The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-01 00:00:00

JENTLE Y'S
.MISCELLANY,

We hope Mrs. Butler will be induced. to continue
her narrative• of her travels in the United States, for
the present portion, describing "A Winter's Journey
to,Georgia; is exceedingly entertaining, and evince
much' acuteness-.of observation, and minute' and lively
power .of detail. According, to this lady's account,
the art.of travelling. with comfort is yet in its infancy
in Yankee-land. Speed. of locomotion is always to
be ensured—cOmfort, seldom, if ever. Indeed, !Jona.-
than appears to have no notion of this luxury, so in- •
dispensable to the happiness--nay, to the very exist- •
ewe of John Bull. He travels on execrable railroads, in
carriages so -closely shut-up that the atmosphere is quite
poisonous; rattles full speed across tumble-down bridges,
which threaten every instant to give way, and precipitate
his equally crazy vehicle into the deep waters-beneath,
and dashes, helter-skelter, over half-formed roads,.
strewed with logs, and agreeably diversified with
standing pools, -and loose, quaking bogs. But what
seems more particularly to have annoyed our "fair tra-
veller,
.was.the
.dirt and filth of some of the way-side
inns at which she was compelled to put up. In
pieplace, happening to want a towel, "I was obliged,"
she tells us, "to wait on the stairs, and catch one of the
dirty black girls who- were running to and fro, serving
the breakfast room. Upon asking one of. these nymphs
for a towel, she held up to me a horrible cloth, which,
but for the evidence -to the- contrary which their filthy
presented, -I should have supposed had been
u
clean the floors. Upon my objecting to this,
sshlslerefd flac ote 6
uncedaway, disgusted,lpresnme, with my fas-
tidiousness, and appeared no more." The breakfast, in

its way,, as riot less original and- characteristic than
the There were some eggs all t egrimed with
smoke, and powdered with cinders ; some unbaked
dough, cut. into. little lumps. by ...way of bread,
and a white hard substance calling itself butter,
which had an infinitely nearer resemblance, to tallow.
The mixture presented to: ns,by.way:of tea, was ab-
solutely undrinkable ; and. when. I begged for a glass
of milk, they brought a tumbler Covered with dust
and dirt, full of 'such sour stuff, that I was obliged to
put it aside ; Encouraging. facts these, for an
English gentlemen Nvho may happen to fancy,a tour
Oirough the United States! V We subjoin Mrs. But-
ler's-narrative of her chande introduction.to a veteran

American patriot, who had -fought with Washington
in the fabious "struggle for-inthpendence : •

