The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-04-18 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, AND GENERAL COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER

whom he peculated ; and has lived on as he begun, a
" low comedy villain," and no more. Well, what think
you when I tell you that is " Me house," par excellence,
where all strangers strive to be introduced. That to be
on the dinner-list here is a distinction, and that even a
visitor enjoys an envied fortune. Now, Bob, there's no
denying that there must be something rotten, and to the
core, too, where such a condition of things prevails. If
this man fed the hungry and sheltered the houseless, who
had no alternative but his table, or no food, the thing re-
quires no explanation ; or if his hospitalities were partaken
of by that large floating class who in every city are to be
found, with tastes disproportionate to their fortunes, and
who will at any time postpone their principles to their
palates, even then the matter is not difficult of solution ;
but what think you that his company includes some of the
very highest names of our stately nobility, and that the
titles that resound through his salon are amongst the
most honoured of our haughty aristocracy ! These people
assuredly stand in no want of a dinner. They are com-
fortably lodged, and at least reasonably well fed, at the
Italie, or the " Grand Bretagne." Why should they stoop
to such companionship ? Who can explain this, Bob ?
Assuredly I am not the CEdipus !

VARIETIES.

DESECRATION OF THE LORD'S DAY AT
THE BIRKENHEAD DOCK WORKS.

