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BEAUTIES OF BYRON. KO. X. "CHttDE HABOLD...
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* Hi?]i:ii]i3. the ancient name of Spam....
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THE PURGATORY OF SUICIDES. A Prison -Rhy...
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TAIT'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE—Aubusi and SEP...
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SIMMONDS'S COLONIAL MAGAZINE.—Sep-TBMiiE...
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Confession* Of ax old . Offkn-oer.—The S...
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PoLiTicJti. Railway Accidkxt.—An acciden...
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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- . •¦; - ¦¦" ¦ . ; .- ¦" - _¦ " 4 _¦*• ¦ September 13 , 71845 . ' * .. ? ; _Wi , ¦ _ - ,- «• - _^ _w , » , ¦ -r , - _~ , _^ ..::: ; ., _Tflff iNO'RTBERy- ; S TAR , ___! » : - ¦ _: ¦ - - _-- - ¦ ' ' ¦ ¦ - ' "— ' _'"' ' ' ' ¦ - ¦ - ¦ _-- ¦ -.. - r
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Beauties Of Byron. Ko. X. "Chttde Habold...
BEAUTIES OF BYRON . KO . X . " CHttDE HABOLD , " The poet ' s next theme is HISPASIA . * Oh , lovely Spain ! renown'd , romantieland ! Where is that standard which Pelagio bore , When Cava ' _s traitor-sire first call'd the hand That dyed thy mountain streams with Gothic gore Where are tliose bloody banners which of yore Wav'd o ' er thy sons , victorious to the gale , And drove at last the spoilers to their shore ?
Bed _gleam'd the cross , and waned the crescent pale , While Afiic ' s echoes thrill'd with Moorish matrons ' Wail , Teems not each ditty with tlie glorious tale 3 Ah ! such , alas ! the hero ' s amplest fate ! When granite moulders and when records fail , A _peasants plaint prolongs his dubious u __ -. ; Pride 1 bend thine eye from heaven to thine estate , See how the mighty shrink into a song I Can Volume , Pillar , Pile , preserve thee great ? Or must thou trust tradition ' s simple tongue , When Flattery sleeps " rath thee , and History does thee wrong ?
Awake , yesons of Spain ! awake ! advance ! ' l \ o 1 Chivalry , your ancient goddess , cries ; _^ Bat wields not , as of old , her thirsty lance , _Ifor shakes her crimson plumage in the skies . Now on the smoke of blazing bolts she flies , And speaks in thunder . through yon engine ' s roar ! In every peal she calls—" . Awake ! arise !" Say , is her Toice more feeble than of yore , "When ber war-song was heard on Andalusia ' s shore ? The following six stanzas form a magnificent phillipic against " the game of kings " : — Hark ! heard you not those hoofs of dreadful note ? Sounds not the clang of conflict on tlie heath I Saw ye not whom the reeking sabre smote ; Nor saved yonr brethren ere they sank beneath - Tyrants and tyrants' slaves f—tlie fires of death , The bale-fires flash on high—from rock to rock JEach volley tells that thousands cease to breathe ; Death rides npon the sulphury Siroc , Bed battle stamps his foot , and nations feel the shock .
Lo ! where the giant on the mountain stands , His blood-red tresses deep _' ning in tlie sun , With death-shotglowing in his fiery hands , And eye that scorcheth all it glares upon ; Restless it rolls , now fis'd , and now anon Plashing afar—and at his iron feet Destruction cowers , to mark what deeds are done S for on this morn three potent nations meet , To shed before his shrine the * blood he deems most sweet By Heaven ! it is a splendid sight to see ( For one who hath no friend , no brother there ) Their rival scarfs of nriVd embroidery , Tlieir -various arms that glitterin lhe air ! "What gallant war-hounds rouse them from their lair And gnash their fangs , loud yelling for their prey ! All join the chase , but few tlie triumph share ; The Grave shall bear lhe chiefest prize away , And HavoeJscarce lor Joy can number their array .
Three hosts combine to offer sacrifice ; Three tongues prefer strange orisons on high ; Three gaudy standards flout the pale blue skies ; The shouts are France , Spain , Albion , Victory ! The foe , the victim , and the fond ally That fights for all but ever fights in vain , Are met—as If at home they conld not die—To feed the crow on Talavera ' s plain , And fertilise the field that each pretends to gain . f There shall they rot—Ambition's honour'd fools ! Yes , Honour decks tlie turf that wraps their clay ! Tain Sophistry ! in these behold the tools , The broken tools , that tyrants cast away By myriads , when they dare to pave their way _TVith human hearts—to what ?—a dream alone . -Can despots compass aught tliat hails their sway ? Or call with truth one span of earth their own , Save that wherein at last they crumble bone by bono I
Not so the Tustic—with his trembling mate He lurks , nor casts his heavy eye afar , Lest he should view his vineyard desolate , Blasted below the dun hot breath of war . No more beneath soft Eve ' s consenting star Fandango twirls his jocund Castanet : Ah , monarehs ! could ye taste the mirth ye mar , Not In thc toils of glory would ye fret ; The hoarse dull drum would sleep and manbe happyyet Here follows a beautiful portrait of
THE MAID OF _SABAGOSSA . Glorious as a patriotic heroine , she has been not less fortunate than heroic to Lave Lad such a poet as Urnox to immortalise her deeds and name : — Is it fortius the Spanish maid , aroused , Hangs on the willow her unstrung guitar , And , all unsex'd , the _anlace hath espoused , Sung the loud song , and dared the deed of war ? And she , whom once the semblance of a scar AppallM , an owlet ' s larum cliill'd Willi dread , Now views the column-scattering bay ' net jar , The falchion flash , and o ' er the yet warm dead Stalks with . Minerva's step where Mars might quake to tread . Xe who shall marvel when you hear her tale ,
Oh ! had you known Iter iu her softer hour , _Slark'd her black eye that mocks her coal-black veil , Heard her light lively tones in Lady's bower , Seen her long locks that foil the painter ' s power , Her fairy form , with more than female grace , Scarce would yon deem that Saragossa ' s tower Beheld her suiilc in Danger ' s Gorgon fane , Thin the closed ranks , and lead in Glory's fearful chase Her lover shiks—she sheds no ill-timed tear ; Her chief is slain—she fills his fatal post ; Her fellows flee—she checks tlieir base career ; The foe _M-liras—she heads tlie sallying host : Who can appease like her a lover ' s ghost ?
Who can avenge so well a leader ' s fall ! What maid retrieve when man's flush'd hope is lost ? "Who hang so fiercely mi the flying Gaul , { _JFoiTd "by n woman's hand , before a batterM wall S Tet are Spain ' s maids no race of Amazons , _Ttutform'd for all the witching arts of love : Though thus in arms they emulate her sons , And iu the horrid phalanx dare to move , 'Tis hut the tender fierceness ofthe dove , _Pcddn-r ihe hand that hover ' ' er her u : ate : In softness sis in _firmness far _nhove Hemoter female ? , famed fur sickening prate ; Her mind i < nobler sure , her charms perchance as great
The seal Love's dimpling finger hath impress'd Denotes hvw soft that chin whieh bears his touch : Iter lips , whose kisses pout to leave their nest , Bid man be valiant ere he merit sucli ; Her glance how wildly beautiful ! how much _Ha'h _Pha-bus _woo'd in vain to spoil her check , Which g ' ows yet smoother from his amorous clutch ! Who round the North for paler dames would seek ? How poor iheir forms appear ! how languid , wan , and we :. k ! Hatch me , ye climes ! wliich poets love to land ; _JJlatch ma . ye harems ofthe laud ! where now J I strike my strain , far distant , to applaud Beauties tliat even a cynic must avow ; Match nie those Houries , whom ye scarce allow To taste the gale lest Love should ride the wind , With Spain's _dark-glanciug daughters 11—deign to know , There vour wise Prophet ' s paradise we find , His _blach-f ved maids of Heaven , angelically kind ,
* Hi?]I:Ii]I3. The Ancient Name Of Spam....
