an evening to behold the setting of the city watch, a gallant and a glorious show. Our Train-bands, like Daphne, are lost in their own laurels; and Major Sturgeon, whose lion heart now lies in Bunhill Fields, can no longer recount his marchings and counter-marchings from Brentford to Ealing, from Ealing to Acton, from Acton to Uxbridge; the dust flying, sun scorching, men sweating;-all this pomp, pride, and circumstance of glorious war hath passed away, and our lobsterlooking city soldiers are no longer headed by a Sturgeon!" Imperial Cæsar, dead and turn'd to clay :" the quotation's somewhat musty, so is the Major, I fear; wherefore pass we to the invincible heroes of a more recent date-the Volunteers, those "depositaries of panic," as Wyndham profanely termed them. They, too, are no more, and the French may now sleep in security; even the little boys of France have forgot the fear of BIRCH, that redoubted Colonel, whom, whilome, certain wags irreverently nicknamed Colonel Pattypan and Marshal Tureen, for which affront his valiant sword ought to have served them with sauce piquant. Our volunteers are no more! After ten years training, they had made considerable advances towards subordination; the difficulty of keeping the line, on account of the frequent protrusion of Falstaff paunches, had been nearly overcome; they were, in fact, as well-dressed, in one sense at least, as the most rigid martinet could desire, when the French prudently sued for a cessation of hostilities, and the most able-bodied corps in the kingdom was disembodied. So highly do I think of them as soldiers, that I can only exelaim, in all sincerity of heart-Peace be with them! Wherefore, most bellipotent Gog and Magog, seeing that in these our piping days of peace, and in this our battle-hating Hall, ye are manifestly intruders, and that we would much rather have your room than your company; once more do I courteously invite you to abandon your places, to accept the Chiltern Hundreds, to betake yourselves to the Tower, to visit your relations beneath Pelion and Ossa, or your brother Enceladus, who must needs be hospitable, since his chimney in Mount Ætna is never free from smoke; or if ye be too patriotic to quit your native England, why may ye not retire to those Cambridgeshire hills, which, as they bear your name, so also should they be called upon to support your bulk? I pause for a reply. That pause was a lucky one, for it reminded me that I have perhaps been writing above myself or my reader, though my elevation of style may perhaps de excused, since it has been solely produced by my earnest endeavour to reach Gog and Magog, and by the “os sublime" of my position, as I gazed up at them. The fact is, that having seated myself opposite to them in Guildhall, one dusky sinoky city afternoon, and finding myself abandoned to my meditations, I took out my pocket-book, and began to apostrophise them upon paper, after a fashion somewhat more inflated than is my wont, though surely not more Ossianic than such doughty magnificos might naturally inspire. What changes, thought I to myself, have these figures witnessed since they were thus set up at a remote era, of which neither record nor tradition have enabled us to fix the exact date! What successions of those civic dignitaries, who, however rapidly they may die off individually, are, in their corporate capacity, as ancient and as imperishable as Gog and Magog themselves' The city public never expires; but, alack! how unworthy of an immortal must their little ephemereal squabbles and fierce bickerings have appeared to these grave and wooden observers! What stormy public meetings have they seen, every face distorted with passion except their own; what noise, what uproar, what transports of rage or joy, what savage, desperate conflicts, and all for objects now utterly forgotten, or only remembered to be laughed at as gross delusions or impudent impostures! Truly, Messieurs Mayor and Corporation, and Mr. Civic Public, in the solemn inanity of your Dogberry debates, and the stormy folly of your political meetings, ye must needs appear most egregious asses to these silent spies, mounted on their pedestals. How they must look down upon the citizens in every sense! Magog's sleeve is manifestly puffea and distended with laughing in it at the annual grave hoax of drawing the lottery, which was for many performed at Guildhall. There sat the well-powdered commissioners, paid many hundreds a year for presiding over the serious farce; beneath them were the contracters devising some new mystified scheme, and endeavouring with all their mights not to laugh at the gullibility of John Bull; on either side were the huge iron safes, whence a naked armed blue-coat boy drew out a ticket, and announced its fate: in front were the public gaping for prizes, but, like Milton, only" presented with an universal blank;" and above all, stood Gog & Magog, looking sternly down upon the whole roguish mummery. What a scene for the pencil of Haydon, who, as he has manifestly succeeded to the talent of Hogarth, will, it is to be hoped, quickly rival him in fame and fortune. Melancholy as well as ludicrous occurrences have been transacted in the presence of these dumb companions. How slopping Of sparkling champagne, as it froths up amain Mr. Deputy Jarvis, here's to ye, my sarvice! How like you this Rhenish-Betwixt and Hock or Moselle? who the devil can tell › Is It's betweenish, aat, call this Madeira! "Tis all a chimera. Cape, or else made in the Op'ra Colon. nade. And yet I prefar it to vinegar Claret. drink. Please to charge all your glasses-a bumper "The lasses!" The King-three