The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-10-20 00:00:00

BY MRS. POSTANS

With pleasure I acquiesced in the proposal of an Ame-
rican lady, to accompany her on a wedding visit to the fa-
mily of a fair " Jessica," the daughter of a Bagdat mer-
chant in the fort. Leaving our residence for this pur-
pose together, we threaded the crowded and narrow ways
of a porton of the populous bazaars, until then unknown
to me ; and, as the palkees neared each other, and I
caught occasional glimpses of my veiled companion, her
gorgeous tiara, her flashing jewels, the strange locality,
and the novelty of the expedition, brought the inimitable
tales of the Arabian Nights strongly to remembrance;
and I almost imagined myself attending the splendid wife
of Haroun al iiischid, through her ancient city of Tabriz.
Arrived at our destination, we were introduced into a
large upper apartment, where several turbaned infants lay
sleeping on Arab mats, attended by Jewish women, hav-
ing all chowries to protect their repose.
After a short detention, a distant door opened, and the
bride, wi h her mother and sisters, gave us a most cour-
teous welcome. As the appearance and attire of the
younger women nearly resembled each other, I shall con-
tent myself with attempting to describe the person of the
lady, for whom our visit was most particularly intended.
The bride was certainly not more than 11 years of age ;
yet, notwithstanding her extreme youth, there was no
lack of feminine expression in her fair and placid counte-
nance. Her eyes were hazel, and her soft features dif-
fered from the common Jewish puysiognomy, which,
however handsome in youth, frequently acquires harsh
distinctiveness at a maturer age. It is customary for the
Jewish women to marry at an early period ; and the elder
sister of the bride, a girl about 16, was, I found, the
mother of two of the sleeping infants, who had first at-
tracted my attention.
The costume of the fair Jewess brought to my remem-
brance, yet, " with a difference," Mr. Lane's admirable
sketch of that adopted by the dancing girls of Cairo. It
consisted of a fine white muslin under-dress, plaited in
exquisitely small folds from the throat to the waist, and
falling to the embroidered yellow slippers, shrouding her
pretty feet. A satin tunic of Tyrian purple, sloped away
on the bosom, was clasped at the waist oy a single stud,
the sleeves falling loose and open from the middle of the
arm, fringed with a double row of gold buttons. A shawl,
of the finest loom of Cashmere, encircled the waist ; and
costly ornaments, worn after the usual manner, encum-
bered where they could not adorn. To complete the cos-
tume, a small red velvet cap fitted closely to the head,
bound round the brows with a scarf of most vivid hues,
and a handkerchief depending from it at the ',tack, passed
loosely under the chin ; a very trying arrangement, even
to the most lovely face. With due exception to this sin-
gle portion of the attire, all was tasteful and well arranged,
flowing and antique ; fashion in the East is not a mutable
goddess; consequently, its form was probably the same
wi!h that in which the fair Esther, the advocate of her
people's rights, appeared before Hegai, in the regal palace
of Shushan.

According to an eminently disfiguring custom amongst
the Jewish ladies, the hair of all is parted in long crisped
locks upon the forehead, and stained an orange tawny co-
lour by the use of henna. At the back, its
.raven and
glossy tint remains, where it is plaited in long ends, each
suspending a golden coin. Observing the curiosity with
which I noticed the several articles of their dress, the
young Jewess proposed that I should proceed to their
dressing-room, to amuse myself with an inspection of
their wardrobe.—Sharpe's London Magazine.

IMPORTANCE OF THE COCHINEAL TRADE.—The im-
portation of cochineal from Mexico into Spain amounted
during the years 1788 to 1790, to 2,200,000 lbs. The dye
is generally put in bags of 200 lbs. each, and the average
annual consumption of cochineal in Europe is at present
calculated to be about 4000 bags, or 800,0001bs. The
imports into England amounted in 1830 to 260,0001b5.

