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tacking it, very adroitly glides past, and levels his spear | of South America) will oftentimes feed upon the leaves,
against some weak, unoffending opponent of his own buds, and tender bark of the Indian fig-tree. Foxes oc-
raising up, which he would fain persuade us is the strong casionally feed upon insects and fish, as likewise do cats.
man armed set up by his antagonist. If he does not do heartily as if it were the most substantial and wholesome
I have frequently noticed a hen which devours paper as
this, he endeavours to besmear me with the filth which he diet possible. An old mouse, whose depredations have
has gleaned far from the disputed ground, and which more than once provoked me, was long in the habit of
only became filth when brought in contact with his de-attacking quills or pens, during his nocturnal predatory
filing touch. This is not exaggerated;-read the obscene
jest in his letter of November 16th. Up to that date, he
had behaved like a gentleman, and I treated him like a
gentleman, and in this letter I have called him such; but,
alas! he no longer merits so honourable a title.- How
art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morn-
́ing !'-Yours, &c.
Y. Z.

Liverpool, Dec. 10, 1824.

Correspondence.

ANIMAL APPETITE.

"Jejunus stomachus rari vulgaria temuit.”—Hor.

TO THE EDITOR.

SIR,-Providence seems originally to have allotted to every creature an appetite for diet of some peculiar kind, and that in general most suitable to its disposition, climate, and animal economy. But we sometimes meet with such curious deviations as completely to verify the poet's exclamation, "Nature has fram'd strange fellows in her time." The ancients were certainly fond of rarities; snails, singing birds' tongues, peacocks' brains, &c. formed, sometimes, no inconsiderable portion of the bill of fare; but in modern times, although these delicacies are neglected generally, yet we do not lack some "choice spirits," who serve to remind us of "good old times." Whole provinces have been ransacked for insects, reptiles, and raide aves, to fill the colossal dish of some epicurean gormandizer.

Reamur mentions a young lady who never observed a spider in her grounds without cracking it on the spot. The celebrated Anna Maria Shurman used to eat them like nuts, to which she affirmed they bore a resemblance in taste. Lalande was also very fond of these insects. A German, immortalized by Rösel, used them instead of butter to his bread, remarking that they were very good and useful. Albertus Magnus says he saw a maid at Coleni, who, at the age of three years, would hunt about the walls for spiders, which she generally cracked Elias Ashmole relates that he was wont to hang them about his neck like beads, to charm away the ague. Anthony Maliabechi used to caution visitors against hurting his spiders, and their webs, upon entering his room.

between her teeth.

But in foreign climes there have been, in some particular districts, tribes always famous for forming dainty diet of insects. Some Ethiopian casts were named Aeridophagi, (locust eaters) from their feeding upon that destructive race. König observes, that the natives of some parts of the East Indies make a great variety of delicious pastry of white ants!

According to Smeathman, the Hottentots skim the "standing pool" or lake, with calabashes, for their carcases, at the time of swarming, and parch them over a fire as we do coffee: they then fall to and eat them, as we do comfits. Our traveller, who, perhaps, thought with Sancho Panza, that "the proof of the pudding is in the eating of it," partook of this dish several times, comparing the taste to sugared cream, or sweet almonds.-Smeath

man, 31.

The New Caledonians devour with avidity great numbers of spiders, nearly an inch long. Humbolt has seen Indian children draw from the earth great numbers of centipedes, eighteen inches long, and nearly one inch broad, which they devoured with great eagerness. How an alderman would start upon beholding a genuine dish of these Indian delicacies served up in all the simplicity of nature! How few of our ladies would emulate the courage, vivacity, and taste, of those fair epicures, who eagarly cracked monstrous black spiders like nuts or almonds! And, furthermore, what a curious conflict would have resulted from one of these fair ones making an inroad into the study of the learned Maliabechi, "sweeping his flocks and herds!"

Quadrupeds, or birds, will oftentimes deviate from the beaten tract of nature, as habit, necessity, or caprice, tend to lead them. Wolves will fill their stomachs with mud, in default of better fare. Jackals will devour harness, shoes, and indigestible substances. Black tigers (natives

career.*

excursions, until death, or the claws of a cat, checked his
and gnawing them nearly through, he rendered them
By commencing an attack just above the barrel,
quite useless, with very little trouble; and thus hundreds
fell victims to his rapacity. It is my intention to renew
this subject upon a more interesting and extensive plan.-
Yours, &c.
O. R.

I do not mean to infer that this is contrary to nature,
but that it is the first instance of the kind which has met my
observation,

Vive la Bagatelle.

"In order to employ one part of this life in serious and important
occupations, it is necessary to spend another in mere amuse-
ments."
JOHN LOCKЕ.
"There is a time to laugh and a time to weep."-SOLOMON.
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE III.

