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AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 10, ISSUE 268, AUGUST 11, 1827*** | |
E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram and Project Gutenberg Distributed | |
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THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. | |
VOL. 10, No. 268.] SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 1827. [PRICE 2d. | |
* * * * * | |
HOSPITAL OF ST. THOMAS, CANTERBURY. | |
[Illustration] | |
The subject of the above engraving claims the attention of the | |
antiquarian researcher, not as the lofty sculptured mansion of our | |
monastic progenitors, or the towering castle of the feudatory baton, for | |
never has the voice of boisterous revelry, or the tones of the solemn | |
organ, echoed along its vaulted roof; a humbler but not less interesting | |
trait marks its history. It was here that the zealous pilgrim, strong in | |
bigot faith, rested his weary limbs, when the inspiring name of Becket | |
led him from the rustic simplicity of his native home, to view the spot | |
where Becket fell, and to murmur his pious supplication at the shrine of | |
the murdered Saint; how often has his toil-worn frame been sheltered | |
beneath that hospitable roof; imagination can even portray him entering | |
the area of yon pointed arch, leaning on his slender staff--perhaps some | |
wanderer from a foreign land. | |
The hospital of St. Thomas the Martyr of Eastbridge, is situated on the | |
King's-bridge, in the hundred of Westgate, Canterbury, and was built by | |
Becket, but for what purpose is unknown. However, after the | |
assassination of its founder, the resort of individuals being constant | |
to his shrine, the building was used for the lodgment of the pilgrims. | |
For many years no especial statutes were enacted, nor any definite rules | |
laid down for the treatment of pilgrims, till the see devolved to the | |
jurisdiction of Stratford, who, in 15th Edward III. drew up certain | |
ordinances, as also a code of regulations expressly to be acted on; he | |
appointed a master in priest's orders, under whose guidance a secular | |
chaplain officiated; it was also observed that every pilgrim in health | |
should have but one night's lodging to the cost of fourpence; that | |
applicants weak and infirm were to be preferred to those of sounder | |
constitutions, and that women "upwards of forty" should attend to the | |
bedding, and administer medicines to the sick. | |
This institution survived the general suppression of monasteries and | |
buildings of its cast, during the reigns of Henry VIII. and the sixth | |
Edward; and after alternately grading from the possession of private | |
families to that of brothers belonging to the establishment, it was at | |
last finally appropriated to the instruction of the rising generation, | |
whose parents are exempt from giving any gratuity to the preceptor of | |
their children. | |
Its present appearance is ancient, but not possessing any of those magic | |
features which render the mansions of our majores so grand and | |
magnificently solemn; a hall and chapel of imposing neatness and | |
simplicity are still in good condition, but several of the | |
apartments are dilapidated in part, and during a wet season admit the | |
aqueous fluid through the chinks and fissures of their venerable walls. | |
SAGITTARIUS. | |
* * * * * | |
THE LECTURER. | |
* * * * * | |
MINOR AFFECTIONS OF THE BRAIN. | |
Pain _in the head_ may arise from very different causes, and is | |
variously seated. It has had a number of different appellations bestowed | |
upon it, according to its particular character. I need not observe that | |
headach is a general attendant of all inflammatory states of the brain, | |
whether in the form of _phrenitis, hydrocephalus acutus_, or _idiopathic | |
fever;_ though with some exceptions in regard to all of them, as I | |
before showed you. It is often also said to be a symptom of other | |
diseases, of parts remotely situated; as of the _stomach_, more | |
especially; whence the term _sick headach_, the stomach being supposed | |
to be the part first or principally affected, and the headach | |
symptomatic of this. I am confident, however, that in a majority of | |
instances the reverse is the case, the affection of the head being the | |
cause of the disorder of the stomach. It is no proof to the contrary, | |
that _vomiting_ often relieves the headach, for vomiting is capable of | |
relieving a great number of other diseases, as well as those of the | |
brain, upon the principle of _counter-irritation_. The stomach may be | |
disordered by nauseating medicines, up to the degree of full vomiting, | |
without any headach taking place; but the brain hardly ever suffers, | |
either from injury or disease, without the stomach having its functions | |
impaired, or in a greater or less degree disturbed: thus a blow on the | |
head immediately produces vomiting; and, at the outset of various | |
inflammatory affections of the brain, as _fever_ and _hydrocephalus_, | |
nausea and vomiting are almost never-failing symptoms. It is not denied, | |
that _headach_ may be produced through the medium of the stomach; but | |
seldom, unless there is previously disease in the head, or at least a | |
strong predisposition to it. In persons habitually subject to headach, | |
the arteries of the brain become so irritable, that the slightest cause | |
of disturbance, either _mental_ or _bodily_, will suffice to bring on a | |
paroxysm. | |
The _occasional_ or _exciting causes of headach_, then, are principally | |
these:-- | |
1. _Emotions of mind_, as fear, terror, and agitation of spirits; yet | |
these will sometimes take off headach when present at the time. | |
2. Whatever either increases or disorders the general circulation, and | |
especially all causes that increase the action of the cerebral arteries, | |
or, as it is usually though improperly expressed, which occasion a | |
determination of blood to the head. Of the former kind are violent | |
exercise, and external heat applied to the surface generally, as by a | |
heated atmosphere or the _hot bath_; of the latter, the direct | |
application of heat to the head; falls or blows, occasioning a shock to | |
the brain; stooping; intense thinking; intoxicating drinks, and other | |
narcotic substances. These last, however, as well as _mental emotions_, | |
often relieve a paroxysm of headach, though they favour its return | |
afterwards. | |
3. A disordered state of the stomach, of which a vomiting of _bile_ may | |
be one symptom, is also to be ranked among the _occasional causes_ of | |
_headach_. | |
These _occasional causes_ do not in general produce their effect, unless | |
where a _predisposition_ to the disease exists. This predisposition is | |
often hereditary, or it may be acquired by long-protracted study and | |
habits of intoxication.--_Dr. Clutterbuck's Lectures on the Diseases of | |
the Nervous System_. | |
HYDROPHOBIA. | |
There is no cure for this disease when once the symptoms show | |
themselves. A variety of remedies have from time to time been advertised | |
by quacks. The "Ormskirk Medicine," at one time, was much in vogue; it | |
had its day, but it did not cure the disease, nor, as far as I know, did | |
it mitigate any of its symptoms. With regard to the affection of the | |
mind itself in this disease, it does not appear that the patients are | |
deprived of reason; some have merely, by the dint of resolution, | |
conquered the dread of water, though they never could conquer the | |
convulsive motions which the contact of liquids occasioned; while this | |
resolution has been of no avail, for the convulsions and other symptoms | |
increasing, have almost always destroyed the unhappy sufferers. | |
--_Abernethy's Lectures_. | |
EFFECTS OF KINDNESS ON THE SICK. | |
Under all circumstances, man is a poor and pitiable being, when stricken | |
down by disease. Sickened and subdued, his very lineaments have a voice | |
which calls for commiseration and assistance. Celsus says, that knowing | |
two physicians equally intelligent, he should prefer the one who was his | |
friend, for the obvious reason that he would feel a deeper interest in | |
his welfare. Kindness composes, and harshness disturbs the mind, and | |
each produces correspondent effects upon the body. A tone, a look, may | |
save or destroy life in extremely delicate cases. Whatever may be the | |
prognosis given to friends, in all febrile cases, the most confident and | |
consoling language about the ultimate recovery should be used to the | |
sick, as prophecies not unfrequently contribute to bring about the event | |
foretold, by making people feel, or think, or act, differently from what | |
they otherwise would have done. Again, in chronic cases, as time is | |
required for their cure, by explaining to the patient this fact, we | |
maintain his confidence, we keep his mind easy, and thus gain a fair | |
opportunity for the operation of regimen or remedies; in short, the | |
judicious physician, like the Roman general, Fabius, conquers through | |
delay, by cutting off the supplies, and wearing out the strength of the | |
enemy. In large cities, where the mind is so much overwrought in the | |
various schemes of private ambition, or of public business, anxiety is | |
very frequently the grand opposing circumstance to recovery; so that | |
while the causes which produced it are allowed to operate, mere medical | |
prescription is of no avail. The effects of this anxiety are visible in | |
the pallid face and wasted body. But if the patient be possessed of | |
philosophy enough to forego his harassing pursuits; if he have not, from | |
the contact and cares of the world, lost his relish for the simple and | |
sublime scenes of nature, a removal into the country is of the utmost | |
