Imatges de pàgina
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newly invented golosh, formed entirely of Indian rubber. The advantages which this invention, or rather adaptation, possesses over that of every other, are obvious. These goloshes are, of course, impervious to wet, and perfectly elastic. Their value as slippers to the invalid must be great indeed; the flexibility of the material of which they are composed allowing them to yield to every motion of the foot.

STARCH.

The manufacture of starch was known to the ancients. Pliny informs us that it was made from wheat and from siligo, which was probably a variety or sub-species of wheat. The invention of starch is ascribed by Pliny to the inhabitants of the island of Chio, where in his time the best starch was still made. Pliny's description of the method employed by the ancients of making starch is tolerably exact. Next to the Chian starch that of Crete was most celebrated; and next to it was the Egyptian. The qualities of starch were judged of by the weight; the lightest being always reckoned the best.

CURE FOR BROKEN SHINS.

Make a paste of charcoal and water, and apply it to any sore place, caused by the skin being rubbed off. This will immediately allay the smart and remove the inflammation.

Customs of Various Countries.

CHRISTMAS EVE AT COURLAND.

By the peasantry of Courland, Christmas Eve is kept with several superstitious and ridiculous customs and singular ceremonies; they lay a great log on the hearth, and let it leisurely burn till the next morning; what remains they lay up carefully till the next spring, when they split some pieces, or chop some chips of it, and fling them across the entry of the gateway through which their cattle the next day must pass into the common. Such of the cattle that hit their legs against the chips will absolutely either die, or be devoured by the wolf, or receive some hurt or other.

On the same eve the single men and maidens derive their sport by informing themselves whether they shall be married that year. The maidens go into a sheepfold in the dark, and what they first lay hold of they bring out. If it happens to be a ram, then she promises herself a husband before the Christmas

following; but if it be a ewe, she concludes that she shall not be married that year. The young men do the like: if they take hold of a ewe, they promise themselves a sweetheart or wife; but if a ram, to continue a batchelor all the next year. They have also on that eve a custom of melting wax, and pouring it into the clean water, and from the forms and figures it makes, they prognosticate many strange things that shall happen regarding marriages,--whether the party will be young or old, rich or poor, how many children they shall have, and whether they will be sons or daughters. All these gambols they perform with panic fear, lest the parson of the parish should he informed thereof, who always shews himself very angry at such people as he can discover to be guilty of such follies; but the people are commonly true to one another, and can keep secrets.

Anecdotiana.

STREET WIT.

A butcher's boy carrying his tray along on his shoulder, accidentally struck it against, and somewhat discomposed the huge bonnet of a lady fashionably dressed-" The deuce take the tray," cried the lady in a passion. "Ma'am," replied young rump-steak, very gravely; "the deuce can't take the tray."

MAKING USE OF LIBERTY.

Valerius Maximus tells us, that Lentulus Marcellinus, the Roman Consul, having complained of the overgrown power of Pompey, the whole people answered with a shout of approbation. "Shout on, citizens," said the Consul, "shout on, and use these bold signs of liberty while you may; for I do not know how short the time may be that you will be allowed them."

TWO WAYS OF SEEING.

Ir is related of Rousseau, that being asked the difference between a learned and a sensible man? he replied, that a learned man saw every thing behind him; and a sensible man every thing before.

MR. CURRAN.

This celebrated orator, once passing through an obscure alley in Dublin, observing a broken pane patched by a page of a very dull book, exclaimed to his companions, "Tis the first time, I believe, that the author has thrown light upon any subject."

Diary and Chronology.

Tuesday, December 14.

St. Nicasius, Bishop of Theims, and others, 5th Cent.

About this period usually commences that customary part of the Christmass festivities, commonly called the Waits. The following particulars illustrate their origin. Wakes or Waits are supposed to have been formerly poor minstrels, part of whose duty it was during the Winter nights to parade and guard the streets, and occasionally to call the bour. In a pretty descriptive poem entitled Christmas, allusion is made to these seasonable serenades :

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oft amid the gloom

Of midnight hour, prevail the accustomed sounds

Of wakeful Waits, whose melody, composed

Of hautboy, organ, violin, and flute,

And various other instruments of mirth,

Is meant to celebrate the coming time.
Wednesday, December 15.

