The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-12-28 00:00:00

THE LlYkßtitiot STANDARD.

Ettrraturr.

years before the Christian era, I see no reason why this
rare bronze instrument may not be 2400 years old : tit
that time Romulus added the Trojan and Phrygian deities
to those of the aborigines, and the rape of the Sabine
women took place during a grand festival intonour of the
Equestria Neptuna ! The two figures at lop, and the
eight others at the sides, might also have some allusion to
the ten months fixed by Romulus, for it was not until the
time of the excellent Numa Pompilius that January and
February were added to the year. It the two bulls' heads,
be, which from their imperfect preservation some sag
are lions, still it will apply to the mysteries and festivals'
of Cybele : she is figured as drawn by two lions. The
Eleusinian mysteries were known 1580 years before the
Augustan era. But not to go back so far as that, this cu-
rious instrument might have been used at (and its ten
heads to symbol) the Decennalian festivals celebrated
every tenth year, introduced by Augustus, with sacrifices,
games, and largesses to the people. During these solem-
nities the emperors surrendered up their power to the
people, who joyfully returned it (might not this elegant
bronze instrument have been the sign of power ?) to the
emperors. I have alluded more particularly to this in-
strument, as by, its figure I had introductions to many
learned persons—Padre Marchi at Rome, and Professors
at Florenee, Bologna, Padua, Venice, and other Italian,
cities, all said, upon seeing the sketch, " Multa curiosa,"
but none could accurately describe its origin, aim, and
end. Mr. Roach Smith considers this relic to be a lcind
of forceps, used probably for sacred purposes ; the heads
on the sides he explains as those of deities which presided
over the days of the week, as Apollo, or the Sun, Dies
Solis—Sunday; Luna, or the Moon, Dies Lunce—Mon-
day, &c. ; and the heads on the top, those of Juno and-
Cybele, who were the tutelary deities of the month and
the year. It was found in the Thames, with other Roman
bronzes, more or less mutilated, doubtless by the early
Christians, who were taught to destroy the works of Pagan
art. Should any studious antiquary read this brief and
crude statement, I hope he will inspect it at my valued
friend's private museum, 5, Liverpool-street, City, where
the learned proprietor will, with his usual urbanity and
courtesy, shew any true lover of antiquities the rarest col-
lection of Roman remains in England.
To re turn to Florence and its novelties. One night I
was strolling along, and saw an unusual number of lights
in a small church, and many persons were going in and
out. In the centre of a large crowd' was a basket-cradle ;
in which, lying beautifully dressed, was what I at first
thought a wax doll, surrounded with a large circlet of
beautiful flowers ! but I soon discovered it was the dead
body of a little girl. The casquet was there—the precious
jewel, its life, gone. My sympathy was soon destroyed by
some wag observing that it was very much like the priest
who officiated at this church : this caused a general titter,
and I left precipitately. ►_ .

Who h

POETRY:

CHRISTMAS

)RERT ROSE, THE BARD OF COLOUR.

rig sound of thunder hailed the God,
,nmgs flashed, no mountains did there nod;

Vh.i)e shone afar

le shepherds on their hopeful way,
to the world this happy day—
ill most blest throughout the year,

flash yo'

nether sphere

ant dominions,

n high Heaven to cart):

it year I

Lghhis celestial grace,

,nd, our yearly guest,

a shade. map
fall—
them all
our 'glee?

Oh 1 some, al-al! on earth no more we'll see
And V

en better days
) tear should drop; he darts the yearning gaz

And wanders

:e by his long-lost home,

while he must roam,

Strangers are revelling tl
A lonely outcast, pelted by the storm.
That makes sad havoc with his shivering form
At Christmas-time let none forget the poor—
We know not half the evils they endure—
For He was thus
Who ransomed us;

The Son of God -
When earth He trod
Had not a place whereon to rest His head.
Then think of Him, and to the poor give bread,
For our Redeemer's sake this day is His—
This day the pledge of our immortal bliss.

ON THE DEATH OF A BABY, WHO SURVIVED ITS
BIRTH ONLY A FEW HOURS.

Rest thee, baby, child of clay
How brief has been thy troub
Bud of beauty—fair and swee
Rest thee in thy winding shed

Ohl what a life of mystery thine
What destinies in thee combine 1

A breath—a sob-
Convulsive pang

a feeble cry

and thou-inust die I

Thy birth baptized in sorrow's tears,
Thy life a dream—not marked by years
A few short hours thy mournful span,
Thou touching type of mortal man
Then rest tli

Baby, signed with grace
From out the font's most holy place,
Thy Saviour's arms thy sure retreat,
Oh! rest thee in thy wit:ding-sheet!

by tiny frame

thy new name—

Within thy coffin walls enshrined,
Leave deathless memories behind I

By thy draught of painful breath,
By thy birth to early death,
By thy slumber, soft and sweet,
Rest thee in thy winding sheet I

Not always shalt thou speechless be,
Nor bound with death's infirmity;
Not always shall thine eye and ear
Be thus denied to see and hear.