times three-Hip! hip! follow me. many a plaintiff and defendant must they Hark! hark! to the popping of corks, and the have seen dogging the heels of counsel, little deeming that, whichever way the cause went, they themselves were hurrying along the same inevitable road to ruin. How many a wretched bankrupt, surrendering his last shilling, has with glistening eyes looked up at these imperturbable statues, that he might, if possible, divert his thoughts for a single moment from the contemplation of his own miseries, and the woes of his unprovided family! Is it not possible that one or other of these giants may have attentively marked the progress of some fortunate individual, brought at first before them as a little urchin, agog for Gog, and all agog for Magog, and smitten with a goggle-eyed awe as he gains a glimpse of the terrific figures? They recognise him thereafter as a smart apprentice-a thriving dealer-a common council man-a deputy-an alderman. At this period his shoulders, like the corners of some of our city streets, begin to be "widened at the expense of the Corporation;" while his protuberant stomach ("Ingenique largitor venter,") attests the pregnancy of his genius for municipal affairs. Thus do his teeth advance him, until, like a mouse in a cheese, who makes a large house for himself by continually eating, he is installed in the Mansion House as Lord Mayor, and is perhaps carried off by a surfeit occasioned by overfeeding on the Ninth of November. Ah! that Lord Mayor's dinner! Unhappy Gog and Magog how often must your lips have watered upon these occasions! how frequently must the fate of Tantalus have been yours! Then, though ye were not the only wooden heads, ye were doubtless the only empty stomachs in the Hall. Methinks I see the whole glorious and delicious banquet outspread before me at the present moment, my nostrils are titillated with the fume of The noise and the music now make not a few And how many made sicker by surfeits and November! SONG. delicate viands, I hear all the joyous Sketches of Orators, No. I. clatter of the feast, there is a mingled whizzing in my ears which sounds exactly like Aldermen chattering, plates loudly clattering, Quails, ortolans, teal, pies of truffles and How they gobble and gash the fat calipash, green-bottle; ANTIPHON. ANTIPHON, an orator of Athens, was the first who wrote an oration, and delivered precepts concerning it. Suidas and + St Fillan was a famous saint in the north of Scotland who devoted most of his time to transcribing the scriptures. Among other miraculous things related of this holy man we are told in the legend, that at night his left hand burst out in supernatural splendour, so that he required not the aid of the means resorted to for illumination in the early age in which he lived. Cicero declare, that no man ever went beyond him in pleading of causes of life and death, as it appeared, when he pleaded his own case. He is not only the most ancient, but esteemed as the prince of orators, for he was able to persuade in whatever he proposed. He used to sell his pleadings at a very high rate, so that he became very wealthy. He was contemporary with Socrates, with whom he had frequent conferences. He studied the art of poetry, and professed that he had an art thereby to drive away sadness. He lived in a hired house near the Forum, where he published by pen and paper, that he could cure all griefs, so that when any made their addresses, to him, and related the causes of their sorrows, he very sweetly allayed them. He was his own instructer, and Thucydides, his pupil, says, he was second to none, but most excellent both for invention and elocution. He was put to death B. C. 411. STANZAS. "Tis madness to waken, For ever 'tis blasted, The vision is flown! 'Twas a dream which the morning Has chased far away, It has fled at thy dawning, How maddening to see, All our bright visions wrecked And those day dreams which we Had with youths colours deck'd. When manhood dawned first, Imparting a thirst, To unveil dark futurity; As forward I glanced, With my hopes she was blended, And bright visions danced, And gay thoughts which ascended. Like my boy-hoods first dreams, They have vanished away, As the mists of the morning, By Adversity's wave, There is one hope still left, P. E F. S. THE GERMAN GIBBET. Tut, tut, thou art all ice, thy kindness freezes. RICHARD III. IT was evening, towards the latter end of autumn, when the warmth of the midday sun reminds us of the summer just gone, and the coolness of the evening plainly assures us that winter is fast approaching; that I was proceeding homewards on horseback, fortified by a strong great coat against the weather without, and refreshed with a glass of eau-de-vie, that I might feel equally secure within. My road lay for some time along an extensive plain, at the extremity of which there rose a small and thickly overspreading wood, which the road skirted for some distance; and, on a slight eminence at an angle where the last rays of the setting sun threw their gleam across the path, were suspended the remains of a malefactor in chains. They had been hanging there at least ten years; the whole of the flesh was consumed; and here and there, where the coarse dark cloth in which the figure had been wrapped had decayed, the bones, bleached by the weather, protruded. I confess I am rather superstitious, and certainly did push on, in order that, if possible, I might pass the place before the sun should have set, to accomplish which I put my horse upon a fast trot, which I afterwards increased into a hand gallop. The sun, however, had set, and the twilight, was fast