The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 20, No. 576, November 17, 1832

Are on a childish face.

My Dog Quail contains some amusing anecdotes by the late Dr. Walsh; and in the Settlers, a dialogue, by Miss Leslie, of Philadelphia, are a few touching points of distinction between savage and civilized life; the Indian Island, by L.E.L., is more of a story; a Walk in a Flower Garden is from the accomplished pen of Mrs. Loudon, explaining to two juvenile inquirers the origin of the names and properties of certain plants; a Girl's Farewell to the River Lee, by Charles Swain, is plaintively interesting; Seven and Seventeen, by Mrs. S.C. Hall, is clever and lively, and full of home truth; the Sailor's Wife is a pensive ballad-tale of the sea, by M. Howitt, and likely to linger on the mind of childhood; the First Weavers, by the Rev. C. Williams, is as ingenious in its way as Professor Rennie's Bird or Insect Architecture: it enumerates many interesting processes of weaving by insects and birds, who, unlike human artificers, pursue their tasks in the untainted atmosphere of nature;—there are also two or three pretty playful prose sketches, and some clever lines by Miss Leslie, of Philadelphia, on C.R. Leslie's picture of Lady Jane Grey's reluctance to accept the crown of England. We quote the concluding lines, by L.E.L., to accompany the frontispiece:—

THE ROSE OF EDEN-DALE AND HER HOT-HOUSE FLOWERS

They were so beautiful this morn—
The lily's graceful wand
Hung with small bells, as delicate
As from a fairy's hand.
The Indian rose, so softly red,
As if in coming here
It lost the radiance of the south,
And caught a shade of fear.
The white geranium vein'd with pink,
Like that within the shell
Where, on a bed of their own hues,
The pearls of ocean dwell.
But where is now the snowy white,
And where the tender red?
How heavy over each dry stalk
Droops every languid head!
They are not worth my keeping now—
She flung them on the ground—
Some strewed the earth, and some the wind
Went scattering idly round.
She then thought of those flowers no more,
But oft, in after years,
When the young cheek was somewhat pale,
And the eyes dim with tears—
Then she recalled the faded wreath
Of other happier hours,
And felt life's hope and joy had been
But only Hot-house Flowers!

The Engravings, ten in number, with an inscription plate and vignette, are above the usual calibre of the "juvenile" embellishments: they are better than mere pictures for children, and the chosen subjects harmonize with the benevolent tone and temper of the letter-press; all of them will tend to cherish kindly feelings in the hearts of the little readers. Among the best of the prints are Going to the Well, from Gainsborough; and the Industrious Young Cottager—a contented girl at work, with a bird in an opened cage beside her: the little scene is one of happy un-imprisonment and cheerful task.

THE GATHERER

SIR WALTER SCOTT

[In one of the recent prize essays of the Highland Society of Scotland, the Ettrick Shepherd writes thus of his distinguished contemporary. The general subject of the Essay is the statistics of Selkirkshire: after referring to Sir Walter as sheriff of Ettrick Forest for thirty years, Mr. Hogg observes:]

To speak of Sir Walter Scott as a literary man, would be the height of absurdity in a statistical writer. In that light he is known and duly appreciated over the whole world, wherever letters have found their way. But I shall say, that those who know him only by the few hundreds of volumes that he has published, know only the one half of the man, and that not the best half neither. As a friend, he is steady, candid, and sincere, expressing his sentiments freely, whether favourable or the reverse. He is no man's enemy, though he may be to his principles; and I believe that he never in his life tried to do an individual hurt. His impartiality as a judge is so well known, that no man, either rich or poor, ever attempts to move him from the right onward path. If he have a feeling of partiality in his whole disposition, it is for the poachers and fishers, at least I know that they all think that he has a fellow-feeling with them,—that he has a little of the old outlaw blood in him, and, if he had been able, would have been a desperate poacher and black-fisher. Indeed, it has been reported that when he was young he sometimes "leistered a kipper, and made a shift to shoot a moorfowl i' the drift." He was uncommonly well made. I never saw a limb, loins, and shoulders so framed for immoderate strength. And, as Tom Purdie observed, "Faith, an he hadna' been crippled he wud ha'e been an unlucky chap."

*** "An Old Friend of the late Mr. Terry" has requested us to insert the following correction: "In our notices respecting Sir Walter Scott, (see Mirror, No. 571, p. 254,) we stated that Mrs. Terry had in her possession a tragedy written by Sir Walter for her son W.S. Terry, and intended by the author as a legacy for Walter's first appearance on the stage. We have been since assured that it never was intended by his parents, nor was it ever in the contemplation of his godfather, that Walter Scott Terry should appear at all upon the stage. The youth is in fact at this time a cadet at the Military College, Addiscombe, to which establishment he obtained an appointment through the kind exertions of Sir Walter, who has thus placed young Terry in a situation to distinguish himself in a line of life perfectly according with his own talents and inclinations."