A SIGN of Ltrcß.—A will signed in your favour.
ELEGANT EXTRACT.—HeIping a pretty girl out of a
mud-puddle.
How TO CIRCULATE ADVERTISEMENTS AMONG LADIES.
—Add a postscript enjoining secrecy.
STRAIN the bow, and the arrow swerves; such is the
case with the mind.
Hoes is the sunbeam of the heart, which dispels or gilds
the chilling clouds of adversity.
MEAN SPIRITS under disappointment, like small beer in
a thunder-storm, always turn sour.
THE HEIGHT OF MOCEERY.—A barrel organ opposite
your window, playing " Let us be happy together."
A QUERY FOR DocToss.—Does it follow that because
a man occupies an attic room he must be room-attic
(rheumatic) ?
THE YOUNG LADY who fell in love has just been pulled
out by the daring fellow who successfully struggled with
the world.
" WHY did you not pocket some of those pears ?" said
one boy to another ; " nobody was there to see." " Yes,
there was; I was there to see myself; and I don't ever
intend to see myself do a mean thing."
NOTHING sets so wide a mark between a vulgar and a
noble soul as respect and reverential love of womankind.
A man who is always sneering at woman is generally a
coarse profligate or a coarser bigot.
AFTER is ARISTOCRATIC WEDDING, which lately took
place, a perfect shower of satin slippers, in lieu of the
traditionary old shoe, was thrown after the carriage con-
taining the happy pair.
A YOUNG LADY, at breakfast, asked a gentleman to hand
her the "hen fruit," pointing to a plate of eggs. The
gentleman suggested " Shanghai berries" as a more fas-
tidious term.
A SHREWD YANKEE editor has found out the reason
why " Yankees speak a dialect so much purer than that
which is found on the tongues of the men of England."
It is that Lindley Murray was a native American:
APPLAUSE.—Some one remarked to Mrs. Siddons, that
applause was necessary to actors, as it gave them con-
fidence. " More," replied the actress ; "it gives us breath."
" MANY a young lady who objects to be kissed under the
misletoe, has no objection to be kissed under the rose." A
careless compositor made an error in the above, rendering
it, " has no objection to be kissed under the nose."
A REPORT, circulated in Melbourne, at the emigrant's
expense, is that of the lady, who, when her quarterly bills
came in, had nothing to do but run into her garden, take
a dish, and wash some gold, pay her bills, and go on again
THE PRESENT AND THE EITTURE.—III girls we love.
what they are, but in young men what they promise to
be.—Nerreastle Journal.—Ha! and if the " promise " be
not performed, the " girls" let the " young men" know
" what they are."—Gateshead Obserrer.
AN AMERICAN NOTION OF ROYALTY.—When the
American frigate Constitution was at Naples, their Majes-
ties, with all the Court gorgeously dressed, came on board
to see the ship. While they were being escorted by Com-
modore Rogers round the ship, a boatswain's mate stepped
up to the first lieutenant, and, touching his hat, whispered
"Please, sir, one of them kings has fallen down the main
hatchway."
AN EARLY HEARER OP DR. Crraratan,s,—" Well, said
one of the merchant friends of Mr. James Chalmers to
him one day, wholly ignorant of his relationship to the
doctor (whom he had never gone to hear), " have you
heard this wonderful countryman and namesake of
yours ?" " Yes," said James, somewhat drily_ "And
what do you think of him ?" " Very little indeed," was
the reply. " Dear me !" said the astonished inquirer,
" when did you hear him ?" "About half an hour after
he was born.'—Memoirs of Chalmers.
RHUBARB WINE.—To every gallon of soft water add
51b. of ripe rhubarb, cut into thin slices and braised ;
let it stand nine days, stirring it three times a day ; let
the tub be covered with a cloth ; strain it, and to every g:al-
lon of liquor add 4 lbs. of white sugar, the juice.of two
lemons, and the rhind of one; then to fine it, add 1 oz of
-
isingLass to every nine gallons ; let it ferment for three
weeks, add one pint of brandy, and bung it up. Make in
July, bottle in October ; and to each bottle add one table
spoonful of brandy, one teaspoonful of lump sugar.
WE MUST Anveacco--Perhaps there is no higher proof'
of the excellency of man than this—that to a mind pro-
perly cultivated, whatever is bounded is little. The mind
is continually Labouring,- to advance, step by step, through:
successive gradations of excellence, towards perfection,.
which is dimly seen, at a great though not hopeless dis-
tance, and which we must always follow because we never
can attain ; but the pursuit rewards itself : one truth.
teaches another, and our store is always increasing, though
nature can never be exhausted.—Sir Joshua Reynolds..
GEOGRAPHICAL QUERIES. —ls Hudson's Bay as safe as
the rest of Hudson's speculations ?—lf the chops of the
Channel have a Yarmouth vessel riding over them, does
that constitute " a smack in the chops ?"—Supposing Ben.
Nevis to be raffled for, how long would it take to be got
up ?—Are the lochs of Scotland, secured by quays P—Has
Dublin, the City, any connection`with doublin' the Cape ?
And what is the precise age. of Mississippi ?
HUSBANDS AND WIVES- IN PRANCE.—A husband has
generally nothing to do with the details of household
affairs ; he never buys• linen, plate, or furniture, muchless
provisions. The man would be eternally ridiculous who
should thick of bringing home a " bit of fish" for dinner.
He is supposed not to know the price of any article of first
necessity. In genteel society he scarcely ever is aware
whom his wife has invited to dinner until he sees his
guests. The lady of the house overlooks everything—even
the dress of her husband : she buys his shirts, his cravats,
his gloves ; her taste presides over all.
A PORTRAIT OF SIR CHARLES NAPIER.—" A farmer-
looking man, with a fat face, thick lips, and a tremendous
nose covered with snuff ; large ears like the flaps of a sad-
dle, and like ' Uncle Ned,' in lyric history, with no wool
to speak of on the top of his head, although his phrenolo-
gical developments display an extensive surface where the
wool ought to grow ; the head placed on the body of a
stunted alderman, whose clothes appear to have been
pitchforked on his back, with one shirt-collar up-and the
other down, his waistcoat buttoned awry, and his shirt-