Tcere are various methods for drying the insect in a more
rapid way than the sun affords, besides which the insect
loses more in weight by being dried in the sun. Hot

metal plates are frequently resorted to, which process,
however, gives the dye a less brilliant colour. In the
London market the following kinds are distinguished, to
which I have added the prices commanded last January :
—Black, 6s. 3d. per lh. ; best, is. ;—Silver, ss. 3d. ; best,
ss. 4d. ;—Foxy, ss. 2d.; best. ss. 6d. Assuming, there-
fore, an average price of ss. Bd., England imparted in the
year 1830 cochineal to the value of nearly £74,000 ster-
ling.—Sitnrnonds's Colonial Magazine.
A. SONIERSETSHIRE STUDENT.—Corning to
_a relati-

on's house, who was a schoolmaster at Ma'rtock, in So-

mersetshire, I went into the school to beg the boys, or
rather the master, a play-day, as is usual in such cases.
I observed one of the lowest scholars was reading his les- SUPERSTITIONS RESPECTING BEES.—Some years
son to the usher in a chapter of the Bible ; so I sat down since, a gentleman, at a dinner table, happened to men-
by the master till the boy had read it out. I observed tion that he was surprised on the death of a relative, by
the boy read a little oddly in the tone of the country, his servant inquiring " Whether his master would inform
which made me the more attentive, because, on inquiry, the bees of the event,—or whether be should do so." On
I found that the words were the same, and the orthogra- asking the meaning of so strange a question, the servant
phy the same as in our Bibles. 1 observed also the boy assured him that bees ought always to be informed of a
read it out with his eyes still on the book, and his head, death in a family—or they would resent the neglect by
like a mere boy, moving from side to side as the lines deserting the hive. This gentleman resides in the Isle of
reached across the columns of the book. His lesson was Ely—the anecdote was told in Suffolk; and one of the
in the Canticles of Solomon—the words were these :—" I party present, a few days afterwards, took the opportu-
have put off my coat ; how shall I put it on ? I have nity of testing the prevalence of this strange notion by in-
washed my feet ; how shall I defile them ?" The boy quiring of a cottager, who had lately lost a relative, and
read thus with his eyes, as 1 say, full on the text : happened to complain of the loss of her bees, " Whether
" Chav a doffed my coot ; how shall I don't ; Chav a she had told them all she ought to do ?" She immedi-
washed my veet •, how shall I moil'm ?" How the dex- ately replied, " Oh, yes :—when my aunt died, I told
trous dunce could form his mouth to express so readily every sleep (i.e. hive) myself, and put them into mourn-
the words (which stood right printed in the book) in his ing." I have since ascertained the existence of the same
country jargon, I could not but admire.—De Foe's Tour superstition in Cornwall, Devonshire, Gloucestershire,
through Britain. (where I have seen black crape put round the hive, or on
GROUSE "BATTUES."—There is something not only a small stick by its side,) and Yorkshire. It probably
despicable, but in our opinion absolutely brutal, in the ac- exists in every part of the kingdom. I should be glad to
counts which we sometimes read of wholesale massacres ascertain whether it prevails in Wales;—though, from
committed on the moots in sheer wanton lust for blood. its being known in Cornwall, I have little doubt that its
Fancy a crest hulking Simon. attended by some half dozen origio, is earlier than the Saxon invasion. You can pro-
gamekeepers, with a large retinue of gillies, sallying forth bably also inform me whether this custom be known on
at early morning upon ground where the grouse are lying the Continent of Europe. The mode of communication
as thick and tame as chickens in a poultry-yard—loosing is by whispering the fact to each hive separately. I be-
four or five dogs at a time, each of which has found his lieve there are many other singular notions afloat as to
bird or his covey before he has been freed two minutes these insects. In Oxfordshire, I was told that if man
from the couples—marching up in succession to each sta- and wife quarrelled, the bees would leave them. The ac-
tionary quadruped—kicking up the unfortunate pouts, count of their generation from the blood of a calf leads to
scarce half-grown from the heath beneath his feet—bang- the beautiful episode in the 4th Georgic.—Athenceum.
ing right and left into the middle of them, and—for the CELEBRATED OAKS.—TO come to our own island,
butcher shoots well—bringing down one, and sometimes there is the Hatfield oak, under which the Princess Eli-
two, at each discharge. The red-whiskered keeper behind zabeth was sitting when the news of her sister Mary's
him, who narrowly escaped transportation a few years ago death, and her own succession to the throne, was brought
for a bloody and ferocious assault, bands him another gun, to her. In Whittlebury Chase, tradition points out a
ready loaded ; and so or, he goes for hour after hour, de- tree where Elizabeth Woodville waited for Edward IV.,
