The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-04-16 00:00:00

REMOVAL OF THE ASSIZES.

The solicitors of Manchester are vigorously.perseven:
ing in their efforts to obtain an adjournment of the
sizesas-
for the county of Lancaster to the borough of Liver-
pool and the town of Manchester. The following is a
copy of the petition about to be presented to the House of
Commons on the subject :

To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, in Parliament assembled.
The humble petition of the undersigned Attorneys-at-Law,
residing at Manchester, in the county of Lancaster,
Sheweth,—That the county palatine of Lancaster is divided
into the six hundreds of Lonsdale, Amounderness, Blackburn,
Leyland, Salford, and West Tier by.
That the population of the county, according to the last cen-
sus, is 1,335,800.

That the population of the several hundreds in the county,
according to such census, is as follows :
Lon sdale
Amounderness
Blackburn 168,057
Leyland 48,3:38
West Derby. 380,078
Salford. 612,414
That assizes are held at Lancaster, the county town, twice
every year; at which the civil and criminal business of the
whole county is transacted.
That Lancaster is distant from Manchester and Liverpool
fifty-three miles; and the average distance of Lancaster from
the hundred of Salford is forty-nine miles, and from the hun-
dred of West Derby fifty-one miles. -
That the number of causes, supplied by the hundreds of Sal-
ford and West Derby, may be estimated at from three-fourths
to four-fifths of the whole number entered for trial at the assizes
for the county, as will appear to your honourable house by the
following table, which has been taken from authentic lists of
causes published at Lancaster :
Lens. Amound. Blackburn West Derby
and Leyland. Salford. and Elsewhere.
1826 61 151 163
1827 74 176 210
1828 69 118 • 114
1829 55 141 145.
18.30 61 111 182
1831 57 87 110 4
1832 54 132 126 •
That commissioners, appointed to inquire into the practice
of the Court of Common Pleas at Lancaster, and to consider
the propriety of removing the assizes from Lancaster, have, in
their report, published by the order of your honourable housb'
on the 20th of July last, stated, that 'lt cannot be doubted,
that the practice of holding the assizes at a place so distant as
Lancaster, from the populous districts of the country,—froin
which the crown calendar and cause list, at the, assizes, are
principally supplied,—and accessible to them but by one route,
is attended with a burdensome expense to the parties, great hin-
drance to the administration of justice, and with the most seri-
ous inconvenience to jurors and witnesses."
That the experience of your petitioners enables them to Con,-
firm the above statement, and also most fully to concur in the
further report of the said commissioners, that " The great
expence of a, cause, arising in one of the southern districts
of the county, consists in the costs of witnesses; which fre-
quently constitute one half of the total expense of the suit;
that the expense of carrying witnesses from Manchester or
Liverpool to Lancaster, and maintaining them there, amounts,
on an average, to not less than seven pounds each witness;
that it is probable, in a majority of cases, the costs of,witnesses
alone exceed the amount of the sum recovered; and it has been
justly observed, that the expense thus occasioned, at a single
assizes, exceeds all that could be saved, by paring-down minor
expenses, in the course of ten years; and that the great expense
of a cause, thus occasioned, principally by the costs of witnesses
coupled with the further circumstance tliat the costs allowed on
taxation are, in all eases, inadequate to the costs actually in-
curred, is productive of intolerable hardship and injustice."
That your petitioners respectfully submit ,to your honourable
house, that the trial of prisoners, for offences committed in the
hundred of Salford, at so remote a part of the county as Lan-
caster, occasions great and unnecessary expense to the county ,•
is burdensome to jurors and witnesses; and productive, in all
cases, of great hardship upon, and in some, of positive injustice
to prisoners, who cannot afford the expense of procuring the
attendance of witnesses on their behalf.