efficacy. The deformity and conflict of the moral world are exchanged | |
for the beauty and calm of the physical world; and surrounded by all the | |
poetry of earth and heaven, the mind regains its peace, and the health, | |
as if by magic, is perfectly restored.--_Dr. Armstrong's Lectures_. | |
DIET. | |
Experience has taught us that the nature of our food is not a matter of | |
indifference to the respiratory organs. Diseased lungs are exasperated | |
by a certain diet, and pacified by one of an opposite kind. The | |
celebrated diver, Mr. Spalding, observed, that whenever he used a diet | |
of animal food, or drank spirituous liquors, he consumed in a much | |
shorter period the oxygen of the atmospheric air in his diving-bell; and | |
he therefore, on such occasions, confined himself to vegetable diet. He | |
also found the same effect to arise from the use of fermented liquors, | |
and he accordingly restricted himself to the potation of simple water. | |
The truth of these results is confirmed by the habits of the Indian | |
pearl-divers, who always abstain from every alimentary stimulus previous | |
to their descent into the ocean.--_Dr. Paris on Diet._ | |
* * * * * | |
THE MONTHS | |
The season has now advanced to full maturity. The corn is yielding to | |
the sickle, the husbandmen, | |
"By whose tough labours, and rough hands," | |
our barns are stored with grain, are at their toils, and when nature is | |
despoiled of her riches and beauty, will, with glad and joyous heart, | |
celebrate the annual festival of | |
THE HARVEST HOME. | |
BY CORNELIUS WEBBE. | |
Hark! the ripe and hoary rye | |
Waving white and billowy, | |
Gives a husky rustle, as | |
Fitful breezes fluttering pass. | |
See the brown and bending wheat, | |
By its posture seems to meet | |
The harvest's sickle, as it gleams | |
Like the crescent moon in streams, | |
Brown with shade and night that run | |
Under shores and forests dun. | |
Lusty Labour, with tired stoop, | |
Levels low, at every swoop, | |
Armfuls of ripe-coloured corn, | |
Yellow as the hair of morn; | |
And his helpers track him close, | |
Laying it in even rows, | |
On the furrow's stubbly ridge; | |
Nearer to the poppied hedge. | |
Some who tend on him that reaps | |
Fastest, pile it into heaps; | |
And the little gleaners follow | |
Them again, with whoop and halloo | |
When they find a hand of ears | |
More than falls to their compeers. | |
Ripening in the dog-star's ray, | |
Some, too early mown, doth lay; | |
Some in graceful shocks doth stand | |
Nodding farewell to the land | |
That did give it life and birth; | |
Some is borne, with shout and mirth, | |
Drooping o'er the groaning wain. | |
Through the deep embowered lane; | |
And the happy cottaged poor, | |
Hail it, as it glooms their door, | |
With a glad, unselfish cry, | |
Though they'll buy it bitterly. | |
And the old are in the sun, | |
Seeing that the work is done | |
As it was when age was young; | |
And the harvest song is sung; | |
And the quaint and jocund tale | |
Takes the stint-key from the ale, | |
And as free and fast it runs | |
As a June rill from the sun's | |
Dry and ever-drinking mouth:-- | |
Mirth doth alway feel a drowth. | |
Butt and barrel ceaseless flow | |
Fast as cans can come and go; | |
One with emptied measures comes | |
Drumming them with tuneful thumbs; | |
One reels field-ward, not quite sober, | |
With two cans of ripe October, | |
Some of last year's brewing, kept | |
Till the corn of this is reaped. | |
Now 'tis eve, and done all labour, | |
And to merry pipe and tabor, | |
Or to some cracked viol strummed | |
With vile skill, or table drummed | |
To the tune of some brisk measure, | |
Wont to stir the pulse to pleasure, | |
Men and maidens timely beat | |
The ringing ground with frolic feet; | |
And the laugh and jest go round | |
Till all mirth in noise is drowned. | |
_Literary Souvenir_. | |
* * * * * | |
ARMORIAL BEARINGS AT CROYDON PALACE. | |
(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.) | |
Sir,--In No. 266 of the Mirror, _Sagittarius_ wishes to know the name of | |
the person whose armorial bearings are emblazoned at Croydon palace. | |
From the blazon he has given, it is rather difficult to find out; but I | |
should think they are meant for those of king Richard II. Impaled on the | |
dexter side with those of his patron saint, Edward the Confessor. | |
Bearings that may be seen in divers places at Westminster Hall, rebuilt | |
by that monarch.[1] | |
[1] Vide MIRROR, p. 98, Vol. iii. | |
I have subjoined the _proper_ blazon of the arms, which is _azure_, a | |
cross patonce between _five_ martlets _or_, impaling France and England | |
quarterly, 1st. and 4th. azure three fleurs de lis. 2nd. _or_, 2nd and | |
3rd Gules, 3 lions passant guardant in pale, or. | |
The supporting of the arms with angels, &c. was a favourite device of | |
Richard, as may be seen in divers antiquarian and topographical works. | |
It is probable the hall of Croydon palace was built during the reign of | |
Richard, which will account for his arms being placed there. | |
I am, &c. | |
C. F. | |
* * * * * | |
DEATH OF MR. CANNING. | |
The lamentable and sudden death of the Right Hon. George Canning has | |
produced a general sensation throughout this country. At the opening of | |
the present year our nation deplored the loss of a prince endeared to | |
the people by his honest worth--but a short interval has elapsed and | |
again the country is plunged in sorrow for the loss of one of its most | |
zealous supporters--one of its chiefest ornaments--one of its staunchest | |
friends--and one of its most eloquent and talented statesmen! The life | |
of the late George Canning furnishes much matter for meditation and | |
thought. From it much may be learnt. He was a genius, in the most | |
unlimited sense of the word; and his intellectual endowments were | |
commanding and imperative. Of humble origin he had to contend with | |
innumerable difficulties, consequent to his station in life,--and | |
although his talents, which were of the first order, befitted him for | |
the first rank in society, that rank he did not attain until the scene | |
of this world was about to be closed for ever from him. It may be said | |
of this eminent man, that he owed nothing to patronage--his _talents_ | |
directed him to his elevated station, and to his intellectual | |
superiority homage was made,--not to the man. | |
But, in other respects, the loss of Mr. Canning is a national | |
bereavement. He was one of the master-spirits of the age. His very name | |
was distinguished--for he has added to the literature of his country--by | |
his writings and his eloquence he has stimulated the march of mind; he | |
has seconded the exertions of liberal friends to the improvements of the | |
uneducated, and he has patronized the useful as well as the fine arts, | |
philosophy and science, of his country. To expatiate at greater length | |
would be superfluous, as we have in another place recorded our humble | |
tribute to his general character.[2] We have now, therefore, merely to | |
put together the melancholy facts connected with his death, and which | |
will convey to another generation a just sense of the value, in our | |
time, attached to a noble and exalted genius. The just and elegant | |
laconism of Byron, by substituting the _past_ for the _present_ tense, | |
may now be adopted as a faithful and brief summary of what _was_ George | |
Canning. | |
[2] Biographical Memoir of Mr. Canning, with a Portrait, MIRROR, | |
Vol. iv. | |
"Canning _was_ a genius, almost an universal one:--an orator, a wit, a | |
poet, and a statesman." | |
* * * * * | |
The king, with his usual quickness, was the first to perceive the | |
dangerous state of Mr. Canning. We understand, that almost immediately | |
after he had quitted him, on Monday, his majesty observed to sir William | |
Knighton, that Mr. Canning appeared very unwell, and that he was in | |
great alarm for him. On Tuesday, sir William repaired to town, at the | |
express command of his majesty, to see Mr. Canning. At the interview | |
with him, at the Treasury, Sir William made particular inquiries into | |
the state of his health. Mr. Canning was then troubled with a cough, and | |
he observed to Sir William that he almost felt as if he were an old man; | |
that he was much weakened; but had no idea of there being anything | |
dangerous in his condition, and that he trusted that rest and retirement | |
would set him to rights. Sir William sent Dr. Maton to Mr. Canning, and | |
on parting with him, he observed that, as he should not leave town until | |
Wednesday morning, he would call on him, at Chiswick, on his way home to | |
Windsor. Sir William found Mr. Canning in bed, at Chiswick. He asked him | |
if he felt any pain in his side? Mr. Canning answered he had felt a pain | |
in his side for some days, and on endeavouring to lie on his side, the | |
pain was so acute that he was unable to do so. Sir William then inquired | |
if he felt any pain in his shoulder? He said he had been for some time | |
affected by rheumatic pains in the shoulder. Sir William told him that | |
the pain did not arise from rheumatism, but from a diseased liver, and | |
he immediately sent for the three physicians, who remained with him, and | |
were to the last unremitting in their attentions. | |
The disease continued to make rapid progress, in spite of all that the | |
first medical skill could do to baffle it, watching every turn it took, | |
and applying, on the instant, every remedy likely to subdue its | |
virulence, and mitigate his sufferings. | |
On the following Sunday, August 5, bulletins were issued, stating that | |
Mr. Canning was in most imminent danger. The most painful interest was | |
excited in the public mind by subsequent announcements of his alarming | |
state, and on Wednesday morning, the following melancholy intelligence | |
reached town:-- | |
