Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 19, No. 541, April 7, 1832
Author: Various
Language: English
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THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.

VOL. XIX. No. 541.]  SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 1832. [PRICE 2d.



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[Illustration: THE LOWTHER ARCADE.]

THE LOWTHER ARCADE.


In No. 514 of _The Mirror_ we explained the situation of the Lowther
Arcade. We may here observe that this covered way or arcade intersects the
insulated triangle of buildings lately completed in the Strand, the
principal façade of which is designated _West Strand_.

The Engraving represents the interior of the Arcade, similar in its use to
the Burlington Arcade, and, although wider and more lofty, including three
stories in height, it is not so long. The passage forms an acute angle
with the Strand, running to the back of St. Martin's Church, and is
divided by large pilasters into a succession of compartments; the
pilasters are joined by an arch; and the compartments are domed over, and
lighted in the centre by large domical lights, which illuminate the whole
passage in a perfect manner. "All the shop-fronts are decorated in a
similar manner, and the whole has been designed and executed with great
care by the builder, Mr. Herbert. The shops on the exterior are designed
to have the appearance of one great whole. The style of architecture is
Grecian, and the order employed Corinthian: the angles are finished in a
novel manner, with double circular buildings, having the roof domed in
brick, with an ornament as a finish to the top of the dome. The effect of
the whole would be agreeable if it had the appearance of a solid basement
to stand upon; but as tradesmen find it necessary to have as much open
space as possible to exhibit their goods, the mass of architecture above
must appear to be supported by the window-frames of the shops, although in
reality they are based upon small iron columns of four and six inches
diameter, which are scarcely seen, and which offer the slightest possible
impediment to the exhibition of goods."

We may add that the Arcade at night is lit with gas within elegant
vase-shaped shades of ground glass, branching from each side. The
ornaments of the domes, especially that of the Caduceus, are introduced
with good effect.

We take the introduction of this and similar passages in the British
metropolis to have been originally from the French capital. Thus, in Paris
are the _Passage des Panoramas_; _the Passage Delorme_; the _Passage
d'Artois_; the _Passage Feydeau_; the _Passage de Caire_; and the _Passage
Montesquieu_. A more grandiloquent name applied by the French to some of
their passages is _galerie_: we remember the _Galerie Vivienne_ as one of
the most splendid specimens, with its _marchands_ of artificial luxuries.
The _Galerie Vero Dodat_, (we think shorter than the Lowther Arcade,) is
in the extreme of shop-front magnificence: the floor is of alternate
squares of black and white marble, and the fronts are of plate-glass with
highly-polished brass frames, and we doubt whether that common material,
wood, is to be seen in the doors. This _Galerie_ is named after its
proprietor, M. Vero Dodat, an opulent _charcutier_, (a pork-butcher) in
the neighbouring street; but we are unable to inform the reader by how
many horse power his sausage-chopping machine is worked.

       *       *       *       *       *

VIRGINIA WATER.

(_To the Editor_.)


In No. 533 of _The Mirror_ is a Cut of the _Cascade_ at Virginia Water
(which by the way is a very correct one, with the keeper's lodge in the
distance) which you state was the late King's own planing; but such was
not the case, as it was built in the reign of George the Third; the late
king merely added improvements about it, one of which was the building of
a rude bridge a little below the cascade, of stones similar to the fall:
this bridge connects a favourite drive down to the nursery.

_Brighton_.        E.E.

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FISHING IN CANADA.

(_To the Editor_.)


It may be entertaining to many of your readers now that emigration
occupies the thoughts of so many, to sketch a short account of the method
chiefly employed in Canada, in capturing fish, which to very many settlers
is an important adjunct to their domestic economy. Those living on the
borders of the numerous lakes and rivers of Canada, which are invariably
stored with fine fish, are provided with either a light boat, log, or what
is by far the best, a bark canoe; a barbed fishing spear, with light
tapering shaft, about twelve or sixteen feet long, and an iron basket for
holding pine knots, and capable of being suspended at the head of the boat
when fired. In the calm evenings after dusk, many of these lights are seen
stealing out from the woody bays in the lakes, towards the best fishing
grounds, and two or three canoes together, with the reflection of the red
light from the clear green water on the bronzed faces of either the native
Indian, or the almost as wild Backwoodsman, compose an extraordinary scene:
the silence of the night is undisturbed, save by the gurgling noise of the
paddles, as guided by the point of the spear; the canoe whirls on its axis
with an almost dizzing velocity, or the sudden dash of the spear, followed
by the struggles of the transfixed fish, or perhaps the characteristic
"Eh," from the Indian steersman. In this manner, sometimes fifty or sixty
fish of three or four pounds are speared in the course of a night,
consisting of black bass, white fish, and sometimes a noble maskimongi. A
little practice soon enables the young settler to take an active part in
this pursuit. The light seems to attract the fish, as round it they
thickly congregate. But few fish are caught in this country by the fly: at
some seasons, however, the black bass will rise to it. A CANADIAN.

       *       *       *       *       *

THE ARBALEST, OR CROSS-BOW.

(_To the Editor_.)


No. 538, of _The Mirror_, contains a very interesting memoir on the
subject of the Cross-bow, but I do not find that the mode of bending the
steel bow has been described; which from its great strength it is evident
could not be accomplished without the assistance of some mechanical power.
This in the more modern bows is attained by the application of a piece of
steel, which lies along the front of the stem, and is moved forward on a
pivot until the string is caught by a hook, and a lever is thus obtained,
by means of which the bow is drawn to its proper extent. It seems to me
that this is the description of bow of which your correspondent has
furnished a drawing. Another mode, and which appears to have been applied
to the ancient bows, was by a sort of two-handed windlass, with ropes and
pulleys, called a _"moulinet_," which was temporarily attached to the
butt-end of the Cross-bow; of this a drawing is given in the illustrations
of Froissart's _Chronicles_, particularly in that one descriptive of the
Siege of Aubenton; in which two bowmen are shown, one in the act of
winding up the bow, and the other taking his aim, the _moulinet_, &c.
lying at his feet. Of this latter description, there are two specimens
preserved in the Tower of London, both of about the period of our Henry
the Sixth.

C.P.C.

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LINES TO A LARK.

(_For the Mirror_.)


  Upon thy happy flight to heaven, again, sweet
    bird, thou art;
  The morning beam is on thy wings, its influence
    in thy heart;
  Like matin hymns blest spirits sing in yonder
    happy sky,
  Break on the ear, the small, sweet notes of thy
    wild melody.

  Cold winter winds are far away, the cruel snows
    have past;
  And spring's sweet skies, and blushing flowers
    shine o'er the world at last;
  Where the young corn springs fresh, and green,
    sweet flowerets gather'd he,
  And form around thy lowly nest a shelter sweet
    for thee.

  Is it not this which wakes thy song, with thoughts of
    summer hours,
  When warmer hues shall clothe the skies, and
    darker shades the bowers;
  Has nature to thy throbbing heart such glowing
    feelings given,
  That thou canst feel the beautiful, of this bright
    earth and heaven.

  If so, how blest must be thy lot, from azure
    skies to gaze,
  When the fresh morn is in the heavens, or
    mid-day splendours blaze;
  Or when the sunset's canopy of golden light is
    spread,
  And thou unseen, enshrin'd in light, art singing
    overhead.

  Oh then thy happy song comes down upon the
    glowing breast,
  Soft as rich sunlight, on the flowers, comes from
    the golden west:
  And fain the heart would soar with thee, enshrin'd
    in thought as sweet,
  As the rich tones, which from thy heart, thou
    dost in song repeat.

  Oh there is not on earth a breast, but turns
    with joy to thee.
  From the cold wither'd years of age, to smiling
    infancy.
  Thou claimest smiles from ev'ry lip, and praise
    from ev'ry tongue;
  Such sympathy each happy heart finds in thy
    joyous song.

_Dorking_.

SYLVA.

       *       *       *       *       *



THE COSMOPOLITE.


SUPERSTITIONS, FABLES, &C. RELATIVE TO ANIMALS.

(_Continued from page 180_.)


