The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-12-29 00:00:00

the golden days of old ! and tears, ost, the lov'd, the tree, lie our ct our youthful years I ;e golden hours are sped, And many an eye that on as then The light of calm affection shed, Will Dever beam again Since those who lov'd are gone, And Ihose we love grow cold, Let music An echo o Of th, 'oice awake a tone le memories flown olden days of old I SKETCHES OF A. TRIP TO THE CONTINENT, ITALY, ANID EGYPT. BY EDWIN KEEP, ESQ. No. V. (Written for the Liverpool Standard.) One great mistake, too generally adopted by the Eng lish people, is, that vast trouble, danger, fatigue, as well as enormous expense, inevitably attend travelling on the Co.itinant. Now this bugbear is quite as great a fallacy as the one, that you are continually in danger of assassin ation from brigands, bandits, and bravos ! There were but two cases of murder the five months I was at Rome. I have gone from the theatres, concert, ball, and conver sazione at 11, 12, 1,2, & 3 o'clock at night without any interruption, through dark streets, to my distant lodg ings near the Quirinal Palace, in the ill lighted, dismally lamped, dark streets. I have occasionally seen in a cor ner the cloaked, muffled up, fiery eyed Italian, standing in gloomy dark repose, waiting his time for the assigna tions of love or revenge ; but I was never molested, never interrupted by any but the military guard. and to his de mand of " Who are you," and the shouldering of his musquet, the reply of " A friend," in a loud voice, pro cures you a free passage and his protection. There was one sad case of stabbing by a woman who was taunted and called an ill-name by a boy in the Corso. She snatched a knife from her stall, and mortally wounded the insolent youth; but the other, as told by Chevalier Vetati, is too interesting to be omitted. " Passing my way Fome down the Strada d'Espagna," says the narrator, "just beyond my lodgings, I saw a dark object lying in the middle of the carriage road; on approaching it I heard mournful groans, and saw the unfortunate young man prostrate in a pool of blood. I asked him who did the deed, and lifted him gently out of the horse road, but could get no reply. Presently, he ejaculated in a low voice, Oh Lord receive my soul," and, as I thought, fainted. Anxious not to be seen with the dying man, I retired to my apartments, which overlooked the street, watching from thence the night guard going their rounds ; they lilted the victim up, and he appeared to be quite dead. But these instances of revenge are rare, and never scarcely happen to strangers who have any provident care, and do not interfere with the politics or religion of the Papal government; but if you act the demagogue or revolutionist, be assured a spy will be about your path, and you will be sent or put out of the way very speedily. It is the law of Rome that if you are, however humanely, assisting any' one dying by vio lence, that you must be shut up in close and almost so litary confinement for three days and nights, and the most strict investigation and questions of the person thus last seen with the victim takes place. A knowledge of this prevents the frequent exercises of humanity, and poor wretches die unheeded. During the two years and a half 1 was abroad, I only heard of four murders, the two fore going, one of a soldier at Venice, shooting his serjeant, and the dreadful torture for many days, and murder by the indescribable cruelty of a priest upon the body of his nephew, a youth from Genoa. When Pope Gregory heard the recital of the priest's heartless inhumanity, he threw down his gold snuff box in rage, and indignantly cried out, " Let him be punished for his unpardonable atrocity." But he was left two years for repentance, and often exclaimed, " Why don't they behead me at the front of St. Peter's ?" Upon the other point next to personal safety, your property and expenditure, I scruple not to say, that any temperate careful person, with a slight knowledge of French or Italian, might travel and live better iq Italy upon one, two, or three hundred pounds a-year, than they could live settled and seeing nothing but the every day dull routine of life in England ; but this must be observed, that if you wish to see the manners, customs, arts, buildings, galleries, libraries, churches, and ceremonies of a country, you must not gallop from one town nor from one hotel to another. A young friend of mine left London for Florence, and stayed a week at Paris, and two dais at Genoa, and his expenses did not exceed twelve pounds! but he was an economist. An other more dashing youth, ignorant of the money, care less of the exchange from notes to francs, from sovereigns to scudi ; and these again down to the Italian grazim paula and hajocchi ; such an one would have spent forty pounds instead of less than twelve. Mr. K., of Plymouth, told me he was deligh'ed with Venice, but could not stay longer, it was so very expen sive. Himself, lady, son, and daughter were charged ens pound pegs di... -foe sk.4 •p•.tm•..t• " W 6aSe inquired he. " Let me see, for my snug tting room, and two very clean bed-rooms, pleasentlq tuated, I pay one pound three shillings and eight pence He lifted up his eyes and hands with asto- per month Thus it is also with everything The hur. rying driving English are known to be rich i'oftal are ex travagant, insolent, and unfeeling. What wonder then that these are fleeced? Looking down from their lofty, proud, height o onceit, the banker's clerk gives Italian nobleman, and the turns up his nose at the baron and flow did you come from Florence to ay young fellow, handsome in coun•• en beard and moustache, a se- himself more airs ng stu his palace Rome,"s :d I to a tenance, ith a rich go. and Reubens in appearance, he had forsaken the law for " Why, replied he, four of us carried a and four, and we sal- the art of painting on gloriously. We had a carria lied out, and tasted their wine at every village and town we passed through, picking up turkies, fowls, pigeons, and Bologna sausages, such a lark !" Singing, smoking, and shouting all the w y, and in such delirious go-a-bead proceedings, is it any wonder that the English are fair , travelling on the Continent is thought to be exnP- game, and Every city, nay e ry town, in Italy has something to t tourist and searcher after interest ing objects and novel manners, customs, and works of art. My advice is, read the best guide-books (Madame Stark or Murray ;) have a good map ; and on entering a town, stop but a night at the hotel—ltalian and French always cheaper than English. The following morning nd get your apartments by the day, week, or nclination may prompt you, and the locality t and repay you for a longer or shorter resi des, the people pay more attention to those may meet at parties, soirees, &c., than they swiftly migratory class. At Flo our letters of credit to and the intellig sally out, month, al a possibly do to t rence, Roliie, and your bankersi--the Prince Torlonia at Rome, Moody and Company at Venice—will ensure you polite treatment, hospitality, and the best introductions. At Florence you cannct attend the Grand Duke's balls unless you have had the entree at Court in London, or hold a commission in the army or navy, with an unsullied name; and this Admiralty or the Commander-in- entied by Chief. But all the Casino halls, and other festas where the Grand Duke and Duchess are frequently present, are open by your subscription, on the presentation of your How u -like scenes at Florence, Rome, and to the stranger ! How munificent at eiven by the Prince Torlonia and his really fair, lovely, and ui bane Princess—she of the an cient and noble Cotonna family, abounding less now than formerly in the possession of wealth and power ! This last lovely descendant of the ancient house does the honours of the reception - of visitors gracefully as an angel might be supposed to do; but her name the punsters of Rome play off their wit upon, and say, the rich princely banker has by his marriag _ put a capital to the almost fallen Colonna, or column. Three of his palaces are in deed royal ; so also is the Colonna Palazzio, with fine, ~ and ch Torlonia i patron of the fine arts. One small zures (a copy) he paid Gibson a thou and his new palace outside the walls of to cost several hundred thousand tion. You require tickets for ad it will amply repay the visit of the sand gu Rome eas for ties. Leo I. restored him, and sent him on several em bassies. Clement VII. divested him of the purple, and again restored him to it. He was author of poems in praise of Isabella Filamarini, and another work, " De