_Chiswick, Wednesday, August_, 8, 1827, (A. M.) | |
Mr. Canning expired this morning, without pain, at ten minutes before | |
four o'clock. | |
* * * * * | |
MISCELLANIES. | |
* * * * * | |
BLACK BEARD. | |
There are few persons who reside on the Atlantic ocean and rivers of | |
North America who are not familiar with the name of Black Beard, whom | |
traditionary history represents as a pirate, who acquired immense wealth | |
in his predatory voyages, and was accustomed to bury his treasures in | |
the banks of creeks and rivers. For a period as low down as the American | |
revolution, it was common for the ignorant and credulous to dig along | |
these banks in search of hidden treasures; and impostors found an ample | |
basis in these current rumours for schemes of delusion. Black Beard, | |
though tradition says a great deal more of him than is true, was yet a | |
real person, who acquired no small fame by his maritime exploits during | |
the first part of the eighteenth century. Among many authentic and | |
recorded particulars concerning him, the following account of his death | |
may gratify curiosity:-- | |
From the nature of Black Beard's position in a sloop of little draught | |
of water, on a coast abounding with creeks, and remarkable for the | |
number and intricacy of its shoals, with which he had made himself | |
intimately acquainted, it was deemed impossible to approach him in | |
vessels of any force. Two hired sloops were therefore manned from the | |
Pearl and Lime frigates, in the Chesapeake, and put under the command of | |
Lieutenant Maynard, with instructions to hunt down and destroy this | |
pirate wherever he should be found. On the 17th of November, in the year | |
1718, this force sailed from James River, and in the evening of the 21st | |
came to an inlet in North Carolina, where Black Beard was discovered at | |
a distance, lying in wait for his prey. The sudden appearance of an | |
enemy, preparing to attack him, occasioned some surprise; but his sloop | |
mounting several guns, and being manned with twenty-five of his | |
desperate followers, he determined to make a resolute defence; and, | |
having prepared his vessel over night for action, sat down to his | |
bottle, stimulating his spirits to that pitch of frenzy by which only he | |
could rescue himself in a contest for his life. The navigation of the | |
inlet was so difficult, that Maynard's sloops were repeatedly grounded | |
in their approach, and the pirate, with his experience of the soundings, | |
possessed considerable advantage in manoeuvring, which enabled him for | |
some time to maintain a running fight. His vessel, however, in her turn, | |
having at length grounded, and the close engagement becoming now | |
inevitable, he reserved her guns to pour in a destructive fire on the | |
sloops as they advanced to board him. This he so successfully executed, | |
that twenty-nine men of Maynard's small number were either killed or | |
wounded by the first broadside, and one of the sloops for a time | |
disabled. But notwithstanding this severe loss, the lieutenant | |
persevered in his resolution to grapple with his enemy, or perish in the | |
attempt. Observing that his own sloop, which was still fit for action, | |
drew more water than the pirate's, he ordered all her ballast to be | |
thrown out, and, directing his men to conceal themselves between decks, | |
took the helm in person, and steered directly aboard of his antagonist, | |
who continued inextricably fixed on the shoal. This desperate wretch, | |
previously aware of his danger, and determined never to expiate his | |
crimes in the hands of justice, had posted one of his banditti, with a | |
lighted match, over his powder-magazine, to blow up his vessel in the | |
last extremity. Luckily in this design he was disappointed by his own | |
ardour and want of circumspection; for, as Maynard approached, having | |
begun the encounter at close quarters, by throwing upon his antagonist a | |
number of hand-grenadoes of his own composition, which produced only a | |
thick smoke, and conceiving that, from their destructive agency, the | |
sloop's deck had, been completely cleared, he leaped over her bows, | |
followed by twelve of his men, and advanced upon the lieutenant, who was | |
the only person then in view; but the men instantly springing up to the | |
relief of their commander, who was now furiously beset, and in imminent | |
danger of his life, a violent contest ensued. Black Beard, after seeing | |
the greater part of his men destroyed at his side, and receiving himself | |
repeated wounds, at length, stepping back to cock, a pistol, fainted | |
with the loss of blood, and expired on the spot. Maynard completed his | |
victory, by securing the remainder of these desperate wretches, who were | |
compelled to sue for mercy, and a short respite from a less honourable | |
death at the hands of the executioner. | |
ISLANDS PRODUCED BY INSECTS. | |
The whole group of the _Thousand Islands_, and indeed the greater part | |
of all those whose surfaces are flat, in the neighbourhood of the | |
equator, owe their origin to the labours of that order of marine worms | |
which Linnaeus has arranged under the name of _Zoophyta_. These little | |
animals, in a most surprising manner, construct their calcareous | |
habitations, under an infinite variety of forms, yet with that order and | |
regularity, each after its own manner, which to the minute inquirer, is | |
so discernable in every part of the creation. But, although the eye may | |
be convinced of the fact, it is difficult for the human mind to conceive | |
the possibility of insects so small being endued with the power, much | |
less of being furnished in their own bodies with the materials of | |
constructing the immense fabrics which, in almost every part of the | |
Eastern and Pacific Oceans lying between the tropics, are met with in | |
the shape of detached rocks, or reefs of great extent, just even with | |
the surface, or islands already clothed with plants, whose bases are | |
fixed at the bottom of the sea, several hundred feet in depth, where | |
light and heat, so very essential to animal life, if not excluded, are | |
sparingly received and feebly felt. Thousands of such rocks, and reefs, | |
and islands, are known to exist in the eastern ocean, within, and even | |
beyond, the limits of the tropics. The eastern coast of New Holland is | |
almost wholly girt with reefs and islands of coral rock, rising | |
perpendicularly from the bottom of the abyss. Captain Kent, of the | |
Buffalo, speaking of a coral reef of many miles in extent, on the | |
south-west coast of New Caledonia, observes, that "it is level with the | |
water's edge, and towards the sea, as steep to as a wall of a house; | |
that he sounded frequently within twice the ship's length of it with a | |
line of one hundred and fifty fathoms, or nine hundred feet, without | |
being able to reach the bottom." How wonderful, how inconceivable, that | |
such stupendous fabrics should rise into existence from the silent but | |
incessant, and almost imperceptible, labours of such insignificant | |
worms! | |
To buy books, as some do who make no use of them, only because they were | |
published by an eminent printer, is much as if a man should buy clothes | |
that did not fit him, only because they were made by some famous | |
tailor.--_Pope_. | |
* * * * * | |
TO MY BROTHER, ON HIS LEAVING ENGLAND. | |
By The Author of "Ahab." | |
(_For the Mirror._) | |
Wherever your fortune may lead you to roam, | |
Forget not, young exile, the land of your home; | |
Let it ever be present to memory's eye, | |
'Tis the place where the bones of your fore-father's lie. | |
Let the thought of it ever your comforter be, | |
For no spot on this earth like your home can you see. | |
The fields where you rove may be more fresh and fair, | |
More splendid the sun, and more fragrant the air, | |
More lovely the flowers, more refreshing the breeze, | |
More tranquil the waters, more fruitful the trees. | |
But home after all things--that dear little spot, | |
Tho' it be but a desert can ne'er be forgot. | |
In the thoughts of the day, and the dreams of the night, | |
On your eyes like the kiss of your mother 'twill light, | |
Then the mist will disperse which long absence has spread. | |
And the paths you have trodden again you shall tread. | |
Then farewell, young exile, wherever you roam, | |
Oh! dear as your honour, your life, be your home. | |
J.H.S. | |
* * * * * | |
RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS. | |
* * * * * | |
ORDERS FOR HOUSEHOLD SERVANTS IN 1566. | |
_Orders for Household Servantes; first deuised by John | |
Haryngton, in the yeare 1566, and renewed by John Haryngton, | |
sonne of the saide John, in the yeare 1592: The saide John, the | |
sonne, being then high shrieve of the county of Somerset._ | |
Imprimis, That no servant bee absent from praier, at morning or | |
euening, without a lawfull excuse, to be alleged within one day | |
after, vppon paine to forfeit for eury tyme 2d. | |
II. Item, That none swear any othe, vppon paine for every othe | |
1d. | |
III. Item, That no man leaue any doore open that he findeth | |
shut, without theare bee cause, vppon paine for euery time 1d. | |
IV. Item, That none of the men be in bed, from our Lady-day to | |
Michaelmas, after 6 of the clock in the morning; nor out of his | |
bed after 10 of the clock at night; nor, from Michaemas till | |
our Lady-day, in bed after 7 in the morning, nor out after 9 at | |
night, without reasonable cause, on paine of 2d. | |
V. That no man's bed bee vnmade, nor fire or candle-box | |
vnclean, after 8 of the clock in the morning, on paine of 1d. | |
VI. Item, That no one commit any nuisance within either of the | |
courts, vppon paine of 1d. | |
VII. Item, That no man teach any of the children any vnhonest | |
speeche, or evil word, or othe, on paine of 4d. | |