The following curious notice of the _Acherontia Atropos_, or Death's-head
Moth, we extract from "The Journal of a Naturalist:"--"The yellow and
brown-tailed moths," he observes, "the death-watch, our snails, and many
other insects, have all been the subjects of man's fears, but the dread
excited in England by the appearance, noises, or increase of insects, are
petty apprehensions compared with the horror that the presence of this
Acherontia occasions to some of the more fanciful and superstitious
natives of northern Europe, maintainers of the wildest conceptions. A
letter is now before me from a correspondent in German Poland, where this
insect is a common creature, and so abounded in 1824 that my informant
collected fifty of them in a potato field of his village, where they call
them the 'death's-head phantom,' the 'wandering death-bird,' &c. The
markings on the back represent to their fertile imaginations the head of a
perfect skeleton, with the limb bones crossed beneath; its cry becomes the
voice of anguish, the moaning of a child, the signal of grief; it is
regarded, not as the creation of a benevolent being, but as the device of
evil spirits--spirits, enemies to man, conceived and fabricated in the
dark; and the very shining of its eyes is supposed to represent the fiery
element whence it is thought to have proceeded. Flying into their
apartments in an evening, it at times extinguishes the light, foretelling
war, pestilence, famine, and death to man and beast. * * * This insect
has been thought to be peculiarly gifted in having a voice and
squeaking like a mouse when handled or disturbed; but, in truth, no insect
that we know of has the requisite organs to produce a genuine voice; they
emit sounds by other means, probably all external."

The Icelanders believe _Seals_ to be the offspring of Pharaoh and his host;
who, they assert, were changed into these animals when overwhelmed in the
Red Sea. The _Grampus_, _Porpoise_, and _Dolphin_, have each from the
earliest ages been the subject of numerous superstitions and fables,
particularly the latter, which was believed to have a great attachment to
the human race, and to succour them in accidents by sea; it is a perfectly
straight fish, yet even painters have promulgated a falsity respecting it,
by representing it from the curved form in which it appears above water,
bent like the letter S reversed. "The inhabitants of Pesquare," says Dr.
Belon, "and of the borders of Lake Gourd are firmly persuaded that the
_Carp_ of those lakes are nourished with pure gold; and a great portion of
the people in the Lyonnois are fully satisfied that the fish called
_humble_ and _ernblons_ eat no other food than gold. There is not a
peasant in the environs of the Lake of Bourgil who will not maintain that
the _Laurets_, a fish sold daily in Lyons, feed on pure gold alone. The
same is the belief of the people of the Lake Paladron in Savoy, and of
those near Lodi. But," adds the Doctor, "having carefully examined the
stomachs of these several fishes, I have found that they lived on other
substances, and that from the anatomy of the stomach it is impossible that
they should be able to digest gold." This fable, therefore, with that of
the _Chameleon_ living on air only, and some others which we shall have
occasion to mention, may be regarded amongst those exploded by science.

The fable of the _Kraken_ has been referred to imperfect and exaggerated
accounts of monstrous _Polypi_ infesting the northern seas; how far may
not the _Cuttle-fish_ have given rise to this fiction? In hot countries
(our readers will remember that in a late paper, _Mirror_, vol. xvii. pp.
282-299, we directed their attention to the similarity of superstitions in
every country of the world, hence infering a common, and most probably
oriental origin for all)--in hot countries cuttle-fish are found of
gigantic dimensions; the Indians affirm that some have been seen two
fathoms broad over their centre; and each arm (for this kind is the
eight-armed cuttle-fish) nine fathoms long!!! Lest these animals should
fling their arms over the Indians' light canoes, and draw them and their
owners into the sea, they fail not to be provided with an axe to chop them
off.

The ancients believed that the oil of the _Grayling_ obliterated freckles
and small-pox marks. The adhesive qualities of the _Remora_, or
_Sucking-fish_, and its habit of darting against and fixing itself to the
side of a vessel, caused the ancients to believe that the possessors of it
had the power of arresting the progress of a ship in full sail.

Some Catholics, in consequence of the _John Doree_ having a dark spot,
like a finger-mark, on each side of the head, believe this to have been
the fish, and not the _Haddock_, from which the Apostle Peter took the
tribute-money, by order of our Saviour. The modern Greeks denominate it
"the fish of St. Christopher," from a legend which relates that it was
trodden on by that saint, when he bore his divine burden across an arm of
the sea. Some species of _Echini_, fossilized, and seen frequently in
Norfolk, are termed by the ignorant peasantry, and considered, _Fairy
Loaves_, to take which, when found, is highly unlucky.

The _Amphisbaena_, from its faculty of moving backwards or forwards at
pleasure, has been thought to have a head at either extremity of its
reptile body, but close inspection proves this opinion false. The
fascinating power of the _Rattlesnake_, of which so many stories have in
times past been related, and which was asserted to exist in its glittering
eyes, has been of late years resolved into that extreme nervous terror of
its victim (at sight of so certain a foe) which deprives it of the power
of motion, and causes it to fall, an unresisting prey, into the reptile's
jaws. We may here pause to observe, _en passant_, that the antipathy which
people of all ages and nations have felt against every reptile of the
serpent tribe, from the harmless worm to the hosts of deadly "dragons"
which infest the torrid zone, and the popular opinion that all are
venomous, often in spite of experience, seems to be not so much
superstition, as a terror of the species, implanted, since the fall, in
our bosoms, by the same Divine Being who at that period pronounced the
serpent to be the most accursed beast of the field.

(_To be continued_.)

       *       *       *       *       *



SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TAIT'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.


Nothing if not political appears to be the order of the new magazine and
other literary enterprises of the present day. Is this good policy in
itself? it may be so from the vivifying aid it lends to the springs of
imaginative writing. We have therefore no right to complain of the
_leaven_ of Mr. Tait's Magazine: it is anything but dull: _e.g._ the life
and jauntiness of the following paper is very pleasant, shrewd, and clever:

_The Martinet_.

The "Martinet" is the name of a genus, not of a species; the title of a
race variously feathered, but having specific qualities in common. There
is your military martinet, your clerical martinet, your legal martinet,
and the martinet of common life, ("_Gallicrista fastidiosa communis_,"
Linnaeus would class him,) who is to the others what the house-sparrow is
to the rest of his tribe. It is with him alone we have to do. The
"martinet" is a person who is all his life violently busied in
endeavouring to be a perfect gentleman, and who _almost_ succeeds. He
misses the point by over-stepping it. He is like one of those greyhounds
which outrun the hare fleetly enough, but cannot "_take_" her when they
have done so. They have a little too much speed, and a little too little
tact. The martinet is always bent upon thinking, saying, doing, and having,
every thing after a nicer fashion than other people, until his nicety runs
into downright mannerism; all his ideas become "clipped taffeta," and all
his eggs are known to have "two yolks." He rarely comes of age or is
thoroughly ripe till near forty, before which he may be a little of the
precise fop, and after which he changes to the somewhat foppish precisian,
which is the best definition of him. He would be an excellent member of
society were he not a little too nice for its every-day work, which, to
speak a truth in metaphor, will not always admit of white gloves. He is
remarkably consistent in all his proceedings, however, and the outward man
is a perfect and complete type of the inward, and _vice versa_. His soul
is never out of pumps and silk stockings, and picks its way amidst the
little mental puddles and cross-roads of this world with a chariness of
step, which is at once edifying and amusing. Of inward show _he_ is not
less "elaborate" than of outward; and, though a descendant of Eve, takes
equal care of the clothing of both mind and body.

