Star.
London, England, 1830-11-22 00:00:00

SCINTILLID.

,imthee. y
spend Snlathy
e is
gr i n tact
he ea
Novas or R151NG....." The most curious statement that
I have any where met with concerning the apportionment of time I'o7
sleep, occurs in Dr. Clarke's Travels. Speaking of the Norwegian., Ile
says, " The lower order of people, in summer. sit up the whole nigl.l,
airelirtadekeepnoinsgleedapy f;ori
fathconeysiddoeranotblegolentogthchuorchf t
part of the Sabbath in sleep • and, in winter, they amply repay then:.
selves for any privation of their hours of repose during summer.•'—yo,
x. p. 215. Archbishop Williams is said to have slept only three how,
in the four-and-twenty, "so that he lived three times u long," sea ),
his biographer, "as one that lived no longer." This is a mareellouc
fact, for- Williams was a man who employed all his waking hours. and,
moreover, was not of the most tranquil disposition. But I believe that
any one who should attempt to follow his example, would severely Kau
for his imprudence. The mind requires regular rest as much as Ilk
body, and does not so soon recover from any excess of exertion. But it
is the tendency of the present state of society in England to product un-
natural exertions. Stage.eoach hones, and walkers against time, u,
not the only creatures that are worked to death in this country. 31,4
are the labourers (and it is the moo sober and industrious upon whom
the evil falls), who, by task-work, or by working what are called day,
and quarters, prepare for themselves a premature old age. And mane
are the youths who, while they are studying for University honours, rise
early and sit up late, have recourse to tut for the purpose of keeping
their jaded faculties wakeful, and irretrievably injure their health for
ever, if this Intemperance of study does not cost them their lives:'....
louthey's *, and Prospects of Society, voL 1, p. MG.
Cardinal easarion to Demetrius and Andronicus, on the
death of their father. Genistius :—" I hear that our common father and
tutor, having put off his earthly body. is gone into Heaven, to dance
with the heavenly gods the musical dance of Bacchus. I am glad
have been acquainted with so great a man. Greece never produced a
wiser man since Plato, if you except Aristotle ; so that if we admit
the doctrine of the Pythagoreans, and of Plato, concerning the descent
and return of souls, I shall not scruple to affirm that the soul of Plato,
being engaged by the indissoluble bonds of destiny to serve in a human
body to complete the period of its revolutions, pitched upon Genistius
for its abode, and lived in his body."—Leonis Allatii Diatribe de Geer.
Os, 1). 392.
On I'ACCOMMODE A Tour.—A singer at the opera, one
Rosner, in the duchy of Brunswick, was married to a very comely
wife, to whom the ex.duke paid particular attention. To the worst
possible voice, Rosner united the next great drawback to a player of hie
role, that of bad acting. Not a night passed but the poor devil was
hissed almost beyond endurance ; which caused him in a spleeny fit to
say :—" My audience (pardi) are more than half composed des ties
(geese)." At length, finding that the tumult of disapprobation was not
likely to subside, he determined no longer " to fret his hour upon the
stage," but formally to quit. When the. duke heard this, and
being on tokrably familiar terms, " Rosner," says he, (taking him
aside,) " don't play the fool, and leave your corps ! follow my exam.
pie rather, and stand fast." " What ! if the people do not /awl
me,:is that a reasonl should budge I—(Bah !)—.Napoleon's exclama-
don used here gives a good breathing pause, and our sequel n:ay be ea-
sily imagined. Rosner continued to sing, and to be riffled as usual;
and the ex-duke /audit a tour mimes, madame, a Cording:ire.—
F. E.—Ora Nov. 9, 1830.
THE RETORT MUSICAL.—About half a century ago,
when Fischer, the celebrated hautbois player, was so much in vogue at
the Rotunda in Dublin, and all the concerts given at that time, a cer-
tain lord, highly delighted one evening, made up to him, and, after a
few compliments on his masterly art, invited him to sup on the follow.
log night; adding, " You won't forget, Mr. Fischer, to put your h3ut-
bois in your pocket." Fischer, piqued at this cavalier manner of
bidding, replied, quite off.hand.—" My Lord, my hautbois never
sups ! F. E.
Croydon, Nov. 3, 1830.
JEREMY BENTIIAM.—TiIe reputation ef Bentham as a
lawyer does not belong exclusively to England : the Continent may
claim its share; for such a translator as Dumont is in some measure a
second inventor. But what is not generally known is, that Bentham,
after having applied in his youth the prodigious analytical powers of his
mind to demonstrations of jurisprudence, increasing in republican
ardour at a time of life when the ideas of order naturally predomi-
nate over sentiments of liberty, has beeome in his old age the head,
we may almost say the idol, of a political sect —Letters on England ,
by ie Steel.
Da. JOHNSON." The late Dr. Samuel Johnson wa sa
man of great parts, and was indisputably a great man, if great puts
simply can make one : but Dr. S. Johnson was the meanest of bigots,
a dupe and slave to the most contemptible prejudices ; and, upon sub-
jects the most important, is known to have held opinions, which are ab-
solutely a disgrace to human understanding."—Spita or the Wood, p.
343. This very amusing work was written by Dr. Heatheote, author
of a spirited political pamphlet, entitled The Iretsarch. 14