For thee the trumpet's voice shall sound,
To wake thy sleep in hallowed ground:
From thee shall young hosannas rise,
To perfect praise through all the skies!
Then rest thee, baby, in the Lord.
Who loves by babes to be adored :
Sweet flowers of spring thy rave shall greet
With perfume o'er thy winding sheet!

Dark clouds thy morn have overcast,
Thy early night in pain has passed;
But with thy morrow joy shall stay,
And sunbeams gild thy rising day I

Meanwhile, in God's own dwelling-place
Thine angel sees thy Father's face;
And though to parents' love unknown,
Thou'lt feel no want before the throne

So, rest thee, innocent, by grace
We once again shall see thy face—
In glory hold communion sweet,
No more enwrapt in winding sheet

Liverpool, Dec

ORBATUS

SKETCHES OF A TRIP TO THE CONTINENT,

ITALY, AND EGYPT,

BY EDWIN KEET, ES4
No. XX.

(Written for the Liverpool Standard.)

The stranger may have access to all the five libraries of
Florence by a proper application, and what treasures of
Italian literature, engravings, and manuscripts, are open
to the traveller ! I met, by the kindness of the Rev. Mr.
Latouche, with a precious vellum copy of the " hundred
Italian tales," from which Shakspeare, or his friend Earl
Southampton, took so many plots of his Italian dramas.
The many ponderous tomes upon Roman, Grecian, and
Xtruscan antiquities I had free access to, with all their
'rare and splendid illustrations, were astonishing ; but what
-puzzled all the Italian literati was a pen and ink drawing
of a curious bronze instrument found in the bed of the
-river Thames, in the possession of my esteemed friend
Charles Roach Smith, F.Q.A. This gentleman is a rare
arample of what great talent and liberality, accompanied
by profound study and untiring perseverance, may effect,
and this notwithstanding the opposition, and ungenerous,
mean thwartings of agents of the Corporation of London,
-a set of men who have been for years utterly indifferent
to the many interesting discoveries of Roman remains in
'London, consisting of bronze statuettes, busts, pictorial
bavements ! coins, medals, vases, &c. They have, as a
ody, not only done literally nothing, but have allowed
to be broken up and carted away as rubbish the richest
treasures of antiquity ; nor is this all, they have discou-
raged a gentleman who, under every difficulty, at the ex-
pense of more than two thousand pounds, has got together
a-choice and well-arranged museum of antiques, that per-
fectly illustrates Roman London, which has been admired
by some of our most learned English antiquaries. and
sited by many foreigners of high distinction and profound
kterary attainments. I have only a few months since
seen in the rubbish and stone-yards of the City of London
Corporation, a mutilated marble group of the three wood
nymphs ! fates, or weird sisters I charities, or syrens !
drawn by my friend, E. B. Price, and engraved and pub-
lished in the " Journal of the Archeological Association."
(Bohn, York-street, Covent-garden.) The drapery so
towing and graceful, the baskets of fruit, each different
and beautifully cut, held in the laps of these three mythic
matrons, should have secured them a better fate than
being thrown among the rubbish in a stone-yard, and
bad covered with dirt as I saw them the last autumn.
This one fact, among a multitude of other similar ones,
may be proved to demonstration. At Cologne, Aix-la-Cha-
Ealle, Bohn, and many of the continental museums, I
re seen these three goddesses carefully housed, but in
ndon they are left to moulder and perish in the open
air, and in a stone-yard ! The following is an illustration
of the.bronze instrument :

