The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-02-21 00:00:00

VARIETIES.

CANDLEMAS.—At an early period a festival was ob-
served on this day commemorative of the presentation of
Christ in the Temple, and the Purification of the Virgin.
A profusion of lights was introduced with reference to
Simeon's acknowledgment of Christ as "a light to lighten
the Gentiles." In course of time the Romish Church
performed a mass for the candles, and these waxen
creatures ' having received benediction, were held in great
esteem by the people.
AERIAL MoTtow.—Light travels at the rate of from
one to three miles an hour ; a breeze, from four to five ; a
brisk gale, from ten to fifteen ; a frese gale, from twenty
to twenty-five ; a strong gale, from thirty to thirty-five ;
a hard gale, from forty to forty-five ; a storm, from fifty
to sixty ; and a hurricane, from eighty to one hundred.
RICE As AN ARTICLE OE FOOD.—Rice is remarkable
chiefly for the comparatively small proportion of gluten it
contains. This does not exceed seven or eight per cent.,
less than half the quantity contained in oatmeal. In rice
countries it has often been noticed, that the natives devour
what to us appear enormous quantities of the grain, and
this circumstance is ascribed to the small proportion it
contains of the highly nutritive and necessary gluten.
Rice contains also little fat, and hence it is less laxative
than the other cereal grains, or rather it possesses some-
thing of a binding quality. It has recently been observed
that, when substituted for potatoes in some of our work-
houses, in consequence of the failure of the potato, this
grain has, after a few months, produced scurvy. This may
have been owing as much to the effects of sudden change
of diet as to an inherent evil property in the grain itself.
Still it suggests, as many other facts do, the utility and
wholesomeness of a mixed food —Johnston's Chemistry
of Common Life.
THE bIIKE AND THE BUTTON-MAKER.-111 the middle
of the battle of Waterloo, the Duke saw a man in plain
clothes, riding about 'on a cob-horse in the thickest fire.
During a temporary lull, the Duke beckoned to him, and
he rode over. He asked him who he was—what business
he had there ? He replied he was an Englishman, acci-
dentally at Brussels, that he had never seen a fight, and
wanted to see one. The Duke told him he was in instant
danger of his life ; he said " Not more than your Grace,"
and they parted. But every now and then he saw the cob
riding about in the smoke, and at last having nobody to
send to a regiment, he again beckoned to this little fellow,
and told him to go up to that regiment and order them to
charge, giving hum some mark of authority the colonel
would recognise. Away he gallopped, and in a few minutes
the Duke saw his order obeyed. The Duke asked him for
his card, and found in the evening, when the card fell nut
of his sash, that he lived at Birmingham, and was a button
manufacturer. When at Birmingham the Duke inquired
of the firm, and found he was their traveller, and then in
Ireland. When he returned, at the Duke's request, he
called on him in London, The Duke was happy to see
him, and said he had a vacancy in, the mint of £BOO a
year, where accounts were wanted. The little cob man
said it would be exactly the thing, and the Dtike tusttilied
him—Life of Haydn the Painter.

THE SWEARING BUMP.--A lady one day observed her
little boy of some six summers, who was playing in ilbe
garden, showing signs of anger ; she said nothing, bnt
he soon came in, and approaching her, said : " Ma, do the
phrenologists say we have a swearing bump in our heads ?"
His mother told him she did not know of any ; when the
little fellow remarked that his head felt very queer, and
he came near swearing, and he added, " Grand-pa has got
a large bump on his head, and he swears awfully some-
times."—Knickerbocker.

THE WAVERLEY NOVELS.—Happy the author whom
the wise honour and children love ! As yet, the Waver-
ley novels stand alone ; surpassing their predecessors as
much in beauty of narrative and masterly completeness of
invention as in purity and morality of tone, they are
scarcely less dissimilar to the present school. We are too
deeply immersed in schisms and controversies, and the
fierce life-and-death struggle of this " Latter-day" to pro-
duce an author with a genius equal to Walter Scott's, who
would be content to devote it (even supposing, what is
very problematical, that it would pay) to the production
of volume after volume, with no other object but that of
affording simple amusement, unspiced by satire and unfla-
voured by passion ' • intended only to produce that happy,
rational, and placid kind of enjoyment which we feel in the
works of the great Scotch novelist.—Westminster Review.