Laudabua Mulierum." He died Viceroy of Naples, 1532. One of Torlonia's palaces is near St. Peter's. Let us pass, in imagination, through the saloons, adorned with masterpieces in painting, elegant sculpture, lofty and richly-chrved candelabras, to the hall for dancing and concerts during Lent. There is the nephew of Napo leon, a living picture of his ambitious and renowned " great uncle," who literally waded through seas of hh,od to his bad eminence ; here are dignitaries of the church, noblemen, barons, princes, travellers from every nation, ladies in rich, elegant, and diversified costumes, glittering in diamonds, lovely in beauty, fascinating in true gentility and kindness of manner. Around pass the richly-liveried footmen, with massive silver waiters loaded with every delicacy. Some of the more remote apartments are cooler, and fitted up with card and billiard tables, chess-boards, &c. ; and the fine orchestral band is heard at intervals in the distance, giving life, motion, and spirit to the inspi ring waltz, quadrille, and polka. Truly, as Mr. Dombey says to little Paul, his son, you see here " how powerful money is" ; and whatever the commission charged by the princely banker, he gives it back to his travelling and visiting friends with a liberal, elegant, and munificent hand. Fees were formerly collected by the servants, who waited the day after these splendid balls and concerts on the visitors for their contribution of a Franciscone each ; but this custom has long since, when mentioned to the Prince, been properly abolished by a written placard, exhibited at the Bank in the Corso. The gardens or Sallust were particularly interesting to me. Here are slight remains of the temple of Vesta ; and here, tradition affirms, one of the vestal virgins was sacrificed by fire for the violation of her unhappy and unholy vow. What is unnatural cannot be good or pleas ing to the benevolent Deity who rules with such benig nant sway over all worlds and all creatures. In this gar den the sublime statue of the Dying Gladiator was found. To me, simple as it is, I think it a more wondrous work of art, from its pathos, than the Apollo, Laocoon, or Venus de Medici. As you stand gazing at it, soft pity creeps into your soul, and your admiration of the won drous skill of the sculptor is lost in sympathising feelings for the dying man before you. I know my readers will pardon my quotation of Lord Byron's exquisite lines upon this supreme effort of human skill : " I see before me the Gladiator lie : He leans upon his hand—his manly brow Consents to death, but conquers agony; And his drooped head sinks gradually low, And through his side the last drops, ebbing slow From the red gash, fall heavy one by one, Like the first of a thundershower. And now The arena swims around him—he is gone, Ere ceased the inhuman shout, which hailed the wretch wt .o won. He heard it. but he heeded not : his eyes Were with his heart, and that was far away. He recke I not of the life he lost, nor prize ; But where his rude hut by the Danube lay, There were his young barbarians all at play ; There was their Dacian mother ;—he, their sire, Butchered to make a Roman holiday ! All this rushed with his blood—shall he expire, And unayenged ? Arise, ye Goths, and glut yodr ire !" But lam forgetting the historian Sallust's gardens. Sal lust's writings have been translated by our Queen Eliza beth, and also by a Spanish princess. Nineteen hundred years have passed s nce this remarkable man was scourged by Milo, afterwards made Questor, and then Tribune, then an expelled Senator, then restored by Caesar, and sent to the province of Numidia as Praetor ; plundering that province, he returned with immense riches to Rome, and purchased a very magnificent building and the gar dens on Mount Quirinal, that still bear his name. Into these gardens I strolled several times. The fine tall reeds, ten to twelve feet in height, still grow ihere in African luxuriance. I cut myself a walking-stick from one of these reeds, and brought it safely through Italy, Sicily, Malta, and Egypt, to England. And in this gar den, where a few poor labourers were employed, once stood the temple of Vesta, the goddess of fire !'s But Pope's poetical fiction of " How happy is the blameless Vestal's lot," will not obtain credence in our enlightened age. These girls, chosen from six to ten years of age, were bound by holy vows as priestesses for thirty years—the first ten years as learners of the ceremonies of the religion, the next in the performance of those ceremonies, the last in teaching them to others. It may be probable that the white head-dress, garment, and purple stole of the vestal virgins gave rise to the orders of Christian nuns ; and their watching the ever-burning fires may have been the precursor to the altar-lamps ever kept burning before the Catholic shrines to this day, and which throw a solemn, quiet light over the sublime architecture, paintings, and sculpture of Christian temples ! NOTICES. State and Prospects of Ireland. By Eyre Evans, EEci Liverpool : Whitty and Ellis. __ _ Whatever falls from Mr. Evans, upon any subject with which he may be presumed to be acquainted, is entitled to a considerable amount of attention, on account of his standing in our town, and the known ability and energy with which he is accustomed to press his views upon the public. In taking up, therefore, a publication of his, upon the state and prospects of Ireland, we undoubtedly expected to find, amidst the rather violent assertion of his opinions upon some political topics, much practical information and even originality in the treatment of his subject. In this we have not heen sit naether ed. In tracing some of the most pressing difficulties which retard the improvement of Ireland to the con:ipli cated state into which the tenure of its land has fallen, considerable ingenuity has been sbewn, and not a little of just at-aiment. 0 A Mr. Evans maintains that the most material obstacle opposing the improved cultivation of Ireland, is the divi sion of the fee simple of the soil amongst few hands, many of whom are non-resident, and most of them se verely burrhened. To the fact that the law of entail pre vents the sale of common, reclaimable bog, or even of cultivated land, in portions suited to the amount of capi tal to be employed, he attributes the fact that improve ment is paralysed ; and to the same cause he attributes the middleman system, and the leases and subleases by which estates become encumbered with a population too great for them. As a remedy for these and other evils, he proposes a removal, in Ireland, of the laws of primo geniture and entail. The mode of effecting this we allow him to explain himself, only adding that the whole pam phlet is well worthy of a perusal : " Having endeavoured to prove that the laws of primo geniture and entail are bad in principle, and destructive in practice, it remains to show how they may be abolished for the welfare of society, not only without prejudice to the rights, but to the great advantage of those persons who hold their possessions or reversionary rights under these restricting laws. The first step towards the diffu sion of landed property should be the giving power to tenants for life to sell as much land as will clear off the existing incumbrances upon their estates. " The next step should be the abolition, to take effect from a certain prospective date, of the power of entailing upon the unborn up to the time of, or in some cases nine months after, the death of the testator. " To hasten the beneficial result of this change, it should he competent for the tenant for life to negotiate with heirs i❑ remainder, either for the purchase by him self of their several interests in his estate, or for the sale to them of his own ; care being taken, as at present, that all interests be satisfied and properly secured. " The right reserved to the testator to bequeath his property amongst the living, or to public uses, should be unlimited. The right to give, during life, supposes that of giving at the last moment of existence, the transfer from one possessor to the other being instantaneous. The testator has also the right of giving reversions in survivor ship, which is, in fact, associating joint heirs with differ ent degrees of interest in the property bequeathed, which he might otherwise have divided amongst them. " It will require no space of time, of any consequence in the life of a nation, to mature the new system. The remnant obstacles of adjusting interests, and winding up old accounts under the ancient regime, would soon melt away by deaths or compromises ; and although a few of the old