1 I
. ~,,,:
.
• .• , I,
' el,
lilt(f ,
it
. . 41
1/ i,
I
1
ili .
/
_ 'Tkimik
"rr"

%W\ - I.#!'l
‘ t,

~lllli~l ~

,gl7

[,

_
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\ ,
\

Mr. Millengen, the late antiquary, and author of many
works published at Florence, said, " they are two
ornamented legs of a tripod, where is the third ?" Two
they
of the Academy of Arts differed : one thought
they were compasses to draw circles for magical incanta-
tions ; the other, that they were parts of the centre of a
Roman chariot-wheel. One learned person said they were
'rests for reins of the charioteer, and part of the. harness ;
another, that they were for measuring the heads of chil-
dren, and predicting their futurefate; another thought they
were like our steelyards, for weighing. One learned gen-
tleman I met with at Malta told me they were for the pur-
pose of preventing haemorrhage in the rite of castration,
and preparation of the priests for worship in the temple
of Cybele ; but my opinion is that they were used as a
calendar, and for calculations astronomically. The fig-ure,
of Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Luna, Terra, Apollo,
and Juno, are the eight heads on the sides of this bronze
instrument or compasses. The two heads at the top may
be Saturn and his wife Ops, called Cybele bona-dea, Rhea,
Magna Mater ! Tellus, and Thya, by all which names this
-sister and wife of Saturn, the daughter of Coelus and
Terra, was designated. The horses' heads may be in allusion
-to the sacrifice of those animals to Mars annually, and
the bulls' heads symbolical of the cultivation of the earth,
or to what is said of Romulus, who with a bull and cow
ploughed with a brazen coulter the furrow which formed
the boundary of Rome : wherever a gate was to be made
the people lifted up the plough and carried it; hence
;MU, Real or gate. M Roinulus founded Rome 748

A walk upon the walls of Florence is very pleasing. A
great variety of prospects open to the stranger's view. In
those calm, clear, lovely moonlight nights, I have gone
my solitary round, only disturbed by the challenge of the
sentinel, and the distant convent-bell nealing sweetly and
solemnly through the tranquil air, like a summons to
Heaven ; but the deep, awful tones of the Borgella prison-
bell rings every night at 11 o'clock, and at every execution
or exposure of criminals : it has a dismal, terrific, and ap-
palling sound—Great Tom of Oxford is but a Tom Thumb
to it. • How delightful, too, were my morning walks out
of the noble gate, the Porta Gallo, to see the sun rise
from the lofty hills of Fiesole, scattering before its life-
inspiring rays the rolling clouds of mist over bill and val-
ley, the birds, insects, frogs, and cattle, all joining in one
joyous matin song—high and low—of thanksgiving to the
Lord and Giver of Life. Groups of merry peasants are
laden and bearing their burdens of fruit, vegetation, and
poultry to the market, and every day there is such a busy,
noisy market, such a sprinkling and splashing of water to
keep their commodities in that hot climate cool and fresh.
The flower-girls, with their broad-brimmed, slouching,
jaunty Leghorn bats, so arch, so liberal, so trusting, in
the gratuitous distribution of their fragrant, beautiful po-
sies ! Then that very beautiful promenade and drive to
the Casina, along the banks of the Arno, the sun setting
behind the Carrara mountains, where the noble quarries
are so abundant, front which, as from a rich mine, so
many glorious groups, statues, and busts, have been hewn•
and chiselled. The Grand Duke, when in town, is almost,
daily at the Casina, bowing graciously and kindly to the
uplifted hat of the Englishman. The bigotry of Roma-
nism is less visible here than at Rome; but there are

" plenty of proud, presuming Romish priests, taught to
believe they only cannot err. Bred in scorn of reason!
and the whole lay world ! instructed to hate whoever dis-
sents from what they teach, to purge the world from
heresy by blood, to massacre a nation and believe it an
act well pleasing to a God of mercy—these are thy laws,
oh, Rome! and this thy faith. And shall we tamely yield
ourselves to bondage ? bow down before these holy purple
tyrants ?" In the name of the massacre of St. Bartholo-
mew, and the assassinations of the ignorant, priest-led
Irish, I emphatically answer Dr. Pusey, No

A VILLAGE EPICITRE.—" And hiowwo.uld you like the
trout, sir ? asked the hostess : would you like them fried.
or boiled with sauce 1" " Both ways, my good woman,
both ways," said the Amtschreiber, taking snuff, " that
is, if they are fine and fat—first, half-a-dozen of the finest
you have got, with a sauce, and then a plate of them fried.
I know you are a capital hand at them. I don't get them
any where as I do' here—though the last time they were a
little, just a leetle too brown. You must know the colonel
there is quite a gourmand, and I've brought him here
just on purpose. He maintained to me that we lived like
pigs; and I told him I could take him to a place where
we should have a better supper than he could get in
France or Holland either. And a propos, my good
hostess, don't forget to put a good glass of wine in the
sauce, and let the bread be well toasted, and see that there
be plenty of onions—these old soldiers always like a
strong flavour, and their throats are lined with leather.
And a propos, the last time some of the fish—just about
the head—not what I call quite enough done; just let
them be perhaps a thought longer on the fire, and take
care that the smaller ones are not kept down quite so long
as the others, a-.1e.,"—" I tell you what, sir," said the
hostess, turning round short, " you seem to know a gre.t
deal more about it than I do, and so the best way will be
for you to come into the kitchen and cook 'em yourself,
and then you'll be sure to be right, I suppose. '—Got-
theffs Tales.

