The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-11-25 00:00:00

IMPROVEMENT IN TRAVELLING.

We may most of us recollect, that when we were chil-
dren our Mothers would make us stand against a wall
and tneasine our height, and would on that day twelve-
month take us to the same spot to ascertain how much
we had grown ; and hut for this test, our increase of sta-
ture would have been imperceptible. It is so with na
tional growth and national improvement : our ideas ex-
pand in just proportion with every thing around us; and
unless we fix upon some distinct points of comparison,
we fancy that we are the same people, and enjoying the
same advantages, as thirty years ago. Take, for in-
stance, the daily press. We are not aware that a news-
paper is at all different from the same publication at all
times of our life; but upon a reference to an ancient
file, we shall discover, that except being "a folio of four
pages," there are few other points of resemblance.—
Again, look to the modes of conveyance front place to
place. We may now travel in any of the public vehicles
a hundred miles, almost without the necessity of taking
refreshment ; whereas in our boyhood a similar journey
would have occupied two days, rVe have been led into-
this train of reflections by an inspection of a new steam
vessel, called the Clarence, which trades between Edin-
burgh and London, and which we saw at Black wall two
or three days ago. Our recollection places before us a
voyage which we took from Edinburgh to London in
early life. We remember the solemn leave we took of
our friends, and our promise to write to them en our ar-
rival in London, which Might be in a period of a fort-
night or three weeks. Our hnagination then conducts
us to the vessel,—a-Leith smack, totally destitute both
of comfort and ornament; its dark cabin, smolt y, and
badly ventilated ; the dirty pallet upon which we lay for
more than a fortnight ; and the salt provisions with which
we were regaled during the voyage. What a contrast
is now presented to us t A vessel nearly the size of a
frigate, the cost of which we were told exceeded ,E 30,000;
a cabin which might be mistaken fur a splendid drawing
room, cased with mahogany and hung with looking-
glasses, with accommodations of all sorts, not merely
answering the purposes of comfort but of luxury, and,
in fact, rivalling in every respect the elegant comfort of
a modern club-house. It may be asked whether this ex-
pense is not superfluous, and whether more homely ac-
commodations might not answer the purpose ? We
think not. By combining pleasure with business—by
holding out invitations to the inhabitants of the sister
countries to visit each other, as touch for the sake of
pleasure and health as of convenience and traffic—by
making a voyage from Edinburgh to London a most
agreeable summer excursion—and by softening the ri
gours of it when performed in winter—we are surely
conferring upon the inhabitants of both countries the ad-
%antages of travel which they would not otherwise be
tempted to avail themselves of ; we are uniting them
closer in feelings of cordiality and unanimity ; and we
are suggesting to each country the improvements which
may be adopted front the other.—Courier.

COURTESTILS OF THIS TAHLE.—Among the many choice spirits
v,h,;, figured in the convivial circles of Ayrshire, about the close
~ ' .1e last century, no one, perhaps, was a greater farourite
than Mr- H__, of S—. ln person and manners he was
quit'' the beau ideal of an a ccomplished tableman. Along with
a fund of good humour he had superabundance of pleasantry,
which rendered his company particularly attractive ; while his
countenance bore a
for, as it was truly
remarkable,
testimony to his social propensities,
a redder nose for a h'lc,t4trlkabl'' " a wider mouth for a laugh, or
votaries of Bacchus." bottle as not to be found among ail the
Logan, Mr. H— happpuZintg one day \kith the Laird of
after his fish—a custom which-uail"lP himself
that very ho kept to a little brands
kept up at some of the
ihnovspuiptathhlee bgolaasrsdsbeintween him a„,i":i'i,l.)licio,;un.t;i:.r.
HM,i____'hen hwoh:lt-
addresng Logan, " this is rather lialet'`th'' `• Laird," said he,
.some cf your dark brand)." " I ass4re N'.r, me; I would prefer
I hiivt? sent you is the dark brandy."
laird, in sour sin house, but it looks pale t'oetZ,ladiet You,
contradict you, Mr. ll—, out of your sin hoe's, .:
" ""
shouirt Consider that your red nose aria muckle mouth' 'l",t You
would gar
ouy maws brandy look pale."—Laird cf Logan.