* Hi ?] i : ii ] i 3 . the ancient name of Spam . t " Sorely were we puzzled how to dispose of that same -victory of Taiavera ; and a victory it surely was somewher « . _% for everybody claimed it . The Spanish despatch called it Cnesta _' _s , and made no jrre . it mention nf lhe _Tisconnt ( Wclleslt-y _) : the _Jrr . ncli called it theirs ( tomy great _disewnfiture—for a French cousulstopped my moutli in Greece witli a pestilent Paris _Gazette , just as I had tilled _-Vcbarfina , 'in buckram . ' and King Joseph , 'in _Xeiidal jrreen'J—and we have not yet determined what to call it , or whose ; for certcs , it was none of our own . _"Braos . 5 " Such were the exp loits of the Maid of _Saratrossa . -who , by her valour , elevated herself to the highest rani * of heroines . When the author was at Seville , she walked daily « m the l ' rado , decorated with medals aud orders , by _comn-and of the . 1 uuta . "— Byeon .
" The _espl-iits of Augustina , the famous heroine of both toe sieges _<» f .- " aragossa , are recorded -it length in Southcy ' s History « f tiie Peninsular War . At tlie tune when she * rst attracted notice , bv mounting a battery where her lover hudf-illMi . and working a _guu in lus place , she was in her _twenty-second year , iscceedingly pretty , ofa soft feminine style of _bc-autv . " § This stanza was written in Turkev . I ! "Long black hair , dark languishing eyes , clear olive _complexions , and Sinus more graceful in motion than can be _eulit-cived by an Englishman , used to tho drowsy listles ? air of his _couutryuuuioii , added to the most becoming dress , and . nt the same time , the most decent in the world , render a Spanish beauty irresistible . _"—Byeoh fo Jits Mother , August , 1 S » 3 .
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The Purgatory Of Suicides. A Prison -Rhy...
THE PURGATORY OF SUICIDES . A Prison -Rhyme , in Ten Books . Bv Thomas CoorEn , the Chartist . London : J . IIow , 132 , Fleet-street .
( Continued from the Star of Sept . Gtlt . J We have this week a p leasing fact to communicate to our readers . In thc Britannia ( a hiuh Tory weekly newspaper , published in the metropolis ) , of August 30 th , there appeared a review of Thomas Coofek ' s _Furgaterii of Suicides . The review is a remarkable one , not onlv for tho praise therein lavished upon Mr . _Goow-n _' s poetical talents , hut also for the very important admissions made by thc reviewer , as fo the strength of the Chartist bodv ; and the necessity
of those who live by the present order of things makin . j terms with that formidable party . Be it understood tiiat tho Jlnuomia , although a newspaper , _pos-essesa distinctive character as a literal *} ' paper , _« ul as an anthoiitv in literary matters ranks high . Praise therefore from a critic so well qualified , and enjoying great influence , is jiraise indeed , and i .. _u- * t materiall y serve" Mr . Cooper . It is not usual for One reviewer to quote another , on the same work hut in justice to ilr . Cooper , aud wishing our readers W know what a writer lor the aristocracy is con-
The Purgatory Of Suicides. A Prison -Rhy...
strained to admit ; . as to the talent to be found in the Ohartist ranks , we _vtke the libertv to transfer to our _^ _Hunns . the most _important points of the Britannia ' s critique . - r .-.. if-.... . . . The reviewer first gives . a summary of Mr . Cooper ' s preface , -which appeared entire in the Star of last we Be concludes the summary with tliese words : — lie ( Mr . Cooper ) went- . into gaol a Chartist spouter ; he - has come forth—no prejudice against pernicious opinions must blind ru' to the truth—a great poet ! " The remarks _immeu'iatel y following this we extract entire : — - _-
We repeat it emphatically that _Thomas Cooper is one of those great poets , stamped b y nature ' s ow . u hand—not fashioned by schools _. not taught by labour tortr . 'ng rhymes together , but pouring forth from the fullness 0 . _his onn mind and heart a torrent of burning and _impwu . _'ms eloquence . We may jrreatl y disapprove of his concq . tions , but we are compelled by the law of our being _thatJxionstrains admiration , to do homage to the richness , and fertility of his imagination , and to that amazing command of language , and supreme faculty of expression that makes his verse , while full , various , and eminently poetic , the perfect expositor ofhis thought . The impression forced on his mind b y his verse is , that it is the work of inspiration rather thau of labour . It never stops or falters in its
magnificent fli ght . It has no feeble pas . sages , no weak rhymes , no compromise of strength to rhvthm . Throughout its seven or eight thousand lines , it is a genuine and ardent outpouring of a great spirit irritated by envy , or fancied wrong , depressed and pained by calamity , dark with imperfect knowledge , distorted by feelings of hate , fired by illusory ideas of man ' s equality , but still retaining even in its greatest faults unquestionable power of intellect of the very rarest and highest kind . Our judgment may he disputed—the world may disregard this mi ghty and daring effort of an irregular but lofty genius , though we do not think it will , —yet still we shall hold to our opinion that this Prison lthyme is the most wonderful effort of intellectual power produced within the last century .
Amidst so much to strongly condense , we cannot consent to pass by this work with a slight notice . We must remember the condition of the writer in passing sentence on his errors . They spring much more from a darkened understanding than a corrupted heart . They are riot the engrained sins of that great poet , the brightness of whose genius yet made the world forget his spots . There is nothing mean , low , vicious , or lascivious in the verse ofthis Chartist . He has tiie finest feeling for the beauty of the New Testament , for tho sublimity of the Old ; but the doubts of neglected youth cling to him , aud shake his soul witli the agony of unbelief . .
The poem is written in the Spenserian stanza ; Grander and more nervous than "Childe . Harold , " which , in its reflective passages it somewhat resembles—evidencing much deeper reading , much profounder thought , much greater power ofthe forcible aud the terrible in expression , though with less beauty of poetic imagery—this Prison Rhyme conies nearer than any other poem in our language to the grand woiks of Mliton . The spirit of that mighty master which hitherto has looked so coldly and contemptuously on all its worshippers , has found out this imprisoned Chartist , and breathed upon him in his cell . Wonder " of wonders , this self-taugh t shoemaker is hardly less versed in curious and mystic lore than the sightless bard , to whose mental vision all antiquity and its fables , its heroes , nnd its creeds , seemed revealed .