How THE IRISH "DRESS" THE POTATO.—The cabin-
boiled potato was dressed in two ways ; with and without
the bone or the moon, as it is universally called by the
genuine Irish. In the latter form, the potato was done to
the heart, equally mealy throughout, and bursting its skin
with fatness. This was the supper when children and
young persons were to partake of the meal ; but when
much work was to be done, or a long fast to be endured,
the heart or central nucleus of the potato was allowed, by
checking the boil at a particular period, to remain par-
boiled, hard, and waxy ; and when the rest of the potato
had been masticated in the usual manner, this hard lump,
about the size of a small walnut, was bolted ; and in this
manner nearly a stone of the root was taken into the sto-
mach of the Irish labourer per diem. Now, although this
practice might be bad cookery, it was grounded upon a
certain knowledge of physiology. The stomach digested
the well-boiled farinaceous portion of the potato within the
space of a few hours, and that having been all disposed of,
the half-boiled lumps remained behind, and a second diges-
tion commenced to assimilate this portion of food, and
convert it into nutritious, life-sustaining material; which
latter process lasted some hours longer, and thus the
cravings of hunger were warded off for five or six hours
after the original meal. Every girl in an Irish cabin pos-
sessed instinctively, what the most celebrated chef de
cuisine never attained to, a power of knowing whether an
'egg or potato was " done," by simply holding it for an
instant in the closed hand. The roasted potato was a deli-
cious morsel, but apt to produce heartburn, and therefore
enjoyed only occasionally, and generally out of doors, when
the potatoes were digging, or the turf cutting or saving ;
and then a " caste" was made after the following fashion :
—A hole was scooped out of the side of a ditch, and a turf
fire lighted therein. When the peat was nearly consumed,
the coals were removed with a maiddie bristi, or wooden
tongs, and the potatoes, enveloped in a layer of moist clay,
placed in the hot earth and ashes, with the half-burned
turf over them. There they were carefully watched by
one of the "pickers," who called the labourers at the
critical moment, and raked out the murphies, which were
prepared for eating, not by peeling in the ordinary man-
ner, but by breaking the investiture of pottery in which
they were encased, with a twisting motion. Thus dressed,
they were remarkably white, dry, and mealy. Children
particularly liked them ; and we remember a hedge-school
pedagogue, after eulogising his class upon their proficiency
and good behaviour during their previous hours of study,
, conclude by desiring them to be good boys ;to take care'
of their books; to come early next morning; to bring a
sod of turf under each oxter, and a pocketful of praities,
that they might be reading and roasting all day."—Dublin
University Magazine. . .

