The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-10-17 00:00:00

BIINYAN'S ESCAPES.—Bunyan had some providential
escapes during his early life. Once he fell into a creek of
the sea, once out of a boat into the river Ouse, near Bed-
ford, and each time he was narrowly saved from drown-
ing. One day, an adder crossed his path. He stunned it
with a stick, then forced open its mouth with a stick and
plucked out the tongue, which he supposed to be the
sting, with his fingers ; " by which act," he says, " had
not God been merciful unto me, I might, by my despe-
rateness, have brought myself to an end." If this, in-
deed, were an adder, and not a harmless snake, his escape
from the fangs was more remarkable than he himself was
aware of. A circumstance, which was likely to impress
him more deeply occurred in the eighteenth year of his
age, when, being a soldier in the Parliament% army, he
was drawn to go to the siege of Leicester, in 1645. One of
the same company wished to go in his stead ; Bunyan
consented to exchange with him, and this volunteer sub-
stitute, standing sentinel one day at the siege, was shot
through the head with a musket ball. " This risk," Sir
Walter Scott observes, " was one somewhat resembling
the escape of Sir Roger de Coverley, in an action at
Worcester, who was saved from the slaughter of that ac-
tion by having been absent from the field."—Southey.

FOLLY OF INFIDELITY.—The Times of Wednesday has
the following remarks, which are of a character not often
found in that journal :—" Man has for the most part mis-
conceived the use of the great facts which have been gra-
ciously placed within his reach through the instrumentality
of science and research. In his fond conceit he would
throw aside his allegiance to God, and, arrogating to him-
self the command of the very elements, would, from having
learned to use, fool himself into the vain imagination that
he could create the world afresh, and fashion it more in
accordance with his finite understanding. To this end
does the Age of Reason insidiously urge its victims ; nor
are they few, for the plant is of rapid growth. Deadly
though the poison is which lies concealed within the cap-
tivating exterior of this plant, we fear that there are few
of its cultivators who have taken the trouble to analyze it
and to test its properties with patient assiduity and an
earnest desire to elicit the truth. Captivated by the per-
fumed atmosphere which ever floats around the object of
their admiration, they are dead to all its inherent defects ;
and pluming themselves on their own fancied superiority
over those who acknowledge the trammels of loyalty, sub-
jection, faith, and allegiance to the Supreme, they on all
sides spread their toils for the waverer and wanderer from
the fold of the true Shepherd. Of these there is never
any lack, and many there be who fall into the net thus laid
for them, for the creed of the Freethinkers is, to minds
untutored by education and moral culture, a most inviting
study •, it can be be shuffled off or on, as the humour suits,
with the slightest exertion of the wearer ; and, if it holds
out no prospect of reward, it at least is silent as to punish-
ment. Little matter of wonder is it, then, that during
the excitement of pursuit, and at a period when the life-
blood courses through man's veins and arteries with
healthy rapidity, such notions as were professed by a Bo-
lingbroke, a Volney, or a Shelley appear in their holyday
attire. If, however, we trace these men in their hiding-
places, and sift their secret thoughts in that fearful moment
when the pulse flags, and the limbs refuse their office,
while the restless soul, hanging between Heaven and Hell,
can find no city of refuge, and compare their last hours
with those of the meek but steadfast believer and the
practical Christian, the tinsel will soon drop from off the
worthless theory, and the doubting disciple of a creed
which begins and ends in nothing will be rudely awakened
to his danger, and fly for succour and protection from his
own devices to the foot of his Saviour's cross."

ECONOMY OF SANATORY EXPENDITURE.—We may
now look forward with confidence to the time when Eng-
land shall possess real towns, approximating in complete-
ness of structural arrangement to the cities of old Rome,
revelling in the wholesome beauty of running waters, open
everywhere to the life-giving influences of sun and air,
with perfect mechanical appliances for removing all things
which can offend taste or endanger health, and conveying
them, suspended in the waters of a mimic Nile, to the
surrounding agricultural districts, where they will cover
cultivated lands with unwonted verdure, and make desert
sands and barren moors to blossom as the rose. In the
Public Health Act there are the necessary powers for ac-
complishing this, and much more. Such things are, so to
speak, latent in the letter of the act. But the spirit of the
act—the idea that is striving for expression and develope-
ment—the broad generalization which has this for its first
substantial embodiment—what is it but the divine wisdom
which has clothed itself in the homely English proverb,
PREVENTION better than CURE ? This is the spirit which
animates those material forms, the Model Loging-house,
the Bath and Washhouse, the Ragged Schoodl, and all the
mighty works of the New Philanthropy, mighty even now
in accomplished good, mightier still in promise. The car-
nal eye sees in these model lodging-houses mere improve-
ments in structural arrangement ; but the spiritual vision
discerns a series almost infinite of combinations and asso-
ciations for bringing about in sober seriousness all that is
good or desirable in the benevolent schemes of Owen and
Fourrier ; first of all, association for cheap and wholesome
accommodation; next, association for economical con-
sumption ; and, lastly, perhaps, (but this is much less de-
sirable and much more difficult,) for cheap production. To
what extent this principle may be carried out, and of what
developments it is susceptible, no man living can form a
just idea ; but every one must see the intimate bearing
which a good sanitary bill must have upon it, in the large
facilities which it affords for all structural improvements.
In one point of view, to which we have already briefly re-
ferred, the bill is peculiarly important. In common with
the Metropolitan Sewers' Commission Bill, it gives the
necessary powers for dealing with those mines of liquid
wealth, the guano streams of England. Their waters,
rich in all the elements of fertility, can now be conveyed
to the land for the production of food, and to the confu-
sion of face of all who hold to the dispiriting theory of the
pressure of population on the means of subsistence.—
Frazer.