HARVEST-TIME IN EGYPT.—Theyliave been gathering
in the golden grain just now—it is a meet season to re-
member Egypt, and to stand again in thought beside the
brink of its dark river of plenty—to recall the mantle of
green and gold which the earth bore upon its kindly bosom
'as I stood first by the deep rolling flow of the Nile at
Afteh. On swept the mystical river, which the sun set-
ting will purple with its deep ruddy glow, until the miracle
of Moses may seem to be wrought again, t'..e waters to be
changed into blood. On it swept that river of life; rich,
fat, sensuous, and earthy, which the kiss of its waters
kindles in the lap of the twin deserts that border on their
flowing. On either side of the deep dark stream lay wav-
ing crops of the richest green, a verdure in which, as one
has well said, the eye, weary of eastern glare, bathes with
indescribable delight. The masts and yards of a whole
fleet of boats lay dark as ebony against the glowing sky,
and there was wealth and fatness also, loads of cotton and
grain sinking the barks to the water's edge; and as if in
very wantonness of profusion, great mounds of wheat lay
heaped up on the quays of the Mahmoudieh canal, which
at this point branches off to the city of Alexander.
Brown as pismires, with whom they seemed to vie in busy
industry, the swarthy children of Egypt, Copts mingled
with an Arab ra....)' swarmed upon the boats and along the
banks of the canal: one might have thought the days of
Joseph were come again, and that the seven years of
plenty were storing up their riches against the leanness of
the threatened famine. The whole scene might seem to
be laid in a dream land—and not the less so because of the
presence of that strange hissing smoking craft which lies
amongst the quaint fantastic boats of the Egyptians.

She, too, is a mystery, and no unfit feature in a mystic
vision—a type of the domination of those Anglo-Saxon
men whose tar-distant northern hunger the corn which lies
here heaped up in Egypt is gathered to feed—the clank-
ing of her engines seeme to me a fit sound to hear upon
the banks of the almost fabled Nile.—Oxford and Cam-
bridge Review.

FEAST OF LANTERNS.—We find the following account
of the celebrated Feast of Lanterns, by which the termina-
tion of the Chinese New Year holidays is marked, in the
Rev. George Smith's " Visit to each of the 'Consular
Cities of China :"—" Towards sunset we explored the
various streets and places of public resort, amid a con-
tinual discharge of fireworks, the frequent assemblage of
play-actors, the noise of gaining-tables, the universal
signs of feasting in the families, and a profuse display of
lanterns of every imaginable pattern and design. Some
were made of glass, others of,glue, and some of paper,
in the shape of birds, beasts, fishes, and dragons; or so
arranged as to be carried round by a constant current of
raritied air, and representing different kinds of animals
and junks in motion. In all the principal temples, and
in the houses of rich men, huge candles were to be seen,
some of which were two feet in circumference. Bands
; of pipers, with sounds of gongs and cymbals, were to be
heard in all directions. The principle table in each temple
was covered with large cakes, made in the form of a tor-
toise, the sacred symbol of Buddhist mythology. The
burghers of each of the eighteen wards of tne city levied
a contribution of money to defray the expenses of fire-
works in their respective districts, and vied with each
other in imparting a grand and imposing effect to the occa-
sion. Rich men also defrayed, from their personal re-
, sources, the expense of some pyrotechnic design, which
was exhibited in the vicinity of their own dwellings. We
entered the south gate of the citadel too late to see a large
firework, representing a lion, which had been just dis-
charged before the admiral's palace ; and were only in
time to meet the crowds moving off to the scene of the
next similar display. After retracing our steps from the
military parade ground, abutting on the eastern wall, we
passed through the western gate into the outer city. On
our way we came to several immense bonfires, the flames
of which rose several feet in height. The crowd were
eagerly engaged in leaping across the fire, in order to ob-
tain the benefit of good luck, amid the sound of gongs
and the plaudits of the people. We were attracted, by
sounds of music, to an open space in front of the temple,
where there were several other such heaps of wood, coal,
and other materials ready to be lighted. Here the crowd
rapidly increased, being from time to time joined by a
procession of additional pipers, with lofty poles hung
round with flaming crackers. Here the usual signs of
feasting and merriment were to be seen. In a gallery
erected near the temple, some Chinese ladies were sitting
to view the pageantry and fireworks below. Some idols,
and tha -usual apparatus of incense and nffPrings, lay on s-
table in the open space of ground. We sat for several
minutes on this table, till at length two chairs were
brought to us through the crowd from some adjoining
houses, and we were politely invited to sit on them. We
were about to decline the civility, and to keep our former
seat, till a Chinese acquaintance whispered to us that we
had better accept the offer, as perhaps the feelings of his
countrymen would be shocked at our sitting on the idol-
table. The crowd then formed a little circle around us,
and listened to my companion, as he explained to them
the object of Missionaries in coming to China, and the
nature of their message to the souls of the Chinese. A few
of the more ignorant, finding that we were professedly de-
vout men, wanted us to salute and worship the idols.
this, of course, drew on them the remonstrance of the
Missionary, and the laughter of some of their own coun-
trymen, who had previously become acquainted with the
objections of Christians to idol-worship."