2

Eggs Pence.
The first sold one pennyworth at............ 7 for 1
The remaining 3 eggs at 3d. each......... 3

10

10

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This trick on a billiard ta-
ble is performed by placing
two cues, with their points
Oresting against the two balls,
and their butts, as represented
in the annexed sketch, touch-
this position, the ball (a) be driven forward, so as to
ing each other: if, when in
strike the butt ends of the two cues, where they unite in
an angle, the other two balls will, of course, be driven into
the pockets 1 2.

When the trick is tried with the book and marbles, as
&c. may be substituted for the two billiard cues.
we proposed last week, any small articles, as two pencils,

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8. Why is a tattered beggar like a rich landlord? 9. Why is an economical cook like a tight-laced dandy? 10. Why are wagers like ducks' eggs? for a cough like a pleasant beverage? 11. Why is a guinea paid to a physician who prese

12. Which trade should a wise man especially study? 13. Subtract 45 from 45, and the answer will be 45. 14. There are two words in the English language in which the five vowels, and the letter which is sometimes phabetic, succession; which are they? a vowel and sometimes a consonant, follow each other in

15. There is a word in our language of five letters which most men like; deprived of its first letter it is wh every man likes; that, deprived of its first letter, is what he must be that likes neither!

To Correspondents.

THE HAMILTONIAN SYSTEM.-The humorous letter acknow. ledged in our last is reluctantly postponed til our next We found ourselves compelled either to adopt this step, or to give one portion now, and the remainder the following week. This separation of a subject may suit some species of composition; but it is calculated to detract very materially from the interest of a communication like that to which this note applies, and we have therefore prefents week's delay, that we may give the letter entire. MUSIC. The length of the two articles last week, on the ject of rail-roads, and Mr. M'Culloch's lectures, have inte fered somewhat with our preconcerted arrangements, s have obliged us to defer until next week an original mard, composed by S. of Manchester.

DER FREISCHUTZ.-In answer to the inquiry of several frients we take this opportunity to state, that the title of the o pular piece, to which the music of Weber has given the brity, is pronounced as if it were in English, Der Fraud which signifies the Freebooter, or Freeshot, answeriga we understand, to our term Poacher, or perhaps we more appropriately say to Robin Hood and his merry

resters.

ASHTON SQUABBLES.-The letter of A Constant Reader is d consideration.-We fear it is calculated to do no good, b rather to interrupt that good harmony which we wish t absisting between our Ashton friends. However, wi will ponder on the matter.

RA

see

ROADS.-In conformity with the maxim we pr "Audi alteram partem." we have published Mr. Greaves filport on Rail-roads, or rather upon a particular rail-nə" A gentleman, well versed in the subject, intends, web lieve, to furnish us with a refutation of Mr. Greave clusions, which, he assures us, is from the pen of that tleman himself. Our columns are impartially open to th momentous subject.

J. H. junior's communication is deferred one week, in
that we may append to it a note, with which we
yet prepared.

THE TRANSLATION FROM SCHILLER shall appear in our a
In the meantime, the friend to whom we are indet
the copy will further oblige us, if he will state whet
is an original translation; or whether it is cop
from what source.
It strikes us that we have met w
before; and certain inaccuracies in the MS. lead us
lieve that the present translation is not the prod
the transcriber.

A, b, c, represent the pockets of one side of a billiard table. Near the mouth of the pocket b stands one billiard ball, black, in the sketch; and in a direct line another ball (1.) These two balls and the pocket are in a right line; and the puzzle is, how to put the ball 1 into the pocket b without touching or disturbing the ball VIVE LA BAGATELLE. All the contributions with at the mouth of that pocket.

1

This trick, like the former, may be performed with marbles on a table, thus:-Let a black marble be placed within an inch of the edge of the table, and a white marble placed at a short distance from it, say twelve inches; a cup, box, or can, may then be held off the table, where the pocket b stands in the engraving. The cup, or can, and the two marbles being all in a right line. The trick then is, by a flirt of the finger, &c. to put the white marble into the can, &c. without touching or disturbing the

black marble,

SOLUTIONS TO THE CONUNDRUMS IN OUR LAST.

1. Because they are in the habit of stealing (steeling) knives.

2. Because it is becoming a woman.

3. Because they are (forbidding) for bidding.
4. Watchman.-5. Noah.-6. Waistcoat.

NEW CONUNDRUMS.

