The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-12-24 00:00:00

SELECTIONS.

THE QUADRILLE-FOR NAUTICAL MEN.

The following excellent directions to nautical dancers,
which originally appeared in the Bombay aurier, may
be useful to a portion of our readers at this festive season.
Le Pautalon.—Haul upon the starboard tack, let the
other craft pass, then bear up, and get your head on the
other tack, regain your berth on the larboard tack, ba
and fill with your partner, box-haul her, wearround twice
against the sun, in company with the opposite craft and
your own, afterwards box-haul her again and bring up.
L'Ete.7--Shoot a-head about two fathoms till you nearly
come st-rn on to the other craft under weio, then make
a stern hoard to your berth. side out for a bend, first to
starboard and then to-port, make sail and pass the other
craft, get your head round ott the other tack, another side
to starboard, and port, make sail to regain your berth,
wear round, back and till and box-haul your partner.
La Poule.—Heave a-head and pass your adversary,
yard-arm and yard-arm, re_ain your berth cn the other
tack in the same order, take your station in the line, wits
your partner, back and fill, fall on your heel; and bring
up with your partner; she then manoeuvres a-head, heaves
all a-back ; shoots a-head again, and pays off alongside ;
you then make sail in con:pai:y with her, till nearly stern
with the other line, make a stern-board, and cast her off
to shift for herself, regain your berth by the best means in
your power and lee go your anchor.
Le Trenive.—Wear round as before against the sun
twice, box-haul the lady, range up alongside her and make
sail in cotnpany, when half-way across to the other shore
drop stern with the tide, shoot and east off the tow; now
back and fill as before, and box-haul her and yourself into
your berth and bring up.
La Pastorale.—Shoot a-head alongside your partner
make a stern board, make all sail over the other coast, let
go the hawser and pay off into your birth and take a turn
the three crifts opposite range up a- bretr-t towards vou
twice and hack stern again ; now manoeuvre any rig you
like, only under easy sail, as it is always light wind (ze-
phyrs as they call it) in this passage; ar soon as you see
their helms down, haul round in company with them on
the larboard tack, and make all sail with your partnerinto
your own berth and bring up.
La Finale.—Wear round to starboard passing ander
your partner's stern-sight, the eatheads of the craft on
your starboard bow, then make sail into your berth, your
partner passing athwart your bows ; now proceed accord-
ing to the second order of sailing; to complete the evolu-
tions shoot a-head and hack astern twice in company with
the whole squadron in circular order of sailing.

