The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-10-09 00:00:00

130 SUPPL The wife of the Austrian envoy (a diplomatist of the second class) actually refused to kiss the Queen's hand unless Her Majesty gave her a return kiss on the cheek in the same manner as to the wives of senators. Here was a pretty business. The Queen refused to receive her at all ; and determined to be revenged on the bumptious little Austrian. Her Majesty watched an opportunity with female patience and address. It came, as all oppor tunities of punishing insolence do come if we wait' for them. The Austrian lady went to a ball at the town hall. Austrian ladies dance wery well, and I dare say she liked it. She little knew the sleepless vivacity of royal pique. Immediately the royal family arrived, and they probably came on purpose, the master of the cere monies approached- her with his most official countenance. Let a country gentleman ask for • a passport at our British Foreign Office, and he will get an idea of the offended majesty which glowed in the Inas s ter of the ceremonies' eyes on this occasion : a quaint picture of the lofty and absurd. " Sir," said the little lady, stopping in her capers very unwillingly, " you interrupt me." The official mouth moved with an official whisper. The Austrian could not or would not hear, but she blushed scarlet, and her eyes filled with t ears . Again the official mouth moved : its words were not very plain or polite—official Words seldom are ; but their purport, for a wonder, was intelligible. " She had not been presented, and therefore could not remain within the august precincts of the royal circle." lam bound to say that I would not have sat at meat that evening with the offended lady.:-no, to have been introduced to an accommodating bill-dis counter the , next morning. The queen had had her re venge, but the insult so rankled, that she who had received it never rested till her husband had solicited his recall, and stirred up the imperial court to resent the affront. This woman's quarrel about a kiss interrupted all inter national business between Austria and Sweden during no less than six years. For another envoy was not sent to Stockholm till 1788. Every one is less or more acquainted with the 'fact, that on many occasions " dire events from trivial causes spring ;" but the generality of readers may not previously have been aware of the importance attached to the salute ambassa dorial (we know of no feminine appellation for it) between two punctilious and silly women. From the specimens already adduced, a tolera bly correct estimate may be formed as to the merits and demerits of " The Roving Englishman's" volume of " tales about diplomacy." Those who desire further information will find abundance of varied and lively reading in the volume itself, in which they will not fail to meet instruction com bined with amusement. Gatherings from the Wine Lands. London: Foster and Ingle. In this volume the reader will meet with a great amount of historical lore, decently condensed and pleasantly presented, relative to the early practice of vine-growing and wine-making. He will also find many quaint and some droll stories narrated as to the wine-drinking habits of different nations, both ancient and moderp, in which, among other matters illustrative of the proverb that there is " nothing new under the sun," he will learn that the Yankee fashion of imbibing " sherry-coblers" through straws is no novelty, but is as ancient, at all events, as the celebrated "retreat of the Ten Thousand" conducted and recorded by Xeno phon four centuries before the Christian era. That great commander and historian narrating that he came upon a people of Asia, whom he calls the Mosyncecians, who excited the'most im moderate laughter among the Greeks, by sipping their barley-wine, that is strong ale, through straws. In dilating upon the qualities and merits of the wines of different countries, the author of this volume gives the following account of THE OIDIUM, OR VINE PLAGUE. Like the malady which for several successive seasons almost annihilated the potato crop, this strange disorder is:obscure both as to its nature, its origin, its causes, and the treatment by which it may be removed or allayed. It is:even difficult to point out any given direction which has been followed by the invasion of this scourge, or to fix upon any particular place or places iu which it might be said to have taken its rise. It has been nearly