7. Why is a leg of mutton boiled, like a May-pole?

I have been favoured in this department have alred peared in our previous volumes, and we dare not ver upon frequent repetition. Our work has now a pare so many domestic libraries that it may not be unaccepta here to remind our readers, that, if they wish for am ment for the young people at this season of the year, may give them an innocent and a welcome treat by refer to the following places in our former volumes:

pages 213, 220, 221, 236, 244, 253:-Vol. II. pages 196, 1 204, 205, 212, 213, 221, 229, 236:-Vol. III. pages 200, 213, 227, 236, 333, 416-Vol. IV. pages 8, 23, 205, 212.2 222, 234, 235, 240, 249, 260, 268, 272, 284, 304, 312, 322, 340, 348, 372, 377, 389, 400, 404, 420, 428. We shall address a note to Solomon Nightingale in our next. The TRANSLATION of "La Gloire Militaire," by Inquirer, S also that by J. H. S. are reserved for our next.

Printed, published, and sold, EVERY TUESDAY,
E. SMITH & Co. 75, Lord-street, Liverpool.

A

OR,

Literary and Scientific Mirror.

UTILE DUI CI.'

This familiar Miscellany, from which religious and politicalmatters are excluded, contains a variety of original and selected Articles; comprehending Literature, Criticism, Men and Manners Amusement, Elegant Extracts, Poetry, Anecdotes, Biography, Meteorology, the Drama, Arts and Sciences, Wit and Satire, Fashions, Natural History, &c. &c. forming a handsome Annual Volume, with an Index and Title-page. Its circulationrenders it a most eligible medium for Literary and Fashionable Advertisements.—Regular supplies are forwarded weekly to the Agents.

-No. 237. —VOL. V.

Natural History.

LETTERS

TUESDAY, JANUARY 11. 1825.

open squares, and the middle of the streets. Persons who were in upper stories were, in general, more fortunate than those who attempted to escape by the doors; as the latter were buried under the ruins, with the greatest part of the people passing on foot in the streets. Those who were in carriages were the least exposed to danger, La légère couche de vie, qui fleurit à la surface du globe, ne although the coachmen and horses were much injured; ouvre que des ruines.

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ON THE REVOLUTIONS OF THE globe.

BY M. ALEX. B.

Paris: printed, 1824.

ranslated expressly for the Kaleidoscope from a recent French Work.]

LETTER III.—(CONTINUED.)

\RTHQUAKE AT LISBON, OF THE FIRST OF NOVEMBER, 1755.

(Particulars addressed to one of the members of the Royal lety, in London, by M. Wolfall, surgeon; extracts from Boophical Transactions.®)

Lisbon, November 18, 1755.

f you have other correspondents here, they will probably able to describe to you the terrible catastrophe which i just destroyed this city, in a much more satisfactory nner than I shall; but, if you have none except myself, particulars as the present agitated state of my spirits permit me to give you, will, without doubt, be more eeable to you than the uncertain accounts contained the public papers. All that I shall attempt to do will

but the number of persons crushed in the houses and
streets was not to be compared to that of the people who
were buried under the ruins of the churches, which were
all filled, as the day was appointed for the celebration of
a great festival, and as it was the hour of mass. The
churches here are much more numerous than all those
of London and Westminster together; the steeples, which
were very high, almost all fell with the vaulted roofs of
the churches, so that very few persons escaped death.
If the work of destruction had ended there, it would
lives could not have been restored, part of the immense
not have been entirely without remedy; although the lost
riches, buried under the ruins, might have been recovered.
All hopes of this partial reparation are now lost. About
two hours after the shock, flames broke out in different
parts of the town; they were occasioned by the kitchen
fires, which, in the general overthrow, had been brought
into contact with combustible matter of every species.
Soon afterwards a strong wind arose, and so much in-

PRICE 34d

tents, we are exposed to all the changes of the weather. I observe that the most delicate persons seem to suffer as little from these inconveniences as the most healthy and robust. Every thing still remains in great confusion: we have neither change of dress, nor furniture, nor money to procure them elsewhere.

All Europe is interested in the immense loss of money and merchandise, caused by this catastrophe: but no nation has lost so much as ours. The number of English who have been killed is small, in comparison with that of other foreigners, but many have been much injured: and what adds to their misfortune is, that although there are here two English surgeons besides myself, it has been im. possible to relieve them for want of instruments, bandages, and dressings.

