    instinctively motions to the corner&mdash;and he dozes! A doze in the coach is the
+    flower of dozes, when you are alone. There, you may twist your person into any shape
+    you please, without the fear of discomposing a silken dress, or a nursemaid's
+    petticoats. No boisterous arguments from snuff-taking sexagenarians: all is placid
+    &mdash;Eden-like&mdash;just as a dozer's <i>sanctorum</i> ought to be! The only thing
+    attendant on the doze of an inside passenger, is the great chance of being suddenly
+    aroused by the entrance of company. O tell me, ye of the fine nerve, what is more
+    vexing than to be startled from your nest by the creaking slam of the steps, the
+    bleak winter gales galloping along your face, and a whole bundle of human beings
+    pushing themselves into your retreat! There is no rose without its thorn, as myriads
+    have said before me:&mdash;</p>
+    <blockquote>
+      &mdash;&mdash;"O beate Sexti,<br />
+      Vit&aelig; summa brevis SPEM nos vetat inchoare LONGAM!"<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>Not all the morose sarcasms of Johnson, on the pleasures of rural life, have ever
+    weakened my capability for enjoying it at convenient intervals. His antipathy to the
+    country resembled his contempt for blank-verse&mdash;<i>he</i> could not enjoy it. I
+    have now moped away a considerable number of months in this city of all
+    things&mdash;this&mdash;this London. "Well?" Pray restrain yourself, reader; I am
+    coming to the point in due season. During my metropolitan existence&mdash;although I
+    am neither a tailor, nor any trade, nor anything exactly&mdash;I have never beheld a
+    downright intellectual-looking blade of grass. I mean much by an intellectual blade
+    of grass. The Londoners&mdash;poor conceited creatures!&mdash;have denominated sundry
+    portions of their Babylon "fields." But&mdash;I ask it in all the honest pride of
+    sheer ignorance&mdash;is there the ghost even of a bit of grass to be seen in many of
+    them? I cannot easily forget my vexation, when, after a tedious walk to one of those
+    misnomered "fields," I found nothing but a weather-beaten, muggy, smoky assemblage of
+    houses of all sizes, circumscribed by appropriate filth and abundant cabbage-stumps.
+    Innocent of London quackeries, I strolled forth with the full hope of laying me down
+    on a velvet carpet of grass&mdash;the birds carolling around me&mdash;and, perchance,
+    a flock of lambkins, tunefully baying to their mammas!! "Said I to myself," when I
+    reached these fields, "what a fool I am!" I had contemplated a doze on the grass.</p>
+    <p>But leaving all thoughts of disappointment, who will not allow that there is
+    something exceedingly delightful in dozing calmly beneath the shade of an
+    o'er-arching tree?</p>
+    <blockquote>
+      &mdash;&mdash;"recubans sub tegmine fagi."<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>Of course, the weather should be fine, to admit of this luxurious idleness. Let
+    the blue-bosomed clouds be sailing along, like Peter Bell's boat; let the sunbeams be
+    gilding the face of nature, and tinging the landscape with multiform hues; let the
+    breezes be gentle, the spot retired, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page77"
+    name="page77"></a>[pg 77]</span>and the heart at ease. Now, go and stretch yourself
+    on the grassy couch, while the branches of an aged tree shadow forth the imaged
+    leaves around you. What a congenial situation for philosophy&mdash;under an old tree,
+    on a sunny summer day! How much more becoming than the immortal tub of the
+    sour-minded Diogenes? Who will be able to refrain from philosophizing. I repeat it,
+    beneath such an old tree? 'Tis at such times that the heart spontaneously unbends
+    itself&mdash;that the fancy tranquillizes its thoughts&mdash;and that memory awakens
+    her</p>
+    <blockquote>
+      &mdash;&mdash;"treasured pictures of a thousand scenes."<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>Place the palms of your hands beneath your pole, and survey the skies!&mdash;calm,
+    beautifully unconscious! By-gone times, and by-gone friends&mdash;the thousand
+    commingling scenes of varied life&mdash;how they all recur to you now! You fancy you
+    could lie beneath the tree for eternity&mdash;so soothing is the employment of doing
+    nothing&mdash;or field philosophy! Yet, to speak correctly, you are doing a great
+    deal; your imagination is flying in all directions&mdash;from the death of Caesar to
+    the last cup of Congou that you took with a regretted friend. What a mystery your
+    existence is! The world turns round as gently as ever; the flowers bud into life; and
+    the winter nips them. Man lives, thinks, and dies. All very wondrous truisms. Well,
+    after a half-hour&mdash;or perchance more&mdash;you will be gradually relapsing into
+    a state of soporific nothing-at-all-ness (the best word I can find to express my
+    meaning.) May there be some clear little stream just behind you, laughing along its
+    idle way;&mdash;some chirping birds, singing their roundelay&mdash;some buzzing
+    flies&mdash;you will then be lulled into doziness. However, with or without the
+    purling murmur of the brook&mdash;the joyous warbling of the birds&mdash;the busy
+    bustling flies&mdash;you will not be able to resist the dozing temptations that will
+    steal over you. Your eyes will close gently as flower-leaflets&mdash;your thoughts
+    die away in a heavenly confusion&mdash;and then you doze!&mdash;neither sleeping nor
+    waking, but absolved in delicious dreaminess! O, for such a doze!&mdash;<i>Monthly
+    Magazine</i>.</p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <h2>THE SELECTOR,<br />
+    AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS.</h2>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>THE CHINESE ALMANAC.</h3>
+    <p>Notwithstanding the aversion of the Chinese to the profession of the Roman
+    Catholic religion, which has been shown, first by persecuting, and then by expelling
+    the Jesuits from the empire, the Chinese government is, however, obliged to keep at
+    least some missionaries at Pekin to compile the almanac. While astrology has led in
+    other nations to the study of astronomy, the Chinese, though they have studied
+    astrology for some thousand years, have made no progress in the real knowledge of the
+    stars. Their ancient boasted observations, and the instruments which they make use
+    of, were brought by the learned men, whom Koubila&iuml;, the grandson of Gingis Khan,
+    had invited from Balk and Samarcand. The government, at present, considers the
+    publication of an annual calendar of the first importance and utility. It must do
+    every thing in its power, not only to point out to its numerous subjects the
+    distribution of the seasons, the knowledge of which is essentially necessary to them,
+    to arrange the manner of gaining their livelihood, and distributing their labour; but
+    on account of the general superstition, it must mark in the almanac, the lucky and
+    unlucky days, the best days for being married, for undertaking a journey, for making
+    their dresses, for buying, or building, for presenting petitions to the emperor, and
+    for many other cases of ordinary life. By this means, the government keeps the people
+    within the limits of humble obedience; it is for this reason that the emperors of
+    China established the academy of astronomy, but we must not expect to find men really
+    acquainted with that science. When this illustrious body, composed of Mantchoos, and
+    in which Europeans, though subordinate, are the most active, condescended to look at
+    the planetarium, which was among the presents which the king of England sent to the
+    emperor of China by lord Macartney, Mr. Barrow was not able to make the president of
+    this learned society understand the real merit of that instrument. Besides, how
+    should a people be able to comprehend astronomy, to know the position of the heavenly
+    bodies, and determine the orbits of the planets, while it is ignorant of the elements
+    of mathematics, and makes its calculations by the help of vertical arithmetical
+    tables, like those used by the shop-keepers in Russia, and who are ignorant both of
+    analysis and geometry?&mdash;<i>Timkowski's Mission to China</i>.</p>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>COMPARISON OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH.</h3>
+    <p>The following are points of comparison which may be remarked in the characters
+    <span class="pagenum"><a id="page78" name="page78"></a>[pg 78]</span>of the French
+    and English. The French are great talkers, the English great thinkers; the former
+    excel in vivacity, the latter in solidity of intellect. The French dress with
+    splendour, the English with neatness; the French live almost exclusively on bread,
+    the English on meat. Both are passionate; but it is the blood which rouses the
+    passion of a Frenchman, and the bile which exasperates an Englishman. The anger of a
+    Frenchman is more violent, that of an Englishman more pertinacious. A Frenchman
+    spends his money on his clothes, an Englishman on his belly. A Frenchman follows the
+    stream, an Englishman delights in struggling against it. The friendships of the
+    French are quickly formed, and as quickly dissolved; those of the English are formed
+    slowly, and as slowly relinquished. The French respect their superiors, the English
+    respect themselves; the former are better citizens, the latter better men. The mental
+    endowments of the French are of a more refined, those of the English of a loftier,
+    character. The French practise virtue for the sake of reputation, and seek the reward
+    of meritorious actions in popular applause; the English practise it for its own sake,
+    and seek no reward but that which springs from the consciousness of rectitude. There
+    is the same relative difference in their vices as in their virtues. Both commit
+    crimes; the French from the love of gain, the desire of vengeance or similar motives;
+    but the English are often criminal for the mere sake of committing crime. The French,
+    like the people of other countries, often commit crimes in the hope of escaping
+    punishment, but the English frequently commit crimes because they know they cannot
+    escape unpunished; so that the very severity of the law, which deters others from
+    crime, often operates as an additional stimulus on the English for the commission of
+    offences, "I would commit this offence," exclaims the Frenchman, "if the law
+    permitted it." "I would not commit this offence, if it were not prohibited by law,"
+    is frequently the language of the Englishman.&mdash;<i>Memoirs of Lewis
+    Holberg</i>.</p>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>LEAVES AND FLOWERS, OR THE LOVER'S WREATH.</h3>
+    <blockquote class="poetry">
+      With tender vine-leaves wreathe thy brow,<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;And I shall fancy that I see,<br />
+      In the bright eye that laughs below,<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;The dark grape on its parent tree.<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 'Tis but a whim&mdash;but, oh! entwine<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Thy brow with this green wreath of mine.<br />
+      <br />
+      Weave of the clover-leaves a wreath,<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;Fresh sparkling with a summer-shower,<br />
+      And I shall, in my fair one's breath,<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;Find the soft fragrance of the flower.<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 'Tis but a whim&mdash;but, oh! do thou<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Twine the dark leaves around thy brow.<br />
+      <br />
+      Oh, let sweet-leaved geranium be<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;Entwined amidst thy clustering hair,<br />
+      Whilst thy red lips shall paint to me,<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;How bright its scarlet blossoms are.<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 'Tis but a whim&mdash;but, oh! do thou<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Crown with my wreath thy blushing brow.<br />
+      <br />
+      Oh, twine young rose-leaves round thy head,<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;And I shall deem the flowers are there,&mdash;<br />
+      The red rose on thy rich cheek spread,<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;The white upon thy forehead fair.<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 'Tis but a whim&mdash;but, oh! entwine<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; My wreath round that dear brow of thine.<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <p><i>The Draught of Immortality, &amp;c.</i></p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <h2>ARTS AND SCIENCE</h2>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>FLATTENING OF THE EARTH.</h3>
+    <p>At the Academy of Sciences at Paris, a memoir was read by Captain Duperrey, on the
+    experiments made with the invariable pendulum, during the voyage of the
+    <i>Coquille</i> round the world. He states that various experiments confirmed the
+    fact of the flattening of the terrestrial globe, conjectured by several travellers,
+    who had remarked that the number of oscillations which the pendulum made at certain
+    places, differed from what had been observed in the extent of the same parallel. The
+    principal anomalies observed by Captain Duperrey were at the Isle of France, Mons,
+    Guam, and the Island of Ascension. At the Isle of France, the invariable pendulum (as
+    had been remarked by M. Freycinet) made in one day, upon an average, thirteen or
+    fourteen oscillations more than it ought, supposing the depression to be 1.305,
+    according to the lunar theory. At Ascension, the acceleration, as noticed by Captain
+    Sabine, was five or six oscillations, even supposing the depression to be 1.228. At
+    other stations the difference was almost nothing; and in some, the motion of the
+    pendulum was retarded. Such differences, Captain Duperry remarks, between the results
+    of experiment and those given by theory, cannot be attributed to errors of
+    observation. He is disposed to refer the cause of the phenomena, with Captain Sabine,
+    to the want of homogeneousness in the earth, considered as a mass, or to the mere
+    variations of density in the superficial strata. What tends to confirm this
+    hypothesis, he says, is, that all observations show that an acceleration of the
+    pendulum generally takes place on volcanic ground <span class="pagenum"><a
+    id="page79" name="page79"></a>[pg 79]</span>and a retardation on such as is sandy and
+    argillaceous. A very important question to ascertain is, whether the flattening is
+    exactly the same in both hemispheres. From the observations of Captains Duperrey and
+    Freycinet, it appears that in the southern hemisphere it is 1.291, and in the
+    northern 1.288; that is to say, it is sensibly the same, or 1.290 in both.</p>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>HABITS OF PLANTS.</h3>
+    <p>The following curious observations on the habits of plants, were made by General
+    Walker, in his address to the Agricultural Society of St. Helena, in February
+    last:&mdash;"The functions of plants, as well as of animals, depend upon the air in
+    which they live. I have observed that those of St. Helena, which have been brought
+    from another hemisphere, are very irregular in their annual progress; many of them,
+    in the development of their foliage, have adopted the law of nature peculiar to the
+    country into which they have been transplanted. Others, more obstinate, remain
+    faithful to their own habits, and continue to follow the stated changes to which they
+    had been accustomed. They all appear to maintain a struggle either before they adopt
+    the habits which belong to the seasons of their new country, or decide on retaining
+    their relations with the old. In yielding to external circumstances, they appear to
+    have different tempers. This appearance of contention is often observed in plants of
+    the same species; they seem to hesitate and deliberate, ere they adopt the mode of
+    performing the functions of life. At length when the decision is made, apparently not
+    without pain and effort, we are at a loss to discover an adequate cause. An oak, for
+    instance, which loses its leaves in a St. Helena winter of 68 degrees, scarcely
+    experiences the difference of temperature, which, reasoning by analogy, could cause
+    that change. It would have continued to maintain inflexibility, in its original
+    climate, its old habits, though exposed to far greater irregularity and severity of
+    climate. But though the law is obeyed by many plants, it does not determine the
+    periodical changes of the whole, nor do they all submit to it with equal readiness
+    and regularity. It would add, I conceive, to the natural history of vegetation, and
+    improve our knowledge of the geography of plants, were the facts concerning their
+    habits and changes, under different temperatures, carefully collected."</p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <h2>MISCELLANIES.</h2>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>HUMAN CREDULITY.</h3>
+    <p>The wonderful miracles wrought by Bridget Bostock, of Cheshire, who healed all
+    diseases by prayer, faith, and an embrocation of fasting spittle, induced multitudes
+    to resort to her from all parts of the country, and kept her salival glands in full
+    employ. Sir John Pryce, with a high spirit of enthusiasm, wrote to this woman to make
+    him a visit at Newton Hall, in order to restore to him his third, a favourite, wife.
+    His letter will best tell the foundation on which he built his strange hope, and
+    every uncommon request.</p>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p><i>To Mrs. Bridget Bostock.</i></p>
+      <p>Madam,&mdash;Having received information, by repeated advices, both public and
+      private, that you have of late performed many wonderful cures, even where the best
+      physicians have failed; and that the means used appear to be very inadequate to the
+      effect produced; I cannot but look upon you as an extraordinary and highly favoured
+      person. And why may not the same most merciful God, who enables you to restore
+      sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and strength to the same, also enable you
+      to raise the dead to life? Now, having lately lost a wife, whom I most tenderly
+      loved, my children a most excellent step-mother, and our acquaintances a most dear
+      and valuable friend, you will lay us all under the highest obligations; and I
+      earnestly entreat you, for God Almighty's sake, that you will put up your petitions
+      to the Throne of Grace on our behalf, that the deceased may be restored to us, and
+      the late dame Eleanor Pryce be raised from the dead. If your personal attendance
+      appears to you to be necessary, I will send my coach and six, with proper servants
+      to wait on you hither, whenever you please to appoint. Recompense of any kind that
+      you may please to propose would be made with the utmost gratitude; but I wish the
+      bare mention of it is not offensive to both God and you.</p>
+      <p>I am, madam,</p>
+      <p>Your most obedient, and very much afflicted, humble servant,</p>
+      <p>JOHN PRYCE.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <h3>THEOLOGICAL WIT.</h3>
+    <p>The late Rev. Thomas Toller, an eminent dissenting minister, (joint preacher with
+    the celebrated Dr. James Fordyce, at Monkwell-street,) resided many years in the
+    Lower-street, Islington. One day, when he got into the stage to come to <span
+    class="pagenum"><a id="page80" name="page80"></a>[pg 80]</span>London, he met with
+    two ladies of his acquaintance, and a loquacious young Irishman, who was very
+    obtrusive with his "would-be wit" to the females. The coachman soon stopped to take
+    up another passenger, who, Dutchman-like, was "<i>slow to make haste</i>." A young
+    dog, being confined in the neighbourhood, bewailed its loss of liberty, by making an
+    hideous noise; which all the party agreed was very disagreeable. The Hibernian,
+    desirous to display his wit, and to <i>quiz</i> the parson, said, "The animal was so
+    unpleasantly noisy, it must be a presbyterian <i>dog</i>." Mr. Toller calmly, but
+    with much apparent confidence, said, "I am sure it is an Irish dog."&mdash;"How do
+    you know that?" exclaimed the astonished young man with eagerness.&mdash;"I know it,
+    sir," (replied the divine,) "by its impudence and its howl." This seasonable retort
+    cured the garrulity of the patient, and gave him a locked-jaw till the stage arrived
+    at the Royal Exchange.</p>
+    <h3>RAMSDEN THE OPTICIAN.</h3>
+    <p>It was his custom, to retire in the evening to what he considered the most
+    comfortable corner in the house, and take his seat close, to the kitchen fireside, in
+    order to draw some plan for the forming a new instrument, or scheme for the
+    improvement of one already made. There, with his drawing implements on the table
+    before him, a cat sitting on the one side, and a certain portion of bread, butter,
+    and a small mug of porter placed on the other side, while four or five apprentices
+    commonly made up the circle, he amused himself with either whistling the favourite
+    air, or sometimes singing the old ballad of</p>
+    <blockquote class="poetry">
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "If she is not so true to me,<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; What care I to whom she be?<br />
+      What care I, what care I, to whom she be!"<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>and appeared, in this domestic group, contentedly happy. When he occasionally sent
+    for a workman, to give him necessary directions concerning what he wished to have
+    done, he first showed the recent finished plan, then explained the different parts of
+    it, and generally concluded by saying, with the greatest good humour, "Now see, man,
+    let us try to find fault with it;" and thus, by putting two heads together, to
+    scrutinize his own performance, some alteration was probably made for the better.
+    But, whatever expense an instrument had cost in forming, if it did not fully answer
+    the intended design, he would immediately say, after a little examination of the
+    work, "Bobs, man! this won't do, we must have at it again;" and then the whole of
+    that was put aside, and a new instrument, begun. By means of such perseverance, he
+    succeeded in bringing various mathematical, philosophical, and astronomical
+    instruments to perfection. The large theodolite for terrestrial measurements, and the
+    equal altitude instrument for astronomy, will always be monuments of his fertile,
+    penetrating, arduous, superior genius! There cannot be a lover (especially of this
+    more difficult part) of philosophy, in any quarter of the globe, but must admire the
+    abilities, and respect the memory, of Jesse Ramsden&mdash;<i>Practical Observations
+    on Telescopes</i>.</p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <h2>THE GATHERER.</h2>
+    <blockquote>
+      "I am but a <i>Gatherer</i> and disposer of other men's
+      stuff."&mdash;<i>Wotton</i>.
+    </blockquote>
+    <hr />
+    <p>Mr. Kelly, in his "Reminiscences," relates, that in 1792 he was walking in the
+    Place Vendome with two Irish gentlemen, a Colonel Stark Macarthy and a Captain Fagan,
+    the latter possessing "a vast portion of the ready wit of his country." Coming to the
+    celebrated statue of Victory holding the laurel crown over the head of Louis XIV., a
+    French officer was enumerating the splendid achievements of that heroic king, and
+    particularly desired us to observe the attitude of the figure of Victory. "Pray,
+    sir," said Fagan, "may I take the liberty of asking the question&mdash;Is Victory
+    putting the laurel on his majesty's head, or taking it off?" The question puzzled the
+    Frenchman, and made us laugh heartily.</p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>Parr carried his compassion towards the inferior tribes so far, that two or three
+    hares found a secure asylum for nearly two years in his garden at Hatton. He said
+    that they were his clients, for they had placed themselves under his protection. He
+    gave strict orders that they should not be shot. "It would be a gross violation," he
+    said, "of a tacit covenant of hospitality."</p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>A few months since, a noble marquis bespoke a play at a country theatre, the
+    representation of which Mr. Canning, prime minister, honoured with his presence. The
+    boxes and other parts of the house were crammed, with the exception of the pit, which
+    looked beggarly; on which an actor observed to a brother of the sock, "We've no
+    <i>pit</i> to-night."&mdash;"No <i>Pitt</i>!" rejoined the other, "and none we want
+    while we have a <i>Canning!</i>"</p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+      <a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a> <b>Footnote 1</b>: <a
+      href="#footnotetag1">(return)</a>
+      <p>I should feel highly obliged if any of your valuable correspondents would favour
+      me, through the medium of the MIRROR, with the name of the noble to whom the above
+      arms appertained.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+      <a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a> <b>Footnote 2</b>: <a
+      href="#footnotetag2">(return)</a>
+      <p>The remaining part was left to Lady Thornhill, who lived several years with her
+      son-in-law after the death of Sir James.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+      <a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a> <b>Footnote 3</b>: <a
+      href="#footnotetag3">(return)</a>
+      <p>Our Royal Academy is <i>now</i> governed precisely on the same principles as is
+      the French Academy. What would Hogarth have said, had he lived at the present
+      day?</p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <p><i>Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) and
+    sold by all Newsmen and Booksellers.</i></p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement,
+and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIRROR OF LITERATURE, JULY 28, 1827 ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and
+Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827
+
+Author: Various
+
+Posting Date: December 6, 2011 [EBook #9919]
+Release Date: February, 2006
+First Posted: October 31, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIRROR OF LITERATURE, JULY 28, 1827 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram and Project Gutenberg
+Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note: In "A Churchyard Scene" the word "iugrate" occurs in
+                    the original text. This was probably a typographical
+                    error, and the correct word was likely "ingrate."
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
+
+VOL. 10, No. 266.] SATURDAY, JULY 28, 1827. [PRICE 2d.
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CROYDON PALACE.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The palace of Croydon is a building of great antiquity, and was for
+several centuries the magnificent abode of the haughty dignitaries of
+Canterbury. At the period of the Conquest, Lanfranc resided here, and
+most of the decrees and audits of his successors were issued from, and
+held at, this palace. It was here that Archbishop Parker entertained his
+queen, Elizabeth and her august court, with great splendour and
+festivity; as also did the celebrated Whitgift, who refused to accept of
+the high office of lord chancellor. Courtney received his pall here with
+great solemnity and pomp in the presence of the chief nobility of the
+realm; and Chichley, Stafford, Laud, Juxon, Wake, and Herring, made it
+their frequent residence, and were liberal contributors to its
+architectural beauties. The remains of this interesting fabric are, with
+the exception of the hall, composed entirely of brick, occupying a
+considerable space on the south-west side of Croydon church, and are in
+some points peculiarly striking in local appearance; but on account of
+their unconnected state, with the intervening screens of garden walls,
+&c. the view is confined and partial.
+
+The grand hall is a lofty imposing structure, and at a casual
+computation appears to contain an area of eight hundred square yards;
+between which and the cornice, at the height of about fifteen feet, a
+moulding or frieze is carried over the surface of each wall, from
+whence, resting their bases on angels bearing, shields variously
+blazoned, issue in the alternate spaces of twelve feet, five ligneous
+pillars, supporting immense beams traversing the intervening distances
+of the confronting sides. The roof is formed of large solid pieces of
+timber, running diagonally to a point; the upper compartment of which
+(springing from perpendicular posts), is ribbed so as to make it have
+the appearance of a polygonal ellipsis.
+
+On the right of the southern entrance an escutcheon, surmounted by a
+canopy, is fixed at a considerable height from the pavement, and must
+have had formerly a splendid appearance, as faint traces even now of its
+original pomp are discernible in the faint glittering of the gilding,
+and the exquisite symmetry of its execution. The bearings appeared to me
+as--party per pall,--dexter division.--Sapphire a cross gules ensigned
+with fleur de lis between six martlets topaz.--Sinister--quarterly
+sapphire and ruby, first and third, three fleur de lis; topaz, second
+and fourth, three lions passant gardant of the same, supported by two
+angels, and surmounted by a coronet; the whole resting on an angel
+bearing a scroll with a motto in old English text, but illegible.[1]
+
+    [1] I should feel highly obliged if any of your valuable
+    correspondents would favour me, through the medium of the
+    MIRROR, with the name of the noble to whom the above arms
+    appertained.
+
+This hall is now occupied by a carpenter, and is almost filled with old
+furniture and timber; other parts of the building are appropriated for
+charity-schools, and the trade of bleaching is practised in its
+precincts.
+
+SAGITTARIUS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+FINE ARTS
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+ENGLISH ACADEMIES FOR PAINTING ANTERIOR TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE
+ROYAL ACADEMY IN LONDON.
+
+
+The first attempt to form an academy for the encouragement of the fine
+arts in this country was made in Great Queen-street, in the year 1697.
+The laudable design was undertaken by Sir Godfrey Kneller, and by the
+most respectable artists of the day, who endeavoured to imitate the
+French Academy founded by Lewis XIV. Their undertaking, however, was
+wholly without success; jealousies arose among the members, and they
+were ultimately compelled to relinquish the project as fruitless. Sir
+James Thornhill, a few years afterwards, commenced an academy in a room
+he had built for the purpose at the back of his own residence, near
+Covent-garden theatre; but his attempt, likewise, proved abortive.
+Notwithstanding these failures, Mr. Vanderbank, a Dutchman, headed a
+body of artists, and converted an old Presbyterian meeting-house into an
+academy. Besides plaster figures, Mr. Vanderbank and his associates
+procured a living female figure for study, which circumstance tended to
+gain a few subscribers; but, in a very short space of time, for want of
+money sufficient to defray the necessary expenses, all the effects
+belonging to the establishment were seized for rent, and the members, in
+disgust, accordingly separated.
+
+On the demise of Sir James Thornhill, in 1734, the celebrated William
+Hogarth became possessed of part of his property.[2] Although much
+averse to the principles on which academies were generally founded, Mr.
+Hogarth considered that one conducted wisely would probably be of great
+advantage to the public, as well as to the artists in general. He,
+therefore, proposed, that a body of artists should enter into a
+subscription for the purchase of a house sufficiently large and
+capacious to admit thirty or forty persons to draw from a naked figure.
+This proposition being unanimously agreed to, a place was forthwith
+taken in St. Martin's-lane; and Hogarth, to forward the undertaking as
+far as he could, lent them the furniture, &c. formerly belonging to Sir
+James Thornhill's academy.
+
+    [2] The remaining part was left to Lady Thornhill, who lived
+    several years with her son-in-law after the death of Sir James.
+
+The failure of all preceding attempts to form an academy was attributed
+by Mr. Hogarth to the principal members assuming too much authority over
+their brother artists; he, therefore, proposed, that every member should
+contribute an equal sum of money to the establishment, and should have
+an equal right to vote on every question relative to the society. He
+considered electing presidents, directors, and professors, to be a
+ridiculous imitation of the forms of the French Academy, and liable to
+create jealousies.[3] Under Hogarth's guidance, the Academy continued
+for thirty years, with little alteration, to the high satisfaction of
+its several members, and the public in general.
+
+    [3] Our Royal Academy is _now_ governed precisely on the same
+    principles as is the French Academy. What would Hogarth have
+    said, had he lived at the present day?
+
+On ascending the British throne, George III. evinced so much interest
+for the arts, that most of the members of the academy (though contrary
+to the wishes of their leader, who possessed a most independent spirit,)
+solicited the royal patronage to a plan they had in view of establishing
+an academy for _painting, sculpture_, and _architecture_. The success of
+this appeal is too well known to English readers to need much comment.
+His majesty was pleased to appropriate those very splendid apartments in
+Somerset-house for the use of artists, who shortly formed a _new_
+society, over which, by his majesty's special command, the great Sir
+Joshua Reynolds presided.
+
+G.W.N.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+VOLCANOES.
+
+(_For the Mirror_.)
+
+
+To describe the awful grandeur and terrific phenomena of volcanic
+eruptions in an adequate manner, is perhaps beyond the power of
+language. The number of volcanoes now known is about four hundred;
+nearly all of them are situated a small distance from the sea, and many
+appear to have been burning from time immemorial.
+
+A certain mixture of sulphur, steel-filings and water, buried a short
+depth from the ground, will exhibit a kind of miniature volcano; and
+hence some philosophers have concluded, that in the bowels of burning
+mountains there are various sorts of bodies which probably ferment by
+moisture, and being thus expanded, at last produce eruptions and
+explosions. The mouth or chimney of a burning mountain is, in many
+instances, upwards of a mile across! from which, in an eruption, are
+emitted torrents of smoke and flame, rivers of lava, (consisting chiefly
+of bitumen and melted metal,) and clouds of cinders, stones, &c. to an
+immense distance. The wonderful quantity of these materials thrown out
+from the orifice almost exceeds belief; the lava rushes like a fiery
+torrent at a very rapid pace,--ravages the labours of agriculture,
+overthrows houses, and in a few seconds utterly destroys the hopes of
+hundreds of families--the toils of hundreds of years. Nothing impedes
+its awful course; when interrupted by stone walls, or even rocks, it
+collects in a few moments to the height of eight or ten feet; its
+immense heat and violent pressure quickly batter down the obstacle,
+which is literally made rotten by the fire, and the whole mass seems to
+melt together into the lava, which again continues its progress until
+exhausted by the distance of its destructive march.
+
+An English traveller, who was at Naples during the eruption of Mount
+Vesuvius, on the 10th of September, 1810, thus describes the scene:--
+
+"Curious to witness the volcano as near as possible, I set out for
+Portici, where I arrived at eight in the evening; from thence to the
+summit of the mountain the road is long and difficult; having procured a
+guide about the middle of the distance, we had to climb a mountain of
+cinders, every step nearly knee-deep; this made it near midnight when we
+reached the crater, which we approached as near as the heat would
+permit. The fire of the mountain served us for a beacon, and we set
+light to our sticks in the lava, which slowly ran through the hollows of
+the crater. The surface of the inflamed matter nearly resembles metal in
+a state of fusion, but as it flows it carries a kind of scum, which
+gradually hardens into scoria and rolls like fire-balls to the bottom of
+the mountain. We thought ourselves pretty secure in this spot, and had
+no wish to retire; but shortly a most terrific explosion which launched
+to an inconceivable height in the air, immense fragments of burning
+rocks, &c. reminded us of our dangerous situation. We lost not a moment
+in retreating, and driven on by fear almost with miraculous speed,
+cleared in about five minutes, a space we had taken two hours to climb;
+we had hardly gained this spot when a second explosion more terrible, if
+possible, than the former was heard. The volcano in all its fury vomited
+forth some thousands of cart-loads of stones and burning lava. As the
+projection was nearly vertical, the greater part fell back again into
+the mouth of the mountain and this was again vomited forth as before. On
+the 11th and 12th, the fury somewhat abated, but on the 13th a fresh
+eruption commenced, and burning matter flowed down all the sides of the
+volcano;--all Vesuvius itself seemed on fire,--not a vestige of property
+for miles could be discovered, and thousands of families were ruined."
+
+JACOBUS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+A CHURCHYARD SCENE.
+
+
+    How sweet and solemn, all alone,
+    With reverend steps, from stone to stone,
+    In a small village churchyard lying,
+    O'er intervening flowers to move!
+    And as we read the names unknown
+    Of young and old to judgment gone,
+    And hear in the calm air above
+    Time onwards softly flying,
+    To meditate, in Christian love,
+    Upon the dead and dying!
+    Across the silence seem to go
+    With dream-like motion, wavery, slow,
+    And shrouded in their folds of snow,
+    The friends we loved long, long ago!
+    Gliding across the sad retreat,
+    How beautiful their phantom feet!
+    What tenderness is in their eyes,
+    Turned where the poor survivor lies
+    'Mid monitory sanctities!
+    What years of vanished joy are fanned
+    From one uplifting of that hand
+    In its white stillness! when the shade
+    Doth glimmeringly in sunshine fade
+    From our embrace, how dim appears
+    This world's life through a mist of tears!
+    Vain hopes! blind sorrows! needless fears!
+
+    Such is the scene around me now:
+    A little churchyard on the brow
+    Of a green pastoral hill;
+    Its sylvan village sleeps below,
+    And faintly here is heard the flow
+    Of Woodburn's summer rill;
+    A place where all things mournful meet,
+    And yet the sweetest of the sweet,
+    The stillest of the still!
+    With what a pensive beauty fall
+    Across the mossy, mouldering wall
+    That rose-tree's clustered arches! See
+    The robin-redbreast warily,
+    Bright through the blossoms, leaves his nest:
+    Sweet iugrate! through the winter blest
+    At the firesides of men--but shy
+    Through all the sunny summer-hours,
+    He hides himself among the flowers
+    In his own wild festivity.
+    What lulling sound, and shadow cool
+    Hangs half the darkened churchyard o'er,
+    From thy green depths so beautiful
+    Thou gorgeous sycamore!
+    Oft hath the holy wine and bread
+    Been blest beneath thy murmuring tent,
+    Where many a bright and hoary head
+    Bowed at that awful sacrament.
+    Now all beneath the turf are laid
+    On which they sat, and sang, and prayed.
+    Above that consecrated tree
+    Ascends the tapering spire, that seems
+    To lift the soul up silently
+    To heaven with all its dreams,
+    While in the belfry, deep and low,
+    From his heaved bosom's purple gleams
+    The dove's continuous murmurs flow,
+    A dirge-like song, half bliss, half woe,
+    The voice so lonely seems!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+ANECDOTES AND RECOLLECTIONS
+
+    Notings, selections,
+    Anecdote and joke:
+    Our recollections;
+    With gravities for graver folk.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+SHERIDAN.
+
+
+It was at the strongly contested election for Westminster, when Sheridan
+was opposed by Sir Francis Burdett and Lord Cochrane, that the latter,
+in allusion to the orator's desire of ameliorating his situation on the
+poll by endeavouring to blend his cause with that of the baronet,
+characteristically observed, "that the right honourable gentleman sought
+to have his _little skiff_ taken _in tow_ by the _line of battle ship_
+of Sir Francis." Sheridan, in whom the metaphor had awakened the
+remembrance of the remarkable and successful influence of his speech in
+the House of Commons on the occasion of the mutiny at the Nore, in
+calming the irritation of the rebels and reducing them to obedience, in
+reply to his lordship, bade him "to recollect that it was that _little
+skiff_ which once brought the whole navy of England safely into port."
+
+The election drew towards its termination, but all the efforts of his
+friends had proved unavailing to secure Sheridan's return, although his
+minority was any thing but formidable. The interest that attended the
+contest had, at its close, become intense; and every spot, whence the
+candidates might be seen or heard, was crowded in the extreme. A sailor,
+anxious to acquire a view of the scene of action, after all his exertion
+to push his way through the crowd had proved fruitless, resorted to the
+nautical expedient of climbing one of the poles which supported a booth
+directly in front of the hustings, from the very top of which Jack was
+enabled to contemplate all that occurred below. As the orator commenced
+his speech, his eye fell on the elevated mariner, whom he had no sooner
+observed than he rendered his situation applicable to his own, by
+stating that "had he but other five hundred voters as _upright_ as the
+_perpendicular_ gentleman before him, they would yet place him where
+_he_ was--_at the head of the pole_."
+
+Often were his addresses to his constituents interrupted by the tumult
+that arose from the anxiety of the public to get within hearing of him.
+A person, mounted on horseback, had penetrated to the very centre of the
+crowd, with more regard for himself than consideration towards others,
+as the animal he rode, affrighted by the noise, became equally annoying
+and dangerous to those by whom he was surrounded. The outcry was
+excessive, and, while some strove to appease the clamour, others urged
+Sheridan to proceed. "Gentlemen," replied he to the latter, "when the
+_chorus of the horse and his rider_ is finished, I shall commence."
+
+His good humour was at no time disturbed during the election, although
+the observations of his noble Caledonian opponent manifested no amicable
+disposition towards the orator. As it terminated, a mutual friend of the
+rival candidates expressed a hope that, with the contest, all animosity
+should cease; and that the gallant officer should drown the memory of
+differences in a friendly bottle. "With all my heart," said Sheridan,
+"and will thank his lordship to make it _a Scotch pint_."
