The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-08-06 00:00:00

SELECTIONS.

TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION.—A poor country
girl travelled from Gee Cross, near Manchester, to Lon-
don, during the troubles in the time of Charles the First,
to seek a place as servant. Failing in this object of her
ambition, she engaged herself as, what was called, tub-
woman to a brewer—that is, she carried out the beer
from his brewhouse. Pleased with her healthy, handsome
face, the brewer raised her to the position of his servant
—then to that of his wife—finally, to that of his widow,
with a handsome dowry. She engaged Mr. Hyde, then
celebrated as a clever lawyer, to settle some puzzling
money matters for her; and, as his own money matters
happened to be, not only puzzling, but in a very hopeless
state just then, he proposed to the rich widow, and mar-
ried her. Mr. Hyde became Lord Chancellor, and Earl
of Clarendon. The only daughter of the marriage became
wife of James 11. and mother to the Princesses Mary and
Ann; and so the poor tub-woman ended her life as
Countess of Clarendon, wife to the Lord Chancellor of
England, and mother to one, and grandmother to two,
Queens of England.—Our Actresses.
THE BARD OF HOPE.—What has most interested me
of late, has been a visit from Campbell, the sweet Bard
of Hope. You must know his enchanting Gertrude, his
Exile of Erin, and other unequalled lyrics. I wish I
could share with you the satisfaction I felt in seeing him
cheerful, happy, and universally welcomed and caressed
in his dear " Queen of the North," from which be had
been so long banished, by the necessity of seeking the
bread that perisheth, elsewhere. He is one who has suf-
fered much, from neither understanding the world nor
being understood by it. He encountered every evil of
poverty, but that of being ashamed of his circumstances;
in that respect he was nobly indifferent to opinion, and
his good, gentle, patient little wife was so frugal, so sim-
ple, and so sweet-tempered, that she disarmed poverty of
half its evils. This, I fear, was not the case with the
Bard of Hope, whose morbid sensibility wars with the
kind and generous part of his character, and who began
the world under the influence of those violent discon-
tented opinions that seem to accuse heaven of injustice,
because the wealth of mind is not accompanied with those
advantages which fat contented ignorance often attains,
and very justly, because it patiently labours for them.
Poor Burns had a great deal too much of this. It is time
I should tell you the bard is now come to Scotland, after
an absence of thirteen years, to receive a legacy left him
by a grand-uncle. You cannot think how much every
one is delighted : though you did not care for Campbell,
it would charm you to see people rejoice so cordially in
his acquisition. He has visited me several times, and is
so amusing and so original ; his admiration of other peo-
ple's genius, too, is so generous. Scott, though of dif-
ferent opinions, he regards with fond and high admira-
tion :so it seems does Lord Byron. Truly great men
must have a congenial attraction for each other. The
great English moralist is only an exception that confirms
the rule. After being starved for 30 years, married to
Tetty, and afflicted with perpetual ill-health, it is more
wonderful that any benevolence remained, than that all
suavity should have been dried up with Johnson, &c.—
Mrs. Grant of Laggan.
INCENDIARISM, ITS CAUSES AND CURE.—We have
ventured elsewhere to insinuate, and here we must repeat
the statement in plain terms, that the prevalence of the
horrid crime of incendiarism is attributable, not to the
operations of the New Poor-law, nor yet to the indiffe-
rence of parliament and the government, regarded in their
collective or abstract capacities, but to the general neglect
by their natural protectors and immediate employers of
the agricultural labourers of England. The crime was
never heard of till the false prosperity induced by the war
of the French Revolution had entirely changed the nature
of rural life in this country ; and a return to a state of
peace brought about the natural results of such a change.
Indeed the New Poor-law was only one more additional to
the many wretched expedients upon which men fall back
when, by a mistaken pursuit of self-interest, they have
thrown their own affairs and those of the community into
confusion, and find themselves at a loss, or profess to be
so, for the proper means of extricating all parties from the
dilemma. Instead of passing that law, had the gentlemen
composing the cabinet and parliament of 1833 set the ex-
ample, in their individual capacities, of a wiser and more
liberal mode of dealing with the agricultural labourers,-
the people would have been spared the outlay that was
required for the erection of the union workhouses, and the
nation the disgrace which attaches to it, by reason of the
prevalence in the agricultural districts of a crime so atro-
cious as incendiarism. And we do not hesitate to add
that, even now, the only chance which we have of escape
from the difficulties by which, in the agricultural dis-
tricts, we are surrounded, hangs upon the power of the
landowners to see where their duty lies, and their readi-
ness to act up to it. If they either will not, or cannot,
cut up the large farms into small, let them, at all events,
make terms with their tenants, that every hundred acres
of arable land shall have so many workmen employed I
upon them steadily, and at fair wages. They may depend
upon it that the tenants, however they may grumble when
the bargain is fa:re:adon them, will find themselves at the
end of the year greatly gainers by it. For there is not
a wheat field in all
produce
which by proper cultivation
might not be made to gannalore than it does. There
are many which require this,
icliethllng more, to produce
double what they bring home
to
ohtne ownersani-Yard at present.
And if, over and above this, t
care that every good labourer shall of the soil take
have his own little
half-acre field in which to employ his spare hours; then,
at least, they will have done their duty yea, and they
will reap their reward. No more fires will startle the
midnight air ,• no more ticket-men will go round from
house to house seeking work, which is
them. In few words,—the real cause of the incendiary
fires is the- want of employment by the labouring classes.
It is in the power of the aristocracy to afford this employ-
ment, if they be willing. And woe be to
them, and
doubly woe to our beloved country, if they, through ()L.
stinacy, or want of consideration, persist in refusing it .
Fraser's Magazine.

