Star.
London, England, 1820-04-01 00:00:00

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LITERATURZ, 4c.

T 1117: :110NASTERY:
• i-e! ith which those productions, by the
IVav'rleq, have succeeded each other, has,
.g sr tot tneir great excellence, heel the subject
of gaaerai a Imioition. No other modern writer has
ever ilia • itch Aa extraordinary ceorse ; during which,
in place of shetviih; any symptom of Eigeing or
weakness, every succeeding effort seemed to give
pro!;1 tmexh 40,1 strength. But this facility,
hawe.er 'poly to be admit col, must be understood
ie. a :;;;rod dudes to ahply to the task not so much
of chlie.nieg, as of arranging hi.; materials, aeci
of
setting them off to the best ad.hintag.e. 'l h. matter
out et ohich he has fureished such a profusion of
exquisitely drawn portraits, and so many lively
-.leeches of the national moaners, must have been al-
; nil:. Fto:-..L1 op in his mind, the frith of long medi-
t ttioa lahorloos re-cinch ; for whatever facility
rune be achairel ion n aural aptitude and long prac-
tice in the ait of detcrintion,. decoration, aal even
invention, caeiain it is Slat the nritter, which is the
eohject of Coale deceriptions, roist sought for
e,ther. by ..tilv or by patient observation of the world
around us. The danger is, the-tc:ire, not that an
author or such extraordinary powies should fail,
throug.h hurt y, to give due. effect to his own concep-
tions, but that l,e should run !,hort of interestinn
matter, and that he should be driven upon awkward
expedieets in order to hide • this radical defect. Ex-
cellence cannot be purchased at ton high a price ;
and we weald not, therefore, grudge though there
were a longer interval between each publication el
this iinkiiown Author ; fur, a certain time is neces-
sary to amass the precious material:, however shortly
the task may be dispatchJei of polishing and re-
fining them.
Tile present worl: is unquestionably distinguished
by many characteristic traits of the family to which
it belongs. The description of the vale of Glandcarg,
of the house, and of the fainile by whom it was oc-
cupied, namely, the widew ci" Simon Glendioning,
killed at the battle of- Pinhey, and her two sons, to-
gether with its future iomazer, the Lady of Avenel,
her datieloer, aed her se.rvaots Tibb end Mertin,
is
altogether Set-:,h, aad in th author's hest stele.—
The occasional colloquies of Tibb and Elsoitli'therib-
dialling e eatremete amusing aitcl characteristic,
thorieh they are but sparingly lett oducaol, and the
mole.: and his dahehter make an excellent addition
tha same go:rope. Th.:: matchless ease, freeloin,
and shirin with which these delineations of den,estic
manners are eaecuted, cannot indeed be sutlicleatly
admired. tai istie of the Clinthill, a ferecioas treoper
of that lawless age, ;laid his Chieftain, dhliaa Avcnel,
under whose banner he is enlisted, to rob or .nurder,
just as he is commanded, are both striking peeson-
ages ; and the description of the castle in v-hieh these
baadlt:i lived•immated, except when they sallied out
to harass the peaceful country ; together with the
glimp,e we have intc the interior of their gloomy
abode, forms a most al mirable historical picture,finely
characteristic of the manners of that barbarous age.
—,:-The character of Sir Percie &rafter, the fop of
Queen Elizabeth's Court, is sketched with great live-
liness
and spirit, and there is something suitable, and'
even imposing, in the haughty demea..our which he
assumes from his connection with the house of Percie;
bht the ridieuloa, deunuement given to his adven-
tures, and his marrrige with the miller's daughter,
presents Lim in a light totally different from that in
which he originally appeared, and throws an air of
absurdity over his whole story and character. The
account of the Monastery, with all its concerns, is
but heavily executed. The Monks are, in general,
tiresome persoua2,es, and their long di;logues arc in
themselves sutEcielitly uninteresting, while the inter-
ruption they give to the story is an additional objec-
tion. Tile chief defect of the wolk seems to be, that
too great a portion of it is occeFied in this unpro-
fitaloe rottener. '!'here is nothing very remarkable
in the character of Warden, the Reformer, though
the scene between him and the Sub-prior, Eustace,
is one of the meet interesting in which either monks
or priests a: e iatrodnced. The story is Meagre, and
hot contrived r—la many parts it is left
moinished, and evinces throughout a degree of care-
honness and herry, which we have never before recog-
rileed in this aluilor, inattentive though he has always
beea to propriety in the manegernent of his plots,
:Ind Imre especielly towards the conchh;iJn.—
Bat the most unhappv contrive :ice which he has
fallen upon is that of Laving recourse to superna-
tural ahents, who, in some cases, execute nothing
worthy of such interference. If a monk is to be
ducked in a river, it is surely not necessary to sum-
mon a ehost upon such a duty ? At other time?, it
must be cenfcssed, that the ghosts do important ser-
ice; when they carry 'off Sir Percie Shaftoo, run
through the body, and lying dead, and make him as
good a man as ever in the course•of a few bouts.—
an the management and description of his appari-
tions, the author no doubt displays considerable skill,
and we cannot help being interested in some ri,f the
scenes whore they are introduced. But there is
something so revolting in the use of such agents,
that nothing cast a:one fur it. For a writer of such
unbounded ferthicy anJ knowledge of human nature,
real life is•the true element, and it is surprising that
he Should ever desert this, his proper province, to
range amid such wild and improbable fiction:.
MARRIAGE AMONG THE FRAITKS.

