The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-11-21 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

SIZE OF TREES.—Our native woods often contain noble ELECTRICITY OF A HUMAN BODY.—The most remark-
specimens of which the bulk is ten or twelve feet in dia- able case of the production of electricity in the human
, meter, a width greater by three feet than the carriage- being at present on record, is one lately related on excel-
way in Fetter-lane. near Temple-bar ; and oaks might be lent authority in America. The subject of it, a lady-, was
named on the block of which two men could thresh with- fur many months in an electric state so different from that
out one incommoding the other. The famous Green- of surrounding bodies, that whenever she was but slightly
dole oak is pierced by a road, over which it forms a tri- insulated by a carpet or other feebly conducting medium,
lumphal arch, higher by several inches than the poet's sparks passed between her person and any object which
postern at Westminster Abbey. The celebrated table at she approached. From the pain which accompanied the
Dudley Castle, which is formed of a single oaken plank, passage of the sparks, her condition was a source of much
is longer than the wooden bridge that crosses the lake in discomfort to her; when most favourably circumstanced,
Regent's Park, and the roof of the great hall at West- four sparks per minute would pass from her finger to the
minster, which is spoken of with admiration on account brass ball of a stove at a distance of an inch and a half.
of its vast span, being unsupported by a single pillar, is The circumstances which appeared most favourable to the
little more than one-third the width of the noble canopy production of electricity were an atmosphere about ten
of waving branches that are upheld by the Worksop oak. degrees, tranquility of mind and social enjoyment ; while
The massive rafters of the spacious roof rest on strong a low temperature and depressing emotions diminished it
walls, but the branches of the tree spring from one corn- in a corresponding degree. The phenomena was first no-
mon centre. Architects can alone estimate the excessive ticed during the occurrence of a vivid aurora borealis ;
purchase which boughs of at least 189 feet must have on and though its first appearance was sudden its departure
into the trunk which they are inserted. Those on the was gradual. Various experiments were made, with the
oak of Ellerslie cover a scotch acre of ground ; and in view of ascertaining if the electricity was produced by the
the Three-shire oak its branches drip over an extent of friction of articles of dress ; but no change in these seemed
0e square yards. The tree itself grows in a nook that is to modify its intensity.—Popular Encyclopediw of Ara-
formed by the junction of the three counties of York, Not- tural Science,
!Ingham, and Derby.—Ruins and Old Trees.
HABITS OF EMINENT AUTHORS.—SheIIey usually ate
RUINS OF INDIAN GREATNESS.—The surplus wealth a baked potatoe previously to sitting down to write. He
of India, that used to be employed in building extensive has been heard to say that some of his finest ideas came
towns, crowded ghauts, magnificent stone or brick seraees, while putting in the butter. Whether he purchased his
some of them capable of containing from six to eight potatoes in the street, or had them dressed at home, does
thousand people; enormous massive bridges, splendid not appear. Fielding wrote the whole of Tom Jones in
mosques and temples ; is all gone ; it has disappeared one night, after a debauch with Hogarth, and sold it the
entirely. All the towns in India, with a very few excep- next morning to procure him a meal. Such is the fate of
tions, are in ruins. Delhi is surrounded by ruins. Agra, genius ! Kirk White was much admired for his red hair,
Booranpore, Aurungabad, have immense suberbs in ruins, which he allowed to grow down his back in two plaits. He
The Deckan is a heap of ruins. Many towns in Central never would suffer any allusion to be made to it ; but when
India that had their hunnreds of thousands of inhabit- writing used it as blotting paper. On this account all his
ants are now literally without one, and are swarming with MS. works are translated in red ink, as may be seen in
leopards, tigers, elks, and buffaloes. In deep forests you the library of the British Museum. Cuvier always wrote
stumble upon Hindoo temples, Mohmmudan gateways, with a pail of water at his side, in which he alternately
stone tanks eight hundred yards square, brick wells of dipped his head and feet to freshen his ideas. He has
large dimensions ; scores of acres of burying-grounds. been known to do this upwards of sixty times in one night
and all the other concomitants, and proofs of wealth, and when preparing his Regne Animal. It was his boast that
power, and population. Malthus would never have writ- he had never been up in a balloon. Dr. Johnson could
ton his too celebrated work, nor Godwin ever written his never see a post without jumping over it. Boswell re-
too little valued answers, had they been in India. India marking upon its puerility, Johnson observed, " Sir, what
is a large forest, with a great many cultivated spots. a boy does in sport, a man may do in earnest." Upon
India—l say it after due consideration—could contain which Boswell replied, " Then you mean to say that I
and support five times its present population with ease ; might play at chuck-farthing?" " Sir," returned John-
and yet it is unquestionably the poorest country in the son, "any man might, if he had a farthing to chuck.'"
known world. To the state of the wealth and resources WE MUST HAVE A KING.—The cannon had ceased