HAYDN'S EARLY LIFE.—Poor, freezing with cold in a
miserable garrat, he studied by the side of his old broken
harpsicord : the ardour of his genius alone left to animate
him in contending with the difficulties of the way. At
length, he was fortunate enough to obtain some lessons in
Italian singing from his introduction to the family a Ve-
netian nobleman, Ambassador at Vienna. The famous
Porpora was still retained in his household, and Haydn
most eagerly sought his favour, in the hope of obtaining
also his instruction. Humiliation, and many a " hope
deferred," he had to endure ; for Porpora was ill tem-
pered beyond conception, and although poor Haydn rose
early every morning to brush his coat and shoes, and ar-
range his whig in the nicest order, in expectation of pro-
pitiating him, he had seldom more than the polite epithet
of " fool " bestowed on him for his pains. And this was
to the future illustrious author of the " Creation." At the
age of nineteen, his voice breaking, he was expelled from
his class at the St. Stephen's Church, where he had sung
eleven years, and his only asylum was in the house of a
whig-maker named Keller. Unfortunately his residence
there had a fatal influence on his after life ; for his host,
too desirous seemingly of making ample provision for his
young guest, proposed uniting him to one of his daugh-
ters, whilst Haydn engrossed in his studies, having no
thoughts of love, made no objection ; and afterwards
keeping his word with scrupulous honour, the union proved
far from happy. On leaving the house of his friend Kel-
ler (we do not know for what reason), for six long years
he endured a bitter conflict against penury so piercing,
that often during winter he was compelled to lay in bed
for want of fuel and other necessaries. An opportunity at
last presented itself of improving his circumstances ; for
by chance the Prince Esterhazy, a passionate amateur of
music, was present at a concert which very opportunely
commenced with ne of Haydn's pieces. The delight of
the prince was unbounded, and he immediately appointed
the composer sub-director of his own orchestra, and he
demanded who he was. Haydn, in fear and trembling,
advanced, when the Prince exclaimed, " What, is that the
little Moor ?" (alluding to his complexion.) Then, ad-
dressing him, added, " Go and dress yourself as my cha-
pelmaster. You must never appear again in my pre-
sence in the plight you are now. You are too little, and
have a pitiful looking face. Get a new coat and high
heeled shoes, that your stature may correspond with your
mind." Haydn was too happy at his appointment to feel
much ehargrin at this equivocal style of compliment.—
Ainsworth.

ANCIENT MINING ON LAKE SUPERIOR.—The last
Lake Superior news gives a farther account of the dis-
covery of evidences of the working of the copper mines of
that region by a people now extinct, a notice of which was
published some time since. It says the indication which
led to the discovery is a sunken trench upon the line of
vein, which being drifted into disclosed a mass of native
copper lying in this vein, estimated to weigh about seven
tons. The remains of large timbers were found, by which
this had evidently been propped, and beneath it were se-
veral cart loads of ashes and cinders, showing that the
miners had endeavoured to reduce the mass by fire. Se-
veral of the implements used in the mining operations were
found, consisting of stone hammers, a chisel, and a gad of
copper. The perfect state of the point of the latter seems
to indicate that a process of hardening the metal was
known, for the hammer end was most battered. With
the copper of this were some large particles of silver. The
chisel is ingeniously constructed, so as to admit a handle.
No iron instrument was discovered. That the mining
operations were conducted to a greater extent than is
practised by any existing tribe of Indians is apparent from
the fact that the trench sunk upon the vein extends more
than a mile in :ength. The accumulation of earth in the
trench concealed the depth of the workings, except in the
small part reopened ; but here the depth was found to be
twenty-four feet, and the width eight feet. Similar
trenches exist in the neighbourhood, which were traced
for several miles. Not the least interesting part of the
discovery is the evidence of the great antiquity of the
workings. Large trees were growing upon the earth that
had accumulated in the diggings—one of which, directly
over the large mass of copper, proved to be four hundred
years old ! Beneath it were trunks of trees that had pre-
viously decayed or fallen in, and the whole depth of soil
that by the process of time had accumulated upon this
antique furnace was eighteen feet. This mine is about
four miles east of the large mass of copper which was re-
moved from its place some years since, and is now in the
national cabinet at Washington. These mementos of an-
cient aboriginal industry are deserving of more than a mere
passing notice. They may be considered as adding to the
proof that, before the discovery of America, a race existed
on this continent among whom the arts had reached a higher
grade than with the wandering tribes that have succeeded.
The Indians now living in this region know nothing of
the people by whom, or the time when, these operations
were undertaken. They evince a concerted effort which
does not now characterise their present feeble efforts in
the arts. It is somewhat singular that among a people so
observant and persevering the use of iron remained
so wholly unknown, since some of the ores, which
exist in vast abundance, and upon the surface, m the Carp
river region. are found to be easily reduced to a valuable
steel by the heat of a common forge. A knowledge of the
use of iron might have changed the destiny of that people,
as it may be said to have done that of the race who now
triumph, in the pride of art and power, over their almost
perished memorials.—Neut lark Commercial Advertiser.