Be it understood we speak only of the genius of the _writer—^ genius is the proper , the only correct word to apply to his poetic fire . AVe have read with sorrow we cannot express , " those fearful revelations of the doubts which torment aud reud his soul , leadiug him to distrust Ms own consciousness , and sometimes tremblingly to regard the grave as a dark and eternal sepulchre—that hoarded bitterness of years of poverty and neglect—that torrent of reproach which he hurls against kings , ministers , and the priests of all religions—and that fiery wrath with which he enwraps the objects of his hate , as if he would consume them in its folds , tiU his muse assumes almost a fiend-like aspect . Much , very much , is there in this hook to shock and horrify a well-regulated mind beyond the scope of words to tell . It is hot to be lightly read ; it is not to be placed in young hands . "We might even be disposed to wish it had never been written ., But here itis , full of power , full of eloquence / fall of grand detached passages—beyond all question the most singular poem in the English language . It will suggest some
serious reflections to us hereafter . AVe omit the quotations from the poem given in the Britannia , as these and other quotations we sliall ourselves give in due order . AVe give some further extracts from the critique : — With wonderful pomp and luxuriance does the author recal the great names of antiquity , and invest the form of each with peculiar and distinctive characteristics . The stanza , so difficult of management in an inferior hand , is by him -wrought , even in the most elaborate and difficult descriptions , with as much ease as a skilled hand weaves osier rods into basketwork . lie is master of his verse , and uses it as a master , not a servant . lie makes it subservient to his thought ; with a boldness more to be admired than condemned he employs rhymes and words uuuthorised by authority rather thau suffer his muse to he fettered by commonplace rules . # # # # * #
There are , in this volume , at least a thousand of such stanzas as we have quoted . Some purely beautiful _-, some shocking , _malignaut , and terrible ; but all evincing triumphant poetic genius . Think , then , of the entire work being composed iu a dungeon ; of all the gorgeous images and glowing splendours that shine npon the page , being conceived in the darkness , pain , and privation of a prison cell , and , acknowledging how superior the mind can rise to all external circumstances , let us frankly , with all its faults , _acknowledge this Prison lthyme to be one of the most wonderlul productions of which the world has preserved record .
It suggests deep thoughts , not to be lightely expressed , not to be heedlessly discarded . AVe cannot suppress genius ofthis kind . It will rise superior to all fetters . It resembles the elements ofthe natural world , which may be controlled but cannot be annihilated . The torrent that unrestrained would desolate a country may be turned into channels to fertilize it , and made to coatributeto thc service and pleasure of man . AVhat might this poet not have bet n had his infancy and ydiith been less neglected , had he been cared' for by the state , had his mind bet-n trained to a knowledge of truth , and reared with reverent
regards for things holy ? Is not this book a great evidence of the danger we run , in letting ouv youthful population grow up like rank weeds , witliout knowledge , care , or culture ? Self-taught men are self-willed . They recognise no obligations , no authority . They conceive they owe all to themselves ; and , acknowledging none of the higher duties of life , none of the responsibilities of intellectual power , they hurl back upon society its scorn or contempt of themselves , Wckuow not what effect this book will have ; we almost fear pernicious . Tliere is more danger in the spirit it breathes , than in a thousand Chartist _meetings l > v torchlight .
It g ives another warning , a solemn oue too , —on ilie danger of rudely disturbing old ami settled institutions . The New Poor Law has been long in operation , there appears no prospect of its repeal—yet see , in this houk _, which speaks the mind of millions , with what intensity it is hated , anil wilh what _j-.-y a revolution would be hailed that should sweep it away . It is favourable to the good feeling of the author that ho now deprecates all resort to violence . The path of minds like his is usually a rough one , but is cleared at
last . Genius in its progress has often to pass through dark caverns beforo it arrives at halls of light ; under happier circumstances we trust they are dawning upon him , his temper may become softened , and his views of life extended and cleared . Then , from thi 3 great , but rude commencement , more great than the earlier works of some whose names are now iniperishably embalmed in our language , may arise a lofty superstructure of JiOCtlC fame . His natural powers are so eminent that success must attend his efforts , to whatever labour he may turn his vigorous mind . >
We have gone through the volume hastily , and have recorded our impressions of it with equal speed . It is one of those works in which tliere is so much to admire , so much to condemn , so much of sublimity and of beauty , so much of wrath and of fire , so much of heaven , so much of hell , that the mind cannot easily pass a decided judgment on it , but can only in noticing it attempt to reflect thc feelings and the sentiments it has originated . In quoting the 2 ?« a _»» miV _* » review of Mr . Cooper ' s poem , " we do not forego our own right to criticise it , and express our own views as to its merits , which , whether wc _atrrce with the Britannia reviewer or not , we sliall honestly express when we come to the conclusion ofthe poem . A lengthy review of the Purgatory of Suicides appeared in the Athcnaum of Saturday Inst ; we shall most likely eive some extracts therefrom next week . AVe now " proceed with our extracts from the poem . The poet sleeps in his cell , aud has a vision on Imprison bed , Which took lis iinct from lhe mind ' s waking thl'OOS .
Th * - opening portion of the vision is horrible enough to stand bv thc side of John Bunyan ' s famous '' V aney of the Shadow of Death . " -He-thought I voyaged iu the bark of Death—Himself the helmsman—on a _skyless sea , Where none of all his passengers drew breath—Yet each , instinct with strange vitality , Glared from his ghastly eyeballs upon me , Vnd then upon that pilot , who upheld One chill aud ileshlcss hand so witheringly Tint , while around his boat the hoarse waves swelled , It seined as if their rage that solemn signal quelled .
I kuow not how these mariners I saw : No light made visible the grisly crew : It _denied a vision of the soul—by law Of coip'ral sense unfettered , and more true ' Than living things revealed to mortal view . Ifor can eart h ' s ]? abel syllables unfold Aught that can shadow forth the mystic hue Of imriad creatures-or their monstrous mould—AVhich ' ' . hwart that dismal sea their hideous hugeness relic * ..
Not stature terrible of mastodon Or mammoth;—longitude of lizards vast , Lor . ! s of the slhwe when earth , from chaos won , Grew _1-ig with primal life , until , aghast , She quaked at her strange children * , —uot all past Or present , which from out the _diedal earth , The human reptile , latest born , hath classed _15 y guess , cleping it" Knowledge '—for the mirth __ Cf future worms , crawling , in pride , to death—from birth .
The Purgatory Of Suicides. A Prison -Rhy...
Not old leviathan , of bulk uncouth;— ! Nor fabled kraken , with his sea-borne ' trail;— ' Nat all that sages tell , iii sober sooth , ' Of the sun ' s progeny on Meraphic vale , "Which from redundant Nile his beams exhale ;—• Nor all that plirenzied poets exorcise ' . _"' From memory ' s grave , then weave with "fancies frail;—Can image , in their shades , or shapes , or size , Those ocean-dwellers huge beholding Death's _emprize . The voyage , voyagers , and ocean-forms . Alike , were strange , and wild , and wonderful ; But marvels grew ! When , of that . sea of storms AVe reached the shore , the waves at once . were lull-Death and his skiff evanished , and seemed null And void as things that never were—while they , Of late Death ' s passengers so cold and dull , . Took , with an air of stern resolve , their way ' Into a gloomy land where startling visions lay . Any one who wishes to " sup full of horrors" must
read the stanzas immediately following the above , describing the march of tlie ghostly crew through tlie land of shadows to which Death ' s bark has conveyed them , For ourselves we have no taste for such phantasies , hoivever poetically described . In oui boyhood , thanks to Bunyan , " prince of dreamers , " we had quantum suf of such visions to last us a moderate life-time . The next extract describes a mighty hall where are assembled the mighty suicides oftlie olden time : this visionary hall exhibits the poet ' s descriptive powers to great advantage : — By beam or rafter architectonic Undarken'd—with a roof of rainbows graced , Smiled that wide palace-hall : —yet , upward , quick And tim'rous looks old shapes columnar cast—That stretched their sinews as with effort vast To prop the heavenly , arch whose fall they feared : —¦ Distorted things—abortions ofthe Past—They were : Satyrs , with wild-goats' legs and beard ,. Aiid one-eyed Arimasp and Cyclops , there appeared ;
Scythians , with heel in front , and toes behind—An old imaus known ; and Bthiops dark And headless , wearing mouth and eyes enshrined In their huge breasts ; and countless monsters stark . And staring , hymn'd divine by hieraTch Of Ganges and old Nile—wiih heads , iails , arms , . Tusks , horns , confused , of elephant , ape , shark , Serpent , dog , crocodile , or ok t vile swa » iK 9 Of _hideouo phantasies , half-sharing human forms . In triple colonnade around th' immense E Uipsis of th at hall these creatures stood—Colossal images of ache intense And apprehensive dread;—while o ' er them bowed The arch that still in jewelled beauty glowed , — Such horror , blent with grace , Apollo ' s priest
'Mid strangling folds of Neptune ' s serpents showed—And still doth show—enmarbled , undeccased—That . breathing stone the . Past to gem the Future leased , Area within , enclosed , of amplitude More spacious stretched than wide circumference Of sculptured temple , by far traveller viewed In Hindoo cave—or where Wild audience The Arab gives to lioar Magnificence Defying Ituin , and in some huge tomb , Hewed for a monarch , nigblly sleeps—from whence , I' th' morn , he blesses Mecca ' s seer—while gloom Sterne veils Memnon ' s brow beholding Thebes' _sai doom , Throughout this column-girt enclosure rose Thrones , —some with fashion of afortalice Or tower ; some , like cathedralfed shrine , where vows
Are paid to saintly heritor ot bliss , Shewed niche , and pinnacle , and quaint device Of carven wonder-work ; while some parade Outvied of old renowned Acropolis Or Parthenon , where graceful sbaft o ' erlaid With bossed entablature Man ' s noblest skill displayed _. Significant depicturings of fraud Conjunct with force , _—cliinucras blending grim Fierce forms with fascinations , —shapes that awed . Pelasgic men in ages old and dim , — For metope , along the plinth ' s broad rim , 'Tween gem-dropp'd triglyphs , — wore each classic throne : Rapine of harpy , smile of siren prim , Lewd lure of lamia , wile of sphinx , and frown Of minotaur and archer-centaur there were shewn .
