The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-06-10 00:00:00

VARIETIES

An Trish journal says

by a farrier to a

pony that died, £1 Is

The Sm

` The following bill was

ave 288 letters advertis

Sacramento post-offi-ce, Th

a in the

are next in point of

A certain zealous old lady was once arguing strongly
for woman's right to preach, when some one attempted to
put her down by a text from St. Paul. " Ah," said she,
there is where Paul and I differ !"

" Madam." said old Roger to his boarding-house
keeper, " in primitive countries, beef is often the legal
tender ' - but, madam," said he, emphatically, thrusting
his fork into the steak, " all the law in Christendom
couldn't make this beef tender."

Mr. Elihu Ely petitioned the Legislature of California
to change his name to Hubbard C. M. Ely, recently, and
that body more than granted the prayer of the petition by
allowing him to rejoice in the following string of cogno-
mens :—Hubbard C. M. Julius Caesar Augustus Water-
lots Ely.

THE PRETENSION OF TASTE.—Taste has frequently an
imaginary existence, unconnected with the intellect. It
is merely hereditary or acquired, and descends from father
to son, with his prLjudices and estate. The manor house,
the hounds, and Somerville go together. Certain authors
are adopted into families. Bunyan has the sacredness of
a legacy ; the songs of Watts are bound up with earliest
days at mothers' knees; and Gray's " Elegy" incloses a
domestic interior of warmth and affection in every stanza.
There are hymns which have been intoned through the
noses of three generations, and will probably reach a
tenth, with all the music and endearment of their ances-
tral twang. In such cases the heart, not the understand-
ing, is the source of interest, and admiration is only a
pleasure of memory. Taste is often one of the aspects of
fashion. Folly borrows its mask, and walks out with
wisdom arm-in-arm. Like virtues of greater dignity, it
is assumed. The furniture and decorations of a room are
arranged to indicate the serious and graceful sentiments of
the occupant. Bishop Sanderson looks gravely on Pe-
trarch through his gold frame. Boccacio sparkles over a

grim treatise of Calvin, and a ruffle is smoothed in Aqui-
nas. Addison sketched a student of this order, in whose
library he found Locke " On the Understanding" with a
-paper of patches among the leaves, and all the classic au-
thors—in wood, with bright backs. To such readers, a
new book of which people talk is like a new costume which
a person of celebrity has introduced. It is the rage. Not
to be acquainted with it is to be ill dressed. The plea-
sure is not of literature, but of vanity. The pretended
taste is a polite fraud of society.—Willmott's Pleasures of
Literature.

PLEASURES OF A STEAMBOAT RACE ON THE Mts.
sount.—While lying at Jefferson City, we were overtaken
by another boat, belonging to an opposition company, and
as soon as she was discovered, the bell was rung violently
for " all on board," and the fires heaped with fuel for a
race. I am a great advocate for speedy travelling, and
like the sensation quite as much as Dr. Johnson, pro-
vided T am seated in a " post-chaise ;" but in this in-
stance there was a large drawback on my pleasure, for in-
stead of sitting behind a docile team, I was cheek-by-jowl
with a high-pressure engine, in danger of being cooked
to a bubble in hot steam, or blown as food for fishes into
the cold river. I looked anxiously to the shore, and felt
a longing desire for a stroll in the woods, which became
more intense as the black smoke gurgled out of the fun-
nel ; for though I did not study the science of " Fumo-
graphy" in Paul Dogherty's school, by which a man can
tell by the smoke from the kitchen chimney what his
neighbour has for dinner," I was sufficiently familiar with
the murky element to know that there was an explosion
in our pot if we persevered much longer. We have it on
the authority of our ancestors, " that a hen on a hot grid-
dle betrays a world of uneasiness," and I thought of the
troubles of the poor bird as I fidgeted about the deck,
with the hot rosin sticking to my shoe soles ; while to ag-
gravate the circumstances of our danger, though it was
very evident we had no chance with our opponent, the
order was still to heave on more coal and tar staves; and
as she drew quite close to our starboard quarter, the word
was passed to " try a side of fat bacon ;" but the question
of speed being perfectly decided, the passengers unani-
mously remonstrated, and compelled the captain to post-
pone the " bustin" to some more favourable opportunity.
—Kelly's Excursion to California.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-MONDAY.

(CONTINUATION FROM FIRST EDITION OF TUESDAY LAST.)

Mr. HUME nominated the select committee on the Income
and Property Tax, namely—Mr. Hume, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, Mr. Horsman, Mr. Herries, Mr. Labouchere, Lord
Harry Vane, Mr. Disraeli, Mr. T. Baring, Mr. Henley, Mr. F.
Peel, Mr. Cobden, Mr. Roebuck, Mr. Ricardo, Mr. Vesey, Mr.
Beckett, and Mr. Dennison.—A long conversation ensued, in
the course of which Mr. HERRIES remarked that Mr. Hume
and his coadjutors were evidently bent upon making the tax
permanent. He did not think the committee a suitable one,
and he declined to be a member of it.—The CHANCELLOR of
the EXCHEQUER agreed in thinking that the committee would
not gain the confidence of the house, but he would observe that
much difficulty had arisen from the refusal of many members
to serve on the committee.—Mr. FRESHFIELD moved that the
order of the day for the nomination of the committee be dis-
charged.—Lord J. RUSSELL could not vote for discharging the
committee, but there was one name to which he should object
--he meant the Chancellor of the Exchequer.—Upon a division
the amendment of Mr. Freshtield was rejected by 103 to 9-1.-
31r. HUME then expressed his willingness to leave the nomi-
nation with the Government.—Lord J. RUSSELL said he would
undertake the selection of a list, and submit the i.ames on Fri-
day.—The house then resolved itself into a committee on the
Ecclesiastical Titles Bill.—Mr. WALPOLE stated the amend-
ments upon which he intended to insist-Ist, he was desirous
to lay down more clearly the constitutional principles on which
the measure was founded; 2ndly. to make the bill sufficiently
complete to prevent the necessity of future legislation ; and
3rdly, to take care that the law when passed should not be
allowed to slumber.