ANALYSIS OF DRESS.—What a monstrous contrast of
extremes has been exhibited, from the tight pantaloon,
such as we see it in some old pictures, to the great
breeches worn in the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth !
In the " Pedigree of the English gallant," an account is
given of a man whom the judges accused of wearing
breeches contrary to law. His defence of himself is cu-
rious. "He arawed out of his sloops the contents," viz.
a pair of sheets, two table-cloths, ten napkins, four shirts,
a brush, a glass, and a comb, with night-caps, and other
things, saying, " Your worships may understand, that be-
cause I have no safer a store-house, these pockets do serve
me for a room to lay up my goods in, and though it be a
straight prison, yet it is big enough for them, for I have
many things of value yet within it." He was discharged,
as he should have been, with his merchandise, and allowed
to trade freely on his own bottom. Hudibras carried
some such a cupboard. Small must have been the popu-
lation when these inexpressibles, great inexpressibles,
gallanted with the ladies' large hoop farthingales. A few
pairs must have occupied no small space. A courtship in
those days must have resembled a siege, where the prin-
cipal defence lay in the outworks, and the difficulty of ap-
proach was not a little enhanced by the encumbrances of
the advancing party. Who was the first coxcomb ? Was
dress, in its origin, a modest or immodest appendage to
tahperpoteercsotinon; oror rraotohoeorawlthoeoontd?id fi
Is rst cease vim=l,3reeerkin;
aural virtue, or a superinduced vice ?
I These a
inso somewhere
sitdculoaft,iownhs.ichTrteprreeseisntaso
our
rd
first
ty
perfectly nude, and so were they exhibited, and in pub-
lic, without shame. The subsequent acts introduced
parents in
them dressed ; and the last act, I believe, in the fashion
of the day in which the play was acted. As all plays were
then serious, was this representation a satire on cox-
combry, and intended to exhibit the progress of personal
degradation ? What does a man propose to himself when
he goes to the tailor's ? Is it to be clothed or adorned ?
Is it to hide a defect, that he may not appear worse than
he is, or that he may appear better than he is? To at-
tract observation or escape it. Is the pride in dress, or in
undress ? Ingenious in self-deceit was the reply'of the
man reproved for the badness of his dress, " Oh ! every
body knows me here ;" and his reply when seen in the
same suit far from his home, "Oh ! nobody knows me
here." This was a true amateur ; he loved slovenliness
for its own sake. Few believe themselves so ill-made, as
that the " dogs will bark at them." Even Richard 111.,
who owned to his deformity, gets a little in love with
himself, and thinks of adorning his person. "I do mis-
take my person all this while.' He determines to act the
exquisite.
"I'll be at charges for a looking-glass;
And entertain a score or two of tailors,
To study fashions to adorn my body,
Since I have crept in favour with myself,
I will maintain it with some little cost."

THE FORMATION OF HABITS THE PRIMARY
OBJECT IN THE EDUCATION OF THE POOR. I

Their faculties, to form liabits of self-labour, assiduous
perseverance, and voluntary application. In truth, the
amount of facts committed to memory during the period
of school attendance is of very inferior value indeed when
compared with the habits which may be formed in ac-
quiring them—not fora moment to be placed in competi-

Lion win' a wen rormeu namt or exercising tne powers o
the understanding at will. One may be too much as well
as too little taught ;to explain everything, and leave nothing
to be worked out by the independent action of the mind is
a grave error in didactics. There is, besides, a great temp-
tation to cultivate the powers of a mechanical memory
to excess. It ministers to display, and exhibits the seem-
ing of progress without the reality. Its excessive culti-
vation has been often promoted, because it tends to re-
lieve the teacher from trouble, and from the duties of
explanation and illustration. Another consideration will
show that no undue importance is attached to the views
here advocated. When a boy in whom habits of self.
instruction and industry are well formed, leaves school,
those habits stick to him with all their characteristic
adhesiveness. He is in a position to turn his mind with
advantage and effect to any subject of study, for which he
can find inclination and leisure • while another lad, we
shall suppose of equal talents, and a far more varied stock
of ideas, (for of principles youth have very imperfect
notions—to then. they are facts, not principles.) is quite
helpless. He has been taught everything by others, and
learned nothing himself; when his corks are removed,
and he is cut adrift, he at first endeavours to augment the
stork of knowledge which he had so easily acquired : but
not knowing how to set about it—unskilled in bringing
his faculties to bear on the subject in hand,—looking
always for external assistance,—he flounders on, until at
last he gives up all hope of progress, becomes disgusted
with reading, and sinks at last into a state of ignorance
little removed from what we may suppose it would have