It was now becoming twilight, and !he male members
of our caravan held council round a pine fire, as to-what
course had better be,aslopted for sheltering themselves
and us, during the night, which we seemed destined to
paSS in the woods. After some debatC, it was recollected
that one Colonel —, a man of some standing in that
neighbourhood, had a farm about a mile distant imme-
diately upon the line of the railroad, and thither
it was determined we should all repair, and ask
quarters for the night. Fortunately, an empty
baggage-car, or rather a mere platform. upon wheels
(for it was nothing more), stood at hand upon the iron
road, and to this- the luggage, and the women and
children of the party, were transferred. A number of
negroes, who werc loitering about, were pressed into-the
service, and pushedit along, and the gentlemen, walking,
' brought up the rear. I emit know that I ever in my
life felt so completely desolate as during that half-hour's
slow. progress. 'We sat. cowering among the trunks, my'
faithful and I, each with a baby in our arms,
sheltering ourselves and our poor little burdens from the
bleak northern wind that whistled over us. The last
embersof daylight were dying out in dusky red streaks
along the horizon, and the dreary waste around us
looked like the very shaggy edge of all creation. The
men who pushed us along encouraged each other with
wild -shouts and yells, and every now and then their
labour was one of no little danger, as well as difficulty
--for the road crossed one or two deep ravines and.
Morasses at a considerable height, and, as it was not
completed, and nothing but the iron rails were laid
across piles driven into these plaices, it became a ser-
vice of considerable risk to run along these narrow
ledges, 'at the same time urging our car along. No
accident happened, however, fortunately, and we pre-
sently beheld, with no- small satisfaction, a cluster of
houses in the fields at some little distance from the road.
To the principal one I made my way, followed by the rest
Of the poor womankind,' and, entering the house without
further ceremony, ushered them intesA large species of ,
wooden room, where blazed a huge .pine-wood are. By
this welcome light we descried, sitting in the corner of
the vast.ehimney, a.n :old. ruddy-faced man, with silver
hair, and a good-humoured countenance, who, wel-
coming us with ready hospitality, announced himself as
Colonel and invited us to draw near the fire. The
worthy Colonel seemed in no way dismayed' at. this.
sudden inbreak of distressed women, which was .very
soon followed by the arrival of the gentlemen, to
whotn he repeated the same courteous _reception he had
given us, replying to. their rather hesitao-ig demands
for something to cat, by ordering to the right and
left a tribe of staring negroes, - -who • bustled
about preparing supper;. under ithe -active superin-
tendence of the hospital Colonel. His residence
(considering his rank) was quite the most primitive
imaginable,--a rough brick-and-plank chamber of con-
siderable dimensions, not even whitewashed, and the
great beams and rafters by which it was supported dis-
!playing the skeleton of the building, to the complete
satisfaction of any one who might be curious n archi-
tecture. The windows could close neither at the top,
'bottom, sides, nor 'middle, and were,, besides, broken so
as to admit several delightful currents of air, which
.might be received as purely accidental. ' In one corner
•of this primitive apartment stood an exceedingly clean-
looking bed, -with coarse furniture, whilst in the opposite
one,' an old case-clock was ticking away its time and its
master's, with cheerful monotony. •The rush-bottomed
chairs were of as many different shapes and sizes, as
those in modern fine lady's drawing-room, and the walls
.were hiing all round %%WI a curious-miscellany, consist-
ing principally of physic phials, turkey-feather. fans,
bunches of dried herbs, and the Colonel's arsenal, in the
shape of one or two old guns, &c. According to the
worthy man's hearty invitation, I proceeded to make
myself and my companions at. home, pinning,•skewering,
' and otherwise suspending our cloaks and shawls across
the various intentional -and unintentional air-gaps,
thereby increasing both the comfort and the grotesque-
ness of the apartment in no small degree. The babies
had boWls Of milk furnished them, and the elder portion
of the caravan was regaled with a taste of the Colonel's
home-made wine, pending the supper, to which he con-
tinued to entreat our stay. Meantime he entered into
conversation . with my husband ; - and my veneration
waxed deep, when the old man, unfolding his history,
proclaimed himself one of the heroes of the revolution—
a fellow-fighter with Washington.
" Guy's Cliff Mill"-is a pleasing deSeriptive poem
by Mr. Jones. " The Absent Manager" is anable, conversational record of the eccentricities of a
provincial lessee by name Thornton, who, like the
well-khoWn Mr. George Harvest,- once put on four
shirts, one over the other, in pure absence of mind.
This infirmity, by the bye, is by no means confined to
nianagets' or 'authors; for there 'is' scarcely a West-
end tailor who has not at least . a dozen absent*.
mindecl men of fashion .awng his debtors. Nar-
rative.of an Expedition down the Thames" is a pas-
sable article, which is- -the utmost praise- we can
ticeord it. "-Notes of an Overland Journey:to Ken-
nington" has nothing ingenious or amusing about it
but its title., The "Barber of Beaulieu" is a story
told in places' with considerable energy, but the
leading incident—naMely; that of a, barber shaving
the Devil —is derived from the late Doctor
Macnish's clever story .- of the " Barber of
Gottingen," which apcared some years since in
Blackwood's Magazi
ne. " A 'Visit. to the Bank of
France" is a paper which will amuse all classes
of readers. In the present chapters. of " Bichard
Savage," we find the - hero on his trial at the Old
Bailey for murder. The passing reference to Page,
the Judge, is true to history. Pope and Johnson
have_both spoken of this intemperate lawyer as-he is
here pourtrayed. " Epsom Downs" .is a highly
diverting article, in which there are several terse and.
racy sketches of character. Indeed, as a whole, the
,
N umber is an excellent one,- ilia the miiiierchis cleVer
and -humorous embellishinentS with which it is
illus-
trated, add greatly to its attraction.

NE y'IIiONTHLY MAGAZINE.