of the original Hindoo monarchs imagination can assign Ito roar; the still bleeding victims of revolutionary fury
no limits. The more I think on the subject, the more I had been collected together in the hospitals ; the dead
am confounded.—Davidson's Travels in India. had been hastily interred in large but shallow graves, dug
E ASY SHAVING.—He happened to have been sharpen- near the Louvre, the March 6 des Innocens, and the
ing his razors, which were lying open in a row, while a Champ de Mars ; the tocsin no longer rang its hear-sick-
cuing
sounds in the ears of Parisian population ; the
huge strop dangled from the wall. Glancing at these
preparations, Mr. Bailey stroked his chin, and a thought soldiers bivouacked in the public streets and places of the
appeared to occur to him. " Poll," he said, "I ain't as metropolis; boys and girls recounted some of the marvels
neat as I could wish about the gills. Being here, I may of valour and some of the deeds of peril and courage they
as well have a shave, and get trimmed close." The bar- themselves, or their comrades, des, had accomplished ; a pro•
ber stood aghast ; but Mr. Bailey divested himself of his visional government bad installeditself at the Hotel de
neckcloth, and set down in the easy shaving chair with all Ville; the paving-stones still stood in shapeless heaps,
the dignity and confidence in life. There was no resisting and, dignified with the name of " baricades," were the
his manner. The evidence of sight and touch became as
!favourite lounging spots of the " Flaneurs"of Paris; the
nothing. His chin was as smooth as a new-laid egg or a warehouses were yet closed, the manufactories were still
deserted, the public schools and colleges were as empty
scraped Dutch cheese; but Poll Sweedlepipe wouldn't
have ventured to deny, on affidavit, that he had the beard ' as a new-made tomb ; the palaces were yet open to the
of a Jewish rabbi. "Go with the grain, Poll, all round, heavy and unceremonious tread of the populace ; the pop-
please," said Mr. Bailey, screwing up his face for the re- ulace ; the public buildings were guarded by self-armed,
ception of the lather. You may do wot you like with the self-elected, civic forces ; and Lafayette was hesitating,
bits of whisker. I don't care for 'em." The meek little both with regard to his own position, and with relation to
barber stood gazing at him with the brush and soap-dish that of the Orlean's family, when suddenly a voice was
in his hand, stirring them round and round in a ludicrous heard every where, proceeding from every quarter, though
uncertainty, as if he were disabled by some fascination uttering different tones, and that one voice said, "WE
from beginning. At last he made a lash at Mr. Bailey's MUST HAVE A KING ! It may be asked from whom
eheek. Then he stopped again, as if the ghost of a beard did that voice proceed? My answer is, from nearly every
had suddenly receded from his touch but receiving mild one. I was an eye-witness of all that passed; I mixed
encouragement from Mr. Bailey, in the form of an adju-
with all ranks and classes. No event of the slightest im-
ration to "go in and and win," he lathered him bounti- portance escaped my observation and enquiries. I saw
fully. Mr. Bailey smiled through the suds in his satis- the peers, the deputies, and even the marshalls, the gen-
faction. " Gently over the stones, Poll. Go a tip-toe erals, and the officers, of all grades and degrees, who
over the pimples ? " Poll Sweedlepipe obeyed, and knew not, on the field of battle what fear meant, now
scraped-the lather off again with particular care. Mr. trembling with anxiety and apprehension at the probable
Bailey squinted at every successive dab, as it was deposit-
consequences of the victory of the populace, and all pro-
ed on a cloth on his left shoulder, and seemed with a mi- claiming in the most decisive manner, though fluctuating
croscopic eye to detect some bristles in it; for he mur- between hope and fear, that they must have a king!—
inured more than once, " Reedier redder than I could Fraser's Magazine.
wish, Poll." The operation being concluded, Poll fell BRITISH COLONIZATION.—The colonizing genius of
back and stared at him again, while Mr. Bailey, wiping the British people appears upon a grand scale in Austra-
his face on the jack-towel, remarked, "that arter late lia, Canada, and, as we may remind the else forgetful
hours nothing freshened up a man so mt:,:. as an easy world, in the United States of America; which States are
shave."—Martin Chuzzlewit. our children, prosper by our blood, and have ascended to
an overshadowing altitude from an infancy tended by our-
selves. But on the fields of India it is, that our aptitudes
for colonization have displayed themselves most illus..
triously, because they were strengthened by violent re-
sistance. We found many kingdoms established, and to
these we have given unity; and in process of doing so, by
the necessities of the general welfare, or the mere instincts
of self-preservation, we have transformed them to an em-
pire, rising like an exhalation, of our own—a mighty mo-
nument of our own superior civilization. Ceylon, as a
virtual dependency of India, ranks in the same category.
There also we have prospered by resistance ; there also we
have succeeded memorably where other nations memo-
rably failed. Of Ceylon, therefore, now rising annually
into importance, let us now (on occasion of this splendid
book, the work of one officially connected with the island,
bound to it also by affectionate ties of services rendered,
not less than of unmerited persecutions suffered) offer a
