The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-07-17 00:00:00

after their bath, freshened up, looking as sweet and dewy as an avalanche of roses."---A Vacation Tour in the United States and Canada. THE RussieN SOLDIER.---The morale of the soldier is that of passionless, rigid, inveterate courage. He obeys the Emperor, because it seems impossible, and would be unnatural, to disobey. A soldier on duty at the palace of the Emperor at Petersburg, which was burnt a few years ago, was stationed and had been forgotten in one suite of apartments that was in flames: a Greek priest was the last person to rush through the burning rooms, at the imminent risk of his life, to save a crucifix in a chapel, and returning he was hailed by the sentry, who must in a few instants more have been suffocated. " What do you want ?" cried the priest ; " save yourself or you will be lost."---" I can't leave," replied the sentry, " because I am unrelieved, but I called to you to give me your blessing before I die." The priest blessed him, and the soldier died at his post. The late Emperor himself on one occasion attempted to pass a sentinel in one of the corridors of the palace at St. Petersburg, who had orders to let no person pass, but the man resisted him, and when the Emperor tried to disarm him, wrestled with him, and flung him back against the wall." The first of these stories seems apocryphal. The Emperor Nicholas, however, gave his troops credit for incomparable stea diness. The Jews, though good military artificers, failed in the field.- - -The story is told of the late Emperor, that on one occasion, when he was reviewing some troops, he found out all the Jews by snapping his fingers in each mans's face. If they stood immoveable they were Russians, and if they flinched they were invariably Jews."---Seynzour's Russia. A VISIT TO AN ENCAMPMENT OF INDIANS. The trip was delightful. At the head of Clear Lake, a reach, not unlike that separating the upper and middle Killarney lakes, occurs, studded by wooded islands. On one of these the Indians were encamped ; but there was no sign of life, nor could we detect, amidst the dense foliage, a landing-place. A wild whoop from my companion was answered by an Indian, who burst through the bush, and motioned us to a little creek, where we disembarked. Following our' swarthy guide we came suddenly on a small clearing, in the centre of which was the lodge. A more picturesque spot could not well be conceived. The ground, mantled by a - variety of wild flowers, sloped gently towards the lake. Lofty trees shut out the oppressive sun, and a tiny brook gurgled sweetly as it leaped into daylight froni the gloom of the forest. The lodge was constructed of birch-bark, open at the top for the egress of smoke. Around were various hunting and fishing implements. Portly fish, with strips of bear flesh and venison hanging on poles in process of curing, attested how efficiently they had been used. Pushing aside the buffalo-skin serving as a door, we enter the lodge, from which, however, I was nearly driven by the dense and acrid smoke. The family consisted of the Indian's wife, mother-in-law, and two girls, who were squatted round the fire superintending a savoury mess of boiled ducks, fish, and squirrels. The women and girls could not s p ea k a wor d o f English. The excessive natural simplicity of the girls and the freedom of thei r li m b s were remar k a bl e . With thpr naked feet, which were beautifully formed, they seized fragments of wood and cast th em on th e fi re with the same ease as we should perform the same operation with our hands. The whole scene was suffi ciently wild and novel to be very interesting ; and I sincerely recommend the tourist to turn aside from the beaten track to visit the Indians in the bush.--- Weld's Towr in the United States. SIR ISAAC NEWTON A LOVER.—It appears from Sir David Brewster's life of Sir Isaac Newton, just published, that the great philosopher, at the ripe age of sixty, made proposals of marriage to a widow. The lady was the widow of Sir William Norris, who died in 1702. The following is Newton's philosophical way of " popping the question :"—" Madam,—Your lady ship's grief at the loss of Sir William shows that if he had returned safe home, your ladyship could have been glad to have lived still with a husband, and therefore your aversion at present from marrying again can proceed from nothing else than the memory of him whom you have lost. To be always thinking on the dead is to live a melancholy life among sepulchres, and how much grief is an enemy to your health is very manifest by the sickness it brought when you received the first news of your widowhood. And can your ladyship resolve to spend the rest of your days in lEMENT TO THE LIVERPOOL STAN grief and sickness ? Can you resolve to wear a widow's habit perpetually—a habit which is less acceptable to company, a habit which will be always putting you in mind of