The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-11-29 00:00:00

SHERIDAN'S DEA.TII AND FrNERAL.

Perhaps our tone toward Sheridan in the previous re-
marks may appear rather harsh. And when we remember
his melancholy end, we are tempted to think so ourselves.
"Pocr fellow ! be had many things to wound him;
It was a trying moment that which found him
Standing a!one upon his desolate hearth,
When all his household gods lay shiver'd round him."
It was a very sad tragedy that of Saville Row. There
was to be seen the man on whose lips senators and vast
multitudes had hung, whose jests had shaken Old Drury
from top to bottom, till it was one mass of loosened
laughter, lying in bed, broken in constitution and in
heart, deriving his chief consolation and strength from
the potion which had degraded and ruined him ; deserted
by his noble friends, ministered to indeed by his wife,
whose early love, much tried and long cooled, had revived
in its original strength for this hour of darkness and
distress, but with no hope on earth, and with but a cold
and dim prospect beyond the grave ; surrounded by duns,
and with difficulty saved from being carried in his blankets
to a sponging-house—behold, the end of the admired, fiat-
tered, overrated, underrated, spoiled, and murdered
1 Sheridan! And yet, in six days, what spectacle is it
that we see darkening the streets of London ? It is a
funeral, and certainly it must be a royal personage whom
they are bearing to the grave, for royal dukes and belted
earls, and lord bishops, and celebrated statesmen, and
wits, and orators, are crowding there. No! it is the
funeral of that very same shivering, starving, wretch—of
the wreck that was once Sheridan !

Besides the article referred to, there are other
contributions possessed of varying degrees of merit;
and two or three sweet pieces of poetry.

The Treatises of M. T. Cicero, literally translated
by C. D. Yonge, B.A. London: Henry G. Bohn.
These treatises, which constitute a volume of
Bohn's Classical Library, consist of the well-known
essay on the Nature of the Gods ; those on Divi-
nation ; on Fate ; on the Republic ; on the Laws ;
and on Standing for the Consulship. They are
translated more with an eye to fidelity than to the
elegancies of classical English, yet the fire and
energy of the Roman orator are well sustained and
represented ; a task, the due execution of which
indicates scholarship of no mean order, combined
with innate talent of rare quality. Most of the
treatises have been already rendered familiar to
the English reader through the medium of trans-
lations ; but there is one novelty in the volume,
and that is a letter on " Standing for the Consul-
ship." This is a matter coming so close to the
popular movements relative to elections at the
present day, that it will be read with much interest
by all to whom election arrangements are objects
of importance. From the following extract it will
be seen that the art of making the worse appear
the better reason, and of pressing into the service
every adventitious aid to render a candidate popu-
lar, and, through that popularity, successful, was
known to, and practised and reduced to system
with a nicety and depth of study, by the ancient
Romans, from which the Coppocks and other
electioneering agents of the present day might
take a useful lesson. It may be called—

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, AND GENERAL COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER.

THE DREAM OF A BAGPIPE.—The Earl of Aberdeen,
at the late Privy Council, looked very much pressed and
flattened. It is said that, for some weeks past, the noble
Earl has suffered a nightly dream, in which he believes
himself turned to a bagpipe, with the '.Emperor of Russia,
horned and tailed, playing upon him.
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE.—"I shay—my man," hiccuped
an elevated civic dignitary of Edinburgh, as he emerged
from the head of the Fleshmarket Close, and observing the
illuminated dial of the Tron Church, addressed a sour
milk-man who had just dismounted from his cart; " I shay,
can yon tell me if that is the sun or the moon ?" " A
couldna say, sir," was the reply, "I dinna belang to this
pairt." -
MUSICAL WAITEES.—In some parts of Norway, but
very generally in Sweden, occasionally servants have to
perform a duty which would astonish the ladies whose
suburban feats in this country are helped through with
the aid of the green grocer, or by a man from the con-
fectioner's. It is expected of a waiter, not only that he
should be able to announce names in a sonorous voice, to
hand dishes rapidly, to change plates quickly, to help
wine adroitly, to be staid and respectable in his own con-
duct in the kitchen ; but that he should be a good
musician ! When the dishes have been cleared away and
the cloth has been removed, after he has been handing
about the delicacies of the season, the coffee, and in
summer the ices, he again appears, music in hand, to
perform on the piano-forte. The Norsk and Swedish
amateurs deem it beneath the dignity of the high art
music to which they aspire, to perform mere terpsichorean
tunes. Dance music is therefore delegated to waiters.—
Household Words.

