The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-10-13 00:00:00

VARIETIES.

TIIE VALUE OF LADIES' TIME IN AMERICA.—Miss
Fly, of Massachusetts, has recovered 365 dollars of Mr.
Frost, for a breach of promise of marriage. He courted
Ler one year, anti the jury allowed her one dollar per day.
COI.oNIAL EPiscopAcv.—lt is now universally known,
that after a st,uggle against the combined difficulties
thrown in the way by po'iticians and dissenters for nearly
a century, the first episcopal see in the British colonies
(that of Nova. Scotia) was founded in 1787. Dividing
the period of about sixty years which has intervened into
three equal intervals, we shall find that in the first twenty
years hut one other see was founded ; in the next period,
from 1807 to 182! three new s-es were founded; and
,
since that time, i.e. in the last nineteen years, fourteen
additional coloniz.l hishopricics have been erected, the
endowment of several of which has been effected or aided
by the fund commenced in 1841 for that purpose.-ox.
ford and Cambridge Review.

DEMAND FOR ARTISTICAL OPERATIVES.—The em-
ployment of coloured decorations increases, promises In-
deed to be general, and should lead our young artisans and
of :ers to become draughtsmen and designers, and so avail-
ing themselves of the demand, improve their condition.
In the private exercise of our profession we have, at this
time, decorations going on in three or four places; and it
is a constant source of annoyance to us, almost pain, to
find that English workmen cannot be obtained for this
purpose—at least, so say the masers, who, moreover, pro-
fess themselves anxious to obtain English assistants, and
vexed at being obliged to send to Germany or France, for
what they ought to be able to find in London without diffi-
culty. At Ole little works to which we have referred, and
at eny similar undertaking now going on in England, a
visitor would fancy himself in a foreign atelier—wouE-
Niches, rolling hair, and jaunty smoking caps, distinguish-
ing the occupants:—The Builder.
DIFFICULTY OF PAINTING BREAKERS.—AS respects
the form of breakers on an even shore, there is difficulty
of no less formidable kind. There is in them an irrecon-
cilable mixture of fury and formalism. Their hollow sur-
face is marked by parallel lines, like those of a smooth
mil:-weir, and graduated by reflected and transmitted
lights of the most wonderful intricacy, its curve being at
the same time necessarily of mathematical purity and
precision ; vet at the top of this curve, when it nods over,
there is a sudden laxity and giving way, the water swings
and jumps along the ridge like a shaken chain, and the
motion runs from part to part as it does through a ser-
pent's body. Then the wind is at work on the extreme
edge; and, instead of letting it fling itself off naturally, it
supports it and drives it back, or scrapes it off and carries
it bodily away : so that the spray at the top is in a con-
tinual transition tetween forms projec,ed by their avail
weight, and forms blown and carried off with the weight
overcome; then at last, when it has come down, who
shall say what shape that may be called, which shape has
none of the great crash where it touches the beach. I
think it is that last crash which is the great taskmaster.
Nobody can do anything with it. I have seen Copley
Fielding come very close to the jerk and nod of the lifted
threatening edge, curl it very successfully, and without
any look of its having been in papers, down nearly to the
beach ; but the final fall has no thunder in it. Turner
has tried hard for it once or twice, but it will not do.
The moment is given in the " Sidon" of the " Bible Il-
lustrations," and more elaborately in a painting of
" Bamborough" ; in both these cases there is little foam
at the bottom, and the fallen breaker looks like a wall,
yet grand always; and in the latter picture very beauti-
fully assisted in expression by the tossing of a piece of
cable, which some figures are dragging ashore, and which
the breaker flings into the air as it falls. Perhaps the
most successful rendering of the forms was in the " Hero
and Leander"; but there the drawing was rendered easier
by the powerful effect of light which disguised the foam.
—Modern Painters, by a Graduate of Oxford.