In a curious article entitled " Diabolical Sugges.-
t tioiolor,
friend,otfeshias,wwhhionisoinccael.
a
fancied that he was under the direct influence of the
.itiit:en:(.l.:Atehe o faau
Devil, and was . compelled by him to kiss the red,.
hard, awkward hand of his maid of all work, and then
to trot up and down stairs from the top to the bottom
of the houses of his acquaintance before he could count
twenty, Strange .to say, he spent sorne'mbnths in ac-
complishing daily this eccentric feat, to' the great di-
version of all Who kne NV him, and at last dropped dead on
the top step of an attic with the word " nineteen" in his
mouth. The article is written in a tone of mingled jest and
earnest, so that we can scarcely tell whether or not Mr.
Hood means it to be read as a truth. The thing is
by no means improbable, for instances. are common
enough of monomaniacs indulging in such strange
vagaries, We once heard of a man who fancied he
was a tea-pot, and used to stand upon his breakfast-
table, for an hour together, waiting. to &poured out ;,
and of another, who took it into his head that his
• face • was turned towards his back; •and.was in the
' habit of puttint,- on his clothes hind-part in front.
The " Thief of7Tinte" is a light, chatty essay on pro-
' crastination. " The true procrastinator," says the
author, "will never give you much trouble. You
are sure of his help, when he cannot help himself.
There is also an advantage in knowing what
he will not do. If you have giveri; him provocation,
resenting his delays, he. will scarcely. call you out
within a twelvemonth, when his anger will have
cooled. If he writes to complain, he will never put
thu letter lute the post. -If he meditate a Pamphlet
•
against you, he will never get beyond the title-page.
In the end his memory, , much musing, but 'sleeping
half its time, will grow confused ; ,and he-will be=
gin to doubt •whether you cruelly injured him, or he
you." In the present chapters of Barnahys in
America," we find the fair, fat, buStling, and intro,
pkl widow, preparing to write in favour. of the slave-
trade, in order to propitiate .her friends at New Or-
leans, The narrative is not amiss, but is too much
spun Dirt, as if the author .were more solicitous re-
specting, the quantity than the, quality of her mate-
rials. In • " Graduates and. Under-Graduates," a
'
o'raphic account is given of a days coursing at Wood-
stock. The article exhibits' much of that reck-
less, extravagant humour : that characterised the late
Theodore Ilooleg" tales. " COntributions to the
Income-tax" should- either have been more liVely or
more serious. At present, it is neither:one nor the
other. In his "Phineas Quiddy," Mr. Poole sketches,
with infinite caustic humour, the' character Of a mean,
pettifogging attorney, whom he appropriately names
Iscariot•llitchflat. In " Short Rides in an Author's
Omnibus," occur these sensible remarks on courage :
Personal courage in a powerful man scarcely
commands our admiration, nit only from its being
so common, but because it may generally be displayed
with safety ; but where it is unsupported by physical
strength, _where it is the triumph of a gallant spirit
over a feeble frame, the very danger that accompanies
it's exertion enhances its merit, and increases the
respect with Which we contemplate it." The "Little
the • • •
Browns" is suggested by rumoured coinage of
half-farthing& The writer thus endeavours to
,ex-
plain the motives that suggested this new issue of
copper
• " The new denomination can hardly be intended—
against an universal Income-tax—to enable a man with
fourpence-farthinz a year to pay three per cent. on his
annuity. The Victoria D. G. on the new coin would
never lend heriloyal countenance to any such speculation.
"Is it possible, in consideration of the dearness of
bread, that the Lilliputian currency has been invented
for the purchase of such tiny little loaves as Gulliver
used to devour by the dozen ? Alas ! the people who
make money are not so considerate for those who don't !
" With none of these views is it likely that the Demi
Farthings hive been ranted--nor yet to encourage low

._ _ . ~_

play, by furnishing almost nominal stakes for short whist
and -games of chafice!'
" To what-purpose, then, hive the dwarf Coppers been.
introduced ? There still'remains one use for then, and
really it appears on plausible grounds to have, been the
very use intended by the authors of the measure —namely,
to be given away.
The universal diStress of the working-clasSes—the
rapidinerease of pauperiSM, and the broad hint which
has been* thrown out, that the wants of the starving po-
pulation must be provided for by voluntary contribution,
tend strongly to favour this hypothesis. The man 'and
woman-with' a spare penny—the lady and gentleman with
a spare shilling, will be enabled, by this very small change,
to enlarge tire- sphere of their•benevolcnce ; and the
noble plfflanthriipiSt;.' whoie generosity amounts to a
guinea,maythensatid beggars 'beset his gate, and
" none to go unrelieved away !" Yes-thanks to our
• mint-masters, we shall be indulged with cheap charity,
ifnothing else I
- But besides the mendicanis,the minute .coin will be
serviceable to give- to •ebildren,—to-Airossing-sweepers,
watermen, Jacks-in-the-water, and other humble officials,
who look to ladies and gentlemen for fees. Whether the
Half-Farthings will do to tip to servants, guards, cham-
bermaids, stage-coachmen,waiters, or box-keepers, is mere
problematical.; 'but in these hard'times, when every re-
trenchment is desirable, the experiMent at least ought
to be made-nay, should eteifa young lady call with her
stffiscription-hook to beg for, something for the little
Blacks, it might net be amiss to introduce her to the
little Browns."' • _