Or , where a shrine-shaped throne , o ' ercanopied With perforated carvery , rose , — -a pile 0 / frail aerial wonder , —typified Were Fright and Miscliiefinixt with Stealth and Guile : Hag rode her broomstaff , ilankt with bugbear vilo And goggle-eyed hobgoblin , while a host Led by Puck-Hairy mocked with infantile Aud puny trick the snake that wreathed and tossed His trail around tbe skull and cross-bones of grim ghost . In the 'list of potentates , legislators , heroes , and others , who occupy this liall _, there are Sardanapalus .
GEdipus , / _Egcus , Saul , _Tclamoii , Cotlrus , Chow Sin , Lycurgus , Mark Antony , Nero , Mithridates , Dido , Cleopatra , & c , he . These hold converse on thc destiny of man . Sardanapalus , who commences the " war of words , " taunts Lycurgus with the failure ot his prediction that k ngs should cease to reign , anil mankind bow only to self-government . Sardanapalus points _ti'iuinphantl" to the vttins of Greece , and the extinction of Spartan virtue and . freedom , in proof of his assertion that There mast be conquering lord ? , and slaves that yield : There luith heen , —and there will be .
Chow Sill , the Emperor of China , takes up the same strain , and instances China as the most ancient and flourishing of states , because conservative of its faith in !; kings and priests . Mark Antony answers the Cathaian despot , and shows the real and degraded state of China . The stanzas put into the mouth of Mark Antony are very lino , lie predicts the speedy destruction of tlte old and worn-out empire of Cliow Sin : — The restless pirates of the northern isles , — Breaking your barriers of three thousand years , — With their own eyes , your land of fabled smiles Behold , —and find it but a land of tears—Like their own . Nero replies to thc . anti-monarchical scoffings of Antony , and administers a not undeserved scourging to the Hero of Actium!—Vestal of the Kile !
In his turn Nero has his own vices rigidly pourtrayeci by the heavy hand of Maximian . Tiie quarrel is becoming " a very pretty quarrel , " each unmasking the otlier , when the fierce Pontic King Mithridates silences the disputants by appealing to Lycurgus to give his reasons for his belief in the ultimate dc-3 _'i'iictioii of kingcraft and universal reign of equality . Thus appealed to , Lycurgus answers : — The Power that forms , supports , and governs Man , Smiles on him evermore ; benignly woke His infancy with love ; unfolds its plan Of happiness in the fair-written book Of Man's own nature , and tlic forms that look _^ Upon his essence from the outward world ; Tmp _. y . its no instinct in ids In-east io mock nis life ; but hath his sentient clay impearled With reason—sovereign gem in fragile folds cnfurlcd .
A thing of beauty , though but frail , in joy Perpetual mig ht his mortal life be past ; But fablers do his peace and bliss destroy With falsest fears : each hour is overcast With sadness , and each breath an antepast Becomes of some dread future , which , to shun , He must propitiate mystic , demons vast , By rites that serve to load with pious boon The smooth and crafty priest who consecrates the throne . Vcrv beautiful are the stanzas comprising the , address of the great Spartan : — 7 Ye clcpe me Prophet!—I accept the jest For earnest ; and , with mystic wreath thus crowned By your united voice , Mystery attest ' To be the tyrant Power Irom whose profound Soul-bondage man is breaking : whispering sound Of Truth ' s young breath greets Europe ' s grateful car ; And Freedom , in some hearts , a throne bath found On that new shore where still , alas 1 appear Earth ' s olden stains—the helot ' s stripes—the helot ' s teari
Afric's dark tribcF , and Asia ' s populous swarms , The voice of Truth , and Freedom ' s holy call Shall know , ere long—upstarting , —Mol to _ill'ms , For blood and slaughter , —but to disenthral Their new-born spirits from Faith ' s mystical Degrading chains , and shake their ancient slough Of sottish ignorance off : no more to crawl In abjectness 'fore hideous gods , nor throw Their slavish frames 'fore kings , in vile prostration low . " "What follows , " says the reviewer in the Britannia , " is equal to t ; e noblest stanzas in Byron" : — Thrones , —ve perceive your splendours ' gin to pale
;—And soon we must our penal throes renew . I cease my theme;—and may have erred , —for frail Is still our wisdom : it may be , the Few Sliall still the Many trample and subdue : That Truth and Liberty sliall bloom—to die , — Like glorious winged things , that , swift pursue The sunbcani-atoins for a day , then hie To depth , —blending , as'twere , a breath—a sinilc—It may be that the human soul is mist With nature of decadence and frail change , Essentially : that never stably fixt , But mutable , eternally to range From ignorance to wisdom , —then , by strange Itoturn , to ignorance , —may be its fate , Inevitably ;—that when their brief revengo Slaves take ou tyrants , they emancipate
a si a sigh
Themselves in vain , —And Nature * doth their strife frustrate . Spirits , it may be emptier than a dream That fair _Squalitv shall one day hold Sole sceptre on the earth : that _Milll shall ( loom His brother man too _s-icred to be sold Or slain , —to be by any power controlled _. Save the . soft force of love and wisdom : field It is for thought : thy dogma , —monarch old , — "There must " be conqu'ring lords and slaves that yield "Ths Future may attest as the stained Past hath sealed . Lvcurgus proposes that othvr shades of great suicides should be invited to join in this superna tural conference : as tho monarehs express their assent , tbe dream of the poet is broken , ami the lirst book ends . ( To be continued . )
The Purgatory Of Suicides. A Prison -Rhy...