STORIES OF THE SILVER MINES OF PERU.—The In-
dians have discovered that their silver mines have made
their condition rather worse than better. They determine,
therefore, to keep secret their knowledge of some rich
veins of silver not yet explored by Europeans. Traditions
of these mines have been handed down, it is supposed,
from father to son, through centuries. Even brandy,
which will open the Indian's mouth on any other subject,
fails in this case. A few years ago there lived, in the large
village of Huancavo, the brothers Don Jose and Don Pedro
Irriarte, who were among the wealthiest mine proprietors
of Peru. As they had reason to suspect the existence of
rich unexplored veins among the neighbouring hills, they
sent out a young man in their employ to examine the
country, and use the likeliest means of discovery. Ac-
cordingly, be repaired to a village, where he found lodg-
ings in the hut of an Indian shepherd, from whom he con-
cealed his object. In the course of a few months an at-
tachment had grown up between the youngadventurer and
the shepherd's daughter ; and, at last, the young man
succeeded so far in his object as to win from the girl a pro-
mise that she would point out to him the mouth of a rich
silver mine. She directed him to follow her, at some dis-
tance, on a certain day, when she should go out to tend
her flock on the hills ; and to notice where she dropped
her " manta" (s woollen shawl). There, she told him, he
would find the entrance of the mine. The young agent
obeyed her directions ; and, after some digging, found his
way into a moderately deep shaft, which led to a rich vein
of silver. He was busily engaged in breaking off some
specimens of the ore when be was surprised be the old
shepherd, who congratulated him on the discovery, and of-
fered assistance. After working together for some hours
they rested, and the Indian offered to the young man a
cup of chica, which he drank. Soon after drinking he felt
unwell, and, as a suspicion of being poisoned flashed upon
his mind, he instantly packed the specimens cf ore in his
wallet, hastened back to the village, and thence rode to
fluancayo. He had only time to explain his adventure to
his employers, and point out as well as he could, the lo-
cality of the mine, for he di: din the night. Another ex-
ploring party was immediately sent into the neighbour-
hood, but without success : the Indian and his family had
vanished from the place, and no trace of the trine could be
discovered. Another story is the following :—A certain
Franciscan monk, a passionate gambler, lived at Huan-
cayo. By his friendly offices he had become a favourite
among the Indians, to whom he often applied when in
want of money. One day, when he had suffered losses at
the hazard-table, he begged of an Indian, who was his
relative, to help him out of his poverty. The Indian pro-
mised assistance on the following evening ; and arrived
punctually at the appointed time, with a bag full of silver
ore for the monk. This process was repeated several
times, until the still needy monk earnestly prayed that he
might be favoured with a view of the source from which
his wants had been so often supplied. This request also
was granted by the friendly relative ; and, accordingly, on
the appointed night, three Indians came to the house of
the Franciscan, desired that he would allow th.am to hog_
dage his eyes, and, he assenting, carried him away on their
shoulders, some miles among the mountains. There they
lifted him down, conducted him down a shaft of little
depth, and displayed to hint a rich and shining vein of sil-
ver. When he had amply feasted his sight, and taken ore
enough for his present necessities, his eyes were again ban-
daged,
and he was carried home on the shoulders of his
guides. On the road he slily untied his rosary, and
dropped a bead here and there, that be might have a clue
to the mine. Arrived at home, be lay down to rest, in the
comfortable hope of exploring the path to wealth on the
following day ; but, in the course of about two hours, the
Indian, his relative, carne to the door, with his hand full
of beads, " Father," said he, as he gave them to the
monk, " you lost your rosary on the road !"—Dr.
Tschudi's Peru.

