The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-01-31 00:00:00

GEORGE HI. AND THE GIPSIES.

Until recently, gipsies formed a comparatively large
portion of the population of the New Forest. An extra-
ordinary anecdote is told of some of these people and
George 111. That king being out one day hunting, the
chase lay through the skirts of the forest. The stag had
been hard run, and to escape the dogs had crossed the
river in a deep part. The dogs could not be brought to
follow; and it became necessary, in order to come up with
it, to make a circuitous route along the banks of the river,
through some thick and troublesome underwood. The
roughness of the ground, the long grass, and frequent
thickets, obliged the sportsmen to separate from each
other, each one endeavouring to make the best and
speediest way he could. Before he had reached the end
of the forest, the king's horse manifested signs of fatigue,
so much so, that his rider resolved upon yielding the plea-
sures of the chase tolhose of compassion for the animal.
With this view he turned down the first avenue of the
forest, and determined on riding gently on until some of
his attendants should overtake him.

The king had proceeded only a few yards when, instead
Of the cry of the hounds, he fancied he heard the cry of
human distress. As he rode forward he heard it more
distinctly.
" Oh, my mother, my mother ! God pity and bless my
poor mother !"
The curiosity and the kindness of the Sovereign led him
instantly to the spot. It was a little green plot on one
side of the forest, where was spread on the grass, under a
pallet. half covered Vh a kind of
tent, and a basket or two, wi some pac on tne
ground at a few paces distant from the tent. Near to the
root of the tree he saw a little swarthy girl on her knees
praying, while her little black eyes ran down with tears.
What, my child, is the cause of your weeping ?" he
asked ; " for what do you pray ?"
The little creature at first started, then rose from her
knees, and, pointing to the tent, said, " Oh, sir, my dying
mother 1"

" What !" exclaimed the King, dismounting, and fasten-
ing his horse to the branches of an oak ; " what, my child 1.
Tell me all about it."

The child led the kind-hearted stranger to the tent,
where lay, partly covered, a middle-aged female gipsy in
the last moments of life. She turned her dying eyes
expressively to the visitor, then looked up to heaven, but
not a word did she utter—the organs of speech had ceased
their office, "the silver cord was loosed, and the wheel
broken at the cistern."

The girl wept aloud, and, stooping down, wiped the
dying sweat from her mother's face.
The King, much affected, asked the girl her name, and of
her family, and how long her mother had been ill.
Just at that moment another gipsy girl, much older,
came breathless to the spot. She had been to the town of
W-, and bought some medicine for the dying woman.
Observing a stranger, she curtsied, and then hastened to
her mother, knelt down by her side, kissed her pallid lips,
and burst into tears.

"What, my dear child," said the King, " can be done
for you ?"
" Oh, sir," she replied, "my dying mother wanted a
religions person to teach her, and to pray with her before
she died. I ran all the way to W-, and asked for a
minister, but no one could I get to come with me."
The dying woman seemed sensible of what her daughter
was saying, and her countenance was much agitated. The
air was again rent with the cries of the distressed
daughters. Full of kindness, the King instantly endea-
voured to comfort them.

" I am a minister," he said, " and God has sent me to
instruct and comfort your mother."
He then sat down, and taking the hand of the dying
gipsy, discoursed on the demerit of sin and the nature of
redemption. While doing this, the poor creature seemed
to gather consolation and hope; her eyes sparkled with
brightness, and her countenance became animated. She
looked up ; she smiled, but it was the last smile—the glim-
mering of expiring nature. As the expression of peace
remained strong on her countenance, it was not till some
time had elapsed that they perceived the spirit had sepa-
rated itself from its mortal coil.

It was at this moment that some of the royal attendants,
who had missed the King at the chase, and had been
riding through the forest in search of him, rode up, and
found him comforting the afflicted gipsies. He rose up,
put some gold into the hands of the girls, promised them
his protection, and bade them look to heaven. He then
mounted his horse, and rode away surrounded by his people.

As we have already stated, the volume abounds
in interesting matter well put together, and varied
in scope. It is a beautifully-illustrated work ; is
handsomely printed, and is published at compara-
tively a very low price.

Analytic Arrangement of Holy Scripture, con-
taining the Old and New Testaments. By the
Rev. 'Henry Linton, B.A. Liverpool : Deighton
and Laughton.
This little work, which, it appears, was published
at the request of the students of St. Aidan's
Theological College, Birkenhead, in which the
author is divinity lecturer, will contribute much to
extend an accurate knowledge of that book
" which is able to make wise unto salvation." The
leading events are given in the order in which they
occurred, and also the principal predictions, with
brief references to their fulfilment. The psalms
are noticed in their historical connexion, which
arrangement will be found to throw much light on
the history and character of their authors, and
also to give clearer views of the. great truths and
inimitable beauties coaintied in the psalnis. them. -
selves. In the appendix alleged discrepancies
of the Bible, to whichina. infidels are accustomed
point, . are satisfactorily to
has evidently aimed The author
at making his. work instruc-
tive and useful, and we think he has succeeded.
be
A considerable amount of important information
is condensed into a small compass, which must
highly beneficial to a large class of persons, who,
from want of time and other causes, are prevented
from studying more elaborate and voluminous
works. We feel confident that it will be found a
valuable key to the study of Holy Scripture, and
therefore recommend it. In the compilation. and
arrangement of this excellent biblical text-book,
Mr. Linton has displayed no small amount of study
and scholarship ; he has also evinced much clear-
ness of judgment, and well-applied industry.