By the laws of the Franks, a man was allowed but
one wilC, a;;d he was sigourusly punished who quit-
led her to marry any other. The tie saich con-
rccted them was indissoluble, and the wife was in-
scparable from her husband. She followed him to
‘7ar ; the camp was her country : and from tlie camp
the armies drew their recruits. Boys, born and bred
amil the din of arms, inured to danger, and already
soldiers, replaced the old and slain. Tile), married
th.!ii• turn, as we learn from Sidonius Apollinaris ;'
vho, in describing the rejoicings that were made in
the camp of Cludion, on acct-nut of a wedding, tells
that the fair
.young man, by shorn he means a.
fi-ank, had mart led a fair young womim ; and that
the vilifiers celebrated their nuptials with Scythian,
and dances. •
The lin 'band provided for his family by his ex.er-
tious, and by the booty which be shared in an ene-
my's On his re:urn, the chaste caresses of,
hi, wife atitpls• recompensed the warrior.
.for. the fa
topes he had uudersoac, and rot the danger to'

which he had been exposed. A dear and affection
hand chesvid the wounds which he had received in
battle; and•her obedience and sweetness of manners
gave a charm to their society, which Listed as long
'as their lives. This union was founded on a ptrfect
subordination. The Franks of those remote times
were absolute masters in their bousei. They could
put their wives to diith when they departed from
their duty ; and it is surprising, that if a Frank killed
his wife in a transport of auger, the laws punished
him only by prohibiting him for some time to bcar
arms: a temporary interdiction of his military
character.

NACIIINE FOR CROSSING RIVERS.

The rnethanist, Xavier Michel, residing at Offen-

bad!, has invented a very simple and compact ma-
chine, by the aid of which rivers may be crossed,
and even the sea attempted, without any danger of
sinking. * It is nearly five feet in diameter when un-
tolded. An opening of about thirieen inches in
the centre. is destined to receive the traveller.—
When dismounted, this apparatus is easily transpoited
Irom place to place—for its entire weight scarcely
exceeds five pounds. The inventor has made a num-
her o;. experiments on the Rhine, all of which have.
;leen crowned with entire success. ne can make the
machine move forward, or otherwise, at pleasure, and
without any great exertion. In order more fully to
prove the u:ility of' his invention, M. Michel has de
.termined to embark at Khel, and descend the Rhine
to its mouth.
SHIP'S COOK, A GREAT OTTICER.
According to an esta!ilished form in the Navy,.
when a ship is paid off, no Officer must quit the port,
or consider himself discharged, until the pennant is
snuck, which can he done only by the cock, as the
last Officer, at sunset ; and should he he absent, no
ether person can pc, form the office, however de-
sirous the.Oilicers may be of taking their departnr,
and although there may not be 'a single. marine or
seaman on board.