your lost husband, and thereby promote your grief and indisposition till you leave it off ? The proper remedy for all these mischiefs is a new husband, and whether your ladyship should admit of a proper remedy for such maladies, is a question which I hope will not need much time to consider of. Whether your ladyship should go constantly in the melancholy dress of a widow, or flourish once more among the ladies; whether you should spend the rest of your days cheerfully or in sadness, or in health or in sick ness, are questions which need not much consideration to decide them. Besides that, your ladyship will be better able to live according to your quality by the assistance of a husband than upon your own estate alone ; and therefore, since your ladyship likes the person proposed, I doubt not but in a little time to have notice of your ladyship's inclination to marry, at least that you will give him leave to discourse with you about it. I am, Madam, your ladyship's most humble, and most obedient servant." NAPOLEON AND CONSTANTINE.---In his 7th, volume of the Consulate and Empire, M. Thiers narrates the negotiations and confidential intercourse of the two Emperors, in July, 1807, at Tilsit. There, he tells us, they discussed " that immense system by which they were held joint rulers over Europe. The possi ble, the probable, partition of the Turkish empire, was the continual topic of conversation. Napoleon was to have the maritime provinces, Russia the banks of the Danube as far as the Balkans. One day, says the his torian, " the two Emperors, on returning from a long ride, shut themselves up in the writing cabinet, where numerous maps were spread out. Napoleon appa rently, continuing a conversation briskly b egun w ith Alexander, desire M. de Meneval to bring in the map of Turkey, unfolded it, then resumed the conversation, and, suddenly clapping his finger on Constantinople, exclaimed several times, reg ardless of being heard by his secretary, in whom h e had absolute confidence— " Constantinople ! Constantinople! Never! 'tis the Em pire of the world !" Mr. Thiers adds in a note that he had these particulars from M. de Meneval himself, and that their accuracy is guaranteed by the corres pondence of MM. de Savary and de Caulincourt, They prove, he remarks, that notwithstanding all the efforts of Alexander, the limit of the Balkans was never passed. The Occult Treaty, signed at Tilsit, he further states, merely contained a stipulation that in case the Turkish government refused the mediation of France, its European provinces, excepting Constan tinople and Roumelia, should be relieved " from the vexations of the Porte." Anxious, then, as Nopoleon was, in 1807, to gain the Russian affiance, there was one price he would not pay for it. He would not tole rate Russian dominion south of the Balkans ; and though he professed, under certain contingencies, a willingness to advance the Russian frontiers to that range, subsequent events proved that he was insincere in these professions, and never intended any real aug mentations of the Russian empire at the expense of the Sultan. POPULAR MANNERS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY: Civilisation, born again, was yet in its cradle ; and neither the barbaric magnificence of the Field of the Cloth of Gold, nor the magic creations of Michael An gelo, which revived the glories of ancient Greece, can shut our eyes to the horrors of the bloody field of Pavia, the martyr-fires of Smithfield, or the awful sack of Rome. If, on the one hand, the light of scriptural truth was once more kindled and displayed, on the other, bigotry, intolerance, ignorance, and superstition never appeared in greater strength, in higher places, or in more odious colours. Nor were the standard of morals, and general customs and usages of society, much, if anything, in advance of those universally pre vailing in the most benighted times. The celebrated Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre, a virtuous and estimable princess, free from the vices, but deeply tinctured with the levity of her contemporaries, has left us, in the Heptameron, a dreadful picture of the universal profligacy and corruption. In their long subjection to a cruel domination, women had thrown off their dignity, their delicacy, their virtue, and even their modesty. Amours and scandal were the secret— dice, chess, card playing, betting, the public—amuse ments of ladies of rank ; and women of the humbler , class followed the same pursuits, in a more open, but not more vulgar manner. Their excesses were punished fl" w itlo lt „iii by their husbands in a very summary way , t tiry fear of magisterial retribution ; and, in facA Yotoua, dulgent lord ran some risk of being carrtl e , native town in a blanket, as a public spec wife notoriously given to scolding was, demned to the ducking-stool. The mode al 0 9 1 lowed by women was in keeping with the cour te i! V their lives ; and we find