The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1832-12-07 00:00:00

"riA',ll.77iZw" 7' 77"

A LE.TTEP. UP Da. BURNEY, in his memoirs just .published
by his daughter, Madame d'Arblay, wiitten from Dover,-rout
tains the following:—" On Friday, I visited with them Lady
Grey, wife of the Commander-in-Chief, sit -the Barham Down
Camp. I like Lady Grey extremely, notwithstanding is
mother of the vehement 13arliamentary democrat, Mr. Grey,
who is as pleasing, they pretend, as he is violent, which makes
him doubly dangerous. She is, indeed, a charming woman,
and by every body honoured and admired; and as she is aunt
to oar ardent friend Spotty, the Dean of Winchester's daughter;
I was sure to be much flattered and feted by all her fancily,
Sir Charles's mother, old Mrs. Grey, now eighty-five, is a grc•at
and scientific reader and stuffier ; and is even 'yet in corm,-
spondenee with Sir Charles Blagden; who communicates to
her all the new philosophical niscoveries made throughout
Europe. What a distinguished race ! The democrat himself
—but for his democracy—strikingly at their head.! Mrs. Grey
took to me mightily, and would hardly let• me speak to ati'v.
body else. Saturday we visited Mr. and Lady MaryChntehili;
oar close neighbours here, and Acquaintance of ainue. ci
fifty years' standing or more. Next day, after church, I went
with Miss Crewe and Canning—l serving for chaperon—to
visit the Shakspeare :Cliff, which is a mile and mote beynnil
the town; and a most fatiguing clamber to it I found ! We
took differentroads, -pis our eye pointed out the easiest .paths;.
and, in so doing, on my being all at once missed, Canailigauct
Miss Crewe were so frightened 'you can't .think !' as alis
Larolles would say. They concluded I had tumbled headlong
down the cliff! It has furnished a story to every-one we liave
seen ever since; and that arch clever reg Ale, Canning, makes
ample use of it, at Walmer Castle and elsewhere. 9-s.the;
any news ?', if, he be asked, his ready answer is, 'only Dr.
Burney is lost again!' "
HAPPINESS.-It is a happy world after all.—The air, the
earth, the water, teem with delighted existence. Ina sprint,:
noon, or a summer evening, on whichever side 1 turn my eves.
i myriads of happy beings crowd upon my view. "The n;geei
youth are on the winF." Swarms, of new-born flies arc trying
their pinions in the att. Their sportive -motions, ivatiton
mazes, their gratuitous activity, their continual change ofplace
without use' or purpose, testify their .joy, end the exultation_
which they' feel in their latoly-cliseovoted faculties. A bee
amongst the flowers in spring, 'is one of the most cheerful ob-
jects that can be looked upon. Its life appearslo be all enjoy-
ment ; so busy and so pleased; yet it is only. a. 41acinien_ofiasecL
life, with which, by reason of the animal being halt' domesti-
cated, we happen to be much better acquainted than we ate
with that of many others. Other species are running about,
with an alacrity in their motions, which carries with it every
mark of pleasure. Large 'patches-of .grainid are ecanetiraei
half covered with these brisk and sprightty natures. If we look
to what the waters produce, shoals of the 'fry of tish-frequentthe
margins 'of rivers, of lakes, and of the sea itself. These are
so happy, that they know not whatto -do with themselves.
Their attitudes, their vivacity, their leaps • out of the water,
their frolics in it (which I have noticed a thousand times with
equal attention and amusement), all conduce to show their•ex-
cessof_spirits, and are
.simply the effects of that excess. Walk-
ing by the, sea-side, in a catm evening, upon a sandy shore„ana
with an ebbing tide, I have frequently remarked the appearanc.,
of a; dark 'cloud, or rather, very thick mist, hanging over the
edge of the water, to the height, perhaps, of half a yard, and of
the breadth. of two or three yards, stretching along the coast as
far as the eye, could reach, and always returning with the
water. When this cloud came to 'be examined, it proved to be
nothing else than so much space, filled With young shrimps, in
the act of bounding into the air-front the shallow margin of the
water, or from the wet sand. If any motion of -a mate animal
could expess delight it was this: if they had meant to make
signs •of their happiness they could not have done it more inte;-
ligiUly.
Suppose then, what I have no dotibt of, each indivi-
dual of this number to be in a state of positiVe enjoyment;
what a sum, collectively, of gratification and -pleasure. have we
here before our .view.—Patel.