. . .. __
That there is a gaol in Salford, in the parish of Manchester,
of large extent; which might, at a moderate expense,'be en-
larged and made capable of accommodating all the prisoners
who are now committed to the castle of Lancaster to take their
trials for offences committed within the hundred of Salfird:
and your petitioners believe, that the saving in the expenditure
of the county, by holding assizes at Manchester and Liverpool,
would be so great, that the expense of enlarging the said gaol,
or of erecting a new one, if necessary, would be paid out of such
saving, in a very short time, in the expenditure of the count '.
Your petitioners therefore humbly pray your honouta le
house, to pass a bill for the adjournment of the assizes for tthhe
county of Lancaster, from the county town, to the towns of
Manchester and Liverpool.
1 . And your petitioners will ever pray, &c,
. .

334

'P&p.
rnEr rentE MERRY svAnkrn wpm's.

Tarr come! the merry summer months et Beauty, Gong, and

Vidwerk;
They aide! the gladsomestubnths that yringthitk leafiness toixAverih
Up, up, my heart ! and.waik 'abroad, fling mrk and care aside,
Seek silent hills, or rest *thyself 'where peaceful waters glide,;
Or, underneath the slaidow vast 91';patriarehal bee,
klean through its leaves the eldudiews sky in rapt tranquillity.

:The grass is soft, its velvet touch is grateful to ihe-hand,
And, like the kiss of maiden love, the breeze is sweet and bland;
The daily and the buttercup are nodding courteously,
It:stirs their blood, with kindest lave, to bless and'wdloomelltoe ;
And Mark how with thine own thitflocks*they•now•lite kilyery grey.—
That blissful breeze is wantoning, and whispering "liettryi "

There limo cloud that sails along .the ocean of yen a ky,
But hathits own winged mariners to give it melody :
Thou eeeist their glittering fans outspread all gleaming like red gold,
And hark I with shrill pipe-musical, their merry course they hold.
God bless them all, these little ones, who far above this ealth,
Can make a scoff of its mean joys, and vent a nobler mirth.

But soft! mine ear upcaught a sound, from yonder.wood itcatne ;
The spirit of the dim green glade'did breathe his own glad name;—
Yes, It is he The hermit bird:that apart from all his kind,
Slow spells.his beads monotonous to the soft western wind ;
Cuckoo ! Cuckoo I he sings again—his notes are void of art,
But simplest strains do soonest sound the deep founts of the heart I

Good Lord ! it is a gracious boon for thought-crazed "right like me.
To smell again these summer flowers beneath this summer tree!

To suck once more in every breath their little souls away,
And feed my fancy with fond dreams of youth's bright summer day,
When, rushing forth like untamed-colt, the reckless truant boy,
Wandered through green woods all day long, a mighty heart of joy
I'm sadder now, I have had cause ; but oh l I'm proud to think

That each pure joy-fount loved of yore, I yet delight to drink ;
Leaf, blossom, blade, hill, valley, stream, the calm unclouded sky,
Still mingle music with my dreams, as in the days gone by.
When summer's ioveliness and light fall round me dark and cold,

I'll bear indeed life's heaviest curse—a heart that bath wax'd old !
Mothenoell's Poem.

ZEt'L ES.

We find the following notice under the head of "Fashionable
Movements," In 'the Settler, a Montreal paper:—"lteuben's
printing press is recently gone to the dogs."