school, for a time, may follow the old fashion of making what is called a family in the person of the eldest son, nature and justice will triumph before long, and, as in the United States, public opinion will ensure from pa rents an equal distribution, of what they have to leave, amongst their children. That the anticipated favourable results of free transfers and division of property are well founded, is proved by the high state of civilisation and the great productiveness of those countries where property is most divided, and the land cultivated by resident pro prietors. The Lothians of Scotland, where this system has a considerable, although not a general existence, shows the best and most productive farming in the empire. Belgium end Switzerland, renowned for their productive ness, under the management of innumerable happy landed proprietors, and the improved condition of a vast portion of the French people, by the breaking up of the immense estates of the nobles, is notorious. The inequalities of property, which different degrees of talent, of industry, of conduct, of the size of families, and of good or bad fortune create, are quite enough (without the intervention of laws which may be termed legislative treason to the people at large) to ensure accumulations of wealth suffi cient for the purposes of all undertakings, and of main taining the refinement of educated society. Although France has benefited so much by the multiplication of landed proprietors, any approach to the French system of compulsory division of patrimonial property, so fatal to the peace of families, so subversive of control over the young, and so irrespective of the judgment of the old, should be carefully avoided in any system proposed for Ireland. pounds before corny ion to view it, reautiful palaces are open to the Borghese, the Farnese, Guistiana, Aldobrandini, Braschi, and others; containing the wonderful works of Titian, Raphael, Andrea del Sarto, Correggio, M. Angelo, the Caracci, Guido, Salvator Rosa, Rubens, and the master spirits whose lasting works, both in painting and tranger And how many you at Rome ! The Dori .sini, Barberini odern, e Kant you and your adai iration. The court, its huhdred lonic s of paintings, its precious is a ma 7gOificeni object The Ba: ber n colour demonstrates, ff from the Coliseum what the barbarians omitted the Barberini c ith their interesting gardens, are well worthy careful atten- outside tt a Borghese, l'amphillia (or dens of the Vatican, those the Quirinal bill, the Far- :ntion ; indeed, the first of Rome was here and 1 oranges growing over and adjoining palace eally delightful. Even in along the Pincian Hill, to ?,ously-tini,ed fleecy clouds s enrobing the g ;od of da yond Ostia, beneath the sets,.with his departing palaces, churches, towers, co: qua ruins of ever great, late cling Rome! st the fatal gift of beaut if present woes and past, ughed by shame. s of flame." Princess Torlonia was a ualitied to wear the cardi- He knew what reverses of removed him from all his digni- ItterattlEt. POETRY. THE GOLDEN DAYS OF OLD! (From the " Bridal of Salerno.”) lden days of old Ere snr And frie, fortune Oh, the golden days of old ! When youth and hope were ours. And each socceding morn that told Of time's swift fli.cht brought joyous hours, In the " • - J. L. ELLERTON, a settiu )ow- coloure THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. merly the centre, and in which the town of Leigh was not far behind. Many of the characters are very forcibly drawn, and will be popular with the descendants of the nearly extinct race which the author pourtrays. TERRIBLE EXAMPLE.—" My son !" said an old tur baned Turk, one day, taking his child by the hand in the streets of Cairo, and pointing out to him on the opposite side a Frenchman just imported, in all the elegance of Parisian costume—" My son ! look there i if ever you forget God and His prophet, you may come to look like that I" THIRST IN AFRICA.—This beat takes away all appe tite, and one longs for nothing but a shady tree and a gushing fountain ; all else is vain. It is strange to see efforts made by every creature, when we are corning near a spring or brook, to reach it quickly. The weary faces of the soldiers resume their animation ; the horses and mules, who smell it half a league off, begin to neigh, and, on reaching the water, both men and beasts plunge into it to satisfy their burning thirst. General order a , ,cl senti riels are of no avail—what is punishment, or even death, to the soldier at such a moment? He would much rather die by a bullet than by thirst. Most of them lose all self control, and drink till they are literally full. I have seen them drink with a small tin can, called a quart, which each soldier carries banging to his button hole, as much as five or six pints at a time. It is extraordinary that more do not die of it ; but the water is generally warmed by the sun, and the subsequent marching brings on profuse per spiration.—French in Algiers. THE CLAIMS OF D.—Dr. Daniel Dove, as I have said in the last chapter, pronounced with peculiar emphasis the Christian name of Daniel Defoe. Then taking up the auspicious word.—ls there not Daniel the prophet, in ho nour of whom my baptismal name was given, Daniel if not the greatest of the prophets, yet for the matter of his prophecies the most important. Daniel the French his torian, and Daniel the English poet; who reminds me of other poets in D not less eminent, Donne, Dodsley, Drayton, Drummond, Douglas the Bishop of Duhkeld, Dunbar, Denham, Davenant, Dyer, Durfey, Dryden, and Stephen Duck ; Democritus the wise Abderite, whom I especially honour for finding matter of jest even in the profoundest thought, extracting mirth from philosophy, and joining in delightful matrimony wit with wisdom. Is there not Dollond the optician : Dalembert and Dederot among those Encyclopedists with whose renown All europ n e rings from side to side. Derham the Astro-Physico—and Christo—Theologian ; Dillenius the botanist; Dion, who for his eloquence was called the golden mouthed; Diagoras, who boldly despis ing the false gods of Greece, blindly and audaciously de nied the God of Nature. Diodes, who invented the cis sod ; Deodati, Diodorus and Dion Cassius. Thus rich was the letter D even before the birth of Sir Humphrey Davy, and the Catastrophe of Doctor Dodd : before Da niel Mendoza triumphed over Humphreys in the ring, and before Dionysius Lardner, professor of the St. —'niversity of London, projected the Cabinet Cyclo pedia. Daniel O'Connell fought Mr. Peel, triumphed over the Duke of Wellington, bullied the British govern ment, and changed the British constitution. If we look to the fine arts, he pursued, the names of Douw, and Durer, Dolce and Dominichino instantly occur. In my own profession, among the ancients, Dioscorides ; among the moderns, Dippel, whose marvellous oil is not more exquisitely curious in preparation than powerful in its use; Dover of the powder; Dalby of the Carminative; Daffy of the Elixir; Deventer, by whom the important art of bringing men into the world has been so greatly im proved ; Douglas, who has rendered lythotomy so beauti ful an operation, that he asserteth in his motto it may be done speedily, safely, and pleasantly; Dessault, now ris ing into fame among the continental surgeons, and Dims dale, who is extending the blessings of innoculation. Of persons eminent for virtue of sanctity, who ever in friend ship exceeded Damon, the friend of Pythias? Is there not St. John Demascenus, Dr. Doddridge, Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah, who was buried beneath Beth-el, under an oak, which was called Allonbackhuth, the Oak of Weeping, and Deborah, the wife of Ladipoth, who dwelt under her palm trees between Ramah and Beth-el in Mount Ephraim, where the little children of lerael came up to her for judgment, for she was a mother in Is rael ; Demas, for whom St. Paul greets the Colossians, 1 and whom he calleth his fellow-labourer •, and Dorcas, which being interpreted is in Hebrew Tabitha, and in ' English Doe, who was full of good works and almsdeeds, whom therefore Peter raised from the dead.—The Doctor, by Robert Southey. BATTUE SHOOTING.