populating God's creatures of every species without mercy, that she might petition for the restoration of Bradgate to
until his shoulder is blue with the recoil, and his brow 1 her family. He saw her, and be loved • but " small joy
black as Cain's with the stain of the powder left, as he I had she in being England's queen." The oak of Elders-
wipes away the sweat with his stiff and discoloured hand. ! lie, that grows near Wallact's birth-place, in Renfrew-
At evening the pyramid is counted, and, lo! there are 200 shire, is the only tree now left, of several that Scotland
brace. Is this sporting, or is it murder? Not the first cer- once prided herself upon as memorialising her hero. We
tainly, unless the term can be appropriately applied to the have all read in childhood of the oak near Boscobel
hideous work of the shambles. Indeed, between knocking House, that sheltered Charles 11. after the battle of Wor-
down stots or grouse in this wholesale manner, we can see cester. In the late Lord Grenville's Park at Dropmore,
very little distinction ; except that, in the one case, there there is a youug tree with an inscription, which informs
is more exertion of the muscles, and in the other a clearer the reader it was raised from an acorn of the oak at Bos-
atmosphere to nerve the operator to his task. Murder is i cobel, and placed and cherished at that place as a memo-
a strong term, so we shall not venture to apply it, but 1 rial, not of the King's preservation, " but of the re-esta-
cruelty is a word which we may use without compunction; blishment of the ancient and free monarchy of England,
and from that charge, at least it is impossible for the glut- the true source of her prosperity and glory." A tree in
ton of the moors to go free.—Blackwood's Magazine, Epping-forest is known as Anne- Boleyn's oak ; and an
EXTRAORDINARY DISCOVERIES AT NINEVEH.—Mr. oak in Ampthill-park, Bedfordshire, is pointed out as a
Layard, an English gentleman, has for the last twelve- favourite tree of Catharine of Aragon, Henry VIII.'s first
months been pursuing the track—first laid open by M. wife. Near the village of Addlestone, in Surrey, is an
Botta—at Nimroud near Mosul, on the Tigris. His ex- ancient oak which formerly marked the boundary of
cavations have not only settled the precise position of Windsor forest, and there is a tradition that Wickliffe
Nineveh—the very existence of which bad become little preached under its shade. At one time, it was proposed
bettor than a vague historic dream—but have brought to to erect a monument to the reformer beside it. Herne's I
light some of its buildings, sculptures, and inscriptions. oak is still " shown "in Windsor-park ; but there is good
According to accounts received from Constantinople some reason to believe that the veritable tree no longer exists.
months since, and communicated in the Athenecum of The guides, however,think that the substitute "is so like
Saturday last, Mr. Layard had discovered an entrance truth, 'twill serve their turn as well."—Tait's Maga-
formed by two magnificent winged, human-handed lions. zinc.
The entrance led him into a hall above 150 feet long and TURNER'S COLOURING.—One point it is incumbent
30 broad—entirely built of slabs of marble, covered with upon me to notice, being no question of art but of mate-
sculptures. The side-walls are ornamented with small rial. The reader will have observed that I strictly limited
bas-reliefs, of the highest interest—battle sieges, lion the perfection of Turner's works to the time of their first
hunts, &c., • many of them in the finest state of preserva- appearing on the walls of the Royal Academy. It bit-
lion and all executed with extraordinary spirit. They terly grieves me to have to do this, but the fact is indeed
afford a complete history of the military art amongst the so. No picture of Turner's is seen in perfection a month
Assyrians ; and prove their intimate knowledge of many after it is painted. The " Walhalla" cracked before it
of those machines of war whose invention is attributed to had been eight days in the academy rooms; the vermi-
the Greeks and Romans—such as the battering-ram, the lions frequently lose lustre long before the exhibition is
tower moving on wheels, the catapult, &c. Nothing can over; and when all the colours begin to get hard a year
exceed the beauty and elegance of the forms of various or two after the picture is painted, a painful deadness and
arms, swords, daggers, bows, spears, &c. In this great opacity comes over them, the whites especially becoming
hall there are several entrances—each formed by winged lifeless, and many of the warmer passages settling into a
lions or winged hulls. These lead into other chambers; hard valueless brown, evert if the paint remains perfectly
which, again branch off into a hundred ramifications. firm, which is far from being always the case. 1 believe
Every chamber is built of slabs covered with sculptures or I that in some measure these results are unavoidable, the
inscriptions : whence some idea may he formed of the 1 colours being so peculiarly blended and mingled in Tur-