brief, but rememberable account; of Ceylon in itself, and
of Ceylon in its relations, historical or economic, to our-
selves. Mr. Bennett says of it, with more and (less of
doubt, three things—of which any one would be sufficient
to detain a reader's attention ; viz., I. That it is the Ta-
probane of the Romans ; 2. That it was, or has abeen
thought to be, the Paradise of Scripture ; 3. That •it is
" the most magnificent of the British insular possessions,"
or in yet wider language, that it is an " incomparable co-
lony." This last count in the pretensions of Ceylon is
quite indisputable; Ceylon is in fact already, Ceylon is at
this moment, a gorgeous jewel in the imperial crown ; and
yet, compared with what it may be, with what it will be,
with what it ought to be, Ceylon is but that grain of mus-
tard-seed which hereafter is destined to become the
stately tree, where the fowls of heaven will lodge for ge-
nerations. Great are the promises of Ceylon ; great al-
ready her performances. Great are the possessions of
Ceylon ; far greater her reversions. Rich she is by her
developments, richer by her endowments. She combines
the luxury of the tropics with the sterner gifts of our own
climate. She is hot ; she is cold. She is civilzed ; she is
barbarous. She has the resources of the rich ; and she
has the energies of the poor.—Blackwaod's Magazine.
A LORD MAYOR'S DINNER DESCRIBED BY AN
ORIENTAL.—At length dinner was announced : and all
rose, and led by the queen of the city, (the lady mayoress,)
withdrew to another room, where the table was laid out
in the most costly manner, being loaded with dishes,
principally of silver and gold, and covered with sar-poshes
(lids or covers), some of which were of immense size, like
little boats. When the servants removed the sar-poshes,
fishes and soup of every sort were presented to view :
some of the former, I was told, brought as rarities from
distant seas, and at great expense. Before every man of
rank there was an immense dish, which it is his duty to
cut up and distribute, patting on each plate about suffi-
cient for a baby to eat. I turned to a friend, arid en-
quired why the guests were helped so sparingly ? "It is
customary," said he, "to serve guests in this way."
" But why not give them enough ?" rejoined I. " You
will soon see," replied he, " that they will all have
enough." Soon after, all the dishes, spoons, &c., were
removed by the servants. I thought the dinner was over,
and was preparing to go, not a little astonished at such
scanty hospitality, when other dishes were brought in,
filled with choice viands of every kind—bears from Russia
and Germany—hogs from Ireland—fowls and geese from
France—turtle from the Mediterranean (?) venison from
the parks of the nobility—some in joints, some quite
whole, with their limbs and feet entire. Operations now
recommenced, the carvers doling out the same small
quantities as before : but though many of the gentlemen
present were anxious to prevail on me to partake, and re-
commended particular dishes, one as being " a favourite
of the King of the French" another as particularly rare
and exquisite, I could not be prevailed upon to partake of
any. Thus did innumerable dishes pour in and disappear
again, the servants constantly changing the plates of the
guests : till I began to form quite a different idea of the
appetites of the guests and the hospitality of the Lord
Mayor, on which I bad thought that a reflection was
thrown by the small portions sent to them. I now saw
that many of them, besides being served pretty often,
helped themselves freely to the dishes before them—in-
deed, their appetite was wonderfully good : some, doubt-
less, thinking that such an opportunity would not often
recur. Nor did they forget the juice of the grape—the
bottles which were opened would have filled a ship, and
the noise of the champagne completely drowned the mu-
sic. One would have thought, after all this, no men could
eat more : but now the fruits, sweetmeats, ices, and jel-
lies made their appearance ; pine-apples, grapes, oranges,
apples, pears, mulberries, and confectionaries of such
such strange shapes that I can give no name to them—
and before each guest were placed small plates, with pecu-
liarly shaped knives of gold and silver. Of this part of the
banquet I had the pleasure of partaking, in common with
the selfsame gentlemen who had done such honour to the
thousand dishes above mentioned, and who now distin-
guished themselves in the same manner on the dessert.
The price of some of the fruit was almost incredible ; the
reared in glass-houses artificially heated . . . . thus the
reason of which is, that in this country it can only be
pine-apples, which are by no means fine, cost each twenty
rupees, (£2.) which in India would be bought for two
pice—thus being 64') times dearer than in our country.
Thus in England the poorer classes cannot afford to eat
fruit, whereas in all other countries they can get fruit
when grain is too dear. The guests continued at table
till late, during which time several gentlemen rose and
spoke : but, from my imperfect knowledge of the lan-
guage, I could not comprehend their purports beyond the
compliments which they passed on each other, and the
evident attacks which they made on their political oppo-
nents. lat last retired with some others to another room,
where many of the guests were dancing—coffee and tea
were here taken about, just as sherbets are with us in the
Mohurrum. I must remark that the servants were gor-
geously dressed, being covered with gold like the generals
le most extraordinary thing about them
heir heads covered with ashes, like the
A custom indicative with Ms of sorrow and