front smeared with snuff—and you have the portrait of
Sir Charles Napier. If there is a thirst for farther or
more minute particulars, it may be added that the.admiral
wears blucher boots, and takes snuff with three-fingers."
NEW USE OF WORDS.—A correspondent of the Brat-
tlebrough Eagle tells the following story of a witness
upon a liquor trial :—" How do you know it was brandy ?"
asked the lawyer.. "Well," replied the ready witness, I
smelled of it first, and then I welcomed about a glass of
it." The unexpected verb wholly upset the gravity of the
court, jury, and miscellaneous people ; and they were not
at all assisted in recovering their equanimity by his further
testimony that the man who bought the brandy drank of
it himself "till he was quite salubrious."
A HINT To. NICHOLAS.—There eau be no question that
to the gloomy influences of hypoclondria are to be attri-
buted some of the most remarkable errors of celebrated
men, some of the most lamentable excuses of noted crimi-
nals, that are recorded in history : the hero has sunk into
the poltroon, the philanthropist info the savage, the phi-
losopher into the fooL Strange tint "battle, murder, and
sudden death," might frequently be averted by the timely
administration of a blue pill and a black draught ; that to
the derangement of Imperial viscera may be due the cala-
mities which now overwhelm the East, and which threaten
to involve the whole of Europe in. wan—Household
Medicine and Surgery.
A SCENE AT A. BACHELOR'S Bau.—After whirling for
some time in the ecstatic mazes of a delightful waltz
and myself stepped out unobserved on the balcony to en-
joy a few of those sweet moments of solitude so precious to
lovers. It was a glorious night—tie air was coo/ and re-
refreshing. As I gazed at the handful being at my
side, I thought I had never seen ler look so. lovely ; the
full moon cast her bright rays over her whole person,
giving it an almost angelic appearance, and imparting to
her flowing curls a still more golien hue.. One of her
soft fair hands rested in mine, and ever and anon she met
my ardent gaze with one of more confiding love. Sud-
denly a change came over her soft features, her full red
lip trembled as with suppressed emotion, a tear-drop rested
on her long drooping lashes, the muscles around her
faultless mouth became convulsed—she gasped for breath,
and, snatching her hand from the warm pressure of my
own, she turned suddenly away, buried her face in her fine
cambric handkerchief, and sneezed !
A TABLE D'HOTE AT CaNBTAMECOPLE.—The dinner
table at Misseri's hotel d'Angleterre, at Pere, is not a very
large one. The company who atter& it, is, however, of a
rather uncommon, and perhaps, eNen unprecedented, de-.
scription. With the exception of her Britannic Majesty's
political agent for the Danubian Principalities (a forced
exile fromßucharest), his secretary, Ivo civil engineers, and
the correspondents of two of the London morning papers,
it is composed of the most warlike art destructive elements
that could well be gathered together. The original in-
ventors and sole proprietors of the most combustible in-
struments for the destruction of mortal man there dine
together in peace and harmony. M. --, the original
inventor of the newest species of rocket, sits little removed
from Mr. -, the exclusive propietor of the celebrated
patent explosive shell ; whilst a Ittle lower down the
happy wirer of 20,000 revolvers is mating up in his mind
whether the Turk will appreciate toe five-fold qualities of
his arm. The rest of the table is filed almost wholly by
military men, and has for the last f'w days been honoured
by the presence of Lieutenant-General Sir John Burgoyne
and his staff, who have just returnee from the Dardanelles.
—Correspondence of the Mornins, Chronicle.
STanraxos.—Malcolm Gordon ;has writes in Kidd's
Journal and Book of Nature :—I have been more than
pleased, exceedingly delighted, by perusal of the many
interesting notes that have appearedin your Journal, from
time to time, upon the habits ad playfulness of the
amiable starling, a bird who only rquires to be known to
be thoroughly and heartily welcome!. Unfortunately, the
race against whom you are (very roperly) for ever wag-
ing war, slaughter these joyous WI rogues directly they
enter a neighbourhood to find themselves a dwelling-place.
Hence their comparative scarcity itar towns and cities.
However, /am a favoured being, asyou shall hear. I re-
side in the neighbourhood of Cancabury Park, where I
have been located several years. Ca taking possession of
teresdtwelllin continued to watch theirgand aduil
my present house, I noticed that r pair of starlings
anest
had
there. With
livtsitrhoogfret i
fora theirn
movements ; and, in due course, tle papa and mama in-
y, another choice pair
family,
that we have ever
roth upon your space to
But there
happ; family?,
tt Thats rei
no (lilc
yeu
owcue da
a ins
witnessed
hlt o
se
funsla. theirm among
Tani,
iwgdl
itn
itln
thisee
or r
they are now, tame as ever, confidini, affectionate, and as
full of play as these ever-playful bird:can be. I only wish
your readers could see them come oown, and strut about
in their gloriously-gay and glitterhg colours upon our
grass-plot !Itis a pretty, a charmhg sight. And to ob-
serve how they draw up the worms, aid devour the grubs!
It is better than any play. I need no tell you what " pets"
we make of them. Hitherto, we hare managed to protect
them ; and they stick close to us, is if they really knew
there was danger farther abroad. I have often quaked
lest some sporting neighbour's gun should be brought tobear
upon them; but somehow they possess' charmed lives." May
we live till they die ; and may they lye till we die ! Few
people round London, I imagine, areso favoured as we by
the company of starlings. To the alove, Mr. Kidd adds :
the savage brutality of man alone wevents these noble
little fellows (whose society we dearly ove) more frequently
domesticating themselves amongst la dwellers near Lon-
don. Our garden frequently gets th honour of a tempo-
rary visit ; but out comes a neighour's gun the very
moment the gay visitors aro seen. I report is heard, the
I birds take the hint ; and away they fy, to seek wore hog,
pit4ble treatmentsleerthere.

