The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-07-31 00:00:00

SELECT EXTRACTS.

COMPARATIVE INTELLIGENCE OF THE HIGHER AND
LOWER CLASSES.—The most essential point, however, in
which the lower classes have advanced upon the higher, is
that of personal acquirements. Is it not in early life that
the education of the lower orders is better than that of their
superiors. There is generally great anxiety manifested on
'the part of the higher orders, that the attainments of their
sons and daughters should correspond with their station in
society; and the wish of the parent is usually seconded by
the talents and disposition of the child. It is before and
after they have reached maturity, that the youth of the
aristocrasy begin to lose ground in the race of emulation.
The sons of the nobility and great landed proprietors are no
longer required to discharge various public functions, which
in ruder periods they were wont to do, while such numbers
of them are every where to be seen, that their rank alone
does not place them on that eminence which it formerly com-
manded. Their ardour is thus damped for honourable ex-
ertion on the one hand, while the blandishments of ease and
luxury allure them on the other. As they advance in life,
the management of property, the cares of a family, and the
various duties of society, demand so much of their time, that
it requires extraordinary skill and resolution to reserve any
considerable portion of it at their own disposal. In the
meanwhile, art and science are daily diminishing that pro-
portion of the community which subsists by mere manual
labour; books, instruction, and travelling, are more within
the reach of all ;
_and those who must live by their own ex-
ertions, or whose means debar them from expensive plea-
sures, are induced and compelled to improve themselves with
unremitting assiduity. The result of this indolence on the
one hand, and diligence on the other, is, that on nine out of
ten occasions, where extraordinary proficiency or informa-
tion really.is demanded, the higher classes are surpassed by
those who were originally their inferiors, not only in birth,
but in education, and perhaps also in capacity.—Quarterly
Review.

