The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-08-07 00:00:00

SKETCHES OF CH.A.UACTER,

BY THE RIGHT HON. SIR.JAMRS MACKINTOSH.
CAMPBELL A.ND SCOTT.—If the rank of poets were to- be set-
tled by particular passages. I should place Catnphell 'above
Scott; I should predict, with more confidence, that " LOchiel,"
the " Exile of Erin," and the " Mariners' Song" would en-
dure, than I could venture to do abont any Other verse's since
Cowper and. Burns; I had almost said, since Cray anti Gold-
smith. lam sorry to bear that he is engaged on an epic poem ;
his genius is lyrical.
Scurf AND BLREE.—Walter 'Scott has such an extreme
facility of versification as to be'almost an inipro,isqtOi-e.• If Mr.
`Burke 'had 'early -acquired the talent or versifying, he would
tha.ve poured forth S,Trilnines iu which'there thirSt'liave been ias-
Stig'es of sublimepodry. If it couldihe conceived, and perhaps
riCcritrrpliShed in 'English, there seems no difikuhy in Italian,
which has such'intltitudes of rhymes, itud is so-rich a poetical
I.44,rnage. lo this must be added the utmost liberty of irregu-
lar versification; tholigh that liberty canhardly be Carried Much
lartheethan• it is by Walter Scott. 'Mhst improvißatori
prise to be mannerists; mariner is 9ne,"Of the 'great soutee'sof
TaeilitS:; Walter Scott is an example.

,SocEmEss.—A sort of tenants, who tilled 'the inland, 'or
peculiar demesnes of their lord, but after the Conquest, those
who held by no servile tenure, but paid their rent, as a coke or
sign of freedom, were so called.
Goon NEsys.—The Tories have made great efforts in Ren-
frewshire at this registration. We learn that the new claims
will amount to at least five hundred, and of this comber it is
calculated, by competent judges, that at least three hundred-
and•tifty are to the Tory interest.—Gicomote Chronicle.
Lord John Scot t.has not gone to Spain, as erroneously Stated
in the London papers. His lordship having been ineispoSed
was advisMly his physician to kiwkol'a feW dayS'ht sea, and
followed the advice by taking a shirt cruis'e in tle..Ptlke Of ttle-
clijmih's yatch, the Fliiiver of Vairow,--I'idintiinVi.
800 K S.-- nip Canganelli,is slid to have expressed a whim-
sical opinion, that all the books in the world might,:be reduced
ti to six thoand volumes in fOlio, by epitomizing, expurgating,
and destroying whatever the chosen end
spienipotential cop-
inittee of literature should, in their wisdom, think proper to
cuticietnn.
1.411.t.rY ov, Rootts.—ln an esh-t rpe on a fartnnear Oswestry,
Shropshire, there was in the .spring.springShropshire, of 18:12, about sixty. nests
of rooks. 'there birds produce ;Ilona use, young ones each. A
great difference of opinion exists, whether.the rooks .are useful
or injurious to the fanner. it is
.stated b'y Pennant,
.that
rook, instead of being prescribed, should be treated as the
farmer's friend, as it clears his „round of caterpillars, that 'do
incredible daMage h'. eating the roots of the cern. In Suffolk,
IT
ndr .iokns:a thmseOe ooy tnitis
irlslofNelirlolukf, the farthers encourage the breed
( freeing
their lands from thegitib
which produces the cockchafer, and which, in this state, deStrof
the roots of corn and grass to'suCh a degree that Mr. Stilling-
fleet says, that he has seen a piece of pasture where the turf
might be turned up with the foot.
Ton Noei.E OF 11UNGAKY.—In the. official language of,the
Diet the peasantry are styled "misera plebs contribupns." 'They
have no rights and no property, and are excluded from all civil
as well as all military employments. A certain number of
towns (to the number of filly, if we,are not mistaken)4ireper-
witted to take rank among the nobility by a very amusing fic-
tion. The Whole town, whateVer maybe its population.(fake,
P for instance, esth. Which has 50;0 iOO nhabitants,-) is supposed
to form one collective noble Or nobleinan corporate, No citien
can fill 'l9:Ace, civil or military; .be
.canuet even defenctda
cause against a person of:tielile rank, or sue hint before, any
tribunal. The town only in its capacity of c4lective /o.4'e has
a right to go to law with Its equal;
thidis to say, ,with a Roble.
collectice noble has a seat. ii the Diet, to whiel he deputes
some one Of his members; but this delegate beintgeneially,a
'bOble, chosen by the maglstMteS,.Who arc alrriOst all noblemen
theniselves, represents at the Diet uobridv but himself, and thus
the prior town gains very little by the 'happy invention ;of; a
nobleman Corporate.—London Il; Artias "Austria."

INSTINCT OF BIRDS.—When the lapwing wants to procure
Nod, it seeks for a wm in's cast, and stamps the ground by:the
,side of it with his feet, somewhat in the manner we have often
done when a boy, in order to procure worms for fishing. Aftrr
doing Ibis for a short time, the bird waits for the issue pf .the
worm from the hole, who, alarmed at the slinking of the.poutdr,
endeavours to make its escape, when he is immediately peizetl,
and becomes the prey of this itigeniousbird. The lapwingalso
frequents the haunts of moles. These animals, when In parsait
of worms, on which they feed, frighten them, and, the op, its
attempting to escape, comes lathe surface of the,groun,d,Oirre
they are seized by the lapwing. The same :node -0f:4411144g
his prep has been related of the gull.