MILITARY STRENGTH OP RUSSIA.—But if western
Europe has little to fear from the rivalry of Russian art
or the flights of Russian genius, it is otherwise with the
imitation of the militau art, which has been carried to
the very highest poinrin the Muscovite armies. The
army consisted in 1840 of 72 regiments of infantry, 24 of
light cavalry, 90 batteries of foot and 12 of horse artillery.
Each regiment consists of 7 battalions of 1000 men each ;
so that the infantry alone, if complete, would contain
above 500,000 men. The guards, which are composed of
the elite of the Whole male population of the empire, con-
sists of 12 regiments of infantry, 12 of cavalry, 12 batteries
of foot and 4 of horse artillery, which are always kept
complete. Besides this, there are 24 regiments of heavy
reserve cavalry, and 12 batteries of reserve horse-artillery,
and the corps of the Caucasus, Orenburg, Siberia, Fin-
land, and the interior, which contain 100 battalions of
1000 men each, 50 regiments of cavalry, and 36 batteries
of cannon. Besides these immense forces, the emperor
has at his disposal 164 regiments of Cossacks, each con-
taining 800 warriors, of whom 56 come from the steppes
of the Don, and are superior to any troops in the world
for the service of light cavalry. If these immense forces
were all complete, they would contain above 800,000
infantry, 250,000 horses, and 100,000 artillerymen. But
the ranks are very far indeed from being complete; and
in no country in the world is the difference so great be-
tween the numerical force of an army on paper and its
effective muster in the field. The reason is, that nume-
rous officers in every grade have an interest in represet-
big the force as greater than it really is ; as they draw pay
and rations for the whole, and appropriate such as is
allotted to the non-existing to themselves. Still, after
making every allowance for these great deficiencies, it is
not going too far to assert that Russia, when her strength
is fully called forth, could produce 400,000 infantry,
100,000 cavalry, and 50,000 artillerymen for service
beyond her own frontier, though the distances of the
empire are so great that it would require more than a
year to bring even the half of this immense force to bear
on any point in Europe or Asia.—Sir Archibald Alison's
History of Europe.
THE "PRINT SHOP."—A print-shop is a mirror in
which we see ourselves, our weaknesses, our vanities, our
absurdities, our affectations. It is a lower gallery of the
Fine Arts, and the groups which gather there to study
the Sublime and the Beautiful are not without their
interest for the speculative eye. The group at that print
window, for example. Sir Peregrine Bobbinnet, just
alighted from his cab, a few paces off, examines through
his fixed glass the motley round of prints to find if there
be one he has not, and with a smile of satisfaction he
salutes them all as old acquaintances. Ralph Scumble,
whose overworked frock coat, exhibiting sly patches of
pigment, tells his vocation, is gathering hints for an
original sketch,—now dwelling on the dainty turn of a
grisette's head—now appropriating the graceful outline of
an Andalusian peasant —and anon sighing at that degra.
dation of public taste which fills the shop windows with.
Frank Stone. Dowlas, the neat man next him, is mea-
suring heroic forms for suits of clothes, and casting up the
account of a "full fig" for the Farnese Hercules. Prof.
Megilp relapses into his black cap and gown, as he theo-
rises on the different arts and their respective value.
Wayworn Scraper is lost in wonder and dismay at the
variety of the Victorian period, and he sighs for the sim-
pler unity of the Georgian era, when flat mezzotints
represented the worthies of the century, or soothing stip-
ple mellowed into shadow the startling absurdities of an
epic costume on the shoulders of bilious old gentlemen.
The little urchin gazes at the wonders before him with a
very respectful want of appreciation, until his eye lights
on the image of his grandmother at home a-darning his
other stockings. That pretty girl is evidently puzzled to
perceive why people should look into print-shops for
charming faces when better ones are to be found outside.
With the microcosm in the window and the microcosm in
front of it for subject, a moralising Jaques might find
much food for speculation. The Art-shops have this
advantage over others—they offer something which may
be carried off, and become the property of the spectator,
without subjecting him to any fear of bearded policemen
and ermined judges. The gazer gains something—the
vendor loses nothing. A man cannot look at a Twelfth-
night cake until it becomes his own—nor at a pair of
boots until he has worn them out. But the print " once
seen becomes a part of sight." He stays before a picture
until he has exhausted it according to his capacity; and
feels his virtuoso greediness has neither tantalised his
neighbour nor deprived him of a meal.—Atheneum.
USEFUL KNOWLEDGE.—COOKERY.—Among the com-
mon things to the teaching of which public attention is
now strongly directed, it is to be hoped that the art of
cookery—one of the commonest, and yet, apparently, one
of the most difficult and neglected of all—will not be for-
gotten. The instruction of the female peasantry in this
useful art would be as advantageous to themselves when
settled on their own hearths as to the families of the
middle classes, in which before marriage they officiate as
domestic servants. Emigration and abundance of em-
ployment have given to the servants at home the upper-
hand as completely as if they were in Australia. On all
sides we hear complaints of the difficulty of finding, and
of retaining when found, a cook who can roast a leg of
mutton, and make batter-pudding or pea-soup. In point
of fact, we have heard of ladies who have it in serious
contemplation to dispense with servants altogether, as
the least troublesome alternative. Without wishing
matters carried quite so far, we are convinced that many
of our fair friends' would lose nothing, either in point of
respectability or happiness, while they could add at least
one-third to the effective incomes of their husbands, if
they were to spend a little more time in their kitchens,
superintending the preparation of the family dinner, in-
stead of contenting themselves with ordering it—if,
indeed, they condescended to do even that. Some forty
years back ladies were driven to shoemaking as a fashion-
able way of killing time. Why not try a little cooking ?
Thanks to the modern stoves, with their nicely-arranged
skillets and stewpans, which science and mechanical
skill have substituted for the blazing kitchen hearth of
other days, young ladies of the 19th century, just passing
its prime, may cook without soiling their fingers or in-
juring their complexions. Were it not so, we would not
recommend them to cook. We would rather live on
bread and cheese all the days .of our lives. It will be
said, perhaps, that our notions with regard to female
education and employment are too antiquated—that in
these matters, as in everything else, a new era has dawned,
and the solid course of instruction now given in colleges
for ladies will be triumphantly appealed to. Ladies,
however, who possess these solid acquirements—who,
like Lady Jane Grey, prefer Plato to a pic-nic, will be
least likely to neglect the economy of the kitchen. They
will thoroughly understand the dignity of' the employ-
ment, and call to mind all the poetry of cooking. To say
nothing of the dinner which Milton describes Eve as
preparing, when "on hospitable thoughts intent," there
are the Homeric banquets, at which kings literally
" killed their own meat," and at which queens and prin-
cesses turned the spit for the roasting, or drew the water
and chopped wood for the boiling. Cooking is classical,
and no lady will disdain to take part in it who has read
of these feasts in the original Greek. Let it be observed
that it is the middle and working classes on whom we
wish to urge the importance of the study. An earl's
daughter can afford to be so ignorant of common things
as not to be able to recognise chickens in a poultry-yard,
because they do not run about with a liver under one
wing and a gizzard under the other, though our modern
poultry shows, it must be confessed, will tend much to
dissipate this error. A knowledge, however, of the art
of cooking is of more importance to the wives of the
labouring population than to those of the middle classes,
because it is the art, when properly cultivated, of making
a little go a great way. A French army can subsist in a
country where an English one would starve, and chiefly
for this reason,—that the. FrOlidi soldier can cooli,-;.
Mark-lane Express,