+
+His treatment of Coleridge, the poet, who had submitted a tragedy to his
+managerial decision, was wholly unmerited by the author, the success of
+whose piece subsequently so well justified the better claims it had on
+Sheridan's attention. In the cavern scene, where the silence of the
+place is presumed to be only broken by the slow dropping of the water
+from its vault, Sheridan, in reading it to his friends, repeated the
+words of one of the characters, in a solemn tone, "Drip! drip! drip!"
+adding, "Why, here's nothing but _dripping_:" but the story is told by
+Coleridge himself, in the preface to his tragedy, with that good humour
+and frankness becoming one sensible of his powers, and conscious that
+the witty use of an unfortunate expression (were it such) could but
+little affect the real and numerous beauties of the production.
+
+An author, whose comedies, when returned upon his hands, were generally
+reduced, by the critical amputation of managers, from the fair
+proportion of five acts to two, or even one, with the ordinary
+suggestion of "_necessary alteration_," &c. complained in wrath and
+bitterness to Sheridan, who, it is said, attempted to console him, by
+saying, "Why, my good fellow, what I would advise you is, to present a
+comedy of a _score_ of acts, and the devil will be in it if _five_ be
+not saved."
+
+I have heard it said, that, at the first performance of _The Critic_,
+Sheridan had adopted, as the representative of Lord Burleigh, an actor
+whose "looks profound" accorded with his "ignorance;" but who, until
+then, had only aspired to the livery of the theatre--the placing of
+chairs, or the presentation of a letter; yet who, in this humble display
+of histrionic art, generally contrived to commit some egregious blunder.
+He was remonstrated with, on his choice, by one of the performers, who
+demonstrated the excessive dulness of apprehension of _the would-be
+Minister of State_; and, like other and recent instances in that
+capacity, his singular aptitude to error, however simple the part he had
+to enact, or clear and concise the instructions with which it might be
+accompanied. As Sheridan had planned the character, the face was every
+thing, and the lengthened, dull, and inexpressive visage of the subject
+was too _strictly ministerial_ to be lost; and the author would, as he
+said, "defy him to go wrong," Still his friend was sceptical; nor were
+his doubts removed by Sheridan's assuring him that the representative of
+Lord Burleigh "would have only to look wise, shake his head, and hold
+his tongue;" and he so far persisted as to lay a bet with the author
+that some capital blunder would nevertheless occur. The wager was
+accepted, and, in the fulness of his confidence, Sheridan insisted that
+the actor should not even rehearse the part, and yet that he should get
+through with it satisfactorily to the public and himself on the night of
+the first performance. It came. The arbiter of hopes and fears appeared
+in all the "bearded majesty" of the age of Elizabeth; and, flattered by
+the preference of the great author, had carefully conned over the
+following instructions:--"Mr. ----, as Lord Burleigh, will advance from
+the prompter's side;--proceed to the front of the stage;--fall back to
+where Mr. G---- stands as Sir Christopher Hatton,--shake his head and
+exit." The important moment came. With "stately step and slow," Lord
+Burleigh advanced in face of the audience. "Capital!" exclaimed the
+gratified author;--with equal correctness he retreated to the side of
+Sir Christopher, without _literally falling back_, which Sheridan had
+for a moment doubted might be the case. "Good! a lucky escape though."
+half faltered the anxious poet. "Now! now!" he continued, with eager
+delight at having got so far so well; but, what was his horror, when his
+unlucky pupil, instead of shaking his _own_ blundering head, in strict
+but unfortunate interpretation of his orders, took _that_ of Sir
+Christopher within his hands, shook it long and manfully, and then
+walked off with a look of exultation at having so exactly complied with
+his lesson.--_New Monthly Magazine_.
+
+
+WONDERFUL PECULIARITY IN THE ENGLISH CHARACTER!
+
+
+The French, however wretched may be their condition, are attached to
+life, while the English frequently detest life in the midst of affluence
+and splendour. English criminals are not dragged, but run to the place
+of execution, where they laugh, sing, cut jokes, insult the spectators;
+_and if no hangman happens to be present, frequently hang
+themselves_.--_Memoirs of Lewis Holberg_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+STANZAS.
+
+BY THE AUTHOR OF "FIELD FLOWERS," &C.
+
+(_For the Mirror_.)
+
+
+    I smiled, for not a cloud was seen o'er the blue heaven's expanse,
+    As summer's myriad insect tribe led on the winged dance;
+    The gaudy butterfly was there ranging from flower to flower,
+    And by its side the wild bee humm'd amid the woodbine bower.
+
+    I sighed, for when I looked again the sky was overcast,
+    The summer insect's winged dance was o'er, yet on I past,
+    The gaudy butterfly was gone, the bee away had fled,
+    While on each fairest, brightest flower the wasteful locust fed.
+
+    Yet e'en this simple scene to youth a moral shall convey,
+    Since thus full oft misfortune's clouds obscure life's summer ray;
+    To-day we smile, for beauty smiles in all her spring-tide bloom--
+    To-morrow sigh, for beauty's bower has now become her tomb!
+
+H. B.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+SELECT BIOGRAPHY.
+
+No. LVI.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+GILBERT BURNS.
+
+
+Gilbert Burns was born about the year 1760. He was eighteen months
+younger than his brother Robert, Scotland's most gifted bard. With him
+he was early inured to toil, and rendered familiar with the hardships of
+the peasant's lot; like him, too, he was much subject to occasional
+depression of spirits, and from whatever cause, he had contracted a
+similar bend or stoop in the shoulders; his frame, like that of Robert,
+was cast in a manly and symmetrical mould. The profile of his
+countenance resembled that of his brother, and their phrenological
+developments are said to have been not dissimilar; the principal
+disparity lay in the form and expression of the eye, which in Gilbert
+was fixed, sagacious, and steady--in Robert, almost "in a fine
+frenzy rolling."
+
+Gibert Burns was the archetype of his father, a very remarkable man; his
+piety was equally warm and sincere; and, in all the private relations of
+life, as an elder of the church, a husband, a father, a master, and a
+friend, he was preeminent. His writings want that variety, originality,
+and ease, which shine so conspicuously even in the prose works of the
+poet; but they have many redeeming points about them. His taste was as
+pure as his judgment was masculine. He has been heard to say, that the
+two most pleasurable moments of his life were--first, when he read
+Mackenzie's story of La Roche, and secondly, when Robert took him apart,
+at the breakfast or dinner hour, during harvest, and read to him, while
+seated on a barley sheaf, his MS. copy of the far-famed Cotter's
+"Saturday Night."
+
+When Robert Burns was invited by Dr. Blacklock to visit Edinburgh,
+Gilbert was struggling in the unthrifty farm of Mosgiel, and toiling
+late and early to keep a house over the heads of his aged mother and
+unprotected sisters. The poet's success was the first thing that stemmed
+the ebbing tide of his fortunes. On settling with Mr. Creech, in
+February, 1788, he received, as the profits of his second publication,
+about 500l.; and, with that generosity which formed a part of his
+nature, he immediately presented Gilbert with nearly half of his whole
+wealth. Thus succoured, Gilbert married a Miss Breconridge, and removed
+to a better farm at Dinning, in Dumfriesshire. While there, he was
+recommended to Lady Blantyre, whose estates in East Lothian he
+subsequently managed for nearly a quarter of a century. He died at
+Grant's Braes, in the neighbourhood of Haddington, on one of the
+Blantyre farms, on the 8th of April. He had no fixed complaint; but, for
+several months preceding his dissolution, a gradual decay of nature had
+been apparent. It is probable that his death was accelerated by severe
+domestic afflictions; as, on the 4th of January, he lost a daughter, who
+had long been the pride of his family hearth; and, on the 26th of
+February following, his youngest son, a youth of great promise, died at
+Edinburgh, of typhus fever, on the eve of his being licensed for the
+ministry. Mrs. Burns, who brought him a family of six sons and five
+daughters, of whom five sons and one daughter are living, survivors.
+
+It ought to be mentioned that the two hundred pounds which Robert Burns
+lent to his brother, in the year 1788, was not repaid till 1820. Gilbert
+was far from affluent; in early life he had to struggle even for
+existence; and, therefore, to know that his aged mother and one or two
+sisters, were properly supported, was, in the poet's eyes, a full
+acquittance of all claims. The children of Robert viewed the subject in
+the same light. In 1819, Gilbert Burns was invited by Messrs. Cadell and
+Davies, to revise a new edition of his brother's works; to supply
+whatever he found wanting, and correct whatever he thought amiss. He
+accepted the invitation; and, by appending much valuable matter to the
+late Dr. Currie's biography, he at once vindicated his brother's memory
+from many aspersions which had been cast upon it, and established his
+own credit as an author. On receiving payment for his labour, the first
+thing he did was, to balance accounts, to the uttermost farthing, with
+the widow and family of his deceased brother. The letter which
+accompanied the remittance of the money was, in the highest degree,
+creditable to his feelings.
+
+_Monthly Magazine_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS.
+
+No. XI.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+SPORTS OF THE BURMESE.
+
+
+Shortly after our arrival at Prome we had an opportunity of witnessing
+some boxing and wrestling matches, exercises which the Burmahs are very
+fond of, and which they pride themselves much on excelling in. The
+challenge is given by stepping to the front, and with the right hand
+slapping the left shoulder, at the same time taunting the opponent in
+order to excite him; the struggle does not last long, and when ended, no
+animosity remains between the parties.
+
+Another amusement of the Burman youth deserves mentioning on account of
+its singularity. This is a game at ball, played by six or eight young
+men, formed in a circle; the ball is hollow, and made of wicker work;
+and the art of the game consists in striking this upwards with the foot,
+or the leg below the knee. As may be conceived, no little skill is
+required to keep the ball constantly in motion; and I have often been
+much entertained in watching the efforts made by the players to send the
+ball high in the air, so that it should fall within the limits of the
+ring, when it is again tossed by the foot of another. The natives of
+Hindostan are not acquainted with this game, but it is said to be common
+amongst the Chinese, Japanese, and other nations east of the Ganges. But
+by far the most favourite amusements of the Burmahs are acting and
+dancing, accompanied by music, which to my ear appeared very discordant,
+although occasionally a few rather pleasing notes might be
+distinguished. The principal instrument used in the Burman bands of
+music is the kiezoop, which is formed of a number of small gongs,
+graduated in size and tone on the principle of the harmonica, and
+suspended in a circular frame about four feet high and five feet wide;
+within which the performer stands, and extracts a succession of soft
+tones, by striking on the gongs with two small sticks. Another circular
+instrument (the boundah) serves as a bass; it contains an equal number
+of different-sized drums, on which the musician strikes with violence,
+with a view perhaps to weaken the shrill, discordant notes of a very
+rude species of flageolet, and of an equally imperfect kind of trumpet,
+which are usually played with a total disregard of time, tune, or
+harmony. Two or three other instruments, similar in principle to the
+violin, complete the orchestra. To Europeans, there was not much to
+admire in the sounds produced by these instruments; neither did our
+music appear to have many charms for the Burmahs, whom I have seen
+present at the performance of some of Rossini's most beautiful airs, and
+of different martial pieces, by one of our best regimental bands,
+without expressing, either by their words or gestures, the least
+satisfaction at what they heard.
+
+In condemning, however, the Bunnaa instrumental music generally, I would
+observe, that some of the vocal airs have a very pleasing effect when
+accompanied by the Patola. This is an instrument made in the fantastic
+shape of an alligator; the body of it is hollow, with openings at the
+back, and three strings only are used, which are supported by a bridge,
+as in a violin.
+
+I chanced one day to meet with a young Burman who had been stone blind
+from his birth, but who, gifted with great talent for music, used to
+console himself for his misfortune by playing on this species of guitar,
+and accompanying his voice. When I expressed a wish to hear him perform,
+he immediately struck out a most brilliant prelude, and then commenced a
+song, in a bold tone, the subject of which was a prophecy that had been
+current at Rangoon before we arrived. It predicted the appearance of
+numerous strangers at that place, and that two-masted ships would sail
+up the Irrawaddy, when all trouble and sorrow would cease! Animated by
+his subject, his voice gradually became bolder and more spirited, as
+well as his performance, and without any hesitation he sung with much
+facility two or three stanzas composed extempore.
+
+Changing suddenly from the enthusiastic tone, he commenced a soft
+plaintive love-song, and then, after striking the chords for some time
+in a wild but masterly manner, retired. I confess I felt much interested
+in this poor fellow's performance, he seemed so deeply to feel every
+note he uttered, particularly at one time, when he touched upon his own
+misfortune, that it appeared Providence, in ordaining he should never
+see, had endowed him with this "soul-speaking" talent in some measure to
+indemnify him.
+
+The Burmahs, generally speaking, are fond of singing, and, in some
+instances, I have heard many very good songs. The war-boat song, for
+example, is remarkably striking. The recitative of the leading songster,
+and then the swell of voices when the boatmen join in chorus, keeping
+time with their oars, seemed very beautiful when wafted down the
+Irrawaddy by the breeze; and the approach of a war-boat might always be
+known by the sound of the well-known air.
+
+I have sometimes heard a trio sung in parts by three young girls, with a
+correctness of ear and voice which would do credit to others than the
+self-taught Burmahs. Many little songs, amongst others that commencing
+"Tekien, Tekien," were composed and sung by the Burman fair in
+compliment to their new and welcome visiters, the white strangers; but
+these, of course, are long since consigned to oblivion, unless they
+recollect with pleasure
+
+    --"The grateful breath of song,
+    That once was heard in happier hours;"
+
+for it is very certain that the Bunnahs considered themselves quite
+happy, when enjoying the transient glimpse of liberty, and the
+advantages of a just government which were offered them during the short
+stay of the British army at Prome.
+
+The Burman plays do not appear to be remarkable for the number of their
+_dramatis personae_. In most there is a prince, a confidant, a buffoon or
+two, and a due proportion of female characters, represented by boys
+dressed in female attire. The dresses are handsome; and in one which I
+attended, the dialogue appeared to be lively and well supported, as far
+as I can judge from the roars of laughter which resounded from the
+Burman part of the audience. One sentimental scene, in which the loving
+prince takes leave of his mistress, and another where, after much
+weeping and flirtation, she throws herself into his arms, were
+sufficiently intelligible to us; but some, in which the jokes of the
+clown formed the leading feature, were quite lost upon those who did not
+understand the language. The place chosen for the representation was a
+spot of ground outside of our houses, the heat being very great; and
+here a circle was formed of carpets and chairs, lighted by torches
+dipped in petroleum, which threw a brilliant flare around, though
+accompanied by a most unpleasant odour.
+
+Dancing succeeded, and one or two young women were the performers; like
+the Hindostanee Nautch, it merely consisted in throwing the body and
+arms into numerous graceful and rather voluptuous postures; at the same
+time advancing slowly, with a short steady step, and occasionally
+changing it for a more lively figure.
+
+All this time the drums, cymbals, and clarionets were unceasing in their
+discordant sounds, and, before long, fairly drove me from the field.
+
+_Two Years in Ava._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE NOVELIST.
+
+No. CVI.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+ROSALIE BERTON.
+
+
+While passing some time in the south of France, I spent a few days at
+S----, a town on the banks of the Loire, situated in that province,
+which, from its fertility and beauty, is usually designated the garden
+of France.
+
+S----, I had been informed, was a place famed alike for its vineyards
+and its pretty girls, a coincidence certainly natural, since it fairly
+may be supposed, that the sun which ripens the richest fruit in nature,
+should alike mature its sweetest flowers, and perfect the beauties and
+the charms of that sex, which is literally "like the fair flower in its
+lustre." As the friend, by whom I was accompanied, was well known in the
+place, we were soon introduced to a circle of respectable families; and
+among others, to that of Berton, consisting of the father, mother,
+and daughter.
+
+Rosalie Berton was the _belle_ of S----, or to borrow the far prettier
+French phrase, she was "_la perle de ville_." And a sweet and lovely
+girl she was, as ever the eye of affection hailed with delight. Her
+charms had something of a peculiar style and character; for, with the
+bright black eyes, and fine dark hair of the south, were united the fair
+complexion and delicately tinted cheek of a northern beauty. Her face
+was of a somewhat more pensive turn than usual, and her meek, mild
+features, and soft dark eyes, bore traces of tender feeling and of
+gentle thought; while so expressive was her countenance, that it
+responded, at will, to her feelings, and the eye and the cheek which
+were one moment impressed with melancholy, beamed forth the next with
+all the warmth of intelligence, affection, or delight. Her
+accomplishments were really of a superior kind; she walked with more
+than the usual elegance of her country-women, and danced with equal
+animation and grace. But her most attractive charm consisted in her
+voice, which, though not particularly powerful, had a sweetness and a
+melody which were perfectly delightful; so that never methinks have I
+heard a softer strain, than when that fair girl was wont to sing to her
+guitar the simple ballads and sweet romances of her native land. And her
+musical talents were enhanced by her gentle, complying disposition, and
+by the readiness with which she obeyed every call on her exertions. From
+her music-master, who was a native of Italy, she also learnt Italian,
+which she spoke with more fluency and correctness than is usual among
+the French; she drew, moreover, with considerable taste. So affectionate
+and so amiable was she, that she deserved all the encomiums of her
+friends and even their hyperbolical compliments were scarcely
+extravagant when applied to her. She was literally "_douce comme un
+ange, jolie comme les amours;_" and, as the _ne plus ultra_ of merit in
+France, she was "_tout a fait gentille_." She possessed also,
+considerable dramatic skill and tact, and would, I think, have proved a
+delightful acquisition to the stage, from the skill she displayed in
+those little playful scenes, with which the French delight to
+embellish life.
+
+We were favoured with a specimen of her talents in this way, on the
+evening of our arrival. It was the fete day of madame, the mother of
+Louise, and we were invited to be present. After some time passed in
+taking refreshments, varied by dancing, conversation, &c., the little
+ceremony of the evening commenced; the door opened, and a small but gay
+procession entered the room. It consisted of several young persons, all
+friends of the family, headed by Louise, who was charmingly dressed, and
+looked altogether most lovely. She bore her guitar across her bosom, and
+the instrument was encircled with a wreath of flowers. Each individual
+carried some little offering, such as bottles of wine and liqueurs,
+conserves and sweetmeats, flowers and fruit, &c. &c.; and these were
+placed on the table, the whole group forming a circle round Rosalie, who
+advanced to her mother, and sang to the guitar the well-known verses
+consecrated to such occasions.
+
+    Madame c'est aujourdhui votre fete,
+    C'est aussi celle de nos coeurs;
+    A vous chanter chacun s'apprete!
+    Et veut vous courouner de fleurs!
+
+The lovely girl then loosed the garland from her lyre, placed it with
+light hand on the brow of her mother, and sank in a graceful bending
+attitude to receive her parent's blessing. She was instantly raised,
+fondly embraced by both her admiring parents, and with a repetition of
+the song, the whole party left the room. The scene is long past, but I
+have often recalled it since; and in many an hour of fancy and of
+thought, have again beheld that fair girl kneeling to her mother, again
+beheld her clasped to that mother's heart. Nor was the above the only
+instance of her skill, every day presented some fresh instance of her
+feeling and of taste.
+
+A _plaisanterie_, which proved very successful, was arranged as
+follows:--We were sitting one evening up stairs, when we were attracted
+by the performance of three musicians, who were singing in the _cour_.
+The party consisted of two young men, and a female, who wore a veil;
+they accompanied their songs by playing on the guitar; their performance
+was evidently of a superior character; the music and the words were
+Italian, and the voice of the female performer was eminently sweet and
+touching. After listening some time with great delight--
+
+"Go," said I to one of the party, "find Rosalie, and tell her to come
+and listen to a better singer than herself, who will give her a _lecon
+de chant_."
+
+This was said in the hearing of the foreign songstress, for whom it was
+intended as a compliment, while, at the same time, some silver was
+thrown upon the ground. But what was our surprise, when the lovely girl
+threw aside her veil, exclaiming--
+
+"He! bien messieurs et dames! vous ne connaissez donc plus votre pauvre
+Rosalie!"
+
+Such was one of many pleasantries by which we were diverted and amused.
+Idle fancies these indeed, and such as sterner judgments may deem
+trifling or absurd, yet not uninteresting, since many of them evidently
+afford vestiges of classic times and manners, transmitted through the
+course of ages; nor unuseful, since they tend to smooth and adorn the
+rugged way of life, and to strew its flinty path with flowers.
+
+With the charms and accomplishments which I have described, (and the
+sketch can convey but a faint idea of those which she actually
+possessed,) it cannot be supposed that Rosalie was destitute of
+admirers. She had, indeed, had several, but their suits were all
+unsuccessful. She had been addressed in turn by the _medecin_ of the
+place--by the son of the President of the Tribunal du Commerce--and by a
+nephew to a Monsieur de V----, the seigneur who resided at a
+neighbouring chateau. But they were all, more or less, improper
+characters; the _medecin_ was a gamester; the president's son a
+drunkard, a character utterly despised in these parts; while the nephew
+to the seigneur, was actually a _mauvais sujet_! What the French
+precisely understand by a _mauvais sujet_, I never could exactly make
+out; for, when impelled by curiosity to inquire, my queries were always
+met by such a volley of vituperation, as left one altogether in the dark
+with regard to the real nature of the charge. On the whole, I presume,
+we are to consider a _mauvais sujet_ as a culprit, compared with whose
+transgressions, the several enormities of gaming, drinking, and the
+like, sink into mere peccadilloes.
+
+The parents of Rosalie (the parents settle all these matters in France),
+on learning the character of their intended sons-in-law, dismissed them
+one after the other; and Rosalie acquiesced in their determination with
+a readiness and a decision, which did equal honour to her affection and
+her judgment.
+
+So interesting a girl, however, was not likely to remain long without a
+suitable admirer, and she speedily had another _affaire du coeur_. A
+young and handsome _militaire_, a sous-lieutenant in the royal guard,
+aspired to gain her hand, and to replace the vacancy in her affections.
+
+Henri Vaucouleurs was a fine, tall, dark, martial-looking young man (the
+French make fine-looking soldiers), and, with his luxuriant mustachios
+and the eager glance of his keen black eye, seemed the very _beau ideal_
+of a modern hero. Born at Mezieres, in the department of Ardennes, he
+was cradled in the very lap of war, and was yet a mere boy; when, in the
+summer of 1813, he joined the corps called the _garde d'honneur_. He
+made the campaign of Germany, and was present in the battles of Leipzig
+and of Hanau, in the last of which he received a ball in the right arm.
+He shortly, however, resumed his post with the army assembled for the
+defence of France, and at the battle of Laon received a severe _coup de
+sabre_ on his forehead, the scar of which added much to the martial
+aspect of his countenance. At the peace he joined the royal guard, in
+which corps he still continued. He was really a very estimable and
+engaging young man; and possessed more candour, intelligence, and good
+sense, than I think I ever witnessed in a military man among the French.
+His account of his campaigns was exceedingly modest, unaffected, and
+intelligent, and his whole conversation and manner were of a superior
+character. I remember, he spoke with great forbearance of the three
+principal nations among the allies, the Russians, Prussians, and
+Austrians; but inveighed, bitterly, against several of the auxiliaries,
+who, he said, having received only benefits of the French emperor,
+embraced the first opportunity offered by a reverse of fortune, to
+desert and betray him. Of Napoleon, he spoke with enthusiasm as a
+soldier; but with detestation, as an intoxicated and deluded tyrant, a
+rash and desperate gamester, who sent forth his attached and devoted
+soldiers, to be devoured by the destroying elements, without provision,
+or scarcely a thought for their natural and indispensable wants.
+
+Such were the character and pretensions of him who was destined to gain
+the affections of Rosalie. At first, he seemed to have but little chance
+of success. Old people commonly entertain a prejudice against the
+character and profession of military men, and are seldom ambitious of
+such an alliance for a daughter. The parents of Rosalie were
+prepossessed against Henri on account of his calling; and, though
+Rosalie herself early entertained an interest in his favour, yet she was
+too good and too _sage_ to cherish in herself, or to encourage in her
+lover, an attachment which her parents might disapprove. Henri was,
+however, admitted as a visiter at the house, and by degrees his amiable
+manners and correct deportment won, first on the old lady, and then on
+the father, till their scruples vanished, and, indeed, they wondered
+they could ever have entertained any against so estimable a young man
+and an officer. He was thus speedily received as the lover of Rosalie,
+and about the time of my visit was installed in all the privileges of a
+_bon ami_. He was equally accomplished with herself; spoke German
+fluently, Italian passably well, and was an excellent performer on the
+flute and the guitar; so that he was a fit companion for his charming
+intended, and was able to assist in those refined and elegant
+recreations, in which she also excelled.
+
+_(To be concluded in our next.)_
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+DOZING.
+
+"Dozing very much delights."
+
+
+Our corporeal machinery requires an occasional relaxation, as much as
+the steam engine does the application of oil to its divers springs; and,
+after a _bona fide_ slumber, we rise with a freshness equal to that of
+flowers in the best regulated flower-pots. But dozing must not be
+confounded with legitimate sleep, though frequently tending to the same
+purpose; it may be termed an embryo slumber, that entertaineth the body
+with the most quiescent gentleness, acting on our senses as a sort of
+mental warm bath; till, finally, the "material man" himself luxuriates
+in tepidity.
+
+Nothing can be more ungodly than to enter the church with an express
+purpose of dozing there. Arm-chairs, sofas, and beds are the legitimate
+places for dozers. But there is no accounting for that conquering spirit
+of all-besetting drowsiness that attacks us at sundry times and places.
+It is in vain that we lengthen our limbs into an awakening stretch--that
+we yawn with the expressive suavity of yawning no more--that we
+dislocate our knuckle bones, and ruffle the symmetry of our visage, with
+a manual application; like the cleft blaze of a candle, drowsiness
+returns again. Well, then, what manner of reader is he that hath never
+sinned by drowsing in church time? Let him read on; and I'll realize by
+description what he has realized by endurance.
+
+It is after the embodying of a good dinner with ourselves, that doziness
+is most tempting. You have dined at four o'clock to-day. Well, that's a
+decent Sabbatical hour. After due potations of wine, coffee, &c. your
+gratitude is awakened; and, like a good Christian, you arrange your
+beaver, and walk off steadily to church. Now, remember, I give you full
+credit for your wish to exhibit your external holiness--that you are
+indeed conscious of the reverence that should accompany all your
+engagements in the fane of the Deity; and yet I prognosticate that if
+the Rev. Nabob Narcotic happen to preach this evening, you will, of a
+surety, doze--infallibly doze--in the midst of his sermon!
+
+'Tis a summer month, and the very church windows seem labouring with a
+fit perspiration. Horribly boring--isn't it? How your hat clings to your
+moistened forehead, and the warm gloves droop from your fingers, like
+roasting chicken! Get as much room as possible; tenderly pass little
+miss there, and her unbreeched brother, over to their smiling mamma. Now
+you have the balmy corner to yourself! "Psalms," first lesson--second
+ditto--prayers--thanksgivings--all reverently attended to; there is a
+little dreaminess settling on your lids--your lips begin to close with
+languor; but you have not dozed. Let's hear the sermon. You are seated
+with tolerable erectness; and, judging from the steady determination of
+your eyebrows, one would imagine that your eyes would be open for the
+whole of the discourse. But, alas! 'tis Mr. Narcotic, whose spectacled
+nose is just verging above the crimson horizon of his pulpit.--"Awake,
+thou that sleepest!" Why, the text is quite opposed to DOZINESS! But
+what of this, if the preacher be addicted to drawling, the weather
+unobligingly sultry, and you yourself have gradually been dwindling from
+an uncongenial state of wakefulness into a sleepy calm? 'Tis too much
+for beldame Nature, believe me!
+
+I perceive that you have rubbed the bridge of your nose several
+times--that you have tried to swell forth your eyes with a full round
+stare at the parson; but your stoicism "profiteth nothing." The sermon
+is irreligiously long; and you are nodding--in a doze! Whether there be
+much pleasure in a church doze, I am not presuming enough to determine.
+For myself, I have found nothing more tantalizing than the endeavour to
+restrain from an occasioned doze during church time. After a certain
+period, I have perceived the parson diminishing, like a phantasmagoric
+image--all the ladies' black bonnets sinking away, like a cluster of
+clouds--and (shame on the confession!) I have performed head worship to
+the front of my seat, instead of keeping an immovable post-like
+position, before his reverence. However, a church doze is seldom admired
+by the wakeful. Should an embryo snore escape from one's nose (and this
+is possible,) some old grandam, or an upright piece of masculine
+sanctity, is sure to rouse you; the former will either _hem_ you into
+awakening shame, or drop her prayer-book on the floor; the latter will
+most likely thump the same with the imperative tip of his boot. How
+horridly stupid one seems after being aroused! The woman eyes you with
+the most piquant, self-justifying sneer possible; while all her little
+IMMACULATES, if she have any, look at you like so many hissing young
+turkey cocks; and as for the man--bless his holiness!--he'd frown you
+down to Hades at once.
+
+"My heart leaps up" when I behold a stage coach--that snug, panel
+painted, comfortable wheel-whirling "thing of life." O ye days of
+juvenilian sensibilities--ye eye-feeding, heart-rising scenes of
+remembered felicity!--how glorious was the coach at the school door! The
+whip--Ajax _Mastigoferos_ never had such a powerful one as the modern
+Jehu! The spokes of the wheels--they were handled with admiring fingers!
+That Jupiter-like throne, the coach-box--who would not have risked his
+neck to have been seated on it? When all was "right," how eloquent the
+lip-music of coachee! how fine the introductory frisks of the horses'
+tails, and the arching plunge of the fore-foot--no rainbow-curve ever
+was so beauteous! "Oh, happy days! who would not be a boy again?" But
+away with my puerilities. I intend the reader to take a doze in that
+comfortable repository for the person--the inside of a coach.
+
+With all the reckless simplicity of boyhood, I maintain that travelling
+by coach is by no means the least of our sublunary pleasures. Man is a
+_wheelable_ animal as well as walking one. Winter is the time for a nice
+inside jaunt. What divine evaporations from the coachman's muzzle! What
+a joyous creak in the down-flying steps!--and, oh! that comfortable
+alertness with which we deposit ourselves in the padded corner, and fold
+our coatflaps over our knees, glance at the frosty steam of the window;
+and then, quite _a la Tityre_, repose our recumbent bodies at our ease!
+Such moments as these are snatches of indefinable bliss. It would appear
+probable, that a coach was a very inconvenient place for a doze; the
+attendant bustle, the whip-smacks, bickering wheels, and
+untranquillizing jolts--
+
+    "Like angels' visits, few and far between,"--
+
+are not calculated for sleepiness. Notwithstanding these correlative
+interruptions, a doze in the coach is by no means uncommon, even in the
+daytime. Let us examine this a little more intellectually.
+
+Suppose a man is returning to his friends, with a mind composed, and
+"all his business settled." (By-the-by, how vastly comprehensive this
+speech is!) Suppose he has entered the coach about four in the
+afternoon, and, by rare luck, finds he is, for the present, the only
+inside passenger. Such a man, I say, will be likely to doze before
+twenty miles have run under the coach-wheels--speaking _Hibernice_. For
+the last half-hour, he will be thinking of himself--how many commissions
+he has performed--how many he has left undone--and how many he intends
+to do. The next, he will probably give to his home attractions--his
+anxious wife, sat musingly round the tea-table--his favourite son George
+(so like his father)--and all the nine hundred and ninety-nine pretty
+nothings we hear of, after a brief absence. These will send his heart a
+long way from the coach, and therefore keep him in the full enjoyment of
+wakefulness. But this train of delectable musing is by no means
+exhaustless. The roll of the wheels gradually becomes naturalized to the
+ear, and the body moves in sympathy with the coach; the road gets very
+monotonously barren; the lounge in the corner--how suitable then to this
+solitary languor! Lulled here, the traveller for awhile admires the
+leathern trappings of the coach, hums a tune perhaps, and affects a
+dubious whistle. Meantime the operations of _doziness_ have been gently
+applying themselves. His eye is sated with the road and the coach; his
+hands become stationary on his lap; his feet supinely rested on the
+opposite seat; his head instinctively motions to the corner--and he
+dozes! A doze in the coach is the flower of dozes, when you are alone.
+There, you may twist your person into any shape you please, without the
+fear of discomposing a silken dress, or a nursemaid's petticoats. No
+boisterous arguments from snuff-taking sexagenarians: all is placid
+--Eden-like--just as a dozer's _sanctorum_ ought to be! The only thing
+attendant on the doze of an inside passenger, is the great chance of
+being suddenly aroused by the entrance of company. O tell me, ye of the
+fine nerve, what is more vexing than to be startled from your nest by
+the creaking slam of the steps, the bleak winter gales galloping along
+your face, and a whole bundle of human beings pushing themselves into
+your retreat! There is no rose without its thorn, as myriads have said
+before me:--
+
+    ----"O beate Sexti,
+    Vitae summa brevis SPEM nos vetat inchoare LONGAM!"
+
+Not all the morose sarcasms of Johnson, on the pleasures of rural life,
+have ever weakened my capability for enjoying it at convenient
+intervals. His antipathy to the country resembled his contempt for
+blank-verse--_he_ could not enjoy it. I have now moped away a
+considerable number of months in this city of all things--this--this
+London. "Well?" Pray restrain yourself, reader; I am coming to the point
+in due season. During my metropolitan existence--although I am neither a
+tailor, nor any trade, nor anything exactly--I have never beheld a
+downright intellectual-looking blade of grass. I mean much by an
+intellectual blade of grass. The Londoners--poor conceited
+creatures!--have denominated sundry portions of their Babylon "fields."
+But--I ask it in all the honest pride of sheer ignorance--is there the
+ghost even of a bit of grass to be seen in many of them? I cannot easily
+forget my vexation, when, after a tedious walk to one of those
+misnomered "fields," I found nothing but a weather-beaten, muggy, smoky
+assemblage of houses of all sizes, circumscribed by appropriate filth
+and abundant cabbage-stumps. Innocent of London quackeries, I strolled
+forth with the full hope of laying me down on a velvet carpet of
+grass--the birds carolling around me--and, perchance, a flock of
+lambkins, tunefully baying to their mammas!! "Said I to myself," when I
+reached these fields, "what a fool I am!" I had contemplated a doze on
+the grass.
+
+But leaving all thoughts of disappointment, who will not allow that
+there is something exceedingly delightful in dozing calmly beneath the
+shade of an o'er-arching tree?
+
+    ----"recubans sub tegmine fagi."
+
+Of course, the weather should be fine, to admit of this luxurious
+idleness. Let the blue-bosomed clouds be sailing along, like Peter
+Bell's boat; let the sunbeams be gilding the face of nature, and tinging
+the landscape with multiform hues; let the breezes be gentle, the spot
+retired, and the heart at ease. Now, go and stretch yourself on the
+grassy couch, while the branches of an aged tree shadow forth the imaged
+leaves around you. What a congenial situation for philosophy--under an
+old tree, on a sunny summer day! How much more becoming than the
+immortal tub of the sour-minded Diogenes? Who will be able to refrain
+from philosophizing. I repeat it, beneath such an old tree? 'Tis at such
+times that the heart spontaneously unbends itself--that the fancy
+tranquillizes its thoughts--and that memory awakens her
+
+    ----"treasured pictures of a thousand scenes."
+
+Place the palms of your hands beneath your pole, and survey the
+skies!--calm, beautifully unconscious! By-gone times, and by-gone
+friends--the thousand commingling scenes of varied life--how they all
+recur to you now! You fancy you could lie beneath the tree for
+eternity--so soothing is the employment of doing nothing--or field
+philosophy! Yet, to speak correctly, you are doing a great deal; your
+imagination is flying in all directions--from the death of Caesar to the
+last cup of Congou that you took with a regretted friend. What a mystery
+your existence is! The world turns round as gently as ever; the flowers
+bud into life; and the winter nips them. Man lives, thinks, and dies.
+All very wondrous truisms. Well, after a half-hour--or perchance
+more--you will be gradually relapsing into a state of soporific
+nothing-at-all-ness (the best word I can find to express my meaning.)
+May there be some clear little stream just behind you, laughing along
+its idle way;--some chirping birds, singing their roundelay--some
+buzzing flies--you will then be lulled into doziness. However, with or
+without the purling murmur of the brook--the joyous warbling of the
+birds--the busy bustling flies--you will not be able to resist the
+dozing temptations that will steal over you. Your eyes will close gently
+as flower-leaflets--your thoughts die away in a heavenly confusion--and
+then you doze!--neither sleeping nor waking, but absolved in delicious
+dreaminess! O, for such a doze!--_Monthly Magazine_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE SELECTOR,
+AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE CHINESE ALMANAC.
