The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-07-08 00:00:00

wounding, o

s tolerated

and when

the audience, or rather spectators, have had enough of
the thumping spectacle, the bull is allowed to go back
again to his pastures and get his bruises healed, and
doubtless becomes all the more " meek and mild" for the
drubbing he has received.—Christmas's Shores and Is-
lands of the Mediterranean.

DANGEROUS BIRD -NESTING.—WhiIe Alexander Wil-
son, the subsequently celebrated ornithologist, was strug-
gling against poverty in his early days as a weaver, he
was much importuned by a shopmate to write him an
epitaph. This individual had excelled in little, except,
to use the expressive Scottish word, daundering about
the hedge-rows on Sundays, in search of birds' nests.
After much pressing, Wilson complied, and hit off the
following :

" Below t

stane John Allan rest,

t hail Sabbatli'da'ys foi= nest

But always sought in vain."
Had Mr. Allan pursued his nidal investigations in Ja-
maica, his curiosity might have met with an unpleasant
check. A young gentleman of similar tastes, observing a
parroquet enter a hole in a large duck-ant's nest situated
on a bastard cedar, mounted to take her eggs or young.
Arrived at the place, he cautiously inserted his hand,
which presently came in contact with something smooth
and soft ; he thought it might be the callow young, but
Laving some misgivings, descended and procured a stick ;
having again mounted, he thrust in the stick, and forced
in the whole upper part of the structure, when, to his
utter discomfiture and terror, an enormous pellow boa
was disclosed, his jaws retaining the feathers of the par-
roquet, which had just been swallowed. The serpent in-
stantly darted down the tree, and the curious youth de-
sc2nded scarcely less rapidly, and fled, cured for a time
of bird-nesting.—Bentley's Miscellany.
A BULL AT A PICNIC.—A singular incident occurred
to a select party of ladies, who last week went into the
country to enjoy a social picnic. These fair ones having
selected a field, not far distant from this town (Doug-
las), which they thought would just suit their purpose,
proceeded to make the necessary arrangements ; and,
having found a rising knoll, the cloth was speedily laid,
and over this cloth was placed, in due order, cold ham,
tongue, pies, tarts, biscuits, cheese, butter, with a quan-
tum sufficit of ale, porter, wine, and other accompani-
ments. It appears that in this field some cows were
quietly grazing ; but they had with them what the ladies
should not have overlooked, a protector, and, just as the
ladies were going to partake of the good things which they
bad provided, Master Bull walked forward in great ma-
jesty, and introduced himself into the society with some
loud boohs ! As he did so, the daughters of Eve screamed,
scampered off, and climbed up some trees which were for-
tunately close by. The bull, having a fair field, upset
with his horns the table-cloth, with its contents, scatter-
ing them in admirable confusion in various directions ;
and, to make the business more agreeable, he remained
some hours on the same spot, apparently enjoying the
sport which he had occasioned ! When it suited Master
Bull's convenience, he at length took his departure, and
the ladies effected a speedy retreat to town ; but they are
determined never to patronise another picnic without
having the protection of some of the lords of the creation,
—nor are we inclined to blame them for this judicious re-
solve.—Manx Sun.

THE Two FIRST GF.ORGES.—George the First kept
his wife far away from England, immured in a continental
dungeon, while the two Hanoverian ogresses f his harem,
the " Schulenberg" and the Kielmanseck," the " May
Pole" and the " Elephant and Castle," as they were nick-
named, openly disposed of place and pension, selling rank
and honour to the highest bidder. He hated his son and
successor, who returned the compliment with interest,
and destroyed his father's will as a last actof filial reverence.
George the Second selected his wife as the special confi-
dante of his various connubial peccadilloes, all his liaisons
being by kind permission of his better half,—an agreeable
and respectable domestic arrangement. As he and his
father detested each other mortally, so did he and his
queen continue this family affection in the direct line, by
a cordial abliorence of their own eldest son, which occa-
sioned many scenes, and much expenditure of passion, to
the scandal of the few who thought correctly, and the
amusement of the many who preferred mischief above
everything. The king inquired of his wife, as the safest
authority, whether " the beast," meaning the Prince of
Wales, was really his son. Her majesty assured him he
was, and then expressed her maternal feelings as follows :
7" My dear first-born is the greatest ass, and the greatest
liar, and the greatest canaille in the whole world, and I
most heartily wish he was out of it." There was at least
no mystification in these little family dissensions. Fre-
derick,. Prince of Wales (the father of George III.), who
die d 1741, was undoubtedly a very objectionable person,
and his demise a public benefit, as it made way for the
succession of a much better man
{.—Monthly 21Iagazine.
AmEalcxN FASHIONABLE ANNERS.—At the opera,
if anywhere, in a capital like this, one looks to find gentle-
men and such good manners as are'
conventional all over
us
the world. It is the one public
ent which has
been selected as the centre for a draenasseexmclarige
sub-
stitute for a general drawing-room—a refinedl attraction
ionwhich the ill-mannered would not be likely to frequent,
and around which the higher classes might gather for the
easier interchange of courtesies, and for that closer view
which aids the candidacy of acquaintance. To the main
object of an opera, music is, in a certain sense, secondary ;
and should be considered as but a lesser part of the value
received for the price of an opera ticket. A foreigner
standing against the stair railing of the Astor Place Opera
lobby, between the acts, and coolly looking around upon
the male crowd, would imagine that the men were most
intimately acquainted, or obstinately determined not to
be acquainted at all—there is such an utter absence of
any form of politeness in meeting, greeting, parting, or
passing by. A man in white gloves goes elbowing through
the crowd, shoving and incommoding twenty people,
without care or hesitation ; another knocks your hat out
of your hand, and never dreams of picking it up or beg.
sing Pardon third intrudes upon two who are waver,-

ing, and perhaps takes the arm of one and draws him
away, without the slightest excuse or acknowledgment
to the other left behind ; a fourth is reminded by a polite
foreigner that he is losing his handkerchief, or that
another gentleman is beckoning to him, and expresses
no thanks in return. There are no polite phrases to be
overheard ; no hats seem to be lifted; no smiles of
courtesy or indications of respectfulness at the greeting
of older men ; and no sign of the easy and unconscious
hilarity which marks a man not on the look-out for a
slight—none of the features, in short, which make up the
physiognomy of a well-bred crowd in an opera lobby of
Europe.—Hurry-Graphs, by N. P. Willis.