—The proprietor of the estate, a middle-aged gentleman of sedentary habits, does not, in all probability, care much about sporting. If he does, he rents a moor in Scotland, where he amuses himself until well on in October, and then feels less disposed for a tamer and heavier sport. But in November he expects, after his ancient hospitable fashion, to have a select party at the manor-house, and he is desirous of affording them amusement. They arrive, to the number, perhaps, of a dozen males, some of them persons of an elevated rank, or of high political connexion. There is considerable c onmotion on the estate. The staff of upper and under keepers assemble with a large train of beaters before the baronial gateway. They bring with them neither pointers nor setters—the old 'companions of the sportsman are useless in a battue ; but there are some retrievers in the leash, and a few well-broken spaniels. It is quite a scene for Landscer—that antique portico, with the group before it, and the gay and sloping uplands illuminated by a clear winter's sun. The guests sally forth, all mirth and spi rits, and the whole party proceeded to an appointed cover. Then begins the massacre. There is a shouting and rustling of beaters ; at every step the gorgeous pheasant whirs from the bush, or the partridge glances slopingly through the trees, or the woodcock wings his way on scared and noiseless pinion. Rabbits by the hundred are scudding distractedly from one pile of brushwood to an other. Loud cries of " Mark V are heard on every side, and at each shout there is the explosion of a fowling /‹... v... hind you is always ready with a spare gun. How he ma nages to cram in the powder and shot quickly is an absolute matter of marvel ; for you let fly at every thing, and have lost all regard to the ordinary calculations of distance. You had better take care of yourself, however, for you are getting into a thicket, and neither Sir Robert who is on your right, nor the Marquis, who is your left hand neighbour, are remarkable for extra caution, and the Baronet, in particular, is short-sighted. We do'nt quite like the appearance of that hare which is doubling back. You had better try to stop her before she reaches that vista in the wood. Bang!—you miss, and, at the same moment, a charge of number five, from the weapon of the Vavasour, takes effect upon the corduroys of your thigh, and, though the wound is but skin-deep, makes you dance an extempore fandango. And so you go on from cover to cover, for five successive hours, through this rural poultry-yard, and, what is worse, wounding without slaying, beyond all ordinary calculation. You have had a good days sport, have you ? Our dear sir, in the estima tion of any sensible man or thorough sportsman, you might as well have been amusing yourself with a rifle in the heart of Falkirk Tryst, or assisting at one of those German Jagde, where the deer are driven into inclosures, and shot down to the music of lute, harp, cymbal, dulci mer, sackbut, and psaltery. In fact, between ourselves, it is not a thing to boast of, and the amusement is, to say the least of it, an expensive one. For the sake of giving you, and the Marquis, and Sir Robert, and a few more, two or three day's sport, your host has sacrificed a great part of the legitimate rental of his estate—has maintained, from one end of the year to the other, all those personages in fustian and moleskin—and has, moreover, made his te nantry sulky. Do you think the price paid is in any way compensated by the value received ? Of course not. You are a man of sense, and therefore, for the future, we trust that you will set your face decidedly against the battue system :—shoot yourself, as a gentleman ought to do—or if you do not care about it, give permission to your own tenantry to do so. Rely upon it, they will not abuse the privilege. The fact is, tkere never should be more than two coveys in one field, or half-a-dozen hares in each moderate slip of plantation. That, believe us, with the accession you will derive from your neighbours, is quite sufficient to keep you in exercise during the season, and to supply your table with game. No tenant whatever will object to find food for such a stock. If you want more exciting sport, come north next August, and we shall take you to a moor which is preserved by a single shepherd's herd, where you may kill your twenty brace a-day for a month, and have a chance of red-deer into the bargain. But, if you will not leave the south, do not, we beseech you, turn yourself into a hen-wife, and become ridiculous as a hatcher of pheasants' eggs. The thing, we are told, has been done by gentlemen of small property, for the purpose of getting up an appearance of game : it would be quite as sane a proceeding to improve the beauty of a prospect by erecting cast-iron trees. Above all things, whatever you do, remember that you are the denizen of a free country, where individual rights, however sacred in themselves, must not be extended to the injury of those around you.—Blacktcood's Magazine. THE RETURN FROM MARKET.--A chaise cart, driven by a boy, came clattering along the road : and seated in it, in a chair, with a large well-saturated umbrella spread out to dry behind her, was the plump figure of a matronly woman, with her bare arms folded across a basket which she carried on her knee, several other baskets and parcels lying crowded about her, and a certain bright good-nature in her face, and contented awkwardness in her manner, as she jogged to and fro with the motion of her carriage, which smacked of old times even in the distance. Upon her nearer approach, this relish of by-gone days was not diminished : and when the cart stopped at the Nutmeg Grater door, a pair of shoes, alighting from it, slipped nimbly through Mr. Britain's open arms, and came down with a substantial weight upon the pathway, which shoes could hardly have belonged to any one but Clemency Newcome. In fact, they did belong to her, and she stood in them, and a rosy comfortable -looking soul she was; with as much soap on her glossy face as in times of yore, but with whole elbows now, that had grown quite dimpled in her improved condition. "You're late Clemmv," said Mr. Britain. " Why, you see, Ben, I've had a deal to do !" she replied, looking busily after the safe removal into the houses of all the packages and baskets : "eight, nine, ten—where's eleven? Oh my baskets, eleven ! It's all right. Put the horse up, Harry; and if he coughs again give him a mash to-night. Eight, nine, ten. Why, where's eleven ? Oh, I forgot, it's all right. How's the children, Ben?" " Hearty, Clemmy, hearty." " Bless their precious faces !" said Mrs. Britain, unbonneting her own round countenance (for she and her husband were by this time in the bar), and smoothing her hair with her open hands. " Give us a kiss, old man." Mr. Britain promptly complied. " I think," said Mrs. Britain, ap plying herself to her pockets and drawing forth an im mense bulk of thin books and crumpled papers, a very kenel of dogs' ears. "I've done everything. Bills all settled—turnips sold—brewer's account looked into and paid—'bacco pipes ordered—seventeen pound four paid into the bank—Doctor Heathfield's charge for little Clem —you'll guess what that is—Doctor Heatlafield wont take nothing again, Tim." " I thought he wouldn't," re turned Britain. " No. He says whatever family you have, Tim, he'd never put you to the cost of a halfpenny. Not if you was to have twenty." Mr. Britain's face as sumed a serious expression, and he looked hard at the wall. " A'et it kind of him ?" said Clemency. " Very," returned Mr. Britain. " It's the sort of kindness that I wouldn't presume upon, on any account. " No," re turned Clemency. " Of course not. Then there's the pony—he fetched eight pound two; and that a'nt bad, is it ?" " It's very good," said Ben. " I'm glad you're pleased !" exclaimed his wife. " I thought you would be; and I think that's all, and so no more at present from yours and cetrer, C. Britain. Ha, ha, ha! There! take all the papers, and lock em. Oh ! Wait a minute. Here's a printed bill to stick on the wall. Wet from the printers. How nice it smells!" I . What's this?" said Tim, looking over the document. " I don't know," re plied his wife. " I haven't read a word of it." "' To be sold by auction,' " read the host of the Nutmeg Grater, " ' unless previously disposed of by private contract.' " "They always put that," said Clemency. "Yes, but they don't always put this," he returned. " Look here, 'Mansion,' &c , offices,' &c , shrubberies,' &c., ' ring fences,' &c., ' Messrs. Snitchy and Craggs,' &c., orna mental portion of the unencumbered freehold property of Michael Warden, Esquire, intending to continue to re side abroad '!" " Intending to continue to reside abroad," repeated Clemency. " Here it is," said Mr. Britain. " Look !" " And it was only this very day that I beard it whispered at the old house, that better and plainer news had been half promised of her soon !" said Clemency, shaking ber head sorrowfully, and patting her elbows, as if the recollection of old times unconsciously awakened her old habits. " Dear, dear, dear ! There'll be heavy hearts, Ben, yonder." Mr. Britain heaved a sigh, and shook his head, and said he couldn't make it out; he had left off trying long ago. With that remark, he applied himself to putting up the bill just inside the bar window ; and Clemency, after meditating in silence for a few moments, roused herself, cleared her thought ful brow, and bustled off to look after the children.