+
+
+Notwithstanding the aversion of the Chinese to the profession of the
+Roman Catholic religion, which has been shown, first by persecuting, and
+then by expelling the Jesuits from the empire, the Chinese government
+is, however, obliged to keep at least some missionaries at Pekin to
+compile the almanac. While astrology has led in other nations to the
+study of astronomy, the Chinese, though they have studied astrology for
+some thousand years, have made no progress in the real knowledge of the
+stars. Their ancient boasted observations, and the instruments which
+they make use of, were brought by the learned men, whom Koubilai, the
+grandson of Gingis Khan, had invited from Balk and Samarcand. The
+government, at present, considers the publication of an annual calendar
+of the first importance and utility. It must do every thing in its
+power, not only to point out to its numerous subjects the distribution
+of the seasons, the knowledge of which is essentially necessary to them,
+to arrange the manner of gaining their livelihood, and distributing
+their labour; but on account of the general superstition, it must mark
+in the almanac, the lucky and unlucky days, the best days for being
+married, for undertaking a journey, for making their dresses, for
+buying, or building, for presenting petitions to the emperor, and for
+many other cases of ordinary life. By this means, the government keeps
+the people within the limits of humble obedience; it is for this reason
+that the emperors of China established the academy of astronomy, but we
+must not expect to find men really acquainted with that science. When
+this illustrious body, composed of Mantchoos, and in which Europeans,
+though subordinate, are the most active, condescended to look at the
+planetarium, which was among the presents which the king of England sent
+to the emperor of China by lord Macartney, Mr. Barrow was not able to
+make the president of this learned society understand the real merit of
+that instrument. Besides, how should a people be able to comprehend
+astronomy, to know the position of the heavenly bodies, and determine
+the orbits of the planets, while it is ignorant of the elements of
+mathematics, and makes its calculations by the help of vertical
+arithmetical tables, like those used by the shop-keepers in Russia, and
+who are ignorant both of analysis and geometry?--_Timkowski's Mission
+to China_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+COMPARISON OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH.
+
+
+The following are points of comparison which may be remarked in the
+characters of the French and English. The French are great talkers, the
+English great thinkers; the former excel in vivacity, the latter in
+solidity of intellect. The French dress with splendour, the English with
+neatness; the French live almost exclusively on bread, the English on
+meat. Both are passionate; but it is the blood which rouses the passion
+of a Frenchman, and the bile which exasperates an Englishman. The anger
+of a Frenchman is more violent, that of an Englishman more pertinacious.
+A Frenchman spends his money on his clothes, an Englishman on his belly.
+A Frenchman follows the stream, an Englishman delights in struggling
+against it. The friendships of the French are quickly formed, and as
+quickly dissolved; those of the English are formed slowly, and as slowly
+relinquished. The French respect their superiors, the English respect
+themselves; the former are better citizens, the latter better men. The
+mental endowments of the French are of a more refined, those of the
+English of a loftier, character. The French practise virtue for the sake
+of reputation, and seek the reward of meritorious actions in popular
+applause; the English practise it for its own sake, and seek no reward
+but that which springs from the consciousness of rectitude. There is the
+same relative difference in their vices as in their virtues. Both commit
+crimes; the French from the love of gain, the desire of vengeance or
+similar motives; but the English are often criminal for the mere sake of
+committing crime. The French, like the people of other countries, often
+commit crimes in the hope of escaping punishment, but the English
+frequently commit crimes because they know they cannot escape
+unpunished; so that the very severity of the law, which deters others
+from crime, often operates as an additional stimulus on the English for
+the commission of offences, "I would commit this offence," exclaims the
+Frenchman, "if the law permitted it." "I would not commit this offence,
+if it were not prohibited by law," is frequently the language of the
+Englishman.--_Memoirs of Lewis Holberg_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+LEAVES AND FLOWERS, OR THE LOVER'S WREATH.
+
+
+    With tender vine-leaves wreathe thy brow,
+      And I shall fancy that I see,
+    In the bright eye that laughs below,
+      The dark grape on its parent tree.
+        'Tis but a whim--but, oh! entwine
+        Thy brow with this green wreath of mine.
+
+    Weave of the clover-leaves a wreath,
+      Fresh sparkling with a summer-shower,
+    And I shall, in my fair one's breath,
+      Find the soft fragrance of the flower.
+        'Tis but a whim--but, oh! do thou
+        Twine the dark leaves around thy brow.
+
+    Oh, let sweet-leaved geranium be
+      Entwined amidst thy clustering hair,
+    Whilst thy red lips shall paint to me,
+      How bright its scarlet blossoms are.
+        'Tis but a whim--but, oh! do thou
+        Crown with my wreath thy blushing brow.
+
+    Oh, twine young rose-leaves round thy head,
+      And I shall deem the flowers are there,--
+    The red rose on thy rich cheek spread,
+      The white upon thy forehead fair.
+        'Tis but a whim--but, oh! entwine
+        My wreath round that dear brow of thine.
+
+_The Draught of Immortality, &c._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+ARTS AND SCIENCE
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+FLATTENING OF THE EARTH.
+
+
+At the Academy of Sciences at Paris, a memoir was read by Captain
+Duperrey, on the experiments made with the invariable pendulum, during
+the voyage of the _Coquille_ round the world. He states that various
+experiments confirmed the fact of the flattening of the terrestrial
+globe, conjectured by several travellers, who had remarked that the
+number of oscillations which the pendulum made at certain places,
+differed from what had been observed in the extent of the same parallel.
+The principal anomalies observed by Captain Duperrey were at the Isle of
+France, Mons, Guam, and the Island of Ascension. At the Isle of France,
+the invariable pendulum (as had been remarked by M. Freycinet) made in
+one day, upon an average, thirteen or fourteen oscillations more than it
+ought, supposing the depression to be 1.305, according to the lunar
+theory. At Ascension, the acceleration, as noticed by Captain Sabine,
+was five or six oscillations, even supposing the depression to be 1.228.
+At other stations the difference was almost nothing; and in some, the
+motion of the pendulum was retarded. Such differences, Captain Duperry
+remarks, between the results of experiment and those given by theory,
+cannot be attributed to errors of observation. He is disposed to refer
+the cause of the phenomena, with Captain Sabine, to the want of
+homogeneousness in the earth, considered as a mass, or to the mere
+variations of density in the superficial strata. What tends to confirm
+this hypothesis, he says, is, that all observations show that an
+acceleration of the pendulum generally takes place on volcanic ground
+and a retardation on such as is sandy and argillaceous. A very important
+question to ascertain is, whether the flattening is exactly the same in
+both hemispheres. From the observations of Captains Duperrey and
+Freycinet, it appears that in the southern hemisphere it is 1.291, and
+in the northern 1.288; that is to say, it is sensibly the same, or
+1.290 in both.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+HABITS OF PLANTS.
+
+
+The following curious observations on the habits of plants, were made by
+General Walker, in his address to the Agricultural Society of St.
+Helena, in February last:--"The functions of plants, as well as of
+animals, depend upon the air in which they live. I have observed that
+those of St. Helena, which have been brought from another hemisphere,
+are very irregular in their annual progress; many of them, in the
+development of their foliage, have adopted the law of nature peculiar to
+the country into which they have been transplanted. Others, more
+obstinate, remain faithful to their own habits, and continue to follow
+the stated changes to which they had been accustomed. They all appear to
+maintain a struggle either before they adopt the habits which belong to
+the seasons of their new country, or decide on retaining their relations
+with the old. In yielding to external circumstances, they appear to have
+different tempers. This appearance of contention is often observed in
+plants of the same species; they seem to hesitate and deliberate, ere
+they adopt the mode of performing the functions of life. At length when
+the decision is made, apparently not without pain and effort, we are at
+a loss to discover an adequate cause. An oak, for instance, which loses
+its leaves in a St. Helena winter of 68 degrees, scarcely experiences
+the difference of temperature, which, reasoning by analogy, could cause
+that change. It would have continued to maintain inflexibility, in its
+original climate, its old habits, though exposed to far greater
+irregularity and severity of climate. But though the law is obeyed by
+many plants, it does not determine the periodical changes of the whole,
+nor do they all submit to it with equal readiness and regularity. It
+would add, I conceive, to the natural history of vegetation, and improve
+our knowledge of the geography of plants, were the facts concerning
+their habits and changes, under different temperatures, carefully
+collected."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+MISCELLANIES.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+HUMAN CREDULITY.
+
+
+The wonderful miracles wrought by Bridget Bostock, of Cheshire, who
+healed all diseases by prayer, faith, and an embrocation of fasting
+spittle, induced multitudes to resort to her from all parts of the
+country, and kept her salival glands in full employ. Sir John Pryce,
+with a high spirit of enthusiasm, wrote to this woman to make him a
+visit at Newton Hall, in order to restore to him his third, a favourite,
+wife. His letter will best tell the foundation on which he built his
+strange hope, and every uncommon request.
+
+    _To Mrs. Bridget Bostock._
+
+    Madam,--Having received information, by repeated advices, both
+    public and private, that you have of late performed many
+    wonderful cures, even where the best physicians have failed;
+    and that the means used appear to be very inadequate to the
+    effect produced; I cannot but look upon you as an extraordinary
+    and highly favoured person. And why may not the same most
+    merciful God, who enables you to restore sight to the blind,
+    hearing to the deaf, and strength to the same, also enable you
+    to raise the dead to life? Now, having lately lost a wife, whom
+    I most tenderly loved, my children a most excellent
+    step-mother, and our acquaintances a most dear and valuable
+    friend, you will lay us all under the highest obligations; and
+    I earnestly entreat you, for God Almighty's sake, that you will
+    put up your petitions to the Throne of Grace on our behalf,
+    that the deceased may be restored to us, and the late dame
+    Eleanor Pryce be raised from the dead. If your personal
+    attendance appears to you to be necessary, I will send my coach
+    and six, with proper servants to wait on you hither, whenever
+    you please to appoint. Recompense of any kind that you may
+    please to propose would be made with the utmost gratitude; but
+    I wish the bare mention of it is not offensive to both God
+    and you.
+
+    I am, madam,
+
+    Your most obedient, and very much afflicted, humble servant,
+
+    JOHN PRYCE.
+
+
+THEOLOGICAL WIT.
+
+
+The late Rev. Thomas Toller, an eminent dissenting minister, (joint
+preacher with the celebrated Dr. James Fordyce, at Monkwell-street,)
+resided many years in the Lower-street, Islington. One day, when he got
+into the stage to come to London, he met with two ladies of his
+acquaintance, and a loquacious young Irishman, who was very obtrusive
+with his "would-be wit" to the females. The coachman soon stopped to
+take up another passenger, who, Dutchman-like, was "_slow to make
+haste_." A young dog, being confined in the neighbourhood, bewailed its
+loss of liberty, by making an hideous noise; which all the party agreed
+was very disagreeable. The Hibernian, desirous to display his wit, and
+to _quiz_ the parson, said, "The animal was so unpleasantly noisy, it
+must be a presbyterian _dog_." Mr. Toller calmly, but with much apparent
+confidence, said, "I am sure it is an Irish dog."--"How do you know
+that?" exclaimed the astonished young man with eagerness.--"I know it,
+sir," (replied the divine,) "by its impudence and its howl." This
+seasonable retort cured the garrulity of the patient, and gave him a
+locked-jaw till the stage arrived at the Royal Exchange.
+
+
+RAMSDEN THE OPTICIAN.
+
+
+It was his custom, to retire in the evening to what he considered the
+most comfortable corner in the house, and take his seat close, to the
+kitchen fireside, in order to draw some plan for the forming a new
+instrument, or scheme for the improvement of one already made. There,
+with his drawing implements on the table before him, a cat sitting on
+the one side, and a certain portion of bread, butter, and a small mug of
+porter placed on the other side, while four or five apprentices commonly
+made up the circle, he amused himself with either whistling the
+favourite air, or sometimes singing the old ballad of
+
+        "If she is not so true to me,
+        What care I to whom she be?
+    What care I, what care I, to whom she be!"
+
+and appeared, in this domestic group, contentedly happy. When he
+occasionally sent for a workman, to give him necessary directions
+concerning what he wished to have done, he first showed the recent
+finished plan, then explained the different parts of it, and generally
+concluded by saying, with the greatest good humour, "Now see, man, let
+us try to find fault with it;" and thus, by putting two heads together,
+to scrutinize his own performance, some alteration was probably made for
+the better. But, whatever expense an instrument had cost in forming, if
+it did not fully answer the intended design, he would immediately say,
+after a little examination of the work, "Bobs, man! this won't do, we
+must have at it again;" and then the whole of that was put aside, and a
+new instrument, begun. By means of such perseverance, he succeeded in
+bringing various mathematical, philosophical, and astronomical
+instruments to perfection. The large theodolite for terrestrial
+measurements, and the equal altitude instrument for astronomy, will
+always be monuments of his fertile, penetrating, arduous, superior
+genius! There cannot be a lover (especially of this more difficult part)
+of philosophy, in any quarter of the globe, but must admire the
+abilities, and respect the memory, of Jesse Ramsden--_Practical
+Observations on Telescopes_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE GATHERER.
+
+"I am but a _Gatherer_ and disposer of other men's stuff."--_Wotton_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Mr. Kelly, in his "Reminiscences," relates, that in 1792 he was walking
+in the Place Vendome with two Irish gentlemen, a Colonel Stark Macarthy
+and a Captain Fagan, the latter possessing "a vast portion of the ready
+wit of his country." Coming to the celebrated statue of Victory holding
+the laurel crown over the head of Louis XIV., a French officer was
+enumerating the splendid achievements of that heroic king, and
+particularly desired us to observe the attitude of the figure of
+Victory. "Pray, sir," said Fagan, "may I take the liberty of asking the
+question--Is Victory putting the laurel on his majesty's head, or taking
+it off?" The question puzzled the Frenchman, and made us
+laugh heartily.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Parr carried his compassion towards the inferior tribes so far, that two
+or three hares found a secure asylum for nearly two years in his garden
+at Hatton. He said that they were his clients, for they had placed
+themselves under his protection. He gave strict orders that they should
+not be shot. "It would be a gross violation," he said, "of a tacit
+covenant of hospitality."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+A few months since, a noble marquis bespoke a play at a country
+theatre, the representation of which Mr. Canning, prime minister,
+honoured with his presence. The boxes and other parts of the house were
+crammed, with the exception of the pit, which looked beggarly; on which
+an actor observed to a brother of the sock, "We've no _pit_
+to-night."--"No _Pitt_!" rejoined the other, "and none we want while we
+have a _Canning!_"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+_Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset
+House,) and sold by all Newsmen and Booksellers._
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement,
+and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIRROR OF LITERATURE, JULY 28, 1827 ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827
+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
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+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827
+
+Author:  Various
+
+Release Date: February, 2006  [EBook #9919]
+[This file was first posted on October 31, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 10, ISSUE 266, JULY 28, 1827 ***
+
+
+
+
+E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram and Project Gutenberg Distributed
+Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 8m26610h.zip in our etext06 directory
+      (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext06/8m26610h.zip)
+
+
+Transcriber's note: In "A Churchyard Scene" the word "iugrate" occurs in
+                    the original text. This was probably a typographical
+                    error, and the correct word was likely "ingrate."
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
+
+VOL. 10, No. 266.] SATURDAY, JULY 28, 1827. [PRICE 2d.
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CROYDON PALACE.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The palace of Croydon is a building of great antiquity, and was for
+several centuries the magnificent abode of the haughty dignitaries of
+Canterbury. At the period of the Conquest, Lanfranc resided here, and
+most of the decrees and audits of his successors were issued from, and
+held at, this palace. It was here that Archbishop Parker entertained his
+queen, Elizabeth and her august court, with great splendour and
+festivity; as also did the celebrated Whitgift, who refused to accept of
+the high office of lord chancellor. Courtney received his pall here with
+great solemnity and pomp in the presence of the chief nobility of the
+realm; and Chichley, Stafford, Laud, Juxon, Wake, and Herring, made it
+their frequent residence, and were liberal contributors to its
+architectural beauties. The remains of this interesting fabric are, with
+the exception of the hall, composed entirely of brick, occupying a
+considerable space on the south-west side of Croydon church, and are in
+some points peculiarly striking in local appearance; but on account of
+their unconnected state, with the intervening screens of garden walls,
+&c. the view is confined and partial.
+
+The grand hall is a lofty imposing structure, and at a casual
+computation appears to contain an area of eight hundred square yards;
+between which and the cornice, at the height of about fifteen feet, a
+moulding or frieze is carried over the surface of each wall, from
+whence, resting their bases on angels bearing, shields variously
+blazoned, issue in the alternate spaces of twelve feet, five ligneous
+pillars, supporting immense beams traversing the intervening distances
+of the confronting sides. The roof is formed of large solid pieces of
+timber, running diagonally to a point; the upper compartment of which
+(springing from perpendicular posts), is ribbed so as to make it have
+the appearance of a polygonal ellipsis.
+
+On the right of the southern entrance an escutcheon, surmounted by a
+canopy, is fixed at a considerable height from the pavement, and must
+have had formerly a splendid appearance, as faint traces even now of its
+original pomp are discernible in the faint glittering of the gilding,
+and the exquisite symmetry of its execution. The bearings appeared to me
+as--party per pall,--dexter division.--Sapphire a cross gules ensigned
+with fleur de lis between six martlets topaz.--Sinister--quarterly
+sapphire and ruby, first and third, three fleur de lis; topaz, second
+and fourth, three lions passant gardant of the same, supported by two
+angels, and surmounted by a coronet; the whole resting on an angel
+bearing a scroll with a motto in old English text, but illegible.[1]
+
+    [1] I should feel highly obliged if any of your valuable
+    correspondents would favour me, through the medium of the
+    MIRROR, with the name of the noble to whom the above arms
+    appertained.
+
+This hall is now occupied by a carpenter, and is almost filled with old
+furniture and timber; other parts of the building are appropriated for
+charity-schools, and the trade of bleaching is practised in its
+precincts.
+
+SAGITTARIUS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+FINE ARTS
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+ENGLISH ACADEMIES FOR PAINTING ANTERIOR TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE
+ROYAL ACADEMY IN LONDON.
+
+
+The first attempt to form an academy for the encouragement of the fine
+arts in this country was made in Great Queen-street, in the year 1697.
+The laudable design was undertaken by Sir Godfrey Kneller, and by the
+most respectable artists of the day, who endeavoured to imitate the
+French Academy founded by Lewis XIV. Their undertaking, however, was
+wholly without success; jealousies arose among the members, and they
+were ultimately compelled to relinquish the project as fruitless. Sir
+James Thornhill, a few years afterwards, commenced an academy in a room
+he had built for the purpose at the back of his own residence, near
+Covent-garden theatre; but his attempt, likewise, proved abortive.
+Notwithstanding these failures, Mr. Vanderbank, a Dutchman, headed a
+body of artists, and converted an old Presbyterian meeting-house into an
+academy. Besides plaster figures, Mr. Vanderbank and his associates
+procured a living female figure for study, which circumstance tended to
+gain a few subscribers; but, in a very short space of time, for want of
+money sufficient to defray the necessary expenses, all the effects
+belonging to the establishment were seized for rent, and the members, in
+disgust, accordingly separated.
+
+On the demise of Sir James Thornhill, in 1734, the celebrated William
+Hogarth became possessed of part of his property.[2] Although much
+averse to the principles on which academies were generally founded, Mr.
+Hogarth considered that one conducted wisely would probably be of great
+advantage to the public, as well as to the artists in general. He,
+therefore, proposed, that a body of artists should enter into a
+subscription for the purchase of a house sufficiently large and
+capacious to admit thirty or forty persons to draw from a naked figure.
+This proposition being unanimously agreed to, a place was forthwith
+taken in St. Martin's-lane; and Hogarth, to forward the undertaking as
+far as he could, lent them the furniture, &c. formerly belonging to Sir
+James Thornhill's academy.
+
+    [2] The remaining part was left to Lady Thornhill, who lived
+    several years with her son-in-law after the death of Sir James.
+
+The failure of all preceding attempts to form an academy was attributed
+by Mr. Hogarth to the principal members assuming too much authority over
+their brother artists; he, therefore, proposed, that every member should
+contribute an equal sum of money to the establishment, and should have
+an equal right to vote on every question relative to the society. He
+considered electing presidents, directors, and professors, to be a
+ridiculous imitation of the forms of the French Academy, and liable to
+create jealousies.[3] Under Hogarth's guidance, the Academy continued
+for thirty years, with little alteration, to the high satisfaction of
+its several members, and the public in general.
+
+    [3] Our Royal Academy is _now_ governed precisely on the same
+    principles as is the French Academy. What would Hogarth have
+    said, had he lived at the present day?
+
+On ascending the British throne, George III. evinced so much interest
+for the arts, that most of the members of the academy (though contrary
+to the wishes of their leader, who possessed a most independent spirit,)
+solicited the royal patronage to a plan they had in view of establishing
+an academy for _painting, sculpture_, and _architecture_. The success of
+this appeal is too well known to English readers to need much comment.
+His majesty was pleased to appropriate those very splendid apartments in
+Somerset-house for the use of artists, who shortly formed a _new_
+society, over which, by his majesty's special command, the great Sir
+Joshua Reynolds presided.
+
+G.W.N.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+VOLCANOES.
+
+(_For the Mirror_.)
+
+
+To describe the awful grandeur and terrific phenomena of volcanic
+eruptions in an adequate manner, is perhaps beyond the power of
+language. The number of volcanoes now known is about four hundred;
+nearly all of them are situated a small distance from the sea, and many
+appear to have been burning from time immemorial.
+
+A certain mixture of sulphur, steel-filings and water, buried a short
+depth from the ground, will exhibit a kind of miniature volcano; and
+hence some philosophers have concluded, that in the bowels of burning
+mountains there are various sorts of bodies which probably ferment by
+moisture, and being thus expanded, at last produce eruptions and
+explosions. The mouth or chimney of a burning mountain is, in many
+instances, upwards of a mile across! from which, in an eruption, are
+emitted torrents of smoke and flame, rivers of lava, (consisting chiefly
+of bitumen and melted metal,) and clouds of cinders, stones, &c. to an
+immense distance. The wonderful quantity of these materials thrown out
+from the orifice almost exceeds belief; the lava rushes like a fiery
+torrent at a very rapid pace,--ravages the labours of agriculture,
+overthrows houses, and in a few seconds utterly destroys the hopes of
+hundreds of families--the toils of hundreds of years. Nothing impedes
+its awful course; when interrupted by stone walls, or even rocks, it
+collects in a few moments to the height of eight or ten feet; its
+immense heat and violent pressure quickly batter down the obstacle,
+which is literally made rotten by the fire, and the whole mass seems to
+melt together into the lava, which again continues its progress until
+exhausted by the distance of its destructive march.
+
+An English traveller, who was at Naples during the eruption of Mount
+Vesuvius, on the 10th of September, 1810, thus describes the scene:--
+
+"Curious to witness the volcano as near as possible, I set out for
+Portici, where I arrived at eight in the evening; from thence to the
+summit of the mountain the road is long and difficult; having procured a
+guide about the middle of the distance, we had to climb a mountain of
+cinders, every step nearly knee-deep; this made it near midnight when we
+reached the crater, which we approached as near as the heat would
+permit. The fire of the mountain served us for a beacon, and we set
+light to our sticks in the lava, which slowly ran through the hollows of
+the crater. The surface of the inflamed matter nearly resembles metal in
+a state of fusion, but as it flows it carries a kind of scum, which
+gradually hardens into scoria and rolls like fire-balls to the bottom of
+the mountain. We thought ourselves pretty secure in this spot, and had
+no wish to retire; but shortly a most terrific explosion which launched
+to an inconceivable height in the air, immense fragments of burning
+rocks, &c. reminded us of our dangerous situation. We lost not a moment
+in retreating, and driven on by fear almost with miraculous speed,
+cleared in about five minutes, a space we had taken two hours to climb;
+we had hardly gained this spot when a second explosion more terrible, if
+possible, than the former was heard. The volcano in all its fury vomited
+forth some thousands of cart-loads of stones and burning lava. As the
+projection was nearly vertical, the greater part fell back again into
+the mouth of the mountain and this was again vomited forth as before. On
+the 11th and 12th, the fury somewhat abated, but on the 13th a fresh
+eruption commenced, and burning matter flowed down all the sides of the
+volcano;--all Vesuvius itself seemed on fire,--not a vestige of property
+for miles could be discovered, and thousands of families were ruined."
+
+JACOBUS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+A CHURCHYARD SCENE.
+
+
+    How sweet and solemn, all alone,
+    With reverend steps, from stone to stone,
+    In a small village churchyard lying,
+    O'er intervening flowers to move!
+    And as we read the names unknown
+    Of young and old to judgment gone,
+    And hear in the calm air above
+    Time onwards softly flying,
+    To meditate, in Christian love,
+    Upon the dead and dying!
+    Across the silence seem to go
+    With dream-like motion, wavery, slow,
+    And shrouded in their folds of snow,
+    The friends we loved long, long ago!
+    Gliding across the sad retreat,
+    How beautiful their phantom feet!
+    What tenderness is in their eyes,
+    Turned where the poor survivor lies
+    'Mid monitory sanctities!
+    What years of vanished joy are fanned
+    From one uplifting of that hand
+    In its white stillness! when the shade
+    Doth glimmeringly in sunshine fade
+    From our embrace, how dim appears
+    This world's life through a mist of tears!
+    Vain hopes! blind sorrows! needless fears!
+
+    Such is the scene around me now:
+    A little churchyard on the brow
+    Of a green pastoral hill;
+    Its sylvan village sleeps below,
+    And faintly here is heard the flow
+    Of Woodburn's summer rill;
+    A place where all things mournful meet,
+    And yet the sweetest of the sweet,
+    The stillest of the still!
+    With what a pensive beauty fall
+    Across the mossy, mouldering wall
+    That rose-tree's clustered arches! See
+    The robin-redbreast warily,
+    Bright through the blossoms, leaves his nest:
+    Sweet iugrate! through the winter blest
+    At the firesides of men--but shy
+    Through all the sunny summer-hours,
+    He hides himself among the flowers
+    In his own wild festivity.
+    What lulling sound, and shadow cool
+    Hangs half the darkened churchyard o'er,
+    From thy green depths so beautiful
+    Thou gorgeous sycamore!
+    Oft hath the holy wine and bread
+    Been blest beneath thy murmuring tent,
+    Where many a bright and hoary head
+    Bowed at that awful sacrament.
+    Now all beneath the turf are laid
+    On which they sat, and sang, and prayed.
+    Above that consecrated tree
+    Ascends the tapering spire, that seems
+    To lift the soul up silently
+    To heaven with all its dreams,
+    While in the belfry, deep and low,
+    From his heaved bosom's purple gleams
+    The dove's continuous murmurs flow,
+    A dirge-like song, half bliss, half woe,
+    The voice so lonely seems!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+ANECDOTES AND RECOLLECTIONS
+
+    Notings, selections,
+    Anecdote and joke:
+    Our recollections;
+    With gravities for graver folk.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+SHERIDAN.
+
+
+It was at the strongly contested election for Westminster, when Sheridan
+was opposed by Sir Francis Burdett and Lord Cochrane, that the latter,
+in allusion to the orator's desire of ameliorating his situation on the
+poll by endeavouring to blend his cause with that of the baronet,
+characteristically observed, "that the right honourable gentleman sought
+to have his _little skiff_ taken _in tow_ by the _line of battle ship_
+of Sir Francis." Sheridan, in whom the metaphor had awakened the
+remembrance of the remarkable and successful influence of his speech in
+the House of Commons on the occasion of the mutiny at the Nore, in
+calming the irritation of the rebels and reducing them to obedience, in
+reply to his lordship, bade him "to recollect that it was that _little
+skiff_ which once brought the whole navy of England safely into port."
+
+The election drew towards its termination, but all the efforts of his
+friends had proved unavailing to secure Sheridan's return, although his
+minority was any thing but formidable. The interest that attended the
+contest had, at its close, become intense; and every spot, whence the
+candidates might be seen or heard, was crowded in the extreme. A sailor,
+anxious to acquire a view of the scene of action, after all his exertion
+to push his way through the crowd had proved fruitless, resorted to the
+nautical expedient of climbing one of the poles which supported a booth
+directly in front of the hustings, from the very top of which Jack was
+enabled to contemplate all that occurred below. As the orator commenced
+his speech, his eye fell on the elevated mariner, whom he had no sooner
+observed than he rendered his situation applicable to his own, by
+stating that "had he but other five hundred voters as _upright_ as the
+_perpendicular_ gentleman before him, they would yet place him where
+_he_ was--_at the head of the pole_."
+
+Often were his addresses to his constituents interrupted by the tumult
+that arose from the anxiety of the public to get within hearing of him.
+A person, mounted on horseback, had penetrated to the very centre of the
+crowd, with more regard for himself than consideration towards others,
+as the animal he rode, affrighted by the noise, became equally annoying
+and dangerous to those by whom he was surrounded. The outcry was
+excessive, and, while some strove to appease the clamour, others urged
+Sheridan to proceed. "Gentlemen," replied he to the latter, "when the
+_chorus of the horse and his rider_ is finished, I shall commence."
+
+His good humour was at no time disturbed during the election, although
+the observations of his noble Caledonian opponent manifested no amicable
+disposition towards the orator. As it terminated, a mutual friend of the
+rival candidates expressed a hope that, with the contest, all animosity
+should cease; and that the gallant officer should drown the memory of
+differences in a friendly bottle. "With all my heart," said Sheridan,
+"and will thank his lordship to make it _a Scotch pint_."
+
+His treatment of Coleridge, the poet, who had submitted a tragedy to his
+managerial decision, was wholly unmerited by the author, the success of
+whose piece subsequently so well justified the better claims it had on
+Sheridan's attention. In the cavern scene, where the silence of the
+place is presumed to be only broken by the slow dropping of the water
+from its vault, Sheridan, in reading it to his friends, repeated the
+words of one of the characters, in a solemn tone, "Drip! drip! drip!"
+adding, "Why, here's nothing but _dripping_:" but the story is told by
+Coleridge himself, in the preface to his tragedy, with that good humour
+and frankness becoming one sensible of his powers, and conscious that
+the witty use of an unfortunate expression (were it such) could but
+little affect the real and numerous beauties of the production.
+
+An author, whose comedies, when returned upon his hands, were generally
+reduced, by the critical amputation of managers, from the fair
+proportion of five acts to two, or even one, with the ordinary
+suggestion of "_necessary alteration_," &c. complained in wrath and
+bitterness to Sheridan, who, it is said, attempted to console him, by
+saying, "Why, my good fellow, what I would advise you is, to present a
+comedy of a _score_ of acts, and the devil will be in it if _five_ be
+not saved."
+
+I have heard it said, that, at the first performance of _The Critic_,
+Sheridan had adopted, as the representative of Lord Burleigh, an actor
+whose "looks profound" accorded with his "ignorance;" but who, until
+then, had only aspired to the livery of the theatre--the placing of
+chairs, or the presentation of a letter; yet who, in this humble display
+of histrionic art, generally contrived to commit some egregious blunder.
+He was remonstrated with, on his choice, by one of the performers, who
+demonstrated the excessive dulness of apprehension of _the would-be
+Minister of State_; and, like other and recent instances in that
+capacity, his singular aptitude to error, however simple the part he had
+to enact, or clear and concise the instructions with which it might be
+accompanied. As Sheridan had planned the character, the face was every
+thing, and the lengthened, dull, and inexpressive visage of the subject
+was too _strictly ministerial_ to be lost; and the author would, as he
+said, "defy him to go wrong," Still his friend was sceptical; nor were
+his doubts removed by Sheridan's assuring him that the representative of
+Lord Burleigh "would have only to look wise, shake his head, and hold
+his tongue;" and he so far persisted as to lay a bet with the author
+that some capital blunder would nevertheless occur. The wager was
+accepted, and, in the fulness of his confidence, Sheridan insisted that
+the actor should not even rehearse the part, and yet that he should get
+through with it satisfactorily to the public and himself on the night of
+the first performance. It came. The arbiter of hopes and fears appeared
+in all the "bearded majesty" of the age of Elizabeth; and, flattered by
+the preference of the great author, had carefully conned over the
+following instructions:--"Mr. ----, as Lord Burleigh, will advance from
+the prompter's side;--proceed to the front of the stage;--fall back to
+where Mr. G---- stands as Sir Christopher Hatton,--shake his head and
+exit." The important moment came. With "stately step and slow," Lord
+Burleigh advanced in face of the audience. "Capital!" exclaimed the
+gratified author;--with equal correctness he retreated to the side of
+Sir Christopher, without _literally falling back_, which Sheridan had
+for a moment doubted might be the case. "Good! a lucky escape though."
+half faltered the anxious poet. "Now! now!" he continued, with eager
+delight at having got so far so well; but, what was his horror, when his
+unlucky pupil, instead of shaking his _own_ blundering head, in strict
+but unfortunate interpretation of his orders, took _that_ of Sir
+Christopher within his hands, shook it long and manfully, and then
+walked off with a look of exultation at having so exactly complied with
+his lesson.--_New Monthly Magazine_.
+
+
+WONDERFUL PECULIARITY IN THE ENGLISH CHARACTER!
+
+
+The French, however wretched may be their condition, are attached to
+life, while the English frequently detest life in the midst of affluence
+and splendour. English criminals are not dragged, but run to the place
+of execution, where they laugh, sing, cut jokes, insult the spectators;
+_and if no hangman happens to be present, frequently hang
+themselves_.--_Memoirs of Lewis Holberg_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+STANZAS.
+
+BY THE AUTHOR OF "FIELD FLOWERS," &C.
+
+(_For the Mirror_.)
+
+
+    I smiled, for not a cloud was seen o'er the blue heaven's expanse,
+    As summer's myriad insect tribe led on the winged dance;
+    The gaudy butterfly was there ranging from flower to flower,
+    And by its side the wild bee humm'd amid the woodbine bower.
+
+    I sighed, for when I looked again the sky was overcast,
+    The summer insect's winged dance was o'er, yet on I past,
+    The gaudy butterfly was gone, the bee away had fled,
+    While on each fairest, brightest flower the wasteful locust fed.
+
+    Yet e'en this simple scene to youth a moral shall convey,
+    Since thus full oft misfortune's clouds obscure life's summer ray;
+    To-day we smile, for beauty smiles in all her spring-tide bloom--
+    To-morrow sigh, for beauty's bower has now become her tomb!
+
+H. B.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+SELECT BIOGRAPHY.
+
+No. LVI.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+GILBERT BURNS.
+
+
+Gilbert Burns was born about the year 1760. He was eighteen months
+younger than his brother Robert, Scotland's most gifted bard. With him
+he was early inured to toil, and rendered familiar with the hardships of
+the peasant's lot; like him, too, he was much subject to occasional
+depression of spirits, and from whatever cause, he had contracted a
+similar bend or stoop in the shoulders; his frame, like that of Robert,
+was cast in a manly and symmetrical mould. The profile of his
+countenance resembled that of his brother, and their phrenological
+developments are said to have been not dissimilar; the principal
+disparity lay in the form and expression of the eye, which in Gilbert
+was fixed, sagacious, and steady--in Robert, almost "in a fine
+frenzy rolling."
+
+Gibert Burns was the archetype of his father, a very remarkable man; his
+piety was equally warm and sincere; and, in all the private relations of
+life, as an elder of the church, a husband, a father, a master, and a
+friend, he was preeminent. His writings want that variety, originality,
+and ease, which shine so conspicuously even in the prose works of the
+poet; but they have many redeeming points about them. His taste was as
+pure as his judgment was masculine. He has been heard to say, that the
+two most pleasurable moments of his life were--first, when he read
+Mackenzie's story of La Roche, and secondly, when Robert took him apart,
+at the breakfast or dinner hour, during harvest, and read to him, while
+seated on a barley sheaf, his MS. copy of the far-famed Cotter's
+"Saturday Night."
+
+When Robert Burns was invited by Dr. Blacklock to visit Edinburgh,
+Gilbert was struggling in the unthrifty farm of Mosgiel, and toiling
+late and early to keep a house over the heads of his aged mother and
+unprotected sisters. The poet's success was the first thing that stemmed
+the ebbing tide of his fortunes. On settling with Mr. Creech, in
+February, 1788, he received, as the profits of his second publication,
+about 500l.; and, with that generosity which formed a part of his
+nature, he immediately presented Gilbert with nearly half of his whole
+wealth. Thus succoured, Gilbert married a Miss Breconridge, and removed
+to a better farm at Dinning, in Dumfriesshire. While there, he was
+recommended to Lady Blantyre, whose estates in East Lothian he
+subsequently managed for nearly a quarter of a century. He died at
+Grant's Braes, in the neighbourhood of Haddington, on one of the
+Blantyre farms, on the 8th of April. He had no fixed complaint; but, for
+several months preceding his dissolution, a gradual decay of nature had
+been apparent. It is probable that his death was accelerated by severe
+domestic afflictions; as, on the 4th of January, he lost a daughter, who
+had long been the pride of his family hearth; and, on the 26th of
+February following, his youngest son, a youth of great promise, died at
+Edinburgh, of typhus fever, on the eve of his being licensed for the
+ministry. Mrs. Burns, who brought him a family of six sons and five
+daughters, of whom five sons and one daughter are living, survivors.