So great a martinet in -his profession was Archbishop Laud,
that though adrairiug the talents of Shirley, who afterwards be-
came a celebrated dramatic poet, he refused to ordain him on
account of having a mole on his cheek.
ANCIENT 'DESCRIPTION OF THE Ecuo.—Since, of all the
objects of musical imitation, no one is more obvious, or has
more generally employed the talents of composers, than the
phenomenon of the Echo, the following description of it, found
an a book, entitled "A Strange 'Metamorphosis of Man trans-
formed into a Wildernesse," (published in 1631,) seems to merit
notice :—" The echo -is the iris of the eare, as the iris is the echo
of 'the eyes. She is the true cameiion of the aire, that changes
into every colourable sense. The Proteus that transforms her-
selfe to every shape of Words, She is the ivamourata of the
forrest, that will be taken with every ones love, and as Narcis-
sus with his own beauty, be enamoured with her owne tongue,
and take delight toheare herselfe speake. Yea, she is a thing,
or ndthing, a tattling gossip, a mecre babler, a teller of tales;
one that bath no substance in her, but is a weer accident, in
that she comes suddenly upon you unlooked for. She is of a
strange qualitie, who takes delight to affright the ignorant and
simple; will play the hobgobliu, the fairie of the woods, least in
sight, or wholly out of sight. Though -shee bee a talker,-and
full of her tongue, yet she hath no invention with her, nor can
tsontrive any thing of-her owne, forshe speaks but by hear.saye,
only shecutters, and that upon trust of another, nor can tell
/you the author, unloose he discover it himselfe. She bath no
Inemosic at all, and therefore can remember but the last words
shee hearer, which she will do very faithfully indeed, and not
leave.you out a tittle. She hath no certaine tone of her owne,
Ilutras she is taught, immediately before which she wilt exactly
imitate, if her master bee present, else not, for shoe cannot re-
taine her lesson long, but must instantly recite it, or else rho is
,no bodie. She will keepe her key well if she sing, and never
anisseit, if 'he thatis the rector chori guides the quiro mistake
dt not; •and when shoe sings at any time, she sings no 'distinct
part from her fellow, or the rest of the parts, .for she bath no
-skill-atall to compose or set a whit, or to runne descant on a
ground, but sings the very same the others do. She dares not
.stand to-any thing she saith, but goes her-Wayes presently, and
never yet durst shew her face. She is a very monster and
,a
prodigie of-nature, having no body to speake or; at least as small
and slender as the gyre, -and yet bath a -mouth as wide as the
valleyes. She hathao•proper tongueof her owe, but what she
borrowes. If the ,iyon roare, she•roares likewise; if the heyfer
Lowe, she lowcs as loud; -if the wolfehut -bowie she howler for
company : yea, rather than stand out, - she will bray with the
"eerie asse but is -never better in her q, indeed, than when she
%pet the nightingale, especially-in their fughes, for then you
would thialse them both starke madde, while they follow one
=another soslose at theheeles, and yet can never overtake each
•other. She is a right'wornan,•that can keepe no counsel!, and
et grill bee readie to intrude,herselfe-into everie ones counsel!,
but as soone as shee hath it out it goes straight, life-or death,
•all is one to her. She were good to make a prayer of the stug,e,
`for-she would take her cues excellently well. She -is -no Cice-
-ronian, nor-apt fur fluent styles; -but a Lipsian right, and fitter
`for a briefe manner of-speech dialogue-wise. All her poetry is
-thiefiy in Sapphieks or tambicks at most, for she cannot abide
the examiter or heroical verse, because too long for her. In
fine, though she bee a common speaker-and teller anewes (as
I said) yet makes she a conscience to devise any of herselfe,
and therefore would hardly serve to be the secretarie of false
fame; but being once broached, let her alone to blaze it abroad
through all the wilderness."