Or does the satirical and successful Richard merely laugh
at your fop woers, and, proud of his own superiority,
contemn them, by imagining their dress on his own per-
son ? One would really think, from the figures one sees,
that there are people who dress purposely to spite the tai-
lors, as there are those who are paid to be walking pla-
cards of recommendation. The butcher who ran after
the fat man, and stopped him, crying, " Be so good, sir,
as to say you buy your meat of me," was not more aware
of the benefit of such a personal recommendation, than
is our fashionable tailor. A well-made man, if he is in
tolerable fashion, may be supplied with clothes, as I amcredibly informed, for nothing but the merely notifying
the makers. They are the decoy-ducks; excepting that,
though they have fine feathers, they have no bills. I
am told that a fashionable tailor would be quite shy of an
ill-made and vulgar-looking customer ; and generally
charges his dislike in his bill, that he may lose him. I
knew a portrait painter, that professed to decline painting
ugly people, upon that principle, and consequently his
success was quite astonishing ; every one he did Paint
was in better humour with himself, and was proud of his
certificate of beauty when he named the artist. Were
you and I, Eusebius, to presume to enter the saloon of a
fashionable cutter, and order suits, they would be pur-
posely so ill-made, that no one should suspect from
whence they came. And we should ever wear them with
a hitch of discomfort in some part or other. So that,
were we to try our best at foppery, we could not now
succeed. I have tried it upon various occasions, and
convinced myself that I was not born to it, and certainly
neither of us has acquired a second nature that any tailor
would recognise. A tailor's man, like the poet, must be
born with nature's fit, or nothing else will fit him,—
" nascitug non fit."—./ilacktoood's Magazine.

been had he never received an liOuris instruction. How
often may we hear the labourer exclaiming, I learned
all those things when I went to school ; but I know not
how it is, I have forgotten them all !" or using words to
the like effect. Any one who has been much in the habit
of examining classes in the schools of the poor, must
have often witnessed with pain the immobility of feature,
the expressionless eye, and the monotonous voice, all too
plainly indicating that he had then before him mere
animal machines, not living intelligences. ,To what cause,
other than this, was it owing that the old Grammar
Schools, with all their antiquated absurdities, so often sent
forth men of energy, learning, and talent: for, while the
matter learned was often worthless, the habits formed
during the progress were invaluable. I repeat that the
main object which should be kept in view in a national
system of education—at least so far as secular teaching
is concerned—is not so much to give an acquaintance with
facts often unconnected by any principle, and seldom
digested into order, as to form habits of steady applica-
tion and persevering industry, a determination not to be
overcome by difficulties. Such habits, well formed in a
youth on leaving school, and entering on the world, would
be of more value to him than if he had committed to
memory all the facts contained in all the popular recep-
tacles of useful knowledge. _ _

It is, it must be granted, quite true that but little can
be done without earnest and zealous schoolmasters, care-
fully and systematically instructed in the technical duties
of their calling. I say systematically instructed, because
it would be as hopeless to expect to train efficient school-
masters without the aid of Normal Institutions, as it
would be to teach the art of healing without theatres of
anatomy or hospitals. It is, however, no less true, that
the schoolmaster cannot accomplish everything ; the
active and hearty co-operation of the pupil is, at least, as
equally essential to success. This co-operation, then,
should be sedulously promoted by every legitimate means.

How CROMWELL DEALT WITH IRELAND.—The diffi-
culty of the Wellingtons, the Peels, and the Greys,—the
grand problem ofWhig and Tory, was no problem to him ;
he suffered resistance neither moral nor physical ; he
would have banged the orators and the gatherers of the
" rent," on the same tree. His remedy was simple. He
led his battalions at once into Ireland ; stormed the rebel
garrisons, hanged the rebel leaders ; sent the rebel priests
in droves to the West Indies ; and in six months he made
Ireland a place in which it was possible for an honest man
to live ; and this was while Ireland was still shouting for
joy at Protestant massacre—while she was in the full riot
of 1641—while legates, and prelates, and Jesuits were
crowding the soil, and while tens of thousands of Protes-
tants were weltering in bloody graves. The bold brewer
of Huntingdon settled the country at once, and Ireland
was obedient for a century to.conr.—B/ac.ktfood'sMaq.

