The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-02-15 00:00:00

VARIETIES.

KINDNESS TO INFERIOR ANIMA 1, s.—II is impossible to view
-die cheerfulness, and happiness of animals and birds without
pleasure; the latter, especially, appear to enjoy themselves
during the fine weather, in spring and summer, with a degree
of hilarity which might be almost envied. It is astonishing
how much man might do to lessen the misery of these crea-
tures, which are either given to him for food or use, or for
adding to his pleasure, it he were so disposed. Instead of
which, he often exercises a degree of wanton tyranny and
cruelty over them, which cannot be too much deprecated, and
for which no doubt he will be one day held accountable. Ani-
mals are so capable of showing gratitude and affection to those
who have been kind to them, that I never see them subjected to
ill-treatment, without feeling the utmost abhorrence of those
who are inflicting it. I know manly persons who, like myself,
take a pleasure in seeing all the animals about them happy
and contented.—Cows will show their
moving their ears gently,
and putting out their wet noses. Bly old horse rests his head
on the gate with great complacency, when he sees me coming,
expecting to receive an apple or a piece of bread. I should
even be sorry to see my poultry and pigs get out of my way
with any symptoms of fear.—JEssn's Gleanings.

A MADMAN'S FROLIC.—Miss Kelly, in her ." Dramatic RC'
oollectious," relates with great effect a story that Mrs. Mattocks,
the actress, told her. She went to Bedlam with some friends,
and the keeper, pointing to one cell which they had not seen,
said—" Here's one in here who is perfectly quiet so long as you
don't contradict him: mind, I say, if you don't contradict him."
Accordingly they entered the cell, and saw a pale-faced melan-
choly man, with dark eyes, which had a penetrating brightness
peculiar to madmen. lie was in deep thought as they entered.
The party having satisfied their curiosity, were about retiring,
" when (said Mrs. Mattocks) he seized me by the wrist, shut-
ting the door, and placing his back against it, held me in his
firm grasp. Well, young woman, (said he) you're in a
comical situation here, shut in with a madman.' I said, Sir ?'
But you needn't be alarmed ; you are perfectly safe. They
told you I was harmless, didn't they? You needn't answer.
Are you fond of drawing ? I know you are. What is this ?'
he concluded, hoidiug up a paper. A ship' said I. A ship,
is it? You call my tree a ship, do you?' Yes, yes, (said I)
it is a ship.' Oh, and pray what is this?' Obliged to say
something, and not knowing what he thought it was, I answered
• A house,' which it was. A house, eh ! So you call my coach
and four a house, do you ?' So saying he pulled a clasp knife
from his pocket, and opening it with his teeth, at the same mo-
ment swinging me round the cell with his huge arm, said,
6 Now, is it a house or not ?" It is, it is!" Then I'll tell
ou what it is, then—this is a dolphin.' Then holding up the
knife, and gnashing his teeth, said, Can you tell what this is,
and no mistake ?" A knife,' I answered. night, for once,'
said he; and can you tell me what I shall do with it ?' I trem-
bled, and shook my head in silent negative. tell you what
I shall do with it; I shall—scrape my charcoal.'"

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP.-With a
male friend each party has his own pretensions, is careful to
maintain his ground, and feels a rivalship_ even in the midst of
the most entire apparent reciprocity. There is a jealousy;
each party lays down the law, the laws of his own mind, takes
care that there is a clear stage, and summons his faculties to
enable him to render the justice due to his case; even when he
listens to his friend, when he attends with deference, and is
grateful for the light he receives, still he thinks of himself, is
anxious that he should not be found in the act of betraying the
clearness and independence of his understanding, and in the
warmest paroxysms of amity remembers that he and the partner
of his heart are distinct beings. In the graver and more senti-
mental communications of man and man, the head still bears
the superior sway ; in the unreserved intimacies of man and
woman, the heart is ever uppermost. Feeling is the main
thing; and judgment passes for little. We go immediately to
the point, not whether this thing or that thing is true, but how
do you like this thing or that—what pulse of approbation or dis-
approbation, of delight, of emotion, or sympathy, does it rouse
in your bosom? If I and my male friend agree in a certain
opinion, it is mill; I feel so much the more kindly towards
him, so much more gratification in our acquaintance. Still,
however, we are two. But with a female, and that female the
object of my growing partiality and preference, every new
agreement of sentiment and approbation brings us nearer to
each other, removes one more brick from the wall which origi-
nally separated us, dissolves our several identities, and, as it
were, melts us, like different chemical substances, in one cruci-
ble, and mingles us in heart and spirit, with a feeling{, that we
can never thereafter be divided.—Deloraine, by the Author of
Caleb Williams.

InusiTiTv.—The moral government of 'man in society to a
great degree hinges upon the
is question of identity ; in other
words, that everyman is recognisable by his fellows. The sys-
tem of the world such, that, amidst the thousands of millions
of human creatures" that inhabit this globe of earth, each one
is individualised by his features, his figure, his carriage, his
voice, and a multitude of almost unassignable particulars, so
that he is at once identified by the most superficial observer.
There is something in the outline and carriage of every man,
by which he does not fail to be singled out and challenged by
his acquaintance, as far as he can be seen. The distinctions
are subtle, and, as we might at first think, iu a manner unde-
finable; yet are such as to answer every practical purpose.
Were it not for this, what wont(' be the mural and civil govern-
ment of mankind? There may perhaps be persons so firm in
rectitude, that, if no human creatures were privy to their
offence, if only "the midnight moon and silent stars had seen
it," they yet would not endure the consciousness of their own
degradauou. But the mass of mankind are not thus constituted.
They are held in awe by the opinions and censure of each other.
Reputation is the breath of their nostrils, the element by which
they respire. The construction that shall be made of their pro-
ceedings is the thought that awes them; and even the judgment
they shall make of themselves is regulated by the judgment of
their neighbours. We are members of a community, and can
be irarcely said, any one of us, to have a rational existence
independent of our fellows. And if this is the case in coin-
para ively trifling particulars, and what may be called the minor
mora s, now much more essential will it be found in those
weig itier matters by which society is prevented froin failing
into anarchy and barbarism ? Who can tell how few are those
itidiAduals who would be withheld from invading the property
of others, infringing their freedom, or breaking into the cham-
ber of their lives, were not the rest of mankind set, as it were,
as a watch upon their actions; and did they not severely reta-
liate, by legal proceeding or otherwise, upon the aberrations of
Stitytraosgressor ?—Doloraina, by ilia iliAdior of Caleb Williams.