The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-03-29 00:00:00

VARIETIES.

THE LITERARY FUND had an income last year of
£1,045 ss. The outlay for collecting and distributing
this paltry sum amounted to £58610x.
MRS. Nssaurr, the actress, is stated by a writer in the
Cheerful Companion to be the author of " Leonora," one
of the most beautiful love-stories ever written.
THIRTY-FIVE YEARS AGO the circulation of the
Edinburgh Review was 13.000 ; now it io oupposod to
havc decreased one half.
DR. RAE, who is actively engaged in preparine for his
new Arctic journey, will take out with him a set of mag-
netical instruments for observations in the vicinity of the
magnetic pole.
MR. FREDERICK SHOBERL, sen., died on the sth inst.,
after a brief but painful illness. He was a German by
birth, and was the first to introduce among us the class
of illustrated books called " Annuals."
THE " GENTLEMEN OF THE WHITTINGTON CLUB "
have collected £5OO for the Hood Memorial, while the
aristocratic committee of the Moore Memorial have :not
raised more than £350.

MR. THACKERAY has publicly declared that he will
not write a book about America. He told the Americans
to their face, however, what be thought of their children.
" Somewhat too independent, too free, enlightened, and
republican for their tender years." Mr. Thackeray
thought, and Mr. Thackeray courageously said !
OUR PERIODICAL LITERATURE must be declining.
The last number of the Westminster Review positively
prints two articles from the pens of Yankees. And, in.
stead of being thankful for his good fortune, one of the
worthies, a Mr. Whipple, has raised a row on the other
side the Atlantic at his paper being slightly abridged.

A PARAGRAPH OF ERRORS.—The Athenceum says :
" On Tuesday last, that day being the centenary of the
birth of the elder Roscoe, a public breakfast was given in
Liverpool in celebration of the event. A son of the his-
torian was present, and a paper was read on the style and
literary character of the most celebrated Liverpool
authors."

THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD AND SIR WALTER SCOTT.
In a life of Sir Walter Scott, recently published, his first
interview with the Ettrick Shepherd is thus amusingly
told :—One day, while Scott was still in Edinburgh, there
came into the city a brawny, rough fellow, driving a flock
of sheep. It was James llogg, who finding himself in the
capital, was seized with a violent desire to see himself in
print, and accordingly got somebody to strike off a few of
his verses, which, however, made no sensation. " The
Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border" set him to work at
imitating the old Scottish ballads ; and as his efforts were
warmly praised by Scott, he came down again from the
forest to pay his friend a visit. He, with William Laid-
law and others, was invited to dinner. The worthy shep-
herd appeared in his ordinary herdman's dress, with his
hands well tarred by a recent shearing. Not being accus-
tomed to the society of " grand folk," he had com-
muned with himself as to how he should act, and had
come to the conclusion that he ought to copy the lady of
the house in all things. Mrs. Scott, being unwell, re-
ceived her guest reclining on a sofa, and Jamie accord-
ingly, true to his principle, had no sooner made his best
bow, than he crossed the room, and stretched himself out
upon another. At dinner lie ate, drank, laughed, and
chattered, amusing the guests by his strange, uncouth
jokes and remarks, and even songs. As the good wine
began to operate, Jamie grew familiar, and after tickling
everybody by his rapid advance from "Mr. Scott" to
Shirra," " Scott," " Walter," and " Wattie," he at
last threw the company into convulsions.:of laughter by
addressing Mrs. Scott as " Charlotte."

GRAVEYARDS AT HOME AND ABROAD.—In Wales
and many districts of the United Kingdom, one coffin or
shell serves
for the whole of the parish poor, it beingpro-
vided with a false bottom. The coffin is lowered into the
grave ; the bolts are drawn when the mourners have
quitted the churchyard : the venerable coffin is drawn up
again, and the corpse is then covered with earth, as
though it were the carcase of a brute. Never did I witness
such deception abroad ; and had N. P. Willis been aware
of this fact, he would not have spared us any more than
he did the Neapolitan charnel vaults. In France, sanitary
measures are far from neglected, far from being unappre-
ciated : there I have seen a plan adopted as a safeguard in
the event of leaden coffins bursting, as also for generally
i
rendering intramural interments nnosious. The outer
coffin is made about three or four inches larger each way
than the inner : this space or interstice is filled with pul-
verised charcoal prior to the lid being secured ; which
carbon deodorizes and absorbs the putrid exhalation.s..l
Germany, quicklime is not unfrequently used for are similar
purpose, it being a good disinfecting ent
ag. Thereligious
or more strictly
establishments of Italy constantly embalm ,
speaking prevent the. decomposition of the bodies of emi-
nent ecclesiastics, laymen who have left bequests to the
convents, and the brethren of their communities. The
crypts, or souterrains, where these murnmvfied worthies
are ranged like sentinels "of the valley of the shadow of
death," form places of no inconsiderable interest to
travellers; and when visiting them, I have not had my
olfactory nerves more offended than when I have walked
through the Mummy-room of the British Museum. But
I would particularly refer to what I deem- to be best
method
the
method by the Capuchins, it being one well wo
wooden
yat-
tention—that of pouring thin hot groutingintothe
box or shell which contains the body, through a head eonr
stand pipe, in a manner similar to that practised by iron_
founders. There is not any need of precaution to coun-
teract the expansion of the grout, as the flesh of the
corpse readily yields to the pressure. I should remark,
that the body is laid upon blocks or narrow ledges, to
allow the fluid to encircle the lifeless frame; and when
set and consolidated to form a complete casing of concrete.
I have seen these piled up compactly one on another,
with the name of the deceased affixed on marble or wooden
tablets, and have also had my attention drawn to
blocks which had been split open for the purpose of ab-
Stracting the semicalcined or cauterized corpse. The
cleft block reminded me strongly of a sculptor's mould.
piaster of Paris or Roman cement might perhaps be used
with better effect than limes—Correspondent of Builder.