_vK _^ JERROLD SHILLING MAGA-_ . AINh—S epiembek . London ; Punch Office , b 2 , Fleet-street . ' ' "* . ..... " Wo return to this _magnziiiD , from- V'liich we gave an extract in our last . In the _continuation in the present month ' s number , ofthe _editor'sW 7 of " St . Uiles and St . James" is a powerfully writU ' _ui-eiepose ij * _- e 1 Snorant a"d bloody barbarities ofthe " good Old times , " as shown by the hanging of _^ unfork _' _-nate wretches to thc number of fifteen at oiice _. aa was ?" o , at _£ . ew ate » on the morning of the 23 rd of Jun e , 1 / 84 . We had marked this excellent piece of _writing for extract , but cannot find room for it this : week ; nevertheless it shall appear in this' paper . - " The Englishman in Prussia , No . II . " contains an account ot that gigantic fraud , " The Holv Coat at-Treves : " ¦
together with a number of similar irauds . Weneed say nothing in commendation of this well-timed and excellent article , as it sufficiently commends itself : the reader will find it in page ? of thispapcr . " The Child and the Criminal" is an interesting account of a most interesting establishment in France , the agricultural colony ol ' Mettray , near Tours , established tor the moral and physical recovery of young delinquents What true glory might Louis _Piuurru and UmzoT have acquired by imitating the noble example set Iby . Messrs . DeMetz and De BnETio . NEKES , doing nationally what these two- noble-minded men are doing locall y . Had thc funds of the State , so mischievously and infamously squandered in tlic cnibaatiiemcnt oi Pans , been devoted to tho establish men t ot . similar colonies to that at Mettraythe King of
, the Barricades and the chief of the Doctrinaires would have won for themselves a reputation as the benelactors ot their country which time could never have obliterated . As it is , tlie one a peijured tvrant , he otlier a tyrant ' s tool , are , despite their acknowledged abilities , the most unpopular men living , * and will be amongst the most execrated when dead . As an example oi what may be done , this Mettray experiment is of the . first importance ; although next to valueless as a means of national regeneration , _* seeing , that while the system at Mettray saves one unfortunate , the system at Paris , and throughout trance generally , is destroying , at . the least , a hundred for every one saved by Messrs . De Meiz and De _BnETiGNEisiss . ' After all , there is . no real reinedv but in changing the social syatem . The philanthropists
ot Mettray may ameliorate the evil results flowing fran thc present anti-social state of things , but nothing sliort of the remedy prescribed by Baheujf and _-BuosAiinoTi will effect a thorough cure for the present , and prove a preventive for the future _, still , all honour to thc founders of Mettray ! If we can find room we may give the artiele , in this paper , in a week or two . By the bve ; tlie Socialists might turn the example of Mettray to account . Now that the failure of , the Harmony Hall experiment as a community is no longer doubtful , why not turn the establishment to the next best purpose , that of an agricultural industrial _collcjje , for the training of youth in a practical knowledge of the social _svstem , and habits in consonance therewith ? If tliere be any truth in the system of thc Socialists , or any
chance ol that system being reduced to practice , experience has proved . that it can onlv bo by committing its working to a race trained free from tbe prejudices and habits of tho present ' generation-. "The Position of men of Letters" contains some good ideas , but also a something which to us seems not sound . There has of late in this magazine , and several other publications , been raised aii outcry against the present political system in this country , which showers down honours and emoluments on certain privileged classes , to the exclusion of those who possess nothing but tlieir talenls to recommend them for the services and rewards of public situations . The outcry . is well-founded , and we hope will become louder and louder until the cause thereof be removed . Tlie discontented _uai-ties we sneak of
desire that , instead of the booby sons of lords , or the brainless scions of-wealth , claiming as by right the privilege to be enrolled in the ranks of the " rulers of the state , that the offices now in most instances so unworthily occupied , should be thrown open to She competition of the men of genius , talent , andleaarn _* . ing ; and that to the most worthy , regardless of _biirtli or money , should be allotted the pubiicsmployments . This principle is good and grand if taken in its fullest sense ; indeed , it is just what , as regards Government _, the democracy are contending for . But we doubt the motives of some of these clamourcrs for the " aristocracy of talent ; " and they furnish us with reasons for doubting , when wc see them , as in the case of this writer in Jerrold ' s Magazine ( "The Position of Men of Letters" ) lauding the
system which in 1-ranee elevates (?) a Victdi . Hugo to the peerage ; iu Prussia , where a IIu . miioldt is at once a peer and minister ; and in Spain , where the dramatist Maktixlz de l . \ Rosa is , or was lately a minister . It may be a very good thing for Messrs . Hugo , Hu *> ijiolot , De la ltps . i and Co ., that tliey should share with privileged brigands , military adventurers , anu jobbing politicians , the titles , crosses , orders , and pecuniary pickings , derived from thc plunder and brutalisation of the nations they respectively belong to . This may be very well for the clever gentlemen in question ; but of what benefit is it to the millions of France , Prussia , and Spain , who are not rnmancists , philosophers , or play-writers ? None . Nor , as experience has shown , does this " elevation" ofthe literati of a countrv- to thc
functions and honours of public life tend at all to the advancement of nations in political , or even menial freedom . Indeed , the very contrary is the fact . No ono knows this fact better than that crafty old sinner , Louis Philippe ; and sec the use he has made of it . After the " three days , " tho greater part of the journalists , ami other writers , who had stimulated that revolution , were forthwith rewarded by thc king of the sliopocrats with places , pensions , orders , anil other tit-bits of corruption ; the cunning old usurer , well knowing that by such means he could attach those literary prostitutes to his cause , and so buy up tho press as an engine for the support and conservation of his kcw tyranny . Almost the only honest man of the prominent journalists who remained true to tho cause of the ninny , who would neither be made
a peer , nor a minister , nor a placeman ol any kind , Aiimaxd Cakiiel , wns speedily got rid of , being conveniently kilicd in a duel , into which he was _villanously entrapped . Writ rs not so prominent , but equally honest , such as the editors of the Tribune , wero subjected to prosecution lifter prosecution , until , by tho aid of villanous middleclass juries , they were utterly ruined in purse , and left to perish in the dungeons to which thev were consigned . So that between corruption -mil persecution , honest journalism was all but utterly stilled . What remained jprcvious to the Ficschi affair was then utterly put an end to ; and sueh superlative _scoumlrels as Thiers , Guizot and Co ., were the men who wot'e the prime movers in every infamous
law adopted to chain the press and fetter the millions . Tlie public writers of Franco are with a few —very few—honourable exceptions , the basest set ol knaves that ever prostituted brains or wielded pens , and yet that is the country where the " aristocracy of liikr . t" bus sway ; where poets arc made peers , and _journalists ministers ! As to Prussia , we do not > ee wherein thc Prussian people benefit by having Baron Humboldt for a minister . We have not heard that ho has made even an attempt to abolish the censorship ; and we rather think he lias not put pen lo paper ' yet to prepare the constitution so long promised by the present perjured , pictistic king . Then look ut Martixez de la Rosa , the grand tool and creature of the roval harlot Cnr . _isTixA Has not
this play-writing member ot tbe " aristocracy of talent" been the associate of the blood-drinking niiiiistcr Nakvakz ? Has he not sanctioned and approved , and helped to carry out all the atrocities of which the reigning faction in Spain have been guilty during thc last two years ? _Narvai-zjs a brute : but brute as he is , he is really respectable compared with this in _tcllcctiial , elegant blood-dabbler , Hosa . If Rosa is a fair _i-pcciinen ofthe " aristocracy of talent , " lienvGii _preserve us from that aristocracy ' s rule ! If the author of . the article in Jerrold's Magazine which has called forth tliese remarks , imagines that the democratic movement' in this country is intended
merely to put ono set ot men down and place another set up _; remove hereditary aristocrats merely that their places may be filled with " babbling literati , " he makes a grand mistake ; a mistake wliich , with the example of the Girondists before him , he might have avoided . They—the Girondistsdesired to put down monarchy , the aristocracy , and the priesthood , but only with the view of establishing themselves in the p laces of the discomfited orders of the old regime . They had no ken , of establishing a system of veritable liberty , which , to exist , must be based upon equality of labour and enjoyments . Tho _consequence was , that this would-be " aristocracy of talent" were trodden down by the men ol ' energy who promised tbe masses a real liberty . Some of tlie proniisers were honest men . Would that they had all been so ' .