SH AKSPEARES PLAYS,-The dramas of the " Immor-
tal Bard " came very irregularly from the press, viz.,
three in 1597, two in 1598, six in 1600, one in 1602, and
another in 1603, one in 1608, two in 1609, and one in 1612.
Whv six separate productions were crowded into 1600,
while in various years none at all appeared, is a matter of
curious and interesting speculation ; five of these six were
printed from good manuscripts, whether derived from the
theatre or from any other source ; while the sixth was in-
disputably surreptitious, and never could have been au-
thOised by anybody. The Athenceum remarks upon this,
that " we are not to suppose, though Shakspeare never
blotted a line, that the six plays were all written in one
year ; but the fact that six of his plays were printed
in one year is a circumstance in Shakspeare's life which
his biographers have hitherto neglected to relate, or at
least to remark upon in the way which a fact of the kind,
as we take it, would seem to deserve."
PARLIAMENTARY PASTIMES.—TWO new games have
been introduced into the House of Commons since the
commencement of the extraordinary session, and played
with much spirit by hon. members. The first is called
" Hunt the Pressure," and is thus played :—Members
having taken their seats, all the events of the last two
years are called in, and set down before the house. They
conceal " the Pressure" among them, and the game con-
sists in finding out under which of them it is hidden. The
house presents the most animated appearance while the
hunt is going on, and the greatest amusement is caused by
the wild attempts of members to guess where " the Pres-
sure" really is bidden. " I've got it !" cries Lord
George, seizing furiously on Free Trade. " Here it is !"
and he brings to light something which turns out to be
" Plenty" instead of " Pressure." " Nonsense !" cries
Sir William Molesworth, " here it is under Railways,"
and he pulls out " Employment." " it's under " Fa-
mine !" shouts another hon. member. " It's under Bank
Restriction !" interpose half-a-dozen members at once,
tumbling over each other in their eagerness to lug the act
of 1844 out of its place, to seize on " the Pressure" under
r ae r
se
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Railways nothing.
and
de
Famine struggle
av; waxes
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knows exactly where " the Pressure is, but somehow
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ee
sh
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is
The other, and equally fa-
vouritelnieoer evbleoerd:cfocerngavatiemnciligtee:ts
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Member is blindfolded. The Pressure is allowed to run
about the house, with Famine, Free Trade, Railway
Works, the Bank Act, and the others who have just
formed the circle for " Hunt the Pressure." The object
is to catch the Pressure. Of course the Blinded Member
is continually catching the wrong thing, and the fun of the
house is excessive at his assertions that he has got hold of
the Pressure, when he really is grasping one or more of
the bewildering crowd about him.—Punch.
MUSICAL EDUCATION OF MENDELSSOHN.—The steps
by which the youthful artist accomplished that complete
readiness of eye and hand, of musical intellect and ear,
which rendered him as a practical musician the wonder of
our age, are abvious. Difficulty had at length no place in
his vocabulary ; he had learned to anticipate all the com-
binations of piano-forte music; and his early industry so
far, of late, superseded the necessity of practice, that he
has been known to play both the organ and piano-forte in
public after intermitting practice for months. He sus-
tained to the end all the assaults of the most inveterate
mechanism ; and, with Liszt and Thalberg in the field, was
incontestibly the first piano-forte player of his day. Mu-
sic, whose true votary he was, never deserted him, and.
taught the most industrious saloon players, when he was
present, to know their place. The plan pursued to form
young Mendelssohn as a composer was directed also by
great intelligence. He had been placed for this branch
of art under Zetter, of the singing academy, a thoughtful
master, and the correspondent of Goethe and Zetter
thought too highly of his charge to fetter his genius by
scholastic rules. The exercises he made under Zetter
were chiefly little symphonies in four parts, for stringed
instruments, in composing which he followed the bent
of his genius. After what fancy and imagination had
achieved for the music of modern Germany, it was feared
that the systems might stifle some important poetical
new birth. In spite of the license to run wild, order,
clearness, and regularity still distinguished the produc-
tions of the student, and were the index to the character
of his mind. The domestic musical habits of Mendel-
ssohn's family were still more happily disposed to excite
his enthusiasm for composition than the approbation and
encouragement of his preceptor. Every fortnight there
was a concert at Mendelssohn's, at which a quartet of
good artists performed a variety of classical compositions,
and together, with them, the last new symphony of
" Felix." What an advantage this ! Surely, the music
of a young composer was never before nursed in such soft-
ness and delight, amidst such kind family sympathy,
and so much encouragement from musicians. By the time
he reached twenty, he was not only the greatest player of
the day, but the character of his compositions entitled
him to occupy that place in the interest of the public
which Beethoven and Weber had not long resigned. Be-
fore his first published works, two piano-forte quartets,
had reached us, his name and promise were familiar in
England, through the medium of foreign musical journals,
and the connections of the British embassy at Berlin. His
first English associations were, probably, formed at the
parties of Mrs. Austin, then resident in that city ; and
when he arrived in this country (in 1829) to verify. the
prepossessions of his admirers, he still lived in great mtk-
niacy with her family.—Fraser.