VIII. Item, That no man waite at the table without a trencher | |
in his hand, except it be vppon some good cause, on paine of | |
Id. | |
IX. Item, That no man appointed to waite at my table be absent | |
that meale, without reasonable cause, on paine of 1d. | |
X. Item, If any man breake a glasse, hee shall aunswer the | |
price thereof out of his wages; and, if it bee not known who | |
breake it, the buttler shall pay for it on paine of 12d. | |
XI. Item, The table must bee couered halfe an houer before 11 | |
at dinner, and 6 at supper, or before, on paine of 2d. | |
XII. Item, That meate bee readie at 11, or before, at dinner; | |
and 6, or before, at supper, on paine of 6d. | |
XIII. Item, That none be absent, without leaue or good cause, | |
the whole day, or any part of it, on paine of 4d. | |
XIV. Item, That no man strike his fellow, on paine of loss of | |
seruice; nor reuile or threaten, or prouoke another to strike, | |
on paine of 12d. | |
XV. Item, That no man come to the kitchen without reasonable | |
cause, on paine of 1d. and the cook likewyse to forfeit 1d. | |
XVI. Item, That none toy with the maids, on paine of 4d. | |
XVII. That no man weare foule shirt on Sunday, nor broken hose | |
or shooes, or dublett without buttons, on paine of 1d. | |
XVIII. Item, That, when any strainger goeth hence, the chamber | |
be drest vp againe within 4 howrs after, on paine of 1d. | |
XIX. Item, That the hall bee made cleane euery day, by eight in | |
the winter, and seauen in the sommer, on paine of him that | |
should do it to forfeit 1d. | |
XX. That the cowrt-gate bee shutt each meale, and not opened | |
during dinner and supper, without just cause, on paine the | |
porter to forfet for euery time, 1d. | |
XXI. Item, That all stayrs in the house, and other rooms that | |
neede shall require, bee made cleane on Fryday after dinner, on | |
paine of forfeyture of euery on whome it shall belong vnto, 3d. | |
All which sommes shall be duly paide each quarter-day out of | |
their wages, and bestowed on the poore, or other godly vse. | |
* * * * * | |
THE NOVELIST. | |
No. CVII. | |
* * * * * | |
THE WOOD KING. | |
_By Miss Emma Roberts_. | |
Already the pile of heaped-up fagots reached above the low roof of his | |
hut; but Carl Scheffler still continued lopping off branches, and | |
binding fresh bundles together, almost unconscious that the sun had set, | |
and that the labours of the day being over, the neighbouring peasants | |
were hastening to the skittle-ground to pass away an hour in sport. The | |
wood-cutter's hut was perched upon an eminence a little out of the | |
public path; but he heard the merry songs of his comrades as they | |
proceeded gaily to the place of rendezvous, at the Golden Stag in the | |
village below. Many of his intimate acquaintance paused as they | |
approached the corner of the road nearest to his hut, and the wild wood | |
rang with their loud halloes; but the call, which in other times had | |
been echoed by the woodman's glad voice, was now unanswered; he busied | |
himself with his work; his brow darkened as the joyous sounds came over | |
his ear; he threw aside his hatchet, resumed, it again, and again | |
casting it from him, exclaimed, "Why, let them go, I will not carry this | |
chafed and wounded spirit to their revels; my hand is not steady enough | |
for a bowling-match; and since Linda will doubtless choose a richer | |
partner, I have no heart for the dance." | |
It was easy to perceive that Carl Scheffler was smarting under a recent | |
disappointment: he had borne up bravely against the misfortunes which, | |
from a state of comparative affluence, had reduced him to depend upon | |
his own arm for subsistence, fondly trusting that ere long his prospects | |
would amend; and that, at the return of the Count of Holberg to his | |
ancestorial dominions, he should obtain a forester's place, and be | |
enabled to claim the hand of Linda Von Kleist, to whom, in happier | |
times, he had been betrothed. But these dreams had vanished; the count's | |
bailiff having seen Linda, the flower of the hamlet, became his rival, | |
and consequently his enemy: he had bestowed the office promised to Carl | |
upon another; and Linda's father ungratefully withdrawing the consent | |
given when the lover's affairs were in a more flourishing condition, had | |
forbidden him the house. Buoyed up with the hope that Linda would remain | |
faithful, and by her unabated attachment console him under the pressure | |
of his calamities, Carl did not at first give way to despair; but Linda | |
was too obedient, or perchance too indifferent, to disobey her father's | |
commands. He sought her at the accustomed spot--she came not, sent not: | |
he hovered round her residence, and if chance favoured him with a | |
glimpse of his beloved, it was only to add to his misery, for she | |
withdrew hastily from his sight. A rumour of the intended marriage of | |
his perjured mistress reached his ears, and, struck to the soul, he | |
endeavoured, by manual labour, to exhaust his strength and banish the | |
recollection of his misery. He toiled all day in feverish desperation; | |
and now that there was no more to be done, sat down to ponder over his | |
altered prospects. The bailiff possessed the ear of his master, and it | |
was useless to hope that the count would repair the injustice committed | |
by so trusted a servant. The situation which above all others he had | |
coveted, which would have given him the free range of the forest, the | |
jovial hunter's life which suited his daring spirit, delighting in the | |
perils of the chase, and, above all, a home for Linda, was lost, and for | |
ever; henceforward he must relinquish all expectation of regaining the | |
station which the misfortunes that had brought his parents to the grave | |
had deprived him of, and be content to earn a sordid meal by bending his | |
back to burthens befitting the brute creation alone; to hew wood, and to | |
bear it to the neighbouring towns; to delve the ground at the bidding of | |
a master, and to perform the offices of a menial hireling. "At least not | |
here," cried the wretched young man, "not in the face of all my former | |
friends; there is a refuge left where I may hide my sorrows and my | |
wrongs. Fair earth, and thou fair sky, I gaze upon you for the last | |
time; buried from the face of day in the centre of the deepest mine, | |
I'll spend the remnant of my life unpitied and unknown." Determined to | |
execute this resolution on the instant, Carl hastily collected such | |
parts of his slender property as were portable; and having completed his | |
arrangements, prepared to cross the Brocken, and shaped his course | |
towards the Rammelsburg. The last rich gleam of crimson had faded from | |
the sky; but there was light enough in the summer night to guide him on | |
his way. A few bright and beautiful stars gemmed the wide concave of | |
heaven; the air was soft and balmy, scarcely agitating the leaves of the | |
forest trees; the fragrance-weeping limes gave out their richest scent, | |
and the gentle gush of fountains, and the tricklings of the mountain | |
springs, came in music on the ear; and had the traveller been more at | |
ease, the calm and tranquil scene must have diffused its soothing | |
influence over his heart. Carl, disregarding every thing save his own | |
melancholy destiny, strode along almost choked by bitter thought, and so | |
little heedful of the road, that he soon became involved in thickets | |
whose paths were unknown to him; he looked up to the heavens, and | |
shaping his course by one of the stars, was somewhat surprised to find | |
himself still involved in the impenetrable mazes of the wood. Compelled | |
to give more attention than heretofore to his route, he once or twice | |
thought that he distinguished a human figure moving through the darkness | |
of the forest. At first, not disposed to fall in with a companion, he | |
remained silent, lest the person, whoever he might be, should choose to | |
enter into conversation with him; then not quite certain whether he was | |
right in his conjecture--for upon casting a second glance upon the | |
object which attracted him, he more than once discovered it to be some | |
stunted trunk or fantastic tree--he became anxious to ascertain whether | |
he was in reality, alone, or if some other midnight wanderer trod the | |
waste, and he looked narrowly around; all was still, silent, and | |
solitary; and fancying that he had been deceived by the flitting shadows | |
of the night, he was again relapsing into his former reverie, when he | |
became aware of the presence of a man dressed in the garb of a forester, | |
and having his cap wreathed with a garland of green leaves, who stood | |
close at his side. Carl's tongue moved to utter a salutation, but the | |
words stuck in his throat, an indescribable sensation of horror thrilled | |
through his frame; tales of the demons of the Hartz rushed upon his | |
memory--but he recovered instantly from the sudden shock. The desperate | |
state of his fortune gave him courage, and, looking up, he was surprised | |
at the consternation which the stranger had occasioned: he was a person | |
of ordinary appearance, who, accosting him frankly, exclaimed, "Ho, | |
comrade, thou art, I see, bent on the same errand as myself; but | |
wherefore dost thou seek the treasures of the Nibelungen without the | |
protecting wreath?"--"The treasures of the Nibelungen?" returned Carl; | |
"I have indeed heard of such a thing, and that it was hidden in the | |
bosom of the Hartz by a princess of the olden time; but I never was mad | |
enough to think of so wild a chase as a search after riches, which has | |
baffled the wisest of our ancestors, must surely prove."--"Belike then," | |
replied the forester, "thou art well to do in the world, and therefore | |
needest not to replenish thy wallets with gold,--travelling perchance to | |
