The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-10-29 00:00:00

VARIETIES

MILDNESS.—Be always as mild as you can; a spoonful of
honey attracts more flies than a barrel of vinegar. If you
must fall into any extreme, let it be on the side of gentleness.
The human mind is so constructed that it resists rigour and
yields to softness. A mild word quenches anger, as water
quenches the raging of fire, and by benignity any soil may,
be rendered fruitful.—Truth, uttered with courtesy, is heap-
ing coals of fire on the head ; or, rather throwing roses in
the face. How can we resist a foe whose weapons are pearls
and diamonds !

SPLENDID IGNORANCE.—A poor woman. whose son en-
listed as a soldier in the regiment, who were shortly
afterwards engaged in the continental war, and she having
seen several regiments return to where she resided, made
enquiry after her son John: she at last met with a wag who
said, whose John %hy, our John. Oh !he is gone to
eternity. Gone to eternity ! where is that ? I don's
know, but perhans the parson can tell you. Upon receiving
this, to her, welCome news, off she went to her better half,
rejoicing and clapping her hands, shouting, oh ! I have
heard of our John. What of our John! said he ; where is
he? Oh ! he 's gone to eternity. Well, he said, I'm glad
he is alive yet ! though there is no telling where he is ! The
above is similar to the story of the poor woman, whose son
was at sea, and who, upon hearing of his return, in a ship
called the North Pole, ran about almost frantic, exclaiming,
my son has returned with the North Pole, and our fortunes
will be made ! Either of these can be matched by the follow-
ing incident, which took place not a thousand miles from
Douglas. Upon entering a house, I saw a man busily en-
gaged reading a newspaper ; I asked what news ? but his
rib, who like many others, had generally too much to say,
and before he had time to reply, said, Oh ! they have been
burning Father Mathew ! Indeed, said I, where ? In Ire-
land. Nonsense, woman, said the husband, he has been only
burned in effigy. Oh ! that 's not in Ireland then ?

DEATH OF CLARINDA.--It is not without emotions of a
painful and melancholy kind that we have this day to record
the death of Mrs. Macklehose, who was well known to a
large circle as the Clarinda of Robert Burns. In early life
she was remarkable for her personal beauty, and, being
highly accomplished, it need excite no surprise that Burns,
having tasted the pleasures of her society, became deeply
enamoured of her. In fact, she was for a season the goddess
of his idolatry, and, as she discovered somewhat of a kindred
taste for poetry, it naturally followed that the bard should
address some of his effusions to her. The lady was not in-
sensible to the devotion of such a wan as Burns ; indeed, she
was so far carried away by this feeling as to enter into an
epistolary correspondence with the poet, who, in the series of
letters addressed to her under the name of Clarinda, poured
out some of his•most brilliant ideas and sentiment* dashed
off in the heat of composition without much regard to the
strict proprieties of style. These letters were not intended
to meet the punlic eye, but having been incautiously lent to
some roguish publisher, an imperfect'copy was given to the
world, calculated to prejudice in some respects the fair fame
of Mrs. Macklehose. Those who know her best, however,
soine.of whom had perused the whole correspondence—the
lady's letters as well as the poet's—were fully convinced of
the gross injustice of such imputations. But, although often
urged to publish the letters alluded to, Mrs. Macklehose,
from regard to the feelings of a near relation who died some
years ago, would not consent to give them to the world. All
obstacle to that course being now removed, it is highly pro-
bable that the interesting correspondence will speedily appear
in a complete and authentic form. Clarinda, for by that
name she will be best known, died full of years; we believe
she was considerably above eighty. To the very last she
retained traces of the personal beauty for which_ she was
remarkable in early life, and which we have often heard
alluded to in enthusiastic terms by a contemporary, himself
not an undistinguished friend of Burns, who knew her when
both were in the hey-dey of existence. She preserved her
faculties in surprising perfection ; and we have often enjoyed
the exquisite pleasure of hearing her sing with great accuracy
the songs of Burns, her to which the bard himself had often
listened, with what feelings may be now only imagined.—
Edinburgh Standard.