PROMOTIONS IN YAM/BELA/M.—A singular exemplifi-
cation of the facilities afforded to " a rising man" in the
Transatlantic republic is the history of the newly-elected
Governor of Tenessee, as told by the Boston Courier:—
" Andrew Johnson, who has just been elected Governor of
Tenessee, is an extraordinary man. At two years of age,
Mr. Johnson was an inmate of an almshouse. On marry-
ing, just after he came of age, he emigrated to Eastern
Tenessee, trudging, bare-footed, it is said, with his faithful
helpmate by his side, and his pack on his back. Assiduous
labour at a tailor's trade placed him in ten years in com-
fortable circumstances, for his position in that region ; and
in that time, by dint of hard study during his leisure
moments, he had come to be actually a man of considerable
general information. Being a good talker on the stump,
he was sent consecutively, for a term of two years, to both
branches of the legislature. From thence he was trans-
ferred to the House of Representatives of the United
States, where he served six years, and is now governor of
Tennessee."

QUAINT TITLES Q OLD BOOKS.—We might amuse
the reader by citing a few of the quaint and alliterative
titles of some of the books of these times. Taking the
following for instance :—" A Footpath to Felicitie,"
" Guide to Godlinesse," " Swarme of Bees," " Plante of
Pleasure and Grove of Graces,"-1686. These were most
rife in the days of Cromwell. There were many bordering
closely on the ludicrous, such as the one styled, "A Pair
of Bellows to blow off the Dust cast upon John Fry ;"
and a Quaker, whose outward man the powers thought
proper to imprison, published " A Sigh of Sorrow for the
Sinners of Zion, breathed out of a hole in the Wall of an
Earthen Vessel, known among men by the name of
Samuel Fish." We might multiply the numbers ad
libitum ; but must content ouselves with adding one or
two more. "A Reaping Hook well tempered for the
stubborn Ears of the coming Crop, or Biscuits baked in
the oven of Charity, carefully conserved for the Chickens
of the Church, the Sparrows of the Spirit, and the Sweet
Swallows of Salvation?' To another we have the follow-
ing copious description :—" Seven Sobs of a Sorrowful
Soul for Sin, or the Seven Penitential Psalms of the
Princely Prophet David, whereunto also are annexed
William Humuis's handful of Honeysuckles, and divers
Godly and pithy Ditties, now newly augmented."—Salad
for the Solitary, by an Epicure.
A MODEL MAY IN RELATION TO LONGEVITY.—Let me
now be permitted to delineate the portrait of a man des-
tined to long life. He has a proper and well-proportioned
stature, without, however, being too tall. He is rather of
the middle size, and somewhat thick-set. His complexion
is not too florid: at any rate, too much ruddiness in youth
is seldom a sign of longevity. His hair approaches rather
to the fair than the black; his skin is strong but not
rough. His head is not too big; he has large veins at
the extremities, and his shoulders are rather round than
flat. His neck is not too long; his abdomen does not pro-
ject ; and his hands are large, but not too deeply cleft.
His foot is rather thick than long ! and his legs are firm
and round. He has also a broad arched chest ; a strong
voice, and the faculty of retaining his breath for a long
time without difficulty. In general, there is a complete
harmony in all his parts. His senses are good, but not
too delicate ; his pulse is slow and regular. His stomach
is excellent, his appetite good, and his digestion easy. The
joys of the table are to him of importance; they tune his
mind to serenity, and his soul partakes in the pleasure
which they communicate. He does not eat merely for the
sake of eating ; but each meal is an hour of daily festivity ;
a kind of delight attended with this advantage, in regard
to others, that it does not make him poorer, but richer.
He eats slowly, and has not too much thirst. Too great
thirst is always a sign of rapid self-consumption. In
general, he is serene, loquacious, active, susceptible of joy,
love, and hope ; but insensible to the impressions of hatred,
anger, and avarice. His passions never become too violent
or destructive. If he ever gives way to anger, he ex-
periences rather a useful glow of warmth, an artificial
and gentle fever without an overflowing of the bile. He
is fond also of employment, particularly calm meditation
and agreeable speculations, is an optimist, a friend to
nature and domestic felicity, has no thirst after honours
or riches, and banishes all thoughts of to-morrow.—Hisfe-
land's Art of Prolonging Life.
ABEENETRY AND AN IRISH PATIENT.—It was on his
first going through- the wards after a visit to Bath, that,
passing up between the rows of beds, with an immense
crowd of pupils after him—myself among the rest—the
apparition of a poor Irishman, with the scantiest shirt I
ever saw, jumping out of bed, and literally throwing him-
self on his knees at Abernethy's feet, presenteeitself.
For some moments everybody was bewildered ; but the
poor fellow, with his country's eloquence, poured out such
a torrent of thanks, prayers, and blessings, and made such
pantomimic displays of his leg, that we were not left long
in dodbt. " That's the leg, yer honnor ! Glory be to
God ! Yer honnor's the boy to do it ! May the heavens
be your bed ! Long life to your honnor ! To the divole
with the spalpeens that said your honnor would cut it
off!" &c. The man had come into the hospital about
three months before, with diseased ankle, and it had been
at once condemned to amputation. Something, however,
induced Abernethy to try what rest and constitutional