young but not del r i ll i e9,, of honour, in the orderly household of M n ibe e te Arragon, making their breakfast off chille„, s , - ,,r, salmon, washed down with gallons of ale. 3 -„P" of this substantial fare at the early hour of PTV; eleven, supped at six, and retired to their lion d, at seven. Religion was only used as a c10 9) :4 01 3 ', citement ; and pilgrimages to the shrilY e ptW, l favourite or popular saint, undertaken at i o tt: 4 k vb expense, and to the utter neglect of the 0 1 ;6`" 1 5 ° of home, usually served but to cover an 0 1 ; 0 10'0 0 , flirtation, or an intrigue. The numerous w ee e tc) the Roman calendar, occurring every weelc. , ,a 11 ; oc eel l : memorated by public dances, s p ec t ac les,.,fr r y makings, which afforded occasions for sin lo ,o4; ings ; and it would be difficult, as well a s 01 describe the excesses committed in Eng lo , oe lir r e t i day, and in France, Germany, and Italy, - `' n fy festivities of the vintage.—Fullom's VARIETIES. Co yon into H p E ou r r ays of it ha tur pp i i i n s e s s zr like. H thoseor a ce . EDUCATION.—UnIess your cask is perfectly 601 when unbroken. of light, are 0 4 0 11/ To make moments hours, all that is necessarl s hod ' them with a little jealousy. ho 4 WHATEVER man can personally accomplis h he 6 " 00" 0 leave to be transacted by another. 10 o il IT is true of many persons, that their meth goo but a row of hooks to hang up grudges on. 'tll° llt THE firm, without pliancy, and the pliant, wit , c resemble vessels without water and water witholly, e if 3 A SHORT prayer reaches heaven—a hint to tbo' ci 101 l $ favours not to molest others with long letters all ~, OA .411 plaints. ~ silJ/ i ll THE court is accounted by a learned wit to " e il b tire po marble statue,being composed ofmen very hard INI, e Po, , PRIME MINISTERS and presidents re sera,w rig ero d r I tempted by high wages to undertake di ffi cult, 0 r u; li 14111 deleterious employments. of _A I) A FOOL in high station is like a than on the to peg' si t ment—everything appears small to him, and h e tir od e to everybody. „ iv . p c, THOSE who have the most forgiven them sh ew „alit 0 0 addicted to slander. c , r WE are too apt to make the echoings of our i so ; the admiration and applause of the world. „ode' 03 6 THE essence of things is seldom so much res - it 5° nal and accidental appendages. toe e , it s OF all others, a studious life is the least tire ga ICI 08 to leo us easy to ourselves and to others, and gable / 1 1° t'sy fl reputation. O O,l pia REFLECTION REFLECTION is a flower of the mind, givill'oP - ,a . c." fragrance. Reverie is the same flo w er when tia nito ; ning to seed. bon - 10 THE powers of the mind, when they are 1111 de otlY panded by the sunshine of felicity, more fre c l - Old into follies than blossom into goodness. , , 0 10 , t." - FICTIONS are revelations not of truth, 1°- tril e 'e. unreal, but of that which the soul longs to be f b oa mirrors not of actual human experience, but, ° „ o rt. f,. and aspirations of the eternal desires of the A n ' the,, AN ARCHEOLOGICAL CURIOSITY. --- s' - ee tt 5 ' 'der Knocklebay, in Galloway, there is to be 5 „per 51 stone block, with these words cut out on its up per do ore. • p ie re "Lift me up, and I'll tell you za .. . d s ilo t Obeying the enticing injunction, strangers l l 'have, ,tnag unsuspicious of practical jokes in archaeology re 00 14' e periods, exerted their strength with the r 1,,,, t heir sy eg tieS hidden mystery, when they find a cooler s '''', he dor r „1 curiosity and their accelerated circulation in l',", de be, t • 's VI "Lay me down as I was before s _5 h is _ 11 0 expreS C h o tal' e d„ A WRITER in the Dublin Warder ler, A l" ,0. 7 ' that a friend of his, who was a noted tiPP ver sl i " .00 t ill t e. 4 . 4 . pledge. " That family," he says, 113 1 to the ' lns V' cruel taste for the dhrop, and conshunlin _ t ine etill,,,,re , 1 ,10 I never took a ramble thro' Dublin withoaubie 0 br o ' cIIV Kitty in one corner or another, hard a p:„ f a ir din .. c eles, i oi basket of fruit, and the cryin', thr t' - : from 3T_'' offey 't `Oh, blessed St. Patrick, just look (1 0 , 1 Y,,, mys elf is ; elevation, and see what a lone woman ill'u •cli, 1/5 ill ad wi ll tabl e ful in honour o' you."' the idling rizi tic ceP t oe THE WILLING MIND.—It is w services to be le alone can render any of our suffering's 0 - -trenables 'l s 0 010 the sight of God, so, above all things, noth ing, °v e iling lire to men. Without it, we are doing hardly n 4 S tances, woe seem to be at work; with it, there is ireunutil pg • Outward c . t plies - 0 eo, we may not hope to achieve. ends, i . _ _ 3 esii , it does not find them favourable to its .ous deviclotlel ,); to become so. The richest mine of ingr v i e lli n g all 0 o f pai l discoveries, the mightiest engine for e tbe Pre reise hirlfe a ' . the essence of that faith which ii,ap_ Bo op r remove mountains, is a willing min" 38 SUPPL: , ARD JULY