changing into darkness as I rode up. I could not keep my eyes off the spot, for the figure swung slowly backwards and forwards, accompanied by the low harsh creaking of the irons, as it moved to the breeze. What with exertion, and I may add fear, or something very like it, the perspiration fell in large drops from my forehead, and nearly blinded me, so that I could not refrain from imagining that the white body arm (hand it had none) of the figure, relieved against the dark wood behind, was beckoning to me, as it waved in the wind. On passing it, I put my horse to full speed, and did not once check his pace, or look around, until I had left the German Gibbet (for so it was called) a good mile behind. I It was now a fine, clear, moonlight night, and I had not gone far when I heard the sound of horses' feet at a little distance behind, and about the same time began to feel myself unusually cold. buttoned up my coat, but that did not make much difference; I took a large comforter from my pocket, and put it round my neck. I felt still colder; and urging my horse forward, I hoped that exercise would warm me; but no, I was However fast I galloped, I still cold. still heard the sound of horses' feet behind at apparently just the same distance, and though I looked around several times, I could not see a living soul ! The sound got faster and faster, nearer and nearer, till at last a small grey pony trotted up, on which sat a tall, thin, melancholy looking man, with a long pointed nose, and dull heavy eyelids, which hung so low, that at first he appeared to be asleep. His countenance, which was extremely pale and cardaverous, was overshadowed by a quantity of long thin white hair, which hung down to his shoulders. He was dressed in a thin white jacket, which he wore open, white fustian trowsers, a white hat, his shirt collar open, and no cravat round his neck! We rode for some time side by side, the stranger never once turning round, or lifting up his eyes to look at me; I could not help regarding him intently, until my eyes ached with the cold. I was obliged every now and then to let go the reins to blow my fingers, which I thought would drop off; and on touching my horse, I found he was as cold as myself! Yet the stranger looked not the least affected by it, for his cloak remained strapped to the saddle behind him, and, indeed, his jacket was flying open, and his shirt-collar unbuttoned as before! This looked very strange!--there was something mysterious about him: so I resolved to be quit of him as soon as possible; but the faster I rode, the faster rode he; and though my horse appeared as powerful again as the one on which he was riding, yet I found that when it came to the push, his pony could have passed me easily. But that was not his intention; for, when I slackened my pace, he slackened, and on my pulling up, he pulled up also: still he never looked at me, and there we remained side by side, and I nearly frozen to death with the cold. Every thing around us was perfectly quiet; and I felt this silence becoming quite appalling; at length, I exclaimed, "Sir! you seem determined we shall not part company, however it may be the wish of one of ns. The stranger, after making a slight inclination of his head, expressed, in the most gentlemanly manner, his sorrow that it should be thought he had intruded himself upon me, and his earnest desire that we might proceed together (seeing that our course was the same) on better terms. This was said with so much politeness, that I really could not refuse; being moreover convinced, that if I had, it was totally out of my power to enforce my refusal; so we trotted on together. (To be Continued.) Biography. MR. JOHN EVANS. Theatre on the 1st of February last, was Among the sufferers at the Brunswick Mr. John Evans, author of the "Chronological Outline of the History of Bristol." He was well known to a great portion of not a few who can testify to the active the inhabitants of that city, and there are kindness which he constantly manifested, whenever any efforts of his could help to mitigate the calamities of others. Mr. E. had, at different periods of his life, been concerned in editing more than one Newsthe purpose of entering into some engagepaper in Bristol, and had recently left it for with Mr. Maurice, another of the unfortument in the printing business* in London nate sufferers in the late calamity, in which it is understood he had every prospect of although a book of no pretensions, and success. The "Chronological Outline," very unostentatiously published, is by no the substance of many of those Chronicles means an unimportant work; it contains of Bristol, which were preserved in private families, and has brought us acquainted with a great number of curious facts. For the purpose of reference it is also a work of great convenience, being exceedingly Evans was in his 55th year. He became copious and always interesting. Mr. death, and has left behind him three a widower only a few weeks before his * It would have been more correct, we have reason to believe, if the biographer of the above in town was for the immediate purpose of gentleman had asserted that Mr. Evans's arrival superintending for Mr. Maurice (Mr. E, employed Mr. M. as a compositor whilst following the vocation of a printer at Bristol many friendship that had subsisted till their untimely years ago, which circumstance gave rise to the deaths for so many years between them unin. terrupted) the literary department of the Bruns lected his friend for his abundant information wick Theatre. Mr. Maurice having wisely sein all matters connected with the Drama to fulfill