PENNSYLVANIA.-If I were an American of any of the
honest states, I would never rest till I had compelled
Pennsylvania to be as honest as myself. The bad faith of
that state brings discredit on all ; just as common snakes
are killed because vipers are dangerous. I have a general
feeling that by that breed of men I have been robbed and
ruined, and I shudder and keep aloof. The pecuniary
credit of every state is affected by Pennsylvania. Ohio
pays ; but with such a bold bankruptcy before their eyes,
how long will Ohio pay ? The truth is, that the eyes of
all capitalists are averted from the United States. The
finest commercial understandings will have nothing to do
with them. Men rigidly just, who penetrate boldly into
the dealings of nations, and work with vigour and virtue
for honourable wealth—great and high-minded merchants
will loathe, and are now loathing, the name of America;
it is becoming, since its fall, the common•shore of Eu-
rope, and the native home of the needy villain. And now,
drab-coloured men of Pennsylvania, there is yet a mo-
ment left—the eyes of all Europe are anchored upon you—
" Surrexit mundus justis furiis ;" __ _

start up from that trance of dishonesty into which you
are plunged ; don't think of the flesh which walls about
your life, but of that sin which has hurled you from the
heaven of character, which hangs over you like a devour-
ing pestilence, and makes good men sad, and ruffians
dance and sing. It is not for gin sling alone and sherry
cobbler that man is to live ; but for those great principles
against which no argument can be listened to—principles
which give to every power a double power above their
functions and their offices, which are the books, the arts,
the academies that teach, lift up, and nourish the world—
principles (1 am quite serious in what I say) above cash,
superior to cotton, higher than currency—principles,
without which it is better to die than live, which every
servant of God, over every sea and in all lands, should
cherish. Uses ad abdita spiramenta