+
+It ought to be mentioned that the two hundred pounds which Robert Burns
+lent to his brother, in the year 1788, was not repaid till 1820. Gilbert
+was far from affluent; in early life he had to struggle even for
+existence; and, therefore, to know that his aged mother and one or two
+sisters, were properly supported, was, in the poet's eyes, a full
+acquittance of all claims. The children of Robert viewed the subject in
+the same light. In 1819, Gilbert Burns was invited by Messrs. Cadell and
+Davies, to revise a new edition of his brother's works; to supply
+whatever he found wanting, and correct whatever he thought amiss. He
+accepted the invitation; and, by appending much valuable matter to the
+late Dr. Currie's biography, he at once vindicated his brother's memory
+from many aspersions which had been cast upon it, and established his
+own credit as an author. On receiving payment for his labour, the first
+thing he did was, to balance accounts, to the uttermost farthing, with
+the widow and family of his deceased brother. The letter which
+accompanied the remittance of the money was, in the highest degree,
+creditable to his feelings.
+
+_Monthly Magazine_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS.
+
+No. XI.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+SPORTS OF THE BURMESE.
+
+
+Shortly after our arrival at Prome we had an opportunity of witnessing
+some boxing and wrestling matches, exercises which the Burmahs are very
+fond of, and which they pride themselves much on excelling in. The
+challenge is given by stepping to the front, and with the right hand
+slapping the left shoulder, at the same time taunting the opponent in
+order to excite him; the struggle does not last long, and when ended, no
+animosity remains between the parties.
+
+Another amusement of the Burman youth deserves mentioning on account of
+its singularity. This is a game at ball, played by six or eight young
+men, formed in a circle; the ball is hollow, and made of wicker work;
+and the art of the game consists in striking this upwards with the foot,
+or the leg below the knee. As may be conceived, no little skill is
+required to keep the ball constantly in motion; and I have often been
+much entertained in watching the efforts made by the players to send the
+ball high in the air, so that it should fall within the limits of the
+ring, when it is again tossed by the foot of another. The natives of
+Hindostan are not acquainted with this game, but it is said to be common
+amongst the Chinese, Japanese, and other nations east of the Ganges. But
+by far the most favourite amusements of the Burmahs are acting and
+dancing, accompanied by music, which to my ear appeared very discordant,
+although occasionally a few rather pleasing notes might be
+distinguished. The principal instrument used in the Burman bands of
+music is the kiezoop, which is formed of a number of small gongs,
+graduated in size and tone on the principle of the harmonica, and
+suspended in a circular frame about four feet high and five feet wide;
+within which the performer stands, and extracts a succession of soft
+tones, by striking on the gongs with two small sticks. Another circular
+instrument (the boundah) serves as a bass; it contains an equal number
+of different-sized drums, on which the musician strikes with violence,
+with a view perhaps to weaken the shrill, discordant notes of a very
+rude species of flageolet, and of an equally imperfect kind of trumpet,
+which are usually played with a total disregard of time, tune, or
+harmony. Two or three other instruments, similar in principle to the
+violin, complete the orchestra. To Europeans, there was not much to
+admire in the sounds produced by these instruments; neither did our
+music appear to have many charms for the Burmahs, whom I have seen
+present at the performance of some of Rossini's most beautiful airs, and
+of different martial pieces, by one of our best regimental bands,
+without expressing, either by their words or gestures, the least
+satisfaction at what they heard.
+
+In condemning, however, the Bunnaa instrumental music generally, I would
+observe, that some of the vocal airs have a very pleasing effect when
+accompanied by the Patola. This is an instrument made in the fantastic
+shape of an alligator; the body of it is hollow, with openings at the
+back, and three strings only are used, which are supported by a bridge,
+as in a violin.
+
+I chanced one day to meet with a young Burman who had been stone blind
+from his birth, but who, gifted with great talent for music, used to
+console himself for his misfortune by playing on this species of guitar,
+and accompanying his voice. When I expressed a wish to hear him perform,
+he immediately struck out a most brilliant prelude, and then commenced a
+song, in a bold tone, the subject of which was a prophecy that had been
+current at Rangoon before we arrived. It predicted the appearance of
+numerous strangers at that place, and that two-masted ships would sail
+up the Irrawaddy, when all trouble and sorrow would cease! Animated by
+his subject, his voice gradually became bolder and more spirited, as
+well as his performance, and without any hesitation he sung with much
+facility two or three stanzas composed extempore.
+
+Changing suddenly from the enthusiastic tone, he commenced a soft
+plaintive love-song, and then, after striking the chords for some time
+in a wild but masterly manner, retired. I confess I felt much interested
+in this poor fellow's performance, he seemed so deeply to feel every
+note he uttered, particularly at one time, when he touched upon his own
+misfortune, that it appeared Providence, in ordaining he should never
+see, had endowed him with this "soul-speaking" talent in some measure to
+indemnify him.
+
+The Burmahs, generally speaking, are fond of singing, and, in some
+instances, I have heard many very good songs. The war-boat song, for
+example, is remarkably striking. The recitative of the leading songster,
+and then the swell of voices when the boatmen join in chorus, keeping
+time with their oars, seemed very beautiful when wafted down the
+Irrawaddy by the breeze; and the approach of a war-boat might always be
+known by the sound of the well-known air.
+
+I have sometimes heard a trio sung in parts by three young girls, with a
+correctness of ear and voice which would do credit to others than the
+self-taught Burmahs. Many little songs, amongst others that commencing
+"Tekien, Tekien," were composed and sung by the Burman fair in
+compliment to their new and welcome visiters, the white strangers; but
+these, of course, are long since consigned to oblivion, unless they
+recollect with pleasure
+
+    --"The grateful breath of song,
+    That once was heard in happier hours;"
+
+for it is very certain that the Bunnahs considered themselves quite
+happy, when enjoying the transient glimpse of liberty, and the
+advantages of a just government which were offered them during the short
+stay of the British army at Prome.
+
+The Burman plays do not appear to be remarkable for the number of their
+_dramatis personae_. In most there is a prince, a confidant, a buffoon or
+two, and a due proportion of female characters, represented by boys
+dressed in female attire. The dresses are handsome; and in one which I
+attended, the dialogue appeared to be lively and well supported, as far
+as I can judge from the roars of laughter which resounded from the
+Burman part of the audience. One sentimental scene, in which the loving
+prince takes leave of his mistress, and another where, after much
+weeping and flirtation, she throws herself into his arms, were
+sufficiently intelligible to us; but some, in which the jokes of the
+clown formed the leading feature, were quite lost upon those who did not
+understand the language. The place chosen for the representation was a
+spot of ground outside of our houses, the heat being very great; and
+here a circle was formed of carpets and chairs, lighted by torches
+dipped in petroleum, which threw a brilliant flare around, though
+accompanied by a most unpleasant odour.
+
+Dancing succeeded, and one or two young women were the performers; like
+the Hindostanee Nautch, it merely consisted in throwing the body and
+arms into numerous graceful and rather voluptuous postures; at the same
+time advancing slowly, with a short steady step, and occasionally
+changing it for a more lively figure.
+
+All this time the drums, cymbals, and clarionets were unceasing in their
+discordant sounds, and, before long, fairly drove me from the field.
+
+_Two Years in Ava._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE NOVELIST.
+
+No. CVI.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+ROSALIE BERTON.
+
+
+While passing some time in the south of France, I spent a few days at
+S----, a town on the banks of the Loire, situated in that province,
+which, from its fertility and beauty, is usually designated the garden
+of France.
+
+S----, I had been informed, was a place famed alike for its vineyards
+and its pretty girls, a coincidence certainly natural, since it fairly
+may be supposed, that the sun which ripens the richest fruit in nature,
+should alike mature its sweetest flowers, and perfect the beauties and
+the charms of that sex, which is literally "like the fair flower in its
+lustre." As the friend, by whom I was accompanied, was well known in the
+place, we were soon introduced to a circle of respectable families; and
+among others, to that of Berton, consisting of the father, mother,
+and daughter.
+
+Rosalie Berton was the _belle_ of S----, or to borrow the far prettier
+French phrase, she was "_la perle de ville_." And a sweet and lovely
+girl she was, as ever the eye of affection hailed with delight. Her
+charms had something of a peculiar style and character; for, with the
+bright black eyes, and fine dark hair of the south, were united the fair
+complexion and delicately tinted cheek of a northern beauty. Her face
+was of a somewhat more pensive turn than usual, and her meek, mild
+features, and soft dark eyes, bore traces of tender feeling and of
+gentle thought; while so expressive was her countenance, that it
+responded, at will, to her feelings, and the eye and the cheek which
+were one moment impressed with melancholy, beamed forth the next with
+all the warmth of intelligence, affection, or delight. Her
+accomplishments were really of a superior kind; she walked with more
+than the usual elegance of her country-women, and danced with equal
+animation and grace. But her most attractive charm consisted in her
+voice, which, though not particularly powerful, had a sweetness and a
+melody which were perfectly delightful; so that never methinks have I
+heard a softer strain, than when that fair girl was wont to sing to her
+guitar the simple ballads and sweet romances of her native land. And her
+musical talents were enhanced by her gentle, complying disposition, and
+by the readiness with which she obeyed every call on her exertions. From
+her music-master, who was a native of Italy, she also learnt Italian,
+which she spoke with more fluency and correctness than is usual among
+the French; she drew, moreover, with considerable taste. So affectionate
+and so amiable was she, that she deserved all the encomiums of her
+friends and even their hyperbolical compliments were scarcely
+extravagant when applied to her. She was literally "_douce comme un
+ange, jolie comme les amours;_" and, as the _ne plus ultra_ of merit in
+France, she was "_tout a fait gentille_." She possessed also,
+considerable dramatic skill and tact, and would, I think, have proved a
+delightful acquisition to the stage, from the skill she displayed in
+those little playful scenes, with which the French delight to
+embellish life.
+
+We were favoured with a specimen of her talents in this way, on the
+evening of our arrival. It was the fete day of madame, the mother of
+Louise, and we were invited to be present. After some time passed in
+taking refreshments, varied by dancing, conversation, &c., the little
+ceremony of the evening commenced; the door opened, and a small but gay
+procession entered the room. It consisted of several young persons, all
+friends of the family, headed by Louise, who was charmingly dressed, and
+looked altogether most lovely. She bore her guitar across her bosom, and
+the instrument was encircled with a wreath of flowers. Each individual
+carried some little offering, such as bottles of wine and liqueurs,
+conserves and sweetmeats, flowers and fruit, &c. &c.; and these were
+placed on the table, the whole group forming a circle round Rosalie, who
+advanced to her mother, and sang to the guitar the well-known verses
+consecrated to such occasions.
+
+    Madame c'est aujourdhui votre fete,
+    C'est aussi celle de nos coeurs;
+    A vous chanter chacun s'apprete!
+    Et veut vous courouner de fleurs!
+
+The lovely girl then loosed the garland from her lyre, placed it with
+light hand on the brow of her mother, and sank in a graceful bending
+attitude to receive her parent's blessing. She was instantly raised,
+fondly embraced by both her admiring parents, and with a repetition of
+the song, the whole party left the room. The scene is long past, but I
+have often recalled it since; and in many an hour of fancy and of
+thought, have again beheld that fair girl kneeling to her mother, again
+beheld her clasped to that mother's heart. Nor was the above the only
+instance of her skill, every day presented some fresh instance of her
+feeling and of taste.
+
+A _plaisanterie_, which proved very successful, was arranged as
+follows:--We were sitting one evening up stairs, when we were attracted
+by the performance of three musicians, who were singing in the _cour_.
+The party consisted of two young men, and a female, who wore a veil;
+they accompanied their songs by playing on the guitar; their performance
+was evidently of a superior character; the music and the words were
+Italian, and the voice of the female performer was eminently sweet and
+touching. After listening some time with great delight--
+
+"Go," said I to one of the party, "find Rosalie, and tell her to come
+and listen to a better singer than herself, who will give her a _lecon
+de chant_."
+
+This was said in the hearing of the foreign songstress, for whom it was
+intended as a compliment, while, at the same time, some silver was
+thrown upon the ground. But what was our surprise, when the lovely girl
+threw aside her veil, exclaiming--
+
+"He! bien messieurs et dames! vous ne connaissez donc plus votre pauvre
+Rosalie!"
+
+Such was one of many pleasantries by which we were diverted and amused.
+Idle fancies these indeed, and such as sterner judgments may deem
+trifling or absurd, yet not uninteresting, since many of them evidently
+afford vestiges of classic times and manners, transmitted through the
+course of ages; nor unuseful, since they tend to smooth and adorn the
+rugged way of life, and to strew its flinty path with flowers.
+
+With the charms and accomplishments which I have described, (and the
+sketch can convey but a faint idea of those which she actually
+possessed,) it cannot be supposed that Rosalie was destitute of
+admirers. She had, indeed, had several, but their suits were all
+unsuccessful. She had been addressed in turn by the _medecin_ of the
+place--by the son of the President of the Tribunal du Commerce--and by a
+nephew to a Monsieur de V----, the seigneur who resided at a
+neighbouring chateau. But they were all, more or less, improper
+characters; the _medecin_ was a gamester; the president's son a
+drunkard, a character utterly despised in these parts; while the nephew
+to the seigneur, was actually a _mauvais sujet_! What the French
+precisely understand by a _mauvais sujet_, I never could exactly make
+out; for, when impelled by curiosity to inquire, my queries were always
+met by such a volley of vituperation, as left one altogether in the dark
+with regard to the real nature of the charge. On the whole, I presume,
+we are to consider a _mauvais sujet_ as a culprit, compared with whose
+transgressions, the several enormities of gaming, drinking, and the
+like, sink into mere peccadilloes.
+
+The parents of Rosalie (the parents settle all these matters in France),
+on learning the character of their intended sons-in-law, dismissed them
+one after the other; and Rosalie acquiesced in their determination with
+a readiness and a decision, which did equal honour to her affection and
+her judgment.
+
+So interesting a girl, however, was not likely to remain long without a
+suitable admirer, and she speedily had another _affaire du coeur_. A
+young and handsome _militaire_, a sous-lieutenant in the royal guard,
+aspired to gain her hand, and to replace the vacancy in her affections.
+
+Henri Vaucouleurs was a fine, tall, dark, martial-looking young man (the
+French make fine-looking soldiers), and, with his luxuriant mustachios
+and the eager glance of his keen black eye, seemed the very _beau ideal_
+of a modern hero. Born at Mezieres, in the department of Ardennes, he
+was cradled in the very lap of war, and was yet a mere boy; when, in the
+summer of 1813, he joined the corps called the _garde d'honneur_. He
+made the campaign of Germany, and was present in the battles of Leipzig
+and of Hanau, in the last of which he received a ball in the right arm.
+He shortly, however, resumed his post with the army assembled for the
+defence of France, and at the battle of Laon received a severe _coup de
+sabre_ on his forehead, the scar of which added much to the martial
+aspect of his countenance. At the peace he joined the royal guard, in
+which corps he still continued. He was really a very estimable and
+engaging young man; and possessed more candour, intelligence, and good
+sense, than I think I ever witnessed in a military man among the French.
+His account of his campaigns was exceedingly modest, unaffected, and
+intelligent, and his whole conversation and manner were of a superior
+character. I remember, he spoke with great forbearance of the three
+principal nations among the allies, the Russians, Prussians, and
+Austrians; but inveighed, bitterly, against several of the auxiliaries,
+who, he said, having received only benefits of the French emperor,
+embraced the first opportunity offered by a reverse of fortune, to
+desert and betray him. Of Napoleon, he spoke with enthusiasm as a
+soldier; but with detestation, as an intoxicated and deluded tyrant, a
+rash and desperate gamester, who sent forth his attached and devoted
+soldiers, to be devoured by the destroying elements, without provision,
+or scarcely a thought for their natural and indispensable wants.
+
+Such were the character and pretensions of him who was destined to gain
+the affections of Rosalie. At first, he seemed to have but little chance
+of success. Old people commonly entertain a prejudice against the
+character and profession of military men, and are seldom ambitious of
+such an alliance for a daughter. The parents of Rosalie were
+prepossessed against Henri on account of his calling; and, though
+Rosalie herself early entertained an interest in his favour, yet she was
+too good and too _sage_ to cherish in herself, or to encourage in her
+lover, an attachment which her parents might disapprove. Henri was,
+however, admitted as a visiter at the house, and by degrees his amiable
+manners and correct deportment won, first on the old lady, and then on
+the father, till their scruples vanished, and, indeed, they wondered
+they could ever have entertained any against so estimable a young man
+and an officer. He was thus speedily received as the lover of Rosalie,
+and about the time of my visit was installed in all the privileges of a
+_bon ami_. He was equally accomplished with herself; spoke German
+fluently, Italian passably well, and was an excellent performer on the
+flute and the guitar; so that he was a fit companion for his charming
+intended, and was able to assist in those refined and elegant
+recreations, in which she also excelled.
+
+_(To be concluded in our next.)_
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+DOZING.
+
+"Dozing very much delights."
+
+
+Our corporeal machinery requires an occasional relaxation, as much as
+the steam engine does the application of oil to its divers springs; and,
+after a _bona fide_ slumber, we rise with a freshness equal to that of
+flowers in the best regulated flower-pots. But dozing must not be
+confounded with legitimate sleep, though frequently tending to the same
+purpose; it may be termed an embryo slumber, that entertaineth the body
+with the most quiescent gentleness, acting on our senses as a sort of
+mental warm bath; till, finally, the "material man" himself luxuriates
+in tepidity.
+
+Nothing can be more ungodly than to enter the church with an express
+purpose of dozing there. Arm-chairs, sofas, and beds are the legitimate
+places for dozers. But there is no accounting for that conquering spirit
+of all-besetting drowsiness that attacks us at sundry times and places.
+It is in vain that we lengthen our limbs into an awakening stretch--that
+we yawn with the expressive suavity of yawning no more--that we
+dislocate our knuckle bones, and ruffle the symmetry of our visage, with
+a manual application; like the cleft blaze of a candle, drowsiness
+returns again. Well, then, what manner of reader is he that hath never
+sinned by drowsing in church time? Let him read on; and I'll realize by
+description what he has realized by endurance.
+
+It is after the embodying of a good dinner with ourselves, that doziness
+is most tempting. You have dined at four o'clock to-day. Well, that's a
+decent Sabbatical hour. After due potations of wine, coffee, &c. your
+gratitude is awakened; and, like a good Christian, you arrange your
+beaver, and walk off steadily to church. Now, remember, I give you full
+credit for your wish to exhibit your external holiness--that you are
+indeed conscious of the reverence that should accompany all your
+engagements in the fane of the Deity; and yet I prognosticate that if
+the Rev. Nabob Narcotic happen to preach this evening, you will, of a
+surety, doze--infallibly doze--in the midst of his sermon!
+
+'Tis a summer month, and the very church windows seem labouring with a
+fit perspiration. Horribly boring--isn't it? How your hat clings to your
+moistened forehead, and the warm gloves droop from your fingers, like
+roasting chicken! Get as much room as possible; tenderly pass little
+miss there, and her unbreeched brother, over to their smiling mamma. Now
+you have the balmy corner to yourself! "Psalms," first lesson--second
+ditto--prayers--thanksgivings--all reverently attended to; there is a
+little dreaminess settling on your lids--your lips begin to close with
+languor; but you have not dozed. Let's hear the sermon. You are seated
+with tolerable erectness; and, judging from the steady determination of
+your eyebrows, one would imagine that your eyes would be open for the
+whole of the discourse. But, alas! 'tis Mr. Narcotic, whose spectacled
+nose is just verging above the crimson horizon of his pulpit.--"Awake,
+thou that sleepest!" Why, the text is quite opposed to DOZINESS! But
+what of this, if the preacher be addicted to drawling, the weather
+unobligingly sultry, and you yourself have gradually been dwindling from
+an uncongenial state of wakefulness into a sleepy calm? 'Tis too much
+for beldame Nature, believe me!
+
+I perceive that you have rubbed the bridge of your nose several
+times--that you have tried to swell forth your eyes with a full round
+stare at the parson; but your stoicism "profiteth nothing." The sermon
+is irreligiously long; and you are nodding--in a doze! Whether there be
+much pleasure in a church doze, I am not presuming enough to determine.
+For myself, I have found nothing more tantalizing than the endeavour to
+restrain from an occasioned doze during church time. After a certain
+period, I have perceived the parson diminishing, like a phantasmagoric
+image--all the ladies' black bonnets sinking away, like a cluster of
+clouds--and (shame on the confession!) I have performed head worship to
+the front of my seat, instead of keeping an immovable post-like
+position, before his reverence. However, a church doze is seldom admired
+by the wakeful. Should an embryo snore escape from one's nose (and this
+is possible,) some old grandam, or an upright piece of masculine
+sanctity, is sure to rouse you; the former will either _hem_ you into
+awakening shame, or drop her prayer-book on the floor; the latter will
+most likely thump the same with the imperative tip of his boot. How
+horridly stupid one seems after being aroused! The woman eyes you with
+the most piquant, self-justifying sneer possible; while all her little
+IMMACULATES, if she have any, look at you like so many hissing young
+turkey cocks; and as for the man--bless his holiness!--he'd frown you
+down to Hades at once.
+
+"My heart leaps up" when I behold a stage coach--that snug, panel
+painted, comfortable wheel-whirling "thing of life." O ye days of
+juvenilian sensibilities--ye eye-feeding, heart-rising scenes of
+remembered felicity!--how glorious was the coach at the school door! The
+whip--Ajax _Mastigoferos_ never had such a powerful one as the modern
+Jehu! The spokes of the wheels--they were handled with admiring fingers!
+That Jupiter-like throne, the coach-box--who would not have risked his
+neck to have been seated on it? When all was "right," how eloquent the
+lip-music of coachee! how fine the introductory frisks of the horses'
+tails, and the arching plunge of the fore-foot--no rainbow-curve ever
+was so beauteous! "Oh, happy days! who would not be a boy again?" But
+away with my puerilities. I intend the reader to take a doze in that
+comfortable repository for the person--the inside of a coach.
+
+With all the reckless simplicity of boyhood, I maintain that travelling
+by coach is by no means the least of our sublunary pleasures. Man is a
+_wheelable_ animal as well as walking one. Winter is the time for a nice
+inside jaunt. What divine evaporations from the coachman's muzzle! What
+a joyous creak in the down-flying steps!--and, oh! that comfortable
+alertness with which we deposit ourselves in the padded corner, and fold
+our coatflaps over our knees, glance at the frosty steam of the window;
+and then, quite _a la Tityre_, repose our recumbent bodies at our ease!
+Such moments as these are snatches of indefinable bliss. It would appear
+probable, that a coach was a very inconvenient place for a doze; the
+attendant bustle, the whip-smacks, bickering wheels, and
+untranquillizing jolts--
+
+    "Like angels' visits, few and far between,"--
+
+are not calculated for sleepiness. Notwithstanding these correlative
+interruptions, a doze in the coach is by no means uncommon, even in the
+daytime. Let us examine this a little more intellectually.
+
+Suppose a man is returning to his friends, with a mind composed, and
+"all his business settled." (By-the-by, how vastly comprehensive this
+speech is!) Suppose he has entered the coach about four in the
+afternoon, and, by rare luck, finds he is, for the present, the only
+inside passenger. Such a man, I say, will be likely to doze before
+twenty miles have run under the coach-wheels--speaking _Hibernice_. For
+the last half-hour, he will be thinking of himself--how many commissions
+he has performed--how many he has left undone--and how many he intends
+to do. The next, he will probably give to his home attractions--his
+anxious wife, sat musingly round the tea-table--his favourite son George
+(so like his father)--and all the nine hundred and ninety-nine pretty
+nothings we hear of, after a brief absence. These will send his heart a
+long way from the coach, and therefore keep him in the full enjoyment of
+wakefulness. But this train of delectable musing is by no means
+exhaustless. The roll of the wheels gradually becomes naturalized to the
+ear, and the body moves in sympathy with the coach; the road gets very
+monotonously barren; the lounge in the corner--how suitable then to this
+solitary languor! Lulled here, the traveller for awhile admires the
+leathern trappings of the coach, hums a tune perhaps, and affects a
+dubious whistle. Meantime the operations of _doziness_ have been gently
+applying themselves. His eye is sated with the road and the coach; his
+hands become stationary on his lap; his feet supinely rested on the
+opposite seat; his head instinctively motions to the corner--and he
+dozes! A doze in the coach is the flower of dozes, when you are alone.
+There, you may twist your person into any shape you please, without the
+fear of discomposing a silken dress, or a nursemaid's petticoats. No
+boisterous arguments from snuff-taking sexagenarians: all is placid
+--Eden-like--just as a dozer's _sanctorum_ ought to be! The only thing
+attendant on the doze of an inside passenger, is the great chance of
+being suddenly aroused by the entrance of company. O tell me, ye of the
+fine nerve, what is more vexing than to be startled from your nest by
+the creaking slam of the steps, the bleak winter gales galloping along
+your face, and a whole bundle of human beings pushing themselves into
+your retreat! There is no rose without its thorn, as myriads have said
+before me:--
+
+    ----"O beate Sexti,
+    Vitae summa brevis SPEM nos vetat inchoare LONGAM!"
+
+Not all the morose sarcasms of Johnson, on the pleasures of rural life,
+have ever weakened my capability for enjoying it at convenient
+intervals. His antipathy to the country resembled his contempt for
+blank-verse--_he_ could not enjoy it. I have now moped away a
+considerable number of months in this city of all things--this--this
+London. "Well?" Pray restrain yourself, reader; I am coming to the point
+in due season. During my metropolitan existence--although I am neither a
+tailor, nor any trade, nor anything exactly--I have never beheld a
+downright intellectual-looking blade of grass. I mean much by an
+intellectual blade of grass. The Londoners--poor conceited
+creatures!--have denominated sundry portions of their Babylon "fields."
+But--I ask it in all the honest pride of sheer ignorance--is there the
+ghost even of a bit of grass to be seen in many of them? I cannot easily
+forget my vexation, when, after a tedious walk to one of those
+misnomered "fields," I found nothing but a weather-beaten, muggy, smoky
+assemblage of houses of all sizes, circumscribed by appropriate filth
+and abundant cabbage-stumps. Innocent of London quackeries, I strolled
+forth with the full hope of laying me down on a velvet carpet of
+grass--the birds carolling around me--and, perchance, a flock of
+lambkins, tunefully baying to their mammas!! "Said I to myself," when I
+reached these fields, "what a fool I am!" I had contemplated a doze on
+the grass.
+
+But leaving all thoughts of disappointment, who will not allow that
+there is something exceedingly delightful in dozing calmly beneath the
+shade of an o'er-arching tree?
+
+    ----"recubans sub tegmine fagi."
+
+Of course, the weather should be fine, to admit of this luxurious
+idleness. Let the blue-bosomed clouds be sailing along, like Peter
+Bell's boat; let the sunbeams be gilding the face of nature, and tinging
+the landscape with multiform hues; let the breezes be gentle, the spot
+retired, and the heart at ease. Now, go and stretch yourself on the
+grassy couch, while the branches of an aged tree shadow forth the imaged
+leaves around you. What a congenial situation for philosophy--under an
+old tree, on a sunny summer day! How much more becoming than the
+immortal tub of the sour-minded Diogenes? Who will be able to refrain
+from philosophizing. I repeat it, beneath such an old tree? 'Tis at such
+times that the heart spontaneously unbends itself--that the fancy
+tranquillizes its thoughts--and that memory awakens her
+
+    ----"treasured pictures of a thousand scenes."
+
+Place the palms of your hands beneath your pole, and survey the
+skies!--calm, beautifully unconscious! By-gone times, and by-gone
+friends--the thousand commingling scenes of varied life--how they all
+recur to you now! You fancy you could lie beneath the tree for
+eternity--so soothing is the employment of doing nothing--or field
+philosophy! Yet, to speak correctly, you are doing a great deal; your
+imagination is flying in all directions--from the death of Caesar to the
+last cup of Congou that you took with a regretted friend. What a mystery
+your existence is! The world turns round as gently as ever; the flowers
+bud into life; and the winter nips them. Man lives, thinks, and dies.
+All very wondrous truisms. Well, after a half-hour--or perchance
+more--you will be gradually relapsing into a state of soporific
+nothing-at-all-ness (the best word I can find to express my meaning.)
+May there be some clear little stream just behind you, laughing along
+its idle way;--some chirping birds, singing their roundelay--some
+buzzing flies--you will then be lulled into doziness. However, with or
+without the purling murmur of the brook--the joyous warbling of the
+birds--the busy bustling flies--you will not be able to resist the
+dozing temptations that will steal over you. Your eyes will close gently
+as flower-leaflets--your thoughts die away in a heavenly confusion--and
+then you doze!--neither sleeping nor waking, but absolved in delicious
+dreaminess! O, for such a doze!--_Monthly Magazine_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE SELECTOR,
+AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE CHINESE ALMANAC.
+
+
+Notwithstanding the aversion of the Chinese to the profession of the
+Roman Catholic religion, which has been shown, first by persecuting, and
+then by expelling the Jesuits from the empire, the Chinese government
+is, however, obliged to keep at least some missionaries at Pekin to
+compile the almanac. While astrology has led in other nations to the
+study of astronomy, the Chinese, though they have studied astrology for
+some thousand years, have made no progress in the real knowledge of the
+stars. Their ancient boasted observations, and the instruments which
+they make use of, were brought by the learned men, whom Koubilai, the
+grandson of Gingis Khan, had invited from Balk and Samarcand. The
+government, at present, considers the publication of an annual calendar
+of the first importance and utility. It must do every thing in its
+power, not only to point out to its numerous subjects the distribution
+of the seasons, the knowledge of which is essentially necessary to them,
+to arrange the manner of gaining their livelihood, and distributing
+their labour; but on account of the general superstition, it must mark
+in the almanac, the lucky and unlucky days, the best days for being
+married, for undertaking a journey, for making their dresses, for
+buying, or building, for presenting petitions to the emperor, and for
+many other cases of ordinary life. By this means, the government keeps
+the people within the limits of humble obedience; it is for this reason
+that the emperors of China established the academy of astronomy, but we
+must not expect to find men really acquainted with that science. When
+this illustrious body, composed of Mantchoos, and in which Europeans,
+though subordinate, are the most active, condescended to look at the
+planetarium, which was among the presents which the king of England sent
+to the emperor of China by lord Macartney, Mr. Barrow was not able to
+make the president of this learned society understand the real merit of
+that instrument. Besides, how should a people be able to comprehend
+astronomy, to know the position of the heavenly bodies, and determine
+the orbits of the planets, while it is ignorant of the elements of
+mathematics, and makes its calculations by the help of vertical
+arithmetical tables, like those used by the shop-keepers in Russia, and
+who are ignorant both of analysis and geometry?--_Timkowski's Mission
+to China_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+COMPARISON OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH.
+
+
+The following are points of comparison which may be remarked in the
+characters of the French and English. The French are great talkers, the
+English great thinkers; the former excel in vivacity, the latter in
+solidity of intellect. The French dress with splendour, the English with
+neatness; the French live almost exclusively on bread, the English on
+meat. Both are passionate; but it is the blood which rouses the passion
+of a Frenchman, and the bile which exasperates an Englishman. The anger
+of a Frenchman is more violent, that of an Englishman more pertinacious.
+A Frenchman spends his money on his clothes, an Englishman on his belly.
+A Frenchman follows the stream, an Englishman delights in struggling
+against it. The friendships of the French are quickly formed, and as
+quickly dissolved; those of the English are formed slowly, and as slowly
+relinquished. The French respect their superiors, the English respect
+themselves; the former are better citizens, the latter better men. The
+mental endowments of the French are of a more refined, those of the
+English of a loftier, character. The French practise virtue for the sake
+of reputation, and seek the reward of meritorious actions in popular
+applause; the English practise it for its own sake, and seek no reward
+but that which springs from the consciousness of rectitude. There is the
+same relative difference in their vices as in their virtues. Both commit
+crimes; the French from the love of gain, the desire of vengeance or
+similar motives; but the English are often criminal for the mere sake of
+committing crime. The French, like the people of other countries, often
+commit crimes in the hope of escaping punishment, but the English
+frequently commit crimes because they know they cannot escape
+unpunished; so that the very severity of the law, which deters others
+from crime, often operates as an additional stimulus on the English for
+the commission of offences, "I would commit this offence," exclaims the
+Frenchman, "if the law permitted it." "I would not commit this offence,
+if it were not prohibited by law," is frequently the language of the
+Englishman.--_Memoirs of Lewis Holberg_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+LEAVES AND FLOWERS, OR THE LOVER'S WREATH.
+
+
+    With tender vine-leaves wreathe thy brow,
+      And I shall fancy that I see,
+    In the bright eye that laughs below,
+      The dark grape on its parent tree.
+        'Tis but a whim--but, oh! entwine
+        Thy brow with this green wreath of mine.
+
+    Weave of the clover-leaves a wreath,
+      Fresh sparkling with a summer-shower,
+    And I shall, in my fair one's breath,
+      Find the soft fragrance of the flower.
+        'Tis but a whim--but, oh! do thou
+        Twine the dark leaves around thy brow.
+
+    Oh, let sweet-leaved geranium be
+      Entwined amidst thy clustering hair,
+    Whilst thy red lips shall paint to me,
+      How bright its scarlet blossoms are.
+        'Tis but a whim--but, oh! do thou
+        Crown with my wreath thy blushing brow.
+
+    Oh, twine young rose-leaves round thy head,
+      And I shall deem the flowers are there,--
+    The red rose on thy rich cheek spread,
+      The white upon thy forehead fair.
+        'Tis but a whim--but, oh! entwine
+        My wreath round that dear brow of thine.
+
+_The Draught of Immortality, &c._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+ARTS AND SCIENCE
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+FLATTENING OF THE EARTH.
+
+
+At the Academy of Sciences at Paris, a memoir was read by Captain
+Duperrey, on the experiments made with the invariable pendulum, during
+the voyage of the _Coquille_ round the world. He states that various
+experiments confirmed the fact of the flattening of the terrestrial
+globe, conjectured by several travellers, who had remarked that the
+number of oscillations which the pendulum made at certain places,
+differed from what had been observed in the extent of the same parallel.
+The principal anomalies observed by Captain Duperrey were at the Isle of
+France, Mons, Guam, and the Island of Ascension. At the Isle of France,
+the invariable pendulum (as had been remarked by M. Freycinet) made in
+one day, upon an average, thirteen or fourteen oscillations more than it
+ought, supposing the depression to be 1.305, according to the lunar
+theory. At Ascension, the acceleration, as noticed by Captain Sabine,
+was five or six oscillations, even supposing the depression to be 1.228.
+At other stations the difference was almost nothing; and in some, the
+motion of the pendulum was retarded. Such differences, Captain Duperry
+remarks, between the results of experiment and those given by theory,
+cannot be attributed to errors of observation. He is disposed to refer
+the cause of the phenomena, with Captain Sabine, to the want of
+homogeneousness in the earth, considered as a mass, or to the mere
+variations of density in the superficial strata. What tends to confirm
+this hypothesis, he says, is, that all observations show that an
+acceleration of the pendulum generally takes place on volcanic ground
+and a retardation on such as is sandy and argillaceous. A very important
+question to ascertain is, whether the flattening is exactly the same in
+both hemispheres. From the observations of Captains Duperrey and
+Freycinet, it appears that in the southern hemisphere it is 1.291, and
+in the northern 1.288; that is to say, it is sensibly the same, or
+1.290 in both.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+HABITS OF PLANTS.
+
+
+The following curious observations on the habits of plants, were made by
+General Walker, in his address to the Agricultural Society of St.
+Helena, in February last:--"The functions of plants, as well as of
+animals, depend upon the air in which they live. I have observed that
+those of St. Helena, which have been brought from another hemisphere,
+are very irregular in their annual progress; many of them, in the
+development of their foliage, have adopted the law of nature peculiar to
+the country into which they have been transplanted. Others, more
+obstinate, remain faithful to their own habits, and continue to follow
+the stated changes to which they had been accustomed. They all appear to
+maintain a struggle either before they adopt the habits which belong to
+the seasons of their new country, or decide on retaining their relations
+with the old. In yielding to external circumstances, they appear to have
+different tempers. This appearance of contention is often observed in
+plants of the same species; they seem to hesitate and deliberate, ere
+they adopt the mode of performing the functions of life. At length when
+the decision is made, apparently not without pain and effort, we are at
+a loss to discover an adequate cause. An oak, for instance, which loses
+its leaves in a St. Helena winter of 68 degrees, scarcely experiences
+the difference of temperature, which, reasoning by analogy, could cause
+that change. It would have continued to maintain inflexibility, in its
+original climate, its old habits, though exposed to far greater
+irregularity and severity of climate. But though the law is obeyed by
+many plants, it does not determine the periodical changes of the whole,
+nor do they all submit to it with equal readiness and regularity. It
+would add, I conceive, to the natural history of vegetation, and improve
+our knowledge of the geography of plants, were the facts concerning
+their habits and changes, under different temperatures, carefully
+collected."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+MISCELLANIES.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+HUMAN CREDULITY.