take possession of some rich inheritance."--"No, by St. Roelas," cried | |
the woodcutter, "thou hast guessed wide of the mark. I am going to hide | |
my poverty in the mine of Rammelsburg."--"The mine of Rammelsburg!" | |
echoed the stranger, and laughed scornfully, so that the deep woods rang | |
with the sound; and Carl feeling his old sensations return as the | |
fiendish merriment resounded through the wilderness, again gazed | |
stedfastly in his companion's face, but he read nothing there to justify | |
his suspicions: the fiery eye lost its lustre; the lip its curl; and, | |
gazing benignantly upon the forlorn wood-cutter, he continued his | |
speech, saying, "Then prithee take the advice of one who knows these | |
forests, and all that they contain. Here are materials in abundance for | |
our garland; advance forward, and fear not the issue;"--and, gathering | |
leaves from the boughs of trees of a species unknown to his new | |
acquaintance, he twined them into a wreath, and placed the sylvan diadem | |
on Carl's head. The instant that he felt the light pressure on his | |
temples, all his fears vanished; and he followed his guide, conversing | |
pleasantly through wide avenues and over broad glades of fresh turf, | |
which seemed to be laid out like a royal chase, till they came to a wall | |
of rock resembling the Hahnen Klippers, and entering through an arch, a | |
grey moss-covered tower arose in the distance. The ponderous doors were | |
wide open; and Carl advancing, found himself in a large hall well | |
lighted, and showing abundance of treasure scattered abroad in all | |
directions. He was conscious that he had lost his companion, but he | |
seemed no longer to require his instruction; and casting down his own | |
worthless burthen, he laded himself with the riches that courted his | |
touch. The adventurer was soon supplied with a sufficient quantity of | |
gold and jewels to satisfy his most unbounded wishes; and turning from | |
the spot with a light heart, he sped merrily along. The country round | |
about seemed strange to him; but on repassing the rocky ledge, a brisk | |
wind suddenly springing up blew off his cap. The morning air was cold, | |
and Carl, hastening to regain his head-gear, discovered that the wreath | |
had disappeared; and, as if awakening from a dream, he found himself | |
surrounded by familiar objects; he felt, however, the weight of the load | |
upon his back, and though panting with the fatigue it occasioned, made | |
the best of his way home. On approaching the hut, a low murmur struck on | |
his ear. He paused; listened attentively; and distinguishing a female | |
voice, he rushed forward, and in the next moment clasped Linda in his | |
arms. She had fled from the persecutions of the bailiff to seek shelter | |
in Carl's straw-roofed hut; and the now happy lovers, as they surveyed | |
the treasures which had been snatched from the Nibelungen, agreed that | |
they owed their good fortune to Riebezhahl the Wood King, who sometimes | |
taking pity upon the frail and feeble denizens of earth, pointed out to | |
their wondering eyes the inexhaustible riches of which he was the | |
acknowledged guardian. | |
_London Weekly Review_. | |
* * * * * | |
SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. | |
* * * * * | |
DRAFTS ON LA FITTE. | |
COOKE. | |
Only upon one occasion did Cooke deviate from his resolution of not | |
apologizing to a provincial assembly, and that was at Liverpool. A | |
previous breach of decorum was visited one night by the fury of an | |
offended audience; confusion was at its height; the people were the | |
actors, and Cooke the audience: yet the sturdy tragedian remained | |
callous to the bursts of indignation which were heard around him, until | |
destruction became the order of the day; lamps _lighted_ on the stage; | |
benches betokened _mobility_; _pedal_ applications were made _forte_ to | |
the _piano_; _basely violated_ was the repository of the _base viol_; | |
and the property of poor Knight the manager gave every sign of that | |
being its last appearance. What popular rage had failed to produce, | |
consideration for the fortunes of his friend effected. At his | |
entreaties, the Caledonian was induced to advance to the front of the | |
stage (never was there a more _moving_ scene than that before it); | |
silence was obtained, and he condescended to express his sorrow for the | |
state in which some nights previously he had presented himself: adding, | |
"that _he_ never _before_ felt so keenly the _degradation_ of _his_ | |
situation." Equivocal as was the mode of extenuation, the audience | |
allied to _Mersey_ accorded the _mercy_ it possessed, and was or | |
appeared to be, satisfied; but not so the actor, and he as fully as | |
instantly avenged what he deemed his misplaced submission. As he | |
concluded his address, he turned to the gratified but yet trembling | |
manager, and (in allusion to the large share in the slave-trade then | |
imputed to Liverpool) with that peculiarity of undertone he possessed, | |
which could be distinctly heard throughout the largest theatre although | |
pronounced as a whisper, exclaimed, "There's not a stone in the walls of | |
Liverpool which has not been cemented by the _bluid_ of Africans." Then, | |
casting one of his Shylock glances of hatred and contempt on the mute | |
and astounded audience, majestically left the stage. | |
On the first night of his performance at the Boston theatre, Richard was | |
the part he had adopted; and so strongly had he fortified himself for | |
the kingly task, that he deemed himself the very monarch he was destined | |
to enact. The theatre was crowded in every part: expectation was on | |
tiptoe: anticipation as to his person, voice, and manner, was announced | |
by the sibilating "I guess" heard around, and "pretty considerable" | |
agitation prevailed. The orchestra had begun and ceased, unheeded or | |
unheard; nor could one of Sir Thomas Lethbridge's best cut and dried | |
have produced less effect amongst the "irreclaimables." The curtain | |
rose, and amidst thundering plaudits the welcome stranger advanced, in | |
angles, to the front of the stage, and, as Sir Pertinax has it, "booed | |
and booed and booed;" but greeting could not endure for ever: well | |
justified curiosity assumed its station, and at length silence, almost | |
breathless silence, reigned around, such as attended Irving in his | |
Zoar, or Canning when he lately produced his budget. The hospitable | |
clamour was over; but instead of "Now is the winter of our discontent | |
made glorious summer by this sun of York" being given, Cooke, in a | |
respectful but decided tone, requested that "God save the King" might be | |
played by the orchestra prior to the commencement of the play. The | |
proposal at first but excited mockery and laughter, which, however, gave | |
way to far different feelings, on Cooke firmly and composedly declaring, | |
that, until his request was complied with, he was determined not to | |
proceed; and, should it be absolutely refused, he was resolved to | |
retire. The fury of the Bostonians was at its height: menace, | |
accompanied by every vituperative epithet rage could suggest, was | |
lavished on the actor; but he kept his station, calm and secure as his | |
own native island set in the stormy seas, until anger gradually subsided | |
through very weariness; and every effort having been ineffectually used | |
to wean "_the tyrant_" from his purpose, the political antipathies of | |
the audience began to yield to their theatrical taste; and, after much | |
argument and delay, the unpalatable demand was reluctantly assented to. | |
Cooke, however, whose nature it was, when opposed, only to become more | |
exigent, was not himself appeased; for, as the notes "unpleasing to a | |
_Yankee_ ear" were sounded, with a majestic wave of his hand he silenced | |
the unwilling music, and, "Standing, if you please," was as | |
dictatorially as fearlessly pronounced, to the consternation of the | |
audience. So much had, however, already been accorded, that it was not | |
deemed matter of much moment to concede the rest: and however | |
ungracefully the attitude of respect was assumed, the national hymn was | |
performed amidst grimace and muttering; Cooke beating time with his | |
foot,--nodding significantly and satisfactorily at "Confound their | |
politics;" and occasionally taking a pinch of snuff, as, in his royal | |
robes, he triumphantly contemplated the astonished and indignant | |
audience. It ended:--"Richard was himself again," and "_Now_ is the | |
winter of our _discontent_ made glorious summer" was given with equal | |
emphasis, feeling, and effect. | |
At the time that _greater_ performer, the elephant, made his appearance | |
on the boards, his own _board_ became a subject of no trifling | |
consideration with the managers, particularly as the African had taken a | |
predilection for _rum_, which the new actor used to quaff with | |
extraordinary zest. On one occasion Cooke was missing from a morning | |
rehearsal, and all had been some time in waiting for the tragedian, | |
when the messenger whom Kerable despatched in search of him, returned | |
grinning to the green-room. "Where is Mr. Cooke, sir?" demanded Kemble. | |
"He is below _breakfasting_ with the _elephant_, sir!" was the reply. | |
It was too much for Cooke, after having so frequently disappointed full | |
houses, to be obliged to play to an empty theatre. It was like playing | |
whist with _dummy_. However, towards the close of the O. P. war, (which, | |
by the way, excited more the attention of the Parisians than the | |
national contest in which we were engaged,) the public had adopted the | |
plan of never commencing operations until half-price, to the injury of | |
the manager's purse. It was during the earlier acts of "The Man of the | |