VISIT TO THE SITE OF SY RACCSE.—NO spot which I ever
beheld ever illustrated the transitory nature of earthly things
more strongly than modern Syracuse. Historians have dis-
tinctly described the vast maguitude of the ancient city.
Enough vestiges remain to confirm the truth of their state-
ments. The harbour is still in existence, which originally
made Syracuse the emporium of the world; but the harbour
only contains a few fishing boats and speronaras, and the
Syracuse which now exists is but the wreck and mockery of
departed greatness. You cast your eyes on the rising ground
at the upper end of the harbour. Where is Neapolis ? Where
is Tyche ? Where Achradina ? There they assuredly stood;
but what is now there? Absolutely nothing! On the other
side of the bay you distinguish the Doric shafts of the tem-
ple of Jupiter Olympus;_ the very temple which contained
the statue from which Dionysius the elder purloined the
mantle of gold. How deep into the past do these remem-
brances carry your thoughts! Modern Syracuse is confined
to the small peninsula on which formerly stood that portion
of the ancient city which was called Ortygia, as if London
were reduced to the Tower and Tower-hill, or Paris to the
island in the middle of the Seine. The neck of land which
unites the peninsula to the coast divides the larger from the
small harbour. * * * We traversed the entire length of
what was Syracuse, as it might, be setting out from Shore-
ditch to go by the Strand to Westminster, traversing a space
that was once no less crowded with houses and thronged with
men. The whole is now a rocky common, only frequented
by a few sheep and goats; nothing to remind you of the past,
except the grooves here and there worn by the chariot wheels
in the rock, indented lines, that trace the foundations of
houses, and the occasional gurgling of water, when you hit
upon the course of the stream which is brought by the aque-
duct. Here and there, in the wide extent, are a few patches
of cultivation, and one or two modern farms, but nothing an-
cient; and you puzzle your brains to conceive what can have
become of the temples and the palaco, the vast piles of mar-
ble and stone, the materials the very dust, of the London of
antiquity.—The Normans in Sicily, by Mr. 11'. G. Knight.
THE LADIES OF MUSCAT.—Females are occasionally seen
in the streets; but their persons are carefully concealed in
flowing robes, and their faces, in obedience to the precepts
of the Koran, are hidden by veils or rattier dominoes, which
are often secured behind the head by a silver chain. Their
costume consists of a sort of silk gauze, generally yellow,
made in the form of a loose robe, worn over pantalettes
sitting close at the ankles, which are ornamented, as among
Jewish females of old, with bangles of silver, or metal re-
sembling it. The feet are cased in stockings, and slippers
of some gay colour, or they were bare, with a number of
rings on the toes. The beast is protected by a spencer or
jacket, with short sleeves which are tastefolly bespangled
and tinselled. The silk rube is worn over the head, after the
fashion of the mantilla in Spain. Ladies visit a good deal
amongst themselves; but no males, except certain relatives,
are admitted into their society. " Women," said an Arab
gentleman to me one evening, "spend their whole time in
perfuming, dressing, and decorating themselves. They are
fond of dress, and are generally very expensive creatures.
A gentleman's wife must have at least four Cashmere shawls,
a green, a blue, a red, and a white; then she must have a
ruby or a diamond ring for every toe as well as for every fin-
ger, and there are few wives who have not from two to seven
thousand dollars' worth of jewellery to wear on particular oc-
casions. Then they are so jealous, there is no living with
them. * 55 * " When a man marries" continued my in-
formant, " he does not see his destined bride until after the
marriage ceremony has been performed; but, to gain some
knowledge of theiady, he depends upon. the report of some
old woman, generally a servant in his family, whom he sends
to make her observations. In this way he gets a pretty good
description of the lady's personal chamois, and he must trust
to luck for the rest. If satisfied with the report, he then makes
proposals through a priest, who asks the lady whether she is
willing to take such an individual for a husband; and on
gaining her consent, the father is informed of it, but he as
well as all her male relations are careful to absent themselves
at the time of the wedding." Though so carefully secluded,
faithlessness amongst women is very rare, because the dis-
olace attached to the crime extends not only to her immedi-
ate family, but also to the whole tribe to which she may be-
long. Another check is that the husband can put away his
wife at any moment, by saying simply, "I divorce .you "
" and terrible are these words in the ears of a woman ;"
after which they are no longer man and wife. He gives her
the property she may claim as her own, and sends her back
to her father's house. After that, he cannot again see her
face, unless the marriage ceremony be again performed. In
this way a man may separate from his wife three times, but
cannot marry her a fourth time, until after she has been the
wife of another.—Ruschenberger's Voyage Round the World.
THE UNICORN NOT FARCE° us.—While the neighbourhood
of the tropic, we heard of two other species of the genus, which
exist still further to the northward; but unfortunately, could
not obtain any very circumstantial evidence concerning them,
as the persons who had seen them were only on a visit in
the country they inhabit. One of them was stated to approxi-
mate the Keitloa ; the other was described as very different
to any species previously seen by them, and to have only one
long horn towards the forehead. Now, though descriptions
of objects furnished by such persons are often inaccurate,
from the circumstance of their not having been favourably
situated for making correct observations, as well as from a
deficiency of language calculated to convey the informatio n
they actually possess, I have always remarked that even a
hasty examination seemed to supply the savage with more
accurate notions of the general characters of animals than it
did the civilized man, and therefore I do nut despair of species
such as they mentioned being yet discovered. It is in regard
to the species with the single horn that we experience the
greatest hesitation in receiving their evidence as credible;
and therefore it is agreable to have it corroborated by the
testimony of a man from a very different part of the country,
awshoobrtae
resided
aan
long t e publishedin
aad
ag
n missionaryseMadagascar.
oef greatn vresearchna
wwho
furnished.Mr.Vreeman with the account of the.dN. d.dzool-dzoo
was a native of the country northward of Mozambique ; and,
if we admit certain portions of the descriptions to be tainted
with errors, we can recognise in the remaintrteecrsitpheeegieesnt4e
habits of a rhinoceros, and probably one of h
h
which our informants were slightly acquainted. ,
It appears,"
observes 111 r. Freemen, " that the Ndzoo-dzoo is by no means
rare in Makooa. It is about the size of a horse, extremely
fleet and strong. It has one single horn projecting from its
forehead, from 21 to 30 incises in length. This is flexible
when the animal is asleep; it can be curled like the trunk
of the elephant, but becomes perfectly firm and hard when
the animal is excited, and especially when pursuing an
enemy. Its disposition is extremelyfi,Tee and it universally
attacks-man Yt-t` yes irttn:` ttstrter Intorod -of escape
adopted by the natives is to climb up a dense and high tree,
so as to avoid, if possible, being seen. If the animal misses
his sight of the fugitive, he immediately gallops off to his
haunt; from whence it may be inferred that he is not endowed
with the power of a keen scent. Should he, however, espy
his object in the tree, who to the unfortunate native: he
begins to butt with his horns, strikes and penetrates the tree,
and continues piercing it tilt it falls, when his victim seldom
escapes being gored to death. Unless the tree is of a large
girth, he never fails in breaking it down. Having killed his
victim, he leaves him without devouring the carcase. The
male only is provided with the horn. The female has not
anything of the kind,—Dr. Smith's Illustrations of the Zoology
of South Africa.