— Charles Dickens's Battle of Life, CO fiRtISPONDENCE. ON THE SANITARY CONDITION OF SOME PARTS OF LIVERPOOL. To the EDITOR of the LIVERPOOL STANDARD. LETTER XXIII " Property has its duties as well as its rights." THE DAMP, FOUL STATE OF DWELLINGS, SOURCES OF DANGER I shall quote the notes I made some fifteen or eighteen months ago : " Mos( of the cellars in Toxteth-park, they tell me, were evacuated entirely. Some were deepened in the lower part of Jordan street, and in Simpson-street, be tween Kitchen-street and Bluadell•street. " A patient, Mrs. K , living in has bad her cellar altered nine inches by lowering, and rent raised Xi per annum, to meet the landlord's extra outlay. She has had eumatism since, which doubtless was the fruit of so potent a cause. Another cellar in the same street was lowered, to her certain knowledge. The cellars at the bottom of the street (nearest to the docks) in a bad state." _ I believe that several cellars have been lowered. It may be notorious as a common► fact : my facts will then only be a sprinkling ; but I do not aver anything to the public of which lam not positively cognizant. What ever I do bring forward, challenges for itself close inves tigation, and even contradiction where I have been misled or in error. " A poor woman, aged 45, married, whose husband is a house-painter, went into a damp cellar-kitchen to live about two months ago—got rheumatism from cold floor— constantly wet—never was in a cellar before—always ac customed to a boarded floor—never been well since taking to the cellar—this rheumatic attack threatened to be fol lowed by other and greater consequences, which might be supposed." My last cellar-case notes run— " Poor woman—has inhabited a damp cellar five months —lived in a room all her life, except for three years in a dry cellar, like a house—this present cellar is chill—has had a hoarseness very severe for three months, which has increased lately—was not subject to such form of disease —in fact, does not remember ever being sick in her life. She has cough, pain in the chest, &c. There is conside rable affection of the lining of the windpipe. Her hus band does not appear to suffer! He is out all day as a hawker, and in the evening occupies the fireside, the only dry spot. Recommended immediate quittance, on peril of becoming hoarse for life—promised to give notice di rectly." . _ _ I shall terminate my case reports with the following hardship, of general bearing : A poor woman, who has been a patient of mine at the Lying-in Hospital for nearly two years, afflicted with a distressing ailment, which has proved all but irremedia ble, although several professional friends have consulted on her case, and eminent men too. Has gone through a world o: suffering, as I can testify. She has been main taining an honest struggle for a scanty pittance, along with her husband, in coal-dealing. Latterly I was called to her supposed death-illness. I found her suffering with one of the very severest forms of inflammation, which required the severest medical measures for her relief. I almost despaired of her myself. Herself and family con sidered her a dying woman. She was spared to a tedious recovery. I found the cause of her dangerous illness had been a journey down to the Parish-office one soaking wet day, to try and get some parish-rate forgiven her, as she was not able to pay. She was unsuccessful, and returned home saddened and desponding. Her illness followed. During her convalescence she got a relapse of the attack, and I obeyed a hasty summons to her. Again I had to reduce her shattered system, to combat an insidious re turn of inflammation. On investigating her case, I found that a horse, their sole business hopes, had, after an ac ridenti in the atehlp and stomp anys of illneee. been sent out to grass for regaining strength to work i n the cart. The first night the poor animal was out in the open field, it forfeited its life ; for in the morning, on the husband going to look after his animal, he found it in a pit of water head downwards He dared not to tell his wife, lest it should prejudice her return to health, now more needed than ever to keep them both from absolute penury. However, she got to know it, and the relapse followed. I wrote thereupon a note myself down to the Parish office, to state the facts, and to beg that her rates might be forgiven her. They were reduced to 55., but not for given. She had no means to pay even that. I felt her lot to be really hard, and lamented that more discrimina tion could not be exercised towards the really poverty stricken, although the Highway Board is obliged to be strict, from frequent imposition. If the poor woman had " coined her blood for drachmas," the lancet and leeches had hardly left enough in her for the purpose. But her rates stand over her head, a heavy burthen ; and if she is sold up. she has not ss. worth in the place that I can see, unless the carcase of the dead horse were taken at an.ad valorem duty. Many a time she has had no food in the house. She has often pinched herself of meals, to be the thereby to pay her rent. Her landlord has often, knowing her honesty, looked into her cupboard on receiving his rent, and finding no food there for her, has returned her a trifle, or lent her a sixpence. She again rallied, and matters promised a little turn for the better. Some kind person enabled the husband to buy a second horse for £2 10s. ; a loan it was ; still there was a remote chance of earning a livelihood ; the thought was comparative happiness ; " joy cometh in the morning" even to the wretched bankrupt cottager, as well as to the wreck ing mariner. There was a chance, at all events, of living, —of food,—of paying everybody their own, and the parish its own rates. The horse was unsound at the time of pur chase, I believe ; at all events, the day after, it fell sick, and was unfit for work. Hope dropped down to her minimum drop of consolation. All was at a stand ; no money earned, no food coining in, a horse sick, they were in the depths of trial ; again hope delusive dawned for a day so, and the horse did manage to shuffle along after a fashion, with perhaps a portion of a load of coals ; it did earn some money ; it got wages ; it earned not quite so much as it eat in food. Here, then, was no advance — a quagmire of sorrows,- yet surely the end of them. No ! one drop more to the full cup of affliction and temporal despair The horse broke down only a few days after purchase, and he could not sell it again at any price. It was worse than worthless ; it was sick and disabled ; it was too costly a part of the poor man's establishment, so it was sent to the dogs. title ends the struggle for an independent, honest livelihood, and so end, too, the parish's hope of getting the unforgiven rate ; and is this all? No : trou bles come upon the poor, and the parishioners share hand somely the trials of the poor, and the balance must be struck this way—if the poor cannot pay the parish rate, the parish must pay the poor-rate. The " parish home" will probably now receive the persons of its ratepayers within its fostering bosom, who themselves had " nothing wherewithal to pay." Here is the circle completed ; and no doubt it is not a rare case. But I have not quite finished my medical reporting, although I fear the poor family are broken down irretrievably. She has never, nor have any of her family, troubled the parish. She has paid her way till now. She ends a public debtor, with nothing to discharge the debt. Now, I have a parting word to say about the question as to whether the debt is all on one side or not. She has paid rates for some time —perhaps for a long time. She lives in a little filthy, narrow back street, which is a wretchedly close one—a cul de sac at one end, the gutters general filthy, the gra tings foul and choked, pools opposite her own door ; in fact, a fair specimen of Liverpool Proper. The scaven gers, I am told, do come sometimes twice a-week. Some times, the party I enquired of—will undertake so far as to say, that they have really been seen once a-week ! Actu ally a living scavenger has graced the street once in seven days with his person and his broom—it may have been oftener—but