St. Florence, Irish Abbot.-High Water 52m after 1 Morn 9m after 2 Afternoon. December 15, 1785.-Expired the celebrated artist Giovanni Batista Cipriani. Our artist, at the foundation of the Royal Academy, was chosen one of the founders, and was also employed to make the design for the diploma which is given to the Academicians and Associates at their admission. For this work, which he executed with great taste and elegance, the president and council presented him with a silver cup, As an acknowledgment for the assistance the Academy received from his great abilities in the profession.' The great excellence of Cipriani was in his drawings, while the fertility of his invention, the grace of his composition, and the seductive elegance of his forms, were only surpassed by the probity of his character, the simplicity of his manners, and benevolence of his heart. These designs were disseminated over all Europe by the graver of Bartolizzi, and bought up with avidity.

Thursday, December 16.

St. Adelber!, 1st Bish of Magdeburg-Sun rises im after 8-sets 53m after 3. Decemb 16, 1804.-Died Christian Felix Weize. a German poet and dramatic writer of eonsiderable powers. This author, whilst living, had the reputation of being one of the most useful, if not the most shining writers in Germany The best of his dramatic works are Richard the Third and Romeo and Juliet, both original; of his lyric poems the Songs of the Amazons, and the War-Songs. of Tyrtæus, possess the most merit; and the most considerable of his works on Education is Der Kinder Freund, from which Berquin has borrowed the major part of his Ami-des-Enfans. Weize enjoyed, for more than half a century, the love and esteem of his fellow-countrymen, and died universally regretted, not merely by his friends and relations, but by all Germany: the public funeral which his countrymen honoured him with, was more splendid than that of any other German poet, save Klopstock.

Friday, December 17.

Sts. Rufus and Zozimus, Mar. A.D 116.-High Water 2m after 3 Morn-20m after 3 After. December 17, 1816-Anniversary of the death of Earl Stanhope To possess a competent idea of his lordship's merits as a philosopher and a man of science, it is only necessary to recollect his opinions and his pursuits. The Stanhope Press,-the improved stereotype, the Stanhope Monochord,-the preservation of buildings from fire,-the return stroke in the Franklinian System, the facilities afforded to Home Navigation, by means of his improvements in the locks of canals, and the advantages hereafter to be reaped from both domestic and foreign navigation by means of the new agent of Steam,-all connect this great man with the history not of England or Europe alone, but with the imperishable annals of the arts and sciences!

Saturday, December 18.

Sun rises im after 8-53 after 3.

December 18, 1958-Anniversary of the arrival of William Prince of Orange at St. James's, where he received the congratulations of the nobility and persons of quality.

Sunday, December 19.

FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER ADVENT.

Lessons for the Day -30 chapter Isaiah, morning-32 chapter Isaiah, Eren. CHRISTMAS CAROLS.-As that hospitable season, Christmas, is fast approaching, when all grades of society banquet, the rich and the poor,' we cannot refrain from introducing some small account of the Christmas Carol, now a most obsolete Carols, from the Italian Carola, are songs of joy and exultation, as well as of devotion; and both are united in those which commemorate the appearance of Christ on earth. Carols like the Juul songs they superseded, appear to have been usually written by superstitions and illiterate persons; but some authors gravely assert, that the angels first introduced these divine songs, by joining in an harmonious concert at the Incarnation. Other authors, less prophane, state the courtly New Year's Ode to be merely a pol shed Ule, or Wassail Song, or a Christmas Carol.

ERRATUM. In our number for last week, at p. 406, forcast upon him in the publication of the abo e works,' read cast upon him in consequence of the publication of the above works."

With this number is published a SUPPLEMENTAL SHEET, containing the CREAM OF THOSE ANNUALS not noticed in our last Supplement.