LET THE COBBLER STICK TO HIS LAST.—An amusing
instance of this acted proverb occurs in the life of Lord
Chancellor Eldon, as related by himself to his niece

" During the period 9f one of the riots in London (June,
1780), when I was a lawyer, I had to take Bessy to the
Temple for safety. I never suffered more in my life than
as we went along, for we were exposed to all sorts of in-
sults. They tore off my wife's hat, the handkerchief from
her breast, and, when we arrived at the Temple, every
article of her dress was torn. We youngsters at the
Temple determined that we would not remain inactive
during such times; so we embodied ourselves into a troop
to assist the military. We armed ourselves as well as we
could, and the next morning we drew up in the court,
ready to follow out a troop of soldiers who were then on
guard. When, however, the soldiers had passed through
the gate, it was suddenly shut in our faces, and instantly
locked ; and the officer in command shouted from the
other side, ' Gentlemen, I am much obliged to you for
your intended assistance; but I do not choose to allow
my soldiers to be shot, so I have ordered you to be locked
in,' and away be galloped. We looked very foolish."

AN AMERICAN'S FIRST EXHIBITION IN A QUA-
DRILLE.—Jest then, cousin Beebe called out my name
from t'other side the room. I wish you could a seen how
they all stared ; it warn't more than ten minits arter that,
afore eenamost every one in there was at cousin Beebe tu
be introduced to me—the fellers with the brustles and all.
The purtyest gals in the room kept a flocking round me
as if they'd never seen a man that wrote for the newspa-
pers afore. Talk about soft sodder !—there's nobody on
arth can put it into a chap so smooth as a harnsome gal.
Somehow they melt it with their smiles, till it sinks through
his heart afore he knows it. I was talking with a rare
peeler of a gal, with two of the brightest black eyes that I
ever see, when somebody struck up a tune on the pianno-
forty, and two or three couple got onto the floor as if they
wanted tu dance. "Do you dance quadrills, Mr. Slick ?"
sez the black-eyed gal, as if she wanted me tu ask her to
dance. Wal, I don't know," sez I, " I never tried
them kind of things ; but I ruthur guess I can, if you'll
show me how." With that, I took the tip eend of her
white glove between the fingers of my yaller one, and went
with her into the middle of the room. I didn't know what
they were going tu dance, but I warn't much afeard, any-
how—for there warn't a chap in all Weathersfield could
beat me a double shuffle, or could cut so neat a pigeon-
wing without music as I could. Wal, the music begun,
and one of the fellers that had the hair on his lip begun tu
slide about with his eyes half shet and his hands a hanging
down, and looking as doleful as if he'd jest come away
from a funeral. Did you ever see a duck swim a mill-
dam, or a hen turning up its eyes when it's a drinking ?
If you have, you can git some idee how the lazy coot
danced. I thought I should go off the handle tu see him,
but the gals all stuck out their little feet, and poked about
jest in the same way. Think, sez I, when it comes to
my turn, I'll give you a little specimen of ginuine dancing.
I only wish I'd thought tu put a little loose change in my
pocket tu jingle, if it was only just tu show how well I
keep step. A young lady, with her hair twisted all up
with little white flowers, balanced up to me, jest as you've
seen a bird walk, and then it come my turn. I took two
steps for'ard, and then I cut a peeler of a pigeon-wing,
and ended off with a little touch of the double shuffle,
but my trousers was so plaeuy tight that I couldn't make
my legs rather limber, all I could do ; besides, the music
warn't much more like a dancing tune than Greenbank or
Old Hundred. At last I went up to the gal that was
playing, and sez I---" Look a here—just give us something
lively—Yankee Doodle, or Money Muss, or the Irish
Washerwoman, or Paddy Carey. I aint a going to twist
and pucker round in this way !" 'With that the young
fellers with the hair lips begun to push their cambric
handkerchiefs into their mouths, and the young gals
puckered up their mouths as if I'd done something to poke
fun at. But instid of sneaking off, and letting the stuck-
up varmints think they'd scared me so that I darsnit
dance, sez I tu myself, " I guess I'll let 'em see that I
warn't brought up in the woods tu be scared at by owls,
any how ;" so I jest turned tu the black-eyed gal that was
my partner, and sez I, " Corn now, Miss, let us show 'em
how it's done," and with that I begun to put it down
right and left like a streak of lightning. It warn't more
than two minits afore I heard the gals a talking tu each
other, and a saying, " How odd—how strange—quite the
eccentricity of genius—these literary lions never do any-
thing as other people do !—I don't wonder Miss Beebe's
proud of him !" The young fellers jined in, and stopped
larfin as quick as could be, the minit they begun to see
how the wind was a blowing up in my quarter ; and when
I finished off and led the black-eyed gal to one of the
footstools, there was no eend tu the soft sodder they all
put on to me. Sez I to myself, nothing like keeping a
stiff upper lip with these stuck-up fashionables, for arter
all they aint more than half sartin what's genteel and what
aint.—Jonathan Slick.

