The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-05-24 00:00:00

SELECT EXTRACTS.'

THE BLESSINGS of LONGEVITY.—The period of matu-
rity is the only one which admits of prolongation. Infancy,
childhood, and youth, have each certain limits, which are
seldom come short of or exceeded : in a given number of
years the human being arrives at the highest development of
which it is capable, and art can do but little to hasten or
retard the arrival of that epoch. So it is with old age—it
cannot endure beyond a certain time, but speedily leads to
the grave. The period of manhood—the period in which all
the powers, both mental and bodily, are in the highest per-
fection,,is alone capable of extension ; and it is so capable
almost indefinitely. What a strong motive does not this
consideration afford for taking care of the health—for study-
ing the natural laws, on which health depends—and for
putting ourselves, as far as possible, in conformity with
those laws ! And how clearly does this show that longevity
is a good—a real, a substantial good, the attainment of which
is well worth striving for, and the possession of which must
contribute largely to happiness !—Curtis on Health.
MEANS OP WARDING OFF COLDS.—The best preventive,
measure against colds is attention to the general health.
Healthy persons never catch cold ; many never air their linen,
and are quite regardless of damp sheets, or wet boots, with
complete immunity from those consequences which would
inevitably result to the unhealthy and delicate. Some classes
of labouring men, such as brickmakers, &c. are exposed to
all the inclemency and vicissitudes of our climate, and yet
scarcely ever suffer from catarrh. Indeed, lam of opinion,
that " colds" comparatively seldom arise from mere exposure
to wet,—the cause to which in this country they are almost
universally referred. If such exposure does produce this
consequence, it is because there was some predisposing cause
in the system of the individual attacked. The French, in
consequence of being much in the open air, rarely catch cold,
and frequently manifest surprise when they hear Englishmen
express their fear of colds, and inquire what this d-eaded
calamity is—so little acquaintance have they with it.—Curtis
on Health.

THE PRESS.—The press, like the coral insect, is daily
creating for itself a new habitation, even in the remote seas
of the Pacific. The Sandwich Islands, but a few years since
inhabited only by barbarians, and unknown to the rest of the
world, have now their regular newspaper, ministering to all
the wants which belong to civilised society. The Sand-
wich Island Gazelle, published at Honolulu, Oahu, has al-
ready made considerable progress, and emulates the journals
of old-established colonies. It is curious to read some of the
advertisements in th's gaze'te of the antipodes, where " Jen-
kins and Stubblebeen, tailors," residing " near the King's
Palace," recommend the fashionable cut of their clothes to
customers whom we never suspected of wearing any ; where
an auctioneer's notice disposes of goods, chattels, and estates,
as freely, though it may be not quite so eloquently, as our
friend George Robins ; and where a demand for " bookbind-
ers" indicates that literature is not confined to the broad
sheet alone. Truly this is amongst the triumphs of the
press.