THE MAN WITH A GRIEVANCE.—Some Dalian rhyme
compares life to a wheel, which always goes round silently
when it goes well. It is so with a wife. The men who
live happily with their wives, and love them as they
ought to do, never mention their names : never, at all
events, if they do say a word or two, make them the he-
roes of a long story. Ergo, when a man begins to talk
about his wife, she beeins to be his grievance. Should
such be his theme, then, when he meets you in the open
unbarticaded streets of London, should the man with a
grievance only start the most distant suspicion of his de-
sign to allude to his wife—sham a spasm ; invent an ap-
pointment at Buckingham palace ; vow that it is pouring
with rain and hear no hing to the contrary; remember
that your grandfather, who died in 1807, was suddenly
taken alarmingly ill ;—but he off ! Go, no matter which
way ; fly, al you would from the edge of a jungle where
you espied the eves of a famished tigress glaring through
the greet and yellow duskiness. But that is a poor, tame
image. Stand not then upon the order of your going,
but go at once, as if Lady Maeheth were holding the two
daggers at your throat ! If that wculd not move you,
you deserve to hear the whole story of a man with a griev-
ance, when his soul aches to impress you with the inex-
pressible wickedness of his wife. Yet humanity, though
deeply sinful, can rarely deserve this extreme misery.—
Ainsworth's Magazine.
THE SURPLICE QUESTION.—I cannot dismiss this
article without giving you another remarkable instance
that falls within the subject of the present cation, and is
also of peculiar consideration to us of this diocese, in
which alone it is to be met with. It is the constant use
of the surplice by all preachers in the pulpit. And it is
said to have taken rite from an opinion of Bishop Cosine,
that as surplices were to be worn at all limes of the mi-
nistration, and preaching was properly the ministration
of the word of God, therefore surplices were to be worn
in the pulpit as well as in the desk or on other occasions
of the ministry. Yet, with every respect tor the opinion
of so great a ritualist as Bishop Cosies, it is manifest
there is nothing in our rubrics that doth directly autho-
rize this usage, or in our canons that doth countenance
it. Nay, there is something in both which vould discou-
rage, if not forbid, such a practice. The canons limit
the use nf the surplice to the public prayers and minis-
tering the sacrament and other rites of the Church; so
doth our rubric concerning habits, if it be strictly inter-
preted, of King Edward's order in the second year of his
reign ; for there the Surplice is only to be used at matins,
evensong, in boplizing, and buoying in parish churches;
and then there immediately folloes this permission—that
in all other places every minister shall be at liberty to
use any surplice or not; and also a recommendation to
such as are graduates, that when they preach they should
use such hoods as pertained to their several degrees.
Here, then, is sufflci-nt warrant for using a hood without
a surplice, as is done to this day at the Universities, but
no appearance of authority for the use of surplices in the
pulpit. All, then, that I would observe upon the custom
of preaching in surplices is, that none of us are obliged
to it, though at the same time I intend no censure of the
practice.—Archdeacon Sharpe in 1840.
CURIOUS COMBAT.—The following curious account of
a combat between a monkey and a cobra da capella, was
related to me by an old friend in Be gal, who heard it
from a gentleman who had witnessed the fact at Patna,
some thirty years ago. The monkey inhabited a large
buy r (Indite.) or banyan tree (fleas indicd,) and was pre-
paring to ascend it, when he perceived, near the root, a
large cobra. On every attempt to approach the trunk,
the snake reared its crest to at'ack him, and, as the mon-
key moved to the other side, the snake in like manner
shifted his ground, so as always to intercept his advance
to the tree. The monkey on this quickened its move-
ments, danced front side to side, and occasionally rushing
directly at the snake, as if about to seize it, kept it in a
state of continual action and alarm for nearly two hours.
At length the cobra, apparently tired out, lay stretched
on the ground. The monkey now walked leisurely
before it, watching its motions all the while with
the utmost vigilance, and gradually lessening the
distance between them, till he arrived within reach
by a single bound, when, springing on his enemy, before
he had time to rear his head, grasped him firmly by the
neck. The snake instantly enveloped him in its folds,
but the monkey, retain'ng his hold, seized a brick-bat
(part of the ruins of an old pagoda at the foot of the tree),
and cooly set himself to work to rub against it the head of
the snake. This operation was continued with the most
determined perseverence, till he had utterly destroyed all
vestige of the head, reducing it to a confused mass, when,
disengaging himself from the now inert folds, he threw it
from him, and sprang up to his wonted roost in the tree.
After this, it can scarcely be questioned, that the monkey
was not perfecly aware of the dangerous character of the
snake, and also knew well the seat of the formidable
power which his enemy possessed, and could in an instant
put forth for his destruction. It also appears to prove
that the larger animals, unlike the smaller ones, and
small birds, are incapable of tieing acted upon by the
power of fascination.—Meoical Times.

WINE AS A MEDICAL AGENT.—III his third bock,
Hippocrat s, the Father of Medicine, gives a description
of the general qualities and strength of the Greek wines,
and the peculiar medical virtues which they posst:ssed.
He likewise points out in what diseases, and in what
quantities, they are to be used, so as to render them salu-
tary and innoxious. It is remarkable—and we beg to
direct the attention of Father Mathew (whom we are
sorry to find what his disci' lcs call "up the spout.") to
the tact by the way, that Hippocrates rarely directs water
alone, but almost invariably orders its exhibition with
wine, or combined with honey and vinegar. Water was
no doubt the basis of all his cooling drinks; but there
was always added to it a moderate proportion of the weak
white wines, to render it more effectually diluting. To
the infirm and valetudinarian, wine is a necessary com-
fort beyond all price. When a patient- has been long
habituated to the use of it, a change in diet cannot be suf-
fered without danger.—There is a remarkable instance of
this aff.irded in the case of the celebrated physician Cor-
naro, who always revived after vintage, when he left off
the old and decaying wines of the last vintage, and com-
menced drinking the new. The passage is in the account
which he gives of the rules by which he repaired his con-
stitution, injured as it was by excesses, till the period
when he was forty years old. By the regime he pre-
scribed to himself, it is well known he preserved his
health and spirits to the age of 100. The efficacy of his
system depended on his taking a certain quantity of
solids and fluids every day. The fluid consisted entirely
of wine, but he gradually diminished the quantity of each
as he advanced in years. Eluting this period he enjoyed
an equal state of health, except that sometimes, before
the vintage returned and the new wine was made, he
quickly became so weak and languid that his physician
declared he could not possibly continue to survive many
days in that declining state. " But on the return of the
vintage," says he, "arid on taking the same quantity of
new wine, I very quickly recovered my usual strength
and spirits." The same effect is observed, to compare
vainavinalmsta,eoldfs with men, among the mules in Jamaica. When
new,:tlim
sugar-canesirenost are being gathered in, the most ex-
h ._fedr ornazterhe. fresh sugar-canes, gain a re-