The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-01-04 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

REVIEW OF Tlll WAREHOUSING SYSTEM,
„NySCIED WITH THE PORT Or I.OIIUOSI. TAKEN
)11 ISILLISMNS7TARY REPORTS ♦SI) OUVICIAL Duey.
SIS. DT /JERRY LONOLANDS, ESQ.

going laid before the public some extracts from an
onvounts pamphlet, written in the way of reply to Mr.
,es lands, we should feel ourselves guilty of injustice if 1
e omitted to notice. the preface to his second edition of ;
abuee pamphlet, which he repels the observations
wii,ed in that attack, and does it too with great temper
od good sense.
'fhe author of this Tract has expressed himself dc-
NUS of being considered as not writing in his capacity of
'ecretary to the Irest India Dock Company.
.. lie thinks it right to preface this seez-md edition with
resent of the expression of his wish, in full confidence
hit honourable minds will not necessarily consider his
on:lesion with that establishment incompatible with the
ars: and impartial treatment of a g,reat public question ;
r consider a charge of undue partiality proved against
lira, because he advocates its interest in common with that
f others, which would suffer by incautious Innovations in
sic Warehousing System.
" The experience arising from that connekion has con-
' nattily convinsed hint, that such innovations would
be ovally injurious to the public ; and vowed and
distinct object of this publication was to prevent their
adoption.
" In an anonymous publication, purporting to be a
Review' of this 'Tract, the charge of dishonest partiality
is brought against theauthor, with much vulgar and il-
liberal abuse against the West India Doek Company. He
had amicipsted that this mode of attack would be resorted
to is pla:e of argument, by some. of those interested in the
dangerous speculations of the day : the personal abuse,
therefore, be despises • the misrepresentations with which
it abounds will be best answered by reference to the pas-
sages misrepresented ; sad the charge of partial omission,
by the irrelevancy of the passages quoted as necessary to
the elucidation of the subject.
" The author disdains anything like recrimination,
where the charge made against him is so grossly unfound-
ed : it cannot, however, be overlooked, that the writer of
the illiberal attacks upon his motives has chiefly made ase
of this Tract as a vehicle for recommending 'one of those
spe:ulations, which he calls " proposed improvernebts of
the port of London?' I'he main question of the security
o the revenue re nains untouched by him, while the ne-
cessity for more accommodation is assumed without proof.
The author, therefore, leaves his 'rract before the public,
without any apprehension of the result of a comparison be-
tween the motives of one, who, holding an office which
gives him the necessary experience, if not some degree of
authority to speak upon this question, and who, from the
consciousness of his impartiality, puts his name to his
, work and a writer, who impugns the sincerity of his me-
'tires. on the ground of his being connected with a ware-
housing establishment, while the same writer acknowledges
an interested party in the erection of a rival one.
Mr. Longlands brings to the discussion Of his subject a
mind familiar with all the practical detail essential to a
complete acquaintance with it ; he writes with great can-
dour, and his remarks throughout are manifestly the result
of extensive and accurate information.

YULE-CHRISTMAS.

