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

SELECTIONS.

CHINESE GEOGRAPIIY.—FormerIy the Chinese, in
their maps of the earth, set down the celestial empire in
the middle of a large square, and dotted round it the
other kingdoms of the world, supposed to be seventy-two
in number, assigning to the latter ridiculous or contemp-
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 Os' Si'. SOPHIA, AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
—ln entering this most celebrated of the Turkish mosques,
the tout ensemble of the interior is somewhat less impo-
sing than the exterior induces us to believe, and this is
owing, 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
the interior a vast number of columns, of which eight, of
porphyry, are from the temple dedicated to the sun by
the Emperor Aurelian, 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 great richness. In different
quarters of the mosque are small raised pulpits, where
dervishes or learned doctors sit explaining the Koran, and
each has his own particular audience. The mosque being
without pews or seats of any kind, seems so 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 verd-
antique columns, the galleries, colonnades, stairs, and
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.

CANOVA'S EARLY WORKS.-1-lis artistic talent and
predominant taste for sculpture was early displayed ; he
gave the first decisive proof, according to an Italian bio-
grapher, in his twelfth year, when he modelled a lion in
butter, in the kitchen of Falieri, as an ornament for the
table. The imagination of Canova would thus seem to
have been early exercised upon the lion, and these youth-
ful efforts may possibly have had some share in the mas-
terly treatment and conception of this animal, IO which
he attained at a later period. At all events. this lion in
butter attracted the attention of the noble family to the
boy artist, and had so favourable an influence on the fate of
the young ('anova, that at an early age he was enabled to
follow his true calling. The noble Falieri, father and
son, interested themselves for him, and sent him as an
apprentice, in his fourteenth year, to an indifferent sculp-
tor at Bassano, where he was employed in modelling and
chiselling for some years, but from whom he could learn
litt;e of his art. The first original work which the young
artist executed, in his seventeenth year, and with which
he concluded his apprenticeship, was a Eurydice, in soft
marble, half the size of life. He was then sent to the
Academy of Art, in Venice, where, properly speaking, he
began his artistic career, and where better models then
were afforded by his master's studio at Bassano animated
his zeal for art. He gained several academical prizes, and
executed there several works up to his twenty-third year,
which brought him into notice in Venice, and raised ex-
pectations which he has since far surpassed.
THE ANTI-CORN LAW RIOTS IN 1815.—When my
house in Bedford-square was attacked by a mob, supposing
that I had supported in parliament the corn bill, upon
which I had never uttered a word, or indeed had ever been
called upon to form, and therefore never had expressed,
an opinion upon it, the fury of the mob was very great.
The front windows and door of the house were demolished,
some furniture destroyed and many papers, including
some judgments, thrown out of doors. The alarm in the
house was excessive. I was obliged to remove my wife
and children into the British Museum, and with some
difficulty got a corporal and four soldiers through the mu-
seum gardens into the house while the mob were in it. I
proposed to the corporal that we should proceed out of my
study to the great room which adjoins it, and from that
into the dining-room ; and, the mob being in the ball and
a little adjoining room, we should be able to surprise and
secure them. He was a Scotchman, and said, "We are
not strong enough to keep them in, but with good manage-
ment we may drive them out. I won't let my men put
powder and ball into their muskets, but they shall fix their
bayonets, end if you will go with me, and, when we get
out of your study into the hall, will give me your orders
to charge them with the bayonets, I will, and my men
shall obey those orders ; but we must make the best ap-
pearance we can, and, as there are only four soldiers, they
must follow one by one, and we must so manage the mat-
ter, that the mob may suppose that there will be no end
of them who are coming. Accordingly we so advanced,
and the corporal calling out to his soldiers to come, in
language tending to make it believed that they were nu-
merous, the mob fled with great precipitation. The front
doors being demolished, two soldiers guarded the entrance,
crossing their muskets. The mob held a consultation at
the top of Keppel-street, whether they should attack the
house again . but, conceiving the military corps inside to
be strong, ihey
their collars two
of the mob, and told them that they
would be hanged. One of them bid me look to myself,
and told me that the people were much more likely to
hang me than I was to procurein.t any of them to be hanged.
They were sent before a justice ofd the peace,. but the sol-
diers said they would do &el
guovtyeras soldiers, but they
would not be witnesses. The government sent us some
soldiers, and increased their nurnber7l7 they were about
fftr, and a very considerable part of that nurnberremained
about three weeks in the house, persons in the front of the
house from time to time using menacing language and
threats, whenever from the streets they saw any persons
in the house. During all that time I could only leave the
house by going through the museum gardens, and into the
streets from the museum, attended to Westminster on
foot by Townsend of the police, through. all the obscure
streets and alleys in which we could find a passage. I
thank God we got my wife and children safe from their
retreat in the museum.—Life of Lord Eldon.

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 of the popes, was
the despot of Christendom at tVrty-seven ; John
de Medici was a cardinal at fifteen, an l Guicciardini tells
us, baffled with his state-craft Ferdinand of Arragon him-
self. He was Pope, as Leo X. at thirty-seven ; 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.— Coningsby.