Were his tailor to be abandoned enough to attempt to palm upon him a coat
of the very best Yorkshire, instead of the very best Wiltshire broad-cloth,
(an enormity of which--_horresco referens_--he was once very near being
the victim,) the one would be sure to lose, if discovered, the best of his
customers, and the other the best of a month's sleep. If he wears a wig,
his expenditure with his _peruquier_ is never less than five-and-twenty
guineas a-year. His cigars, though he smokes little, cost him nearly as
much. His hat is water-proof; his stop-watch and repeater are of a
scapement that never varies more than six seconds in the twelve months
from the time-piece at the Observatory at Greenwich, where he has a friend,
who is so good as sometimes to compare notes with him. By the advice of
his boot-maker--who, by the way, has some knowledge of the length of his
foot--he never puts on a new pair until they are at least a year old; and
he parted with his last footboy because he one day discovered a
perceptible difference between the polish of the right and left foot. In
winter, he wears and recommends cork soles. His toilet is no sinecure; and
on the table are always to be found, besides his dressing-box, which
contains an assortment of combs, scissors, tweezers, pomades, and essences,
not easily equalled, a bottle of "Eau de Cologne, veritable," a Packwood
and Criterion strop; a case of gold-mounted razors, (the best in England,)
which he bought, nearly thirty years ago, of the successor of "Warren," in
the Strand, and a silvered shaving-pot, upon a principle of his own,
redolent of Rigges' "patent violet-scented soap." His net-silk purse is
ringed with gold at one end, and with silver at the other; and although
not _much_ of a snuff-taker, he always carries a box, on the lid of which
smiles the portrait of the once celebrated and beautiful, though now
somewhat forgotten, Duchess of D----, or the equally resplendent Lady
Emily M----.

His table is of the same finish with his wardrobe. If he sat down to
dinner, even when alone, in boots, that visitation which Quin ascribed to
the prevalent neglect of "pudding on a Sunday"--an earthquake might be
expected to follow. His spoons and silver forks are marked with his crest;
and he omits no opportunity to inform his friends, that the right of the
family to the arms was proved at Herald's College by his great uncle John.
He has receipts for mulligatawny and oyster soups, not to be equalled; and
another for currie-powder, which a friend of his obtained, as the greatest
of favours, from Sir Stamford Raffles, and which, though bound in honour
not to make known, he means to leave to his son by will, under certain
injunctions. His cookery of a "French rabbit," provided the claret be
first-rate, is superb; and on _very_ particular occasions, he condescends
to know how to concoct a bowl of punch, especially champagne punch, for
the which he has a formula in rhyme, the poetry of which never, as is its
happy case, losing sight of correctness and common-sense, comes, as well
as its subject matter, home to "his business and his bosom." His "caviar"
is, through the kindness of a commercial friend, imported from the hand of
the very Russian _cuisinier_, who prepares it (unctuous relish!) for the
table of the Emperor himself. His cheese is Stilton or Parmesan.

Like "Mrs. Diana Scapes," he is also "curious in his liquors," and, in
despite of Beau Brummell, patronizes "malt," as far as to take one glass
of excellent "college ale,"--which he gets through his friend Dr. Dusty of
All Souls--between pastry and Parmesan. After cheese, he can relish one,
and only one, glass of port--all the better if of the "Comet vintage," or
of some vintage ten years anterior to that. His drink, however, is claret,
old hock, Madeira, and latterly, since it has become a sort of fashion,
old sherry. In these he is a connoisseur not to be sneezed at; and if
asked his opinion, makes it a rule never to give it upon the first glass,
invariably observing, that "if he would he couldn't, and if he could he
_wouldn't_!" He produces anchovy toast as an indispensable in a long
evening, after dinner, and to it he recommends a liqueur-glass of
cherry-brandy, which he believes is of that incomparable recipe, of which
the late King was so fond. If he be a bachelor, he has, in his dining-room,
a cellaret, in which repose this, and other similar liquid rarities, and
beneath his sideboard stands a machine, for which he paid twelve guineas,
for producing _ice extempore_.

His literary tastes bear a certain resemblance to, and have a certain
analogy with, his gustatory--proving the truth of that intimate connexion
between the stomach and the head, upon which physiologists are so
delighted to dwell. In poetry the heresies and escapades of Lord Byron are
too much for him, although as a Peer and a gentleman he always speaks well
and deferentially of him. Shelley he can make nothing of, and therefore
says, which is the strict truth in one sense at least, that he has never
read him. He praises Campbell, Crabbe, and Rogers, and shakes his head at
Tom Moore; but Pope is his especial favourite; and if anything in verse
has his heart, it is the "Rape of the Lock." Peter Pindar he partly
dislikes, but Anstey, the "Bath Guide," is high in his estimation; and
with him "Gray's Odes" stand far above those of Collins'. Of the "Elegy in
a Country Church" he thinks, as he says, "like the rest of the world."
"Shenstone's Pastorals" he has read. Burns he praises, but in his heart
thinks him a "wonderful clown," and shrugs his shoulders at his extreme
popularity. He says as little about Shakespeare as he can, and has by
heart some half dozen lines of Milton, which is all he really knows of him.
In the drama he inclines to the "unities;" and of the English Theatre
"Sheridan's School for Scandal," and Otway's "Venice Preserved," or Rowe's
"Fair Penitent," are what he best likes in his heart. John Kemble is his
favourite actor--Kean he thinks somewhat vulgar. In prose he thinks Dr.
Johnson the greatest man that ever existed, and next to him he places
Addison and Burke. His historian is Hume; and for morals and metaphysics
he goes to Paley and Dr. Reid, or Dugald Stewart, and is well content. For
the satires of Swift he has no relish. They discompose his ideas; and he
of all things detests to have his head set a spinning like a tetotum,
either by a book or by anything else. Bishop Berkeley once did this for
him to such a tune, that he showed a visible uneasiness at the mention of
the book ever after. In Tristram Shandy, however, he has a sort of
suppressed delight, which he hardly likes to acknowledge, the magnet of
attraction being, though he knows it not, in the characters of Uncle Toby,
Corporal Trim, and the Widow Wadman. His religious reading is confined to
"Blair's Sermons," and the "Whole Duty of Man," in which he always keeps a
little slip of double gilt-edged paper as a marker, without reflecting
that it is a sort of proof that he has never got through either. His
Pocket Bible always lies upon his toilet table. He knows a little of
Mathematics in general, a little of Algebra, and a little of Fluxions,
which is principally to be discovered from his having Emmerson, Simpson,
and Bonnycastle's works in his library. In classical learning he confesses
to having "forgotten" a good deal of Greek; but sports a Latin phrase upon
occasion, and is something of a critic in languages. He prefers Virgil to
Homer, and Horace to Pindar, and can, upon occasion, enter into a
dissertation on the precise meaning of a "Simplex munditiis." He also
delights in a pun, and most especially in a Latin one; and when applied to
for payment of _paving-rate_, never fails to reply "_Paveant_ illi, non
_paveam_ ego!" which, though peradventure repeated for the twentieth time,
still serves to sweeten the adieu between his purse and its contents. He
is also an amateur in etymologies and derivatives, and is sorry that the
learned Selden's solution of the origin of the term "gentleman" seems to
include in it something not altogether complimentary to religion. This is
his only objection to it. He speaks French; and his accent is, he flatters
himself, an approximation to the veritable Parisian. Modern novels he does
not read, but has read "Waverley" and "Pelham."

His library is not large, but select; and as he does not sit in it
excepting very occasionally, the fire grate is a movable one, and can be
turned at will from parlour to library and _vice versa_,--a whim of his
old acquaintance Dr. Trifle of Oxford. In it are his library table and
stuffed chair; a bust of Pitt and another of Cicero; a patent inkstand and
silver pen; an atlas, and maps upon rollers; a crimson screen, an improved
"Secretaire;" a barometer and a thermometer. Upon the shelves may be found
almost for certain Boswell's Johnson; Encyclopaedia Britannica; Peptic
Precepts and Cook's Oracle; the Miseries of Human Life; Prideaux'
Connexion of the Old and New Testament; Dr. Pearson's Culina Famulatrix
Medecinae; Soame Jenyn's Essays; the Farrier's Guide; Selden's Table-talk;
Archbishop Tillotson's Sermons; Henderson on Wines; Boscawen's Horace;
Croker's Battles of Talavera and Busaco; Dictionary of Quotations; Lord
Londonderry's Peninsular Campaigns; the Art of Shaving, with directions
for the management of the Razor; Todd's Johnson's Dictionary; Peacham's
Complete Gentleman; Harris' Hermes; Roget on the Teeth; Memoirs of Pitt;
Jokeby, a Burlesque on Rokeby; English Proverbs; Paley's Moral Philosophy;
Chesterfield's Letters; Buchan's Domestic Medicine; Debrett's Peerage;
Colonel Thornton's Sporting Tour; Court Kalendar; the Oracle, or Three
Hundred Questions explained and answered; Gordon's Tacitus an Elzevir
Virgil; Epistolae obscurorum virorum; Martial's Epigrams; Tully's Offices;
and Henry's Family Bible.