TO TIIE EDITOR OP TUE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

The truthfulness and life-like spirit of the pre-
ceding sketch require no encomium ; they flash
with the conclusive force of reality across the
mind, and each reader will readily find an occu-
pant, and an idol for the worship and the temple,
from the store-house of his own information : the
picture is too faithful to be mistaken, and as
humiliating as it is true. It is not, however, by
any means peculiarly Florentine ; in our own land,
proud, if not indeed vain, of its high-sounding
morality, and justly boastful of its general com-
mercial rectitude, as it has reason to be, models
from which the picture might be painted are not
wanting, even to the basest accessories of the
idolatrous mammon worshippers. The city of
Florence, with its rich artistic treasures, its high
historical and literary associations, was too tempt-
ing a theme for so cultivated an intellect as Charles
Lever's to pass with mere observations on extrinsic
generalities, and we have, accordingly, some glow-
ing delineations of its particular characteristics ;
the annexed sketch, although undoubtedly some-
what overcrowded, is, nevertheless, so luminous
and comprehensive, that we cannot resist extract-

THE REV. DR. BUTLER.

ing it :

FLORENCE, IN ITS FINE-ART ASPECT.

There is the Florence of art—of pictures, of statues,
churches, frescoes, a town of unbounded treasures in ob-
jects of high interest. There are galleries where a whole
life might be passed in cultivating the eye, .refining the
taste, and elevating the imagination. There is the
Florence of historical association, with its palaces re-
calling the feudal age, and its castellated strongholds,
telling of the stormy times before the "Medici." There
is not a street, there is scarcely a house, whose name does
not awaken some stirring event, and bring you back to
the period when men were as great in crime as in genius.
Here, an inscription tells you Benvenuto Cellini lived and
laboured ; yonder was the window of his studio ; there,
the narrow street through which he walked at nightfall,
his hand upon his rapier, and his left arm well enveloped
in his mantle. There, the stone where Dante used to sit ;
there, the villa Boccaccio inhabited ; there, the lone tower
where Gallileo watched ; there, the house, unchanged in
everything, of the greatest of them all, Michel Angelo
himself. The pen sketches of his glorious conceptions
adorn the walls, the half-finished models of his immortal
works are on the brackets. That splendid palace on the
sunny Arno was Alfieri's. Go where you will, in fact, a
gorgeous story of the past reveals itself before you, and
you stand before the great triumphs of human genius,
with the spirit of the authors around and about you.

We must, however, hasten to a close—a difficult
matter to accomplish, when it involves a separa-
tion from Mr. Lever and his sparkling flow of
concentrated wisdom. Ere we do so, however, we
must give one more extract. It is put into the
mouth, rather into the letter, of the head of the
" Dodd Family," when they are about to return
home, and when he is in the act of summing up
the results of the foreign-travel advantages and
disadvantages. The reflections, in this instance,
arise naturally in his mind, on meeting an educated,
unassuming countryman, in Florence, whom judg-
ment and prudence, united to education, have
converted into a prosperous and consummate man
of the world, whom Dodd, in his earlier years,
had known in his own country as the laborious and
patient public drudge the doctor of a district
dispensary. The hints are full of meaning, and
may be called

SlE,—From the 23rd October, 1844, when the first
stone of these docks was laid, to the sth April, 1817, when
the present dock was opened, a total disregard of the
Lord's Day has been manifest to the inhabitants of this
place, and the plea of necessity has been always urged
as an excuse. The result has been, that a blight has been
upon the whole undertaking, and neither promoters nor
contractors have prospered. Such always was, and always
will be, upon those who openly violate the Lord's Day.
Yesterday morning my attention was drawn to volumes
of smoke issuing from a chimney on the river side of these
docks. I went to the spot : I found a large engine in a
building, at full work, as if it was a common week day,
and not Easter Sunday. This was 11 o'clock in the fore-
noon. Whilst there, I heard some knocking, and, looking
round, saw the door of the graving-dock open, and upon
going in, found about a dozen carpenters hard at work, in
their shirt sleeves, not at a vessel which had been wrecked
or damaged, but at a vessel belonging to the Birkenhead
Dock Trustees. Now, I wish to know if this was done
with their knowledge. I know the . principal trustee is a
Jew and, that he can say conscientiously enough, it was
no breach of the Mosaic law; but, surely, Mr. S. Holme
has not turned Jew—surely Messrs. Greene, Rae, Cook,
and Curry, have not turned Jews. Perhaps some of these
gentlemen will explain this, and oblige, yours respectfully,
Birkenhead, April 17, 1854. AN ENQUIRER.
P.S.—The ship-carpenters were at work the whole of
the forenoon.