+
+
+The wonderful miracles wrought by Bridget Bostock, of Cheshire, who
+healed all diseases by prayer, faith, and an embrocation of fasting
+spittle, induced multitudes to resort to her from all parts of the
+country, and kept her salival glands in full employ. Sir John Pryce,
+with a high spirit of enthusiasm, wrote to this woman to make him a
+visit at Newton Hall, in order to restore to him his third, a favourite,
+wife. His letter will best tell the foundation on which he built his
+strange hope, and every uncommon request.
+
+    _To Mrs. Bridget Bostock._
+
+    Madam,--Having received information, by repeated advices, both
+    public and private, that you have of late performed many
+    wonderful cures, even where the best physicians have failed;
+    and that the means used appear to be very inadequate to the
+    effect produced; I cannot but look upon you as an extraordinary
+    and highly favoured person. And why may not the same most
+    merciful God, who enables you to restore sight to the blind,
+    hearing to the deaf, and strength to the same, also enable you
+    to raise the dead to life? Now, having lately lost a wife, whom
+    I most tenderly loved, my children a most excellent
+    step-mother, and our acquaintances a most dear and valuable
+    friend, you will lay us all under the highest obligations; and
+    I earnestly entreat you, for God Almighty's sake, that you will
+    put up your petitions to the Throne of Grace on our behalf,
+    that the deceased may be restored to us, and the late dame
+    Eleanor Pryce be raised from the dead. If your personal
+    attendance appears to you to be necessary, I will send my coach
+    and six, with proper servants to wait on you hither, whenever
+    you please to appoint. Recompense of any kind that you may
+    please to propose would be made with the utmost gratitude; but
+    I wish the bare mention of it is not offensive to both God
+    and you.
+
+    I am, madam,
+
+    Your most obedient, and very much afflicted, humble servant,
+
+    JOHN PRYCE.
+
+
+THEOLOGICAL WIT.
+
+
+The late Rev. Thomas Toller, an eminent dissenting minister, (joint
+preacher with the celebrated Dr. James Fordyce, at Monkwell-street,)
+resided many years in the Lower-street, Islington. One day, when he got
+into the stage to come to London, he met with two ladies of his
+acquaintance, and a loquacious young Irishman, who was very obtrusive
+with his "would-be wit" to the females. The coachman soon stopped to
+take up another passenger, who, Dutchman-like, was "_slow to make
+haste_." A young dog, being confined in the neighbourhood, bewailed its
+loss of liberty, by making an hideous noise; which all the party agreed
+was very disagreeable. The Hibernian, desirous to display his wit, and
+to _quiz_ the parson, said, "The animal was so unpleasantly noisy, it
+must be a presbyterian _dog_." Mr. Toller calmly, but with much apparent
+confidence, said, "I am sure it is an Irish dog."--"How do you know
+that?" exclaimed the astonished young man with eagerness.--"I know it,
+sir," (replied the divine,) "by its impudence and its howl." This
+seasonable retort cured the garrulity of the patient, and gave him a
+locked-jaw till the stage arrived at the Royal Exchange.
+
+
+RAMSDEN THE OPTICIAN.
+
+
+It was his custom, to retire in the evening to what he considered the
+most comfortable corner in the house, and take his seat close, to the
+kitchen fireside, in order to draw some plan for the forming a new
+instrument, or scheme for the improvement of one already made. There,
+with his drawing implements on the table before him, a cat sitting on
+the one side, and a certain portion of bread, butter, and a small mug of
+porter placed on the other side, while four or five apprentices commonly
+made up the circle, he amused himself with either whistling the
+favourite air, or sometimes singing the old ballad of
+
+        "If she is not so true to me,
+        What care I to whom she be?
+    What care I, what care I, to whom she be!"
+
+and appeared, in this domestic group, contentedly happy. When he
+occasionally sent for a workman, to give him necessary directions
+concerning what he wished to have done, he first showed the recent
+finished plan, then explained the different parts of it, and generally
+concluded by saying, with the greatest good humour, "Now see, man, let
+us try to find fault with it;" and thus, by putting two heads together,
+to scrutinize his own performance, some alteration was probably made for
+the better. But, whatever expense an instrument had cost in forming, if
+it did not fully answer the intended design, he would immediately say,
+after a little examination of the work, "Bobs, man! this won't do, we
+must have at it again;" and then the whole of that was put aside, and a
+new instrument, begun. By means of such perseverance, he succeeded in
+bringing various mathematical, philosophical, and astronomical
+instruments to perfection. The large theodolite for terrestrial
+measurements, and the equal altitude instrument for astronomy, will
+always be monuments of his fertile, penetrating, arduous, superior
+genius! There cannot be a lover (especially of this more difficult part)
+of philosophy, in any quarter of the globe, but must admire the
+abilities, and respect the memory, of Jesse Ramsden--_Practical
+Observations on Telescopes_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE GATHERER.
+
+"I am but a _Gatherer_ and disposer of other men's stuff."--_Wotton_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Mr. Kelly, in his "Reminiscences," relates, that in 1792 he was walking
+in the Place Vendome with two Irish gentlemen, a Colonel Stark Macarthy
+and a Captain Fagan, the latter possessing "a vast portion of the ready
+wit of his country." Coming to the celebrated statue of Victory holding
+the laurel crown over the head of Louis XIV., a French officer was
+enumerating the splendid achievements of that heroic king, and
+particularly desired us to observe the attitude of the figure of
+Victory. "Pray, sir," said Fagan, "may I take the liberty of asking the
+question--Is Victory putting the laurel on his majesty's head, or taking
+it off?" The question puzzled the Frenchman, and made us
+laugh heartily.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Parr carried his compassion towards the inferior tribes so far, that two
+or three hares found a secure asylum for nearly two years in his garden
+at Hatton. He said that they were his clients, for they had placed
+themselves under his protection. He gave strict orders that they should
+not be shot. "It would be a gross violation," he said, "of a tacit
+covenant of hospitality."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+A few months since, a noble marquis bespoke a play at a country
+theatre, the representation of which Mr. Canning, prime minister,
+honoured with his presence. The boxes and other parts of the house were
+crammed, with the exception of the pit, which looked beggarly; on which
+an actor observed to a brother of the sock, "We've no _pit_
+to-night."--"No _Pitt_!" rejoined the other, "and none we want while we
+have a _Canning!_"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+_Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset
+House,) and sold by all Newsmen and Booksellers._
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 10, ISSUE 266, JULY 28, 1827 ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827
+by  Various
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
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+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
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+Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827
+
+Author:  Various
+
+Release Date: February, 2006  [EBook #9919]
+[This file was first posted on October 31, 2003]
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+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
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+Character set encoding: iso-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 10, ISSUE 266, JULY 28, 1827 ***
+
+
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+E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram and Project Gutenberg Distributed
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+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
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+      See 8m26610h.zip in our etext06 directory
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+
+Transcriber's note: In "A Churchyard Scene" the word "iugrate" occurs in
+                    the original text. This was probably a typographical
+                    error, and the correct word was likely "ingrate."
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
+
+VOL. 10, No. 266.] SATURDAY, JULY 28, 1827. [PRICE 2d.
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CROYDON PALACE.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The palace of Croydon is a building of great antiquity, and was for
+several centuries the magnificent abode of the haughty dignitaries of
+Canterbury. At the period of the Conquest, Lanfranc resided here, and
+most of the decrees and audits of his successors were issued from, and
+held at, this palace. It was here that Archbishop Parker entertained his
+queen, Elizabeth and her august court, with great splendour and
+festivity; as also did the celebrated Whitgift, who refused to accept of
+the high office of lord chancellor. Courtney received his pall here with
+great solemnity and pomp in the presence of the chief nobility of the
+realm; and Chichley, Stafford, Laud, Juxon, Wake, and Herring, made it
+their frequent residence, and were liberal contributors to its
+architectural beauties. The remains of this interesting fabric are, with
+the exception of the hall, composed entirely of brick, occupying a
+considerable space on the south-west side of Croydon church, and are in
+some points peculiarly striking in local appearance; but on account of
+their unconnected state, with the intervening screens of garden walls,
+&c. the view is confined and partial.
+
+The grand hall is a lofty imposing structure, and at a casual
+computation appears to contain an area of eight hundred square yards;
+between which and the cornice, at the height of about fifteen feet, a
+moulding or frieze is carried over the surface of each wall, from
+whence, resting their bases on angels bearing, shields variously
+blazoned, issue in the alternate spaces of twelve feet, five ligneous
+pillars, supporting immense beams traversing the intervening distances
+of the confronting sides. The roof is formed of large solid pieces of
+timber, running diagonally to a point; the upper compartment of which
+(springing from perpendicular posts), is ribbed so as to make it have
+the appearance of a polygonal ellipsis.
+
+On the right of the southern entrance an escutcheon, surmounted by a
+canopy, is fixed at a considerable height from the pavement, and must
+have had formerly a splendid appearance, as faint traces even now of its
+original pomp are discernible in the faint glittering of the gilding,
+and the exquisite symmetry of its execution. The bearings appeared to me
+as--party per pall,--dexter division.--Sapphire a cross gules ensigned
+with fleur de lis between six martlets topaz.--Sinister--quarterly
+sapphire and ruby, first and third, three fleur de lis; topaz, second
+and fourth, three lions passant gardant of the same, supported by two
+angels, and surmounted by a coronet; the whole resting on an angel
+bearing a scroll with a motto in old English text, but illegible.[1]
+
+    [1] I should feel highly obliged if any of your valuable
+    correspondents would favour me, through the medium of the
+    MIRROR, with the name of the noble to whom the above arms
+    appertained.
+
+This hall is now occupied by a carpenter, and is almost filled with old
+furniture and timber; other parts of the building are appropriated for
+charity-schools, and the trade of bleaching is practised in its
+precincts.
+
+SAGITTARIUS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+FINE ARTS
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+ENGLISH ACADEMIES FOR PAINTING ANTERIOR TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE
+ROYAL ACADEMY IN LONDON.
+
+
+The first attempt to form an academy for the encouragement of the fine
+arts in this country was made in Great Queen-street, in the year 1697.
+The laudable design was undertaken by Sir Godfrey Kneller, and by the
+most respectable artists of the day, who endeavoured to imitate the
+French Academy founded by Lewis XIV. Their undertaking, however, was
+wholly without success; jealousies arose among the members, and they
+were ultimately compelled to relinquish the project as fruitless. Sir
+James Thornhill, a few years afterwards, commenced an academy in a room
+he had built for the purpose at the back of his own residence, near
+Covent-garden theatre; but his attempt, likewise, proved abortive.
+Notwithstanding these failures, Mr. Vanderbank, a Dutchman, headed a
+body of artists, and converted an old Presbyterian meeting-house into an
+academy. Besides plaster figures, Mr. Vanderbank and his associates
+procured a living female figure for study, which circumstance tended to
+gain a few subscribers; but, in a very short space of time, for want of
+money sufficient to defray the necessary expenses, all the effects
+belonging to the establishment were seized for rent, and the members, in
+disgust, accordingly separated.
+
+On the demise of Sir James Thornhill, in 1734, the celebrated William
+Hogarth became possessed of part of his property.[2] Although much
+averse to the principles on which academies were generally founded, Mr.
+Hogarth considered that one conducted wisely would probably be of great
+advantage to the public, as well as to the artists in general. He,
+therefore, proposed, that a body of artists should enter into a
+subscription for the purchase of a house sufficiently large and
+capacious to admit thirty or forty persons to draw from a naked figure.
+This proposition being unanimously agreed to, a place was forthwith
+taken in St. Martin's-lane; and Hogarth, to forward the undertaking as
+far as he could, lent them the furniture, &c. formerly belonging to Sir
+James Thornhill's academy.
+
+    [2] The remaining part was left to Lady Thornhill, who lived
+    several years with her son-in-law after the death of Sir James.
+
+The failure of all preceding attempts to form an academy was attributed
+by Mr. Hogarth to the principal members assuming too much authority over
+their brother artists; he, therefore, proposed, that every member should
+contribute an equal sum of money to the establishment, and should have
+an equal right to vote on every question relative to the society. He
+considered electing presidents, directors, and professors, to be a
+ridiculous imitation of the forms of the French Academy, and liable to
+create jealousies.[3] Under Hogarth's guidance, the Academy continued
+for thirty years, with little alteration, to the high satisfaction of
+its several members, and the public in general.
+
+    [3] Our Royal Academy is _now_ governed precisely on the same
+    principles as is the French Academy. What would Hogarth have
+    said, had he lived at the present day?
+
+On ascending the British throne, George III. evinced so much interest
+for the arts, that most of the members of the academy (though contrary
+to the wishes of their leader, who possessed a most independent spirit,)
+solicited the royal patronage to a plan they had in view of establishing
+an academy for _painting, sculpture_, and _architecture_. The success of
+this appeal is too well known to English readers to need much comment.
+His majesty was pleased to appropriate those very splendid apartments in
+Somerset-house for the use of artists, who shortly formed a _new_
+society, over which, by his majesty's special command, the great Sir
+Joshua Reynolds presided.
+
+G.W.N.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+VOLCANOES.
+
+(_For the Mirror_.)
+
+
+To describe the awful grandeur and terrific phenomena of volcanic
+eruptions in an adequate manner, is perhaps beyond the power of
+language. The number of volcanoes now known is about four hundred;
+nearly all of them are situated a small distance from the sea, and many
+appear to have been burning from time immemorial.
+
+A certain mixture of sulphur, steel-filings and water, buried a short
+depth from the ground, will exhibit a kind of miniature volcano; and
+hence some philosophers have concluded, that in the bowels of burning
+mountains there are various sorts of bodies which probably ferment by
+moisture, and being thus expanded, at last produce eruptions and
+explosions. The mouth or chimney of a burning mountain is, in many
+instances, upwards of a mile across! from which, in an eruption, are
+emitted torrents of smoke and flame, rivers of lava, (consisting chiefly
+of bitumen and melted metal,) and clouds of cinders, stones, &c. to an
+immense distance. The wonderful quantity of these materials thrown out
+from the orifice almost exceeds belief; the lava rushes like a fiery
+torrent at a very rapid pace,--ravages the labours of agriculture,
+overthrows houses, and in a few seconds utterly destroys the hopes of
+hundreds of families--the toils of hundreds of years. Nothing impedes
+its awful course; when interrupted by stone walls, or even rocks, it
+collects in a few moments to the height of eight or ten feet; its
+immense heat and violent pressure quickly batter down the obstacle,
+which is literally made rotten by the fire, and the whole mass seems to
+melt together into the lava, which again continues its progress until
+exhausted by the distance of its destructive march.
+
+An English traveller, who was at Naples during the eruption of Mount
+Vesuvius, on the 10th of September, 1810, thus describes the scene:--
+
+"Curious to witness the volcano as near as possible, I set out for
+Portici, where I arrived at eight in the evening; from thence to the
+summit of the mountain the road is long and difficult; having procured a
+guide about the middle of the distance, we had to climb a mountain of
+cinders, every step nearly knee-deep; this made it near midnight when we
+reached the crater, which we approached as near as the heat would
+permit. The fire of the mountain served us for a beacon, and we set
+light to our sticks in the lava, which slowly ran through the hollows of
+the crater. The surface of the inflamed matter nearly resembles metal in
+a state of fusion, but as it flows it carries a kind of scum, which
+gradually hardens into scoria and rolls like fire-balls to the bottom of
+the mountain. We thought ourselves pretty secure in this spot, and had
+no wish to retire; but shortly a most terrific explosion which launched
+to an inconceivable height in the air, immense fragments of burning
+rocks, &c. reminded us of our dangerous situation. We lost not a moment
+in retreating, and driven on by fear almost with miraculous speed,
+cleared in about five minutes, a space we had taken two hours to climb;
+we had hardly gained this spot when a second explosion more terrible, if
+possible, than the former was heard. The volcano in all its fury vomited
+forth some thousands of cart-loads of stones and burning lava. As the
+projection was nearly vertical, the greater part fell back again into
+the mouth of the mountain and this was again vomited forth as before. On
+the 11th and 12th, the fury somewhat abated, but on the 13th a fresh
+eruption commenced, and burning matter flowed down all the sides of the
+volcano;--all Vesuvius itself seemed on fire,--not a vestige of property
+for miles could be discovered, and thousands of families were ruined."
+
+JACOBUS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+A CHURCHYARD SCENE.
+
+
+    How sweet and solemn, all alone,
+    With reverend steps, from stone to stone,
+    In a small village churchyard lying,
+    O'er intervening flowers to move!
+    And as we read the names unknown
+    Of young and old to judgment gone,
+    And hear in the calm air above
+    Time onwards softly flying,
+    To meditate, in Christian love,
+    Upon the dead and dying!
+    Across the silence seem to go
+    With dream-like motion, wavery, slow,
+    And shrouded in their folds of snow,
+    The friends we loved long, long ago!
+    Gliding across the sad retreat,
+    How beautiful their phantom feet!
+    What tenderness is in their eyes,
+    Turned where the poor survivor lies
+    'Mid monitory sanctities!
+    What years of vanished joy are fanned
+    From one uplifting of that hand
+    In its white stillness! when the shade
+    Doth glimmeringly in sunshine fade
+    From our embrace, how dim appears
+    This world's life through a mist of tears!
+    Vain hopes! blind sorrows! needless fears!
+
+    Such is the scene around me now:
+    A little churchyard on the brow
+    Of a green pastoral hill;
+    Its sylvan village sleeps below,
+    And faintly here is heard the flow
+    Of Woodburn's summer rill;
+    A place where all things mournful meet,
+    And yet the sweetest of the sweet,
+    The stillest of the still!
+    With what a pensive beauty fall
+    Across the mossy, mouldering wall
+    That rose-tree's clustered arches! See
+    The robin-redbreast warily,
+    Bright through the blossoms, leaves his nest:
+    Sweet iugrate! through the winter blest
+    At the firesides of men--but shy
+    Through all the sunny summer-hours,
+    He hides himself among the flowers
+    In his own wild festivity.
+    What lulling sound, and shadow cool
+    Hangs half the darkened churchyard o'er,
+    From thy green depths so beautiful
+    Thou gorgeous sycamore!
+    Oft hath the holy wine and bread
+    Been blest beneath thy murmuring tent,
+    Where many a bright and hoary head
+    Bowed at that awful sacrament.
+    Now all beneath the turf are laid
+    On which they sat, and sang, and prayed.
+    Above that consecrated tree
+    Ascends the tapering spire, that seems
+    To lift the soul up silently
+    To heaven with all its dreams,
+    While in the belfry, deep and low,
+    From his heaved bosom's purple gleams
+    The dove's continuous murmurs flow,
+    A dirge-like song, half bliss, half woe,
+    The voice so lonely seems!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+ANECDOTES AND RECOLLECTIONS
+
+    Notings, selections,
+    Anecdote and joke:
+    Our recollections;
+    With gravities for graver folk.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+SHERIDAN.
+
+
+It was at the strongly contested election for Westminster, when Sheridan
+was opposed by Sir Francis Burdett and Lord Cochrane, that the latter,
+in allusion to the orator's desire of ameliorating his situation on the
+poll by endeavouring to blend his cause with that of the baronet,
+characteristically observed, "that the right honourable gentleman sought
+to have his _little skiff_ taken _in tow_ by the _line of battle ship_
+of Sir Francis." Sheridan, in whom the metaphor had awakened the
+remembrance of the remarkable and successful influence of his speech in
+the House of Commons on the occasion of the mutiny at the Nore, in
+calming the irritation of the rebels and reducing them to obedience, in
+reply to his lordship, bade him "to recollect that it was that _little
+skiff_ which once brought the whole navy of England safely into port."
+
+The election drew towards its termination, but all the efforts of his
+friends had proved unavailing to secure Sheridan's return, although his
+minority was any thing but formidable. The interest that attended the
+contest had, at its close, become intense; and every spot, whence the
+candidates might be seen or heard, was crowded in the extreme. A sailor,
+anxious to acquire a view of the scene of action, after all his exertion
+to push his way through the crowd had proved fruitless, resorted to the
+nautical expedient of climbing one of the poles which supported a booth
+directly in front of the hustings, from the very top of which Jack was
+enabled to contemplate all that occurred below. As the orator commenced
+his speech, his eye fell on the elevated mariner, whom he had no sooner
+observed than he rendered his situation applicable to his own, by
+stating that "had he but other five hundred voters as _upright_ as the
+_perpendicular_ gentleman before him, they would yet place him where
+_he_ was--_at the head of the pole_."
+
+Often were his addresses to his constituents interrupted by the tumult
+that arose from the anxiety of the public to get within hearing of him.
+A person, mounted on horseback, had penetrated to the very centre of the
+crowd, with more regard for himself than consideration towards others,
+as the animal he rode, affrighted by the noise, became equally annoying
+and dangerous to those by whom he was surrounded. The outcry was
+excessive, and, while some strove to appease the clamour, others urged
+Sheridan to proceed. "Gentlemen," replied he to the latter, "when the
+_chorus of the horse and his rider_ is finished, I shall commence."
+
+His good humour was at no time disturbed during the election, although
+the observations of his noble Caledonian opponent manifested no amicable
+disposition towards the orator. As it terminated, a mutual friend of the
+rival candidates expressed a hope that, with the contest, all animosity
+should cease; and that the gallant officer should drown the memory of
+differences in a friendly bottle. "With all my heart," said Sheridan,
+"and will thank his lordship to make it _a Scotch pint_."
+
+His treatment of Coleridge, the poet, who had submitted a tragedy to his
+managerial decision, was wholly unmerited by the author, the success of
+whose piece subsequently so well justified the better claims it had on
+Sheridan's attention. In the cavern scene, where the silence of the
+place is presumed to be only broken by the slow dropping of the water
+from its vault, Sheridan, in reading it to his friends, repeated the
+words of one of the characters, in a solemn tone, "Drip! drip! drip!"
+adding, "Why, here's nothing but _dripping_:" but the story is told by
+Coleridge himself, in the preface to his tragedy, with that good humour
+and frankness becoming one sensible of his powers, and conscious that
+the witty use of an unfortunate expression (were it such) could but
+little affect the real and numerous beauties of the production.
+
+An author, whose comedies, when returned upon his hands, were generally
+reduced, by the critical amputation of managers, from the fair
+proportion of five acts to two, or even one, with the ordinary
+suggestion of "_necessary alteration_," &c. complained in wrath and
+bitterness to Sheridan, who, it is said, attempted to console him, by
+saying, "Why, my good fellow, what I would advise you is, to present a
+comedy of a _score_ of acts, and the devil will be in it if _five_ be
+not saved."
+
+I have heard it said, that, at the first performance of _The Critic_,
+Sheridan had adopted, as the representative of Lord Burleigh, an actor
+whose "looks profound" accorded with his "ignorance;" but who, until
+then, had only aspired to the livery of the theatre--the placing of
+chairs, or the presentation of a letter; yet who, in this humble display
+of histrionic art, generally contrived to commit some egregious blunder.
+He was remonstrated with, on his choice, by one of the performers, who
+demonstrated the excessive dulness of apprehension of _the would-be
+Minister of State_; and, like other and recent instances in that
+capacity, his singular aptitude to error, however simple the part he had
+to enact, or clear and concise the instructions with which it might be
+accompanied. As Sheridan had planned the character, the face was every
+thing, and the lengthened, dull, and inexpressive visage of the subject
+was too _strictly ministerial_ to be lost; and the author would, as he
+said, "defy him to go wrong," Still his friend was sceptical; nor were
+his doubts removed by Sheridan's assuring him that the representative of
+Lord Burleigh "would have only to look wise, shake his head, and hold
+his tongue;" and he so far persisted as to lay a bet with the author
+that some capital blunder would nevertheless occur. The wager was
+accepted, and, in the fulness of his confidence, Sheridan insisted that
+the actor should not even rehearse the part, and yet that he should get
+through with it satisfactorily to the public and himself on the night of
+the first performance. It came. The arbiter of hopes and fears appeared
+in all the "bearded majesty" of the age of Elizabeth; and, flattered by
+the preference of the great author, had carefully conned over the
+following instructions:--"Mr. ----, as Lord Burleigh, will advance from
+the prompter's side;--proceed to the front of the stage;--fall back to
+where Mr. G---- stands as Sir Christopher Hatton,--shake his head and
+exit." The important moment came. With "stately step and slow," Lord
+Burleigh advanced in face of the audience. "Capital!" exclaimed the
+gratified author;--with equal correctness he retreated to the side of
+Sir Christopher, without _literally falling back_, which Sheridan had
+for a moment doubted might be the case. "Good! a lucky escape though."
+half faltered the anxious poet. "Now! now!" he continued, with eager
+delight at having got so far so well; but, what was his horror, when his
+unlucky pupil, instead of shaking his _own_ blundering head, in strict
+but unfortunate interpretation of his orders, took _that_ of Sir
+Christopher within his hands, shook it long and manfully, and then
+walked off with a look of exultation at having so exactly complied with
+his lesson.--_New Monthly Magazine_.
+
+
+WONDERFUL PECULIARITY IN THE ENGLISH CHARACTER!
+
+
+The French, however wretched may be their condition, are attached to
+life, while the English frequently detest life in the midst of affluence
+and splendour. English criminals are not dragged, but run to the place
+of execution, where they laugh, sing, cut jokes, insult the spectators;
+_and if no hangman happens to be present, frequently hang
+themselves_.--_Memoirs of Lewis Holberg_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+STANZAS.
+
+BY THE AUTHOR OF "FIELD FLOWERS," &C.
+
+(_For the Mirror_.)
+
+
+    I smiled, for not a cloud was seen o'er the blue heaven's expanse,
+    As summer's myriad insect tribe led on the winged dance;
+    The gaudy butterfly was there ranging from flower to flower,
+    And by its side the wild bee humm'd amid the woodbine bower.
+
+    I sighed, for when I looked again the sky was overcast,
+    The summer insect's winged dance was o'er, yet on I past,
+    The gaudy butterfly was gone, the bee away had fled,
+    While on each fairest, brightest flower the wasteful locust fed.
+
+    Yet e'en this simple scene to youth a moral shall convey,
+    Since thus full oft misfortune's clouds obscure life's summer ray;
+    To-day we smile, for beauty smiles in all her spring-tide bloom--
+    To-morrow sigh, for beauty's bower has now become her tomb!
+
+H. B.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+SELECT BIOGRAPHY.
+
+No. LVI.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+GILBERT BURNS.
+
+
+Gilbert Burns was born about the year 1760. He was eighteen months
+younger than his brother Robert, Scotland's most gifted bard. With him
+he was early inured to toil, and rendered familiar with the hardships of
+the peasant's lot; like him, too, he was much subject to occasional
+depression of spirits, and from whatever cause, he had contracted a
+similar bend or stoop in the shoulders; his frame, like that of Robert,
+was cast in a manly and symmetrical mould. The profile of his
+countenance resembled that of his brother, and their phrenological
+developments are said to have been not dissimilar; the principal
+disparity lay in the form and expression of the eye, which in Gilbert
+was fixed, sagacious, and steady--in Robert, almost "in a fine
+frenzy rolling."
+
+Gibert Burns was the archetype of his father, a very remarkable man; his
+piety was equally warm and sincere; and, in all the private relations of
+life, as an elder of the church, a husband, a father, a master, and a
+friend, he was preeminent. His writings want that variety, originality,
+and ease, which shine so conspicuously even in the prose works of the
+poet; but they have many redeeming points about them. His taste was as
+pure as his judgment was masculine. He has been heard to say, that the
+two most pleasurable moments of his life were--first, when he read
+Mackenzie's story of La Roche, and secondly, when Robert took him apart,
+at the breakfast or dinner hour, during harvest, and read to him, while
+seated on a barley sheaf, his MS. copy of the far-famed Cotter's
+"Saturday Night."
+
+When Robert Burns was invited by Dr. Blacklock to visit Edinburgh,
+Gilbert was struggling in the unthrifty farm of Mosgiel, and toiling
+late and early to keep a house over the heads of his aged mother and
+unprotected sisters. The poet's success was the first thing that stemmed
+the ebbing tide of his fortunes. On settling with Mr. Creech, in
+February, 1788, he received, as the profits of his second publication,
+about 500l.; and, with that generosity which formed a part of his
+nature, he immediately presented Gilbert with nearly half of his whole
+wealth. Thus succoured, Gilbert married a Miss Breconridge, and removed
+to a better farm at Dinning, in Dumfriesshire. While there, he was
+recommended to Lady Blantyre, whose estates in East Lothian he
+subsequently managed for nearly a quarter of a century. He died at
+Grant's Braes, in the neighbourhood of Haddington, on one of the
+Blantyre farms, on the 8th of April. He had no fixed complaint; but, for
+several months preceding his dissolution, a gradual decay of nature had
+been apparent. It is probable that his death was accelerated by severe
+domestic afflictions; as, on the 4th of January, he lost a daughter, who
+had long been the pride of his family hearth; and, on the 26th of
+February following, his youngest son, a youth of great promise, died at
+Edinburgh, of typhus fever, on the eve of his being licensed for the
+ministry. Mrs. Burns, who brought him a family of six sons and five
+daughters, of whom five sons and one daughter are living, survivors.
+
+It ought to be mentioned that the two hundred pounds which Robert Burns
+lent to his brother, in the year 1788, was not repaid till 1820. Gilbert
+was far from affluent; in early life he had to struggle even for
+existence; and, therefore, to know that his aged mother and one or two
+sisters, were properly supported, was, in the poet's eyes, a full
+acquittance of all claims. The children of Robert viewed the subject in
+the same light. In 1819, Gilbert Burns was invited by Messrs. Cadell and
+Davies, to revise a new edition of his brother's works; to supply
+whatever he found wanting, and correct whatever he thought amiss. He
+accepted the invitation; and, by appending much valuable matter to the
+late Dr. Currie's biography, he at once vindicated his brother's memory
+from many aspersions which had been cast upon it, and established his
+own credit as an author. On receiving payment for his labour, the first
+thing he did was, to balance accounts, to the uttermost farthing, with
+the widow and family of his deceased brother. The letter which
+accompanied the remittance of the money was, in the highest degree,
+creditable to his feelings.
+
+_Monthly Magazine_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS.
+
+No. XI.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+SPORTS OF THE BURMESE.
+
+
+Shortly after our arrival at Prome we had an opportunity of witnessing
+some boxing and wrestling matches, exercises which the Burmahs are very
+fond of, and which they pride themselves much on excelling in. The
+challenge is given by stepping to the front, and with the right hand
+slapping the left shoulder, at the same time taunting the opponent in
+order to excite him; the struggle does not last long, and when ended, no
+animosity remains between the parties.
+
+Another amusement of the Burman youth deserves mentioning on account of
+its singularity. This is a game at ball, played by six or eight young
+men, formed in a circle; the ball is hollow, and made of wicker work;
+and the art of the game consists in striking this upwards with the foot,
+or the leg below the knee. As may be conceived, no little skill is
+required to keep the ball constantly in motion; and I have often been
+much entertained in watching the efforts made by the players to send the
+ball high in the air, so that it should fall within the limits of the
+ring, when it is again tossed by the foot of another. The natives of
+Hindostan are not acquainted with this game, but it is said to be common
+amongst the Chinese, Japanese, and other nations east of the Ganges. But
+by far the most favourite amusements of the Burmahs are acting and
+dancing, accompanied by music, which to my ear appeared very discordant,
+although occasionally a few rather pleasing notes might be
+distinguished. The principal instrument used in the Burman bands of
+music is the kiezoop, which is formed of a number of small gongs,
+graduated in size and tone on the principle of the harmonica, and
+suspended in a circular frame about four feet high and five feet wide;
+within which the performer stands, and extracts a succession of soft
+tones, by striking on the gongs with two small sticks. Another circular
+instrument (the boundah) serves as a bass; it contains an equal number
+of different-sized drums, on which the musician strikes with violence,
+with a view perhaps to weaken the shrill, discordant notes of a very
+rude species of flageolet, and of an equally imperfect kind of trumpet,
+which are usually played with a total disregard of time, tune, or
+harmony. Two or three other instruments, similar in principle to the
+violin, complete the orchestra. To Europeans, there was not much to
+admire in the sounds produced by these instruments; neither did our
+music appear to have many charms for the Burmahs, whom I have seen
+present at the performance of some of Rossini's most beautiful airs, and
+of different martial pieces, by one of our best regimental bands,
+without expressing, either by their words or gestures, the least
+satisfaction at what they heard.
+
+In condemning, however, the Bunnaa instrumental music generally, I would
+observe, that some of the vocal airs have a very pleasing effect when
+accompanied by the Patola. This is an instrument made in the fantastic
+shape of an alligator; the body of it is hollow, with openings at the
+back, and three strings only are used, which are supported by a bridge,
+as in a violin.
+
+I chanced one day to meet with a young Burman who had been stone blind
+from his birth, but who, gifted with great talent for music, used to
+console himself for his misfortune by playing on this species of guitar,
+and accompanying his voice. When I expressed a wish to hear him perform,
+he immediately struck out a most brilliant prelude, and then commenced a
+song, in a bold tone, the subject of which was a prophecy that had been
+current at Rangoon before we arrived. It predicted the appearance of
+numerous strangers at that place, and that two-masted ships would sail
+up the Irrawaddy, when all trouble and sorrow would cease! Animated by
+his subject, his voice gradually became bolder and more spirited, as
+well as his performance, and without any hesitation he sung with much
+facility two or three stanzas composed extempore.
+
+Changing suddenly from the enthusiastic tone, he commenced a soft
+plaintive love-song, and then, after striking the chords for some time
+in a wild but masterly manner, retired. I confess I felt much interested
+in this poor fellow's performance, he seemed so deeply to feel every
+note he uttered, particularly at one time, when he touched upon his own
+misfortune, that it appeared Providence, in ordaining he should never
+see, had endowed him with this "soul-speaking" talent in some measure to
+indemnify him.
+
+The Burmahs, generally speaking, are fond of singing, and, in some
+instances, I have heard many very good songs. The war-boat song, for
+example, is remarkably striking. The recitative of the leading songster,
+and then the swell of voices when the boatmen join in chorus, keeping
+time with their oars, seemed very beautiful when wafted down the
+Irrawaddy by the breeze; and the approach of a war-boat might always be
+known by the sound of the well-known air.
+
+I have sometimes heard a trio sung in parts by three young girls, with a
+correctness of ear and voice which would do credit to others than the
+self-taught Burmahs. Many little songs, amongst others that commencing
+"Tekien, Tekien," were composed and sung by the Burman fair in
+compliment to their new and welcome visiters, the white strangers; but
+these, of course, are long since consigned to oblivion, unless they
+recollect with pleasure
+
+    --"The grateful breath of song,
+    That once was heard in happier hours;"
+
+for it is very certain that the Bunnahs considered themselves quite
+happy, when enjoying the transient glimpse of liberty, and the
+advantages of a just government which were offered them during the short
+stay of the British army at Prome.
+
+The Burman plays do not appear to be remarkable for the number of their
+_dramatis personæ_. In most there is a prince, a confidant, a buffoon or
+two, and a due proportion of female characters, represented by boys
+dressed in female attire. The dresses are handsome; and in one which I
+attended, the dialogue appeared to be lively and well supported, as far
+as I can judge from the roars of laughter which resounded from the
+Burman part of the audience. One sentimental scene, in which the loving
+prince takes leave of his mistress, and another where, after much
+weeping and flirtation, she throws herself into his arms, were
+sufficiently intelligible to us; but some, in which the jokes of the
+clown formed the leading feature, were quite lost upon those who did not
+understand the language. The place chosen for the representation was a
+spot of ground outside of our houses, the heat being very great; and
+here a circle was formed of carpets and chairs, lighted by torches
+dipped in petroleum, which threw a brilliant flare around, though
+accompanied by a most unpleasant odour.
+
+Dancing succeeded, and one or two young women were the performers; like
+the Hindostanee Nautch, it merely consisted in throwing the body and
+arms into numerous graceful and rather voluptuous postures; at the same
+time advancing slowly, with a short steady step, and occasionally
+changing it for a more lively figure.
+
+All this time the drums, cymbals, and clarionets were unceasing in their
+discordant sounds, and, before long, fairly drove me from the field.
+
+_Two Years in Ava._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE NOVELIST.
+
+No. CVI.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+ROSALIE BERTON.
+
+
+While passing some time in the south of France, I spent a few days at
+S----, a town on the banks of the Loire, situated in that province,
+which, from its fertility and beauty, is usually designated the garden
+of France.