World," that Cooke, in performing to "a beggarly account of empty | |
boxes," was addressed by one of the actors, in accordance with the | |
scene, in a whisper; when the _elevated_ comedian, casting a glance | |
around, bitterly observed, "Speak out: there need be no secret. _No one | |
hears us._" Poor Cooke could not plead in excuse what an actor did on | |
being hissed for too _sober_ a representation of a _drunken_ part, | |
"Ladies and gentlemen, I beg your pardon: but it is really the _first | |
time_ I ever was _intoxicated_." | |
His death was in singular accordance with his _taste_ through life. He | |
sought the banks of the _Brandywine_, and whether it were that the | |
composition of its stream so little responded to its title as to prey | |
upon his _spirits_, or from some other cause, there he "_drank_ his | |
last." | |
DICKEY SUETT. | |
I met with him once in a house situated on the very confines of _Beef | |
and Law_; on the line of demarcation between the theatres and Lincoln's | |
Inn; a sort of _debateable_ ground between the spouters and ranters of | |
the stage, and the eaters of commons, by either of which party it was | |
frequented. Around a large table in the parlour sat a motley group. | |
There were ragged wits, well-dressed students, new-fledged actors, a | |
hackney writer or so, an Irish barrister named Shuter, a Scotch | |
reporter, and a hodge-podge of most discordant materials congregated | |
under the amalgamating power of Suett, who seemed, by the incongruity of | |
his dress and diversified manner, to have studied the various tastes of | |
those he swayed, and to be the comprehensive representative of each of | |
the strange beings he looked upon, with all of whom he would | |
occasionally identify himself with so much ease, that it were hard to | |
say whether it was the result of labour or of tact, of calculation, or | |
the mere impulse of mother-wit. The _ropes of his face_, when drawn | |
_taught_, peculiarly commanded the attention of the Caledonian, while | |
the sly and humorous glance of his half-shut eye was acknowledged by the | |
Hibernian to whom it was addressed; the _snow drift_ of powder which lay | |
in patches on his long, straight hair, agreed with the taste of his | |
dramatic nursling; the far-extended cambric of white frill imposed upon | |
the students, while the unseemly rents in his coat at once compensated | |
to the wits for what there might be of gaudy or gay in his outward man. | |
We were received with equal courtesy and ceremony by the president; and | |
were just seated, when a ballet-dancer of Drury-lane entered. As he was | |
a Frenchman, it became a question of _national_ politeness: and Dicky | |
_chestered_ him to his dexter! and, as was befitting, condescended to | |
address him. "I am proud, sir," said Suett, with the formality of _Black | |
Rod_ himself, "to do the honours of my _country_ to the _representative_ | |
of a nation which held my _master_ Garrick in peculiar respect. He was a | |
great actor, sir; a wonderful man! Your Lekain, or any other _Cain_, | |
could not come up to him, for he was _Able_, Pardon the pun. Oh, | |
la!--but he was vain, sir; vain as a peacock; it could not be of his | |
person. Had he been, as Richard has it, _'a marvellous proper man'_ like | |
myself, one might have said something. He used to say, I was too _lean_ | |
for _Suett_. Oh, dear. _A votre sante, Monsieur,_ happy to see you on | |
this side the Channel. Never been to France yet, although in the | |
_Straits_ great part of my life, and not unfrequently _half seas | |
over_.--Well, sir, to return to Garrick. There was that man 'frae the | |
north,' who wrote the History of England and Roderick Random,--the | |
latter a true story, they say;--he who challenged Campbell the | |
barrister, for calling him _names_, _To bias_ the cause. Well, sir, Davy | |
refused one of his farces; but the wily Caledonian _pocketed_ the | |
affront, in coolly observing, 'that he had nearly completed another | |
volume of his history, and hoped he might be permitted to name _the | |
British Roscius_, the pride of his country, and all that sort of thing.' | |
It was a palpable hit, sir--the thing was settled--the _manager | |
managed_; and _Smelfungus_ retired, _without_ his manuscript, half sorry | |
he had not added _another_ scene to his farce. Well, sir, the story got | |
wind, and some days after Davy dined with a lawyer who had interested | |
himself vainly for a friend's comedy with him, when, in the course of | |
conversation, the barrister observed to Davy, before a large company, | |
that he had nearly compiled another volume of The Statutes _at large_ | |
(would they were all _at large_), and hoped he might be permitted to | |
name _the British Roscius, the pride of his country._ There was a roar | |
at the expense of Garrick. 'The galled jade' winced terribly:--he was | |
touchy as tinder, sir:--never was _Digest_ so ill-_digested_.'" | |
It was when the meteor-like popularity of little Betty was at its height | |
that poor Suett fell ill, at what he termed his _town_ residence (a | |
second-floor in a low street), and the pigmy Roscius, having eaten too | |
much fruit, kept all London in intense agony for his fate at the same | |
moment. Bulletins were exhibited in Southampton-row several times | |
a-day, signed by numerous physicians. Had he died, how posterity would | |
have been befooled! Suett was then _actually_ dying, yet would he have | |
his joke, and his last moments were cheered by the horse-laugh of the | |
rabble assembled to _spell_ the bulletin suspended to "the second-floor | |
bell," attested by the _mark_ of the old woman who attended him. "You | |
shall be buried in Saint Paul's," said a friend. "Oh, la!" was the dying | |
ejaculation of the comedian. | |
_New Monthly Magazine._ | |
* * * * * | |
THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS. | |
* * * * * | |
AMERICAN TRAVELLING. | |
June 7th, at three in the morning, the steam-boat (which was of immense | |
size, and on the high pressure system) arrived at Albany, having come | |
one hundred and sixty miles in seventeen hours, including stoppages. I | |
found that, unluckily, the mail-coach had left the place just before our | |
arrival, so I booked myself in an accommodation-stage, which was to | |
reach Boston (a distance of one hundred and sixty miles) in three days, | |
and entered the wretched-looking vehicle, with a heavy heart, at eight | |
o'clock.... The machine in which I travelled was slow and crowded. The | |
proprietor had undertaken to let us rest at night on the road; but we | |
found that his notions of rest were very imperfect, and that his night | |
was one of the polar regions.--Having partaken of a wretched dinner at | |
Sand Lake, we arrived about one in the morning at Cheshire, where we | |
were to sleep. | |
By dint of most active exertion, I secured a bed to myself, the narrow | |
dimensions of which precluded the possibility of participation, and | |
plunged into it with all possible haste, as there was not a moment to | |
be lost. Secure in "single blessedness," I was incredibly amused at the | |
compliments of nocturnal arrangement which passed around me among my | |
Yankee companions. They were nine in number, and occupied by triplets | |
the three other beds which the room contained. Whether it was with a | |
view of preserving their linen unrumpled, or of enjoying greater space, | |
I cannot tell; but certain it is, that they divested themselves of | |
clothing to a degree not generally practised in Europe. A spirit of | |
accommodation appeared to prevail; and it seemed to be a matter of | |
indifference whether to occupy the lateral portions of the bed, or the | |
warmer central position, except in one instance, where a gentleman | |
protested against being placed next to the wall, as he was in the habit | |
of chewing tobacco in his sleep! | |
At four o'clock in the morning we again set off, and, as much rain had | |
fell in the night, the roads were in a dreadful state. The coach company | |
now consisted of nine passengers inside, one on the top, (which, from | |
its convex form, is a very precarious situation,) and three on the box, | |
besides the coachman, who sat on the knees of the unfortunate middle | |
man,--an uneasy burden, considering the intense heat of the weather. | |
It matters little to the American driver where he sits; he is indeed, in | |
all respects, a far different personage from his great-coated prototype | |
in England. He is in general extremely dexterous in the art of driving, | |
though his costume is of a most grotesque description. Figure to | |
yourself a slipshod sloven, dressed in a striped calico jacket and an | |
old straw hat, alternately arranging the fragile harness of his horses, | |
and springing again upon his box with surprising agility; careless of | |
the bones of his passengers, and confident in his skill and resources, | |
he scruples not frequently to gallop his coach over corderoy roads, (so | |
called from being formed of the trunks of trees laid transversely,) or | |
dash it round corners, and through holes that would appal the heart of | |
the stoutest English coachman, however elated by gin, or irritated by | |
opposition. I was once whirled along one of these roads, when the | |
leathers, (barbarous substitutes for springs,) which supported the | |
carriage gave way with a sudden shock. The undaunted driver instantly | |
sprang from his box, tore a stake from a rail fence by the road-side, | |
laid it across under the body of the coach, and was off again before I | |
properly recovered the use of my senses, which were completely | |
bewildered by the jolting I had undergone. I can compare it to nothing | |
but the butt of Regulus, without the nails. When the lash and butt-end | |
of the whip fail him, he does not scruple to use his foot, as the | |