WHAT AMERICA CAN PRODUCE

The public journals, and authentic private advices re-
(From " Examination the Province of the State," by ceived from the United States by last mail, contain much
Dr. Booth, F.R.S.) important information regarding the condition of those
If then, the formation of habits of patient study and states, of deep importance to the general interests of this
persevering application are amongst the primary objects country, and different branches of our manufactures and
of a wise education, when applied even to the highest, so commerce. The produce from agriculture is everywhere
should they, in an especial manner, be looked upon as most abundant. The cotton crop has been concluded
such in the education of the poor. On those whose edu- under most favourable circumstances ; and the amount
cation extends over no inconsiderable portion of their is given at the most accurate extent to be £2,235,000, or
lives, such habits will, from the very nature of things, 1,105,750,000 lbs.
force themselves imperceptibly into vigour—they will The internal consumption vill, it is stated, be 800,000
grow with their growth, and strengthen with their strength, bales, viz., 600,000 bales in the northern and 200,000
and this, too, in general, whether much or little external bales (average 450 lbs. each) in the southern and the
pains be taken. But with the poor it is far otherwise: western states, for the year ending June 30, 1848.
there is no time for the spontaneous but tardy formation " Every where," say these journals, "cotton mills are
of good habits ; their natural growth is slow ' • they must springing up as by the work of magic," throughout the
be forced to meet the exigencies .of the case. As the stay union, especially in the southern and south-western
of the poor at school must, even under the most favour- states, in the places where the cotton is produced. • The
able things, be necessarily short, it is of incomparable im- American consumption will therefore shortly equal, and
portance to them that they should be taught to exercise soon exceed, that of
-Great Britain.

The sugar crop of Louisiana is also most abundant,
and greater than ever before known. The produce of
this crop will exceed 250,000 hhds., about 130,000 tons.
The yield is very great, in some places exceeding two tons
per acre. The produce of Indian corn is immense-
-600,000,000 bushels (75,000,000 qrs.), worth at rates
f I quoted 73 to 76 cents. per bushel, £112,500,000 ! The

production of iron goes on of a rapidly
increasing rate.
It was boldly stated in Congress in 1843, that in the
state of Philadelphia they had neither capital nor skill to
produce and manufacture railroad iron. In 1845 the
first bar of this description of iron was produced at Ma-
nayuk, Norriston Valley Forge, and " under the efficient
protection of the bill of 1842 " the produce this year is
about 60,000 tons, almost equal to the entire wants of
the country," which, as the American journals justly
boast, has already " saved millions to the country." The
iournals proclaim with exultation that while agriculture
is the strength of every country, it is especially so of
theirs. For the space of 100 miles- above New Orleans,
both banks of the Mississippi, to the extent of two miles
on each side, are covered with the most luxuriant sugar
plantations, while similar plantations extend to a distance
of more than 50 miles below that city.
Would this country but take a lesson from American
patriotism—protection and industry—how fortunate it
would be for her ! In the trade with our British West
India colonies, exclusive of Guiana, Honduras, Bahamas,
and Bermuda, the imports into the United States, inclu-
ding freights, &c., were only 833,678 dollars, but the
exports were 4,947,557 dollars, exclusive of freights and
charges. This we call reciprocity, and of the utmost
advantage to our national interests.

The American journals generally copy and notice with
the utmost care, the various articles which appeared some
time ago in the Times journal, describing the poverty of
this country. They dwell on these confessions, put for-
ward by the ministerial organ, with prophetic exultation
of the vast advantages which the United States must in-
evitably and directly gain from the state of things in
England, and the difficulties which now surround her.
We must do them the justice, however, to say that they
generally do not speak in any spirit of hostility, but
rather of regret at the present sad state of this country ;
but they unequivocally declare and believe that the policy
which this country is pursuing will effect, and rapidly, a
complete revolution in Great Britain, which will over-
throw everything that is established in State or Church,
in colonies, in commerce, and manufactures, and which
three latter they consider must inevitably fall into their
hands, and snake them the greatest nation on earth. We
dare not acknowledge that Uncle Sam's expectations and
anticipations are wholly groundless.

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