+
+S----, I had been informed, was a place famed alike for its vineyards
+and its pretty girls, a coincidence certainly natural, since it fairly
+may be supposed, that the sun which ripens the richest fruit in nature,
+should alike mature its sweetest flowers, and perfect the beauties and
+the charms of that sex, which is literally "like the fair flower in its
+lustre." As the friend, by whom I was accompanied, was well known in the
+place, we were soon introduced to a circle of respectable families; and
+among others, to that of Berton, consisting of the father, mother,
+and daughter.
+
+Rosalie Berton was the _belle_ of S----, or to borrow the far prettier
+French phrase, she was "_la perle de ville_." And a sweet and lovely
+girl she was, as ever the eye of affection hailed with delight. Her
+charms had something of a peculiar style and character; for, with the
+bright black eyes, and fine dark hair of the south, were united the fair
+complexion and delicately tinted cheek of a northern beauty. Her face
+was of a somewhat more pensive turn than usual, and her meek, mild
+features, and soft dark eyes, bore traces of tender feeling and of
+gentle thought; while so expressive was her countenance, that it
+responded, at will, to her feelings, and the eye and the cheek which
+were one moment impressed with melancholy, beamed forth the next with
+all the warmth of intelligence, affection, or delight. Her
+accomplishments were really of a superior kind; she walked with more
+than the usual elegance of her country-women, and danced with equal
+animation and grace. But her most attractive charm consisted in her
+voice, which, though not particularly powerful, had a sweetness and a
+melody which were perfectly delightful; so that never methinks have I
+heard a softer strain, than when that fair girl was wont to sing to her
+guitar the simple ballads and sweet romances of her native land. And her
+musical talents were enhanced by her gentle, complying disposition, and
+by the readiness with which she obeyed every call on her exertions. From
+her music-master, who was a native of Italy, she also learnt Italian,
+which she spoke with more fluency and correctness than is usual among
+the French; she drew, moreover, with considerable taste. So affectionate
+and so amiable was she, that she deserved all the encomiums of her
+friends and even their hyperbolical compliments were scarcely
+extravagant when applied to her. She was literally "_douce comme un
+ange, jolie comme les amours;_" and, as the _ne plus ultra_ of merit in
+France, she was "_tout a fait gentille_." She possessed also,
+considerable dramatic skill and tact, and would, I think, have proved a
+delightful acquisition to the stage, from the skill she displayed in
+those little playful scenes, with which the French delight to
+embellish life.
+
+We were favoured with a specimen of her talents in this way, on the
+evening of our arrival. It was the fête day of madame, the mother of
+Louise, and we were invited to be present. After some time passed in
+taking refreshments, varied by dancing, conversation, &c., the little
+ceremony of the evening commenced; the door opened, and a small but gay
+procession entered the room. It consisted of several young persons, all
+friends of the family, headed by Louise, who was charmingly dressed, and
+looked altogether most lovely. She bore her guitar across her bosom, and
+the instrument was encircled with a wreath of flowers. Each individual
+carried some little offering, such as bottles of wine and liqueurs,
+conserves and sweetmeats, flowers and fruit, &c. &c.; and these were
+placed on the table, the whole group forming a circle round Rosalie, who
+advanced to her mother, and sang to the guitar the well-known verses
+consecrated to such occasions.
+
+    Madame c'est aujourdhui votre fete,
+    C'est aussi celle de nos coeurs;
+    A vous chanter chacun s'apprete!
+    Et veut vous courouner de fleurs!
+
+The lovely girl then loosed the garland from her lyre, placed it with
+light hand on the brow of her mother, and sank in a graceful bending
+attitude to receive her parent's blessing. She was instantly raised,
+fondly embraced by both her admiring parents, and with a repetition of
+the song, the whole party left the room. The scene is long past, but I
+have often recalled it since; and in many an hour of fancy and of
+thought, have again beheld that fair girl kneeling to her mother, again
+beheld her clasped to that mother's heart. Nor was the above the only
+instance of her skill, every day presented some fresh instance of her
+feeling and of taste.
+
+A _plaisanterie_, which proved very successful, was arranged as
+follows:--We were sitting one evening up stairs, when we were attracted
+by the performance of three musicians, who were singing in the _cour_.
+The party consisted of two young men, and a female, who wore a veil;
+they accompanied their songs by playing on the guitar; their performance
+was evidently of a superior character; the music and the words were
+Italian, and the voice of the female performer was eminently sweet and
+touching. After listening some time with great delight--
+
+"Go," said I to one of the party, "find Rosalie, and tell her to come
+and listen to a better singer than herself, who will give her a _lecon
+de chant_."
+
+This was said in the hearing of the foreign songstress, for whom it was
+intended as a compliment, while, at the same time, some silver was
+thrown upon the ground. But what was our surprise, when the lovely girl
+threw aside her veil, exclaiming--
+
+"He! bien messieurs et dames! vous ne connaissez donc plus votre pauvre
+Rosalie!"
+
+Such was one of many pleasantries by which we were diverted and amused.
+Idle fancies these indeed, and such as sterner judgments may deem
+trifling or absurd, yet not uninteresting, since many of them evidently
+afford vestiges of classic times and manners, transmitted through the
+course of ages; nor unuseful, since they tend to smooth and adorn the
+rugged way of life, and to strew its flinty path with flowers.
+
+With the charms and accomplishments which I have described, (and the
+sketch can convey but a faint idea of those which she actually
+possessed,) it cannot be supposed that Rosalie was destitute of
+admirers. She had, indeed, had several, but their suits were all
+unsuccessful. She had been addressed in turn by the _medecin_ of the
+place--by the son of the President of the Tribunal du Commerce--and by a
+nephew to a Monsieur de V----, the seigneur who resided at a
+neighbouring château. But they were all, more or less, improper
+characters; the _medecin_ was a gamester; the president's son a
+drunkard, a character utterly despised in these parts; while the nephew
+to the seigneur, was actually a _mauvais sujet_! What the French
+precisely understand by a _mauvais sujet_, I never could exactly make
+out; for, when impelled by curiosity to inquire, my queries were always
+met by such a volley of vituperation, as left one altogether in the dark
+with regard to the real nature of the charge. On the whole, I presume,
+we are to consider a _mauvais sujet_ as a culprit, compared with whose
+transgressions, the several enormities of gaming, drinking, and the
+like, sink into mere peccadilloes.
+
+The parents of Rosalie (the parents settle all these matters in France),
+on learning the character of their intended sons-in-law, dismissed them
+one after the other; and Rosalie acquiesced in their determination with
+a readiness and a decision, which did equal honour to her affection and
+her judgment.
+
+So interesting a girl, however, was not likely to remain long without a
+suitable admirer, and she speedily had another _affaire du coeur_. A
+young and handsome _militaire_, a sous-lieutenant in the royal guard,
+aspired to gain her hand, and to replace the vacancy in her affections.
+
+Henri Vaucouleurs was a fine, tall, dark, martial-looking young man (the
+French make fine-looking soldiers), and, with his luxuriant mustachios
+and the eager glance of his keen black eye, seemed the very _beau ideal_
+of a modern hero. Born at Mezieres, in the department of Ardennes, he
+was cradled in the very lap of war, and was yet a mere boy; when, in the
+summer of 1813, he joined the corps called the _garde d'honneur_. He
+made the campaign of Germany, and was present in the battles of Leipzig
+and of Hanau, in the last of which he received a ball in the right arm.
+He shortly, however, resumed his post with the army assembled for the
+defence of France, and at the battle of Laon received a severe _coup de
+sabre_ on his forehead, the scar of which added much to the martial
+aspect of his countenance. At the peace he joined the royal guard, in
+which corps he still continued. He was really a very estimable and
+engaging young man; and possessed more candour, intelligence, and good
+sense, than I think I ever witnessed in a military man among the French.
+His account of his campaigns was exceedingly modest, unaffected, and
+intelligent, and his whole conversation and manner were of a superior
+character. I remember, he spoke with great forbearance of the three
+principal nations among the allies, the Russians, Prussians, and
+Austrians; but inveighed, bitterly, against several of the auxiliaries,
+who, he said, having received only benefits of the French emperor,
+embraced the first opportunity offered by a reverse of fortune, to
+desert and betray him. Of Napoleon, he spoke with enthusiasm as a
+soldier; but with detestation, as an intoxicated and deluded tyrant, a
+rash and desperate gamester, who sent forth his attached and devoted
+soldiers, to be devoured by the destroying elements, without provision,
+or scarcely a thought for their natural and indispensable wants.
+
+Such were the character and pretensions of him who was destined to gain
+the affections of Rosalie. At first, he seemed to have but little chance
+of success. Old people commonly entertain a prejudice against the
+character and profession of military men, and are seldom ambitious of
+such an alliance for a daughter. The parents of Rosalie were
+prepossessed against Henri on account of his calling; and, though
+Rosalie herself early entertained an interest in his favour, yet she was
+too good and too _sage_ to cherish in herself, or to encourage in her
+lover, an attachment which her parents might disapprove. Henri was,
+however, admitted as a visiter at the house, and by degrees his amiable
+manners and correct deportment won, first on the old lady, and then on
+the father, till their scruples vanished, and, indeed, they wondered
+they could ever have entertained any against so estimable a young man
+and an officer. He was thus speedily received as the lover of Rosalie,
+and about the time of my visit was installed in all the privileges of a
+_bon ami_. He was equally accomplished with herself; spoke German
+fluently, Italian passably well, and was an excellent performer on the
+flute and the guitar; so that he was a fit companion for his charming
+intended, and was able to assist in those refined and elegant
+recreations, in which she also excelled.
+
+_(To be concluded in our next.)_
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+DOZING.
+
+"Dozing very much delights."
+
+
+Our corporeal machinery requires an occasional relaxation, as much as
+the steam engine does the application of oil to its divers springs; and,
+after a _bonâ fide_ slumber, we rise with a freshness equal to that of
+flowers in the best regulated flower-pots. But dozing must not be
+confounded with legitimate sleep, though frequently tending to the same
+purpose; it may be termed an embryo slumber, that entertaineth the body
+with the most quiescent gentleness, acting on our senses as a sort of
+mental warm bath; till, finally, the "material man" himself luxuriates
+in tepidity.
+
+Nothing can be more ungodly than to enter the church with an express
+purpose of dozing there. Arm-chairs, sofas, and beds are the legitimate
+places for dozers. But there is no accounting for that conquering spirit
+of all-besetting drowsiness that attacks us at sundry times and places.
+It is in vain that we lengthen our limbs into an awakening stretch--that
+we yawn with the expressive suavity of yawning no more--that we
+dislocate our knuckle bones, and ruffle the symmetry of our visage, with
+a manual application; like the cleft blaze of a candle, drowsiness
+returns again. Well, then, what manner of reader is he that hath never
+sinned by drowsing in church time? Let him read on; and I'll realize by
+description what he has realized by endurance.
+
+It is after the embodying of a good dinner with ourselves, that doziness
+is most tempting. You have dined at four o'clock to-day. Well, that's a
+decent Sabbatical hour. After due potations of wine, coffee, &c. your
+gratitude is awakened; and, like a good Christian, you arrange your
+beaver, and walk off steadily to church. Now, remember, I give you full
+credit for your wish to exhibit your external holiness--that you are
+indeed conscious of the reverence that should accompany all your
+engagements in the fane of the Deity; and yet I prognosticate that if
+the Rev. Nabob Narcotic happen to preach this evening, you will, of a
+surety, doze--infallibly doze--in the midst of his sermon!
+
+'Tis a summer month, and the very church windows seem labouring with a
+fit perspiration. Horribly boring--isn't it? How your hat clings to your
+moistened forehead, and the warm gloves droop from your fingers, like
+roasting chicken! Get as much room as possible; tenderly pass little
+miss there, and her unbreeched brother, over to their smiling mamma. Now
+you have the balmy corner to yourself! "Psalms," first lesson--second
+ditto--prayers--thanksgivings--all reverently attended to; there is a
+little dreaminess settling on your lids--your lips begin to close with
+languor; but you have not dozed. Let's hear the sermon. You are seated
+with tolerable erectness; and, judging from the steady determination of
+your eyebrows, one would imagine that your eyes would be open for the
+whole of the discourse. But, alas! 'tis Mr. Narcotic, whose spectacled
+nose is just verging above the crimson horizon of his pulpit.--"Awake,
+thou that sleepest!" Why, the text is quite opposed to DOZINESS! But
+what of this, if the preacher be addicted to drawling, the weather
+unobligingly sultry, and you yourself have gradually been dwindling from
+an uncongenial state of wakefulness into a sleepy calm? 'Tis too much
+for beldame Nature, believe me!
+
+I perceive that you have rubbed the bridge of your nose several
+times--that you have tried to swell forth your eyes with a full round
+stare at the parson; but your stoicism "profiteth nothing." The sermon
+is irreligiously long; and you are nodding--in a doze! Whether there be
+much pleasure in a church doze, I am not presuming enough to determine.
+For myself, I have found nothing more tantalizing than the endeavour to
+restrain from an occasioned doze during church time. After a certain
+period, I have perceived the parson diminishing, like a phantasmagoric
+image--all the ladies' black bonnets sinking away, like a cluster of
+clouds--and (shame on the confession!) I have performed head worship to
+the front of my seat, instead of keeping an immovable post-like
+position, before his reverence. However, a church doze is seldom admired
+by the wakeful. Should an embryo snore escape from one's nose (and this
+is possible,) some old grandam, or an upright piece of masculine
+sanctity, is sure to rouse you; the former will either _hem_ you into
+awakening shame, or drop her prayer-book on the floor; the latter will
+most likely thump the same with the imperative tip of his boot. How
+horridly stupid one seems after being aroused! The woman eyes you with
+the most piquant, self-justifying sneer possible; while all her little
+IMMACULATES, if she have any, look at you like so many hissing young
+turkey cocks; and as for the man--bless his holiness!--he'd frown you
+down to Hades at once.
+
+"My heart leaps up" when I behold a stage coach--that snug, panel
+painted, comfortable wheel-whirling "thing of life." O ye days of
+juvenilian sensibilities--ye eye-feeding, heart-rising scenes of
+remembered felicity!--how glorious was the coach at the school door! The
+whip--Ajax _Mastigoferos_ never had such a powerful one as the modern
+Jehu! The spokes of the wheels--they were handled with admiring fingers!
+That Jupiter-like throne, the coach-box--who would not have risked his
+neck to have been seated on it? When all was "right," how eloquent the
+lip-music of coachee! how fine the introductory frisks of the horses'
+tails, and the arching plunge of the fore-foot--no rainbow-curve ever
+was so beauteous! "Oh, happy days! who would not be a boy again?" But
+away with my puerilities. I intend the reader to take a doze in that
+comfortable repository for the person--the inside of a coach.
+
+With all the reckless simplicity of boyhood, I maintain that travelling
+by coach is by no means the least of our sublunary pleasures. Man is a
+_wheelable_ animal as well as walking one. Winter is the time for a nice
+inside jaunt. What divine evaporations from the coachman's muzzle! What
+a joyous creak in the down-flying steps!--and, oh! that comfortable
+alertness with which we deposit ourselves in the padded corner, and fold
+our coatflaps over our knees, glance at the frosty steam of the window;
+and then, quite _à la Tityre_, repose our recumbent bodies at our ease!
+Such moments as these are snatches of indefinable bliss. It would appear
+probable, that a coach was a very inconvenient place for a doze; the
+attendant bustle, the whip-smacks, bickering wheels, and
+untranquillizing jolts--
+
+    "Like angels' visits, few and far between,"--
+
+are not calculated for sleepiness. Notwithstanding these correlative
+interruptions, a doze in the coach is by no means uncommon, even in the
+daytime. Let us examine this a little more intellectually.
+
+Suppose a man is returning to his friends, with a mind composed, and
+"all his business settled." (By-the-by, how vastly comprehensive this
+speech is!) Suppose he has entered the coach about four in the
+afternoon, and, by rare luck, finds he is, for the present, the only
+inside passenger. Such a man, I say, will be likely to doze before
+twenty miles have run under the coach-wheels--speaking _Hibernicè_. For
+the last half-hour, he will be thinking of himself--how many commissions
+he has performed--how many he has left undone--and how many he intends
+to do. The next, he will probably give to his home attractions--his
+anxious wife, sat musingly round the tea-table--his favourite son George
+(so like his father)--and all the nine hundred and ninety-nine pretty
+nothings we hear of, after a brief absence. These will send his heart a
+long way from the coach, and therefore keep him in the full enjoyment of
+wakefulness. But this train of delectable musing is by no means
+exhaustless. The roll of the wheels gradually becomes naturalized to the
+ear, and the body moves in sympathy with the coach; the road gets very
+monotonously barren; the lounge in the corner--how suitable then to this
+solitary languor! Lulled here, the traveller for awhile admires the
+leathern trappings of the coach, hums a tune perhaps, and affects a
+dubious whistle. Meantime the operations of _doziness_ have been gently
+applying themselves. His eye is sated with the road and the coach; his
+hands become stationary on his lap; his feet supinely rested on the
+opposite seat; his head instinctively motions to the corner--and he
+dozes! A doze in the coach is the flower of dozes, when you are alone.
+There, you may twist your person into any shape you please, without the
+fear of discomposing a silken dress, or a nursemaid's petticoats. No
+boisterous arguments from snuff-taking sexagenarians: all is placid
+--Eden-like--just as a dozer's _sanctorum_ ought to be! The only thing
+attendant on the doze of an inside passenger, is the great chance of
+being suddenly aroused by the entrance of company. O tell me, ye of the
+fine nerve, what is more vexing than to be startled from your nest by
+the creaking slam of the steps, the bleak winter gales galloping along
+your face, and a whole bundle of human beings pushing themselves into
+your retreat! There is no rose without its thorn, as myriads have said
+before me:--
+
+    ----"O beate Sexti,
+    Vitæ summa brevis SPEM nos vetat inchoare LONGAM!"
+
+Not all the morose sarcasms of Johnson, on the pleasures of rural life,
+have ever weakened my capability for enjoying it at convenient
+intervals. His antipathy to the country resembled his contempt for
+blank-verse--_he_ could not enjoy it. I have now moped away a
+considerable number of months in this city of all things--this--this
+London. "Well?" Pray restrain yourself, reader; I am coming to the point
+in due season. During my metropolitan existence--although I am neither a
+tailor, nor any trade, nor anything exactly--I have never beheld a
+downright intellectual-looking blade of grass. I mean much by an
+intellectual blade of grass. The Londoners--poor conceited
+creatures!--have denominated sundry portions of their Babylon "fields."
+But--I ask it in all the honest pride of sheer ignorance--is there the
+ghost even of a bit of grass to be seen in many of them? I cannot easily
+forget my vexation, when, after a tedious walk to one of those
+misnomered "fields," I found nothing but a weather-beaten, muggy, smoky
+assemblage of houses of all sizes, circumscribed by appropriate filth
+and abundant cabbage-stumps. Innocent of London quackeries, I strolled
+forth with the full hope of laying me down on a velvet carpet of
+grass--the birds carolling around me--and, perchance, a flock of
+lambkins, tunefully baying to their mammas!! "Said I to myself," when I
+reached these fields, "what a fool I am!" I had contemplated a doze on
+the grass.
+
+But leaving all thoughts of disappointment, who will not allow that
+there is something exceedingly delightful in dozing calmly beneath the
+shade of an o'er-arching tree?
+
+    ----"recubans sub tegmine fagi."
+
+Of course, the weather should be fine, to admit of this luxurious
+idleness. Let the blue-bosomed clouds be sailing along, like Peter
+Bell's boat; let the sunbeams be gilding the face of nature, and tinging
+the landscape with multiform hues; let the breezes be gentle, the spot
+retired, and the heart at ease. Now, go and stretch yourself on the
+grassy couch, while the branches of an aged tree shadow forth the imaged
+leaves around you. What a congenial situation for philosophy--under an
+old tree, on a sunny summer day! How much more becoming than the
+immortal tub of the sour-minded Diogenes? Who will be able to refrain
+from philosophizing. I repeat it, beneath such an old tree? 'Tis at such
+times that the heart spontaneously unbends itself--that the fancy
+tranquillizes its thoughts--and that memory awakens her
+
+    ----"treasured pictures of a thousand scenes."
+
+Place the palms of your hands beneath your pole, and survey the
+skies!--calm, beautifully unconscious! By-gone times, and by-gone
+friends--the thousand commingling scenes of varied life--how they all
+recur to you now! You fancy you could lie beneath the tree for
+eternity--so soothing is the employment of doing nothing--or field
+philosophy! Yet, to speak correctly, you are doing a great deal; your
+imagination is flying in all directions--from the death of Caesar to the
+last cup of Congou that you took with a regretted friend. What a mystery
+your existence is! The world turns round as gently as ever; the flowers
+bud into life; and the winter nips them. Man lives, thinks, and dies.
+All very wondrous truisms. Well, after a half-hour--or perchance
+more--you will be gradually relapsing into a state of soporific
+nothing-at-all-ness (the best word I can find to express my meaning.)
+May there be some clear little stream just behind you, laughing along
+its idle way;--some chirping birds, singing their roundelay--some
+buzzing flies--you will then be lulled into doziness. However, with or
+without the purling murmur of the brook--the joyous warbling of the
+birds--the busy bustling flies--you will not be able to resist the
+dozing temptations that will steal over you. Your eyes will close gently
+as flower-leaflets--your thoughts die away in a heavenly confusion--and
+then you doze!--neither sleeping nor waking, but absolved in delicious
+dreaminess! O, for such a doze!--_Monthly Magazine_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE SELECTOR,
+AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE CHINESE ALMANAC.
+
+
+Notwithstanding the aversion of the Chinese to the profession of the
+Roman Catholic religion, which has been shown, first by persecuting, and
+then by expelling the Jesuits from the empire, the Chinese government
+is, however, obliged to keep at least some missionaries at Pekin to
+compile the almanac. While astrology has led in other nations to the
+study of astronomy, the Chinese, though they have studied astrology for
+some thousand years, have made no progress in the real knowledge of the
+stars. Their ancient boasted observations, and the instruments which
+they make use of, were brought by the learned men, whom Koubilaï, the
+grandson of Gingis Khan, had invited from Balk and Samarcand. The
+government, at present, considers the publication of an annual calendar
+of the first importance and utility. It must do every thing in its
+power, not only to point out to its numerous subjects the distribution
+of the seasons, the knowledge of which is essentially necessary to them,
+to arrange the manner of gaining their livelihood, and distributing
+their labour; but on account of the general superstition, it must mark
+in the almanac, the lucky and unlucky days, the best days for being
+married, for undertaking a journey, for making their dresses, for
+buying, or building, for presenting petitions to the emperor, and for
+many other cases of ordinary life. By this means, the government keeps
+the people within the limits of humble obedience; it is for this reason
+that the emperors of China established the academy of astronomy, but we
+must not expect to find men really acquainted with that science. When
+this illustrious body, composed of Mantchoos, and in which Europeans,
+though subordinate, are the most active, condescended to look at the
+planetarium, which was among the presents which the king of England sent
+to the emperor of China by lord Macartney, Mr. Barrow was not able to
+make the president of this learned society understand the real merit of
+that instrument. Besides, how should a people be able to comprehend
+astronomy, to know the position of the heavenly bodies, and determine
+the orbits of the planets, while it is ignorant of the elements of
+mathematics, and makes its calculations by the help of vertical
+arithmetical tables, like those used by the shop-keepers in Russia, and
+who are ignorant both of analysis and geometry?--_Timkowski's Mission
+to China_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+COMPARISON OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH.
+
+
+The following are points of comparison which may be remarked in the
+characters of the French and English. The French are great talkers, the
+English great thinkers; the former excel in vivacity, the latter in
+solidity of intellect. The French dress with splendour, the English with
+neatness; the French live almost exclusively on bread, the English on
+meat. Both are passionate; but it is the blood which rouses the passion
+of a Frenchman, and the bile which exasperates an Englishman. The anger
+of a Frenchman is more violent, that of an Englishman more pertinacious.
+A Frenchman spends his money on his clothes, an Englishman on his belly.
+A Frenchman follows the stream, an Englishman delights in struggling
+against it. The friendships of the French are quickly formed, and as
+quickly dissolved; those of the English are formed slowly, and as slowly
+relinquished. The French respect their superiors, the English respect
+themselves; the former are better citizens, the latter better men. The
+mental endowments of the French are of a more refined, those of the
+English of a loftier, character. The French practise virtue for the sake
+of reputation, and seek the reward of meritorious actions in popular
+applause; the English practise it for its own sake, and seek no reward
+but that which springs from the consciousness of rectitude. There is the
+same relative difference in their vices as in their virtues. Both commit
+crimes; the French from the love of gain, the desire of vengeance or
+similar motives; but the English are often criminal for the mere sake of
+committing crime. The French, like the people of other countries, often
+commit crimes in the hope of escaping punishment, but the English
+frequently commit crimes because they know they cannot escape
+unpunished; so that the very severity of the law, which deters others
+from crime, often operates as an additional stimulus on the English for
+the commission of offences, "I would commit this offence," exclaims the
+Frenchman, "if the law permitted it." "I would not commit this offence,
+if it were not prohibited by law," is frequently the language of the
+Englishman.--_Memoirs of Lewis Holberg_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+LEAVES AND FLOWERS, OR THE LOVER'S WREATH.
+
+
+    With tender vine-leaves wreathe thy brow,
+      And I shall fancy that I see,
+    In the bright eye that laughs below,
+      The dark grape on its parent tree.
+        'Tis but a whim--but, oh! entwine
+        Thy brow with this green wreath of mine.
+
+    Weave of the clover-leaves a wreath,
+      Fresh sparkling with a summer-shower,
+    And I shall, in my fair one's breath,
+      Find the soft fragrance of the flower.
+        'Tis but a whim--but, oh! do thou
+        Twine the dark leaves around thy brow.
+
+    Oh, let sweet-leaved geranium be
+      Entwined amidst thy clustering hair,
+    Whilst thy red lips shall paint to me,
+      How bright its scarlet blossoms are.
+        'Tis but a whim--but, oh! do thou
+        Crown with my wreath thy blushing brow.
+
+    Oh, twine young rose-leaves round thy head,
+      And I shall deem the flowers are there,--
+    The red rose on thy rich cheek spread,
+      The white upon thy forehead fair.
+        'Tis but a whim--but, oh! entwine
+        My wreath round that dear brow of thine.
+
+_The Draught of Immortality, &c._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+ARTS AND SCIENCE
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+FLATTENING OF THE EARTH.
+
+
+At the Academy of Sciences at Paris, a memoir was read by Captain
+Duperrey, on the experiments made with the invariable pendulum, during
+the voyage of the _Coquille_ round the world. He states that various
+experiments confirmed the fact of the flattening of the terrestrial
+globe, conjectured by several travellers, who had remarked that the
+number of oscillations which the pendulum made at certain places,
+differed from what had been observed in the extent of the same parallel.
+The principal anomalies observed by Captain Duperrey were at the Isle of
+France, Mons, Guam, and the Island of Ascension. At the Isle of France,
+the invariable pendulum (as had been remarked by M. Freycinet) made in
+one day, upon an average, thirteen or fourteen oscillations more than it
+ought, supposing the depression to be 1.305, according to the lunar
+theory. At Ascension, the acceleration, as noticed by Captain Sabine,
+was five or six oscillations, even supposing the depression to be 1.228.
+At other stations the difference was almost nothing; and in some, the
+motion of the pendulum was retarded. Such differences, Captain Duperry
+remarks, between the results of experiment and those given by theory,
+cannot be attributed to errors of observation. He is disposed to refer
+the cause of the phenomena, with Captain Sabine, to the want of
+homogeneousness in the earth, considered as a mass, or to the mere
+variations of density in the superficial strata. What tends to confirm
+this hypothesis, he says, is, that all observations show that an
+acceleration of the pendulum generally takes place on volcanic ground
+and a retardation on such as is sandy and argillaceous. A very important
+question to ascertain is, whether the flattening is exactly the same in
+both hemispheres. From the observations of Captains Duperrey and
+Freycinet, it appears that in the southern hemisphere it is 1.291, and
+in the northern 1.288; that is to say, it is sensibly the same, or
+1.290 in both.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+HABITS OF PLANTS.
+
+
+The following curious observations on the habits of plants, were made by
+General Walker, in his address to the Agricultural Society of St.
+Helena, in February last:--"The functions of plants, as well as of
+animals, depend upon the air in which they live. I have observed that
+those of St. Helena, which have been brought from another hemisphere,
+are very irregular in their annual progress; many of them, in the
+development of their foliage, have adopted the law of nature peculiar to
+the country into which they have been transplanted. Others, more
+obstinate, remain faithful to their own habits, and continue to follow
+the stated changes to which they had been accustomed. They all appear to
+maintain a struggle either before they adopt the habits which belong to
+the seasons of their new country, or decide on retaining their relations
+with the old. In yielding to external circumstances, they appear to have
+different tempers. This appearance of contention is often observed in
+plants of the same species; they seem to hesitate and deliberate, ere
+they adopt the mode of performing the functions of life. At length when
+the decision is made, apparently not without pain and effort, we are at
+a loss to discover an adequate cause. An oak, for instance, which loses
+its leaves in a St. Helena winter of 68 degrees, scarcely experiences
+the difference of temperature, which, reasoning by analogy, could cause
+that change. It would have continued to maintain inflexibility, in its
+original climate, its old habits, though exposed to far greater
+irregularity and severity of climate. But though the law is obeyed by
+many plants, it does not determine the periodical changes of the whole,
+nor do they all submit to it with equal readiness and regularity. It
+would add, I conceive, to the natural history of vegetation, and improve
+our knowledge of the geography of plants, were the facts concerning
+their habits and changes, under different temperatures, carefully
+collected."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+MISCELLANIES.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+HUMAN CREDULITY.
+
+
+The wonderful miracles wrought by Bridget Bostock, of Cheshire, who
+healed all diseases by prayer, faith, and an embrocation of fasting
+spittle, induced multitudes to resort to her from all parts of the
+country, and kept her salival glands in full employ. Sir John Pryce,
+with a high spirit of enthusiasm, wrote to this woman to make him a
+visit at Newton Hall, in order to restore to him his third, a favourite,
+wife. His letter will best tell the foundation on which he built his
+strange hope, and every uncommon request.
+
+    _To Mrs. Bridget Bostock._
+
+    Madam,--Having received information, by repeated advices, both
+    public and private, that you have of late performed many
+    wonderful cures, even where the best physicians have failed;
+    and that the means used appear to be very inadequate to the
+    effect produced; I cannot but look upon you as an extraordinary
+    and highly favoured person. And why may not the same most
+    merciful God, who enables you to restore sight to the blind,
+    hearing to the deaf, and strength to the same, also enable you
+    to raise the dead to life? Now, having lately lost a wife, whom
+    I most tenderly loved, my children a most excellent
+    step-mother, and our acquaintances a most dear and valuable
+    friend, you will lay us all under the highest obligations; and
+    I earnestly entreat you, for God Almighty's sake, that you will
+    put up your petitions to the Throne of Grace on our behalf,
+    that the deceased may be restored to us, and the late dame
+    Eleanor Pryce be raised from the dead. If your personal
+    attendance appears to you to be necessary, I will send my coach
+    and six, with proper servants to wait on you hither, whenever
+    you please to appoint. Recompense of any kind that you may
+    please to propose would be made with the utmost gratitude; but
+    I wish the bare mention of it is not offensive to both God
+    and you.
+
+    I am, madam,
+
+    Your most obedient, and very much afflicted, humble servant,
+
+    JOHN PRYCE.
+
+
+THEOLOGICAL WIT.
+
+
+The late Rev. Thomas Toller, an eminent dissenting minister, (joint
+preacher with the celebrated Dr. James Fordyce, at Monkwell-street,)
+resided many years in the Lower-street, Islington. One day, when he got
+into the stage to come to London, he met with two ladies of his
+acquaintance, and a loquacious young Irishman, who was very obtrusive
+with his "would-be wit" to the females. The coachman soon stopped to
+take up another passenger, who, Dutchman-like, was "_slow to make
+haste_." A young dog, being confined in the neighbourhood, bewailed its
+loss of liberty, by making an hideous noise; which all the party agreed
+was very disagreeable. The Hibernian, desirous to display his wit, and
+to _quiz_ the parson, said, "The animal was so unpleasantly noisy, it
+must be a presbyterian _dog_." Mr. Toller calmly, but with much apparent
+confidence, said, "I am sure it is an Irish dog."--"How do you know
+that?" exclaimed the astonished young man with eagerness.--"I know it,
+sir," (replied the divine,) "by its impudence and its howl." This
+seasonable retort cured the garrulity of the patient, and gave him a
+locked-jaw till the stage arrived at the Royal Exchange.
+
+
+RAMSDEN THE OPTICIAN.
+
+
+It was his custom, to retire in the evening to what he considered the
+most comfortable corner in the house, and take his seat close, to the
+kitchen fireside, in order to draw some plan for the forming a new
+instrument, or scheme for the improvement of one already made. There,
+with his drawing implements on the table before him, a cat sitting on
+the one side, and a certain portion of bread, butter, and a small mug of
+porter placed on the other side, while four or five apprentices commonly
+made up the circle, he amused himself with either whistling the
+favourite air, or sometimes singing the old ballad of
+
+        "If she is not so true to me,
+        What care I to whom she be?
+    What care I, what care I, to whom she be!"
+
+and appeared, in this domestic group, contentedly happy. When he
+occasionally sent for a workman, to give him necessary directions
+concerning what he wished to have done, he first showed the recent
+finished plan, then explained the different parts of it, and generally
+concluded by saying, with the greatest good humour, "Now see, man, let
+us try to find fault with it;" and thus, by putting two heads together,
+to scrutinize his own performance, some alteration was probably made for
+the better. But, whatever expense an instrument had cost in forming, if
+it did not fully answer the intended design, he would immediately say,
+after a little examination of the work, "Bobs, man! this won't do, we
+must have at it again;" and then the whole of that was put aside, and a
+new instrument, begun. By means of such perseverance, he succeeded in
+bringing various mathematical, philosophical, and astronomical
+instruments to perfection. The large theodolite for terrestrial
+measurements, and the equal altitude instrument for astronomy, will
+always be monuments of his fertile, penetrating, arduous, superior
+genius! There cannot be a lover (especially of this more difficult part)
+of philosophy, in any quarter of the globe, but must admire the
+abilities, and respect the memory, of Jesse Ramsden--_Practical
+Observations on Telescopes_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE GATHERER.
+
+"I am but a _Gatherer_ and disposer of other men's stuff."--_Wotton_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Mr. Kelly, in his "Reminiscences," relates, that in 1792 he was walking
+in the Place Vendome with two Irish gentlemen, a Colonel Stark Macarthy
+and a Captain Fagan, the latter possessing "a vast portion of the ready
+wit of his country." Coming to the celebrated statue of Victory holding
+the laurel crown over the head of Louis XIV., a French officer was
+enumerating the splendid achievements of that heroic king, and
+particularly desired us to observe the attitude of the figure of
+Victory. "Pray, sir," said Fagan, "may I take the liberty of asking the
+question--Is Victory putting the laurel on his majesty's head, or taking
+it off?" The question puzzled the Frenchman, and made us
+laugh heartily.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Parr carried his compassion towards the inferior tribes so far, that two
+or three hares found a secure asylum for nearly two years in his garden
+at Hatton. He said that they were his clients, for they had placed
+themselves under his protection. He gave strict orders that they should
+not be shot. "It would be a gross violation," he said, "of a tacit
+covenant of hospitality."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+A few months since, a noble marquis bespoke a play at a country
+theatre, the representation of which Mr. Canning, prime minister,
+honoured with his presence. The boxes and other parts of the house were
+crammed, with the exception of the pit, which looked beggarly; on which
+an actor observed to a brother of the sock, "We've no _pit_
+to-night."--"No _Pitt_!" rejoined the other, "and none we want while we
+have a _Canning!_"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+_Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset
+House,) and sold by all Newsmen and Booksellers._
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 10, ISSUE 266, JULY 28, 1827 ***
+
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+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Mirror of Literature ... Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827, by  Various</title>
+    <style type="text/css">
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+  .poetry
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+  text-align: left;}
+  .footnote
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827, by  Various</h1>
+
+<pre>
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+Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827
+
+Author:  Various
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+[This file was first posted on October 31, 2003]
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 10, ISSUE 266, JULY 28, 1827 ***
+
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+</pre>
+  <h3>
+  Note:&nbsp; The zipped version of this HTML file includes the original illustrations.
+        See <a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext06/8m26610h.zip">http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext06/8m26610h.zip</a>
+  </h3>
+  <br />
+ Transcriber's note:&nbsp; In "A Churchyard Scene" the word "iugrate" occurs in
+                        the original text. This was probably a typographical
+                        error, and the correct word was likely "ingrate."