Be it understood that wc offer these observations not as the apologist of the present system , wliich excludes a Carlti . k , a Dickens , a _Jerrold , or a CooPKii _. _fi-oin public employments , and confers them on such idiots as the Marquis of Londonderry ; nor aro we opposed to the reign of an " aristocracy of talent ; " on the contrary , we earnestly desire to sec its commencement . What wc insist upon is this , that the power of that " aristocracy" shall emanate from the people . Wc want no poets ' made peers of bv King or Queen—no journalist called to hiuh office because his prostitution of intellect is calculated upon bcforc-hnnil , by tliose who give him his degraded " elevation . " As the Whigs are only good for anything when out of office , sowhile the present _svstctn
, lasts , it will not trouble us much to see the " men of hitters" remain as they arc . Their discontent is a powerful help to the enfranchisement of all . " Revolutions are not made with vosc-watcr "—and that being the case , if ever a revolution should come upon this country , wc trust it will have mightier ends , and achieve happier results , than the niercly giving us Sueh precious rulers as Thiers , the lying historian , or _Mautim- z de la Hosa , thc butchering play-writer . _, Of the othor contents of this number of Jerrold ' s Magazine wc have no room to speak , save that wc have , as _ns-snl , road with uuicli pleasure the "Hedgehog Loiters . " It would be superfluous for us now to say anything by way of recommending this publication—it best recommends itself .
The Purgatory Of Suicides. A Prison -Rhy...
THE ILLUMINATED _MAGAZINE-SEPiEMBEr . t London : J . Clayton , 320 , Strand . This is the third . " number of the new scries of a magazine which , beforetime , it has often been our pleasing , task to speak of in approving terms . The first and second numbers of the present scries wc have not seen ; and so have not had the pleasure of reading the commencement of the exciting story oi •' The Dead Guest" from the German of Hkisiucii lvsciioKKE . "Sketches of Indian Sports" arehighly entertaining ; we hope to have moro from the same pen . " The Life and Adventures of Bob Thin" is a literary curiosity , not so ; uiuch for its verse , —though that is not bad , —as for tlie quaint and original illustrations with which it is profusely garnished . " The Recreations of Mr . Zigzag the ¦ Elder , " -contains gome curious recollections of , and pleasing gossip concerning Elias _AsnjiOLi _* , and his house in Little Shire-lane , * and the immortal Boar ' s Head , of Eastcheap- "Zara , the Rich Man ' s Daughter" is a
, well-wr _i tten but melancholy tale . The " Popular Rationaia of Ghosts" contains some good sense on a subject fertile of inexliaustless nonsonse . Tlie writer of "The Past , the Present , and the Possible , " havemet before in tho old series' of this magazine , and right glad we are to meet hiin again . His present contribution would do credit to any publication . There is some good poetry iu this number . As regards the illustrations , this magazine is once more worthy of its name ; Indeed , in the best days ofthe old series , this magazine was never so truly " the Illumixatkd" as now . Tliere are magazines for which the charge is __ half-a-crown , or tliree shillings and sixpence , which certainly can claim no superiority , as _resjanls literary ability , over this ; while , as regards their pictorial embellishments , they are as farthing rushli ghts to the great sun itself , when . compared with the Illuminated ; at the same time the latter is published at less than half the cost of the . high-priced monthlies .
Tait's Edinburgh Magazine—Aubusi And Sep...
TAIT'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE—Aubusi and _SEPTiiMii-SR . Edinburgh * . W . Tait ; London : Simpkin , Marshall , and Co . Circumstances , it were useless to explain , prevented us noticing tho August number of this old established , and deservedly popular -magazine . It would , however , be unjust not to notice the August number , simply becisase August has gone by . The opening article is a review of the celebrated work of thc French historian , M . _Miciielet , on " Priests , Women , ami Children . " The review is not so much to our liking as some reviews of the same work we have seen in othor publications . ; Still it is a valuable article—iftdeed the most valuable in the number . ; . M . _Miciielc-t _' s . work is one of thc most valuable contributions to the cause of free thought , — the foundation and safe-guard of all freedom , —which has appeared sin ne thc time ef Voltaire . His exposure of-priestcraft , as it , exists in France at the present day . was much needed , and will , we trust , be
productive of the hoped-for _resuSis . Tliere is ground , too ,, for so trusting ; for before it appeared in an English dress , it bad sold to . the extent of fifty thousand copies in prance . The review of "The Memoirs * of Lad y Hester Stanhope , " extending through fourteen _tloBblc-columncd pages , must , at any rate , Lave thoroughly skimmed the cream ofthe work . _ThisrcviewisiDDstclereflyprspared , and the reader of Tceit will scarcdy find it nceessnry to read the original work after having perused the review . ¦' . " Scrvia , the Youngest Member of the European Family , " g ives the reader-much Interesting information—thanks _to-Mr . Paton ' _s book—of a country hniilly known to western Europe , and a people who seem to possess qualities wliich require but fair culSi-vation to lit them for greatness . _Rcriews of the _'"' Life of Jean-- Paul _Riciisek , " and ' * Tho "Works oi JDe La Moo ts : _Foi'que , " are very kitercsting , _aik ! altogether this ( the August ) number is a capital _shilling ' s worth .
The number for the present" month ( September ) also possesses several articles oi " interest . Ths first of these is a critical examination of " Wordsworth ' s Poetry , " by Thomas Pk Quixcr ,. better known as tho English Opium Eater . We fancy this to be ene of the ablest pieces of criticism that has appeared in any publication for a long time past . The critic is an enthusiastic admirer of Wordsworth , but is _yet not blind to his faults as-a poet , nor does he hesitate to expose them . " The Excursion" is- rather severely handled . The false p hilosophy oftlie poet as exhibited in his treatment of the disappointed misanthrope in thc fourth _fcook of the poem is abb commented on in the following hopeful - and eloquent sentences : —
THE _FRENCir _INVOLUTION . Indirectly , . besides , it _onjjht not to be overlooked that , as respects tho French Itevolution _, the ftiiolc college of philosophy in "The Excursion , " ' who arc gathered together upon tlic case of the recluse , make _tlusame mistake that he makes . Why is the recluse disgusted with the French Revolution ? Because it had uot fulfilled many of his expectations ; and of those which it had fulfiUeO , some liad been soon darkened by _i'gvgi'sos . But _vuiilljf this was childish impatience . If » man depends for the exuberance oi' his harvest upon thc splendour of the coming summer , you do not excuse him for taking prussic acid because it rains cats and dogs through thc first ten days of April . All in good time we say : take it easy ; make acquaintance with May anil June , before _you-dri anything rash , The French
Revolution has not evuu yet ( 1 _SI-5 ) come into full action . It was the explosion of a prodigious volcano , which scattered its lava over every kingdom of every continent , everywhere silently manuring them for social struggles ; this lava is gradually fertilizing nil : the revolutionary movement is moving onwards at this hour as inc . * coral > l _„ r as ever . Listen , if you have ears fur sucli spiritiiii ) sounds , to the mighty tide even now slowly coming up from the sea to Milan , to Home , to Naples , to Vienna . Hearken to the gentle undulations already breaking against thc steps of that golden throne which stretches _, from St . retcrsburgh to Astraehan;—tremble at the hurricanes which have long been mustciing about the pavilions of the Ottoman Padishah , All these are long swells setting in from the French _llevo ution . Even as
_regards France herself , that which _} : ave the mortal offence to the sympathies of the solitary was the _lleign of Terror . But ' how thoughtless to measure the cycles of vast national revolutions by metres that would not stretch round an ordinary human passion . Even lo a frail sweetheart , you would grant more indulgence than to be ofi' in a pet because some transitory cioud arose between you , The reign of terror was a mere _UcBtin-i pluisis , The Napoleon dynasty was nothing more . Even that scourge , which was supposed by many to have mastered tho Itevolution , has itself passed away upon the wind—leaving no wreck , relique , or record behind , except precisely tliose changes wliich it worked , not as an enemy to the _Ituvciution ( which also itwas ) , but as its servant and its tool .