MENAI BRIDGE.—The Menai Straits are about twenty
miles long, and the public are accommodated by ferries at
different points, the widest of which is that from Beaumaris
to Aber. It was the first time I had been at the Menai
since it became enriched with those peculiar attributes upon
which my eye at this moment rested. Before me rose that
majestic bridge, the wonder of the world, and the triumph
of human art, which has attracted men of all climes to look
upon its enchantment. Through its broad arch and open
piers. the clear blue stream marked the undulating line of
the Carnarvonshire coast, fringed and wooded to the water's
edge, followed in all its evolutions by the gracefully corre-
sponding lines of the Isle of Anglesea. Passengers on foot
or horseback, with carriages of every description, were per-
petually crossing the bridge, and from their elevation ap-
peared very much like the diminutive mimic figures in a
mechanical theatre ; and, indeed, bore an amusing resem-
blance to them in their attitudes and paces. The first stone
of the bridge was laid in 1820 ; one of the main chains was
carried over in 1823, and it was opened in 1826. The dis-
tance from centre to centre of the pyramids of masonry
which suspend the bridge, is five hundred and eighty feet ;
rather more than the width of the straits at low water,
but considerably less than the width when the tide is
up. It appears considerably more than one thousand feet
in length. The under side of the roadway is about one
hundred feet above high-water mark, so as to admit the
passage of the largest vessels which usually navigate the
straits. The view from the bridge northward, commands the
course of the straits reaching to Beaumaris Bay, and far be-
yond, till the prospect is lost in the misty distance. Every
where within the sphere of vision, the bright stream appear-
ed covered with craft of all sizes ; some skimming the water
with their white sails set, like birds upon the wing,—others
gliding gently along, impelled by the rowers, whose dripping
oars, sparkling in sunshine, seemed like the outstretched fins
of some of the tribes of the deep. Looking from toe same
point in the opposite direction, the eye rests upon a beautiful
mansion, with the lawn sweeping nearly to the water's brink
on the left. Within the stream is seen the Swelly Rocks, a
dangerous place at high water for the mariner ;land further
on, occupying the centere of the straits, the famous fishing
island of Ynys Vadog ; still further are seen the grounds of
Plas \ewydd, among the plantations on the island border,
with the pillar crowning the Nights, erected to commemorate
Lord Anglesea's participation in the glory of the day of
Waterloo. All beyond and around is the sweep of richly
variegated groves and plantations, covering the base and
climbing the slopes of the bordering hills—villas, spires, and
towers here and there enlivening the prospect, with the giant
bridge clasping the opposing banks, appearing together more
like the work of some great magician than the result of man'sskill and industry.—From RoscoesNortlilVales; new edition.

THE BEAUTY IN' DISTRESS.—M. Augustin Reinier, a
fashionable young spark from the department of La Mal-tale,
recently arrived in Paris to see all the wonderful things of
the French capital. The other evening he had ust come out
o
rue
,ii.
desmakinglist
aßsnodonin:
lseg pur-
chases,
aand
a i sh
oßdogyoatl ,
not wherefurther
hadthan
b theeen
En-
fans, still a dark and sombre street, notwithstanding
progress of the " new lights," when suddenly a well-dressed
seizing him by the arm,
young lady ran out of a house, and.,
exclaimed, " Oh, for heaveans'kses.al-e, monsieur, save me ! ''
" 'What is the matter ?
:but l
By the aid of a"j
" who would harm you 7' "
eled:itddthene astonished stranger
cannot stop to explain,'' re-
plied the terrified girl ;
oi
nugt
sdheol
iii, y,
t!
h'
e'
Augustin perceived that the "helpless
strided away with her, gieazfrformomthais
tpileaicgehbw:,intlri:
happy
one " was a girl of great beauty, and tucking her under his
satisfaction at the fair charge
mwa nhiifcchs t
fortunein iit) little
had
thrownprid pride andi n
his way. lie twirled his cane with all that chilvalrous plea-
sure which a smart young fellow from one of the provinces
c hecircumstances supposed to experience under such so
Sol might
on after his arrival in the capital. They had scarcely got
to the end of the street, when the fair one declared that her
strength would support her no longer, and asked her " good
angel "to call a coach. To call the coach he ran with the
swiftness of a lover, while she supported her feeble frame
against the nearest door. Back he comes with the coach,
not a moment was lost. But the feeble frame has removed
from the door. She has disappeared ; she is gone—nobody
knows where. All is a mystery to the ingenuous stranger.
He is about to pay the coachman half a fare for disappoint-
ing him of a whole One. But new light breaks in where all
was dark before. He has been duped ; he has been robbed
his purse, his watch, his chain, his gold eye glass—everv.
thing portable (except his stick) has been stolen while he
has been sympathising with and admiring his beauty in dis-
tress. Not a sixpence left even to pay the coachman, with
whom he is obliged to leave his silver-headed cane ! Our
unfortunate hero complains to the police of the jolie femme'
but the police reply, there are so many joliesfemmes in Paris
that it is useless to look for her, and the dandy .N Tormasndis
obliged to submit to paying the price of his initiation.—Paris
paper.

its—whose courage—answers ours;
We may be proud to feel their kindred powers
Were aided by affinity to " England, old and grand" :
Though, were we steering rapidly towards that distant beach,
The moon must wax,and wane again ,hefore that shore we reach.

Far westward from us
Whose language—al

Th' Atlantic surge rolls high between
The daughter-country and our father-land;
But distance should not break the friendly band
That ties the hearts of England to the Western Ocean Queen :
The best and purest spirits of the noble Saxon race
On either soil have had their birth, and found a dwelling place.

And one of these was known to both ;
His English name, to every land 's endeared,
And (more than many royal names) revered.
Thou art the token that he did not waste his early days in
sloth :

The hand thatfounded empire, wrought for daily bread at thee;
The working printer—FßANKLlN—lived to set a nation free.
26th October, 1841. J. C. H.