once in seven days is a positive, ascertained fact ! This house has been a little hospital for sickness — of child, mother, servant, or some one. The poor wo man has paid rates for highway improvement. I should like to kow very well Low it is that she has enjoyed so little benefit from the rate. Her street requires the sca venger daily. The street I happen to live in ought ra ther to be neglected, than that the foci of fever—the malarial Fonds in the smaller streets—should not be attended to. In my way of looking at it, the public is largely a debtor to any ratepayer who gets no household benefit from the expen diture of that rate. 1 cannot repre ss th e i n di gna ti on s uch a tragedy of Liverpool Proper h as con j ure d up in my mind ; and if any one had told me half a year ago that 1 should be handling the pen of indignation thus, I could not have believed the occasion would have arisen before my eyes. The neighbours of this poor creature are ratepayers, too, and I could add someting further to the credit of the honest purpose of my patient—though not to their dis credit—but I will not prolong the narrative. A classic group of figures is wanted to ornament the south pediment of St. George's Hall. Would not the persons and characters of my narrative form an appro priate device for symbolizing Liverpool Proper in 1846 — the parish workhouse facade at one end of the field of design, the highway rate table at the other, a recumbent or genu-flexed attenuated female figure in the centre, pining children, lictors, fasces, and axes, horses in last agony, &c.? I remain, Sir, yours, faithfully, GEO. C. WATSON Bedjord•street, Dec. 26. Dec. 29, 1846. MR. JOHN TAYLOR'S ASTRONOMY. TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. " Out, hyperbolical fiend how vexest thou this man ? Talkest thou of nothing bat " comets 7 SIR,—I see Mr. John Taylor has again addressed him self to the task of confounding the astronomical notions of the good people of Liverpool. Taking the memoir of the Astronomer Royal as his theme, he has served it up with variations and interpolations of his own. The mis fortune is that the true story. like Lord Peter's coat, is not to be recognised under the mass of embroidery. I leave Mr. Taylor's quotations, which are singularly inapposite, on one side; but I beg leave to assure your readers, who have not had the advantage of seeing the monthly notice of the Royal Astronomical Society for November last, that the following indisputable facts are extracted from that notice, which I suppose Mr. Taylor professes to follow. Mr. Adams presented to Professor Challis and to the Astronomer Royal, the elements and mass of the new planet in September and October of last year. Also, with a table of the r esidual errors in the observed longi tudes of Uranus, after applying the perturbations due to the new planet, (s►e p.p. 129, 130.) So much for Mr. John Taylor's " rude sketch," and his "Primus Francus homo." Mr. Adams was not " prevented from perfecting his attempt," by trying to determine the latitude of the planet. He had found the elements of the planet from the perturbations of Uranus in longitude as M. Le Venice did, on the probable hypothesis, that the new planet would resemble the older and larger planets in its incli nation, and therefore Vtat the inclination might, at first, be neglected. He afterwards, a year later, attempted to obtai❑ the inclination and nodes of tile new planet from the perturbations of Uranus in latitude, though he was " afraid the result would not have great weight." P. 139. Mr. John Taylor should read first, and if he will write, write afterwards. It is not true, nor like truth, that M. Le Verrier's dis covery was "a corollary easy to be deduced from his laborious calculations on the secular inequalities of the elements of the orbits of the seven principal planets before, known." Nor is it easy to say what Mr. Taylor understands by the latter part of the above sentence and by secular inequalities. M. Le Verrier ascertained by a careful investigation of the perturbations of Uranus due to the known planets and their masses, particularly Jupiter and Saturn, that there were still anomalies in the" observed longitudes riot to be thus accounted for, (p. 131,) and this led him na turally to look out for the cause of these anomalies. As to the " easiness of the corollary, Mr. John Taylor differs rather widely from those who have some notion of the kind of problem to be solved. It soems scarcely necessary to mention a few minor mistakes in Mr. Taylor's verbose epistle. The planet's motion began to be direct about November 11th, and he, writing on December sth, says it is " retrograding." It "the platoon of telescopes" be directed according to Mr. John Taylor's directions, they will not hit the planet, whether they may emit " a feu de joie with cheers" or no. The place of the planet, on the 31st instant, may be somewhere about A.A. 21h. 56m. ; S. Declination 13 deg. 20 min. ; but 1 have no ephemeris by me, and will not answer for minute accuracy. Hence the approximately true, and the Taylorian places, will, on December 31st, be as follows : Approximate. Taylorian. h. ni. h. m. a. R.A.21 56 21 24 52 Liverpool Transit 3 18 M.T. 2 38 40 deg. m. deg. m. a. S. Dec... l3 20 15 12 20 Mer. Alt 23 18 21 22 58 I can only account for one set of figures in Mr. Tay lor's group, which I do thus,— Erroneous, R.A. of the Planet, Sid. Time, M. N. h. M. 8, 21 24 52 18 34 12 Dec. 30! Sid. Time, from M. N. 2 50 40 Subtract, long, Lpool ! Liverpool Transit 2 38 40 Dec. 311 There are only three mistakes. A wrong R.A., a wrong day, and the substraction of the longitude of Li verpool, or 12m., instead of the acceleration for 2h. 51m., which is 28s. There are other points which this vir promptioris ad vituprrandum lingwe has touched on after his fashion, but I have no time, and you no space, for hunting such " small deer." I trust he has no intention of bringing up La Place and Herschel to the present day, but will set himself " to the composition and publication of fresh works" as a " most competent person." In one matter, I fancy Mr. Taylor is right, though he quotes the worst of all authorities, Bailey. I have run skimmingly over the Astronomia Instaurata, and I find (Lib. 1, cap. 10,) two opinions stated, viz., that the stars ars self luminous, and that they are lighted by the sun but without remark or preference for either hypothesis by Copernicus himself. A little further on, after mentioning the order of the stars and planets, he says, " In medio vero omnium residet Sol. Quis enim in hoc pulcherrimo templo lampadem hanc in alio vel meliori, loco poneret, quam unde totum sicnul possit illuminare ?" Which seems conclusive as to his opinion of solar illu mination. I find no notice under the head of the inferior planets Mercury or Venus, which would lead me to think he had contemplated the objection to his theory or its re futation ; and I do not see any notice of the phases of the "noon, thon.h he is +cry Coll on the anbjooet of coups... I have no doubt the story, if true, belongs to a later date, and to another person, for Copernicus died as his work was published, and before it had given rise to any dis putes. I thought that the remark of d'Alembert, who speaks of " Le reve de Bailly, stir ce peuple ancien, qui nous a tout appris, excepte son nom et son existence," had passed into a proverbial truth, and that Bailly's dreams were forgotten: see Delambre Histoire Ancienne, preface, &c. But if Mr. Taylor can find Uranus and the planet in Natchatter and Akash, there is still a remnant left of the romantic school of astronomy. Cannot ho join stock with ZAdkiel? S. THE DISTRESSED IRISH Tyrone, 19th Dec. 1846. MY DEAR MR. GROVES,—Accept my best thanks for your kind remittance of £l2 just received. It has come most opportunely to raise my spirits, much dejected by the sufferings of my poor pensioners during the past fort night's severe weather, and total cessation of all work, public or private, which compelled me to extend my sup port to families under my ministry, but hitherto no bur then to me, owing to the men being employed on the pub lic works. I have now a much larger number on hand, as every day harrows our feelings with fresh cases of the most appalling destitution ; frequently decent men coming at night to beg meal, saying their families had not tasted food since the day before. The times are awful. The cold (as you judged) induced us to expend several pounds on blankets, quilts, and clothing. But I trust the Lord will (as hitherto) bless my renewed efforts to carry on, now more needful than ever, as the money voted for public works at sessions is expended all but about £3O, I am told. I have set 34 to work to-day to make a road, just to occupy them, and form an excuse to give them our usual mid-day feed of strong soup, and beef and vegetables. Our worst trial is the price of meal. At first I bought oatmeal at £1 Os. 6d. per hundred, and Indian meal at 17s. 3d. Now I get oatmeal, with trouble, at Bs., and Indian meal at £l. I now retail it at a reduced price to the men on the public works for cash, as 2s. 6d. a peck for meal, with 9d. a day wages, is starvation, or better. Many thanks for the true Christian kindness of your Li verpool friends. You have done more good than you could conceive. I will write you a full detail, please God, in a few, days. To-day lam ill, and greatly hurried. Ever faithfully yours, Mr. Groves, of Rumford-place, we are informed, will gladly receive and forward any contribution. HOW THE EXISTING DISTRESS MAY BE ALLEVIATED. TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, Sir ' —I wish some one of ability would point out what the ladies could do in the present emergency to lighten the distress amongst the Highlanders, Irish, and English. Could not a penny subscription be raised ?