LAFAYETTE AND Louis PHILIPPV—That was a hap-
py moment for Louis Philippe when Lafayette sent in his
resignation of the post of commander-in-chief of the
National Guards of the kingdom, a post which ought
never to have been confided to any one but a king's son.
That Louis Philippe was personally attached to Lafayette
is certain ; that he felt that, on several occasions, he had
rendered signal services to the cause of public order and
peace is undoubted; and that his admirable tact in main-
taining the peace of Paris during the trial of Prince Pol-
ignsc and his colleagues was entitled to the gratitude of
the nation, the king was the first to assert. But Lafay-
ette was a dead weight on the pacific policy of Louis
Philippe. It was known to, and felt by Europe, that the
old general had too much influence at court, that all re-
volutionary agents over the whole world looked up to
him for advice and aid, that he was peculiarly obnoxious
to all foreign courts, and that his removal from so impor-
tant a post as that of commander-in-chief of all the mili-
tia of France, was earnestly desired. His resignation,
then, was an immense good; and much as the king loved
him as a man and a friend, his retirement from office was
a boon which none could estimate better than the king
himself. But although the loss of Lafayette was a posi-
tive good, the event necessarily led to increased hostility
to the government of the king on the part of the men of
the movement faction; and Lafayette, Dupont de l'Eure,
Lamarque, Lameth. and Audry. de Puyraveau, openly
headed the malcontents. That fact in itself led the popu-
lace to rebel. They attacked the church of St. Germain
l'Auxerrois, and nearly destroyed it ; sacked the arch-
bishop's palace ; insulted the ministers of religion ; and,
at length, the voice of Guizot was heard at the tribune
denouncing the Lafayette ministry for its mischievous and
ruinous policy. Now began that series of 6meutes, in-
surrections, conspiracies, and plots against the king, the
royal family, and the government, which lasted during
many years, but which Louis Philippe has, apparently,
finally succeeded in subduing, by a constant perseverance
in his policy of peace abroad and obedience to the laws at
home.—Fraser's Magazine.

WHY CERTAIN OLD PEOPLE, WHO HAVE NOTHING
TO DO, ARE EARLY RISERS.—What a blessing should
sleep be to that class of beings who do nothing when
awake; how they should covet those drowsy hours that
give, as it were, a sanction to indolence ; with what anx-
iety they ought to await the fall of day, as announcing the
period when they become the equals of their fellow men;
and with what terror they should look forward to the time
when the busy world is up taid stirring, and their incapa-
city and slothfulness only become more glaring from con-
trast. Would not any one say, that such people would
naturally cultivate sleep as their comforter ? Should they
not hug their pillow as the friend of their bosom ? On the
contrary, these are invariably your early risers ; every
house where I have been on a visit has had, at least, one
of these troubled and troublesome spirits—the torment of
boots; the horror of housemaids. Their chronic cough
forms a duet with the inharmonious crowing of the young
cock, who, for lack of better knowledge, proclaims day a
full hour before his time. Their creaking shoes are the
accompaniment to the scrubbing of brass fenders and the
twigging of carpets, the jarring sounds of opening shut-
ters, and the cranking discord of a hall-door chain ; their
heavy step sounds like a night-mare's tread, through the
whole sleeping house ; and what is the object of all this ?
What new fact have they acquired? what difficult ques-
tion have they solved ? whom have they made happier, or
wiser, or better? Not Betty, the cook, certainly, whose
morning levee of beggars they have most unceremoniously
scattered and scared ; not Mary, the housemaid, who,
unacustomed to be caught in dishabille, is cross the whole
day after, though be was " only an elderly gentleman, and
wore spectacles ;" not Richard, who cleaned their shoes

by candle light ; nor the venerable butler, who, from
shame sake, is up and dressed, and who, still asleep,
stands with his corkscrew in his hand, under the vague
impression that it is a late supper party. These people,
too, have always a consequential, self-satisfied look about
them ;they seem to say, as though they knew a " thing

he day, more

le army ;

leepers never herd of; and_ they made this

Cossack, as if the consumption of victuals was a cardinal
virtue.—Civilized differs from savage life, as much as the
regulation of time as by any other feature. I see no ob-
jection to your red man, who, probably, can't go to break-
fast till he has caught a bear. being nn betimeg • hni th.

at them ; but a friend kindly explained to me that, in
England, none but the servants of the great are privileged
to have ashes strewed on their heads, and that for this
distinction their masters actually pay a tax to government !
. .

rolls and coffee, tea and marmalade, bloaters and honey,
and eggs, await him at ten o'clock ; for
absurd vagabondisms are an insufferable
unwarrantable liberty with the peace
-,ld.—Loiferings of O'Leary.

ham, muffin
him, I say, t 1

not require it, and it appears, to our notions at feast, ra-
ther a mark of grief and mourning, where is the use of
// is the custom of the country."

raying a tax for it

After this I
—73lacA

said he agait
on What I bad aee

sing deeply