simul taneous, and widely diffused over a very large segment of ,EMENT TO THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD the globe. As in the case of the potato disease, various conjectures have been put forward as to the nature of the Oidium. Some have attributed it to a microscopic insect ; others to the deposit of a fungus ; and others have sought to attribute it simply to the action of ordinary variations of moisture and temperature. But all alike are at fault. It is possible that insects may become associated with the protressive decomposition of fibre and fluid that charac terises it; but they certainly are not to be detected in the primary state of the blight. As regards the fungoid de velopments which are the symptoms of the malady, they evidently result from internal disorganisations, and not from external morbific causes. The symptoms by which this disease is distinguished consist, first, in stains and dis colourations appearing in and under the bark of the young wood, which when ripe assumes a smutty, unhealthy ap pearance, instead of the ruddy sienna 1103 which it ought to exhibit. As vegetation progresses, the foliage and fruit advance to a point nearly of maturity, then suddenly languish, the berries becoming covered with a white powder, like mildew, to which they are soon wholly con verted, so as to collapse in mere dust. Sometimes a second and imperfect crop of fruit appears, and new shoots make a sickly attempt to vegetate. The characteristics of this malady partake of those of the cancerous, and scorbutic diseases of the animal economy, with the addition of the well-marked features of epidemy, as evidenced in the dis organisation of the fluids, the generation of morbid struc tures, and the übiquity of the causes, which are obviously too general to be otherwise than atmospheric or electro magnetic. The plants which seem the most robust are in many places more predisposed to become diseased. Various methods of treatment have been suggested, tried, and abandoned as useless ; the only course which gives promise of success being that of restraining vegetation by severe pruning. The malady here indicated is one which, from its extended field of operation, and the serious nature of the devastation it has caused, has attracted very general attention, and led to many experiments for its prevention or cure, but like the potato-blight, to which, as stated by the author of these " Gatherings," it bears many points of general resemblance, its cause and its cure remain alike inscrutable. These " Gather ings from the Wine Lands" abound with interest ing facts, and, as a whole, the book will repay an attentive perusal. Blackwood's Magazine. Edinburgh : Blackwoods. The war, with its many incidents, gigantic operations, and important consequences, has so monopolised public attention as to supersede the ordinary pursuits of literature. Even this prince of periodicals has caught the infection, and its contributors, in the midst of their interesting narratives or comments on science, sporting, or travels, break off in order to give vent to their sensations on the memorable event of the fall of Sebastopol. The number for October opens with a review of " North and the Noctes," commenc ing with some just remarks on that tame and pointless style of pretended politeness which now characterises our periodical literature and political partisanship. ." A cockney may no longer be called a cockney, nor a fool a fool, but each must be apostrophised in a polite p er i p h ras i s . Th e chivalry of periodical writing has lost some dash and brilliancy since the laws of the combat place buttons on the foils ; the fiercer spirits miss the excitement of the game of earnest—meek men in spectacles venture into the ring once sacred to the grim yet graceful athlete, victor in a hundred fights—the combatants pique themselves on being (ha, ha !) open to conviction, and fight in the courteous spirit of Aberdeen as War Minister, and Dundas at Odessa. The stream of thought, no longer vigorously impelled through the channel of partisanship, is diffused in wide pools over the flats of liberalism and toleration, where public opinion may hang Narcissus-like, over its own reflection, but where there is none of the rush, the ripple, nor the cataract, that lent picturesqueness to the earlier course of the flood.' There is, unfortunately, too much truth in these remarks ; Conservatism has been so tamely ad vocated that men begin to fancy there