Wolf, the missionary, who is now rambling through Asia,
and rejoicing in the perilous encounter of Rajahs, tigers, angry
Israelites and dagger-bearing Moslems, will probably soon give
a, new public interest to one of the most popular conceptions
that ever fell into oblivicrn,—the existence of the lost tribes of
Isr4el. The-present object of this indefatigable rambler is de-
' claredly to bring to light:the retreats of the famous revolters of
Jeroboam. What resources for the discovery he may find in
his own possession, we-must leave to time. But if he should
condescend to take his wisdom from the pages of the Robbins,
:he-will find them ready and'copious in suppiying'him with the
most unhesitating information on every point of possible curio-
- city. The 'Rabbi Benjamin, in his work, Massnoth Shel.Babbi
Benjamin, long since informed the wondering world, that "from
'the city Radar, formerly called Pombeditha, on the banks of the
,Euphrates, it is exactly twenty-one days' journey through the
desert of Saba, in-the-direction of Sham; to the frontier of the
'conntry-ollect•that of'the Rechabites. Their capital is the city
of Tema., where the Prince Chanau, who is also a Rabbi, governs
'the nation. The city is of large dimensions, and the territory
Is worthy of the capital. It extends sixteen days' journey be-
. -tween the northern mountains. The people are numerous and
warlike, yet they are subject to the Gojim, a gentile power,
which forays to a great distance, in company with some hordes
of wild Arabs, who live on their northern boundary. "Those
-Itechabite Jews plough, and' keep cattle, give the tenth of their
possessions to the scribes and sages, wholiVnin the schools, and
especially-to those-who mourn over Sion, and neither eat flesh
nor drink wine, but who perpetually wear black garments, in
sign of -the sorrows of Jerusaiem. The number of the people
living in Tema and Tilima, is about-100,900. And thither come,
once in the year, Prince 'Solomon, and•his brother Chanan,of
-the line of David, with shattered clothing, to' fast forty days,
and, pray for the miseries of those Jews'who are in exiie. In
the country of •the 'Prince-who comes periodically to fastwith
the Rechabites, the people scent to be tolerably prosperous. Ile
'has fifty cities, two hundred villages, and an•hundred fortresses.
Iliscapital is Thenai, remarkably strong, and fifteen miles
square, containing fields, gardens, and orchards. Tilima is
also- a-very strong city, seated' in the mountains. 'From Tiiima
it is •threndays' journey to Kibar, where the, people declare
themselves .of the tribes Reuben,. Goa, and 'the half tribe'of
which(Slitilmaliezer, the Assyrian, carried into cap-
.' ti-vity. They are a singularty belligerent race; they have large
and strong cities. They wage coirstant hoStilities with their
'_neighbours, and are almost-secure of impunity, by having in their
'frontier a'desert of eighteen:days journey, utterly uninhabitable
'by-man. The city of liibar Atsotzs large, With about fifty thou-
sand Jews among the inhabitants. They carry on frequent wars
with the-people of Sinear and the north. The other liraelites
spread to they east; and the country Of Aliman touches even the
!burders of India." We are in some fear that these nannA will
-not be found in the,modernmaps ; but the detail is cordident,
'Ana if the missionary should blunder, in the regians between the:
'Euxine and 'the Caspian,' he will have the satisfaction of blun-
dering upon high Rabbinical authority.—Traditiontophe'liat-
kine.-.-Blackzvood's Magazine..

