The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-08-20 00:00:00

SELECTIONS.

CHINESE GEOGRAPHY.—Formerly the Chinese, in
their maps of the earth, set down celestial
r empire
d in
the middle of a large square, and dotted it the
other kingdoms of the world, supposed to be soeuvnent
in number, assigning to the latter ridiculous or contempt
tuous names. One of these, for example, was Siao-gin-
que,. or the Kingdom of Dwarfs, whose inhabitants they
imagined to be so small as to be under the necessity of
tying themselves together in bunches, to prevent their
being carried away by the kites.—Chinese Olio.
THE MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
ln entering this most celebrated of the Turkish mosques,
the tout ensemble of the interior is somewhat less impo:
shwthan the exterior induces us to believe, and this is
"ing' in the greatest measure to the disproportionate
shallowness of the dome, the diameter of which is 115
while its , height does not exceed 20 feet. There are in
a vast the interior number of columns, of which eight, of
porphyry, are
A from
Aurelian,
temple dedicated to the sun by
the Emperor and the same number of green
marble from the temple of Ephesus, as well as many
others, the spoils of various heathen temples. The floor
of this mosque is covered with beautiful carpets, and the
ornaments throughout are of gsrmeaallrircahness.
quarters of the mosque are In different
pulpits, where
dervishes or learned doctors sit expla.inisiedghethmesco,KBuraenb,eainndg
each has his own particular audience
without pews or seats of any kind, seems vast, that
although it is really inferior in size to St. Peter's, or St.
Paul's, in the visitor's eye it surpasses both. The yerd:
galleries, colonnades, stairs, and
antique columns, the
interior, are all of marble, the beauty of which exceeds
all description. The roof is of a cemented mosaic, which
as it decays is sold for relics.—Polytechnic Review .

ACHIEVEMENTS OF YOUNG MEN.—Don John, of
Austria, won Lepanto at twenty-five,—the greatest battle
of modern time : had it not been for the jealousy of Phi-
lip, the next year he would have been Emperor of Mauri-
tania. Gaston de Foix was only twenty-two when he
stood a victor on the plain of Ravenna. Every one re-
members Conde, and Rocroy at the same age. Gustavus
Adolphus died at thirty-eight. Look at his captains:
that wonderful Duke of Weimar, only thirty-six when he
died. Banier himself, after all his miracles, died at forty-
five. Cortes was little more than thirty when he gazed
upon the golden cupolas of Mexico. When Maurice of
Saxony died at thirty-two, all Europe acknowledged the
loss of the greatest captain and profoundest statesman of
the age. Then there is Nelson, Clive—but these are
warriors, and perhaps you may think there are greater
things than war. Ido not ; I worship the Lord of hosts.
But take the most illustrious achievements of civil pru-
dence. Innocent 111. the greatest cf the popes, was
the despot of Christendom at thirty-seven ; John
de Medici was a cardinal at fifteen, and Guicciardini tells
us, baffled with his state-craft Ferdinand of Arragon him-
self. He was Pope, as Leo X. at thirty-seen; Luther
robbed even him of his richest province at thirty-five.
Take Ignatius Loyola and John Wesley, they worked
with young brains. Ignatius was only thirty when he
made his pilgrimage, and wrote the " Spiritual Exercises."
Pascal wrote a great work at sixteen, the greatest of
Frenchmen, and died at thirty-seven ! Ah! that fatal
thirty-seven, which reminds me of Byron, greater even as
a man than a writer. Was it experience that guided the
pencil of Raphael when he painted the palaces of Rome ?
He died, too, at thirty-seven. Richelieu was secretary
of state at thirty-one. Well, then, there are Bolingbroke
and Pitt, both ministers before other men leave off
cricket. Grotius was in great practice at seventeen, and
attorney-general at twenty-four. And Acquaviva
Acquaviva was general of the Jesuits, ruled every cabinet
in Europe, and colonised America before he was thirty-
seven. But it is needless to multiply instances. The
history of heroes is the history of youth.—Coningaby.