His general character for nicety is excellent, both in a moral and
religious point of view: and he holds himself to have done a questionable
thing in looking into a number of Harriette Wilson, in which a gay
_quondam_ friend of his figured. When he marries, the ceremony is
performed by the Honourable and very Reverend the Dean of some place, to
whom he claims a distant relationship. He takes his wine in moderation;
never bets, nor plays above guinea points, and _always_ at whist. He goes
to church regularly; his pew is a square one, with green curtains. He
dines upon fish on Good Friday, and declines visiting during Passion week
in mixed parties. If he ever had any peccadilloes of any kind, they are
buried in a cloud as snug as that which shrouded the pious Eneas when he
paid his first visit to Queen Dido.

He dies, aged fifty-seven, of a pleuritic attack, complicated with angina
pectoris; and having left fifty pounds to each of the principal charitable
institutions of his neighbourhood, and fifty pounds to the churchwardens
of his parish, to be distributed amongst the poor professing the religion
of the Church of England, he is buried in his "family vault," and his last
wish fulfilled,--that is to say, his epitaph is composed in Latin, and the
inscription put up under the especial care and inspection of his friend Dr.
Dusty of Oxford. _Requiescat._

       *       *       *       *       *


THE VILLAGE CEMETERY.

In the _New Monthly Magazine_, just published is a powerful poem--the
_Splendid Village_, by the author of "Corn-law Rhymes." from which we
extract the following passage:

  I sought the churchyard where the lifeless lie,
  And envied them, they rest so peacefully.
  "No wretch comes here, at dead of night." I said,
  "To drag the weary from his hard-earn'd bed;
  No schoolboys here with mournful relics play,
  And kick the 'dome of thought' o'er common clay;
  No city cur snarls here o'er dead men's bones;
  No sordid fiend removes memorial stones.
  The dead have here what to the dead belongs,
  Though legislation makes not laws, but wrongs."
  I sought a letter'd stone, on which my tears
  Had fall'n like thunder-rain, in other years,
  My mother's grave I sought, in my despair,
  But found it not! our grave-stone was not there!
  No we were fallen men, mere workhouse slaves,
  And how could fallen men have names or graves?
  I thought of sorrow in the wilderness,
  And death in solitude, and pitiless
  Interment in the tiger's hideous maw:
  I pray'd, and, praying, turn'd from all I saw;
  My prayers were curses! But the sexton came;
  How my heart yearn'd to name my Hannah's name!
  White was his hair, for full of days was he,
  And walk'd o'er tombstones, like their history.
  With well feign'd carelessness I rais'd a spade,
  Left near a grave, which seem'd but newly made,
  And ask'd who slept below? "You knew him well,"
  The old man answer'd, "Sir, his name was Bell.
  He had a sister--she, alas! is gone,
  Body and soul. Sir! for she married one
  Unworthy of her. Many a corpse he took
  From this churchyard." And then his head he shook,
  And utter'd--whispering low, as if in fear
  That the old stones and senseless dead would hear--
  A word, a verb, a noun, too widely famed,
  Which makes me blush to hear my country named.
  That word he utter'd, gazing on my face,
  As if he loath'd my thoughts, then paus'd a space.
  "Sir," he resumed, "a sad death Hannah died;
  Her husband--kill'd her, or his own son lied.
  Vain is your voyage o'er the briny wave,
  If here you seek her grave--she had no grave!
  The terror-stricken murderer fled before
  His crime was known, and ne'er was heard of more.
  The poor boy died, sir! uttering fearful cries
  In his last dreams, and with his glaring eyes,
  And troubled hands, seem'd acting, as it were,
  His mother's fate. Yes, Sir, his grave is there."

       *       *       *       *       *



THE SELECTOR AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS.

LANDERS' DISCOVERY OF THE TERMINATION OF THE NIGER


Our readers are already in possession of the outline of this memorable
journey; though nothing but an attentive perusal of the Discoverers'
Narrative can afford them the remotest idea of the dangers they
encountered in their progress. To gratify this curiosity, Mr. Murray has
considerately enough, printed their Journal in three volumes of the
_Family Library_, and to say that they are, in interest, equal if not
superior to any of the Series would be praise inadequate to their merits.
The simple, unvarnished style of the Narrative is just suitable for a
family fireside. We intend to quote a few scenes: at present

_An African Horse-Race_,

at Kiáma, in the kingdom of Borgoo from the first volume.

"In the afternoon, all the inhabitants of the town, and many from the
little villages in its neighbourhood, assembled to witness the
horse-racing, which takes place always on the anniversary of the 'Bebun
Sàlah,' and to which every one had been looking forward with impatience.
Previous to its commencement, the king, with his principal attendants,
rode slowly round the town, more for the purpose of receiving the
admiration and plaudits of his people than to observe where distress more
particularly prevailed, which was his avowed intention. A hint from the
chief induced us to attend the course with our pistols, to salute him as
he rode by; and as we felt a strong inclination to witness the amusements
of the day, we were there rather sooner than was necessary, which afforded
us, however, a fairer opportunity of observing the various groups of
people which were flocking to the scene of amusement.

"The race-course was bounded on the north by low granite hills; on the
south by a forest; and on the east and west by tall shady trees, among
which were habitations of the people. Under the shadow of these
magnificent trees the spectators were assembled, and testified their
happiness by their noisy mirth and animated gestures. When we arrived, the
king had not made his appearance on the course; but his absence was fully
compensated by the pleasure we derived from watching the anxious and
animated countenances of the multitude, and in passing our opinions on the
taste of the women in the choice and adjustment of their fanciful and
many-coloured dresses. The chief's wives and younger children sat near us
in a group by themselves; and were distinguished from their companions by
their superior dress. Manchester cloths of inferior quality, but of the
most showy patterns, and dresses made of common English bed-furniture,
were fastened round the waist of several sooty maidens, who, for the sake
of fluttering a short hour in the gaze of their countrymen, had sacrificed
in clothes the earnings of a twelve-month's labour. All the women had
ornamented their necks with strings of beads, and their wrists with
bracelets of various patterns, some made of glass beads, some of brass,
others of copper; and some again of a mixture of both metals: their ancles
also were adorned with different sorts of rings, of neat workmanship.

"The distant sound of drums gave notice of the king's approach, and every
eye was immediately directed to the quarter from whence he was expected.
The cavalcade shortly appeared, and four horsemen first drew up in front
of the chief's house, which was near the centre of the course, and close
to the spot where his wives and children and ourselves were sitting.
Several men bearing on their heads an immense quantity of arrows in huge
quivers of leopard's skin came next, followed by two persons who, by their
extraordinary antics and gestures, we concluded to be buffoons. These two
last were employed in throwing sticks into the air as they went on, and
adroitly catching them in falling, besides performing many whimsical and
ridiculous feats. Behind these, and immediately preceding the king, a
group of little boys, nearly naked came dancing merrily along, flourishing
cows' tails over their heads in all directions. The king rode onwards,
followed by a number of fine-looking men, on handsome steeds; and the
motley cavalcade all drew up in front of his house, where they awaited his
further orders without dismounting. This we thought was the proper time to
give the first salute, so we accordingly fired three rounds; and our
example was immediately followed by two soldiers, with muskets which were
made at least a century and a half ago.