It has been justl,y observed that what are generally called
inien'of fortune Ought not to go to Canada, except they have
determined to fiJt their residence either at Quebec or Montreal.
In these cities not only all the necessaries, but most of the
luxuries of life can be procured with ease and at moderate
prices ; they can enjoy the elegancies of life, refined and lite-
rary society, &e. but of course in a more limited degree than in
Eurepeen cities. Beyond these places such persons must not
attempt to'stir, unless they can determine to become men of the
-werrld, and cheerfully submit to take things as they find them.
And we have no doubt that there are maid), high and noble-
minded men (and those rich men too,) who could live in many
• parts of Canaria, and enjoy more real happiness in witnessitig
aad'prombrifig the developement of a new world than in all the
parade 'and 'ceremony connected with what is called fashionable
life. Canada is, truly Speaking, the .poor man's country ; in it
be can live ccimfortably, and procure good wages, and the man
of small fortune can make Money, acquire property, and pro-
vide for his 'family With comp-arative ease. Emigrants should
not on any account burtheu themselves with heavy or trouble-
some articles when proceeding to 'Canada ; however they will
do well not to omit a 'tolerable supply, of strong warm clothing,
bedding, shirts; and 'houSe linen, cooking utensils, a clock or
time piece,' hosiery, Loots and shoes fit for winter weather, a
few gobd books; also such articles of ironmongery as may be
necessary, such as the iron parts of farming and- gardening im-
plements, a few of the ordinary tools used 'by carpenters, &c.
these'may be added a rifle or fowling
.piece, which the emi-
grant will find both useful and amusing in winter, and fishing
tackle for sumnierepOrt, if his fancy leads him to such amuse-
Iment : a few 'simple medicines, such as epsom salts, calcined
magnesia, castor oil, cream of tartar, ipecacuanha (commonly
called hippoo), and tartarised antimony (called tartar emetic),
will be found extremely useful when the emigrant has got set-
tled. In the selection of a vessel a fast sailer should have the
preference, particularly in the spring ' • a fortnight or three
weeks earlier in arrival at Quebec will be of material import-
ance to the emigrant, since he may, by such timely exertion,
7 put in the ground a small crop, and thus in part.. provide sub-
sistence for the first year, which he should otherwise be Obliged
to purchase. -Small quantities of seeds, such as lucern, trefoil,
turnip, and the ordinary garden seeds, and a few select samples
of potato oats, China or skinless oats, and the large black oat
of the south of heland for seed will be a valuable appendage.
We 'would here observe that working artizans, particularly
blacksmiths, carpenters, bricklayers, ,plaisterers, .masons,
coopers, millwrights, and wheelwrights cannot fail, if they
are industrious, succeeding in any part of the Canadas, and
by one season's work having sufficient to purchase lands in
.a
settled township.—Erans's Guide to Canada.
THE FIDDLE CASE.—A convivial -party of musicians, tired
of singing catches and glees, for further amusement, agreed to
write extemporary verses. But better practised in music than
in poetry, they covered many sheets of paper, without eclipsing
the rhapsodies of Homer, or the heroics of Milton. At length,
one of the company, whose diffidence had .prevented his vying
with such formidable sons of the Muses, put an end to their
abortive labours, by seizing a violin that hung near him, and
singing to his own accompaniment the following impromptu :

A blind man, fed by fiddling,
Had charm'd full many a'street ;
For though he play'd but middling.
The damsels thought it sweet.

He prized his fiddle greatly,
The stick too had his praise ;
The case his wife made lately,
Of half a yard of baize.
One day, led home by Rover,
He had a bridge to pass ;
His fiddle tumbled over,
Stick, case, and all, alas I

lie straight set up a roaring,
And made such dire grimace,
The people round came pouring,
And pitied his sad case.
"Sad ease ! Pshaw I twiddle diddle !"
He cried, with rueful face ;
" Could I regain my fiddle,
The deuce might take the case."

