The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-03-05 00:00:00

cried a multitude of voices ; " he disgraces the Prince'„
cause."

The captain of the guards, assisted by another gentle-
man, seized hold of De Croissi, and thrust him into the
midst of the partisans of Gondi.
" A present," cried the soldier, "from the new faction
to the old. Take care of your precious jewel : we ask
nothing in return."
Shouts of laughter and applause welcomed this coarse
jest.
Well,",cried De Croissi, foaming with rage, point-
ing his finger towards the party of Conde, "since. you
will have me your enemy, so be it. Brave people,"
said he, addressing the citizens who surrounded him,
" I am now yours ; and I swear to you that I shall not
be sorry to see you deal your lustiest blows amongst the
insolent factionists "
The'Citizens looked at De Croissi with a calm and
steady gaze ; but the gentlemen on the side of the Co-
adjutor now surrounded him.
" We want him not," cried the Chevalier de Laignes,
Gondi's most intimate friend. " I declare that I know
that De Croissi is persotilally obnoxious to the Coadjutor.
We want no renegade... Let the new faction keep its
presents to itself: we want no worthless gifts."
A loud cheer welcomed this speech. Croissi endea-
voured in vain to he heard in ju*tkation.
" We want no explanations," said. the Chevalier de
Laignes. " Away from our ranks ! or we will turn you
out by force."

Ali that the passions of hate and shame could express
upon the human face might have been read in the fea-
tures of the baffled and degraded De Croissi. His, eyes
rolled; his teeth gnashed with rage.
" Away, away ! " said the partisans of De Gondi,
endeavouring to push him out of their company. "We
want you not."

" If the traitor comes here, we will slit his ears,"
cried the captain of the guards.
Croissi found himself between the two parties, like a
wild boar persecuted by the hunters. He threw fierce
glances around him, as if to seek some enemy on whom
he could retaliate. He at length darted towards the
captain of the guards, who appeared the most active
against him, and said in a voice of thunder, "Although
I have been disgracefully insulted, Marquis de Crenan,
I am still a gentleman, and have a right to inquire the
reason of this shameless conduct."
" You a gentleman ! Pshaw ! Away !"
" Well, then, I proclaim, in the midst of this assem-
bly, that you are a coward, and refuse to meet me in
hvnourable combat."

A terrific tumult now ensued. The friends of De
Crenan insisted upon it that he should not accept the
challenge, upon the plea that De Croissi, by his trea-
cheries, possessed no claim to the distinction of a gen-
tleman. Others insisted upon it that the Marquis's
honour had been called in question, and that he ought
to meet his opponent, who thus had challenged him ,so
publicly. Cretlan appeared to be of this opinion, for he
exchanged several words in'a low tone with his antago-
nist, when, raising his voice, he said authoritatively,
" Let no one now attempt to'resent either the words or
actions of De Croissi. I will reckon with him." The
assembly seemed satisfied with this, for at the epoch of
which we write the laws of the " duello" had certain
privileges, which were held ns sacred.

" This , evening, then, sir," replied Crenan, with a
grave tone, " you can meet me without fear of interrup-
tion."

He saluted De Croissi politely, strangely contrasting
with his previous conduct. Albert immediately bowed
and quitted the hall, without any one taking further
notice of him.

(To be continued.)

SELECTIONS.

A BEDOUIN BRIDAL.—We were informed that the
bride was safely boxed in the vehicle carried in the midst
of her friends ; but, that in order to manifest a due re-
luctance to quit the virgin state, it was requisite she should
be for.ibly carried off by her future husband, after a pro-
per degree of resistance had been manifested by the escort.
No sooner had she reached the centre of the square, than
the bridegroom with his adherent—some on foot and
others mounted—approached from an opposite direction,
and a scene of tumult occurred which it is difficult to
imagine. The music (if such it could be called) struck up
a louder livelier tune, swords were brandished, and amidst
shouts and yells, under the discharge of musketry, the op-
posing parties—horse and foot—mingled in apparently
deadly conflict, which ended in the defeat of the lady's
party, who was then carried off in triumph by her amorous
suitor.--(From Col. E. Napier's Wild Sports in Europe,
Asia and Africa.)
ETYMOLOGY OF MEOLS.—MeoIs or Meals, is a name
which occurs in both the Eastern and Western counties
of England, Mr. Baines, in his " Lancashire," traces the
etymology of the word (North Meols) to the the Saxon
dialect of the Teutonic melo, a grain of any kind, as
" sand," in allusion to the numerous sand-dunes which
form the sea barrier to this part of the country. "An
Inhabitant of North Meols," in the Gentleman's Maga-
zine for this month, mentions an ingenious, though im-
probable devirations from the Greek, viz. me non, and
alit mare, " no longer sea," because tradition asserts that
the country was formerly inundated by the tides, where
the feeble breakwater of sands now exists. The writer
offers another derivation of his own, and asks, " Instead
of a Saxon, might not the term naeol have a Celtic origin,
and by a mere permutation of moel, a word still used in
Welsh expreeits mountain or hill? In ancient MSS.
the word is spelled meole, moles, or meols indifferently."
ORIGIN OF THE STORY OF BLUEBEARD.—The annual
authologies, published by Southey, were not much ap-
proved of by his friend, though he contributed to one of
the volumes a p em of Bluebeard, which we believe was
rejected. In defending it from some critical remarks
made by Southey, Taylor has given an erroneous account
of the origin of the legend. He says :—" The story of
Bluebeard was invented by the Catholics as a satire on
Henry VIII. Demonology was still cre lihle under James
1. I see no objection to dating the incident under bloody
Mary. If the murder of half-a-dozen wives had been
asc•ined to Bluebeard he would have been a mere mad-
man, beyond the limits of the artist's imitation, not a
human being, and certainly not the centre of interest. It
the story in the dark chamber had been pure tr igedy, un-
spoiled by hanging tip the head to talk like the barber's
block in the pantomime, the first wife would have been
more ioterestirg than the second, contrary to tlv law of
climax. So much by the way of apology rather than de-
fence." The story of Bluebeard is as old as the crusades,
if not older, and, so far as its earlier forms can be traced.
it was designed as a satire on the marriage of Christian
ladies with Saracenic or Turkish chieftains. The earliest
version of it with which we are acquainted is the Sicilian,
the hero being one of the Saracenic chieftains who occu•
pied a piratical stronghold in Sicily before the Norman
invasion. Some foll.,wer of the Guiscards brought the
le.;end into France, where it was repeated in a variety of
forms. One of rsion of it, now before us, is named "La
Comtesse de Saulx," and clearly belongs to the periotl of
Norman romance, the language beine the same as that of
the " Chroniques Anglo-Norrnands." It is true that
some foreign satirist.: of the reformation have identified
Henry VIII. with Bluebeard, bat, in doing so, they trove
clearly applied an old story instead of inventing a new
fable. At hence urn.