THE RUSSIAN GREEK CLERGY.-It must be confessed
;t
oy yet
have the
no co nitneflmnpe tu
influence
thatn p attachesnn
the
offices itself
that the station of the secular clergy, or popes, in Russia,
its() notthe
menrespectablem
see s
which they perform. This apparent contradiction. has a
twofold cause. Their reverence for clerical caltsasiaptity arises
n matter
mtear
from the childish religious notions
Their idea of religion reduces it to a very simpleusia people.
of attention to outward ceremonies, and with internal
thoughts they do not trouble themselves. This mode of
viewing the matter is truly characteristic of the people,
and forms the bond of unity throughout the whole line
of Russian Church history. Most of the contentions of
the Russian Church have been about fasts, the formali-
ties of crossing, the consecration of churches, and the
signs of clerical honours. With the tiresome and most
fruitless disputes of the west about points of abstract
divinity, the Russian Church has little to do. The posi-
tive ordinances of the church are so purely and entirely
regarded as positive dogmas that they are in no danger of
falling into controversy with any system of philosophy or
natural religion. Thus we find the Greek Church in
Russia, from the oldest times, remaining at the same
point of developement. The greatest strictures in the
observance of forms procures the greatest religious justi-
fication and satisfaction. The priest, as a necessary in-
strument for their performance, maintains his official
dignity. To the preservation of uniformity the law con-
tributes, which forbids all original preaching among the
clergy, lest in their comments on scripture they should
get astray into subtleties and contradictions. By this rule
the people are accustomed to regard their priest, entirely
neglecting his personal character, as an authorised instru-
ment under the control of a supreme power. As a man,
the pope is subject to the judgement of the peasant; but
when arrayed in his official dress, he rises far above all
private opinions. If the clergy of the present. day in
Russia stand low, for personal qualities, in public estima-
tion, the past is to be blamed for it as well as the present;
for the mental requirements made of the clergy have
always been so low that they cannot be accounted edu-
cated men. When a foreigner wishes to learn the Rus-
sian language, he is advised to find his quarters with a
pope, where be will be sure to hear nothing else. And if
the idle mode of life the terror
secular priest leads him
to sensual pleasures, the error lies in his situation,
which excludes him from all mental interest and activity,
It must be considered, too the sucular priest in country
places is generally dependent upon the rude peasantry,
and must accommodate himself to their modes of living,
if he would be comfortable among them. When divine
service is over, the peasant goes to the Kabak, and soon
drinks himself under the table : and if his priest is not
willing to do the same, he is reckoned proud and unsocia-
ble, and must be content with the meanest pay for his
services. In this abandonment of all independent in-
quiry and conviction, there is no ground for the develope-
ment of any manly and virtuous character. The perso-
nal character of the clergy is the natural consequence of
his dependence upon traditional authority, which deprives
him of every disposition to cultivate a will or a way of
his own. * * * * As the wives of the popes are
unequally uneducated, there is no hope of a better pro-
geny in these conditions. Only in a few convents are
exceptions to be found to this character of the Russian
Greek clergy. From its exclusive regard to the external
ceremonies of religion, we may partly explain the tolera-
tion of the church with respect to varieties of opinion
What other sect can boast that, like the Russians at
Topperdorfe, near Moscow, they provide Christian burial
for unknown strangers and celebrate masses for the souls
of men whose names, origin, and creeds they know no-
thing
of? No people manifest more reverence for conse-
cratedotrheair heads
ehurch
er places than the Russians. Whenever they see a
church -asnpdi r ec
r,
nns es a
trh oe
mr distant,selyes. theyT e dimen-
sions
s op t
o
uncov
of the crosses they make vary with their stations,
decreasing
gentlemenin proportion to
their tiny
respectability ; and I
have seent7i,n, v
ecrosses
Russia,
the
cover of arranging their cravats. _