"Preparations in the mean time had been going on for the race, and the
horses with their riders made their appearance. The men were dressed in
caps and loose tobes and trousers of every colour; boots of red morocco
leather, and turbans of white and blue cotton. The horses were gaily
caparisoned; strings of little brass bells covered their heads; their
breasts were ornamented with bright red cloth and tassels of silk and
cotton; a large quilted pad of neat embroidered patchwork was placed under
the saddle of each; and little charms, enclosed in red and yellow cloth,
were attached to the bridle with bits of tinsel. The Arab saddle and
stirrup were in common use; and the whole group presented an imposing
appearance.

"The signal for starting was made, and the impatient animals sprung
forward and set off at a full gallop. The riders brandished their spears,
the little boys flourished their cows' tails, the buffoons performed their
antics, muskets were discharged, and the chief himself, mounted on the
finest horse on the ground, watched the progress of the race, while tears
of delight were starting from his eyes. The sun shone gloriously on the
tobes of green, white, yellow, blue, and crimson, as they fluttered in the
breeze; and with the fanciful caps, the glittering spears, the jingling of
the horses' bells, the animated looks and warlike bearing of their riders,
presented one of the most extraordinary and pleasing sights that we have
ever witnessed. The race was well contested, and terminated only by the
horses being fatigued and out of breath; but though every one was emulous
to outstrip his companion, honour and fame were the only reward of the
competitors.

"A few naked boys, on ponies without saddles, then rode over the course,
after which the second and last heat commenced. This was not by any means
so good as the first, owing to the greater anxiety which the horsemen
evinced to display their skill in the use of the spear and the management
of their animals. The king maintained his seat on horseback during these
amusements, without even once dismounting to converse with his wives and
children who were sitting on the ground on each side of him. His dress was
showy rather than rich, consisting of a red cap, enveloped in the large
folds of a white muslin turban; two under tobes of blue and scarlet cloth,
and an outer one of white muslin; red trousers, and boots of scarlet and
yellow leather. His horse seemed distressed by the weight of his rider,
and the various ornaments and trappings with which his head, breast, and
body, were bedecked. The chief's eldest and youngest sons were near his
women and other children, mounted on two noble looking horses. The eldest
of these youths was about eleven years of age. The youngest being not more
than three, was held on the back of his animal by a male attendant, as he
was unable to sit upright in the saddle without this assistance. The
child's dress was ill suited to his age. He wore on his head a tight cap
of Manchester cotton, but it overhung the upper part of his face, and
together with its ends, which flapped over each cheek, hid nearly the
whole of his countenance from view; his tobe and trousers were made
exactly in the same fashion as those of a man, and two large belts of blue
cotton, which crossed each other, confined the tobe to his body. The
little legs of the child were swallowed up in clumsy yellow boots, big
enough for his father; and though he was rather pretty, his whimsical
dress gave him altogether so odd an appearance, that he might have been
taken for anything but what he really was. A few of the women on the
ground by the side of the king wore large white dresses, which covered
their persons like a winding-sheet. Young virgins, according to custom,
appeared in a state of nudity; many of them had wild flowers stuck behind
their ears, and strings of beads, &c., round their loins; but want of
clothing did not seem to damp their pleasure in the entertainment, for
they appeared to enter into it with as much zest as any of their
companions. Of the different coloured tobes worn by the men, none looked
so well as those of a deep crimson colour on some of the horsemen; but the
clean white tobes of the Mohammedan priests, of whom not less than a
hundred were present on the occasion, were extremely neat and becoming.
The sport terminated without the slightest accident, and the king's
dismounting was a signal for the people to disperse.

"We have here endeavoured, to the best of our ability, to describe an
African horse-race, but it is impossible to convey a correct idea of the
singular and fantastic appearance of the numerous groups of people that
met our view on all sides, or to describe their animation and delight; the
martial equipment of the soldiers and their noble steeds, and the wild,
romantic, and overpowering interest of the whole mass. Singing and dancing
have been kept up all night, and the revellers will not think of retiring
to rest till morning."

       *       *       *       *       *



FINE ARTS.

MR. HAYDON'S EXHIBITION.


Mr. Haydon has completed his _Xenophon_ and _the_ 10,000 _first seeing the
Sea from Mount Thèches_--a brilliantly glowing page of Grecian heroism,
and a splendid specimen of the highest order of historical painting. It
represents the celebrated retreat of the 10,000 valorous Greeks, with
Xenophon at their head, whose only hope of release from one of the most
perilous situations--was to reach the sea. The action of the picture is
thus described by the artist:

"This, of course, was accepted--they altered their course, and, while the
army was in full march over Mount Thèches, the advanced guard, in coming
to the top, came suddenly in view of a magnificent valley, with the SEA in
the extreme distance, glittering along an extended coast, and mingling
with the hazy horizon!

"The whole guard burst out into a furious shout of enthusiastic exultation
the SEA! the SEA! was echoed along the whole army, below in the passes;
Xenophon, from the uproar, thinking they were attacked, galloped forward
with the cavalry;[1] but seeing the cause, joined in the shout! The
feeling was too powerful to be resisted--men, women, and children, the
veteran, the youth, the officer, the private, beasts of burden, cattle,
and horses, broke up like a torrent that had burst a mountain rock, and
rushed, headlong to the summit!

"As each, in succession, lifted his head up above the rocks, and really
saw the SEA, nothing could exceed the affecting display of gratitude and
enthusiastic rapture!--some embraced, some cried like children, some
stamped like madmen, some fell on their knees and thanked the gods, others
were mute with gratitude, and stared as if bewildered!

"Never was such a scene seen! as soon as the soldiers recovered something
like reason, a trophy on a heap of stones and shields, was erected. The
army descended the Colchian Mountains, and reached Trapezus, the modern
Trebizon, after a march of 1,155 leagues, during two hundred and fifteen
days, where they embarked for their native country.

"The moment I have taken is when Xenophon seeing the sea has rode forward
to shout it to the army. He is waving his helmet with one hand, and
pointing to the sea with the other, mounted on a skew-bald charger.

"Below the army are rushing up--in the centre is an officer, on a blood
Arab, carrying his wife. A veteran soldier on his left is supporting an
exhausted youth who has sunk on his shield, and pointing out the path to
the army. On the right, is a young man carrying up on his back his aged
father who has lost his helmet--the trumpeter lower down, is blowing a
blast to collect the rear guard which are mounting behind him, while near
the mare's head is the Greek band with trumpets and cymbals encouraging
the men. The army is rushing up under an opening of the rock to the left,
while the advanced guard of cavalry are trotting down the shelving top of
a precipice, the horses excited and snuffing up the sea air with ecstasy."

It would, however, be difficult to convey, by description, the
overpowering energy and mighty struggle of the scene before us, or the
masterly skill with which the painter has brought within a few square feet
of canvass, one of the most astounding events in the history of man. Its
moral tendency should be a lasting lesson of the secret spring of
honourable success in life--decision of character and well-directed
energies to accomplish great ends--though applicable to every station of
life, however humble.

Xenophon is a distant figure in this effective picture: his action, as
well as that of the cavalry, about him is admirably expressed: he appears
on the pinnacle of triumph; his charger snuffs the very gale of glory, and
the uncurbed energy of exultation seems to animate those immediately
around him. The eye descends to the checkered toil beneath: the brawny
soldier bearing the delicate form of his lovely wife, which is well
contrasted with the bold, muscular figure of the former: the exhausted
youth, and the veteran directing the army, but especially the former, are
finely drawn and painted: the bare head of the aged man, with his few last
locks fluttering in the wind, contrasts with the burly-headed trumpeter,
whose thick throat and outblown cheeks denote the energy which he is
throwing into this last inspiring call to victory over difficulty. The
head of the soldier's blood Arab is one of the finest studies of the group:
you almost see the breath of his nostrils; the hinder parts and tail of
the horse are not quite of equal merit. These are but a few of the points
of excellence in the picture: its colouring is censurable for its
roughness, especially by those who enjoy the smoothly-finished productions
of certain British artists; but we may look to such in vain for the
powerful drawing and forcible expression which characterize this, the
finest of Mr. Haydon's pictures.

In the same room, _vis a vis_ the _Xenophon_, is the _Mock Election_
picture described at some length in No. 304, of _The Mirror_. About the
walls are thirteen finished sketches and studies also by Mr. Haydon. We
may notice them anon.