Yens Is the name given to CHIIISTMAs in the nerd
'lesions. Mr. Pinkerton has justly observed that this win
"originally the Gothic Pagan feast of Yule, or Jul.'
The ancient Gotha had three great religious festivals in the
year; of these Isle was the first. It was celebrated at the
time of the winter solstice, in honour of the Sun, whom
the Goths worshipped under the name of Thor. As at
this period the sun began to return, they expressed their
joy in this manner, and endeavoured to secure a propitious
veer.—Mallet's Northern Antiq. i. 130.
This season among the northern nations was the rest
season of Sacral-mt. On this occasion human victims
seem generally to have been offered to their false goSs.
*The Persians sacrificed horses to the sun. This noble
animal was, indeed, sacred to him. We must view it as
a remnant of the eastern idolatry, that the Goths offered
horses at the Feast of Yule.— e. El. Sched. de Dis. Ger-
man. p. 102.
" The Greenlanders at this day keep a Sllll.frast at the
winter solstice, about December 22, to rejoice at the return
of the sun, and the expected renewal of the hunting set'.'
son.”--Crantz's Hist. Greenland, i. 116. r. Mallet, ti. 68.
The term Yule is still retained in Scortaivir, where
many customs analogous to those of the Goths are
.pre-
served, • which may clearly he traced to Pagan onigin.
Among others is the use that is made of the maiden, or last
handful of corn that has been cut down in harvest, which
is divided among the cows on the morning of Yule, some,
times of the new year, to make them " thrive all the year
round." It is to this custom that BURNS allinles, in his
beautiful poem, entitled The Auld Farinees New-veur
coursing Salutation to his acid Mare, AI •GGIE, on giving
her the accustomed rippor corn to hansel in the :k ew Year :
" A guid New Vow I wish thee, Maggie !
Ilse, there's a ripp to thy auk! haggle," &c.
This custom varies in different places. In some the
horses generally get a feed of corn on the morning of Yule,
and the maiden is given to the horse called the winder,
which leads the rest in the plough.
In Scotland several vestiges of idolatry still survive. in
Angus, be who first opens the door on Yule-day expects to
' prosper more than any other member of the family
. during the Year, because, as the vulgar express it,
"he lets in 'Pule." The door being opened, it is cus-
tomary with some to place a table or chair in it,
covering it with a dean cloth, and, according to their own
language, "to set on it bread and cheese to YULE." Early
in the morning, as soon au any one of the family gets out
of bed, a new broom is set at the back of the outer door.
The design is, "to let in /lie." These gross supersti-
tions, and the very modes of expression used, have un-
doubtedly had a heathen. origin, for Title is not only per-
sonified, but treated as a deity who-receives an oblation.
There are also cane other ridiculous rites practised on
that day. Any servant who is supposed to have a due re-
gard to the interests of the family, and at the same time
not emancipated from the yoke of superstition, it careful to
go early to the well on Christmas morning to draw water,
to draw corn out of the stack, and also to bring in kale
from the kitchen garden. This is meant to ensure prospe-
rity to the family.
A similar superstitious rite is observed in the South of
Scotland, on the morning of New-Year's Day. One of the
family watches when the dock strikes twelve, goes instantly
to the well, and carefully fills her pail.
Ticullatrock.—Tana neehour Dizzies raiser
An', liltin, Reed a sad gate :
"Theflua,er u the Ted! to our house guts
An' I'll the bonniest lad yet."
" Upon the morning of the first day of the new year, the
country hues are sure to rise as early as possible, if they
have been in bed, which is seldom the case, that they may
get the flower, as it is called, or the first pailful of water
from the well. The girl who is so lucky as to obtain that
prize, is supposed to have inure than a double chance of
gaining the most accomplished young man in the parish.
As they go to the well, they chant over the words which
are marked above with inverted conamaa."—ltev. J. Nicol's
Poems, i. 30.
Ibis scents to be a very ancient superstition, and may
PerhAps be viewed as a vestige of the worship of wells,
which prevailed runong the Piers. This rite WAS not un-
known to the Romans ; VI eta r makes Emma observe it on
invoking the I :oils :-
- Et sic effatus, ad undain
Promait, summuune honsle de ptrgite trim/raw
Multi dens nano, onerarittitte tethers virtu*.
T/11' LATE MR. WATTe—lViireintormed (says a Glas-
gow PaPer), that the workers, in the different departments
of the ISeanston Cotton Works, Perthshire, have subscribed,
and remitted the Inllowing sums, in aid of the Glasgow
subscriptions, for the purpose of erecting a monument in
memory of Mr. Watt :
Mechanical Illepartintat
:pining ditto
1! Lasing ditto

f 4 >a 10
3 11 )1
4 1 0

.Cl 2. 5 10
Gaon Luca AT MANCUESTEL—The Thirty Thon-
g lull Pound Prizo, No. 1,478, drawn last Friday, was sold
..) Mr. Ilcaningway, jeweller, Market-atreet, '3ianeboiter,
non in that town.