The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-08-03 00:00:00

aim the bottle

recommends tt.e following means for
disguising the nauseous taste of cod•licer oil:—flake a
paste with the oil and powdered starch or arrowroot, and
prepare the bolus by wrapping it in a moistened wafer.
About sixteen of such boluses night and morning suffice
in the beginning ; more may subsequently be taken, or
they may be made larger, .as the swallowing of them be-
comes easy by habit.

BEN'EDETT

" PRAY, Silt," said the commissioner to an insolvent
brought up to be discharged on his petition, " how could
you wilfully, and with your eyes open, contract such a
number of debts without any visible means of paying
them ?" "My Lord," said the petitioner, " you labour
under a great mistake—l never in my life wilfully con-
tracted a debt ; on the contrary, I have invariably done
everything to enlarge it !" _ _

THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE.—in Englishman pe-
rusing an American newspaper, exclaimed impatiently, on
noticing some of Webster's orthographical improvements,
" These people ought to be denied the use of the English
language, if they cannot treat it better." " English lan-
guage ?" echoed a Yankee, without removing the cigar
from between his teeth, " guess you're mistaken, boss;
it's the American language." " American ?" repeated
the wondering Englishman. " Guess it's that," said
Jonathan, coolly, " we've annexed it."

COFFEE.—Choose the coffee of a very nice brown co-
lour, but not black (which would denote that it is burnt,
and impart a bitter flavour); grind it at home, if possi-
ble, as you may then depend upon the quality ; if ground
in any quantity, keep it in a jar, hermetically sealed. Pat
two ounces of ground coffee into a stew-pan, which set
upon the fire, stirring the powder round with a spoon
until quite hot, when pour over a pint of boiling water;
cover over closely for five minutes, when pass it through
a cloth, warm again and serve.—Soyer.

A TOAST APROPOS OF BACHELORS.—OId bachelors:
unproductive consumers ; scissors with but one blade ; odd
gloves ; fractional quantities that are never found in the
multiplication table ; beaux without fiddles ; irregular
substantives, always in the singular number and objective
case ; unruly scholars, who, when ordered to conjugate,
always decline ; their only recommendation is that, like
the Shakers, they take no pains to perpetuate their own
dismal fraternity ; if there be any such in Winchester,
may they speedily fall victims to a matrimonial epidemic,
and thus become integral parts, whole numbers, in our
flourishing town.
How HAPPINESS MAY BE ATTAINED.—There is one
way of attaining what we may term, if not utter at least,
mortal happiness,—it is this, a sincere and unrelaxing
activity for the happiness of others. In that one maxim
is concentrated whatever is noble in morality, sublime in
religion, or unanswerable in truth. In that pursuit we
have all scope for whatever is excellent in our hearts, and
none for the petty passions which our nature is heir to.
Thus engaged, whatever be our errors there will be nobi-
lity, not weakness, in our remorse ; whatever be our fail-
ure, virtue not selfishness in our regret ; and, in success,
vanity itself will become holy and triumph eternal.—
Bulwer.

THE FLEMISH CLOTHIERS IN VSTAEES.—" The settee
Comuni, a small German colony established, beyond the
reach of historical documents, in the North of Italy, the
Greeks of Piana dei Greci, near Palermo, the Flemish
clothiers in Wales, settled there for many centuries, all
retain dialects, more or less impure, of their mother
tongue, and afford some of the many proofs which might
be brought, how difficult it is to root out any language."
—Cardinal Wiseman's Lectures, p. 20I.—Can any of
your Welsh readers inform me in what part of Wales
the Flemish clothiers established themselves, and when ?
And do their descendants still inhabit that locality ? If
they do, is their language or dialect distinct from the
Welsh, or is it mixed with it, and yet distinguishable ?
F. M. in Notes and Queries.

THE Two LtvEs.—Beautiful is old age—beautiful as
the slow-dropping mellow autumn of a rich glorious sum-
mer. In the old man, nature has fulfilled her work ; she
loads him with her blessings; she fills him with the fruits
of a well-spent life ; and, surrounded by his children and
his children's children, she rocks him softly away to a
grave, to which he is followed with blessings. God for-
bid we should not call it beautiful, but not the most beau-
tiful. There is another life, hard, rough, and thorny,
trodden with bleeding feet and aching brow ; the life of
which the cross is the symbol ; a battle which no peace
follows this side the grave; which the grave gapes to
finish, before the victory is won ; and—strange that it
should be so—this is the highest life of man. Look back
along the great names of history ; there is none whose life
has been other than this.—Westminster Review.