LONDON GAZETTE.-FRIDAY, JULY 28.

PARTNERSHIPS DISSOLVED.

J. Brown and W. Taylor, Liverpool, shipping-agents—J. New.
ton, J. Taylor, and W. Taylor, Liverpool, common-brewers.

BANKRUPTCIES SUPERSEDED.
Edward Soutten, Fox and Knot-yard, Snow-hill, London, dealer
and chapman.
Peter Lowe, Upton, Cheshire, merchant.
Jeremiah Chittenden, jun. Three Tuns-court, Southwark, hop-
factor.

BANKRUPTS.
George Hanson, Fleet-street, London, cutler.

Greville Jones, Greville-street, Brook-street, Holborn
London, surgeon.
henry Perkins Hammond, Bishopsgate-street, London, rope
maker.
John Almond, Hetton-le-Hole, Durham, grocer.
William Gunnell, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, currier.
John Steadman, Preston, hatter.
DIVIDENDS.

Aug. 30, T. P. Peck and J. Peck, Liverpool, ~
grocers—Au. 20, B.
Haswell, Watford, coach wheelwright—Aug,,. 20, J. Niswbery,
Reading, scrivener—Aug. 17, W. Hamilton and B. Agar, Riche's-
court, Lime-street, London, merchants—Aug. 20. T. Ainner,
insLey, Wolverhampton,
Lime-
street, London, merchant—Aug. 21, J. Bar
builder—Aug. 13, 11. Hayward, Cant erh rry , coachmaker—Aug.
23, R. Grove, Brighton, cabinet-inaker—Aug. li, R.W. Openshaw,
Prestvieh, Lancashire, common-brewer.
• CERTIFICATES
To be granted, unless cause he shown to the contrary, on or before

the 17th day of August
H. Ashcroft, .Liverpool, victualler—N. Hadley, Ilerne Bay,
builder—W. W. Wilmot and D. S. Wilmot, Bristol, glass-cutters—
J. Carter, Newark-upon-Trent, Nottinghamshire, hosier-4. Phil-
pott, Rochester. ironmonger—W. Whitehread, High-street, %Vap-
ping, London, cheesernonger —E. Justins, sen. and E. 3 ustins, jun.
Mark-lane, London, printers—G. Topham, Richmond, coal-mer-
chant.

AVERAGE PRICE OF SUGAR.
The average price of Brown or Muscovado Sugar, computed
from the returns made in the week ending 24th July, 1938, is
31s td per hundred weight. exelu-sive of the duties of Cia4orna
paid or payable thereon on the importation thereof into Great
Britain.