CONDITION OF WOMEN IN ENGLAND.—The youth is accus-
tomed to trade, and sees no reason why he should not drive a
good bargain in a wife, as well as in other affairs. Mother as
well as daughter is resolved that so " respectable" a suitor, who
is " well to do in the world," shall not slip away from them if
they can help it. The female has not the privilege of " making
offers," and therefore thinks it her duty to accept, if she pos-
sibly can, the first which comes, lest she should not get another.
but it so happens that the process cf courtship affordstio means
of enabling the parties to acquire a knowledge of each other's.
character. Some one once replied on being asked the charac-
ter of a woman, " that he had not married to her." He was
right. and so must the matter continue under present regulation.
The lover makes his visits at stated intervals, perhaps every
eveningi, or less frequently, and if bad tempered he can stay
away. He approaches not except in smiles, and in his most
engaging garments; he can put what cheat he pleases upon
the.lady ; he may court two at once, but the lady, having less
freedom, is obliged to have recourse to more art. Be she well
or ill, cheerful or ill tempered, she must submit to be courted
whenever the lover chooses to 'make his appearance,.. and she
dresses her countenance in smiles accordiugiy. * ** There
the lover sits, while the lady tats or knits, and discourses on
such things as Providence has forced on his knowledge, till
mamma escapes for ten minutes to.give orders for some com-
pany" supper; and then the lovers do their tenderness till she
returns. 'fhe principle of giving dinners and suppers as a
matter o f -mercantile marriage business has become so common
in Fiore classes than elle, that a man of refinement would al-
most starve rather than partake of the food of above one person
in a hundred—family men or women. "Sir," said a blunt old
man, " when do you mean to propose for my daughter ? You
have now dined at my house fifty times within the last eighteen
months, and it is time you decided on something." The gen-
tleman Who was a "diner out" by profession, made his bow
and retired.—Monthly Repository.
REMARKS AS TO WORKS TO BE EXECUTED IN THE GARDEN
WITHIN THIS MONTH.—A truly watchful and anxious gardener
will find-never-ceasing occupation within his premises for every
working day in the year; but the latter end of the last month,
and the beginning of this will require his indefatigable exertion.
On this precise season, and his minute attention to it, will turn
all the prosperity of his main crops of every descriptinn—let
him look to those in the first instance and then divide his atten-
tion among the less important objects. He must now draw
earth to the early sown peas and beans, and to kale and cab-
bage plants, as well as to early cauliflowers. Now also is the
critical time to intercept the growth of weeds. If "April
showers bring forth May flowers," they also bring forth an
immediate and abundant growth of coteniporary weeds—let but
a soft shower fa 4; a gleans of genial sun appear, and behold the.
surface of yourlbeds brightening with a pernicious verdure.
Let the hoe ply in all directions amongst the rising plants and
between the rows of peas, beans, cabbages, and cauliflowers
to the seed beds of every description, you must apply a better
implement, the human hoe, commonly known by the title of
" the finger and thumb ;" without this, all your beauteous
sowings will be choked, but with this efficacious tool, you -will
have similar success with the mock doctor in the farce. " How
do you-cure the tooth-ache, Doctor ?" f‘-rinkes and plucks it
out by the root—this we call a radical cure." • Rely on it—no
other operation will make your minds easy, and your plants free,
and that if you neglect it while the "ill.weeds grow apace," the
malady will be. growing 'worse and worse. I must give you a
word here about the American shallot, -and the potato onion,
both of.which I would strongly-recommend. The former. grows,
with proper culture, as large as an egg, and is peculiarly mild
and well-flavoured; the latter is similarly circumstanced with
respect .to flavour, being less pungent than the common onion,
and has all .the additional merit of being easily cultivated by
bulbs on the:surface of- the ground, and of producing-large and
shapely onions, at .the time that those from-the sown crop are
merely fit for salads—some of the best-gardeners are in Devon-
shire, and :this bulb so rare in the gardens of this country has
been cultivated there upwards of twenty years.—Doyle's Practi-
cal Gardener.

We take the speaker,and bother him, and•harrass him, from
twelve o'clock, to three, in order to prepare him for a fresh set
to take.him up.and work him again from five to midnight; and
there,he sits I*Acept when compelled to stand up to call 'us to
,order) "like Patience on a monument smiling at Grief." I
have.looked at him several times,•and have calmly weighed the
matter in my mind, whether I..would endure for the rest of my:
life what he has to endure, or leap into tl)e life to come at once
by the assistance of a halter. Endure it I could not. Lab.bui!
141 y God! what,is any labour compared to that ? aVly readers.
heard my naelaneholy-waihngS-at being obliged-to sit still four
hours and a•hall to hear speeelles at Birmingham, though the
slieechcs were good, and though Iliad the 'hopes every minute
of hearing myself talk in turn. What then would be my suf-
.fea I ngs, if had to %it twelve hours Out of twenty-four, and-hear
others talk,
and have my own tongue tied all tie time l—Ceb-'
bett in. the Lioese Commans.
A gentleman, recently travelling near Hutklersfield, called
out
to a boy, "'Where does -this road go 'to my lad?" " I 'do
not know," said the boy, "where it-gues to, but it is always here
'when I cOme by."

MAW, A MYSTERY.-It is in trifles, the merest trifle, perhaps,
that the disposition of a man is soonest seen ibut in difficulties,
and on trial Only, can his true character be discovered.