THE tURMESE.—As we are now at war with these
strange people, the following will be read with interest :
The people have a Chinese cast of feature, and obviously
are to be reckoned among the Hindu-Chinese nations.
The men are of low stature, but athletic and active, long
preserving a youthful appearance, because, instead of shav-
ing, they pluck the hair from their faces. The women are
fairer, but less delicately formed than the Hindus, Both
sexes blacken the teeth, and the lids and lashes of the eye.
They are comparatively an uncleanly race; and. though to
kill domesticated animals is forbidden, game is eagerly
sought for as food by the rich, and all kinds of reptiles by
the poor. If a strange: happens to shoot a fat bullock, they
are not, like some in India, fanatical enough to revenge the
offence. Indeed, tho' a vain, presuming people, encouraged
by the example of their rulers to arrogance and barbarian
pride, their demeanour is far from insolent or supercilious.
Some travellers have erroneously described them as rude
in manners, because they do not rise from their seats on
the approach of a stranger, but among them the sitting
posture is considered most respectful. In their mode of
living a general simplicity prevails, their habitations being
slight structures of bambus and mats, with a thatch of
leaves, raised on posts three or four feet from the ground.
No subject is permitted to employ any gilding in the de-
coration of his house, and only a few favourites are allowed
to paint or lacquer the pillars. The king reserves as his
own prerogative the use of these ornaments. Everything
appertaining to him has the word " shoe" or " gold" pre-
fixed to it. Even his person is never mentioned except in
conjunction with the imperial metal. When the petition
of a subject has been transmitted to his majesty, "it has
reached the golden ears ;" when audience is granted, you
have been "at the golden feet ;" attar of roses is " grateful
to the golden nose." Gold, therefore, is of too exalted a
quality to be commonly used, and only very rich women
wear ornaments of it, while none but a highly-privileged
noble can put rings of it into his ears, From this it may
be imagined that the pride of rank in Birmah runs some-
what high. A chief journeying on the river will not sit in
the same vessel with the oarsmen, who there go ahead in
a boat, and tow his barge along. Neither will he enter
the habitation of an inferior man, but sends servants on in
advance of him, to build a house for his reception. A few
bambus, a little grass, and some pliant rattans, are all the
materials required ; not a nail is used, and the whole might
fall without injuring a lap-dog. Formerly. however, as
many ruins remain to testify, masonry was well understood
by the Burmese ; but wooden buildings now supersede all
others, and the degeneracy of the useful arts has followed
the decay of the people. There are three important per-
sonages, or " estates of the realm," in Birmah. The first
is the king ; the second, is the white elephant ; the third,
is the queen. To the white elephant all presents from fo-
reign ambassadors are made. The one seen by Captain
Canning was a small animal of a sandy colour, apparently
deceased. His residence is contiguous to the royal palace.
and consists of a lofty hall, hung with velvet curtains, and
supported by gilded pillars. His fore feet are secured by
silver chains to two posts, and his hinder feet by links of a
baser metal. Thick soft mattresses, covered with blue
cloth and crimson silk, serve him as a bed ; his body is
adorned with trappings of cloth of gold, studded with dia-
monds, sapphires, and rubies; his feeding-trough is equally
rich ; and a thousand attendants wait upon him. This
extraordinary custom originates in the belief that a white
elephant is the last stage of a human soul, in millions of
transmigrations, after which the spirit is absorbed in the
essence of divinity, to enjoy the pure beatitude of heaven.
" Lord of the White Elephant, and of all the Elephants
in the world," is one of the king's titles, and he is actually
lord over all the elephants in Birmah, since no one but a
noble, privileged by the sovereign, is permitted to possess
or employ one of these animals. The king, the queen, and
the white elephant dwell at Amarapura, or the city of the
Immortals, built on the shores of a deep and extensive
lake, enclosed by a curving sweep of hills, and embosomed
amid scenery the most fresh and picturesque. It is re-
paltd7ltotob e strong
vast treasures, and its fortifications are
s
g ; but there is no doubt of their easy re.
duction by an English force. The principal defence of the
country, indeed, is the heat of its climate ' • for this, though
salubrious to the natives, is formidable to Europeans,
compelled to expose themselves in the sun. Otherwise,
as we have said,Birmah is healthy, among its hills may be
found spots with an atmosphere as genial as that of the
pleasant valleys lately discovered in the Himalaya,
Sharpe'sMa,gasine.