Islington Stages—The stage-coaches to Islington, sixty years ago, were drawn by three horses, on account of the badness of the roads. The inside fare was at that time sixpence each person. H.B. ANDREWS.

Dr. Ken and Nell Gwynne.—When Charles II. went down to Winchester with the Court, the house of Dr. Ken was destined to be the residence of Nell Gwynne. The good little man declared that she should not be under his roof: he was as steady as a rock; and the intelligence was carried to the king, who said, "Well, then, Nell must take lodging in the city." All the Court and divines were shocked at Dr. Ken's strange conduct, saying that he had ruined his fortune, and would never rise in the church. Sometime after, the bishopric of Bath and Wells became vacant: the ministers recommended some learned and pious divines; to whom the king answered, "No, none of them shall have it, I assure you. What is the name of that little man at Winchester, that would not let Nell Gwynne lodge at his house?"—"Dr. Ken, please your majesty."—"Well, he shall have it then; I resolved that he should have the first bishopric that fell, if it had been Canterbury."—Bishop Ken every morning made a vow that he would not marry on that day. Mr. Cherry used frequently, on entering the breakfast-room, to say, "Well, my lord, is the resolution made this morning?"—"Oh, yes, sir, long ago," was the constant reply. M.J.T.

Accession of Territory without Bloodshed.—The Venetians, desirous of possessing the island of Curzola, which belonged to the little republic of Raguza, and was situate in their neighbourhood, made use of a singular stratagem to render themselves masters of it. They erected in one night, on a little rock, which belonged to them, very near Raguza, a card-board fortress, painted of a brick-colour, and armed with wooden cannons. The next day the Ragusans, alarmed at seeing themselves so closely invested, entered into a negotiation with the Venetian State, to which they ceded Curzola, in exchange for this miserable rock, on which there was scarcely room for a moderately sized dwelling. W.N.

Excuses for not Marrying.—Thales, who was ranked among the seven wise men of Greece, declined involving himself by marriage in the cares of a family, that he might devote his whole time and attention to the study of philosophy,—alleging to his mother, who urged him to marry, at an early age, "it is too soon," and at a more advanced period, "it is too late." P.T.W.

Epigram on Sir P–p F–n–s being bit by a cobracappo:—

A serpent bit F– –s, that virulent knight;—
What then? 'twas the serpent that died of the bite.

Anon.

Latiné.

Dente venenato stimulatur Zoilus Anguis,
Quid Tum? vivit adhuc Zoilus, Anguis obit.

E.B.I.

Botanical A.B.C.—The A.B.C. Daria is a name given to a plant of the camomile species. The appellation is designed to express the use made of this plant by the black schoolmasters at Amboyna, who cause their young pupils to chew the flowers and roots, either alone or with beetlenut, in order that they may more easily pronounce some of the difficult Arabic letters. It is similar to the Anthemis Pyrethrum, as stimulating the mouth, and is recommended in paralyses of the tongue. P.T.W.

Smoking.—A standing order of the House of Commons, in 1693, directs, "that no member of the house do presume to smoke tobacco in the gallery, or at the tables of the house sitting at committees." H.B. ANDREWS.

A Turn-coat.—De Dominis, Archbishop of Spalato, was notorious for his shiftings in religion. One of his friends ended a report of an interview with him as follows:—"It is clear he is a wily-beguily, rightly bred in the nest of the Jesuits."

A Turtle Mayor.—In the fourteenth century, one Roger Turtle was Mayor of Bristol no less than seven times, 1326 to 1341—a circumstance which elicited the following jeu d'esprit:—

If old Roger Turtle was seven times mayor,
An honour which fell to no other man's share,
His descendant, a Turtle, in this modern day,
Bears, as mayor-elect, a perpetual sway.

Auctions.—In France, to this day, sales are announced with the drum. In this country they were formerly accompanied by trumpet; for, in a will of 1388, we find "that the tenements so bequeathed shall be sold separately, by the sound of the trumpet, at the High Cross (Bristol), without fraud or collusion."

Charters.—In one of the most valuable, but least known collections in the British Museum, are about ten thousand charters, which were indexed by Ayscough.

Cowley, the poet, was the son of a grocer, who lived in Fleet-street, near the end of Chancery-lane.

Epitaph, formerly in a Churchyard at Bristol.

Ye witty mortals! as you're passing by,
Remark, that near this monument doth lie,
Center'd in dust,
Described thus:
Two Husbands, two Wives,
Two Sisters, two Brothers,
Two Fathers, a Son,
Two Daughters, Two Mothers,
A Grandfather, a Grandmother, a Granddaughter,
An Uncle and an Aunt—their Niece follow'd after.