    [1] Recently formed.

       *       *       *       *       *


PAINTING ON GLASS.


An exhibition of paintings in enamel colours on glass has been opened at
No. 357, Strand, which is likely to prove attractive to the patrons of art
as well as to the sight-seeing public. It consists of faithful copies of
Harlow's _Kemble Family;_ Martin's _Belshazzar_, _Joshua_, and _Love among
the Roses;_ Sir Joshua Reynolds's celebrated group of _Charity_, and a
tasteful composition of a _Vase of Flowers with fruit_, &c. The whole are
ably executed, and calculated to advance the art of painting on glass to
its olden eminence. The copies from Martin are of the size of his prints,
and are perhaps the most successful: that of _Joshua commanding the Sun to
stand still_ is powerfully striking: the supernal light breaking from the
dense panoply of clouds is admirably executed, and the minuteness of the
architectural details and the fighting myriads is indescribable. In the
Hall of _Belshazzar_, the perspective is ably preserved throughout, though
the interest of the picture is not of that intense character that we
recognise in _Joshua_. The painting of the Trial of Queen Katherine is of
the size of Clint's masterly print: it required greater delicacy in
copying than did either of its companion pictures, since it has few of the
strong lights and vivid contrasts so requisite for complete success on
glass. The costumes are well managed, as the red of Wolsey's robes, and
the massy velvet dress of Katherine. Of this print, by the way, there are
appended to the Catalogue a few particulars which may be new and pleasant
to the reader. Thus:--

"The Picture is on mahogany panel, 1-1/2 inch in thickness, and in size,
about 7 feet by 5 feet. It originated with Mr. T. Welsh, the meritorious
professor of music, in whose possession the picture remains. This
gentleman commissioned Harlow to paint for him a kit-cat size portrait of
Mrs. Siddons, in the character of Queen Katherine in Shakspeare's Play of
Henry VIII., introducing a few of the scenic accessories in the distance.
For this portrait Harlow was to receive twenty-five guineas; but the idea
of representing the whole scene occurred to the artist, who, with Mr.
Welsh, prevailed upon most of the actors to sit for their portraits: in
addition to these, are introduced portraits of the friends of both parties,
including the artist himself. The sum ultimately paid by Mr. Welsh was one
hundred guineas; and a like sum was paid by Mr. Cribb, for Harlow's
permission to engrave the well-known print, to which we have already
adverted. The panel upon which the picture is painted, is stated to have
cost the artist 15_l_.

"Concerning this picture we find the following notice by Knowles, in his
_Life of Fuseli_. 'In the performance of this work, he (Harlow) owed many
obligations to Fuseli for his critical remarks; for, when he first saw the
picture, chiefly in dead-colouring, he said, 'I do not disapprove of the
general arrangement of your work, and I see you will give it a powerful
effect of light and shadow; but you have here a composition of more than
twenty figures, or, I should rather say, parts of figures, because you
have not shown one leg or foot, which makes it very defective. Now, if you
do not know how to draw legs and feet, I will show you,' and taking up a
crayon, he drew two on the wainscot of the room. Harlow profited by these
remarks; and the next time we saw the picture, the whole arrangement in
the fore-ground was changed. Fuseli then said, 'so far you have done well:
but now you have not introduced a back figure, to throw the eye of the
spectator into the picture;' and then pointed out by what means he might
improve it in this particular. Accordingly, Harlow introduced the two boys
who are taking up the cushion."[2]

"It has been stated that the majority of the actors in the scene sat for
their portraits in this picture. Mr. Kemble, however, refused, when asked
to do so by Mr. Welsh, strengthening his refusal with emphasis profane.
Harlow was not to be defeated, and he actually drew Mr. Kemble's portrait
in one of the stage-boxes of Covent Garden Theatre, while the great actor
was playing his part on the stage. The vexation of such a _ruse_ to a man
of Mr. Kemble's temperament, can better be imagined than described: how it
succeeded, must be left to the judgment of the reader. Egerton, Pope, and
Stephen Kemble, were successively painted for Henry VIII., the artist
retaining the latter. The head of Mr. Charles Kemble was likewise twice
painted: the first, which cost Mr. C. Kemble many sittings, was considered
by himself and others, very successful. The artist thought otherwise; and,
contrary to Mr. Kemble's wish and remonstrance, he one morning painted out
the approved head: in a day or two, however, entirely from recollection,
Harlow re-painted the portrait with increased fidelity. Mr. Cunningham, we
may here notice, has erroneously stated, that Harlow required but one
sitting of Mrs. Siddons. The fact is, the accomplished actress held her
up-lifted arm frequently till she could hold it raised no longer, and the
majestic limb was finished from another original."

The lights of _Love among the Roses_ are vivid and beautiful: the whole
composition will be recollected as of a charming character.

By the way, persons unpractised in the art of painting on glass, or in
transparent enamel, have but a slender idea of its difficulties.
Crown-glass is preferred for its greater purity. The artist has not only
to _paint_ the picture, but to fire it in a kiln, with the most
scrupulous attention to produce the requisite effects, and the
uncertainty of this branch of the art is frequently a sad trial of
patience. Hence, the firing or vitrification of the colours is of
paramount importance, and the art thus becomes a two-fold trial of
skill. Its cost is, however, only consistent with its brilliant effect.


    [2] Quoted in Cunningham's Life of Harlow.

       *       *       *       *       *



NOTES OF A READER.

TEA.


What can we do with this pamphlet?--_British Relations with the Chinese
Empire--Comparative Statement of the English and American Trade with India
and Canton_. What a book for a tea-drinking old lady, or Dr. Johnson, of
tea-loving notoriety, with his thirteen cups to the dozen.

"The writer has passed the last eleven years of his life in visiting every
quarter of the globe, and the colonial possessions of Great Britain, in
order to acquire an intimate knowledge of her commercial affairs, for
political purposes." The reader will, perhaps, say this pamphlet is purely
political, and what have you to do with it? But it is not so: there are
facts in these pages which interest every one and come home to every man's
mouth: the political purpose is to us like chaff; and these facts like
grains of wheat, so we will even pick a few. Meanwhile, the whole pamphlet
must be important to all, as to ourselves parts are interesting: it
represents the literature of the tea trade, and, best of all, the
profitable literature of _L.s.d._ It is written in a patriotic spirit;
witness this extract from the preface: "To a commercial union of wealth,
and a co-operation of talent and patriotism, a small island in the Western
Atlantic is indebted for the acquisition of one of the most splendid
empires that ever was subjected to the dominion of man, and also for the
rise and progress of an extraordinary commerce with a people inhabiting a
distant hemisphere, and heretofore shut out from all intercourse with the
majority of the human race;--a commerce equal in extent to 10,000,000_l_.
annually, and involving property to the amount of ten times that sum."

Our _facts_ must stand isolated, since to weave them into an argument
would be altogether foreign to our purpose.

_East India Company_.--Although the East India Company can alone import
tea, they cannot choose their own time of sale; they are compelled to put
up the tea at an advance of _one penny_ (_they do at one farthing_) per
lb.; they are obliged to have twelve months' stock in hand; and while the
tea in America has _increased in price_ and diminished in consumption, the
_very reverse_ has taken place in England, as _official returns_ prove!

_China_ presents the very remarkable spectacle of _a civilization entirely
political_, whose principal aim has constantly been to draw closer the
bonds which unite the society it formed, and to merge, by its laws, the
interest of the individual in that of the public; an empire possessing an
active, skilful, and contented population of 155,000,000 souls, who are
spread over 1,372,450 square miles of the fairest and, probably, earliest
inhabited region of the globe--that maintains a _standing army_ of
1,182,000 men, and levies a revenue of only 11,649,912_l_. sterling--an
empire that has preserved the records of its dominion and the integrity of
its name from a period of three thousand years antecedent to our era,
while the most powerful monarchies of remote or modern ages have dwindled
into nothingness, or been borne towards the ocean of eternity, by the
swiftly destructive gulf of time,--an empire whose people have materially
contributed to advance the civilization of Europe and America, by the
discovery of the most useful arts and sciences, such as writing,[3]
astronomy, the mariner's compass, gunpowder, sugar, silk, porcelain, the
smelting and combination of metals,--and, in fine, enjoying within its own
territories all the necessaries and conveniencies, and most of the
luxuries of life; standing, as it proudly asserts, in no need of
intercourse with other countries,[4] which it is its studied policy to
prohibit,[5] openly and arrogantly proclaims its total independence of
every nation in the world!