AN IRISH TAILOR.—The Irish are very fanciful in their
signs. One made use of by a tailor at Cahirciveen illustrates
the truth of my favourite doctrine, that misfortunes, defects,
and ignorance, may often be turned to good account by a
mind determined, to make the most of every circumstance. A
tailor who lived in the little town made once upon a time a
long journey to see the world ; and, on his return, put up his
name and trade over his shop, adding, in large and triumph-
ant letters " From London." His business, of course, in-
creased immensely ; and all the other tailors (for there were
many in a place which furnished clothes to the dense popula-
tion of the surrounding country) were in despair. At last
the poorest and most miserable of them all resolved to make
a desperate attempt to carry away the custom from the
usurping traveller. He lived opposite the tailor " from Lon-
don," and one fine morning a large sign appeared over his
door, bearing the words " Thady O'Shaughnessy, tailor," and
in gigantic letters, " Never was in London." The sign
created first a laugh, then perhaps a feeling of admiration for
Thady's honest audacity, and soon the custom was transfer-
red from the illustrious traveller to the honeit man who
"never was in London."—Lady Chatterton's _Rambles in
the South of Ireland.
THE ALPS.—On the route of Mont Cenis, Roche Melon,
one of the highest of the Alps, is crowned with a chapel where
mass is yearly said. There is something romantic in the idea
of making one of the most savage and inaccessible spots in
nature a proselyte to Christianity, and also in the fact of its
having been the vow of a prisoner in the Holy Land, who
had probably constantly presented to his mind as the gaol of
his release the summit of this mountain, which was the most
striking object to him in Piedmont, the land of his nativity ;
and if he reached not the Jerusalem of the Holy Land, this
new one of his fancy he founded in the air on the plain of
Mont Cenis ; tall, gaunt, black crucifixes, the sublime sand-
ard of heaven, show the way—amid the sublimity of earth—
the way to Rome, which, terrible to Hannibal and to Napo-
leon, is easy to the church militant. Chapels hang over the
yawning gulf—places of refuge in the storm, as if to say
Christ was the only salvation in danger ; but here and there
sinister crosses revial to the memory the place where the
voyageur has fallen under the stroke of homicidiary iron, and
shows that there was no protection against the
,passions of
man.—Metropolitan Magazine.
POWER OF HABlT.—There is a state of vice brought on
by habit, in which a man finds a pleasure in doing evil, and
is incapable of any other pleasure. lago is our example, a
character which, it is to be feared, is by no means out of
life. Imagine a shrewd and selfish child, permitted from in-
fancy to create for himself a satisfaction in the disquietude of
others ; a little worrier of defenceless creatures, a petty ty-
rant indulged in his worst caprices ; imagine such a one, as
he grows up, placed where his habits cannot be indulged but
in secret, and where those around him are such, that he
must, in his own mind, either hate them, or hate himself;
imagine all this, and lago will appear too possible a character.
Some critics have objected, that there is no sufficient motive
for the mischief he brings on Othello, Desdemona, and Cas-
sio. Can there be to him a stronger motive than that they
are noble minded, benevolent, and happy, and tacitly remind
him at every instant that he is in all respects a wretch? He
knows and bitterly feels, that each " bath a daily beauty in
his life that makes him ugly." The only pleasure which
habit has given him in lieu of those of which it has made him
incapable, is, to torture the beings that wound his self-love
to the quick, and to destroy the happiness he cannot partake
in. Such is the power of habit.—Smart's Beginnings of a
New School of Metaphysics.
A Kooun ENCAMPMENT.-An " Eelyaut" encampment,
in a cheerful and well-watered country, is one of the most
picturesque and happiest scenes imaginable. A patriarchal
simplicity stamps their manners, and seems almost to realize
the sweet pictures of the poet's Arcadia. Free as the air
they breathe, they shift their goat's-hair tents from stream
to spring, from valley to mountain, with the changing sea-
sons, and look down with pity and contempt upon the ` sit-
ters in houses." Although Mahommedans, their women are
unveiled ; and they not only share the toils of their husbands
and brothers, but sometimes emulate them in feats of horse-
manship. Though rarely pretty, the glow of health and the
good-humoured expression of these young Koordish maidens
supply the place of beauty, and their gay costume displays to
great advantage their full round forms and sun-burned fea-
tures. Upon them devolve the labours of the dairy and the
loom, while the young men tend the flocks, or scour the
country round in search of game. The elders of the tribe
enjoy the true otium cum dignitate, seated in front of their
huts, where they receive the passing stranger, and smoke
with him the pipe of welcome. The black Koordish tent,
supported by its many poles, is a very picturesque object ;
and when they are grouped together on the margin of some
mountain stream, surrounded by their flocks and herds, they
form a very pretty picture.—Captain Wilbraham's Travels.
ROMANTIC FAMILY STORY. —The following singular his-
tory of the preservation of the property at present inherited
by Sir Lucius O'Brien, Bart., of Dromoland, is given by
Lady Chatterton, in her very agreeable benevolently-inten-
tioned work entitled Rambles in the South of Ireland:—
"There is a romantic traditionary story told'of the manner
in which the O'Brien party has been preserved amid the re-
volutions in Irish affairs. Connor O'Brien is said to have
been the only gentleman in the county of Clare, who, after
the Commonwealth party was triumphant, refused to make
terms with Ireton ; and Ireton is believed to have caused him
to be assassinated, having despatched a party of five of his
best marksmen, in disguise of sportsmen, for the purpose.
Connor O'Brien's wife, Mary-ni-Mahon, informed her sons
Tiegue and Donough of the murder Of their father, and at
the same time advised them to offer no further opposition to
the dominion of the English regicides. The assassin, how-
ever, was taken and hanged ; and immediately after his exe-
cution the widow of Connor O'Brien ordered her carriage
to be prepared. Dressing herself in a superb suit of blue and
silver, she travelled with six horses towards Limerick, which
then was the head quarters of Ireton, and where he soon after
died. It so happened that on the evening of her arrival there
was a large entertainment at the general's quarters. Upon
demanding at the door to see Ireton, she was refused admis-
sion by the sentinel. A discussion followed, which it would
appear was of so noisy a character that it attracted the atten-
tion of Ireton, who, coming to the door, inquired the cause
of the sentinel's violent conduct, and why he refused ad-
mittance to a lady of noble appearance ; asking, at the same
time, the name of his noble visitor. " I was," she replied,
" the wife of Connor O'Brien, but I am now his widow."
Ireton hesitated to believe her; but the disconsolate widow
convinced him that she was free by offering to marry one of
his officers. He assented to the proposal, and she was mar-
ried to an officer named Cooper. By this marriage the
O'Brien property was saved from forfeiture. Her sons
Teigue and Donough, finding that a political struggle was
again likely to occur in Ireland, in the contest between James
11. and William 111., and that their property would be again
endangered by their decidedly espousing either party, they
consulted together, and determined that one should take the
Jacobite and the other the Orange side of the question. The
choice was made by Teigue as the eldest brother, who deter-
mined to follow the cause of James, his lawful king ; Donough
became a partisan of William's and the possessor of the pro