may be something good in Radicalism at the core, and even the Church is endangered by. am towards Romanism and schi with sterling old Christopher the repttblication of his .210 c. refreshing reminiscence of 5..., some Saxon. terseness and did not hesitate to call a apt caring who was offended; " Zaidec.: a romance," gives arrival at the denouement-. Baltic,. in 1855," affords soxn' mation, respecting a portion if the war be prosecuted with have promised, may become 61 gigantic and deadly contest tl - been carried on in the Crim Literature—History," conta' deserved strictures on the re for the lives of Queens,. by Miss Strickland, and imi ing scale of merit. " From klava ' is a pleasantly-writt, from the Crimea at the e; " Vedette," who, coxtribut, a few months since some culars of the recent crisis in Sp A;ag ~ to the Holidays, No. II.," i s , a ceorii - o t d o ( writer's account, a review of no. the c o? 9, a clever defence of critics against tir es ca o l": # of authors, and then a rambling ,00i ° 05 sundry sporting adventures, with u t i o rs , 0 ti r e ferences to the works of sporting ,t i g ifeo dl is ir Old Contributor at the Sea-side • 64 de 0 01 sor If amusing and truly graphic descriP e to i fb parturefrom London, and his vorg ee , til J d, II liglitful retreat on the coast of Fray n denoti f , abouts of which he does not c ar if i s too l enlighten his readers upon, for Tir ifitcl,' j yr their being tempted to invade his r e ore,4 o r:st however, well worth perusal, and '` i ov,ti6,d h tr e the conclusion of it next mont-' O O. O O j ty tion—a Dialogue" discloses a c oo d, i jo i r s oa Sydenham between Tlepolemns„ o tri l. 00 Irenwus on various subjects, it the evils a centralisation. We gil l ' extracts : fel es 1 NATIONAL COST 1 : °. 00 0 0 ' , r liSe4 How beautiful is national costume' cerit r ii 14° 0 0_ 4 0 exists. In France, though much t hrong pet A r o; of provincialism still ' exists. Pos s o sec "esoP K g , Brittany, the Vendee to Bordeaux, Y: ec alise t y e s oy in each district, each becoming , a bout ~01 311 1 9 from usage; there is no vulgarirY d you •-- 0 i0e,,i9 yet dress them a la Parisienne, au rae is s sts ge; e ttr s i immediately. Phis matter of c os ' sight' olig ti t important one than appears at nr? iota the w 0 , 0 I as we all are, we are apt to fall a dres° l ii , a : 1 ,09 which we are dressed. Put me' leo; blo ;01 flreP • a eg slippers, and I feel chained to the ...10; in ..,, ooh , , coat, and I want to be off to Nor; a l o tabilp: 2o 44 _,'". ,0 raooan'l.74o"born f 111$-$i r ) coat, and a feeling of inter's! retortL be ea :, , „t P',,,teg me ; I would not for a considera l ole % r a ieP o f i if you l ifer J oe iVocl i t ot o i in a dress coat, —do not, if cal:oziag of of ropecoo dress coat at all unless compensate for the pain—the . s i n g fire t he e irl/ wa tch s , th 0; 11 standing Attic dinn r e o r o , m seasoned io a b b a y n . black and scarlet and white 51 in tter dee 9l ° of th.n e I/ the mastering melody. The utter is 0 0 , t he v r i el l I tume amongst our working co*" signs of our times, both in ok-frock of r tell' vi e 1 ,; lingers alone in the sln° hich Bu lvie hand s° ,,st t' labourer—the garment in w ..,d to a ~. a . 0 1- $ 1, cestors fought at Hastings : " hutch, ir 17 wit h .13g otil lean fo r church, difieo la %i t / fellow, when put on clean en la n , At least olorri ing garment Butsepecialiy isas ., J os.., - ch e. i ll y , embroidery. the women I , dress Inv sorri. o of) with :ever remnant of class _ is 'hut _a bie b in and self-respect; their ccTtulo t e h colours, "tit oi, 4 1 01 1 0 0 0 :1 of a lady's, where the brig en tirelY .° in "i's el l ° are so tasteful, are I , a ntl w he , it .0 s whY" Yu 5 ' sail PE e this is one of many reason ant than name ,ote America is certainly more rally., ano ther the es -the countrau;e Is used of assumption or affectation rd 4 worth. the mind of a false stauclar . the world, vulgarity beingwohoicil indicates Oc n , thotO it is 0 m i ' l ll r tiss : ei alli o r• r et i :It! t e a' : II il i sf 11 5 , ' ale / if 11 e ; 1 ,tes,JoiroPP',..,ll ,1 someof tu..... - • , r trutkfulneso )acie is spade, VI , 4 A nother ~, promise o f , 0 Part 1 1 . of il rue intereStOr Of the Ivor', II vigour as ' i the scene 01, than even tr. mea. ~godet if 'iris sonic- 11. cent overdAe, , , a style le e k ' , ,' aitated in 11 ' m Madrid. ° ten naroti, end of voir ted to e iutereir,t lo Spain. ~‘,l" 11 1 1 ' bol ll - , 'nora .i ,:10.1