LITERARY

NOTICES.

November. Edinburgh,

over the turnpike road a. t Godley toll-bar, a distance of from
eight to nine miles, in the course of a few weeks only from
the present time. Indeed, all that is wanting to complete
this portion of the railway is a short portion of the embank-
ment necessary to form a junction with the Manchester and
Birmingham line at Chancery-lane ; over which line, it is
well known, they are to run as far as the station in Travis-
street, and ultimately to the splendid new joint station of the
two companies in London-road.
The portion of the Manchester and Sheffield Railway about
to be opened traverses a district studded with populous manu-
facturing towns and villages ; and amongst them we may
mention, as the most important, Gorton, Openshaw, Auden-
shaw, Hooley Hill, Fairfield, Ashton-under-Lyne, Staly-
bridge, Dukinfield, Tintwistle, Hollinwood, Newton, and
Hyde. From its junction with the Manchester and Birming-
ham Railway at Chancery-lane, the line runs on a considera-
ble embankment for about a mile and three-quarters, where
it enters a cutting at Openshaw, and passes under the Stock-
port Canal. a little distance from Messrs. Orrell's factory,
and under Lee-street ; from thence it passes, with a few ex-
ceptions of fillings hardly worth mentioning as embankments,
through cuttings or upon the surface of the ground, the whole
remainder of the distance; so that it may be presumed there
is little likelihood of any interruption after it is once opened
from slippings, settlings, or other accidents to which em-
bankments are liable. The embankment we have mentioned
at the Manchester end of the line has, with the exception of
the small portion at the junction, referred to above, been
formed a considerable time; the permanent rails have been
laid down, and locomotive engines and heavily laden waggons
have been running on it for some time, so that it may be said
to have settled down, and its permanency, solidity, and
safety are placed beyond a doubt. The first station on the
line is the Fairfield station, at the head of Gorton reservoir.
The station for the accommodation of Ashton is established
at Guide Bridge, about three-quarters of a mile from the new
church ; and this station will also accommodate the traffic
with Hooley Hill and neighbourhood. At Dukinfield there
is another station, situated at Dog-lane, near Dukinfield-
hall. The line passes through this township, and traverses
the extensive coal fields of Messrs. Swire and Lees, and of
the Dunkirk Coal Company. The station here will be the
point also at which the traffic of Stalybridge and neighbour-
hood must come upon the line. The next station is Newton
Green, established for the convenience of the populous town-
ships of Newton and Hyde. The next station is at Godley,
on the Mottram and Hyde turnpike road, for the present the
terminus of the line; and here the traffic of Tintwisle, Hol-
linwood, Glossop, &c., will come upon the line, and arrange-
ments have been made by which the Sheffield coaches and
carriers will meet the trains there, for the accommodation of
the " through" traffic.
The works most worthy of notice on the line, are the three
viaducts—the Dukinfield, Harewood, and Etherow ; the
latter of which, though nearly completed, is on a portion of
the line not included in that about to be opened. The Duk-
infield or Tame Valley viaduct is a handsome brick erection
of five arches, each of considerable span, crossing the river
Tame, and exhibits the appearance of a firm, substantial
piece of masonry. The viaduct at Godley is of nine arches,
one of which crosses the Mottram and Hyde turnpike. The
Etherow viaduct is an erection of three lofty and beautiful
arches, with stone piers, crossing the river Mersey. The
centre arch is of 150 feet span, and the other two are of 120
feet each. The gradients on this line, though the railway
passes through a country offering many natural obstacles,
and where it might be imagined that considerable inclines
could not be avoided, are very favourable; the greatest incli-
nation being 1 in 100, or less than the principal one on the
Manchester and Liverpool line—(the Sutton incline being 1
in 89);—and this incline is only 64 chains in length; the other
gradients between Liverpool and Godley being respectively,
1 in 132, 1 in 330, 1 in 176, 1 in 193, 1 in 140, and 1 in
511, while some portion of the line runs on a dead level.
The carriages and locomotives, we understand, are in
course of delivery on the line, so that the working department
is almost in complete readiness. The locomotives are said
to be of a very powerful description, and well fitted for the
heavy trains which may be expected to traverse the line.
The carriages will be of three classes, evincing the disposi-
tion of the directors to afford every possible accommodation
to the working classes who may be disposed to make use of
this conveyance, and whose time is of course, at all times, a
codsideration to them ; as well as to the middle and higher
classes, who have the means of paying for the comforts of a
second class, or the luxuries of a first class carriage. The
first class carriages are of the same construction as those
used on the Grand Junction Railway ; the second are of a
description which have not yet been introduced into this part
of the country, and known only to our northern travellers
who may have traversed the Glasgow and Greenock Railway.
The third class are " stand-ups" of similar construction to
those used by the Manchester and Birmingham, and now
running between this town and Stockport.