USICAL TALENTS OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON'S
FATHER.—During the peaceful times in which he flourished,
Garret, Earl of Mornington, acquired a singular celebrity.
In him was illustrated one of those instances of precocious
musical talent which astonish all who witness them, and e-
. main inexplicable by metaphysical or other rules. While
yet in the arms of his nurse, and before he was able to put a
complete sentence together, he distinguished the performance
of his father, who was an excellent violinist, from that of
Dubourg, a professor, so nicely, that when the latter visited
at Dangan Castle, the child would not suffer his father to
play ; and during the performance of the most difficult
pieces, he beat time with so much accuracy, as to lead those
present to conclude that he could not mark it untruly. At
the age of nine years he was persuaded, by a painter em-
ployed in the mansion, to take up a violin and attempt to
play ; and, in the space of a few hours, he learned the old
catches of " The Christ Church Bells" and " Sing one, two,
three—come follow me." A neighbouring clergyman was
much applauded for the composition of a new country dance ;
and this little circumstance secretly worked upon the feelings
of the embryo musician so acutely, that he now turned com-
poser, and, without the assistance or knowledge of any one,
produced a minuet, the bass of which he wrote in treble
clef. He next composed a seranata, consisting of three parts,
not yet having had any instruction, nor even having heard
music, except his father's playing on the violin and his
sisters' on the harpsichord, and not having attained his 14th
year. His father, observing the extraordinary musical genius
of his son, told him that he had an intention of presenting
an organ to the parish church, if his son had been capable of
acting as organist. The youth immediately promised that if
his father would only order an organ to be built, he would be
fully prepared to play the most difficult music by the time of
its erection ; which promise he actually fulfilled, playing
fugues extempore, the moment the instrument was set up, to
the amusement of his father and friends, who had never be-
fore heard him execute a single bar, nor had he an instru-
ment to practise on. In process of time, his lordship read,
studied, and composed music ; and although he never re-
ceived any instruction in that pleasing science, Rosengrave
and Gerniniani, who examined his compositions, declared
that they were agreeable to all the established rules, and that
he seemed intimately acquainted also with their proper ex-
ceptions. In the early part of his life, he was always most
pleased with simple melodies, but subsequently he exhibited
a strong predilection for church music and full harmony. He
was ultimately so distinguished as a musical composer and
performer, that the University of Dublin conferred upon him
the degree of Doctor and Professor of Music ; and a chant
which he composed continues to this day, to be performed in
the churches of Dublin. Amongst the most admired of his
vocal compositions are, " Here in cool grot," " When for
the world's repose," " 'Twas you, Sir," Gently hear me,
charming maid," " Come fairest nymph," and `• By green-
tree." Writers of musical biography have distinguished five
from among those that were most conspicuous by a display
of musical talent in infancy : they are, Mozart, Charles
Wesley, Samuel Wesley, Little Crotch, and Lord Morning
ton.—/* and Campaign, of the _puke qf Wellington.