number of objects discovered—the far greater part of ner's present manner as almost to necessitate theit irre-
which, in fact nearly all, are in the best preservation. Mr. gular drying ; but that they are not necessary to the ex-
Layard's excavations have been hitherto confined to a very tent in which they sometimes take place is proved by the
small corner of the mound, under which these antiquities comparative safety of some even of the more brilliant
have for ages been buried ;it is impossible to say what works. Thus the " Old Temeraire" is nearly safe in
may come out when they can be carried forward on an colour, and quite firm ; while the " Juliet and her
adequate scale. Nurse" is now the ghost of what it was ; the " Slaver"
CULTIVATION OF THE COCHINEAL INSECT.—The shows no cracks, though it is chilled in some of the darker
cultivation is very simple, and the plant is satisfied with passages ; while the " Walhalla" and some of the recent
stony, barren, dry soil. The Opuntia is planted in rows, " Venices" cracked in the Royal Academy. It is true
and kept clear of weeds and bushes. to prevent the insect that the damage makes no further progress after the first
from wandering. - In a well-attended Cochineal farm in year or two, and that even in its altered state the picture
Mexico, the plants are covered with insects. The female is always valuable and records its intention ; but it is bit-
is easily distinguished from the male, in consequence of terly to be regretted that so great a painter should not
being wingless and much larger. The male is small and leave a single work by which in succeeding ages he might
slender, and is dispersed among the females in the pro- be estimated. The fact of his using means so imperfect,
portion of 1 to 150 or 200, or even, according to some together with that of his utter neglect of the pictures of
authors, 300 females. The female insect alone is valuable his own gallery, are a phenomenon in human mind which
for its dye. After the farm is established, a nursery is appears to me utterly inexplicable, and both are without
always kept with the greatest care, and well protected an excuse. If the effects he desires cannot be to their
against the inclemency of the weather, from whence the full extent produced except by these treacherous means,
insects are distributed over the plantation. The op era- one picture only should be painted each year as an exhi-
tion consists merely in placing the females, while yet bition of immediate power, and the rest should be carried
growing, upon the leaves, from whence they spread over out, whatever the expense of labour and time, in safe
_e +ho olants. and they increase with great materials, even at the risk of some: deterioration of
immediate effect.—Modern Painters, by a Graduate of
Oxford.
THE RIVALS.—Mave had, on entering, deposited the
little matters she had brought for their comfort; and
Mary now came over, and placing her hand on her
shoulder, said—" Sarah is right, dear Mave; for God's
sake, do not stay here. Oh, think—only think if you
tuck this fever, an' that anything happened you.”
" Come," said Sarah, " leave this dangerous place; I
will see you part of the way home—you can do nothing
here that I won't do, and everything that I can do will be
done." Her lover's eves had been fixed upon her, and
with a feeble voice—for the agitation had exhausted bins—
he added his solicitations for her departure to theirs. ,t I
hope I will soon be better, dear Mave, and able to get un
too—but may God bless you and take care of you till then!"
Mave again went round and took his hand. on which he
felt a few tears fall. " I came, dear Con," she said, "to
take care of you all, and why need I be ashamed to say
so—to do all I could for yourself. Sarah here wishes me
to 'peke the truth, an' why shouldn't I ? Think of my
words then, Con, and don't let me or the thoughts o' me
occasion you one moment's unhappiness. To see you

rapidity when they find suitable nourishment
of gathering the insect is just before the female produces
her young, as she perishes immediately after, and her
body serves to cover the young brood, which is enveloped
in a woolly covering resembling little nests. In the space
of two months after the distribution from the nursery,
the first crop is gathered. The groups of insects are for
that purpose taken up from the leaves with a blunt knife,
and put into earthen pots. They are from thence trans-
ferred into bags, which are dipped into hot water and
afterwards dried in the sun. By this process the insect
loses about two-thirds of its weight. A'more primitive
way is to spread a cloth under the plant, and to shake it
to cause the insects to fall on the cloth.—Simmonds's
Colonial Magazine.
MANORS v. MANNERS.—When Sir Fletcher Norton,
who was not distinguished for his refinement, was pleading
before Lord Mansfield on some question of manorial
rights, he chanced unfortunately to say, " My lord, I can
Mustrate the point by an instance in my own person. I,
myself, have two little manors." The judge immediately
interposed, with one of his blandest smiles, " We all know
it, Sir Fletcher."

he time