The " Passages in thc History of Knockarow" are brought to a conclusion . The whole story has been ably told , and will well repay perusal . The critique on the third and fourth volumes of " Thiers' History of Napoleon" should bo read by all who desire to _eet at tho truth of French history . There are several other reviews in this mmihev , including " A Scottish Craftsman ' s Travels in tho "United States and Canada , " written by William Tn _-. _isox , of Stonehaven , a sensible and well-written work , if we may judge by the extracts in . Tait ; ftiulCiuni . iis-M . ' . eiiAv ' s " Legends of the isles and other poems , " a true poet , whose success * , we shall be delighted to hear of .
Simmonds's Colonial Magazine.—Sep-Tbmiie...
_SIMMONDS'S COLONIAL MAGAZINE . —Sep-TBMiiEB _, London * . Simiii _« _mls and Ward , IS , Cornhill . This number contains , tho usual amount ol statistical and descriptive information on colonial subjects , for whicli this magazine hits earned so fair a fame . Among the . more important contents are articles on the " Imports and Exports of 'Demerara ;" " The Agriculture of IVmdostan ; " thc " Progress of Wealth , Trade , and Papulation in Canada ; " " The Newfoundland Fisheries" ( being the Report of the Committee appointed by the General Assembly of Newfoundland to inquire into the state of the fisheries of that Colony : ) "The Geo » rapliy of Africa" ( an article contributed by Mr . James _M'Queei , _containi'iig much curious information « n lhe subject of African discovery ); and lastly , a very valuable article on " linns * Kong , and the Five Chinese Free _Povts . " Accompanying this article is a view of Victoria , the English capital oi' Hong Kong , which it appears lias already become a place oi"
_importiiiiee . In August , Isil , not a single house ; was yet knit , but m June , 1842 , thc town was considerably more than two miles long , and its increase since then has been nearly proportionate . It now contains hundreds of excellent shops , a well supplied marketplace , several line public buildings , good roads , he . This number contains also several articles of light reading , amongst wliich arc " The Merchant ' s Bride "" ( concluded ;) " Reminiscences of the Islaud « f Cuba ; " and a verv interesting account of " Tlse Murichi , or Ita Palm of Guiana . " Wc arc glad to learn by the _nreface of the volume just _included , that the ' proprietors and conductors of this magazine arc enabled to record the " continued and unexampled success" of their venture . This success is certainly well deserved . Tlie _preset number commences the sixth volume , which , if as well conducted as its predecessors , cannot fail to wiu a still further increase of public patronage .
Confession* Of Ax Old . Offkn-Oer.—The S...
Confession * Of ax old . _Offkn-oer . —The Standard of Wednesday says , " Thc advice of the great Lord Chatham to the Lord Grantley of his time * to say _nothi-nq whm he had nothing to say , ' is excellent for aiemb _' cra of Parliament , buv it will not do for newspapers . We must sav sonmhing every day ,-whether we havo or havo not nnything to say , and tho consequence is that wp , n _* ust occasionally . write a <» rcat deal of nonsense , a great deal oi impertinence , and some , of us , at least , a great deal that is _lalso and mischievous . " Natmial . —If 'a village beggar were to hoard money , in what funds would he invest it 1 In _ivnythiiH' but the stocks !
A Lumi' _-jno Pkxs _' _outii . — "Now , my man , " said a London . Alderman , toa " Young Kid" in London streets , " what would you say if I gave you a penny V Boy ; " Vv , that vou vos a jolly old brick . "—Punch .
M P:
m _p _:
Politicjti. Railway Accidkxt.—An Acciden...
_PoLiTicJti . Railway _Accidkxt . —An accident lately happened to one Pi-el . the driver of the engine called " Expediency , " belonging to the express train on the government line of railway . It is well known that the line is exceedingly crooked , and the ins and outs have always been considered very dangerous . Peel , who is a reckless fellow , and who liaa lost his place once or twice for improper conduct , put the " engine at full speed , _thonejh it had got an enormous weight to pull against in thc shape of an
article for Maynootli , which was very awkwardly placed , and if it " had fallen down must inevitably have crushed him ; regardless of _cohscqucuccs , he urged the engine on ; and if it had not happened to be " Plxpediency , " which he is in the habit of driving , the result would probably have been fatal . It was , however , by keeping up the speed that he succeeded in keeping clear of the dead-weight at his back ; and tliere being fortunately nothing in his way to cause a collision , he arrived iu safety » $ the end of Jiis journey . —Punch ,
Fortiicomixo U « i , wats . —We have been favoured with the following list of railways which Will bo brought before Parliament early next session : —A railway from the Stock Exchange to the Bethlcm _Hospital , with a branch to Newgate ,- and another to thc _Quccnta Bench . Tlie shares are already at a very heavy premium , _linking been principally bought up by large speculators at Leeds . The chairman is the late projector of the _Middlesex Insurance Company . —A railway from C'bvcnt Garden Theatre to Portugal-street , with branches to the S 5 rnnd r Olympic , and other minor theatres . iMr . Charles Eeait
and Mr . Yandonhoft' have _tabicn a number of shares * in this railway , which is now & nnwn _famiEarly as the tragedian ' s line . —Branch _railways from the different termini of the principal railways in London . to the * largest metropolitan hospitals _voill be opened as soon as sufficient accommodation can be made in the latter for the great access of business this contemplated junction is sure to bring . Investment of capital toany amount may be considered perfectly safe-in any of these new lines ,, as from thc intimate _connesioa that has long existed between the respective legalitiesof each , the weekly traffic in _passengers and _pusperty must be immense . —Md .
ME JOLLT YOUNG _EABRISTBfli . And did you not hear ofa jolly young _llarrister , At the Old Bailey who used for to ply V lie made out bis case wit 3 > sucli _Miill and dexterity , . Twisting each fact , wit Bo ho closed o ' er each lie . lie stuck at nothing ; and Mint so steadily , Tbe felons all sought his aid so readily , And he saved from _convictJsii so many a thief } ' That this Barrister ne ' er wax in want ofa brief . What sights of fine rogues _hngot oil' by bis blarney ; His tongue ivus soglib , aiwlso _spielous withal .: He was always retained by th > - great City forgers To Newgate from Mansion ; 3 luusc sent , or Guildhall Aud often the Press would _be-gibing and jeering ,. But 'twas all one to him , its cR _. _jpinjj and sneering- ; ¦ He'd swear black was white hv hi bait' of a thief > . So this Banister ne ' er wns-i » want ofa brief .