CURIOUS ANtIQUITIF.3.
WISDADEN.. JANUARY.—There is at present in
oar city two very remarkable objects, of the highest
antiquity, ramely, a cylinder of red jasper, with
winged human 'figures, birdh• and an inscription cut
on it, apparently of exTaisite workmanship. Learned
anticpiarians, who have seen it, are of opinion that it
is of the time of the ancient Persian Kings, from about
500 to G)O years befl-,re the blab of Christ. •The
cylinder, which is hollow, measnres one inch 101/2
lines in height, and 10 lines in di'irneter. The cha-
racters of the writing are said to be what are called
simple Babylonian cuneiform. The second is a Ti-
herian MS. on a daik-blue coloured silk paper, two
feet in 1en:.1.1. The characters are inscribed in gol•?;
and the paper written upon on both sides. Though
this MS. bars the traces of high antiquity in many
places, it may be considered as in an excellent state
of preservation. The characters seem to have much
similarity with the Sansc:it, and may probably au-
thorise us to infer a common origin. 'the possessor
of the stone and the MS. the Counsellor Dorow, has
given permission to have them printed, with add'
tions, by Professors Heeren, Grotefend, and others.
TABLE OF THE SWIFTNESS O 1 THE WIND.
(From Dlr. Smeaton's Papers.)
WIND. amens PVt HOUR.
Hardly perceptible .. -
Just perceptible -
Ditto - - - -
Gea:tle pleasant -
Ditto - - - -
Pleasant brisk gale - -
Ditto - - - -
Very brisk - -
Ditto - - - -
High Winds - - -
Ditto - - - -
A'ery high - -
I Ditto - -
- -
Storm Tempest
Great Storm - - -
Hurricane - - -
- -
Ditto, that tears up trees, destroys
bLiidirgs, &c.

103
WOMEN.

S.
1 47
2 98
4 40
5 87
7 55
14 67
0
29 34
56 67
44 1
61 34
58 68
66 1
73 SS
63 2
117 Z 6

- 146 70

It is in vain that we make sometimes strong reso-
lutions to avoid an intimate connexion with the fair
sex. It is to no purpose that we make ourselves ac-
quainted with their faults ; we never can raise in
ourselves a perfect dislike to the sex. We have in
our hearts a love of women, implanted by Nature
herself, that renders void every resolution we might
h..re l_srined to hate them. Pygmalion, who had
conceived so strong an aversion to women, that he
had determined always to live single, continually
amused himself with making beautiful statues of
women ; and entertained his fancy with designing
those charms which nature has endowed them with.
His heart betrayed itself by his employment, with-
out his being conscious of it ; and it appears as if
Nature pleased herself with putting him to confusion
and distress, by obliging hire to seek in his art for
that enjoyment, of which he in vain thought to de-
prive himself.*
• °silt Metarnorph. lib. x. lin. 213.
PATRIOT PRINCE.
Noureddin, who was Lord of the powerful State
of Aleppo during the twelfth century, though the
greatest Mussultnan of the age, was a; simple in his
dress as the meanest peasant. In his reign tie
laws were so well administered that Damascus was
crowded with strangers. The public revenues were
never distributed by the King, except in the presence
of the Doctors of the Law; and so small a portion
did he reserve for the support of his dignity, that
his Queen complained of his parsimony : but he re-
plied, " I fear GOD, and am no more than the trea-
surer of the Moslems. Their property I cannot'
alienate ; but I still possess three shops in the City
of Hems; these ynu may take, and these alone I can
bestow." In every part of his dominions he built.
mosques and hospitais, and places of refreshinent
fur travellers. The ascetic too might find a con-
vent, and the studious a school. But the most be-
neficent of all his institutions was a tribunal for the
redress C. wrongs which Emits and Governors had
committed on their subjects. Powen acknowledged
the dignity of genius; for men of learning were so
much the objects of his attention, that 17e arose to
meet them, and never required them to observe the
Asiatic custom of standing in the presence of the
Soy creigin—Phirs iiitfory (sf India.

in •
The excavation, now progress in forming the
'funnel through a part of the rock between White-
haven and Piston; has already produced some curie
ous and beautiful specimens of the petrifact!cm a wild
plants ; those of the Inn germs in partic:-.lir.