The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-05-21 00:00:00

It is a .remarkable coincidence that Wordsworth died
not only on Shakspeare's birthday, but also on the day of
his death, Shakspeare having died on his fifty-third birth-
day, 1616.
ENGLAND'S GOOD NAME.—Our late proceedings in
Greece have induced foreign nations to make a little alters
ation in our national nickname, by adding a letter to it.
Instead of calling. us John Bull, they now everywhere
style us John Bully.—Punch.
" OVER HOURS' versus WANT OF WORAL—Suppose
that in the erecting of a new church (or any other public
building) there are employed, in the whole of the branches,
100 men ; if these hundred men work only one hour per
day each " over time," they do the work which would
employ ten more men—who, being prevented by this
system from obtaining employment, are compelled to
apply for parish relief or tramp about the country. Now
than, if we take into account all the building and public
works which go on in this country where " over hours"
are made, what a great number of these tens of men shall
we have who are receiving parish relief, or who are travel-
ling in a looe.and disorderly way about the country in-
stead of having their share of labour, and the remunera-
tion which would follow that labour. Those employed,
too, are of course sooner discharged. As for the master,
he pays the workman as much for the eleventh hour as he
does for any other hour of the day ; but it is impossible -
for any man who works at a laborious trade to do as much
work in the eleventh hour as he can in any one of the
others. Therefore I think it is quite clear that " over
hours" are no benefit to the masters. My intention' in
writing to you isle direct attention to the injustice and
the evil effects of this system, and to call upon masters to
get rid of it for ever in this country, by simply giving it
up.—The Budder.
DE QUINCEY.—Thomas De Quinces, is the son of a
• Liverpool merchant. While studying at Oxford he fled
to London. There he underwent a series of surprising
adventures and severe sufferings, which he has recounted
in the first part of his Opium Confessions. On the occa-
sion, while on the point of death by starvation, his life
' was saved by the intervention of a poor street-stroller,
Of whom he afterwards lost sight, but whom, in the strong
gratitude of his heart, he would pursue into the central
darkness of a London brothel, or into the deeper dark-
ness of the grave. Part of the 'same dare period of his
life was spent in Wales, where he subsisted now on the
hospitality of the country people, and now, poor fellow,
on hips and haWs. He was at last found out by some'of
his friends,,and remanded to Oxford. There he formed
an acquaintance with Christopher North, which has con-
tinued unimpaired to this hour. Both, besides the band
of kindred genius, had that of profound admiration,then
a rare 'feeling, for the poetry of Wordsworth. n the
course of this part of his life he visited Ireland, and was
introduced,' soon afterwards to opium, fatal friend,—
treacherous ally, root of thit tree called wormwood, which
has overshadowed all his after life. A blank here occurs
in his history. We find him next in a small white elt-
tage in Cumberland, married, studying Kant, drinking
laudanum, and dreaming the most wild and wonderous
dreams which ever crossed the brain of mortal. These
dreams he recorded in the London Magazine, then a
powerful periodical, conducted by John Scott, and sup-
ported by such' men a* Hazlitt, Reynolds, and Allen
Cunningham. The 'Confessions, when published sepa-
rately, ran like wildfire, although, from their anonymops
form, they added nothing at the time to the author's fame.
Not long after their publication Mr. De QUincey came
down 'to Scotland, where he has continued, to reside,
wandering from place to place, contributing to periodic ls
of all sorts and sizes—to Blackwood, Tait, North
British Review, Hope's Weekly Instructor. as well as
writing for the Encyclopmdia Britannica, and publishing
one or two independent works, such as Klosterheim, a
tale, and the Logic of Political Economy. His wife has
been ldng dead. Three of his daughters, amiable and
excellent persons, live in the sweet village of Lasswade,
in the neighbourhood of Ed'inbnrgh, and there he is, we
believe, at present, himself.—Atlas.
WONDERS OF THE WATER SPIDER'S DIVING BELL.—
Who has not seen, or is it not curious to behold, that lion
of the Polytechnic, the diving bell? Now those who, for
lack of opportunity, are among the latter, may see a diving
'bell in minature by repaiiing to the brink of some run-
e-tine stream, canal (provided ifbe not stagnant), in the
'neighbourhood of London or elsewhere. There theyenay
perceive, shining through'the water, a little globe, appa-
rently of silver, which surrounds, as with a garment, the
body of a diving spider, Whose submerged habitation and
curious economy have been described, as follows, by dif-
ferent observers. These^spiders, says De Geer, spin in
the water a cell of strong, closely-woven white silk, in
the form of a diving bell, or half a pigeon's egg. • This is
sometimes quite submerged, at others partly above the
'water, and is always attached to some objects near it by a
number of irregular threads. 'lt is closed all round, but
has a large opening below; which, however, I found
closed on the 15th of December, and the spider living
• quietly within, with her head downwards. I made a rent
in this cell, and expelled the air, upon which the spider
, came out; yet, although she appeared to have been laid
I up for three months in her winter quarters, she greedily
seized on and sucked an insect. The male, as well as the
female, constructs a similar subaqueous cell, and daring
sutnmer as well as winter. 'One of these spiders wasliept
by Mr. Rennie several months in a glass of water, where
it built a cell half submerged, in which it laid its eggs.
