Read Ebook: The Mirror of Literature Amusement and Instruction. Volume 17 No. 488 May 7 1831 by Various

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ARCANA OF SCIENCE FOR 1831.

NOTES OF A READER.

CALENDAR OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

FAMILIAR LAW.

DEATH.

Oh God! what a difference throughout the whole of this various and teeming earth a single DEATH can effect! Sky, sun, air, the eloquent waters, the inspiring mountain-tops, the murmuring and glossy wood, the very

Glory in the grass, and splendour in the flower,

SCOTT AND COOPER.

FRANCE.

"HELP YOURSELF."

The custom of HELPING ONESELF has its sanction in the remotest antiquity, and has been continued down to the present day in the highest places, and by those whom it especially behoves to set example to the world. It was clearly never designed that man should regulate his conduct for the good of others, for the first lesson taught to the first of men, was to take care of himself; had it been intended that men should study the good of each other, a number would surely have been simultaneously created for the exercise of the principle, instead of one, who, being alone, was essentially selfish. Adam was all the world to himself. With the addition of Eve, human society commenced; and the fault of our first mother furnishes a grand and terrible example of the mischief of thinking of the benefit of another. Satan suggested to her that Adam should partake of the fruit--an idea, having in it the taint of benevolence, so generally mistaken--whence sin and death came into the world. Had Eve been strictly selfish, she would wisely have kept the apples to herself, and the evil would have been avoided. Had Adam helped himself, he would have had no stomach for the helping of another--and so, on his part, the evil temptation had been obviated.

BALLET OF KENILWORTH, AT THE KING'S THEATRE.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

THE NEW MAGAZINE.

BY LADY MORGAN:

Next to the servant's hall of a great English family, the first place in the world for completing the education of a macaw of genius, is a convent. Its idleness and ennui render a monkey, or a parrot, a valuable resource; and between what I picked up, and what I was taught by the monks of the Propaganda, my acquirements soon became stupendous. Always following my kind master from the refectory to the church, assisting at mess or at mass, being near him in the seclusion of the oratory, and in the festivities, he frequently held with his more confidential friends; I had loaded my astonishing memory with scraps of theology and of fun. I could sing a French drinking song, taught me by the sub-prior Frere Jacques, and intonate a "Gloria in Excelsis" with a true nasal twang. I had actually learned the Creed in English; and could call all the brothers by their name. I had even learned the Savoyard's dance from my friend Fr?re Jacques, and sung "Gai Coco" at the same time, like Scaliger's parrot, from whose history Fr?re Jacques took the idea of teaching me. I did this, it must be acknowledged, with great awkwardness, turning in my toes, and often tumbling backwards in a clumsy and ludicrous way. But this amused my religious friends more than all the rest; for, like the great, they loved a ridicule as well as a talent; and, provided they were amused, were not nice as to the means. My fame soon began to spread on all sides, and the anecdotes told of the macaw of the Propaganda soon reached the circles of the Governor of the Brazils, who wrote to request the pleasure of my company for a few weeks at the palace. This was a compliment which he had never paid to the learned superior of the order, and my master was evidently hurt. He declined therefore the invitation for me, on the plea that he would soon visit Rio Janeiro himself, when I should accompany him into the vice-regal presence.

"Rhodoginus mentions a parrot which could recite correctly the whole of the Apostle's Creed."--Animal Biography, by the Rev. W. Bingley.

"The Dutch," says Le Vaillant, "give this bird the name of Secretary, on account of the bunch of quills behind its head."--Bingley, Animal Biography.

THE GATHERER.

A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. SHAKSPEARE.

PRISONS.

When the Bastille of France was demolished, three iron cages were discovered, they were made of strong bars of iron, about eight feet high and six feet wide, and such have been used in other prisons in that country. The Bishop of Verdun, according to Mezeray, was the inventer, and was himself the first man confined in them, and remained a prisoner thus for eleven years, so that he could speak practically as to his own invention.

FEMALE LEANDER.

The Duchess of Chevereux, who was for the first time at the court of England, in 1638, swam across the Thames, in a frolic, near Windsor. On this occasion some verses were composed by a Sir J. M. containing these lines:--

But her chaste breast, cold as the cloyster'd nun, Whose frost to chrystal might congeal the sun, So glar'd the stream, that pilots, there afloat, Thought they might safely land without a boat; July had seen the Thames in ice involv'd, Had it not been by her own beams dissolv'd.

BIRTHDAY PRAYER.