THE EAGLE'S AERIE.—On reaching the bottom of the rock,
in whose face the aerie stands, we discovered that the old birds
were absent, and as the nest was formed in a deep fissure, we
could not ascertain its situation exactly. But that the eagles:'
dwelling was above us was evident enough: the base of the cliff
was strewn with bones and feathers, and the accumulation of
both was extraordinary. The bones of rabbits, hares, and
domestic fowls, were most numerous, but those of smaller
game, and various sorts of fish, were visible among the heap.
Many attempts are annually made to destroy this predatory
family. It is impossible to rob the nest. Situated two hundred
feet above tho haco of the rock, it is of mitac unappraachable
from below, and as the cliffs beetle over it frightfully; to assail
it from above would be a hazardous essay. An enterprising
peasant some years since, was let down by a rope and basket,—
but he was fiercely attacked by the old birds, and the basket
nearly overturned: Fortunately the cord was strong, and had
sufficient length to allow his being lowered rapidly, or he would
have undoubtedly sustained some bodily injury from the wings
and talons of those enraged and savage birds. The Rillowiug
interesting anecdote is well authenticated. " Two eagleson
the wildest part of a neighbouring county, had for some time
depredated on the neighbourhood, and bore away lambs, kids,
&c. for the sustenance of their young. Some peasants deter-
mined, if possible, to obtain the young birds, and ascended the
mountains, but found that the nest was in a part of the perpen-
dicular rock, near one hundred feet below the summit, and
about three hundred above the sea, which, with terrific appear-
ances, dashed against its base. They had provided themselves
with ropes, and a lad, armed with a cimeter, was by this means
lowered by the rest. He arrived in safety at the nest, where,
as he expected, he was attacked with infinite fury by one
of the old eagles, at which he made a stoke with•his sword, that
nearly cut asunder the rope by which he was suspended. For-
tunately one strand of it remained. He described his state to
his comrades, waiting in horrible expectation that the division
of the_cord would precipitate him to the bottom ; but though
he might have been to die by a rope, it was not in this manner;
he was cautiously and safely hauled up, when it was found that
his hair, which a quarter of an hour before had been of a dark
auburn, had in that short period become perfectly white !" The
village of Dugurth suffers heavily from its unfortunate proximity
to the aerie. When the wind blows from a favourable point, the
eagle in the grey of the morning sweeps through the cabins,
and never fails carrying off sonic prey. To black-fowls eagles
appear particularly attached, and the villagers avoid as much
as possible rearing-birds of that colour. A few days before, as one
of the coast-guard, alarmed by the cries of a boy, rushed from
the watch-house; the eagle had taken up a hen, and, as he
passed within a few yards, the man flung his cap at him. The
eagle dropped the bird, it was quite dead, however, the talons
having shattered the back bone. They villagers say (with what
truth I know not) that turkeys are never taken.—Wild Sports
of the West of Ireland.
CULTIVATION OF THE VINE TN IRE L NM—Those wbo have wit-
nessed the severe exertions of the peasantry in the South of Ire-
land to improve their grounds will be sensible of the value of in-
troducing among them the cultivation of plants which might give
them much higher returns than they now receive—such for
instance at the vine. Vineyards have given a gross. return of
many thousands pounds per acre, when high flavoured wine was
produced. Without being so sanguine as to expect to raise wine
immediately, the sale of fruit alone might produce man times
the amount of the ordinary crops in the mountains of Cork or
Kerry, and that on grounds steep and strong as to be scarcely
fit for corn or potatoes, especially where the vicinity of water
carriage offers a cheap conveyance to market. The gentlemen
should introduce the cultivation of the vine. Grapes have
ripened in the open air with Mr. Kenny, and afterwards with
Mr. Tuckey at Bantry. They were of various kinds, and
were trained on a blackened wall in the open air; also with the
late Mrs. Taylor, in the front of her house to the east of Bant-
ry; with Mr. Hutchins, at Ardnagashall; on the terrace, at
the bishop's palace at Waterford; on the rocks at Mucruss, as
I was informed many years ago. -In-the King's garden at
Hampton Court, the black Hamburg -vine bore fruit many
years without any assistance from fuel. In one year it pro-
cluced half a ton of grapes. The same kind of vine produced
coloured grapes in the College Botanic Garden; Balrs-bridge,
this year. A gentleman near Portsmouth made a hogshead
of wine of his own , grapes latelv:—That grapes can heripened
in the South of England and' Ireland need not be questioned ;
the only point to he determined isi. whether their ripening can
be made so certain as to' yield a safe profit to industry. The
papers mention that a single vine produced this year at 'Ken-
dal two thousand and seventy bunches of grapes. Grapes
often ripen in the neighbourhood of Dublin, on the walls in
the open air; but that part of Ireland that I would select for
the cultivation of grapes is the south of the line running
through Waterford, Clonmel, and Tralee. The best situations
are sheltered recesses, opening to the south east. The fittest
varieties for Ireland are the Black Hamburg, the Sweet Water,
and the Miller grape : these, Mr. M`Kay, Curator of the Col-
lege Botanic Garden, thinks can be best depended upon. We
may add to these, by the recommendation of the gentlemen in
the employment of the Horticulturl SoCiety at Chiswick, the
Cambridge Botanic Garden grape, the Black Lombardy, and
the White Muscadine might also be tried. As ,Paris- is near
the northern boundary of the grape country, the varieties
prized there deserve attention, such as the Madeline, also the
Chaselin and Charpensier. The difference of the climate in
the north and south of Ireland is much greater than is general-
ly supposed —Dublin Penny Journal.
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