A rabbinical kitchen is a spot as awfully superstitious as that
where feraietly was held a witch's sabbath. Two spirits have
been conjured up in the bewitched circle—there haunts Dasher,
the. lawful food, and Treffo, the impure. Remove a pant or
handle a knife, and you raise that multiform demon Treffo,
which no H ebrew dare touch; and whose diabolical agency is
at eternal war with that benevolent spirit tq hungry Jews, their
beloved Rasher. This active diabolism of Treffo is occasioned
by a duplicate set of culinary utensils, to preserve the sanctity
of the Mosaic .kitelren ; those dedicated to butter must not touch
those appropriated far meat. Should a butter-knife be stuck
into a joint,.or e meat-knife be plunged into'butter, that dread
omen would shake a Jewish house. The Basher vanishes for
ever when the Treffo triumphs, and the dinaerless family—for
there is no exorcism to expel this demon—with trembling and
with curses cast away the polluted food, or send it to a stran-
ger in the gates." Moses permits an impure animal to be sold
to an alien. now has this tradition of these duplicate utensils
come down to them, and how has this panic been raised? The
answer is ready. Not a single superstition, indeed, is practised,
Which is not founded on some scriptural phrase ; or, if at a loss
for the highest authority, the physical prohibition is educed
from a metaphorical sense; the manner we shall -now thew.
Moses forbids ".seething a kid in its mother's milk :" as no
reason is assigned, the rabbins, not satisfied with the literal ac-
ceptation of the precept, extend it to all sorts of animals and to
all sorts of mirk; or, they allegorise the text. The cabalists
allege for this prohibition, that the flesh of a kid may not be
cooked in its mother's milk, because milk is the symbol of pity,
and the. flesh that of judgment, and pity and judgment must be
kept distinct. Au aumirable maxim, degraded by its ludicrous
application. Why 'do the tribes of Israel for ever regret the
absence of choice fillets and rumps?- Father Jacob, wrestling
with an angel, had theeliollow of his -thigh put out of joint; and
this hamstringing of their patriarch still occasioning disagree-
able recollections, the sons and daughters of Israel shall never
.regale on .any hind quarter WhateVer.. They may " not eat of
the sinew which shrunk"—so many thousand years ago ! But
they have their subterfuges and their equivocations, as well as
their traditional ordinances. As the Mosaic code has prohi-
bited the use of certain foods which in Europe are medicinal,
such as shellfish, we find that even the Jewish bigot, like his
Roman Catholic brother, can have his conscience accommo-
dated by the subtlety of his rabbin, as the other has flesh in his
Lent by the device of his auricular confidant. A prescription
of the physician is allowed to suspend the law of Moses. A
Hebrew epicurean extorts the favour from his medical friend,
and the palate of the Israelite eagerly relishes the forbidden and
novel aliment. They can relax by connivance. Though stern
and irresistible when their " traditions" are suspected, the rab-
bins, like the Jesuits of the Lettres Provinciales, have their dis-
tinguo and their salvo. It is a rabbinical injunction that a Jew
must not drink wine that has not been made by "a son of the
covenant." In a wipe country this was found perpetually in-
convenient, and we find in Italy how the rabbins escape from
this dilemma by a subterfuge. They declare that " the law was
designed to prevent all intercourse with idolaters, but did .not
extend to the nations among whom they now reside." For their
casuistry, I have compared the rabbins with the sons of Igna-
tius; but they have not usually, like the Jesuits, justified crimes,
or systematised immorality.—A remarkable circumstance of
these rabbinical opinionists, which cane authentically to my
knowledge, May illustrate our subject. A Jewish gentleman,
well known to the scientific world, and moreover a lover of an-
cientromances, had often luxuriated in the descriptions of the
spiendidbanquet of the " Peacock," so famed in the romances
of chivalry. In an hour of fancy he had a peacock killed; the
skin was carefully taken whole from the body, and when the