situation of his seat allows the application of it to his wheelers. | |
We dined at New Salem at six, and arrived at Petersham, where we were to | |
sleep, at twelve o'clock at night, having been twenty hours coming sixty | |
miles. | |
Though tired and disgusted with my journey, the prospect of a short | |
respite from this state of purgatory was embittered during the last few | |
miles by alarm at the idea of passing the night with one, if not two, of | |
my fellow-travellers; and I internally resolved rather to sleep upon the | |
floor. | |
After a desperate struggle, I succeeded, to my great joy, in securing a | |
bed for myself, not, however, without undergoing a severe objurgation | |
from the landlady, who could not understand such unaccommodating | |
selfishness. Short were our slumbers. By the rigid order of the | |
proprietor, we were turned out the next morning at three, and pursued | |
our journey.--_De Roos's Personal Narrative._ | |
KANGAROO WAGGERY. | |
One of the largest tame kangaroos I have seen in the country is | |
domiciled here, and a mischievous wag he is, creeping and snuffing | |
cautiously toward a stranger, with such an innocently expressive | |
countenance, that roguery could never be surmised to exist under | |
it--when, having obtained as he thinks a sufficient introduction, he | |
claps his forepaws on your shoulders, (as if to caress you,) and raising | |
himself suddenly upon his tail, administers such a well-put push with | |
his hind-legs, that it is two to one but he drives you heels over head! | |
This is all done in what he considers facetious play, with a view to | |
giving you a hint to examine your pockets, and see what _bon-bons_ you | |
have got for him, as he munches cakes and comfits with epicurean _gout_; | |
and if the door be ajar, he will gravely take his station behind your | |
chair at meal-time, like a lackey, giving you an admonitory kick every | |
now and then, if you fail to help him as well as yourself.--_Two Years | |
in New South Wales._ | |
A MAGNIFICENT WATERFALL. | |
My swarthy guides, although this was unquestionably the first time that | |
they had ever led a traveller to view the remarkable scenery of their | |
country, evinced a degree of tact, as _ciceroni_, as well as natural | |
feeling of the picturesque, that equally pleased and surprised me. | |
Having forewarned me that this was not yet the waterfall, they now | |
pioneered the way for about a mile farther along the rocks, some of them | |
keeping near, and continually cautioning me to look to my feet, as a | |
single false step might precipitate me into the raging abyss of waters, | |
the tumult of which seemed to shake even the solid rocks around us. | |
At length we halted, as before, and the next moment I was led to a | |
projecting rock, where a scene burst upon me, far surpassing my most | |
sanguine expectations. The whole water of the river (except what escapes | |
by the subsidiary channel we had crossed, and by a similar one on the | |
north side) being previously confined to a bed of scarcely one hundred | |
feet in breadth, descends at once in a magnificent cascade of full four | |
hundred feet in height. I stood upon a cliff nearly level with the top | |
of the fall, and directly in front of it. The beams of the evening sun | |
fell upon the cascade, and occasioned a most splendid rainbow; while the | |
vapoury mists arising from the broken waters, the bright green woods | |
that hung from the surrounding cliffs, the astounding roar of the | |
waterfall, and the tumultuous boiling and whirling of the stream below, | |
striving to escape along its deep, dark, and narrow, path, formed | |
altogether a combination of beauty and grandeur, such as I never before | |
witnessed. As I gazed on this stupendous stream, I felt as if in a | |
dream. The sublimity of nature drowned all apprehensions of danger; and, | |
after a short pause, I hastily left the spot where I stood to gain a | |
nearer view from a cliff that impended over the foaming gulf. I had just | |
reached this station, when I felt myself grasped all at once by four | |
Korannas, who simultaneously seized hold of me by the arms and legs. My | |
first impression was, that they were going to hurl me over the | |
precipice; but it was a momentary thought, and it wronged the friendly | |
savages. They are themselves a timid race, and they were alarmed, lest | |
my temerity should lead me into danger. They hurried me back from the | |
brink, and then explained their motive, and asked my forgiveness. I was | |
not ungrateful for their care, though somewhat annoyed by their | |
officiousness.--_Thompson's Travels in Southern Africa._ | |
SETTING IN OF AN INDIAN MONSOON. | |
The shades of evening approached as we reached the ground, and just as | |
the encampment was completed the atmosphere grew suddenly dark, the heat | |
became oppressive, and an unusual stillness presaged the immediate | |
setting in of the monsoon. The whole appearance of nature resembled | |
those solemn preludes to earthquakes and hurricanes in the West Indies, | |
from which the east in general is providentially free. We were allowed | |
very little time for conjecture; in a few minutes the heavy clouds burst | |
over us.... I witnessed seventeen monsoons in India, but this exceeded | |
them all in its awful appearance and dreadful effects. | |
Encamped in a low situation, on the borders of a lake formed to collect | |
the surrounding water, we found ourselves in a few hours in a liquid | |
plain. The tent-pins giving way, in a loose soil, the tents fell down, | |
and left the whole army exposed to the contending elements. | |
It requires a lively imagination to conceive the situation of a hundred | |
thousand human beings of every description, with more than two hundred | |
thousand elephants, camels, horses, and oxen, suddenly overwhelmed by | |
this dreadful storm, in a strange country, without any knowledge of high | |
or low ground; the whole being covered by an immense lake, and | |
surrounded by thick darkness, which prevented our distinguishing a | |
single object, except such as the vivid glare of lightning displayed in | |
horrible forms. No language can describe the wreck of a large encampment | |
thus instantaneously destroyed and covered with water, amid the cries of | |
old men and helpless women, terrified by the piercing shrieks of their | |
expiring children, unable to afford them relief. During this dreadful | |
night more than two hundred persons and three thousand cattle perished, | |
and the morning dawn exhibited a shocking spectacle.--_Forbes's Oriental | |
Memoirs._ | |
GRACE OF CARRIAGE. | |
This requires not only a perfect freedom of motion, but also a firmness | |
of step, or constant steady bearing of the centre of gravity over the | |
base. It is usually possessed by those who live in the country, and | |
according to nature, as it is called, and who take much and varied | |
exercise. What a contrast is there between the gait of the active | |
mountaineer, rejoicing in the consciousness of perfect nature, and of | |
the mechanic or shopkeeper, whose life is spent in the cell of his | |
trade, and whose body soon receives a shape and air that correspond to | |
this!--and in the softer sex, what a contrast is there, between her who | |
recalls to us the fabled Diana of old, and that other, who has scarcely | |
trodden but on smooth pavements or carpets, and who, under any new | |
circumstances, carries her person as awkwardly as something to the | |
management of which she is not accustomed. | |
_Arnott's Elements of Physics._ | |
THE CAVALRY SCHOOL OF ST. GERMAINS. | |
Bonaparte frequently visited the school of infantry at St. Cyr, reviewed | |
the cadets, and gave them cold collations in the park. But he had never | |
visited the school of cavalry since its establishment, of which we were | |
very jealous, and did all in our power to attract him. Whenever he | |
hunted, the cadets were in grand parade on the parterre, crying, _"Vive | |
l'Empereur!"_ with all their young energies; he held his hat raised as | |
he passed them; but that was all we could gain. Wise people whispered | |
that he never would go whilst they were so evidently expecting him; that | |
he liked to keep them always on the alert; it was good for discipline. | |
The general took another plan, and once allowed no sign of life about | |
the castle when the emperor passed--it was like a deserted place. But it | |
did not take neither; he passed, as if there were no castle there. It | |
was _desesperant._ When, lo! the next day but one after I had spoken to | |
him, he suddenly galloped into the court of the castle, and the cry of | |
the sentinel, _"L'Empereur!"_ was the first notice they had of it. He | |
examined into every thing. All were in undress, all at work, and this | |
was what he wanted. In the military-schools the cadets got | |
ammunition-bread, and lived like well-fed soldiers; but there was great | |
outcry in the circles of Paris against the bread of the school of St. | |
Germain's. Ladies complained that their sons were poisoned by it; the | |
emperor thought it was all nicety, and said no man was fit to be an | |
officer who could not eat ammunition-bread. However, being there, he | |
asked for a loaf, which was brought, and he saw it was villanous trash, | |
composed of pease, beans, rye, potatoes, and every thing that would make | |
flour or meal, instead of good brown wheaten flour. He tore the loaf in | |
two in a rage, and dashed it against the wall, and there it stuck like a | |
piece of mortar, to the great annoyance of those whose duty it was to | |
have attended to this. He ordered the baker to be called, and made him | |
look at it _sticking_. The man was in great terror first at the | |
emperor's anger, but, taking heart, he begged his majesty not to take | |
his contract from him, and he would give good bread in future; at which | |
