The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-03-12 00:00:00

THE LIVERIPOOL STANDARD

VARIETIES.

A SOLDIER'S LOVE.-It has often been remarked the
singular regard old soldiers have for the companions of
their toils—old boots. I have seen many instances, but
the most remarkable man I knew in that way was the
late Colonel Vaumarell, of the 30th Regiment. He was
indeed a man of " infinite " boots, and the amount of
his treasure in that article was beyond guessing at ; the
boys of the regiment said that there were at least a hun-
dred pair, secured in a chest fastened with a huge padlock,
which they called " Locke on the Understanding."—
United Service Magazine.

FLAVOUR OF BUTTER.—At this season of the year, at
least one-half of the butter made in the agricultural coun-
ties is rendered disgusting to many, and more or less of-
fensive to all palates, by the flavour of turnips. The fol-
lowing is an old-fashioned but complete "antidote to the
flavour imparted by turnips to milk, cream, and butter."
Make a strong infusion of nitre (saltpetre), by pounding
it in a mortar, and pouring boiling water upon it. Let a
dessert spoonful of this solution for every two gallons of
milk be stirred up in the warm milk as soon as it is brought
in, and all the flavour of turnips will be removed.—Agri-
cultural Gazette.

THEATRE-ROYAL, COVENT GARDEN.—The council of
the Anti-Corn-Law League having taken this splendid
national establishment, it will henceforth be devoted to
the production of a rapid succession of novelties, which
will be supported by all the usual talent of the League, in
addition to the celebrated Irish actor, Mr. Daniel O'Con-
nell, who has been engaged at an enormous sacrifice, and
who will go through his astonishing round of characters.
Among th'e earliest productions will be a new version of
the " Tales of my Landlord ;" and it is probable that a
new farce by Sir Robert Peel, under the very peculiar title
of " Total Repeal," will be among the accepted novelties.
In answer to numerous inquiries, it is respectfully an-
nounced that Lord John Russell's favourite interlude,
called " Fixed Duty," will not at present be brought for-
ward. The whole of the arrangements not being yet
completed, the council can only furnish the following
partial list of the company :—Heavy Old Man, Mr.
Hume; Eccentric Comedy, Sir Charles Napier; Juvenile
Tragedian, Mr. Cobden ; Walking Gentleman, Mt. James
Wilson. In order to render the buffo department as
complete as possible, an engagement will be offered to
Lord Brougham.—Puuch.
PRECEDENCE IN RUSSIA.—In point of precedence in
society in Russia, as the reader may suppose, all is ar-
ranged by the " code militaire," and a prince, or noble,
of the highest class, not in the Imperial, whatever may
be his title, birth or wealth, in " pride of place" ranks
below the junior cornet or ensign in the community ; while
a tinge of absurdity attaches itself to the precedure, and
causes a smile on the traveller, when he hears the position
of the venerable the judges, the senators, the heads of the
different civil departments, government factories, &c.,
&c., determined by their military rank, and themselves
not unfrequently addressed by its style and dignity. Ima-
gine, for example, the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of
Queen's Bench being saluted as His Excellency the Right
Honourable Lord Denman, Lord Chief Justice, and—
General-in-Chief I ! In Russia. with the exception of the
sturdy noblesse of Moscow. and the resident nobility and
gentry of the German provinces, a person of independent
fortune, who is not in the immediate employment of, or
bas not served under the government, is rarely met with,
and a native merchant, though wealthy in the extreme,
and possessed of the highest degree of commercial talent
and information, is disregarded and despised ; even tredi.
cal practitioners, not in the military service, however they
may be remarkable for worth, ability, and skill, are not
viewed in a much better light.

ROOKS.-If any one will carefully study the habits of
the rook, he will cease to persecute him. Just watch him
in a field of autumn-sown wheat, and be wilt ue found
digging at the root of the sickly plant, not for the seed,
but the grub or the larvae of some earth caterpillar. See
him again examining the grass and clover fields for in-
sects. " The farmer's busy time," says an accomplished
author, " is their (the rooks' \ busy time ; they feel that
he (the farmer) is as necessary to their present profit as
they are to his future : or they act as if they felt so'
which, in effect, comes to the same thing. If he will not
bring out his team, turn the soil, and expose the worms
and grubs, they caw over his fields, and make the same
lamentation that a hungry man does when he knows there
is meat in the house, but the careless servant has lost the
key of the larder. But if the teams are afield by times
slicing the sward or the stubble, and turning up the fresh
fragrant earth to be mellowed by the action of the sun,
there is not a complaining note among all the fieldward
rooks. Gallantly they strut, and incessantly they peck
up the lavree and the worms, so that the returning plough
cannot bury, and so preserve in the soil, a destructive
thing." We have repeatedly seen rocks shot, and on
examination, found their crops full of worms. During
the period when the parents are feeding the young brood,
the number of worms that a crow will carry to a nest at
a time is almost incrediole.

