Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1831-05-11
OLD NEWS!

And news much older than their ale, went round"
"H ,ciH be the same thing hundred gears
| hcnce'-is an expression frequently on the lips
of those who seek comfort for little misfortunes
in the recollection that the sense of them cam
not always last-that they themselves will soon
| be no mcre-and that as to them, it will be the
same thing hundred years hence.
Apply the same maxim, in other senses, to
| those who have lived a hundred years past; and
although the world is full of Revolutions, yet it
is equally true that one age in many respects re-
fleets the passions, and feelings, and thoughts.
and acts of another. 1t is true of no situation
more strkingy than in our own vocation Ma
ny of the events which interest us now, interest
| ed our ancestors more than one hundred years
ago-not certainly the very name, but similar in
their character. The news noW is much like
the news hen-more at least than our own vani.
ty would at first sight permit US to believe.
The name Of the celebrated scholar and wit
Robert Burton is known to most readers, though
his famous book is not common one. 1t is
STYLED s.The Anatomy of Melancholy, what it
| is, with all the kinds, causes, symptoms, prog
nostics, and several cures of itr In three parti-
tons, with their several sections, members and
subsections, Philosophicaly, Incidentally, His
torically opened and cut up By Democritus
Junior.'' Sterne is known to have plagiarlsed Sc
veral of the good things IN his Tristram Shandy
from it. The Anatomy" was published in
1876; and Burton in his account of himself and
his book gives the following description of his
own habits:
81 hear new news every day: and those Or
binary rumours of war, plaques, fires, inunda-
tons, thefts, murders, massacres, meteors, CO.
NETS, spectrums, prodigles, apparitions. of towns
| 80
KEY, Persia, Poland etc. daily musters and pre-
parations, and such like, which these tempestu-
Gus times afford; battles fought, SO many men
sea-fights, peace, leagues, stratagems, and fresh
alarms-a vast, confusion of vows, wishes, ac-
tons, edicts, petitions, lawsuits, pleas, laws,
prociamations. complaints, grievances-are daily
brought to our ears: new books every day, pamph-
lets, Guarantees, stories. whole catalogues of vo-
lumes of all sorts, new paradoxes, opinions,
schsms heresies,. controversies in Philosophy,
&C. Now come tidings of weddings, maskings.
mummeries, entertainments, jubilees, embassies,
trophies, trumphs, revels, sports. plays; then
again as in new. shifted scene, treasons. cheat
ng, tricks, robberies, enormous vilainies, in all
kinds, funerals, burials, death o Princes. new
discoveries, expeditions: now cOmica, then ira
| gical matters, To-day, we hear of new lords
and officers created, tom rrow of some great
men deposed, and then again of fresh honours
conferred; one is let loose. another imprisoned:
one purchaseth another breaketh; he thrives,
his neighbour turns bankrupt; nov plenty, then
again dearth and famine; one runs, another rides.
wrangles. laughs, weeps, &c. Thus, daily
hear, and such like, both private and public
news" &c. &c.-Richmond Compiler.
-sse9e9s~
The largest ship now in the world is the NAH
MoUD, lately built at Constantinople, and which
was to have been launched early this year. Her
length is 2S4 feet; and her sides are four feet
six inches thick. On her main deck she is to
mount long brass thirty-two Founders, and on
her lower deck sixty-eight poundcrs-besides
four or more guns carrying enormous stone balls.
The largest ship recorded in ancient history,
was the Great Michael, built in 1908, by James
the 4th of Scotland, one of the first monarchs of
christendom who turned his attention seriously
to maratime power. This Scottish ship was Of
the dimensions Of Noah's Ark-all the workmen
that could be mustered were engaged year and
day in building her-the timber she required
wasted the woods of the Kingdom of Fife and
the money she cost (950,000, in those DAYS an
enormous sum- drained the Scottish treasury
Some writers assert that the account of this ship
is fabulous, but Lindsay of Pittscotie AYERS that
it is true; he says that the GREAT MICHAEL I" had
6 cannons on side, 5 great bassils, two behind
her dock and one before: 500 shot of small ar
tillerv-viz. Myand Falcon and battrel, and
quarter falcon, stings, pestelent serpens and dou