Star.
London, England, 1830-07-30 00:00:00

SCINTILLA.

C;lQvt Po ATS.—Quinque portus, five havens that
lie on the East part of England, towards France; thus called, by
way of eminence, on account of their superior importance, as having
been thought by our Kings to merit a particular regard, for their
preservation against invasions. Hence they had a particular policy,
and are governed by a keeper, under the title of Lord Warden of
the Cinque Pores. They had various privileges granted them,
as a particular jurisdiction; their Warden having the authority of
an Admiral among them, and sending out writs in his own name.
Camden tells us that William the Conquerer first appointed a
Warden of the Cinque Ports ; but King John granted them their
' privileges, and that upon condition that they should provide eighty
ships at their own charge for forty days, as often as the King should
have occasion in the wars ; he being then strengthened for a navy
to recover Normandy. These five ports are Hastings, Romney,
Hythe, Dover, and Sandwich.
PROROGATION.—The act of prolonging, adjourning,
or pitting oft; to another time. The difference between a prorogation
and an adjournesent of Parliament, is that by prorogation, the
Session is ended, and such bills as passed in either house, or both
houses, and had not the Royal assent, must, at: the next assembly,
begin again; for that every Session of Parliament is, in law, a se.
gruel Parliament ; whereas, if the Parliament be only adjourned,
there is no new Session, and consequently all things continue in
the same state they were in before the adjournment. But this dif-
ference between prorogation and adjournment is of no long stand-
ing anciently they were used as synonymous Proregetur curia de
hors in horam, quousque placitum taminetur...-MS. de L.L.
Borough, or burgh, is appropriated to such towns and
villages as send burgesses, or representatives to Parliament. 80.
roughs are equally such, whether they be incorporated or not ; there
being great numbers of our English. boroughs not incorporated—
and, on the contrary, several corporations, that are not boroughs, as
Kingston, Deal, Kendal, &c. Boroughs are distinguished into
those by charter or by statute; and those by prescription or
customs.

CANDIDATE.—A person who stands for some post or
place, either of honour or profit. The word is Latin (Canthdatus),
formed of Candidus (white), by reason of a white shining garment
(Toga Candida,) wherein those who aspired to preferments in Rome
were habited, at the time of their appearing for the sante, esptciall)
at the public assemblies, in older to distinguish them from the
crowd.

The first discovery of the valuable contents of the cele-
brated mountain of Potosi is said to have been accidentally made
by a Peruvian in 1545, who, in pursuit of a lama up the steep of
the =Rey, to save himself from falling caught hold of a shrub,
which giving way, brought uz with Its roots a mass of solid silver.
MtfirraCttio• AT A DlSCOUNT.—Suetonius tells us
that the youthful Emperor Nero gathered the first crop of his gos-
samer beard in a gaMin box, and deposited the precious spoil in the
Capitol, dedicated to Jupiter Opthnus Maximus. The royal bristles
and last crop of the Dukes of Cumberland and Sussex's venerable
mustachios, so loyally, and almost, we might call it, obsequiously
(u it has been announced) reaped in deference to the wishes ex.
pressed by his Majesty, ought therefore to be dedicated to Qum.
toe Terre. of the ancients, and the no less mighty shaker, if not
exterminate', of mustachios amongst the moderns ; though we con-
fess it would probably require a more capacious golden box than
any yet manufactured by Rundell, Bridge, and Co. to deposit the
many-eoloured subnasal excrescences of our civil and military whis-
kerandos In, even if they were as powerfully compressed and
squeezed together as bales of Demerara cotton. The English word
mustaches, and the French moustaches, the fashion of which is now
likely to become obsolete, is derived from the Greek mystax, sup,.
Hut labruvo, et is eo stab pill, the upper lip and the hair growing
thereon, changed from matsdibufum the jawbone, or mandueo, to
spew. The wearers of mustaches will now have to chew the cud of
repentance. Adieu, mon pietisir, as the sick Frenchman said.
Every body has read Anstey's " Bath Guide, which,
for ha witty and playful and characteristic description in very Anent
and melodious verse, is one of the most deservedly popular works in
the language. But our chief object in noticing it is to correct an
ex mistake which the ingenious editor has committed in
the following note :—" Man Tucker is onelof the curious instances
of a man's slipping out of recollection. Who now mentions his
name ? Yet he was one of the most active and most public minds
lof England, not fifty years ago; a scholar, a most acute and stirring
politician, and a most subtle and scientific metaphysician ; yet the
author of " Search's Light of Nature," and the pamphlet on the
American question, has strangely passed away." The editor has
here confounded two persons, whose characters were almost as dis.
similar as those of hlilton the poet, and Milton the horserdealer.—
Dean Josiah Tucker, the bustling hot-headed political pamphleteer,
bears no resemblance to the calm, contemplative, profound Abraham
Tucker, the author of " The Light of Nature.Putsued," whom Dr.
Paley pronounced to be the most original thinker of his age, and to
whom be has confessed his obligation for many of the most striking
hints in his " Moral Philosophy." The Dean of Glocester.was a
risrrow.minded man, the enemy of Locke, and the advocate of the
American Stamp Act. Burke demolished him and he is justly
forgotten ; but Abraham Tucker will be remember,d while tl,ete is
one mind in England capable of appreciating sound argument and
profound thinking.