CURIOUS LETTER,

"Sir--Yours I receiv'd the 24th of this present instant, June, and, at your request, will give you an impartial account of my man, John Gray's character. He is a shoemaker, or cordwainer, which you please to call it, by trade, and now in our town; he is following the carding business for every one that wants him; he served his time at a town called Binstock, in Northamptonshire; and from thence the Great Addington journeyman, to this occupation, as before mentioned, and used to come to my house, and found, by riding my horses to water, that he rode a horse pretty well; which was not at all mistaken, for he rides a horse well: and he looks after a kennel of hounds very well, and finds a hare very well: he hath no judgement in hunting a pack of hounds now, though he rides well, he don't with discretion, for he don't know how to make the most of a horse; but a very harey-starey fellow: will ride over a church if in his way, though he may prevent a leap by having a gap within ten yards of him; and if you are not in the field with himself, when you are hunting to tutor him about riding, he will kill all the horses you have in the stable in one month, for he hath killed downright, and lamed so that they will never be fit for use, no more than five horses since he has hunted my hounds, which is two years and upwards; he can talk no dog language to a hound; he hath no voice; speaks to a hound such as if his head were in a churn; nor neither does he know how to draw a hound when they are at a loss, no more than a child of seven years old. As to his honesty, I always found him honest till about a week ago. I sent my servant that I have now to fetch some sheep's feet from Mr. Stranjan, of Higham Ferrers, where Gray used to go for feet, and I always send my money by the man that brings the feet; and Stranjan told my man that I have now that I owed him money for feet; and when the man came home he told me, and I went to Stranjan, and then I found the truth of the matter. Gray had kept the money in his hands, and had never paid Stranjan: he had along with me once for a letter, in order for his character, to give him one, but I told him I could not give him a good one, so I would not write at all. Gray is a very great drunkard, can't keep a penny in his pocket: a sad notorious lyar. If you send him upon a mile or two from Uphingham, he will get drunk, stay all day, and never come home while the middle of the night, or such time as he knows his master is in bed. He can nor will not keep any secret; neither has he so much wit as other people, for the fellow is half a fool, for if you would have business done with expedition, if he once gets out of the town, or sight of you, shall see him no more, while the next morning he serves me so and so: you must expect the same if you hire him. I use you just as I would be used myself; it I desired a character of you of a servant, that I had design'd to hire of yours, as to let you know the truth of every thing about him.

"I am, sir, your most humble servant to command.

"P.S. He takes good care of his horses, with good looking after as to the dressing of them; but if you don't take care, he will fill the manger full of corn, so that he will clog the horses, and ruin the whole stable of horses."

EPITAPH

Suspended here, a contest see, Of two whose creeds cou'd ne'er agree, For whether they would preach or pray, They'd do it in a different way; And they wou'd fain our fate deny'd, In quite a different manner dy'd! Yet think not that their rancour's o'er, No! for 'tis ten to one, and more, Tho' quiet now as either lies, But they've a wrangle when they rise.

LONGEVITY.

In St. Michael's churchyard, at Litchfield, an ancient tombstone was lately discovered, which had been buried in the earth a great number of years. Upon it are deeply cut the following inscriptions:--

Here lyes the Body of William Clarke, who was Clarke of this Church 51 years, and buried March 25th, 1525, aged 96.

Here lyes the Body of William Clarke, Clarke of this Church 71 years, who died Septem. 26, 1562, and aged 86.

The father lived in the reigns of six different kings, viz. Henry the Sixth, Edwards the Fourth and Fifth, Richard the Third, and Henry the Seventh and Eighth. The son in seven reigns, viz. from Edward the Fourth to Mary the First.

LINES

G.K.

MAY.

The following verses were composed by John Barbour, a poet and divine, who was born at Aberdeen in 1330. They afford a specimen of the poetry in his time:--

"This was in midst of month of May, When birdis sing on ilka spray, Melland their notes, with seemly soun, For softness of the sweet seasoun.

"And leavis of the branchis spreeds, And blomis bright, beside them, breeds And Fieldis strawed are with flow'rs Well savouring of seir colours; And all things wor this, blyth, and gay."

P.T.W.

Mingling.

Their.

POPULAR SCIENCE.

This Day is published, price 5s.

ARCANA of SCIENCE, and ANNUAL REGISTER of the USEFUL ARTS for 1831.

Printed for JOHN LIMBIRD, 143, Strand;--of whom may be had the Volumes for the three preceding years.

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