A GLORIOUS OPPORTUNITY FOR ATTORNEYS AND
BARRISTERS.—If an attorney has any business at all e
must do well in Melbourne, tor his fees are inordinately
high. Protesting a bill is five-and-twenty shillings ;
noting, half-a-guinea : every letter demanding payment
of account, if under twenty pounds, halt-a-guinea; above
twenty and under a hundred pounds, one guinea; above
a hundred, two guineas. Every summons (a summons
being a short printed form) before the supreme court is
charged six guineas : and the clients pay down at once,
without any questions, too glad to do so, provided they
can get rid of their temporary difficulties. Litigation is
short and quick. Conveyancing is downright profit ; a
deed, however short. conveying a piece of land, however
trifling, costs 6ve guineas. There are no stamps, and the
work is done in an hour. More valuable properties are
conveyed by a deed generally charged nine guineas. My
friend--has drawn twelve such deeds in his office in
the course of one day ; and with these eyes I have seen
him earn six guineas in as many minutes, by appearing at
the police office when a dispute has arisen between a
master and his servant. All quarrels of this kind are
arranged at the police office, when the amount of wages
received by the servant does not exceed thirty pounds
annually. An attorney with brains cannot fail to get
a-head. He has only to use despatch, and to begin and
continue in one even and undeviating course. Our bar-
risters are few in number. There are but four of them.
There is still a glorious field for a barrister of talent, and
especially if he be conversant with the nicer points of
conveyancing. Any clever barrister, nit to_ the business,
and a good speaker, rii-iglit-reTrirp-o-n making immediately,
at least, a thousand a-year ; the community are looking
and waiting for such a man.—Blackwood.
SPECIMEN OF A RACE NEAttLY EXTINCT.—And really
it might have confused a less modest man than Tom to
find himself sitting next that coachman ; for of all the
swells that ever flourished a whip, professionally, he might
have been elected emperor. - He did'nt hanale his gloves
like another man, but put them on—even When he was
standing on the pavement, quite detached from the coach
—as if the four greys were, somehow or other, at the ends
of the fingers. It was the same- with his hat. He did
things with his hat, which nothing but an unlimited
knowledge of horses and the wildest freedom of the road,
could ever have made him perfect in. Valuable little
parcels were brought to him with particular instructions,
and he pitched them into his hat, and stuck it on again ;
as if the laws of gravity did not admit of such an event
as its being knocked off or blown off, and nothing like an
accident could befall it. The guard. too! Seventy
breezy miles a-day were written in his very whiskers.
His manners were a canter; his conversation a round
trot. He was a fast coach upon a down-hill turnpike
road t • he was all pace. A waggon could not have moved
slowly, with that guard and his key-bugle on the top of
it. These were all foreshadowings of London, Tem
thought, as he sat upon the box, and looked about him.
Such a coachman and such a guard, never could have ex-
isted between Salisbury and any other place. The coach
was none of your steady.guing, yokel coaches, but a
swaggering, rakish, London coach ; up all night, and
lying by all day, and leading a devil of a life. It cared
no more for Salisbury than it it had been a hamlet. It
rattled noisyly throt.gh the best streets, defiled the ca-
seivwe rhe
re,along
the making iaokpi
enng
ce% rt),;t trtyi i.tri go
agde,t
blowingo ut f its
a
thcdral, took the worst corners sharpest, went cutting in
lwivaeyly; adned.
fiance out of its key-bugle, as its last glad parting legacy. ,
Mar tin Chuzzluit.