+  <br />
+  <br />
+  <h3>E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram<br />
+      and Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders</h3>
+    <br />
+  <br />
+<hr class="full" />
+    <span class="pagenum"><a id="page65" name="page65"></a>[pg 65]</span>
+    <!-- Mirror of Literature header -->
+    <h1>THE MIRROR<br />
+    OF<br />
+    LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <table width="100%">
+      <tr>
+        <td align="left"><b>Vol. 10, No. 266.]</b></td>
+        <td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, JULY 28, 1827.</b></td>
+        <td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <!-- end of header -->
+    <h2>CROYDON PALACE.</h2>
+    <p class="figure"><a href="images/266-1.png"><img width="100%" src="images/266-1.png"
+    alt="" /></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>The palace of Croydon is a building of great antiquity, and was for several
+    centuries the magnificent abode of the haughty dignitaries of Canterbury. At the
+    period of the Conquest, Lanfranc resided here, and most of the decrees and audits of
+    his successors were issued from, and held at, this palace. It was here that
+    Archbishop Parker entertained his queen, Elizabeth and her august court, with great
+    splendour and festivity; as also did the celebrated Whitgift, who refused to accept
+    of the high office of lord chancellor. Courtney received his pall here with great
+    solemnity and pomp in the presence of the chief nobility of the realm; and Chichley,
+    Stafford, Laud, Juxon, Wake, and Herring, made it their frequent residence, and were
+    liberal contributors to its architectural beauties. The remains of this interesting
+    fabric are, with the exception of the hall, composed entirely of brick, occupying a
+    considerable space on the south-west side of Croydon church, and are in some points
+    peculiarly striking in local appearance; but on account of their unconnected state,
+    with the intervening screens of garden walls, &amp;c. the view is confined and
+    partial.</p>
+    <p>The grand hall is a lofty imposing structure, and at a casual computation appears
+    to contain an area of eight hundred square yards; between which and the cornice, at
+    the height of about fifteen feet, a moulding or frieze is carried over the surface of
+    each wall, from whence, resting their bases on angels bearing, shields variously
+    blazoned, issue in the alternate spaces of twelve feet, five ligneous pillars,
+    supporting immense beams traversing the intervening distances of the confronting
+    sides. The roof is formed of large solid pieces of timber, running diagonally to a
+    point; the upper compartment of which (springing from perpendicular posts), is ribbed
+    so as to make it have the appearance of a polygonal ellipsis.</p>
+    <p>On the right of the southern entrance an escutcheon, surmounted by a canopy, is
+    fixed at a considerable height from the pavement, and must have had formerly a
+    splendid appearance, as faint traces even now of its original pomp are discernible
+    <span class="pagenum"><a id="page66" name="page66"></a>[pg 66]</span>in the faint
+    glittering of the gilding, and the exquisite symmetry of its execution. The bearings
+    appeared to me as&mdash;party per pall,&mdash;dexter division.&mdash;Sapphire a cross
+    gules ensigned with fleur de lis between six martlets
+    topaz.&mdash;Sinister&mdash;quarterly sapphire and ruby, first and third, three fleur
+    de lis; topaz, second and fourth, three lions passant gardant of the same, supported
+    by two angels, and surmounted by a coronet; the whole resting on an angel bearing a
+    scroll with a motto in old English text, but illegible.<a id="footnotetag1"
+    name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a></p>
+    <p>This hall is now occupied by a carpenter, and is almost filled with old furniture
+    and timber; other parts of the building are appropriated for charity-schools, and the
+    trade of bleaching is practised in its precincts.</p>
+    <p>SAGITTARIUS.</p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <h2>FINE ARTS</h2>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>ENGLISH ACADEMIES FOR PAINTING ANTERIOR TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY
+    IN LONDON.</h3>
+    <p>The first attempt to form an academy for the encouragement of the fine arts in
+    this country was made in Great Queen-street, in the year 1697. The laudable design
+    was undertaken by Sir Godfrey Kneller, and by the most respectable artists of the
+    day, who endeavoured to imitate the French Academy founded by Lewis XIV. Their
+    undertaking, however, was wholly without success; jealousies arose among the members,
+    and they were ultimately compelled to relinquish the project as fruitless. Sir James
+    Thornhill, a few years afterwards, commenced an academy in a room he had built for
+    the purpose at the back of his own residence, near Covent-garden theatre; but his
+    attempt, likewise, proved abortive. Notwithstanding these failures, Mr. Vanderbank, a
+    Dutchman, headed a body of artists, and converted an old Presbyterian meeting-house
+    into an academy. Besides plaster figures, Mr. Vanderbank and his associates procured
+    a living female figure for study, which circumstance tended to gain a few
+    subscribers; but, in a very short space of time, for want of money sufficient to
+    defray the necessary expenses, all the effects belonging to the establishment were
+    seized for rent, and the members, in disgust, accordingly separated.</p>
+    <p>On the demise of Sir James Thornhill, in 1734, the celebrated William Hogarth
+    became possessed of part of his property.<a id="footnotetag2"
+    name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> Although much averse to
+    the principles on which academies were generally founded, Mr. Hogarth considered that
+    one conducted wisely would probably be of great advantage to the public, as well as
+    to the artists in general. He, therefore, proposed, that a body of artists should
+    enter into a subscription for the purchase of a house sufficiently large and
+    capacious to admit thirty or forty persons to draw from a naked figure. This
+    proposition being unanimously agreed to, a place was forthwith taken in St.
+    Martin's-lane; and Hogarth, to forward the undertaking as far as he could, lent them
+    the furniture, &amp;c. formerly belonging to Sir James Thornhill's academy.</p>
+    <p>The failure of all preceding attempts to form an academy was attributed by Mr.
+    Hogarth to the principal members assuming too much authority over their brother
+    artists; he, therefore, proposed, that every member should contribute an equal sum of
+    money to the establishment, and should have an equal right to vote on every question
+    relative to the society. He considered electing presidents, directors, and
+    professors, to be a ridiculous imitation of the forms of the French Academy, and
+    liable to create jealousies.<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a
+    href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a> Under Hogarth's guidance, the Academy continued
+    for thirty years, with little alteration, to the high satisfaction of its several
+    members, and the public in general.</p>
+    <p>On ascending the British throne, George III. evinced so much interest for the
+    arts, that most of the members of the academy (though contrary to the wishes of their
+    leader, who possessed a most independent spirit,) solicited the royal patronage to a
+    plan they had in view of establishing an academy for <i>painting, sculpture</i>, and
+    <i>architecture</i>. The success of this appeal is too well known to English readers
+    to need much comment. His majesty was pleased to appropriate those very splendid
+    apartments in Somerset-house for the use of artists, who shortly formed a <i>new</i>
+    society, over which, by his majesty's special command, the great Sir Joshua Reynolds
+    presided.</p>
+    <p>G.W.N.</p>
+    <span class="pagenum"><a id="page67" name="page67"></a>[pg 67]</span>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>VOLCANOES.</h3>
+    <h4>(<i>For the Mirror</i>.)</h4>
+    <p>To describe the awful grandeur and terrific phenomena of volcanic eruptions in an
+    adequate manner, is perhaps beyond the power of language. The number of volcanoes now
+    known is about four hundred; nearly all of them are situated a small distance from
+    the sea, and many appear to have been burning from time immemorial.</p>
+    <p>A certain mixture of sulphur, steel-filings and water, buried a short depth from
+    the ground, will exhibit a kind of miniature volcano; and hence some philosophers
+    have concluded, that in the bowels of burning mountains there are various sorts of
+    bodies which probably ferment by moisture, and being thus expanded, at last produce
+    eruptions and explosions. The mouth or chimney of a burning mountain is, in many
+    instances, upwards of a mile across! from which, in an eruption, are emitted torrents
+    of smoke and flame, rivers of lava, (consisting chiefly of bitumen and melted metal,)
+    and clouds of cinders, stones, &amp;c. to an immense distance. The wonderful quantity
+    of these materials thrown out from the orifice almost exceeds belief; the lava rushes
+    like a fiery torrent at a very rapid pace,&mdash;ravages the labours of agriculture,
+    overthrows houses, and in a few seconds utterly destroys the hopes of hundreds of
+    families&mdash;the toils of hundreds of years. Nothing impedes its awful course; when
+    interrupted by stone walls, or even rocks, it collects in a few moments to the height
+    of eight or ten feet; its immense heat and violent pressure quickly batter down the
+    obstacle, which is literally made rotten by the fire, and the whole mass seems to
+    melt together into the lava, which again continues its progress until exhausted by
+    the distance of its destructive march.</p>
+    <p>An English traveller, who was at Naples during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, on
+    the 10th of September, 1810, thus describes the scene:&mdash;</p>
+    <p>"Curious to witness the volcano as near as possible, I set out for Portici, where
+    I arrived at eight in the evening; from thence to the summit of the mountain the road
+    is long and difficult; having procured a guide about the middle of the distance, we
+    had to climb a mountain of cinders, every step nearly knee-deep; this made it near
+    midnight when we reached the crater, which we approached as near as the heat would
+    permit. The fire of the mountain served us for a beacon, and we set light to our
+    sticks in the lava, which slowly ran through the hollows of the crater. The surface
+    of the inflamed matter nearly resembles metal in a state of fusion, but as it flows
+    it carries a kind of scum, which gradually hardens into scoria and rolls like
+    fire-balls to the bottom of the mountain. We thought ourselves pretty secure in this
+    spot, and had no wish to retire; but shortly a most terrific explosion which launched
+    to an inconceivable height in the air, immense fragments of burning rocks, &amp;c.
+    reminded us of our dangerous situation. We lost not a moment in retreating, and
+    driven on by fear almost with miraculous speed, cleared in about five minutes, a
+    space we had taken two hours to climb; we had hardly gained this spot when a second
+    explosion more terrible, if possible, than the former was heard. The volcano in all
+    its fury vomited forth some thousands of cart-loads of stones and burning lava. As
+    the projection was nearly vertical, the greater part fell back again into the mouth
+    of the mountain and this was again vomited forth as before. On the 11th and 12th, the
+    fury somewhat abated, but on the 13th a fresh eruption commenced, and burning matter
+    flowed down all the sides of the volcano;&mdash;all Vesuvius itself seemed on
+    fire,&mdash;not a vestige of property for miles could be discovered, and thousands of
+    families were ruined."</p>
+    <p>JACOBUS.</p>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>A CHURCHYARD SCENE.</h3>
+    <blockquote class="poetry">
+      How sweet and solemn, all alone,<br />
+      With reverend steps, from stone to stone,<br />
+      In a small village churchyard lying,<br />
+      O'er intervening flowers to move!<br />
+      And as we read the names unknown<br />
+      Of young and old to judgment gone,<br />
+      And hear in the calm air above<br />
+      Time onwards softly flying,<br />
+      To meditate, in Christian love,<br />
+      Upon the dead and dying!<br />
+      Across the silence seem to go<br />
+      With dream-like motion, wavery, slow,<br />
+      And shrouded in their folds of snow,<br />
+      The friends we loved long, long ago!<br />
+      Gliding across the sad retreat,<br />
+      How beautiful their phantom feet!<br />
+      What tenderness is in their eyes,<br />
+      Turned where the poor survivor lies<br />
+      'Mid monitory sanctities!<br />
+      What years of vanished joy are fanned<br />
+      From one uplifting of that hand<br />
+      In its white stillness! when the shade<br />
+      Doth glimmeringly in sunshine fade<br />
+      From our embrace, how dim appears<br />
+      This world's life through a mist of tears!<br />
+      Vain hopes! blind sorrows! needless fears!<br />
+      <br />
+      Such is the scene around me now:<br />
+      A little churchyard on the brow<br />
+      Of a green pastoral hill;<br />
+      Its sylvan village sleeps below,<br />
+      And faintly here is heard the flow<br />
+      Of Woodburn's summer rill;<br />
+      <span class="pagenum"><a id="page68" name="page68"></a>[pg 68]</span>A place where
+      all things mournful meet,<br />
+      And yet the sweetest of the sweet,<br />
+      The stillest of the still!<br />
+      With what a pensive beauty fall<br />
+      Across the mossy, mouldering wall<br />
+      That rose-tree's clustered arches! See<br />
+      The robin-redbreast warily,<br />
+      Bright through the blossoms, leaves his nest:<br />
+      Sweet iugrate! through the winter blest<br />
+      At the firesides of men&mdash;but shy<br />
+      Through all the sunny summer-hours,<br />
+      He hides himself among the flowers<br />
+      In his own wild festivity.<br />
+      What lulling sound, and shadow cool<br />
+      Hangs half the darkened churchyard o'er,<br />
+      From thy green depths so beautiful<br />
+      Thou gorgeous sycamore!<br />
+      Oft hath the holy wine and bread<br />
+      Been blest beneath thy murmuring tent,<br />
+      Where many a bright and hoary head<br />
+      Bowed at that awful sacrament.<br />
+      Now all beneath the turf are laid<br />
+      On which they sat, and sang, and prayed.<br />
+      Above that consecrated tree<br />
+      Ascends the tapering spire, that seems<br />
+      To lift the soul up silently<br />
+      To heaven with all its dreams,<br />
+      While in the belfry, deep and low,<br />
+      From his heaved bosom's purple gleams<br />
+      The dove's continuous murmurs flow,<br />
+      A dirge-like song, half bliss, half woe,<br />
+      The voice so lonely seems!<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <h2>ANECDOTES AND RECOLLECTIONS</h2>
+    <blockquote class="poetry">
+      Notings, selections,<br />
+      Anecdote and joke:<br />
+      Our recollections;<br />
+      With gravities for graver folk.<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>SHERIDAN.</h3>
+    <p>It was at the strongly contested election for Westminster, when Sheridan was
+    opposed by Sir Francis Burdett and Lord Cochrane, that the latter, in allusion to the
+    orator's desire of ameliorating his situation on the poll by endeavouring to blend
+    his cause with that of the baronet, characteristically observed, "that the right
+    honourable gentleman sought to have his <i>little skiff</i> taken <i>in tow</i> by
+    the <i>line of battle ship</i> of Sir Francis." Sheridan, in whom the metaphor had
+    awakened the remembrance of the remarkable and successful influence of his speech in
+    the House of Commons on the occasion of the mutiny at the Nore, in calming the
+    irritation of the rebels and reducing them to obedience, in reply to his lordship,
+    bade him "to recollect that it was that <i>little skiff</i> which once brought the
+    whole navy of England safely into port."</p>
+    <p>The election drew towards its termination, but all the efforts of his friends had
+    proved unavailing to secure Sheridan's return, although his minority was any thing
+    but formidable. The interest that attended the contest had, at its close, become
+    intense; and every spot, whence the candidates might be seen or heard, was crowded in
+    the extreme. A sailor, anxious to acquire a view of the scene of action, after all
+    his exertion to push his way through the crowd had proved fruitless, resorted to the
+    nautical expedient of climbing one of the poles which supported a booth directly in
+    front of the hustings, from the very top of which Jack was enabled to contemplate all
+    that occurred below. As the orator commenced his speech, his eye fell on the elevated
+    mariner, whom he had no sooner observed than he rendered his situation applicable to
+    his own, by stating that "had he but other five hundred voters as <i>upright</i> as
+    the <i>perpendicular</i> gentleman before him, they would yet place him where
+    <i>he</i> was&mdash;<i>at the head of the pole</i>."</p>
+    <p>Often were his addresses to his constituents interrupted by the tumult that arose
+    from the anxiety of the public to get within hearing of him. A person, mounted on
+    horseback, had penetrated to the very centre of the crowd, with more regard for
+    himself than consideration towards others, as the animal he rode, affrighted by the
+    noise, became equally annoying and dangerous to those by whom he was surrounded. The
+    outcry was excessive, and, while some strove to appease the clamour, others urged
+    Sheridan to proceed. "Gentlemen," replied he to the latter, "when the <i>chorus of
+    the horse and his rider</i> is finished, I shall commence."</p>
+    <p>His good humour was at no time disturbed during the election, although the
+    observations of his noble Caledonian opponent manifested no amicable disposition
+    towards the orator. As it terminated, a mutual friend of the rival candidates
+    expressed a hope that, with the contest, all animosity should cease; and that the
+    gallant officer should drown the memory of differences in a friendly bottle. "With
+    all my heart," said Sheridan, "and will thank his lordship to make it <i>a Scotch
+    pint</i>."</p>
+    <br />
+
+    <p>His treatment of Coleridge, the poet, who had submitted a tragedy to his
+    managerial decision, was wholly unmerited by the author, the success of whose piece
+    subsequently so well justified the better claims it had on Sheridan's attention. In
+    the cavern scene, where the silence of the place is presumed to be only broken by the
+    slow dropping of the water from its vault, Sheridan, in reading it to his friends,
+    repeated the words of one of the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page69"
+    name="page69"></a>[pg 69]</span>characters, in a solemn tone, "Drip! drip! drip!"
+    adding, "Why, here's nothing but <i>dripping</i>:" but the story is told by Coleridge
+    himself, in the preface to his tragedy, with that good humour and frankness becoming
+    one sensible of his powers, and conscious that the witty use of an unfortunate
+    expression (were it such) could but little affect the real and numerous beauties of
+    the production.</p>
+    <p>An author, whose comedies, when returned upon his hands, were generally reduced,
+    by the critical amputation of managers, from the fair proportion of five acts to two,
+    or even one, with the ordinary suggestion of "<i>necessary alteration</i>," &amp;c.
+    complained in wrath and bitterness to Sheridan, who, it is said, attempted to console
+    him, by saying, "Why, my good fellow, what I would advise you is, to present a comedy
+    of a <i>score</i> of acts, and the devil will be in it if <i>five</i> be not
+    saved."</p>
+    <br />
+
+    <p>I have heard it said, that, at the first performance of <i>The Critic</i>,
+    Sheridan had adopted, as the representative of Lord Burleigh, an actor whose "looks
+    profound" accorded with his "ignorance;" but who, until then, had only aspired to the
+    livery of the theatre&mdash;the placing of chairs, or the presentation of a letter;
+    yet who, in this humble display of histrionic art, generally contrived to commit some
+    egregious blunder. He was remonstrated with, on his choice, by one of the performers,
+    who demonstrated the excessive dulness of apprehension of <i>the would-be Minister of
+    State</i>; and, like other and recent instances in that capacity, his singular
+    aptitude to error, however simple the part he had to enact, or clear and concise the
+    instructions with which it might be accompanied. As Sheridan had planned the
+    character, the face was every thing, and the lengthened, dull, and inexpressive
+    visage of the subject was too <i>strictly ministerial</i> to be lost; and the author
+    would, as he said, "defy him to go wrong," Still his friend was sceptical; nor were
+    his doubts removed by Sheridan's assuring him that the representative of Lord
+    Burleigh "would have only to look wise, shake his head, and hold his tongue;" and he
+    so far persisted as to lay a bet with the author that some capital blunder would
+    nevertheless occur. The wager was accepted, and, in the fulness of his confidence,
+    Sheridan insisted that the actor should not even rehearse the part, and yet that he
+    should get through with it satisfactorily to the public and himself on the night of
+    the first performance. It came. The arbiter of hopes and fears appeared in all the
+    "bearded majesty" of the age of Elizabeth; and, flattered by the preference of the
+    great author, had carefully conned over the following instructions:&mdash;"Mr.
+    &mdash;&mdash;, as Lord Burleigh, will advance from the prompter's
+    side;&mdash;proceed to the front of the stage;&mdash;fall back to where Mr.
+    G&mdash;&mdash; stands as Sir Christopher Hatton,&mdash;shake his head and exit." The
+    important moment came. With "stately step and slow," Lord Burleigh advanced in face
+    of the audience. "Capital!" exclaimed the gratified author;&mdash;with equal
+    correctness he retreated to the side of Sir Christopher, without <i>literally falling
+    back</i>, which Sheridan had for a moment doubted might be the case. "Good! a lucky
+    escape though." half faltered the anxious poet. "Now! now!" he continued, with eager
+    delight at having got so far so well; but, what was his horror, when his unlucky
+    pupil, instead of shaking his <i>own</i> blundering head, in strict but unfortunate
+    interpretation of his orders, took <i>that</i> of Sir Christopher within his hands,
+    shook it long and manfully, and then walked off with a look of exultation at having
+    so exactly complied with his lesson.&mdash;<i>New Monthly Magazine</i>.</p>
+    <br />
+
+    <h3>WONDERFUL PECULIARITY IN THE ENGLISH CHARACTER!</h3>
+    <p>The French, however wretched may be their condition, are attached to life, while
+    the English frequently detest life in the midst of affluence and splendour. English
+    criminals are not dragged, but run to the place of execution, where they laugh, sing,
+    cut jokes, insult the spectators; <i>and if no hangman happens to be present,
+    frequently hang themselves</i>.&mdash;<i>Memoirs of Lewis Holberg</i>.</p>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>STANZAS.</h3>
+    <h4>BY THE AUTHOR OF "FIELD FLOWERS," &amp;C.</h4>
+    <h4>(<i>For the Mirror</i>.)</h4>
+    <blockquote class="poetry">
+      I smiled, for not a cloud was seen o'er the blue heaven's expanse,<br />
+      As summer's myriad insect tribe led on the winged dance;<br />
+      The gaudy butterfly was there ranging from flower to flower,<br />
+      And by its side the wild bee humm'd amid the woodbine bower.<br />
+      <br />
+      I sighed, for when I looked again the sky was overcast,<br />
+      The summer insect's winged dance was o'er, yet on I past,<br />
+      The gaudy butterfly was gone, the bee away had fled,<br />
+      While on each fairest, brightest flower the wasteful locust fed.<br />
+      <br />
+      Yet e'en this simple scene to youth a moral shall convey,<br />
+      Since thus full oft misfortune's clouds obscure life's summer ray;<br />
+      <span class="pagenum"><a id="page70" name="page70"></a>[pg 70]</span>To-day we
+      smile, for beauty smiles in all her spring-tide bloom&mdash;<br />
+      To-morrow sigh, for beauty's bower has now become her tomb!<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>H. B.</p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <h2>SELECT BIOGRAPHY.</h2>
+    <h4>No. LVI.</h4>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>GILBERT BURNS.</h3>
+    <p>Gilbert Burns was born about the year 1760. He was eighteen months younger than
+    his brother Robert, Scotland's most gifted bard. With him he was early inured to
+    toil, and rendered familiar with the hardships of the peasant's lot; like him, too,
+    he was much subject to occasional depression of spirits, and from whatever cause, he
+    had contracted a similar bend or stoop in the shoulders; his frame, like that of
+    Robert, was cast in a manly and symmetrical mould. The profile of his countenance
+    resembled that of his brother, and their phrenological developments are said to have
+    been not dissimilar; the principal disparity lay in the form and expression of the
+    eye, which in Gilbert was fixed, sagacious, and steady&mdash;in Robert, almost "in a
+    fine frenzy rolling."</p>
+    <p>Gibert Burns was the archetype of his father, a very remarkable man; his piety was
+    equally warm and sincere; and, in all the private relations of life, as an elder of
+    the church, a husband, a father, a master, and a friend, he was preeminent. His
+    writings want that variety, originality, and ease, which shine so conspicuously even
+    in the prose works of the poet; but they have many redeeming points about them. His
+    taste was as pure as his judgment was masculine. He has been heard to say, that the
+    two most pleasurable moments of his life were&mdash;first, when he read Mackenzie's
+    story of La Roche, and secondly, when Robert took him apart, at the breakfast or
+    dinner hour, during harvest, and read to him, while seated on a barley sheaf, his MS.
+    copy of the far-famed Cotter's "Saturday Night."</p>
+    <p>When Robert Burns was invited by Dr. Blacklock to visit Edinburgh, Gilbert was
+    struggling in the unthrifty farm of Mosgiel, and toiling late and early to keep a
+    house over the heads of his aged mother and unprotected sisters. The poet's success
+    was the first thing that stemmed the ebbing tide of his fortunes. On settling with
+    Mr. Creech, in February, 1788, he received, as the profits of his second publication,
+    about 500l.; and, with that generosity which formed a part of his nature, he
+    immediately presented Gilbert with nearly half of his whole wealth. Thus succoured,
+    Gilbert married a Miss Breconridge, and removed to a better farm at Dinning, in
+    Dumfriesshire. While there, he was recommended to Lady Blantyre, whose estates in
+    East Lothian he subsequently managed for nearly a quarter of a century. He died at
+    Grant's Braes, in the neighbourhood of Haddington, on one of the Blantyre farms, on
+    the 8th of April. He had no fixed complaint; but, for several months preceding his
+    dissolution, a gradual decay of nature had been apparent. It is probable that his
+    death was accelerated by severe domestic afflictions; as, on the 4th of January, he
+    lost a daughter, who had long been the pride of his family hearth; and, on the 26th
+    of February following, his youngest son, a youth of great promise, died at Edinburgh,
+    of typhus fever, on the eve of his being licensed for the ministry. Mrs. Burns, who
+    brought him a family of six sons and five daughters, of whom five sons and one
+    daughter are living, survivors.</p>
+    <p>It ought to be mentioned that the two hundred pounds which Robert Burns lent to
+    his brother, in the year 1788, was not repaid till 1820. Gilbert was far from
+    affluent; in early life he had to struggle even for existence; and, therefore, to
+    know that his aged mother and one or two sisters, were properly supported, was, in
+    the poet's eyes, a full acquittance of all claims. The children of Robert viewed the
+    subject in the same light. In 1819, Gilbert Burns was invited by Messrs. Cadell and
+    Davies, to revise a new edition of his brother's works; to supply whatever he found
+    wanting, and correct whatever he thought amiss. He accepted the invitation; and, by
+    appending much valuable matter to the late Dr. Currie's biography, he at once
+    vindicated his brother's memory from many aspersions which had been cast upon it, and
+    established his own credit as an author. On receiving payment for his labour, the
+    first thing he did was, to balance accounts, to the uttermost farthing, with the
+    widow and family of his deceased brother. The letter which accompanied the remittance
+    of the money was, in the highest degree, creditable to his feelings.</p>
+    <p><i>Monthly Magazine</i>.</p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <h2>MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS.</h2>
+    <h4>No. XI.</h4>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>SPORTS OF THE BURMESE.</h3>
+    <p>Shortly after our arrival at Prome we had an opportunity of witnessing some boxing
+    and wrestling matches, exercises <span class="pagenum"><a id="page71"
+    name="page71"></a>[pg 71]</span>which the Burmahs are very fond of, and which they
+    pride themselves much on excelling in. The challenge is given by stepping to the
+    front, and with the right hand slapping the left shoulder, at the same time taunting
+    the opponent in order to excite him; the struggle does not last long, and when ended,
+    no animosity remains between the parties.</p>
+    <p>Another amusement of the Burman youth deserves mentioning on account of its
+    singularity. This is a game at ball, played by six or eight young men, formed in a
+    circle; the ball is hollow, and made of wicker work; and the art of the game consists
+    in striking this upwards with the foot, or the leg below the knee. As may be
+    conceived, no little skill is required to keep the ball constantly in motion; and I
+    have often been much entertained in watching the efforts made by the players to send
+    the ball high in the air, so that it should fall within the limits of the ring, when
+    it is again tossed by the foot of another. The natives of Hindostan are not
+    acquainted with this game, but it is said to be common amongst the Chinese, Japanese,
+    and other nations east of the Ganges. But by far the most favourite amusements of the
+    Burmahs are acting and dancing, accompanied by music, which to my ear appeared very
+    discordant, although occasionally a few rather pleasing notes might be distinguished.
+    The principal instrument used in the Burman bands of music is the kiezoop, which is
+    formed of a number of small gongs, graduated in size and tone on the principle of the
+    harmonica, and suspended in a circular frame about four feet high and five feet wide;
+    within which the performer stands, and extracts a succession of soft tones, by
+    striking on the gongs with two small sticks. Another circular instrument (the
+    boundah) serves as a bass; it contains an equal number of different-sized drums, on
+    which the musician strikes with violence, with a view perhaps to weaken the shrill,
+    discordant notes of a very rude species of flageolet, and of an equally imperfect
+    kind of trumpet, which are usually played with a total disregard of time, tune, or
+    harmony. Two or three other instruments, similar in principle to the violin, complete
+    the orchestra. To Europeans, there was not much to admire in the sounds produced by
+    these instruments; neither did our music appear to have many charms for the Burmahs,
+    whom I have seen present at the performance of some of Rossini's most beautiful airs,
+    and of different martial pieces, by one of our best regimental bands, without
+    expressing, either by their words or gestures, the least satisfaction at what they
+    heard.</p>
+    <p>In condemning, however, the Bunnaa instrumental music generally, I would observe,
+    that some of the vocal airs have a very pleasing effect when accompanied by the
+    Patola. This is an instrument made in the fantastic shape of an alligator; the body
+    of it is hollow, with openings at the back, and three strings only are used, which
+    are supported by a bridge, as in a violin.</p>
+    <p>I chanced one day to meet with a young Burman who had been stone blind from his
+    birth, but who, gifted with great talent for music, used to console himself for his
+    misfortune by playing on this species of guitar, and accompanying his voice. When I
+    expressed a wish to hear him perform, he immediately struck out a most brilliant
+    prelude, and then commenced a song, in a bold tone, the subject of which was a
+    prophecy that had been current at Rangoon before we arrived. It predicted the
+    appearance of numerous strangers at that place, and that two-masted ships would sail
+    up the Irrawaddy, when all trouble and sorrow would cease! Animated by his subject,
+    his voice gradually became bolder and more spirited, as well as his performance, and
+    without any hesitation he sung with much facility two or three stanzas composed
+    extempore.</p>
+    <p>Changing suddenly from the enthusiastic tone, he commenced a soft plaintive
+    love-song, and then, after striking the chords for some time in a wild but masterly
+    manner, retired. I confess I felt much interested in this poor fellow's performance,
+    he seemed so deeply to feel every note he uttered, particularly at one time, when he
+    touched upon his own misfortune, that it appeared Providence, in ordaining he should
+    never see, had endowed him with this "soul-speaking" talent in some measure to
+    indemnify him.</p>
+    <p>The Burmahs, generally speaking, are fond of singing, and, in some instances, I
+    have heard many very good songs. The war-boat song, for example, is remarkably
+    striking. The recitative of the leading songster, and then the swell of voices when
+    the boatmen join in chorus, keeping time with their oars, seemed very beautiful when
+    wafted down the Irrawaddy by the breeze; and the approach of a war-boat might always
+    be known by the sound of the well-known air.</p>
+    <p>I have sometimes heard a trio sung in parts by three young girls, with a
+    correctness of ear and voice which would do credit to others than the self-taught
+    Burmahs. Many little songs, amongst others that commencing "Tekien, Tekien," were
+    composed and sung by the Burman fair in compliment to their new and welcome visiters,
+    the white strangers; but <span class="pagenum"><a id="page72" name="page72"></a>[pg
+    72]</span>these, of course, are long since consigned to oblivion, unless they
+    recollect with pleasure</p>
+    <blockquote class="poetry">
+      &mdash;"The grateful breath of song,<br />
+      That once was heard in happier hours;"<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>for it is very certain that the Bunnahs considered themselves quite happy, when
+    enjoying the transient glimpse of liberty, and the advantages of a just government
+    which were offered them during the short stay of the British army at Prome.</p>
+    <p>The Burman plays do not appear to be remarkable for the number of their
+    <i>dramatis person&aelig;</i>. In most there is a prince, a confidant, a buffoon or
+    two, and a due proportion of female characters, represented by boys dressed in female
+    attire. The dresses are handsome; and in one which I attended, the dialogue appeared
+    to be lively and well supported, as far as I can judge from the roars of laughter
+    which resounded from the Burman part of the audience. One sentimental scene, in which
+    the loving prince takes leave of his mistress, and another where, after much weeping
+    and flirtation, she throws herself into his arms, were sufficiently intelligible to
+    us; but some, in which the jokes of the clown formed the leading feature, were quite
+    lost upon those who did not understand the language. The place chosen for the
+    representation was a spot of ground outside of our houses, the heat being very great;
+    and here a circle was formed of carpets and chairs, lighted by torches dipped in
+    petroleum, which threw a brilliant flare around, though accompanied by a most
+    unpleasant odour.</p>
+    <p>Dancing succeeded, and one or two young women were the performers; like the
+    Hindostanee Nautch, it merely consisted in throwing the body and arms into numerous
+    graceful and rather voluptuous postures; at the same time advancing slowly, with a
+    short steady step, and occasionally changing it for a more lively figure.</p>
+    <p>All this time the drums, cymbals, and clarionets were unceasing in their
+    discordant sounds, and, before long, fairly drove me from the field.</p>
+    <p><i>Two Years in Ava.</i></p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <h2>THE NOVELIST.</h2>
+    <h4>No. CVI.</h4>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>ROSALIE BERTON.</h3>
+    <p>While passing some time in the south of France, I spent a few days at
+    S&mdash;&mdash;, a town on the banks of the Loire, situated in that province, which,
+    from its fertility and beauty, is usually designated the garden of France.</p>
+    <p>S&mdash;&mdash;, I had been informed, was a place famed alike for its vineyards
+    and its pretty girls, a coincidence certainly natural, since it fairly may be
+    supposed, that the sun which ripens the richest fruit in nature, should alike mature
+    its sweetest flowers, and perfect the beauties and the charms of that sex, which is
+    literally "like the fair flower in its lustre." As the friend, by whom I was
+    accompanied, was well known in the place, we were soon introduced to a circle of
+    respectable families; and among others, to that of Berton, consisting of the father,
+    mother, and daughter.</p>
+    <p>Rosalie Berton was the <i>belle</i> of S&mdash;&mdash;, or to borrow the far
+    prettier French phrase, she was "<i>la perle de ville</i>." And a sweet and lovely
+    girl she was, as ever the eye of affection hailed with delight. Her charms had
+    something of a peculiar style and character; for, with the bright black eyes, and
+    fine dark hair of the south, were united the fair complexion and delicately tinted
+    cheek of a northern beauty. Her face was of a somewhat more pensive turn than usual,
+    and her meek, mild features, and soft dark eyes, bore traces of tender feeling and of
+    gentle thought; while so expressive was her countenance, that it responded, at will,
+    to her feelings, and the eye and the cheek which were one moment impressed with
+    melancholy, beamed forth the next with all the warmth of intelligence, affection, or
+    delight. Her accomplishments were really of a superior kind; she walked with more
+    than the usual elegance of her country-women, and danced with equal animation and
+    grace. But her most attractive charm consisted in her voice, which, though not
+    particularly powerful, had a sweetness and a melody which were perfectly delightful;
+    so that never methinks have I heard a softer strain, than when that fair girl was
+    wont to sing to her guitar the simple ballads and sweet romances of her native land.
+    And her musical talents were enhanced by her gentle, complying disposition, and by
+    the readiness with which she obeyed every call on her exertions. From her
+    music-master, who was a native of Italy, she also learnt Italian, which she spoke
+    with more fluency and correctness than is usual among the French; she drew, moreover,
+    with considerable taste. So affectionate and so amiable was she, that she deserved
+    all the encomiums of her friends and even their hyperbolical compliments were
+    scarcely extravagant when applied to her. She was literally "<i>douce comme un ange,
+    jolie comme les amours;</i>" and, as the <i>ne plus ultra</i> of merit in France, she
+    was "<i>tout a fait gentille</i>." She possessed also, considerable <span
+    class="pagenum"><a id="page73" name="page73"></a>[pg 73]</span>dramatic skill and
+    tact, and would, I think, have proved a delightful acquisition to the stage, from the
+    skill she displayed in those little playful scenes, with which the French delight to
+    embellish life.</p>
+    <p>We were favoured with a specimen of her talents in this way, on the evening of our
+    arrival. It was the f&ecirc;te day of madame, the mother of Louise, and we were
+    invited to be present. After some time passed in taking refreshments, varied by
+    dancing, conversation, &amp;c., the little ceremony of the evening commenced; the
+    door opened, and a small but gay procession entered the room. It consisted of several
+    young persons, all friends of the family, headed by Louise, who was charmingly
+    dressed, and looked altogether most lovely. She bore her guitar across her bosom, and
+    the instrument was encircled with a wreath of flowers. Each individual carried some
+    little offering, such as bottles of wine and liqueurs, conserves and sweetmeats,
+    flowers and fruit, &amp;c. &amp;c.; and these were placed on the table, the whole
+    group forming a circle round Rosalie, who advanced to her mother, and sang to the
+    guitar the well-known verses consecrated to such occasions.</p>
+    <blockquote class="poetry">
+      Madame c'est aujourdhui votre fete,<br />
+      C'est aussi celle de nos coeurs;<br />
+      A vous chanter chacun s'apprete!<br />
+      Et veut vous courouner de fleurs!<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>The lovely girl then loosed the garland from her lyre, placed it with light hand
+    on the brow of her mother, and sank in a graceful bending attitude to receive her
+    parent's blessing. She was instantly raised, fondly embraced by both her admiring
+    parents, and with a repetition of the song, the whole party left the room. The scene
+    is long past, but I have often recalled it since; and in many an hour of fancy and of
+    thought, have again beheld that fair girl kneeling to her mother, again beheld her
+    clasped to that mother's heart. Nor was the above the only instance of her skill,
+    every day presented some fresh instance of her feeling and of taste.</p>
+    <p>A <i>plaisanterie</i>, which proved very successful, was arranged as
+    follows:&mdash;We were sitting one evening up stairs, when we were attracted by the
+    performance of three musicians, who were singing in the <i>cour</i>. The party
+    consisted of two young men, and a female, who wore a veil; they accompanied their
+    songs by playing on the guitar; their performance was evidently of a superior
+    character; the music and the words were Italian, and the voice of the female
+    performer was eminently sweet and touching. After listening some time with great
+    delight&mdash;</p>
+    <p>"Go," said I to one of the party, "find Rosalie, and tell her to come and listen
+    to a better singer than herself, who will give her a <i>lecon de chant</i>."</p>
+    <p>This was said in the hearing of the foreign songstress, for whom it was intended
+    as a compliment, while, at the same time, some silver was thrown upon the ground. But
+    what was our surprise, when the lovely girl threw aside her veil,
+    exclaiming&mdash;</p>
+    <blockquote>
+      "He! bien messieurs et dames! vous ne connaissez donc plus votre pauvre Rosalie!"