bird was roasted and richly farted with aromatic' spices, the
skin was nicely replaced, and it was served up with its gorgeous
•plumage. A religious scruple suddenly haunted his mind that
the demon Treffo at on the peacock, and that its flesh was for-
bidden aliment. The Israelite 'despatched the brilliant fowl to
the house of a neighbour, the chief rabbin, for his inspection.
He told his tale, the rabbin alternately looking on the gentle-
man and on the peacock: at length the oracle ! First he-so-
lemnly observed, that there were some things of a doubtful
nature, among which was the eating of peacocks. He opined
that this bird was among the forbidden meats. "Beitso !"
exclaimed the romantic ritualist, "it was the fancy of a mo-
ment, and I have only lost a splendid bird; I have not trans-
greased. Since it is killed, I will send it as a curious dish to
my neighbour, who, being a Christian, is not perplexed by so
ditlicult a ritual as our own. He may partake of the feast of
the peacock." '" I would thank you for it myself," said the
' rabbin. " For what purpose ?" interrogated the ritualist.
"To eat it !" rejoined the master of sentences. "'How ! If
forbidden meat for me !—You understand the consequence ?"
The rabbin, fixing his eyes on the ritualist, and holding his fin-
ger up, as we mark our interjections in writing, to prepare the
reader (here the hearer) for the notable wisdom forthcoming,
and with an emphatic disteiyuol thus opined the opinionist.
" Eating the peacock is, as 1 told you, among the doubtful
things. One rabbin is of one opinion, and another of another.
You have required my opinion as your rabbin; you are bound
to .abide by it. I opine that it is unlawful to be eaten. My
father was of a different opinion; and therefore it may be eaten
by me, because I act on my father's opinion. I accept the pea-
cock ; but I must not ask you to-participate in it." The bird
was lost for the ritualist, and went to the rabbin's table.—The
Genius of Judaism.
LESSON TO Lawyees.—An important jury trial took place
in Edinburgh a number of years ago. The subject at issue was
a property of considerable value in a northern, parish ; and the
question on which the whole turned was the state of the intellect
of -the person who had disposed of it. -A great many witnesses
were examined on either side, and among the rest a shrewd old
man, a cattle-dealer, who was chiefly versant in the language
he was in the daily habit of hearing. Mr. Jeffrey-s-" lam given
to understand that you have been long intimately acquainted
-with the late Mr. Badenach, and I wish you to state to the
Court what was the estimate you formed of his intellectual cha-
racter." Witness—" I kent the man brawly, but never heard
ony thing till his character. To be sure he seldom geed to the
kirk." 'lllr. Jeffrey—" It is not his moral character I wish to
know about, but I do -wish to know, and I insist on your stat-
ing, whether or not you consider the late Mr. Badenach a gen-
tleman of peculiarly quick parts or otherwise. Witness—
" What's your wull, Sir?" Mr. Jeffrey—" Did you think Mr.
'Badenach compos mentis ?" Witness—" Compass mentus !"
Mr. Jeffrey—'" In other words, did lou consider Mr. Bade-
nach's mental faculties to 'be on a par with those of the ge-.
nerality of other men, or otherwise ? ' 'Witness—"A man of
faculties and otherwise!" Mr. Jeffrey—" Why, my Lord, I
can make nothing of this witness." Mr. Cockburn—" My Lord,
my learned broth.er is himself in fault. I shall examine -this,
witness myself." "Weell, 'Saunders," said he, in a most fa-
miliar manner, at the same time handing the witness a snuff-
box to give him a snuff," "hae ye been ony 'thing hug ac
quainted wi' Badenach ?" " Ever since he was the hicht o'
my knee," was his ready reply. " Did ye think," says Mr: Cock-
burn, giving the witness a significant look, " that there was any
thing intill the creature ?" Witness—" Troth man, no that
muckle, nac mair indeed than the spunc stag set' intill him."
Mr. Cockburn—" Could he have been trusted-to sell cattle in
the market?" Witness—" The body coudna hae been lippent
wi' the selling o' a calf. Ony fleshes's bairn might hae cheated.
him." Mr. Cockburn--"The 'witness may retire, I have -no.
more questions to put to him."