These were enclosed in bags of yellow silk, and are batched
in summer.' 'But it is in the pages of Kirby and 'Seen&
that we find the habitations and habits of this amphibious
-architect most strikingly and pleasantly described. Her
abode (say they) builtin water and formed of air, is con-
'structed on philosophic principles, and consists of a sub.
aqueous, yet dry apartment, in which, like a mermaid or
s sea-nymph, she resides in comfort. Loose threads,
attached in various 'directions to the leaves of aquatic
plants; form the framework of her chamber. Over these
she spreads a transparent elastic varnish, like liquid glass,
which issues from the 'middle of her spinners ; next ehe
spreads over her belly a pellicle of the same material, and
ascends to the surface to inhale and carry down a supply
of atmospheric fluid. 'Head downwards, and with her
body, all but the spinneret still submerged, our diver by
the process which does not seem precisely ascertained,
introduces a bubble of air beneath the pellicle which sur-
rounds her. Clothed in-this aerial mantle, which to the
spectator seems formed of resplendent quicksilver, she
then plunges to the bottom, and, with as much dexterity
as a chemist.transfers gas with a gasholder, introduces her'
bubble of air beneath the-roof prepared for its reception ;
this inanceuvre is ten or twelve times repeated, and when
she has transported sufficient air to expand her apartment
to its intended extent, she-possesses an aerial edifice, an
enchanted palace, where, unmoved by storms, she devours
her prey at ease.—Episode-of Insect Life.
NOCTURNAL LIFE OF ANIMALS.—A NIGHT ON THE
APURE.—BeIow the mission of Santa Barbara de Arichuna
we passed the night as usual, in the open air, on a sandy
flat, on the banks of the Apure, skirted by the impene-
trable forest. We had some difficulty in finding dry wood
to kindle the fires with which it is berecestomary to sur-
round the bivouac, as a safeguard against the attacks of
the jaguar. The air was bland and soft, and the moon
shone brightly. Several crocodiles approached the bank,
and I have observed that fire attracts these creatures, as it
does our crabs and many other aquatic animals. The
oars of our'boats were fixed upright in the ground to sup-
port our hammocks. Deep stillness prevailed, only'bro
ken at intervals by the blowing of the fresh-water dol-
phins. After eleven o'clock such a noise began in the
contiguous forest, that for the remainder of the night all
sleep *was impossible. The wild cries of animals rung
through the woods. -Among the many voices which re-,
sounded together the Indians could only recognise those
which, after short pauses, were heard singly. There was
the monotonous plaintive cry of the aluates (howling mon-
keys), the whining, flute-like notes of the small sapaious,
the grunting murmur of the striped nocturnal ape (Nycs
tipithecus trivirgatus, which I was the first to describe),
the fitful roar of the great tiger, the cuguar or manelesa
American lion, the peccary, the sloth, and a host of par-
rots, parraquas (Ortalides), and other pheasant-like birds.
Whenever the tigers approached the edge of the forest,
our dog, who before had barked incessantly, came howl-
ing to seek protection under the hammocks. Sometimes
the cry of the tiger resounded from the branches of a tree,'
and was then always accompanied by the plaintive piping
tones of the apes, who were endeavouring to escape from
the unwonted pursuit. If one asks the Indians why such
a continuous noise is heard on certain nights, they answer
with a smile, that " the animals are rejoicing in the beau-
tiful moonlight, and celebrating the return of the 'full
moon." ' To me, the scene appeared rather to be owing
to an accidental, long-continued, and gradually-increas-
ing conflict among the animals. Thus, for instance, the
jaguar will pursue the peccaries and the tnpirs, which,
densely crowded together, burst through the barrier of
tree-like shrubs which opposes their flight. Terrified at
the confusion, the monkeys on the tops of the trees join
their cries with those of the larger animals. This arouses
the tribes of birds who build their nests in communities,
and suddenly the whole animal world is in a state of com-
motion. Further experience taught us that it was by no
means always the festival of moonlight that disturbed the
stillness of the forest, for we observed the:, the voices were
loudest during violent storms of rain, or when the than-,
der echoed and the lightning flashed through the depths'
of the woods. The good-natured Franciscan monk who,
(notwithstanding the fever from which he had been suf-
fering for many months) accompanied us through the ca-
taracts of Atures and Maypures to San Carlos, on the Rio
Negro, and to the Brazilian coast, used to say, when ap-
prehensive of a storm at night. " May Heaven grant a
quiet night both to us and the wild beasts of the forest !"
—Humboldt's" Views of Nature.

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