_Origin of the Tea Trade of the East India Company_.--In 1668, the East
India Company ordered "_one hundred pounds weight of goode tey_" to be
sent home on speculation. A taste for the Chinese herb was created and
carefully fostered; the invoice was increased from year to year, until it
now amounts to 30,000,000 pounds weight (notwithstanding the excessive
duty of 100 per cent, and the onerous restrictions of the commutation act,
since 1784), yielding an annual revenue to government, on a _luxury of
life_, of about 3,300,000_l_. sterling, with scarcely any trouble or
expense in the collecting;--employing 35,000 tons of the finest
shipping,--requiring annually nearly 1,000,000_l_. sterling worth of
cotton, woollen, and iron manufactures, and affording employment to a
numerous class of society, for the wholesale and retail dealing in a leaf
collected on the mountains of a distant continent!

To enable them the better to prosecute this valuable commerce, the East
India Company sought and obtained permission to build a factory at Canton,
where their agents were permitted to reside six months in the year--a
favour specifically accorded as a matter of compassion to foreigners, who
are carefully debarred all intercourse with the interior of the country; a
dread being entertained that the introduction of Europeans to settle in
China, would lead (according also to ancient prophecy) to the total
subversion of the empire.

Other brunches of trade were subsequently added to that of tea. In 1773,
the East India Company made a small adventure of opium[6] from Bengal to
Canton; and the consumption of opium increased as rapidly among the
Chinese as tea did among the English, until it now yields (although a
contraband trade) 14,000,000 Spanish dollars annually,[7] and pays a
revenue to the Indian Government of 1,800,000_l_. sterling. Raw cotton
forms another extensive article of export to China; it is in general a
less profitable remittance than bills of exchange, but the exportation is
encouraged for the benefit of the Indian territories.

_Character of the Chinese_.--The Chinese are a haughty and independent
race of people, whose commercial policy it is to prohibit, as much as
possible, every species of manufactures[8] and bullion; and encourage the
importation of food, and raw produce; holding themselves aloof from
Europeans, and particularly jealous of Great Britain, on account of the
proximity of her Indian empire; exacting upwards of 1,000_l_. in fees and
port dues[9] on each foreign vessel that enters Canton, the only harbour
to which they are admitted,[10] imposing severe sea and inland customs and
regulations regarding woollen and other manufactures, entirely
interdicting some branches of trade, and permitting all by sufferance, or
as a matter of favour rather than from necessity, or by right.

_Tea in Ireland_.--In Ireland, the consumption of tea in the year 1828,
was 1,300,000 lbs. _less_ than in 1827; and although the population of
Ireland has rapidly increased, indeed, nearly doubled itself, since the
commencement of the present century, yet the quantity of tea imported into
that country is 400,000 lbs. _less_ in 1828, than it was in 1800!


  _Tea in America and England_.--

  American consumption of tea.
         1819--5,480,884 lbs.
         1827--5,372,956
               ---------
  Decrease!      107,828 lbs.

  British consumption of tea.

         1819--24,093,619 lbs.
         1827--27,841,284
               ----------
  Increase      3,747,665 lbs.


  _Consumption of Sugar_.--

  In France each individual, annually 5 lbs.
  Hamburgh          do.     do.      10
  Germany           do. throughout    6
  United States     do.     do.       8
  Ireland           do.     do.       3
  Great Britain     do.     do.      14

Fourteen pounds of sugar per annum, will afford but little more than _half
an ounce_ a day to each individual; a quantity, which it is well known the
youngest child will consume, and yet a large portion of the sugar entered
for home consumption, is used in breweries, and distilleries, so that it
is even doubtful, whether the personal direct consumption of tea or sugar
be the greatest; notwithstanding the latter may be had in such great
abundance and in every country within the tropics.

_Price of Tea in China_.--Bohea, which cannot be purchased in China at
less than _eight-pence half-penny_, may be obtained at Antwerp for
7-3/4_d_.; in France for 6-1/2_d_.; and at Hamburg for 5_d_.! Congou, of
which the Canton price is from 11_d_. to 1_s_. per lb., may be bought in
France at 10-1/2_d_., and at Hamburg from 8-1/4_d_. to 10-1/4_d_.! Canton
price for Hyson, 1_s_. 9-3/4_d_.; French price 1_s_. 8-1/2_d_. Young Hyson
costs in Canton about 1_s_. 8-1/2_d_. per lb., and _only one half that sum
at Hamburg!!_ The Chinese cannot afford to sell Twankay at less than 11_d_.
per lb.; but the American speculators enable the good people of Hamburg to
drink it at _seven-pence farthing!_ Souchong, a good quality tea, sells at
Hamburg for _five-pence_ per lb., which is the _same price_ as the vilest
Bohea costs in the Hamburg market, and is only _one-half the price of
Bohea_ in Canton.

_Cost of a pound of Seven Shilling Tea_.--Take a pound of Congou for
instance, according to the evidence of Mr. Mills, a tea broker, before the
House of Lords:

  One pound of good Congou,
  _put up_ at the East India
  Company's sales at --------------- 1  8
  Buyers purposely and for
  their own advantage raise it ----- 0  9
                                     ----

         Purchasing price by the Brokers --- 2  5
  Duty levied by the Crown ----------------- 2  5
  Retailer's profit, brokerage, &c. -------- 2  2
                                             ----
                              Shop price     7  0

Thus it will be seen, the tea that the Company offers for sale to the
consumer at 1_s_. 8_d_., or at the utmost say 2_s_., is enhanced to 7_s_.
before it finds its way to the drinker's breakfast table.

_Coffee-Shops_.--There are 3,000 coffee shops in London, in which are
daily consumed 2,000 lbs. of tea and 15,000 lbs. of coffee. The
consumption of _coffee_ in these establishments has increased as
follows:--In 1829, 1,978,600 lbs. In 1830, 2,251,300 lbs. In 1831,
2,899,870. Of tea the increase has only been, during the same periods,
239,700 lbs.--249,400 lbs.--263,000 lbs.


    [3] A celebrated Hungarian, named Cosmös de Körös, has lately
        discovered in a Thibetian monastery, where he has been engaged
        translating an Encyclopaedia, that _lithography_ and _movable
        wooden types_ were known to the Chinese many centuries ago.

    [4] A Chinese who leaves his country is considered as a traitor,
        and is punished with death if he ever return to it.

    [5] The grand maxim of Confucius is, "to despise foreign
        commodities."

    [6] The Chinese use this stimulant as we do wine and spirits, and
        with perhaps, less deleterious consequences to their health,
        and less evil results to their morals.

    [7] About 7,000,000 of which, or bars or moulds of silver to that
        amount, are sent to India, the Chinese being unable to make
        sufficient return in merchandise. This remittance is of
        material assistance in helping to provide funds on the spot
        for the purchase of tea.

    [8] A late No. of the _Canton Register_, mentions a fact, which is
        one instance out of many, of the desire to be independent of
        foreigners; it is as follows:--"Prussian blue, an article
        which was formerly brought in _considerable quantities from
        England_, is now _totally shut out_ from the list of imports,
        in consequence of its mode of manufacture being _acquired by a
        Chinaman in London_; and from timely improvement it has been
        brought to that perfection which renders the _consumers
        independent of foreign supply!"_

    [9] The port dues on a vessel of 1,000 or of 100 tons are _alike!_

    [10] The Chinese will not admit a foreign nation to trade at two
        places; for instance, the Russians are excluded from Canton
        because they enjoy an overland trade at Kiachia, which is 4,
        311 miles from St. Petersburgh, and 1,014 miles distant from
        Pekin.