—laid out in course materials, and made into clothing by the destitute females, who should be raid for their labour under the superintendence of ladies. Also, could not a place be appointed for receiving old clothes and carpets, to be sent to the clergy for distribution ? It is the duty of every one to do something ; and if a plan of action were well organised, and if a few influential ladies would tyke the lead, 1 am sure the women of Eng land would do much towards clothing the naked, whilst they leave to the stronger sex the more difficult task of feeding the hungry, and correcting the desperate. No time is to be lost. Up and be doing, for the cry 15 —Death ! I have the honour to be, Sir, Yours respectfully, A WIDOW. December 24, 1816 POTATO DISTEMPER TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD SIR,—My attention having been attracted to this most important subject in your journal of this date, allow me to offer an opinion as to what may prove beneficial, or ope rate favourably towards the preservation of this most va luable esculent. In addition to the articles mentioned by your correspondent " Charon," viz. soap-waste, lime, and soot, I think another antiputreseent might be added with advantage, that is, the refuse bark from the tan-pit, com monly known as " spent bark." Should no remedy be applied to counteract the spread of this malignant disor der, we may, it is to be feared, apprehend in a short period the utter extinction or extirpation of this root, so indis pensible to the poor man's family that no adequate sub stitute can be procured. It is often remarked, that since the introduction of fo reign guano, as a dressing for our land, both vegetables and cattle have been affected by a sort of murrain, which seems to gradually increase ; whether the injudicious use!, of this rank manure, without a p r opo r ti ona t e a d m ixture 0 ; other rectifying substances, has conduced to the spread of this afflicting malady, is a question for the agriculturis t to solve, as many persons have a strong prejudice against it. The beverage called punch consists, as the Frenchm... ol says, of " de sucre to make it sweet, and de lemon to ma ce it sour," which appears a contradiction of terms ; why 0:1 not then a combination of opposite qualities be requisit e to the fertilising properties of our composts, the one cor recting or neutralising whatever might be noxious or ua i in the other.--I am, sir, &c. 22d Dec. 1846. U DINE* VARIETIES. CHALK AND COAL FIRES.—The practical utility of chalk as an article of fuel has been tested within the last fortnight, according to a Salisbury paper, and with the most satisfactory results. Surrounded with coal, it gives a strong heat, Lend a clear fire, at half the usual expense ; so that to the poor in the chalk districts it must be an in valuable boon.—The Builder. A SABBATH IN NEW ZEALAND.—A small bell was struck outside the building, and it was an interesting sight to watch the effect it had upon the dwellers of the pah : one by one, they came out of their houses, or crossed the little stiles dividing one court-yard from another, and, wrapping their mats and blankets around them, slowly and silently wended their way to the place of worship. On entering, each individual squatted upon the ground, which was strewn with reeds, and, with their faces buried in their blankets, they appeared to be en gaged in prayer; they then opened their Maori Testa ments, and a native teacher commenced the sacred service. It would have been a lesson to some of our thoughtless and fashionable congregations, to witness the devout and serious aspect and demeanour of these tattooed men, who, without the assistance of a European. were performing Christian worship with decorous simplicity and reverential feeling.—Angas' Savage Life and Scenes. A RIGHTEOUS DECISION.—SOHIe time ag o, poor fu gitive escaped from Maryland, and, hotly followed by the pursuer, on his way to safety beneath the broad flag of old England, in Canada,was overtaken and seized in Vermont. The abolitionists instantly got out a habeas corpus, and carried all parties before court, to see what warrant they had to arrest any man in Vermont, who had committed no crime. Three judges were on the bench, two of them young and energetic, one aged and feeble. who came to his seat by the habit of years, but seldom spoke, his eyes being dim and his strength abated. The counsel spoke— the defence wished to know why the man was held in cus tody. The lawyer for the slaveholder rose to reply, and said he should move the offender was guilty of a breach of the laws of Maryland State; he was a slave, and bad stolen himself. The other lawyer then said be should re quire proof that he was a slave. The slave-owner then stood up and held forth a document ; this, he said, is a bill of sale, made in my favour, for this man, signed by his original owner. Then the old judge rose to his feet, and with a voice of thunder, strangely loud for one so old, demanded, " Who signed it sir?" " John Williams," replied the astonished owner." " Take it away ! take it away !" said the old man, raising his hands to Heaven, " It is not valid, sir ; it is falsely signed, sir ; it is a blas phemous forgery ; none can sign that bill of sale but God Almighty." The court was electrified ; the slaveholder slunk out, and Vermont awakened like a sleeper, gave twenty thousand abolition votes at the election.—Extract of a letter from Troy, State of New York, Oct. 1846. THE STORY OF CANUTE AND HIS COURTIERS. — NEW VERSION.—One day, when in the plenitude of his power, he caused the throne to be removed from the throne-room and erected, during low tide, on the sea shore. Having taken his seat, surrounded by his cour tiers, he issued a proclomation to the ocean, forbidding it to rise, and commanding it not on any account to leave its bed until his permission for It to get up was graciously awarded. The courtiers backed the Royal edict, and en couraged with the grossest adulation this first great prac tical attempt to prove that Britannia rules. Such a rule, however, was soon proved to be nothing better than a rule nisi, which it is impossible to make absolute when opposed by Neptune's irresistible motion of course. Every wave of Canute's sceptre was answered by a wave from the sea, and the courtiers, who were already up to their ankles in salt water, began to fear that they should soon be pickled in the foaming brine. At length the monarch himself found his footstool disposed to go on swimmingly of its own accord, and there was every pros pect that the whole party would undergo the ceremony of an immediate investiture of the bath. The sovereign, who was very lightly shod, soon found that his pumps were not capable of getting rid of the water, which was now rising very rapidly. Having sat with his feet in the sea for a few minutes, and not relishing the slight speci men of hydropathic tteatment he had endured, he jumped suddenly up, and began to abuse his courtiers for the mess into which be had been betrayed by their out rageous flattery !—A'Becket's Comic History of England. SOUTH AUSTRALIAN CANOES.