And yet , only think what straw ;?*; moi ais have lawyers ,-The Bar of sucli conduit _tliinft _noiLing at all : ' Whilst should any poor _Counsel'ri-poi-t for a paper * " To Coventry with him f _liiai-instant thoy call ! From their mess they'll _exptlihitn' , he'll find , to _bis-sor--row ; But they'll dine with the _Jtoufcelkc-aker ' s hireling tomorrow ; Theft hurrah !—though his _clifcilt'be swindler or thief/— - For tho Barrister never in _waMSuf-a brief . —Ibid . _IxrauKSTiNO _Rltjc at Rcckimv . — At Rosenau , where his Roval Miglmess _Friiwo Albert first
sawlight , they show affectionately ., not only the cradle m which the royal infant was laid-,. ' .. tit the silver spoon which he had in his mouth when' he was born . Tho correspondent of the- Morning Ifc _& hl tainted when ho saw this-admirable relic . Itis as large as a soupladle ; _ltandsbmcly embossed _wislf the arms of England ; and in the custody of Madame Lyergluck , his Royal llighncss ' s excellent _nurso _^—Vrince Leopold ( now King of the Belgians ) was hem with a similar ornament . It is kept at Gotha , _tuiifcr the charge of the lady wiio brought _uphis then Serene Highness by hand , Madmiic l _' appeulieim . — - /
_W'fi-The Cause of tub _lase Bad "VYi ' . yar'xn . —M . Arago lias discovered that tlie inclemency of tlic weather in Paris is _occasioned by certain blocks- of ice floating about in the-Atlantic , . from _this-re may infertbac the cold weather which tve have lately experienced has arisen _fiiainthelnrgofquantities : _*! ' ' . Veiihain Lake ice which ar « daily carried about ths streets of London . — Ibid . IIOW ABOUT THE STATUS-OK GltOM ' _- _' - ' _- ' HW . ?—Is Olh ' _Cr Cromwell to have a _statua-in the Now * Houses ofi' : v liaiiient ? That is , , is he proper ooiftuany for the
deceased Kingsand Queens _otMiiigiand _? At . lirst _tho-ighi ; , we should be _disposed to say that lie-was : but . when we come to compare _hinvwhii the respectable King Henry the Ki & MWi , and th * _bviiclii-ent i . iiiightcrs of cii . _'H Sovereign , Mary audi Elizabeth ,, not to mention as fat , if not aa notorious ,, a monarch of later date : and withal to pat ourselves in the _f ' votector ' s place ; we doubt _whether that glace would ! lie along with those said _pcssmuigcs . 2 s Cromwell fit to staidt among them ? Are-we _litttocari-y rood of a certain description to ? _i-bear _l—Ib'itl .
New Like _ofBiisisess-j—We uivTarstand that medical students , aistead 02 walking the ' hospitals , intend to apply for permission 10 walk the different railways , as , i ' ma _theiiiaibcroface-iileiitstliatorcur on eaeh line , they expect . to finish their surgical cdu- * cation in one-half of the asual period ? . —Ibid . _sovziixicN _sroaT ; ou , toe _si-AC-siAUGHTEr . at gotha . " _'JCliis -day a stag must * 5 ie . "—• Aiie version of'Ohl _Song-IMorn rose in _Cohui-g ; glorious morn , ' Thc reveillee rung loud , ¦ "While sounded every huntsman ' s horn , _'JMongst Gotha ' s joyous crowd . "The English Queen ! our Christian Queen ! Our _Albert ' s monarch in ., It-, Goes , _plensure-pluniirtl , to forest green , To ' beast battue" in State .
Ob ' brilliant was our Queen ' s cortege—Kings , princes , Indies , lords ! On _Cobui's _' s _grceusward , hist ' ry ' s page Such nobles _nu _' er re _* _-oi * d ? . The myriads throng _ini-h ridge ant ] hill , Guards rouud the slaughter scene ; The Court arrives ; 'midst acclaim shrill , PavilionM sits—ouv Quern I 'Tis said tlie youthful Queen of Spain On bull-fhchts loving doai . * _- _. The Quci u who dolh i . ' n- _ilrtain _re- ' gn On other _slaughter gloats ! The horn ' gain sounds _. ' tin-. ' " goal ' sgiven , On d ; uh in maddening lV : j . ht The _forc-ft ' s free born—ruthless dri- en To _yit-lu a Queen delight ! Goaded and chafed , their mi tiers clash , They close th' imprisoned rouud ; For freedom bold they inal . e a da * li , JJut futile is tlieir hound !
_Ajrani—again , lhe proud entrapped For glorious freedom hie ! . "When , liar ! . ! a Prince ' spxxn halii _snapped—The noble brute jaunt die . ' The stag ' s hut _tyr-e of l ' ree _. _lom' * _. fate , Tlic sport of i-iich owned head ; Its pant for right is spirt of Stale ; 'lis marked at , dot nvd , and dead ! If such as this be Queen l y sport , Aud worthy of rciiuw , Changed soon may be the sport of Court , And pleasure of eaeh crown . Catherine de Mcdicis once stood _. And cheered lier son to slaughter ; Tit' Huguenot slugs sunk bathed " in blood , " And with as little quarter !
Tlicbull . nglit glads the Queen of Spain ; The bull-ouit pi used _tmv million ; "What sport glads Vie 1 let truth prevail , l'r ; pni _Qo _^ ha ' s stained pavilion !— . S _' afirist . Somewhat too _^ ' _osclusive . —In the _cxaminatioa into tho dreadful case ' of tlu Andover Union , which ia goinj _i on by direction '" v _^ _Goveniiiiciit , a reverend gentleman was ouostiuniju ' , ' uuuii tlio nature _^ of his spiritual instruction to a _siuk- > pauper : — " You hal heard thftt this woman had livcdjii :. a state of adultery ? Yes . —And you went for the-purpose of getting at tlic truth ? ' No : 1 felt it my duty t « point out tho sins of that woman , ami 1 mentioned adultery and other sins of wliich ive are all guilty . " { Laughter . )—A voice : " Speak for yourself , if you please , sir . ( Renewed laughter . )—The impartiality of evidence with which the reverend gentleman included himself in thc commission of the crimes in question is , to say the least , a rare occurrence of candid confession .
A Foolisii Father . —At Boston , United States , a . poor simpleton , who , under the belief that the woild was coming to an end , made over all his property to . his son , and wont about preaching Millerism , and is * now suing the son For its restoration . Making tub Most or it . —A sailor , who had lived on the bank of tlio canal , lately fell into the water and was drowned . A few _wevks afterwards , Iv . r-. widow , Jenny , discovered something floating 011 the canal , which " , on drawing ashore , turned ov . t to be her husband . From thc body there issued a great quantity of eels , which thc caitnilJenuvgathered iuto a large hamper . A friend _ed " Jenny ' s _happening to pass at thc timo , she accosted her thus : — " 0 dear me , Marv , here ' s my man and 1 have got a' thao eels out 0 ' him . _^ _VhatshrJll 1 do _wi'hini ? " "Why faith , Jenny , " says her _iriei . d , " if he was mine I would _, just set him in apiin . You mi ght niak' a grand trade o * tlic _exA ? . "—Falkirk Herald .
__ Tub Law ov Gkavitv . —Ladies wrre in the habit , some years ago , 01 wearing bimne ' s as big as prize cabbages . The _monstvosiiy or . idiiidly subsided to their arms , an , 1 assumed ii : o ionu ot ' " _Vtgoi sleeve ? . " lt has now f _iillun still lower , and become a ¦ ' bustle . " Yvlieroncxt ?
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Sept. 13, 1845, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns4_13091845/page/3/
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