If our Romford Correspondent will favour us with kis Address, we shall feel obliged.

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Cream of the Annuals for 1831.

In accordance with our promise, we again take up the subject of the Annuals for 1831-five or six of which are before us. The first that claims our attention is

The Landscape Annual, *

Edited by T Roscoe.

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and anecdotes relative to the various Cities and Palaces represented in the Engravings.

The subject chosen for our illustration, and to which is appended the subjoined interesting account, is

THE TEMPLE OF PALLAS.

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designation of this temple as of most others in the eternal city-a title to which, were it not for the immortality of her people, and the unfading lustre which memory casts upon the spot, would be less properly applied to Rome than to any other city of the earth: for where has ruin so wrought her perfect work? where is time seen the conqueror and man the victim so clearly and so awfully as there? The death of a strong man fills us with a deeper sense of human frailty than that of a weaker being; and Rome in ruins the mightiest and proudest monument of the earth crumbled into dust-makes us feel as if the pillars of the round world itself were unloosened. The image of eternity seems to have been raised of adamant to be dissipated in air, and dreaming of Rome as clothed in her bridal garments and the spouse of hundred-throned victory, we wake to tread upon her ashes, her name only remaining immortal.

Of the almost infinite number of temples which adorned this city, not a dozen can be said to exist even in ruins; and of those of which vestiges remain, a very few are known for certainty to be ascribed to the right deities. So numerous were these edifices during the flourishing times of the empire, that some antiquaries have excused themselves from naming them all by saying that such a task were endless; and those who have commenced the undertaking have ended with fixing the names to two or three ruins as temples, which the next generation of critics has determined to be basilicas, baths, or palaces. "The antiquarian disputes began at an early period," observes Mr. Hobhouse; "and where nothing but a name was left, there was still some pleasure found in the struggles of conjecture. The mica aurea has not been seen since the ninth century; but it afforded an opportunity of quoting Plutarch, Ammian, and Martial, to show that it might have been a Greek girl, or a bear, or a supper house. The actual remains were found to be no less uncertain. The two vaults of the church of St. Maria Nuova were believed by Pomponius Lætus the fragments of a temple of Esculapius and Health; by Martianus, of the Sun and Moon; by Blondus, of Esculapius and Apollo; by Poggio, of Castor and Pollux. They are now called the Temple of Venus and Rome." In the same manner the Temple of Maria Egizziaca has been at different times supposed to be a chapel

of Patrican Modesty; a basilica of Caius and Lucius; a temple of Good Fortune; a temple of Manly Fortune; while at the time Mr. Hobhouse was in Rome it was generally believed to be, as at first supposed, the Temple of Modesty. And thus it has been for ages past with almost all the ruins on which the antiquary gazes with most pleasure; each having his own opinion, and delighting himself sometimes with his favourite theory, at others, with the splendid visions which belong to the spot, if that theory be true. The temple, however, we are at present contemplating is one of the most beautiful ruins in Rome. It consists of two Corinthian columns, eleven feet in circumference, and supposed to be thirty-one feet high; but the soil has been so long suffered to accumulate around them that but half their height is to be seen. The architrave supported by these columns is strikingly beautiful, as well as the frieze, which is magnificently adorned with bas-reliefs, descriptive of the mythological character of the goddess to whom the temple is thought to have been dedicated. Above the whole rises an attic story, but in a totally dilapidated state; all that remains, in any degree of preservation, of this part of the building being a supposed statue of the deity.