       *       *       *       *       *


FOX-HUNTING.


The following are the items of expenses, laid down by Colonel Cooke, in
his "Observations on Fox-hunting," published a few years since. The
calculation supposes a four-times-a-week country; but it is generally
below the mark; we should say, at least one-half:--

  Fourteen horses ................................. £700
  Hounds' food, for fifty couples .................. 275
  Firing ............................................ 50
  Taxes ............................................ 120
  Two whippers-in, and feeder ...................... 210
  Earth stopping .................................... 80
  Saddlery ......................................... 100
  Farriery, shoeing, and medicine .................. 100
  Young hounds purchased, and expenses at walks..... 100
  Casualties ....................................... 200
  Huntsman's wages and his horses .................. 300
                                                   -----
                                                   £2235

Of course, countries vary much in expense from local circumstance; such as
the necessity for change of kennels, hounds sleeping out, &c. &c. In those
which are called hollow countries, consequently abounding in earths, the
expense of earth-stopping often amounts to 200_l_. per annum, and
Northamptonshire is of this class. In others, a great part of the foxes
are what is termed stub-bred (bred above ground), which circumstance
reduces the amount of this item.--_Quarterly Review._

       *       *       *       *       *



THE GATHERER.


Curious Epitaph._--In Nichols's _History of Leicestershire_, is inserted
the following epitaph, to the memory of Theophilus Cave, who was buried in
the chancel of the church of Barrow on Soar:

  "Here in this Grave there lies a Cave;
  We call a Cave a Grave;
  If Cave be Grave, and Grave be Cave,
  Then reader, judge, I crave,
  Whether doth Cave here lye in Grave,
  Or Grave here lye in Cave:
  If Grave in Cave here bury'd lye,
  Then Grave, where is thy victory?
  Goe, reader, and report here lyes a Cave
  Who conquers death, and buryes his own Cave."

P.T.W.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Equality._--All men would necessarily have been equal, had they been
without wants; it is the misery attached to our species, which places one
man in subjection to another: Inequality is not the real grievance, but
dependence. It is of little consequence for one man to be called his
highness, and another his holiness; but it is hard for one to be the
servant of another.--_Voltaire._

       *       *       *       *       *

The famous Duke of Cumberland showed more cleverness as a boy, than he
ever did as a general. Having displeased his mother one day, she sent him
to his chamber, and when he appeared again, she asked him what he had been
doing. "Reading," replied the boy.--"Reading what?"--"The
Scriptures."--"What part of the Scriptures?"--"That part where it is
written, 'Woman! what hast thou to do with me?'" After the loss of a
battle, an English prisoner observing to a French officer, that they might
have taken the duke himself prisoner; "Yes," replied the Frenchman, "but
we took care not to do that--he is of far more use to us at the head of
your army."--_Georgian Era._

       *       *       *       *       *

_The letter Y._--Pythagoras used the Y as a symbol of human life.
"Remember (says he) that the paths of virtue and of vice resemble the
letter Y. The foot representing infancy, and the forked top the two paths
of vice and virtue, one or the other of which people are to enter upon,
after attaining to the age of discretion."

P.T.W.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Royal Combat._--Near the city of Gloucester, on the Severn, the river
dividing, forms a small island called _Alney_, which is famous for a royal
combat fought on it, between Edmund Ironside and Canute the Dane, to
decide the fate of the kingdom, in sight of both their armies. Canute was
wounded, when he proposed an amicable division, and accordingly he
obtained the northern part; the southern falling to Edmund.

E.F.

_Effect of Music._--A Scotch bag-piper traversing the mountains of Ulster,
in Ireland, was one evening encountered by a starved _Irish_ wolf. In his
distress the poor man could think of nothing better than to open his
wallet, and try the effects of his hospitality; he did so, and the savage
swallowed all that was thrown to him, with so improving a voracity as if
his appetite was but just returning to him. The whole stock of provision
was, of course, soon spent, and now his only recourse was to the virtues
of his bagpipe; which the monster no sooner heard, than he took to the
mountains with the same precipitation he had left them. The poor piper
could not so perfectly enjoy his deliverance, but that, with an angry look,
at parting, he shook his head, saying, "Ay, are these your tricks? Had I
known your humour, you should have had your music before
supper."--_Bowyer's Anecdotes._

       *       *       *       *       *

_Epitaph on Mr. Nightingale, Architect._

  As the birds were the first of the architect kind,
    And are still better builders than men,
  What wonders may spring from a _Nightingale's_ mind,
    When St. Paul's was produced by a _Wren._

       *       *       *       *       *

_Poets._

  The effects of disappointed love ......_Akenside._
  Part of a lady's dress ................_Spencer._
  What the ladies do, and a weight ......_Chatterton._
  A manufactory, and a weight ..........._Milton._
  The prayers of a glutton .............._Moore._
  An indication of old age .............._Gray._
  What a mortgage will do ..............._Cumberland._
  The contributions of a miser .........._Little._
  A troublesome companion ..............._Bunyan._
  The soldier's home, and an alarm ......_Campbell._

       *       *       *       *       *

_The Pyramids._--The Egyptians, according to Herodotus, hated the memory
of the kings who built the pyramids. The great pyramid occupied a hundred
thousand men for twenty years in its erection, without counting the
workmen who were employed in hewing the stones and conveying them to the
spot where the pyramid was built. Herodotus speaks of this work as a
torment to the people, and doubtless, the labour engaged in raising huge
masses of stone, that was extensive enough to employ a hundred thousand
men for twenty years, equal to two millions of men for one year, must have
been fearfully tormenting. It has been calculated that the steam engines
of England worked by thirty-six thousand men, would raise the same
quantity of stones from the quarry, and elevate them to the same height as
the great pyramid, in the short space of eighteen hours. It was recorded
on the pyramid, that the onions, radishes, and garlic, which the labourers
consumed, cost sixteen hundred talents of silver, which is equivalent to
several million pounds.

SWAINE.

       *       *       *       *       *

The generality of mankind will not bear to be viewed too closely, or too
often: they lose their value on a nearer approach; which made the honest
countrymen say to his friend, who was boasting of a legacy bestowed upon
him by a person, into whose company he had accidentally fallen only once
in his life, "Ah, Jonathan, if he had seen thee twice, he would not have
left thee a farthing."

_Friendship._--Friendship is of so delicate and so nice a texture, so
defenceless against evil impressions, and so apt to wither at the least
blast of jealousy, that we may say with Horace,

    Felices ter et amplius,
  Quos irrupta tenet copula; nec malis
    Divulsus querimoniis,
  Suprema citius solvet amor die.
        _Ode_ 13, _lib_. i.

  "Happy, thrice happy they, whose friendships prove
  One constant scene of unmolested love,
  Whose hearts right temper'd feel no various turns,
  No coolness chills them, and no madness burns.
  But free from anger, doubts, and jealous fear,
  Die as they liv'd, united and sincere."

       *       *       *       *       *

The love between friends is certainly most harmonious when wound up to the
highest pitch; but at that very time, is in greatest danger of breaking:
and upon the whole, the strongest friendships may be compared to the
strongest towns, which are too well fortified to be taken by open attacks;
but are always liable to be undermined by treachery or surprise.

A.J.

       *       *       *       *       *

In the ancient German empire, such persons as endeavoured to sow sedition,
and disturb the public tranquillity, were condemned to become objects of
public notoriety and derision, by carrying a dog upon their shoulders,
from one great town to another. The Emperors, Otho I. and Frederick
Barbarossa, inflicted this punishment on noblemen of the highest rank.

       *       *       *       *       *

POPULAR SCIENCE.

With Engravings, price 5s.

  ARCANA OF SCIENCE
  And Annual Register of the Useful Arts for 1832.
  Fifth Year.

The Volume for 1828, (fourth edition,) 4_s_. 6_d_.
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and 1831, 5_s_. each.

"Any young gardener, who besides prosecuting his particular profession,
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Printed for JOHN LIMBIRD, 143, Strand.

       *       *       *       *       *


_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House.)
London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic, G.G. BENNIS,
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