AN ANCIENT STRONGHOLD.—There is a very remark-
able subterranean labyrinth, which would alone se ice to
render this island (Milo) extremely interesting, from the
singularity and ingenuity of its construction, and from its
great antiquity, the extent of which it is iropcssible to de-
termine, although its existence is known historically as a
work already ancient after the Peloponnesian war, from
its connexion in a very striking manner with the fate of
Sopyrus, last king cf Milo, about that period. Even with
the assistance of a correct plan of this extraordinary laby-
rinth, it is no easy matter to give a distinct idea of its na-
ture, or of its admirable adaptation to the purpose for
which it evidently was first contrived—that of a defence
to the country. Its turnings and windings, carried down
considerably below the level of the sea, are very intricate,
and the means of concealment, as well as the precautions
taken against attack, most cunningly devised. It is indeed
a strange memento of the degradation to which the human
race may fail, since they could so prey the one upon the
other, and the weaker party were forced thus to burrow
like moles in the earth, hunted down by their own fellow
creatures. Even now that its secrets are known to all cu-
rious eyes it is hardly possible to discover the entrance to
this subterranean stronghold, so cleverly had it been ar-
ranged to deceive the eye, as merely a small natural chasm
in the rock. Having passed the outer cavern into which
this opens, a flight of steps leads down, as it would seem,
to the very depths of the earth. The darkness is of course
intense, and the air, though far from cold, has that heavy,
lifeless chill which is always produced by the tctal absence
of all those warm per fumes with which it is impregnated
when exposed to the influences of a living nature. A.
very ingenious contrivance for defence already pre-
sents itself at this point—a solid wall of stone faces those
steps, and would seem to terminate the vault altogether,
but it contains two arrow holes, through which these or
or any other deadly missile might be directed against the
persons descending the stairs, which communicate with
a concealed chamber behind, only accessible by an im-
mense circuit from the other end of the labyrinth. The
workmanship of this curious place is all the more extraor-
dinary that there is no building whatever, and the whole
intricate web, as it were, of chambers and passages, is
entirely hewn out of the rock. Taking an abrupt turn
from the direction in which the stairs would seem to lead,
a low narrow passage, which a man can enter orly on his
hands and knees, branees off suddenly, and is met at
some distance by a similar contrivance to that already
described ; it then doubles again, and after winding about
somewhat as if it were a path formed by a gigantic serpent
as it pierced its way through the earth and terminates in
a second flight of steps. From these a narrow vomitory
leads past two chambers, where a few men stationed un-
seen might do deadly execution on those attempting to
penetrate further ; and finally, after descending several
times, and twisting round almost in a circle, it opens into
a large chamber which is arranged with benches fashioned
in the wall, and a fountain in the centre. It has also a
communication with the upper world by means of a cre-
vice in the rock, the wade half of nature half of art,
slanting upwards, so that no advantage can be taken of it
from the outside even were it perceived. Beyond this
again there is a little chamber yet more secret, which was
the last refuge and ultimately the tomb of Sopyrus, the
conquered king of Milo. It is related that he and his
people had sided with the Lacedremonians, and after the
war the exasperated Athenians, determined to avenge
themselves, came down upon Milo with their armies and
speedily subdued the whole island. As soon as all hope
was over, and the doom of the unfortunate king but too
certain, be fled to these subterranean caverns, whose ex
istence was unkown to the enemy, and concealed himself
in the labyrinth. Here he lay hid, it is said, for several
weeks, the peasants supplying him with food, through the
opening which has been described in the large chamber ;
at last the men having been observed to carry provisions
to that quarter, suspicion was excited, and a minute
search having been made of the whole ground, his retreat
was discovered—still with such means of defence as this
labyrinth has been shown to possess, it was not taken
without a long resistance. The Athenians had to fight
their way inch by inch, and they finally drove Sopyrus
with a few of his followers into the very inmost cell.
Even here he made so resolute a stand, that they termi-
nated the whole business in a summary and most hor-
rible manner. They heaped up wood and straw before
the one narrow inlet, to which they set fire, and soon sti-
fled the unfortunate king, who thus died as cruel a death
as could well he conceived ; buried deep in the heart of
the earth, with the fire all around, from which there was
no escape, eating its way towards him.--Dublin Univer-
sity Magazine.
A flower, a tree, a fly. has been enough to give me a
delightful train of ideas and emotions.—Fosler.