LENT.—Lent is derived from the old Saxon word lenct,
signifying the spring of the year. The ancient Christians
abstained wholly from food until the evening of each day
throughout this long fast, and the value of what they
saved by this privation was given to the poor. About 1212,
upwards of one hundred persons were burnt, for venturing
to assert their opinion that it was lawful for Christians
to eat flesh during Lent. Claude Guillon was beheaded
in 1629 for taking away part of the flesh of a horse and
eating the same. Lewis, in his Patriot Kinq, affords us
a striking instance of the tyranny of ecclesiastical juris-
diction even in this kingdom, so late as the Reformation.
" Thomas Freburn's wife, of Paternoster-row, London,"
says that author, " longed for pig. Fisher, a butter
woman, brought him a pig ready for the spit, but carried
a foot of it to Dr. Cocks, Dean of Canterbury, whilst at
dinner. One of the dean's guests was Garter King at
Arms, Freburn's landlord, who sent to know if any of his
family were ill, that he ate flesh in Lent. All well,'
quoth Freburn, ' only my wife longs for a pig.' His
landlord sends tor the titsnop of I, done orparito, n,r,d
orders him to take Freburn and his pig before Stoksley,
the bishop. Stoksley sends him and his pig to Judge
Chalrnly, who not being at home, he and the pig were
brought back to the bishop, who committed them both to
the Compter again. Next day, being Saturday, he was
carried before the lord mayor, who said on Monday next
he should stand in the pillory with one half of the pig on
one shoulder, the other half on the other. The wife de-
sired she might suffer, as the pig was on her account. A
string was put through it, and it was hung about his neck,
which he thus carried to the (ompter again. Through
Cromwell's intercession, the poor man at last gained his
liberty, by a bond of twenty pounds for his appearance.
This mischief-making pig was, by order of the Rightn lev
Fins-
bury Field, by the hands of his lordship's Andapparitor.
the Father in God the Bishop of London, buried
-
Freburn was by his landlord turned out of his house, and
could not get another in four years."
A LITERARY DISCOVERY.—Punch has been again in
a " merry mood." It has now become a worn out joke
that George Robins has the slightest aid in composing
his advertisements. Although the celebrated Charles
Mathews, after dinner one day, 20 years ago, set the table
in a roar, when in one of his merry antics he invented a
story to the effect that a talented clergymen devoted
himself entirely to this art, and in return received £lOOO
a year for his exertions. This is all fudge. We have the
best authority for knowing that, be they good, bad, or
indifferent, they are the genuine offspring of George
Robin's mind. But Lord Brougham will be deligh ed at
the supposition of his having a finger in the pie. Punch
states that—" For some time people have ceased to ask
who wrote Junius, stirred by the more momentous ques-
tion of—Who writes George Robin's advertisements?
Many names have been adduced, and plausibly supported.
Mr. Robert Montgomery was for some time believed by
many to be the man, and we confess we thought we re-
cognised the style of Luther dignifying invitations to pur-
chase house and land. Next, Mr. Grant, the author of
the " Great Metropolis," was named ; and we are pretty
sure that we once detected him in a sale at Horslydown.
However, there can be now no doubt that Lord Brougham
at present holds the auctioneer's quill ; a pleasing fact
(as further illustrative of his wondrous versatility), mani-
fested in the subjoined. Mr. Robins wishes to sell a
lump of agricultural property, and thus the ex-Chancellor
writes of that ' settled question' the corn laws :—" The
adjustment of the great point at issue has arrived at a
great triumphant result. It is at length discovered that,
in the exceedingly intricate task, which required all the
mind, the perspicacity, and depth of intellect possessed
by our first minister in organising his salutary alteration
in the corn laws, he has dealt out a measure of strict
and impartial justice, no less to the manufacturing than
the agricultural interest.' The style alone betray Lord
Brougham ; but when his present praise of Sir Robert
Peel is taken in connection with his many years' abuse,
no doubt whatever can exist of the authorship."
PASTURAGE OF BEES.—In many parts of Scotland,
and I dare say of England too, bees are transported
from one pasturage to another. This cannot be
too highly recommended, and I think I cannot do
better than mention how, when, and whither, the bees
of Carluke are removed. Carluke is situated three miles
north of the Clyde, which runs through the centre, and
drains the greater part of Lanarkshire. About three miles
to the north-east of the village, there is a large track of
land, densely covered with ling, or heather, as it is there
called. About the Ist of March, the stock-hives are re-
moved on very light hand-barrows to the banks of the
Clyde, which abound with sallows, gooseberries, plums,
&c. At t e swarming season, many are taken back to
Carluke, and from the Ist to the 12th of August all are
removed to the heather. In removing bees, it is neces•
sary to ventilate the hives, by raising them off the boards
with thin wedges, or penny pieces, and by placing hair-
combs or pieces of perforated tin on their mouths. Those
bee-keepers who say that ventilation is necessary at any
other time do not know much abOut the habits of the
honey-bee.-Wm. Pettigrew s best top swarms gathered,
as we have heard, 501 b. each in the month of August last
'
year; that is to say, while they were on the heather. In
answer to a question, he says—" I do not believe that
they would have gathered 20Ib. if they had not been taken
to the heather."" And in a letter of September 12th,
1843, he says—A friend has a hive that gathered 151 b.
on the sth, 6th, and 7th of this month ; and, during the
last seven days, one belonging to another person gathered
about 281 b. or 301 b." None of mine have gathered so
mach—onlyi one has gathered 221 b. during the same time.
The s now mostly collected from the blueheads
honev
(devil's-bit), which are not very plentiful where my hives
are ; but I will remove a few of them on the first oppor-
tunity. l'he month of August this year was unfavourable
here ; but I never saw bees collecting, honey in quantity
so far in September before this year. ' In unpropitious
or rainy seasons, hilly and exposed pastures are best for
bees—there they will collect honey ; whereas, if placed
ir the
have
in a valley or sheltered situation, they eat woleraetottihiea they
collected, or what is given to tham. It may be interesting
gardenerstgoreatest
quantityt o o
know,f
ho
n ethat h flowersen tthe
wind blows from any give
point between south and west inclusive.--41. Pettigrew
in the Agricultural Gazette.