treatment would do for it, and with the happiest result.
With some difficulty the patient got into bed, and Aber-
nethy took the opportunity of giving us a clinical lecture
about diseases and their constitutional treatment. And
now commenced the fun. Every sentence Abernethy
uttered, Pat confirmed. " Thrue, yer honnor, divole a lie
in it. His honnor's the grate dochter entirely." While
at the slightest allusion to his case, off went the bed
clothes, and up went the leg, as if he were taking aim at
the ceiling with it. " That's it, by gorra! and a better
leg than the villan's that wanted to cut it off." This was
soon after I went to London, and I was struck with
Abernethy's manner. In the midst of the laughter,
stooping down to the patient, he said with much earnest-
ness, lam glad your leg is doing well; but never
kneel except to your maker."—Macilwain's Memoirs of
Abernethy.
ADVERTISING.-11 is either advertising or being ruined.
We have said it before. Many of our readers will think
this a bold and unwarranted assertion. It is neither the
one nor the other, for it is founded on the experience of
many men of business. Of many examples we quote but
one. Mr. Bennett keeps a large shop of clocks and watches
in Cheapside. His watches and clocks are among the
best in London ; they have an old-established reputation,
and they deserve it. But their reputation is not owing to
their excellency alone : it required many years of adver-
tising—years of continual and expensive advertising—to
inculcate this great fact on the obtuse, bewildered, and
deluded Londoners. Thanks to Mr. Bennett's perseve-
rence they are at :length convinced. And when a few
years ago the reputation of the firm had spread through-
out the length and breadth of the land, it struck Mr.
Bennett that now was the time to put a stop to this expen-
sive process of advertising. "In future," said that gen-
tleman, " I mean to take the full interest from my capital
instead of paying part of it to the printers." And he set
at once about it. In the year in which Mr. Bennett took
this bold resolution the firm spent a few thousand pounds
less than usual in advertisements. But the consequences
made themselves felt ; and as month followed month,
they became still more disagreeably perceptible. Mr.
Bennett understood that in London virtue is its own re-
ward, provided it keeps a trumpeter ; and as Mr. Bennett
was not an obstinate theorist, he had again recourse to
the printing press. He advertises to this very day, and to
a greater extent, if possible, than formerly. In proof
whereof we quote his advertisement in the catalogue of
the great exhibition, on which occasion he paid £9OO (say
a
nine hundred pounds sterling,) for the insertion of his
on the back of the wrapper. Of course his
watches were quite as good during the period he did not
advertise ; but the public was about to forget him. Adver-
tising is an indispensable item in the expenditure of a
London trader.—Saunterings in and about London.
How TO SUCCEED IN AUSTRALIA.—This desideratum
is amusingly taught by a practical correspondent, who
writes from Melbourne. "There is," he says, " a vast
amount of distress among the gentlemanly, no capital, no
hard-work people—people who will not go on the roads
and earn ten shillings a-day, because they have never done
it, and it's below them ' • but if a man comes here without
a capital he must work or starve ; and the work that is
wanted is hand not head work. Ido anything to pick up
a shilling—carry a box, help to dig the foundation of a
house—and what I have lately made some money at has
been duck-shooting. The way I set about it is this :—I
start off in the afternoon for one of the numerous lagoons,
situate from five to ten miles off, and take with me on my
back, besides my gun, a blanket hookpot, pannakin, tea
and sugar, bread, &c. On my road I often get stuck in a
bog or lost in the bush, but, nil desperandum, on I go,
and at length reach my destination. At sunset I take my
station in some thick reeds—perhaps up to my hips in mud
and water, and there await the evening flight of the ducks,
teal, black swans, Ste. At last, bang ! bang ! goes old Joe
Manton • and splash, splash, tumble the ducks into the
lake. Then for an hour it's load and fire, and then gather
together the dying and the dead. I now try and find out
a soft place under some friendly gum-tree, light a fire, and
make a cup of tea (when on board ship I thought I should
became a solid lump of plum-duff ;' now I really believe
I shall be converted into a huge tea-pot, for I drink tea by
the quart, not the cup), roll myself in my blanket, and off
to sleep. Up again in the morning before the sun, take
my place in the rushes, see the ducks turn out to wash
their faces, and give them a hearty salute; after which
pack up and away to Melbourne, call at the clubs and
hotels, and sell my ducks ; and if I fail there, it's ' Duck,
0, wild duck ! Widgeon or wildfowl !' in the streets ; and
ffsor teal—a good night's work
roorud man won't do this, because,
pays at 18s. a pair for
faith,
ihk::; bestnp2e.
osvo
eNf.ra laod,
oita;;; suchoteu
rh 5
psatiiirpi kind
7:
pa
in ir
En
gland, and it's so low
to sell ducks, and therefore he starves, and nobody pities
him, and he either turns shepherd in the bush, or works
his way home as a ship
.steward. For the working-man
this country is the finest in the world, and he is sure of a
fortune if he does not take to nobblers.' Drunkenness
is the very curse of the country. T
ry• s must now turn in, and
finish this another time. I have to be up at sunrise to
fish, and fishing pays 20s. a dozen, large and small; so
good night,"