How different are the religious associations now connected with the name of Minerva's temples and the seat of her former grandeur! How changed is the spectacle which throngs the way to the spots where stood her ancient fanes, and the feeling with which the adoring multitudes hallow them as sacred to divinity! Speaking of the customs prevalent in the sacred city during Lent, the author of "Rome in the Nineteenth Century" thus describes the procession to one of these consecrated spots, now the site of a christian church. Before the Holy Week," it is said, "our sufferings began. We were disturbed the very morning of our return from Naples with the information that it was a grand festa-the festa of the Annunciation; and that a grand funzione was to take place at the church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, preceded by a still more superb procession; and that we must get up to see it, which we accordingly did, aud drove through streets lined with expecting crowds, and windows hung with crimson and yellow silk draperies, and occupied by females in their most gorgeous attire, till we made a stop near the church, before

which the pope's horse-guards, in their splendid full-dress uniforms, were stationed to keep the ground; all of whom, both officers and men, wore in their caps a sprig of myrtle as a sign of rejoicing. After waiting a short time the procession appeared, headed by another detachment of the guards, mounted on prancing black chargers, who rode forward to clear the way, accompanied by such a flourish of trumpets and kettledrums that it looked at first like any thing but a peaceable or religious proceeding. This martial array was followed by a bare-headed priest, on a white mule, bearing the Host in a gold cup; at the sight of which every body-not excepting our coachman, who dropped down on the box-fell upon their knees, and we were left alone, heretically sitting in the open barouche.

"The pope, I understand, used formerly to ride upon the white mule himself: whether in memory of our Saviour's entrance into Jerusalem on an ass, or no, I cannot say; and all the cardinals used to follow him in their magnificent robes of state, mounted either on mules or horses; and as the eminentissimi are, for the most part, not very eminent horsemen, they were generally fastened on, lest they should tumble off. This cavalcade must have been a very entertaining sight. I understood that Pius VI., who was a very handsome man, kept up this custom; but the present pope is far too infirm for such an enterprise, and so he followed the man on the white mule in his state coach, at the very sight of which he seemed to have made a jump back of two hundred years at least. It was a huge machine, composed almost entirely of plate-glass, fixed in a ponderous carved and gilded frame, through which was distinctly visible the person of the venerable old pope, dressed in robes of white and silver, and incessantly giving his benediction to the people by a twirl of three fingers, which are typical of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the last being represented by the little finger. On the gilded back of this vehicle-the only part, I think, that was not made of glass-was a picture of the pope in his chair of state, and the Virgin Mary at his feet. This extraordinary machine was drawn by six black horses, with supurb harness of crimson velvet and gold. The coachman, or rather postilions, were dressed in coats of silver stuff, with crimson velvet breeches, and full-buttoned wigs well powdered,

without hats.

"Three coaches, scarcely less antiquely supurb, followed, with the assistant cardinals and the rest of the train. In the inside of the church, the usual tiresome ceremonies went on that take place when the pope is present. He is seated on a throne, or chair of state; the cardinals in succession approach and kiss his hand, retire one step and make three bows or nods, one to him in front, and one on the right hand and another on the left, which, I am told, are intended for him (as the personation of the Father), and for the Son, and for the Holy Ghost, on either side of him; and all the cardinals having gone through these motions, and the inferior priests having kissed his toethat is, the cross embroidered on his toe--high mass begins. The pope kneels during the elevation of the Host, prays in silence before the altar, gets up and sits down, reads something out of a great book which they bring to him with a lighted taper held beside it (which must be eminently useful in the broad daylight), and having gone through many more such ceremonies, finally ends as he began with giving his benediction with three fingers all the way as he goes out. During all the time of this high mass, the pope's military band, stationed on the platform in front of the church, played so many clamorous martial airs that it would have effectually put to flight any ideas of religious solemnity-if any there had been."

Leaving this charming work, and all its attractions, we next take up The Keepsake,

Edited by F. M. Reynolds.

Of its illustrations, we have given our opinion in the accompanying number, and we now proceed to glean an article or two for the amusement of our readers. The following particulars relative to the celebrated Lord Chesterfield, will, we are persuaded, be read with interest. We leave out the prefatory matter to this paper, which is not remarkable for correctness of language, although the noble author has laboured hard to give effect to his subject.

CHESTERFIELD AND FANNY,

BY LORD MORPETH.

Of the commencement of the intimacy between Chesterfield and Lady Fanny Shirley," the following letters, which have never yet been published,"

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