the emperor broke into a royal and imperial passion, and threatened to | |
send him to the galleys; but, suddenly turning round, he said, "Yes, he | |
would allow him to keep his contract, on condition that, as long as it | |
lasted, he should furnish the school with good white household bread, | |
_(pain de menage,)_ such as was sold in the bakers' shops in Paris; that | |
he might choose that, or lose his contract;" and the baker thankfully | |
promised to furnish good white bread in future, at the same | |
price.--_Appendix to the 9th volume of Scott's Life of Napoleon._ | |
CENTRE OF GRAVITY, IN REFERENCE TO SEA-SICKNESS. | |
Man requiring so strictly to maintain his perpendicularity, that is, to | |
keep the centre of gravity always over the support of his body, | |
ascertains the required position in various ways, but chiefly by the | |
perpendicularity or known position of things about him. Vertigo, and | |
sickness commonly called sea-sickness, because it most frequently occurs | |
at sea, are the consequences of depriving him of his standards of | |
comparison, or of disturbing them. | |
Hence on shipboard, where the lines of the masts, windows, furniture, | |
&c. are constantly changing, sickness, vertigo, and other affections of | |
the same class are common to persons unaccustomed to ships. Many | |
experience similar effects in carriages, and in swings, or on looking | |
from a lofty precipice, where known objects being distant, and viewed | |
under a new aspect, are not so readily recognised: also in walking on a | |
wall or roof, in looking directly up to a roof, or to the stars in the | |
zenith, because, then, all standards disappear: on walking into a round | |
room, where there are no perpendicular lines of light and shade, as when | |
the walls and roof are covered with a spotted paper without regular | |
arrangement of spot:--on turning round, as in waltzing, or on a wheel; | |
because the eye is not then allowed to rest on the standards, &c. | |
At night, or by blind people, standards belonging to the sense of touch | |
are used; and it is because on board ship, the standards both of sight | |
and of touch are lost, that the effect is so very remarkable. | |
But sea-sickness also partly depends on the irregular pressure of the | |
bowels against the diaphragm, as their inertia or weight varies with the | |
rising and falling of the ship. | |
From the nature of sea-sickness, as discovered in all these facts, it is | |
seen why persons unaccustomed to the motion of a ship, often find relief | |
in keeping their eyes directed to the fixed shore, where it is visible; | |
or in lying down on their backs and shutting their eyes; or in taking | |
such a dose of exhilarating drink as shall diminish their sensibility to | |
all objects of external sense. | |
_Arnott's Elements of Physics._ | |
* * * * * | |
FINE ARTS. | |
* * * * * | |
THE BRITISH INSTITUTION. | |
The following gratifying report of the directors has just been | |
made:--"The funds of the institution consist at the present time of | |
12,500l. 3 per cent, consols. It is hoped that these funds may be | |
considerably increased by the exhibition of the beautiful collection of | |
pictures now on view at the gallery, which last year attracted such | |
general notice, and which his majesty, ever anxious to forward the | |
purposes of the institution, has again allowed the directors to offer | |
for the inspection of the public. The directors, finding that the two | |
institutions which have been established for the relief of decayed | |
artists, were not only founded upon the most humane principles, but | |
conducted in the most beneficial manner, have applied in the course of | |
the present year, 400l, to the purposes of those institutions; viz. | |
200l. to the Artists' Benevolent Fund, and 200l to the Artists' | |
General Benevolent Institution." The report next mentions two pictures | |
to be painted on the subjects of Lord Howe's and Lord St. Vincent's | |
victories, by Mr. Briggs and Mr. Jones, to be placed, "as well as those | |
which were exhibited this year in the gallery in commemoration of other | |
naval victories, in the hall of Greenwich hospital." It also confirms | |
the gift of Mr. Hilton's and Mr. Northcote's pictures to the new church | |
at Pimlico, built by Mr. Hakewill, and to the chapel built by Mr. | |
Cockerell, in the upper part of Regent-street. | |
* * * * * | |
ARTS AND SCIENCES. | |
* * * * * | |
MUSICAL COMPOSITION. | |
A very valuable musical manuscript, by Guillaume de Machault, who was | |
_valet de chambre_ to Phillippe-le-Bel, in 1307, has been discovered in | |
the royal library at Paris. It contains several French and Latin | |
anthems, ballads, &c.; and concludes with a mass, which is supposed to | |
have been sung at the coronation of Charles V., in 1364; and which | |
proves, at that time they were acquainted with the art of composition in | |
four parts. | |
NOISY FISH. | |
M. Cuvier lately read a short paper to the French academy on the species | |
of fish called _pogonias_, in which he particularly adverted to the | |
noise by which they make themselves heard, even under water. However | |
difficult the explanation of this phenomenon, there can be no doubt of | |
its existence; the evidence of it adduced by M. Cuvier being perfectly | |
satisfactory. The silurus, a large and ravenous fish, which abounds in | |
the Danube, gives daily proof of it. | |
GEOLOGY. | |
A treatise on the great geological question, whether the continents now | |
inhabited, have or have not been repeatedly submerged in the sea, has | |
lately been read to the Academie des Sciences, by M. Constant Prevost. | |
M. Prevost maintains, contrary to the generally received opinion, that | |
there has been but one great inundation of the earth; and that the | |
various remains of plants, animals, &c., which have given rise to the | |
supposition of successive inundations, have been floated to the places | |
in which they are occasionally found. | |
* * * * * | |
THE GATHERER. | |
"I am but a _Gatherer_ and disposer of other men's | |
stuff."--Wotton. | |
* * * * * | |
A PUZZLE FOR THE CURIOUS. | |
At a town in Gloucestershire the relatives as below, recently surrounded | |
one dinner-table:--One great-grandfather, two grandfathers, one | |
grandmother, three fathers, two mothers, four children, three | |
grand-children, ore great-grandchild, three sisters, one brother, two | |
husbands, two wives, one mother-in-law, one father-in-law, two | |
brothers-in-law, three sisters-in-law, one son-in-law, two | |
daughters-in-law, two uncles, three aunts, one nephew, two nieces, and | |
two cousins. The whole party consisted of seven persons only. | |
* * * * * | |
THE ROMANCE OF WAR. | |
A French soldier, who accompanied the armies of Russia, concealed a | |
small treasure at the entrance of a village near Wilna, with a view of | |
taking it with him on his return. After the defeat of Moscow he was made | |
prisoner, and sent to Siberia, and only recovered his liberty at the end | |
of last year. On reaching Wilna he remembered his hidden treasure, and | |
after tracing out the spot where he had hid it, he went to take it away. | |
What was his astonishment to find, in the place of his money, a small | |
tin box, containing a letter addressed to him, in which a commercial | |
house was mentioned at Nancy, where he might receive the sum buried, | |
with interest, since the year 1812. The soldier supposed this was all a | |
hoax; he went, however, to the house pointed out, where he received his | |
capital, with twelve years' interest. With this sum he established a | |
small business at Nancy, which enables him to live comfortably; but he | |
has never been able, though he has taken some pains, to ascertain how | |
his money was taken away and restored to him. | |
* * * * * | |
Two lovely ladies dwell at ----, | |
And each a-churching goes; | |
Emma goes there _to close her eyes_, | |
And Jane to _eye her clothes_. | |
* * * * * | |
The death of Stanislaus, king of Poland, was occasioned in a singular | |
manner. Being much addicted to smoking, he generally every day finished | |
many pipes. In knocking out the ashes he set fire to his dressing-gown. | |
As no one was near him, the flames had surrounded him, when the officer | |
on guard, hearing his cries, ran to his assistance, and extinguished the | |
fire. He might have survived, but a singular circumstance accompanied | |
the accident. He had been devout during the last years of his life, and, | |
as a penance for his sins, had worn a girdle with points on the inside; | |
these became heated, and being pressed into his body while the flames | |
were extinguishing, caused a number of wounds, the discharge from which, | |
at his period of life, proved too much for his debilitated constitution. | |
* * * * * | |
Professor Porson was often in pecuniary difficulties. On one occasion he | |
came with a dejected air to a friend, and said he had been walking | |
through the streets of London all the morning, thinking how strange it | |
was that not one of all the crowds he met should know as much about | |
Greek tragic verse as himself, and yet that he could not turn his | |
knowledge into a hundred pounds. In these moments he often talked of | |
retiring forever to the wilds of America, where he formed a plan of | |
living in solitary happiness, without a book or a friend. | |
* * * * * | |
One evening, at the Literary Fund Club, Mr. Incledon having sung with | |
great effect Mr. T. Dibdin's ballad of "May we ne'er want a friend, or a | |
bottle to give him," an elderly gentleman whispered in Mr. T. Dibdin's | |
ear, "Ah! my dear sir, these are the true things of the old school; what | |
a pity it is no one living is found to write such ditties now!" | |
* * * * * | |
_Printed and published by J LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) | |
and sold by all Newsmen and Booksellers._ | |
*** |