-11099'8 Instructor. Edinburgh : James Hogg.
The January number of this periodical continues
to sustain those claims the previous numbers have
established upon
are devoted public favour. Its opening pages
a temperate and calmly written
resume of the leading public events which have
characterised the bygone year. The paper is
written with earnestness, and without ostentation

' —it suggests rather than dictates conclusions,
and is in all respects creditable to the modesty
and moderation of its author. A paper of great
local interest in Edinburgh succeeds that just al-
luded to, it is entitled " George Heriot and his
Works," and, under that brief and simple title,
is given a succinct biographical memoir of the
greatest practical benefactor the city of Edinburgh
has ever met with. It is well, though it cannot
be too extensively known, that, from comparative
poverty, George Heriot, having risen to be court
jeweller to his sovereign, James VI., and his
Queen, Anne of Denmark, through active business
habits, intelligence, and integrity, amassed a
princely fortune, which, after making suitable pro-
vision for his relatives, he bequeathed for the erec-
tion and endowment of an educational institution
in the Scottish metropolis of a magnitude and
liberality of provision till lately unmatched in that
city, and still without many equals in the king-
dom, its annual average income reaching £15,580.
Out of this sum provision is made for the educa-
tion and maintenance of 180 boys, sons of poor
citizens of Edinburgh. Each boy on entering this
noble institution receives, besides his upper clothes,
six day shirts and two night ones, five pairs of
socks, and two pairs of shoes. Their education is
of the most liberal kind, suited to the middle walk
of life. On leaving the institution, which they do
at the age of fourteen, each boy receives a stock of
clothes, a pocket Bible, and a number of useful
books. Those who do not go the university—
which comparatively few of them do—receive £lO
annually during five years, to maintain them
during their apprenticeship ; and, at its close,
they receive £5 additional, as a bounty on good
behavour. In addition to the 180 boys receiving
education and board in the principal institution,
2,809 children receive an excellent English educa-
tion, gratis, from the funds of the institution.
These are instructed in ten commodious and ele-
gant school-houses, built in different parts of the
city, from designs by Mr. Alexander Black, the
active and intelligent superintendent of works at
Heriot's Hospital, as the institution is called. • Of
a verity, such benefactors to the place of their na-
tivity as George Heriot are of rare occurrence.
Besides the papers mentioned, the Instructor for.
January contains several articles of great value and
much general interest.

The Dodd _Family Abroad. No. XVII. By
Charles Lever. London : Chapman and Hall.
In this number we have slyly planted and telling
hits at the mechanical miracles by which the
Popish priesthood of even the nineteenth century
beguile the credulous and mulct the devout among
their adherent dupes. The Sneezing Virgin of
Orsaro is the oracle in this instance, and of course
her sternutations, like the winks of her relative in
another of the Romish performances, are at once
wonderful to the uninitiated, and valuable to the
contrivers. Some few touches in the eccentric
career of Lola Montes, are also made to do duty in
filling up the stage effect of this rolling domestic
drama, in which the undeviating rule seems to be
" incident, incident, incident,"—a rule maintained
with a persistency and success most remarkable,
and, at the same time, pleasing.

The Liverpool Photographic Journal. No. I.
This is a journal devoted to recording the various
incidents and occurrences in connexion with the
photographic art. To the lovers of that art it will
present peculiar charms, and by them, we make no
doubt, its pages will be duly studied.

SERLlLs.—Pictorial Pages, a well-designed
and cheap periodical. the Christian Family
Advocate, a journal well suited for family reading.
—The Ragged School Union Magazine, an
interesting record of the progress and social value
of those institutions for the reclamation of forsaken
or destitute childhood.—The Post Magazine
Almanaek contains a great amount of information
published at a small price. It is unfortunate that
such a publication should set out with an error at
its commencement, as that tends to shake confi-
dence in all its contents. In this we find " full
moon" set down for the 11th of January, whereas,
if we can credit the other Almanacks, backed by
the moon herself, that event took place on the 14th
of the month.—Home Thoughts an excellent
fireside and domestic journal—The Journal of
Industrial Progress, a journal which has arisen
out of, and is devoted to, matters connected with
the Great Exhibition in Dublin.