—The neighbourhood of the police-house is the grand rendezvous of the Lower Murray natives; and owing to the judicious treatment they have received—kindness and protection, blended with the strictest discipline—they are generally peaceable and harmless. The mounted police are regarded by the natives as belonging to the highest order of white men ; and, in deed, -Olen first seen by the tribes higher up the Murray, they were supposed to form part of the horses on which they rode, and were regarded with terror as fearful cen taurs. Three or four native boys were sitting round one of their small fires, outside the hut, roasting a sheep's foot in the embers, and besmearing their bodies with some of its fat. These little creatures all in a state of nudity, fetch wood and water, go after the horses, and make themselves generally useful about the station. The men were out fishing in their canoes, and the women and girls being busily employed in gathering bulrush-root for sup per, they did not arrive at their fires until after sunset. I crossed the river in one of the canoes; which are made merely of a sheet of bark from the blue gum-tree, warped up at the sides by the application of moisture and fire, and stopped at the endslwith strong clay. They are paddled by means of along spear. having a_sharoene garoo none axed at one end, tors pearing nab. The spear is held in both hands, and the paddler wields it standing; preser ving the most delicate balance, which a breath of wind is sufficient to upset. Daring cold weather a fire is invaria- bly carried in the canoe, raised on a small platform of clay, supported by wet seeds and mud ; and by these fires they frequently cook a portion of their fish whilst on the water. Two, or, at the most, three individuals, can he conveyed in these .rail shells of bark.—Angas's Savage Life and Scenes. MARRIAGE CEREMONY IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND. —The day of marriage has always been, and it is to be hoped, in spite of disconsolate old maids and love-crossed bachelors, will ever continue to be, a time of festivity. Among the rustics in Cumberland it glides away amidst music, dancing, and revelry. Early in the morning the bridegroom, attended by his friends on horseback, pro ceeds in a gallop to the house of his bride's father. Hav ing alighted, he salutes her, and then the company break fast together. The repast concluded, the whole company depart in cavalcade order towards the church, accom panied by a fiddler, who plays a succession of tunes appro priate to the occasion. Immediately after the performance of the ceremony, the company retire to a neighbouring alehouse, and many a flowing bumper of home-brewed is quaffed to the health of the happy pair. Animated with this earthly nectar, they set off at full speed towards the future residence of the bride, where a handkerchief is pre sented to the first who arrives. In some of the country villages in the county of Durham, after the connubial knot is tied, a ribbon is proposed for contention, either for a foot or a horse.race,—supposed to be a delicate substitu tion for the bride's garter, which used to be taken off while she knelt at the altar; and the practice being anti cipated, the garter was generally found to do credit to her taste and skill in needlework. In Craven, where this sin gular sport also prevails, whoever first reaches the bride's habitation is ushered into the bridal chamber, and, after having performed the ceremony of turning down the bed clothes, returns, carrying in his hand a tankard of warm ale, previously prepared, to meet the bride, to whom he triumphantly offers his humble beverage, and by whom, in return, he is presented with the ribbon, as the honour able reward of his victory. Another ancient marriage ceremony of the same sort, still observed in the remote parts of Northumberland, is that of riding for the kail, where the party after kissing the bride, set off at full speed on horseback to the bridegroom's house, the winner of the race receiving the kail, or dish of spice broth, as the chief prize.—Brockett's North Country Dialects and Customs. PEKING AND ITS PALACES. — The northern division of Peking consists of three inclosures, one within another, each surrounded by its own wall. The first contains the imperial palace and the abodes of the different mem bers of the imperial household ; the second was designed for the residence of the officers of the court, but is now occupied by Chinese merchants ; the third consists of the space inclosed by the outer wails, and was formerly inha bited by Tartars, but is now in the possession of Chinese shopkeepers and traders. The first inclosure (" forbidden city") is the most splendid and important part of Peking. It is situated nearly in the centre of the northern division of the tits?. It is an oblong parallelogram about two i miles in circumference, and enclosed by a wall nearly thirty feet high. This wall is built of polished red brick, surrounded by a ditch lined with hewn stone, and covered with varnished tiles of a brilliant yellow, which gives it the appearance, when seen under the rays of the sun, of being covered with a roof of gold. The interior of this inclosure is occupied by a suite of court-yards and apart ments, which it is said, for beauty and splendour, can not be surpassed. It is divided into three parts, the eastern, middle, and western. The middle division con tains the imperial buildings, which are subdivided into several distinct palaces. The gates and halls are thus described •—l. 7'he Meridian Gate! Before this gate'on the E. is a lunar dial, and on the W. a solar, and in the tower above it a large bell and gong. All public officers enter and leave the palace by the eastern avenue; none but the princes of the imperial blood are permitted to pa ss the western, and none but the emperor the southern avenue. At this gate are distributed the presents to sit. bassies ; and all war captives are here received by his Majesty in person.-2. The Gate of Peace has five avenues, and is a superb building of white marble. The height of the basement is twenty feet, and the whol e edifice one hundred and ten. The ascent to it is by five " Those who fear sinister results from the free sale of fli g hts of forty steps each, and it is highly ornamented land may be assured that, far from endangering British with tripods and other figures in bronze. Here, on all the connexion, the increase of proprietors interested in pre- holidays and on the anniversary of the emperor's birth serving order would be its best guarantee, and the conti- day, he receives the congratulations of his officers, who nent offers many examples of the happy co-existence of monarchy with a great subdivision of land." prostrate themselves to the earth before him, and st rike the ground with their foreheads. 3. The Hall of Perfect. Peace. Here the emperor comes to examine the a mple_ Rowland Bradshaw, or the Way to Fame. London : ments prepared for the annual ceremony of plou g hing. Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper, Paternoster-row. 4. The Hall of Secure Peace; in this the emperor gives • We have before us the first three numbers of a new a banquet to his foreign guests on new years day. 5. work, under the above title, now publishing by a towns- The Tranquil Palace of Heaven, i.e., of the emperor. man, the author of Raby Rattler, with illustrations, This is a private retreat, to which no one can approach also by a townsman, Mr. S. P. Fletcher. The work is without special permission. This palace is described by dedicated to the young men of England ; and the object th e R uss i ans , w h o h ave h a d man y o pportunities of seeing of the writer appears to be to trace the career of a young it, as " the loftiest, richest, and most magnificent of all man of education and talent, thrown as an apprentice the palaces." On each side of the tower is a large copper amongst a class of men and youths, most of them his vessel, in which incense is burnt night and day. 6. The inferiors in every acquirement, but his superiors in Palace of the Earth's Repos-, i. e., of the empres . s,whrh wealth. The scene of the opening number is laid is said to be very beautiful ; adjoining this is the imperial in the town of Fleigh—we presume Leigh—and gives an flower garden, which is laid cut in walks for her majesty, accurate and racy description of a state of society and of who being a Tartar, has not adopted the Chinese custom practices, once the characteristics of certain parts of Lan- o f cr ippli ng h er f ee t, an d th ere f o re is said to enjoy herself cashire, but which the advancing education of the present i n w h a t i s ca ll e d " E ar th' s R epose ." In this garden is a day is fast rendering obsolete. We refer to the system of library, said to contain a collection of all the books pub " trotting" and practical joking, of which Bolton was for- lished in China.—Montgomery Martin's " China." 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