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>Such was one of many pleasantries by which we were diverted and amused. Idle
+    fancies these indeed, and such as sterner judgments may deem trifling or absurd, yet
+    not uninteresting, since many of them evidently afford vestiges of classic times and
+    manners, transmitted through the course of ages; nor unuseful, since they tend to
+    smooth and adorn the rugged way of life, and to strew its flinty path with
+    flowers.</p>
+    <p>With the charms and accomplishments which I have described, (and the sketch can
+    convey but a faint idea of those which she actually possessed,) it cannot be supposed
+    that Rosalie was destitute of admirers. She had, indeed, had several, but their suits
+    were all unsuccessful. She had been addressed in turn by the <i>medecin</i> of the
+    place&mdash;by the son of the President of the Tribunal du Commerce&mdash;and by a
+    nephew to a Monsieur de V&mdash;&mdash;, the seigneur who resided at a neighbouring
+    ch&acirc;teau. But they were all, more or less, improper characters; the
+    <i>medecin</i> was a gamester; the president's son a drunkard, a character utterly
+    despised in these parts; while the nephew to the seigneur, was actually a <i>mauvais
+    sujet</i>! What the French precisely understand by a <i>mauvais sujet</i>, I never
+    could exactly make out; for, when impelled by curiosity to inquire, my queries were
+    always met by such a volley of vituperation, as left one altogether in the dark with
+    regard to the real nature of the charge. On the whole, I presume, we are to consider
+    a <i>mauvais sujet</i> as a culprit, compared with whose transgressions, the several
+    enormities of gaming, drinking, and the like, sink into mere peccadilloes.</p>
+    <p>The parents of Rosalie (the parents settle all these matters in France), on
+    learning the character of their intended sons-in-law, dismissed them one after the
+    other; and Rosalie acquiesced in their determination with a readiness and a decision,
+    which did equal honour to her affection and her judgment.</p>
+    <p>So interesting a girl, however, was not likely to remain long without a suitable
+    <span class="pagenum"><a id="page74" name="page74"></a>[pg 74]</span>admirer, and she
+    speedily had another <i>affaire du coeur</i>. A young and handsome <i>militaire</i>,
+    a sous-lieutenant in the royal guard, aspired to gain her hand, and to replace the
+    vacancy in her affections.</p>
+    <p>Henri Vaucouleurs was a fine, tall, dark, martial-looking young man (the French
+    make fine-looking soldiers), and, with his luxuriant mustachios and the eager glance
+    of his keen black eye, seemed the very <i>beau ideal</i> of a modern hero. Born at
+    Mezieres, in the department of Ardennes, he was cradled in the very lap of war, and
+    was yet a mere boy; when, in the summer of 1813, he joined the corps called the
+    <i>garde d'honneur</i>. He made the campaign of Germany, and was present in the
+    battles of Leipzig and of Hanau, in the last of which he received a ball in the right
+    arm. He shortly, however, resumed his post with the army assembled for the defence of
+    France, and at the battle of Laon received a severe <i>coup de sabre</i> on his
+    forehead, the scar of which added much to the martial aspect of his countenance. At
+    the peace he joined the royal guard, in which corps he still continued. He was really
+    a very estimable and engaging young man; and possessed more candour, intelligence,
+    and good sense, than I think I ever witnessed in a military man among the French. His
+    account of his campaigns was exceedingly modest, unaffected, and intelligent, and his
+    whole conversation and manner were of a superior character. I remember, he spoke with
+    great forbearance of the three principal nations among the allies, the Russians,
+    Prussians, and Austrians; but inveighed, bitterly, against several of the
+    auxiliaries, who, he said, having received only benefits of the French emperor,
+    embraced the first opportunity offered by a reverse of fortune, to desert and betray
+    him. Of Napoleon, he spoke with enthusiasm as a soldier; but with detestation, as an
+    intoxicated and deluded tyrant, a rash and desperate gamester, who sent forth his
+    attached and devoted soldiers, to be devoured by the destroying elements, without
+    provision, or scarcely a thought for their natural and indispensable wants.</p>
+    <p>Such were the character and pretensions of him who was destined to gain the
+    affections of Rosalie. At first, he seemed to have but little chance of success. Old
+    people commonly entertain a prejudice against the character and profession of
+    military men, and are seldom ambitious of such an alliance for a daughter. The
+    parents of Rosalie were prepossessed against Henri on account of his calling; and,
+    though Rosalie herself early entertained an interest in his favour, yet she was too
+    good and too <i>sage</i> to cherish in herself, or to encourage in her lover, an
+    attachment which her parents might disapprove. Henri was, however, admitted as a
+    visiter at the house, and by degrees his amiable manners and correct deportment won,
+    first on the old lady, and then on the father, till their scruples vanished, and,
+    indeed, they wondered they could ever have entertained any against so estimable a
+    young man and an officer. He was thus speedily received as the lover of Rosalie, and
+    about the time of my visit was installed in all the privileges of a <i>bon ami</i>.
+    He was equally accomplished with herself; spoke German fluently, Italian passably
+    well, and was an excellent performer on the flute and the guitar; so that he was a
+    fit companion for his charming intended, and was able to assist in those refined and
+    elegant recreations, in which she also excelled.</p>
+    <p><i>(To be concluded in our next.)</i></p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <h2>SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS</h2>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>DOZING.</h3>
+    <blockquote class="poetry">
+      "Dozing very much delights."
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>Our corporeal machinery requires an occasional relaxation, as much as the steam
+    engine does the application of oil to its divers springs; and, after a <i>bon&acirc;
+    fide</i> slumber, we rise with a freshness equal to that of flowers in the best
+    regulated flower-pots. But dozing must not be confounded with legitimate sleep,
+    though frequently tending to the same purpose; it may be termed an embryo slumber,
+    that entertaineth the body with the most quiescent gentleness, acting on our senses
+    as a sort of mental warm bath; till, finally, the "material man" himself luxuriates
+    in tepidity.</p>
+    <p>Nothing can be more ungodly than to enter the church with an express purpose of
+    dozing there. Arm-chairs, sofas, and beds are the legitimate places for dozers. But
+    there is no accounting for that conquering spirit of all-besetting drowsiness that
+    attacks us at sundry times and places. It is in vain that we lengthen our limbs into
+    an awakening stretch&mdash;that we yawn with the expressive suavity of yawning no
+    more&mdash;that we dislocate our knuckle bones, and ruffle the symmetry of our
+    visage, with a manual application; like the cleft blaze of a candle, drowsiness
+    returns again. Well, then, what manner of reader is he that hath never sinned by
+    drowsing in church time? Let him read <span class="pagenum"><a id="page75"
+    name="page75"></a>[pg 75]</span>on; and I'll realize by description what he has
+    realized by endurance.</p>
+    <p>It is after the embodying of a good dinner with ourselves, that doziness is most
+    tempting. You have dined at four o'clock to-day. Well, that's a decent Sabbatical
+    hour. After due potations of wine, coffee, &amp;c. your gratitude is awakened; and,
+    like a good Christian, you arrange your beaver, and walk off steadily to church. Now,
+    remember, I give you full credit for your wish to exhibit your external
+    holiness&mdash;that you are indeed conscious of the reverence that should accompany
+    all your engagements in the fane of the Deity; and yet I prognosticate that if the
+    Rev. Nabob Narcotic happen to preach this evening, you will, of a surety,
+    doze&mdash;infallibly doze&mdash;in the midst of his sermon!</p>
+    <p>'Tis a summer month, and the very church windows seem labouring with a fit
+    perspiration. Horribly boring&mdash;isn't it? How your hat clings to your moistened
+    forehead, and the warm gloves droop from your fingers, like roasting chicken! Get as
+    much room as possible; tenderly pass little miss there, and her unbreeched brother,
+    over to their smiling mamma. Now you have the balmy corner to yourself! "Psalms,"
+    first lesson&mdash;second ditto&mdash;prayers&mdash;thanksgivings&mdash;all
+    reverently attended to; there is a little dreaminess settling on your lids&mdash;your
+    lips begin to close with languor; but you have not dozed. Let's hear the sermon. You
+    are seated with tolerable erectness; and, judging from the steady determination of
+    your eyebrows, one would imagine that your eyes would be open for the whole of the
+    discourse. But, alas! 'tis Mr. Narcotic, whose spectacled nose is just verging above
+    the crimson horizon of his pulpit.&mdash;"Awake, thou that sleepest!" Why, the text
+    is quite opposed to DOZINESS! But what of this, if the preacher be addicted to
+    drawling, the weather unobligingly sultry, and you yourself have gradually been
+    dwindling from an uncongenial state of wakefulness into a sleepy calm? 'Tis too much
+    for beldame Nature, believe me!</p>
+    <p>I perceive that you have rubbed the bridge of your nose several times&mdash;that
+    you have tried to swell forth your eyes with a full round stare at the parson; but
+    your stoicism "profiteth nothing." The sermon is irreligiously long; and you are
+    nodding&mdash;in a doze! Whether there be much pleasure in a church doze, I am not
+    presuming enough to determine. For myself, I have found nothing more tantalizing than
+    the endeavour to restrain from an occasioned doze during church time. After a certain
+    period, I have perceived the parson diminishing, like a phantasmagoric
+    image&mdash;all the ladies' black bonnets sinking away, like a cluster of
+    clouds&mdash;and (shame on the confession!) I have performed head worship to the
+    front of my seat, instead of keeping an immovable post-like position, before his
+    reverence. However, a church doze is seldom admired by the wakeful. Should an embryo
+    snore escape from one's nose (and this is possible,) some old grandam, or an upright
+    piece of masculine sanctity, is sure to rouse you; the former will either <i>hem</i>
+    you into awakening shame, or drop her prayer-book on the floor; the latter will most
+    likely thump the same with the imperative tip of his boot. How horridly stupid one
+    seems after being aroused! The woman eyes you with the most piquant, self-justifying
+    sneer possible; while all her little IMMACULATES, if she have any, look at you like
+    so many hissing young turkey cocks; and as for the man&mdash;bless his
+    holiness!&mdash;he'd frown you down to Hades at once.</p>
+    <p>"My heart leaps up" when I behold a stage coach&mdash;that snug, panel painted,
+    comfortable wheel-whirling "thing of life." O ye days of juvenilian
+    sensibilities&mdash;ye eye-feeding, heart-rising scenes of remembered
+    felicity!&mdash;how glorious was the coach at the school door! The whip&mdash;Ajax
+    <i>Mastigoferos</i> never had such a powerful one as the modern Jehu! The spokes of
+    the wheels&mdash;they were handled with admiring fingers! That Jupiter-like throne,
+    the coach-box&mdash;who would not have risked his neck to have been seated on it?
+    When all was "right," how eloquent the lip-music of coachee! how fine the
+    introductory frisks of the horses' tails, and the arching plunge of the
+    fore-foot&mdash;no rainbow-curve ever was so beauteous! "Oh, happy days! who would
+    not be a boy again?" But away with my puerilities. I intend the reader to take a doze
+    in that comfortable repository for the person&mdash;the inside of a coach.</p>
+    <p>With all the reckless simplicity of boyhood, I maintain that travelling by coach
+    is by no means the least of our sublunary pleasures. Man is a <i>wheelable</i> animal
+    as well as walking one. Winter is the time for a nice inside jaunt. What divine
+    evaporations from the coachman's muzzle! What a joyous creak in the down-flying
+    steps!&mdash;and, oh! that comfortable alertness with which we deposit ourselves in
+    the padded corner, and fold our coatflaps over our knees, glance at the frosty steam
+    of the window; and then, quite <i>&agrave; la Tityre</i>, repose our recumbent bodies
+    at our ease! Such moments as these are snatches of indefinable <span
+    class="pagenum"><a id="page76" name="page76"></a>[pg 76]</span>bliss. It would appear
+    probable, that a coach was a very inconvenient place for a doze; the attendant
+    bustle, the whip-smacks, bickering wheels, and untranquillizing jolts&mdash;</p>
+    <blockquote class="poetry">
+      "Like angels' visits, few and far between,"&mdash;<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>are not calculated for sleepiness. Notwithstanding these correlative
+    interruptions, a doze in the coach is by no means uncommon, even in the daytime. Let
+    us examine this a little more intellectually.</p>
+    <p>Suppose a man is returning to his friends, with a mind composed, and "all his
+    business settled." (By-the-by, how vastly comprehensive this speech is!) Suppose he
+    has entered the coach about four in the afternoon, and, by rare luck, finds he is,
+    for the present, the only inside passenger. Such a man, I say, will be likely to doze
+    before twenty miles have run under the coach-wheels&mdash;speaking
+    <i>Hibernic&egrave;</i>. For the last half-hour, he will be thinking of
+    himself&mdash;how many commissions he has performed&mdash;how many he has left
+    undone&mdash;and how many he intends to do. The next, he will probably give to his
+    home attractions&mdash;his anxious wife, sat musingly round the tea-table&mdash;his
+    favourite son George (so like his father)&mdash;and all the nine hundred and
+    ninety-nine pretty nothings we hear of, after a brief absence. These will send his
+    heart a long way from the coach, and therefore keep him in the full enjoyment of
+    wakefulness. But this train of delectable musing is by no means exhaustless. The roll
+    of the wheels gradually becomes naturalized to the ear, and the body moves in
+    sympathy with the coach; the road gets very monotonously barren; the lounge in the
+    corner&mdash;how suitable then to this solitary languor! Lulled here, the traveller
+    for awhile admires the leathern trappings of the coach, hums a tune perhaps, and
+    affects a dubious whistle. Meantime the operations of <i>doziness</i> have been
+    gently applying themselves. His eye is sated with the road and the coach; his hands
+    become stationary on his lap; his feet supinely rested on the opposite seat; his head
+    instinctively motions to the corner&mdash;and he dozes! A doze in the coach is the
+    flower of dozes, when you are alone. There, you may twist your person into any shape
+    you please, without the fear of discomposing a silken dress, or a nursemaid's
+    petticoats. No boisterous arguments from snuff-taking sexagenarians: all is placid
+    &mdash;Eden-like&mdash;just as a dozer's <i>sanctorum</i> ought to be! The only thing
+    attendant on the doze of an inside passenger, is the great chance of being suddenly
+    aroused by the entrance of company. O tell me, ye of the fine nerve, what is more
+    vexing than to be startled from your nest by the creaking slam of the steps, the
+    bleak winter gales galloping along your face, and a whole bundle of human beings
+    pushing themselves into your retreat! There is no rose without its thorn, as myriads
+    have said before me:&mdash;</p>
+    <blockquote>
+      &mdash;&mdash;"O beate Sexti,<br />
+      Vit&aelig; summa brevis SPEM nos vetat inchoare LONGAM!"<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>Not all the morose sarcasms of Johnson, on the pleasures of rural life, have ever
+    weakened my capability for enjoying it at convenient intervals. His antipathy to the
+    country resembled his contempt for blank-verse&mdash;<i>he</i> could not enjoy it. I
+    have now moped away a considerable number of months in this city of all
+    things&mdash;this&mdash;this London. "Well?" Pray restrain yourself, reader; I am
+    coming to the point in due season. During my metropolitan existence&mdash;although I
+    am neither a tailor, nor any trade, nor anything exactly&mdash;I have never beheld a
+    downright intellectual-looking blade of grass. I mean much by an intellectual blade
+    of grass. The Londoners&mdash;poor conceited creatures!&mdash;have denominated sundry
+    portions of their Babylon "fields." But&mdash;I ask it in all the honest pride of
+    sheer ignorance&mdash;is there the ghost even of a bit of grass to be seen in many of
+    them? I cannot easily forget my vexation, when, after a tedious walk to one of those
+    misnomered "fields," I found nothing but a weather-beaten, muggy, smoky assemblage of
+    houses of all sizes, circumscribed by appropriate filth and abundant cabbage-stumps.
+    Innocent of London quackeries, I strolled forth with the full hope of laying me down
+    on a velvet carpet of grass&mdash;the birds carolling around me&mdash;and, perchance,
+    a flock of lambkins, tunefully baying to their mammas!! "Said I to myself," when I
+    reached these fields, "what a fool I am!" I had contemplated a doze on the grass.</p>
+    <p>But leaving all thoughts of disappointment, who will not allow that there is
+    something exceedingly delightful in dozing calmly beneath the shade of an
+    o'er-arching tree?</p>
+    <blockquote>
+      &mdash;&mdash;"recubans sub tegmine fagi."<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>Of course, the weather should be fine, to admit of this luxurious idleness. Let
+    the blue-bosomed clouds be sailing along, like Peter Bell's boat; let the sunbeams be
+    gilding the face of nature, and tinging the landscape with multiform hues; let the
+    breezes be gentle, the spot retired, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page77"
+    name="page77"></a>[pg 77]</span>and the heart at ease. Now, go and stretch yourself
+    on the grassy couch, while the branches of an aged tree shadow forth the imaged
+    leaves around you. What a congenial situation for philosophy&mdash;under an old tree,
+    on a sunny summer day! How much more becoming than the immortal tub of the
+    sour-minded Diogenes? Who will be able to refrain from philosophizing. I repeat it,
+    beneath such an old tree? 'Tis at such times that the heart spontaneously unbends
+    itself&mdash;that the fancy tranquillizes its thoughts&mdash;and that memory awakens
+    her</p>
+    <blockquote>
+      &mdash;&mdash;"treasured pictures of a thousand scenes."<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>Place the palms of your hands beneath your pole, and survey the skies!&mdash;calm,
+    beautifully unconscious! By-gone times, and by-gone friends&mdash;the thousand
+    commingling scenes of varied life&mdash;how they all recur to you now! You fancy you
+    could lie beneath the tree for eternity&mdash;so soothing is the employment of doing
+    nothing&mdash;or field philosophy! Yet, to speak correctly, you are doing a great
+    deal; your imagination is flying in all directions&mdash;from the death of Caesar to
+    the last cup of Congou that you took with a regretted friend. What a mystery your
+    existence is! The world turns round as gently as ever; the flowers bud into life; and
+    the winter nips them. Man lives, thinks, and dies. All very wondrous truisms. Well,
+    after a half-hour&mdash;or perchance more&mdash;you will be gradually relapsing into
+    a state of soporific nothing-at-all-ness (the best word I can find to express my
+    meaning.) May there be some clear little stream just behind you, laughing along its
+    idle way;&mdash;some chirping birds, singing their roundelay&mdash;some buzzing
+    flies&mdash;you will then be lulled into doziness. However, with or without the
+    purling murmur of the brook&mdash;the joyous warbling of the birds&mdash;the busy
+    bustling flies&mdash;you will not be able to resist the dozing temptations that will
+    steal over you. Your eyes will close gently as flower-leaflets&mdash;your thoughts
+    die away in a heavenly confusion&mdash;and then you doze!&mdash;neither sleeping nor
+    waking, but absolved in delicious dreaminess! O, for such a doze!&mdash;<i>Monthly
+    Magazine</i>.</p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <h2>THE SELECTOR,<br />
+    AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS.</h2>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>THE CHINESE ALMANAC.</h3>
+    <p>Notwithstanding the aversion of the Chinese to the profession of the Roman
+    Catholic religion, which has been shown, first by persecuting, and then by expelling
+    the Jesuits from the empire, the Chinese government is, however, obliged to keep at
+    least some missionaries at Pekin to compile the almanac. While astrology has led in
+    other nations to the study of astronomy, the Chinese, though they have studied
+    astrology for some thousand years, have made no progress in the real knowledge of the
+    stars. Their ancient boasted observations, and the instruments which they make use
+    of, were brought by the learned men, whom Koubila&iuml;, the grandson of Gingis Khan,
+    had invited from Balk and Samarcand. The government, at present, considers the
+    publication of an annual calendar of the first importance and utility. It must do
+    every thing in its power, not only to point out to its numerous subjects the
+    distribution of the seasons, the knowledge of which is essentially necessary to them,
+    to arrange the manner of gaining their livelihood, and distributing their labour; but
+    on account of the general superstition, it must mark in the almanac, the lucky and
+    unlucky days, the best days for being married, for undertaking a journey, for making
+    their dresses, for buying, or building, for presenting petitions to the emperor, and
+    for many other cases of ordinary life. By this means, the government keeps the people
+    within the limits of humble obedience; it is for this reason that the emperors of
+    China established the academy of astronomy, but we must not expect to find men really
+    acquainted with that science. When this illustrious body, composed of Mantchoos, and
+    in which Europeans, though subordinate, are the most active, condescended to look at
+    the planetarium, which was among the presents which the king of England sent to the
+    emperor of China by lord Macartney, Mr. Barrow was not able to make the president of
+    this learned society understand the real merit of that instrument. Besides, how
+    should a people be able to comprehend astronomy, to know the position of the heavenly
+    bodies, and determine the orbits of the planets, while it is ignorant of the elements
+    of mathematics, and makes its calculations by the help of vertical arithmetical
+    tables, like those used by the shop-keepers in Russia, and who are ignorant both of
+    analysis and geometry?&mdash;<i>Timkowski's Mission to China</i>.</p>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>COMPARISON OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH.</h3>
+    <p>The following are points of comparison which may be remarked in the characters
+    <span class="pagenum"><a id="page78" name="page78"></a>[pg 78]</span>of the French
+    and English. The French are great talkers, the English great thinkers; the former
+    excel in vivacity, the latter in solidity of intellect. The French dress with
+    splendour, the English with neatness; the French live almost exclusively on bread,
+    the English on meat. Both are passionate; but it is the blood which rouses the
+    passion of a Frenchman, and the bile which exasperates an Englishman. The anger of a
+    Frenchman is more violent, that of an Englishman more pertinacious. A Frenchman
+    spends his money on his clothes, an Englishman on his belly. A Frenchman follows the
+    stream, an Englishman delights in struggling against it. The friendships of the
+    French are quickly formed, and as quickly dissolved; those of the English are formed
+    slowly, and as slowly relinquished. The French respect their superiors, the English
+    respect themselves; the former are better citizens, the latter better men. The mental
+    endowments of the French are of a more refined, those of the English of a loftier,
+    character. The French practise virtue for the sake of reputation, and seek the reward
+    of meritorious actions in popular applause; the English practise it for its own sake,
+    and seek no reward but that which springs from the consciousness of rectitude. There
+    is the same relative difference in their vices as in their virtues. Both commit
+    crimes; the French from the love of gain, the desire of vengeance or similar motives;
+    but the English are often criminal for the mere sake of committing crime. The French,
+    like the people of other countries, often commit crimes in the hope of escaping
+    punishment, but the English frequently commit crimes because they know they cannot
+    escape unpunished; so that the very severity of the law, which deters others from
+    crime, often operates as an additional stimulus on the English for the commission of
+    offences, "I would commit this offence," exclaims the Frenchman, "if the law
+    permitted it." "I would not commit this offence, if it were not prohibited by law,"
+    is frequently the language of the Englishman.&mdash;<i>Memoirs of Lewis
+    Holberg</i>.</p>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>LEAVES AND FLOWERS, OR THE LOVER'S WREATH.</h3>
+    <blockquote class="poetry">
+      With tender vine-leaves wreathe thy brow,<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;And I shall fancy that I see,<br />
+      In the bright eye that laughs below,<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;The dark grape on its parent tree.<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 'Tis but a whim&mdash;but, oh! entwine<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Thy brow with this green wreath of mine.<br />
+      <br />
+      Weave of the clover-leaves a wreath,<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;Fresh sparkling with a summer-shower,<br />
+      And I shall, in my fair one's breath,<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;Find the soft fragrance of the flower.<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 'Tis but a whim&mdash;but, oh! do thou<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Twine the dark leaves around thy brow.<br />
+      <br />
+      Oh, let sweet-leaved geranium be<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;Entwined amidst thy clustering hair,<br />
+      Whilst thy red lips shall paint to me,<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;How bright its scarlet blossoms are.<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 'Tis but a whim&mdash;but, oh! do thou<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Crown with my wreath thy blushing brow.<br />
+      <br />
+      Oh, twine young rose-leaves round thy head,<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;And I shall deem the flowers are there,&mdash;<br />
+      The red rose on thy rich cheek spread,<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;The white upon thy forehead fair.<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 'Tis but a whim&mdash;but, oh! entwine<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; My wreath round that dear brow of thine.<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <p><i>The Draught of Immortality, &amp;c.</i></p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <h2>ARTS AND SCIENCE</h2>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>FLATTENING OF THE EARTH.</h3>
+    <p>At the Academy of Sciences at Paris, a memoir was read by Captain Duperrey, on the
+    experiments made with the invariable pendulum, during the voyage of the
+    <i>Coquille</i> round the world. He states that various experiments confirmed the
+    fact of the flattening of the terrestrial globe, conjectured by several travellers,
+    who had remarked that the number of oscillations which the pendulum made at certain
+    places, differed from what had been observed in the extent of the same parallel. The
+    principal anomalies observed by Captain Duperrey were at the Isle of France, Mons,
+    Guam, and the Island of Ascension. At the Isle of France, the invariable pendulum (as
+    had been remarked by M. Freycinet) made in one day, upon an average, thirteen or
+    fourteen oscillations more than it ought, supposing the depression to be 1.305,
+    according to the lunar theory. At Ascension, the acceleration, as noticed by Captain
+    Sabine, was five or six oscillations, even supposing the depression to be 1.228. At
+    other stations the difference was almost nothing; and in some, the motion of the
+    pendulum was retarded. Such differences, Captain Duperry remarks, between the results
+    of experiment and those given by theory, cannot be attributed to errors of
+    observation. He is disposed to refer the cause of the phenomena, with Captain Sabine,
+    to the want of homogeneousness in the earth, considered as a mass, or to the mere
+    variations of density in the superficial strata. What tends to confirm this
+    hypothesis, he says, is, that all observations show that an acceleration of the
+    pendulum generally takes place on volcanic ground <span class="pagenum"><a
+    id="page79" name="page79"></a>[pg 79]</span>and a retardation on such as is sandy and
+    argillaceous. A very important question to ascertain is, whether the flattening is
+    exactly the same in both hemispheres. From the observations of Captains Duperrey and
+    Freycinet, it appears that in the southern hemisphere it is 1.291, and in the
+    northern 1.288; that is to say, it is sensibly the same, or 1.290 in both.</p>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>HABITS OF PLANTS.</h3>
+    <p>The following curious observations on the habits of plants, were made by General
+    Walker, in his address to the Agricultural Society of St. Helena, in February
+    last:&mdash;"The functions of plants, as well as of animals, depend upon the air in
+    which they live. I have observed that those of St. Helena, which have been brought
+    from another hemisphere, are very irregular in their annual progress; many of them,
+    in the development of their foliage, have adopted the law of nature peculiar to the
+    country into which they have been transplanted. Others, more obstinate, remain
+    faithful to their own habits, and continue to follow the stated changes to which they
+    had been accustomed. They all appear to maintain a struggle either before they adopt
+    the habits which belong to the seasons of their new country, or decide on retaining
+    their relations with the old. In yielding to external circumstances, they appear to
+    have different tempers. This appearance of contention is often observed in plants of
+    the same species; they seem to hesitate and deliberate, ere they adopt the mode of
+    performing the functions of life. At length when the decision is made, apparently not
+    without pain and effort, we are at a loss to discover an adequate cause. An oak, for
+    instance, which loses its leaves in a St. Helena winter of 68 degrees, scarcely
+    experiences the difference of temperature, which, reasoning by analogy, could cause
+    that change. It would have continued to maintain inflexibility, in its original
+    climate, its old habits, though exposed to far greater irregularity and severity of
+    climate. But though the law is obeyed by many plants, it does not determine the
+    periodical changes of the whole, nor do they all submit to it with equal readiness
+    and regularity. It would add, I conceive, to the natural history of vegetation, and
+    improve our knowledge of the geography of plants, were the facts concerning their
+    habits and changes, under different temperatures, carefully collected."</p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <h2>MISCELLANIES.</h2>
+    <hr />
+    <h3>HUMAN CREDULITY.</h3>
+    <p>The wonderful miracles wrought by Bridget Bostock, of Cheshire, who healed all
+    diseases by prayer, faith, and an embrocation of fasting spittle, induced multitudes
+    to resort to her from all parts of the country, and kept her salival glands in full
+    employ. Sir John Pryce, with a high spirit of enthusiasm, wrote to this woman to make
+    him a visit at Newton Hall, in order to restore to him his third, a favourite, wife.
+    His letter will best tell the foundation on which he built his strange hope, and
+    every uncommon request.</p>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p><i>To Mrs. Bridget Bostock.</i></p>
+      <p>Madam,&mdash;Having received information, by repeated advices, both public and
+      private, that you have of late performed many wonderful cures, even where the best
+      physicians have failed; and that the means used appear to be very inadequate to the
+      effect produced; I cannot but look upon you as an extraordinary and highly favoured
+      person. And why may not the same most merciful God, who enables you to restore
+      sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and strength to the same, also enable you
+      to raise the dead to life? Now, having lately lost a wife, whom I most tenderly
+      loved, my children a most excellent step-mother, and our acquaintances a most dear
+      and valuable friend, you will lay us all under the highest obligations; and I
+      earnestly entreat you, for God Almighty's sake, that you will put up your petitions
+      to the Throne of Grace on our behalf, that the deceased may be restored to us, and
+      the late dame Eleanor Pryce be raised from the dead. If your personal attendance
+      appears to you to be necessary, I will send my coach and six, with proper servants
+      to wait on you hither, whenever you please to appoint. Recompense of any kind that
+      you may please to propose would be made with the utmost gratitude; but I wish the
+      bare mention of it is not offensive to both God and you.</p>
+      <p>I am, madam,</p>
+      <p>Your most obedient, and very much afflicted, humble servant,</p>
+      <p>JOHN PRYCE.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <h3>THEOLOGICAL WIT.</h3>
+    <p>The late Rev. Thomas Toller, an eminent dissenting minister, (joint preacher with
+    the celebrated Dr. James Fordyce, at Monkwell-street,) resided many years in the
+    Lower-street, Islington. One day, when he got into the stage to come to <span
+    class="pagenum"><a id="page80" name="page80"></a>[pg 80]</span>London, he met with
+    two ladies of his acquaintance, and a loquacious young Irishman, who was very
+    obtrusive with his "would-be wit" to the females. The coachman soon stopped to take
+    up another passenger, who, Dutchman-like, was "<i>slow to make haste</i>." A young
+    dog, being confined in the neighbourhood, bewailed its loss of liberty, by making an
+    hideous noise; which all the party agreed was very disagreeable. The Hibernian,
+    desirous to display his wit, and to <i>quiz</i> the parson, said, "The animal was so
+    unpleasantly noisy, it must be a presbyterian <i>dog</i>." Mr. Toller calmly, but
+    with much apparent confidence, said, "I am sure it is an Irish dog."&mdash;"How do
+    you know that?" exclaimed the astonished young man with eagerness.&mdash;"I know it,
+    sir," (replied the divine,) "by its impudence and its howl." This seasonable retort
+    cured the garrulity of the patient, and gave him a locked-jaw till the stage arrived
+    at the Royal Exchange.</p>
+    <h3>RAMSDEN THE OPTICIAN.</h3>
+    <p>It was his custom, to retire in the evening to what he considered the most
+    comfortable corner in the house, and take his seat close, to the kitchen fireside, in
+    order to draw some plan for the forming a new instrument, or scheme for the
+    improvement of one already made. There, with his drawing implements on the table
+    before him, a cat sitting on the one side, and a certain portion of bread, butter,
+    and a small mug of porter placed on the other side, while four or five apprentices
+    commonly made up the circle, he amused himself with either whistling the favourite
+    air, or sometimes singing the old ballad of</p>
+    <blockquote class="poetry">
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "If she is not so true to me,<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; What care I to whom she be?<br />
+      What care I, what care I, to whom she be!"<br />
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>and appeared, in this domestic group, contentedly happy. When he occasionally sent
+    for a workman, to give him necessary directions concerning what he wished to have
+    done, he first showed the recent finished plan, then explained the different parts of
+    it, and generally concluded by saying, with the greatest good humour, "Now see, man,
+    let us try to find fault with it;" and thus, by putting two heads together, to
+    scrutinize his own performance, some alteration was probably made for the better.
+    But, whatever expense an instrument had cost in forming, if it did not fully answer
+    the intended design, he would immediately say, after a little examination of the
+    work, "Bobs, man! this won't do, we must have at it again;" and then the whole of
+    that was put aside, and a new instrument, begun. By means of such perseverance, he
+    succeeded in bringing various mathematical, philosophical, and astronomical
+    instruments to perfection. The large theodolite for terrestrial measurements, and the
+    equal altitude instrument for astronomy, will always be monuments of his fertile,
+    penetrating, arduous, superior genius! There cannot be a lover (especially of this
+    more difficult part) of philosophy, in any quarter of the globe, but must admire the
+    abilities, and respect the memory, of Jesse Ramsden&mdash;<i>Practical Observations
+    on Telescopes</i>.</p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <h2>THE GATHERER.</h2>
+    <blockquote>
+      "I am but a <i>Gatherer</i> and disposer of other men's
+      stuff."&mdash;<i>Wotton</i>.
+    </blockquote>
+    <hr />
+    <p>Mr. Kelly, in his "Reminiscences," relates, that in 1792 he was walking in the
+    Place Vendome with two Irish gentlemen, a Colonel Stark Macarthy and a Captain Fagan,
+    the latter possessing "a vast portion of the ready wit of his country." Coming to the
+    celebrated statue of Victory holding the laurel crown over the head of Louis XIV., a
+    French officer was enumerating the splendid achievements of that heroic king, and
+    particularly desired us to observe the attitude of the figure of Victory. "Pray,
+    sir," said Fagan, "may I take the liberty of asking the question&mdash;Is Victory
+    putting the laurel on his majesty's head, or taking it off?" The question puzzled the
+    Frenchman, and made us laugh heartily.</p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>Parr carried his compassion towards the inferior tribes so far, that two or three
+    hares found a secure asylum for nearly two years in his garden at Hatton. He said
+    that they were his clients, for they had placed themselves under his protection. He
+    gave strict orders that they should not be shot. "It would be a gross violation," he
+    said, "of a tacit covenant of hospitality."</p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>A few months since, a noble marquis bespoke a play at a country theatre, the
+    representation of which Mr. Canning, prime minister, honoured with his presence. The
+    boxes and other parts of the house were crammed, with the exception of the pit, which
+    looked beggarly; on which an actor observed to a brother of the sock, "We've no
+    <i>pit</i> to-night."&mdash;"No <i>Pitt</i>!" rejoined the other, "and none we want
+    while we have a <i>Canning!</i>"</p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+      <a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a> <b>Footnote 1</b>: <a
+      href="#footnotetag1">(return)</a>
+      <p>I should feel highly obliged if any of your valuable correspondents would favour
+      me, through the medium of the MIRROR, with the name of the noble to whom the above
+      arms appertained.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+      <a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a> <b>Footnote 2</b>: <a
+      href="#footnotetag2">(return)</a>
+      <p>The remaining part was left to Lady Thornhill, who lived several years with her
+      son-in-law after the death of Sir James.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+      <a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a> <b>Footnote 3</b>: <a
+      href="#footnotetag3">(return)</a>
+      <p>Our Royal Academy is <i>now</i> governed precisely on the same principles as is
+      the French Academy. What would Hogarth have said, had he lived at the present
+      day?</p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <hr class="full" />
+    <p><i>Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) and
+    sold by all Newsmen and Booksellers.</i></p>
+    <hr class="full" />
+<pre>
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 10, ISSUE 266, JULY 28, 1827 ***
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