the important situation. Several performers who have been decided cellence in the Histrionic Art have reaped the favorites on the London Boards for their exgreatest advantages, and it may be said to owe whose sound judgment and refined taste was all their popularity to having been benefitted by the instruction and friendship of Mr. Evans, fully equal to that of any person, however con versant in such matters. It may not be amiss to name two actresses of assistance from the advice of Mr. E., one of great celebrity, who have derived the greatest which is fresh in the memory of most playgoers, we allude to the beautiful Mrs. Mardyn, Jarman, of Covent Garden Theatre, who is late of Drury Lane Theatre; the other, is Miss every day getting nearer the summit of her profession, and earning well-merited "golden. opinions from all sorts of people," by her natural and able assumption of character. orphan children (two daughters and a son)†, of whom the two younger, one from a sickly constitution, and the other from extreme youth, are at present unable to contribute to their own support. A subscription has been set on foot at Bristol for their relief.-Gents. Mag. CUSTOMS OF VARIOUS COUNTRIES. (No. XX.) PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA. THE Mahometans of all countries consider it as an indispensable duty to go in pilgrimage to Mecca. Those who reside in Africa, commonly embark on board vessels which wait for that purpose at the port of Suez, a small town situated at the most northern extremity of the west gulph of the Red sea, whence they proceed to Rabbock, about four days sail from Mecca, where stripping off their clothes, and utmost awe and trembling, performing these superstitions with great seeming devotion. At one corner of the temple is fastened a black stone framed in with silver, and every time the pilgrims pass the spot, they kiss the stone. The people there have a tradition that this stone was formerly white, but that it is rendered black by the sins of the people who kiss it. The hills which encompass the town consist of a blackish rock, and on the top of one of them is a cave, where they pretend Mahomet usually retired to perform his devotions, and say that the greatest part of the Koran was brought to him here, chapter by chapter by the angel Gabriel. Having visited this holy hill, and gone through all the superstitious ceremonies, they return and seek out for lodgings in the town, and rest awhile after their fatigues. covering their bodies with only two wrap- Ellustrations of History. pers, with their heads bare and sandals on their feet, they go on shore, and travel by land to Mecca. The scorching heat of the sun sometimes burns the skin off their backs and arms, and greatly swells their heads; but when their lives are in danger from these austerities, they may put on their clothes on condition that on their arrival at Mecca each shall kill a sheep and give it to the poor. But while dressed in this mortifying habit, it is held unlawful even to cut their nails or to kill the vermin that bites them. They are obliged to keep a guard over their tempers and passions, to preserve a strict government over their tongues, and to make continual use of a prescribed form of devout expressions. At a short distance from Mecca they are met by persons who come to instruct them in the ceremonies to be used in their worship Upon arriving at their destination these persons conduct them to the fountains where they are to perform their ablutions, and then take them to the temple, where the pilgrims leaving their sandals with one who attends to receive them in the court yard, follow the guide into the sacred edifice. Being led seven times round the building they are conducted back into the street, where they sometimes run, and sometimes walk very quick, the pilgrims imitating their guide with the The son of the above much lamented individual above.mentioned, is following the profession of an artist, and promises fair at no very distant day to become a painter of eminence. He is aided by the friendship, counsel, and judgment of Mr. Danby whose powers are well known and highly appreciated CHARACTER OF QUEEN MARY. The following impartial character of the persecuting and bigotted Queen Mary, we take from the fourth volume of Soames History of the Reformation recently published, which may be looked on as a valuable and most desirable standard historical work, calculated in every point of view to afford to its perusers the best account of the rise and progress of the Reformation of the English Church. "Queen Mary was thin and low of stature. Her mouth was large, and although she was short-sighted, her eyes were animated. Her warmest admirers forbore to claim for her the praise of beauty, but they attributed this to ill usage undergone in her youth. Before her troubles, they said, she had been handsome. Her understanding being good, and having been well cultivated, she was thoroughly mistress of Latin, and able to converse in both French and Spanish. Nor was she ignorant of Italian. Her father's love for music was a security against any neglect of her education in that point. She was accordingly a very respectable performer, both upon the harpsichord and guitar. In disposition she was bold and firm, even to obstinacy. In religious observances she was most exact, never failing to hear mass once in every morning. Often, indeed, she heard it twice; and in the after part of the day, it was her invariable habit to attend vespers and the complin. On the principal festivals, she regularly received the Eucharist, dressing herself upon such occasions, in her jewels, |