Two days after the first shock, orders were issued to dig in search of bodies, and a great number of those found were restored to life. I could relate instances of very wonder that we did not all perish. I lodged in a house extraordinary recoveries. In a word, there is cause to inhabited by thirty-eight persons, only four of whom were saved. Eight hundred persons perished in the civil prison; twelve hundred in the general hospital; of the inmates of a great number of convents, which contained, each, four hundred persons, none escaped. The Spanish Ambassador perished with thirty-five servants. I cannot at present enter into further particulars, it is only by chance that I have the paper upon which I write, and a

to communicate to you, with candour and truth, a creased the violence of the fire, that, at the end of three garden wall serves me for a desk.

in history of the facts I have witnessed. It is, perhaps, necessary to tell you first, that, since the inning of the year 1750, we have had much less rain a usual; so great a drought was never before known. spring, however, a sufficient quantity of rain fell to luce very abundant harvests. The summer has been er than usual, and, during the last forty days, the ther has been very clear and fine, though not so much to excite surprise. On the first day of this month, bout twenty minutes before ten in the morning, a nt shock of an earthquake was felt; it appeared to last it the tenth part of a minute, and, at the same moall the churches and convents of the town, together the King's palace, and the magnificent Opera-house ning, were levelled to the ground; in a word, not a e edifice of considerable magnitude remained standnearly a fourth part of the private houses were also oyed, and, according to a very moderate calculation, at 30,000 persons perished. It is impossible to de. the hideous spectacle of dead bodies, and the cries groans of the dying, half buried in the ruins. The r and consternation were so great, that the most rete persons had not presence of mind to remove a few es from the individuals whom they most loved, algh several lives might have been saved by this means: yone was intent solely upon seeking his own safety. most probable means of securing this was to reach the

An extraordinary agitation of the water, without any

It fortunately happened, that the king and royal family days, the city was reduced to ashes. All the elements were at Belima, a palace at a league's distance from the seemed to have conspired to destroy us. Immediately town. The King's palace in the city fell with the first after the shock, which happened nearly at the time of shock; but it is affirmed among the inhabitants of the high tide, the sea rose in an instant, forty feet beyond its country, that the first building that was overturned, was the prison of the inquisition. The shock was felt in every ordinary bounds, and, if it had not retired with equal part of the kingdom, but more particularly along the precipitation, the whole town would have remained in-coasts. Faro, Saint Ubalds and some of the great com

undated.

of death presented themselves to our imagination.
As soon as we had time to reflect, nothing but images
First, we dreaded lest the great number of dead bodies,
which, in the general confusion, it was impossible to bury,
should give rise to a contagious malady. The fire con..
sumed them, and prevented this fatal effect.

We were next assailed by the fear of famine, as Lisbon
is the repository of corn for all the country round, to the
extent of fifty miles. Some of the granaries were, how-
ever, fortunately preserved; and although, during three
days after the earthquake, an ounce of bread was sold for
pound of gold, it afterwards became so abundant, as to
remove our apprehensions of perishing with hunger.

a

mercial towns are, if possible, in a still more deplorable situation than Lisbon. The town of Porto entirely escaped. The cause of all these disasters may have proceeded from the bottom of the Western Ocean. I have just conversed with a captain of a vessel, apparently a man of great sense, who has told me, that when he was at fifty leagues' distance from land, he experienced a shock so violent, that the deck of his vessel was much shattered by it. He at first thought that he had been mistaken in his calculation, and that he had touched upon a rock; he therefore immediately threw out his ship boat to save his crew; but he fortunately succeeded in bringing his vessel into port, although in a damaged state.

22d November.-I omitted in my last letter to mention a very important circumstance, namely, the time of the duration of the earthquake, which was from five to seven minutes. The first shock was extremely short, and was Our third great cause of terror was the probability that followed, with the quickness of lightning by two others; the lower classes of the people would take advantage of these three together have generally been considered as one. of those who had been able to save some part of their pro-portunity of seeing the walls of several houses, which yet the general dismay to murder and rob the small number Towards noon there was a fourth concussion; I was then in the entrance court of the king's palace, and had an opperty. Some depredations were in fact committed, upon remained standing, riven more than a foot asunder, from which the king ordered gibbets to be erected all round the top to bottom, and again closed so exactly, that there retown, and after about a hundred persons had suffered exe-mained no mark of separation. Since my last letter, much heavy rain has fallen; the was very slight.

eptible motion of the land, had been observed in different cution, among whom were included several English sailors, only shock we have experienced within the last four days

s of England, as well in the inland counties as upon the coast, on the same day, and nearly about the time in ch the most violent commotions of land and water affected 17 Parts of the globe, at considerable distances from each er. The Royal Society received a great number of letters, which were described the phenomena attending this agita1,ch as they appeared in the different places where it

fel

the further progress of this evil was arrested.

We are still in a state of perplexity: we have experienced twenty-two distinct shocks, since the first, although none has been sufficiently violent to overturn, the buildings which escaped the first concussion. People do not yet venture to sleep in their houses. It has rained during several nights, and for want of materials to build

The earthquake which destroyed Lisbon was felt, not parts of the world. The letters upon this subject, received

only in the neighbouring countries, but even in very distant from different places by the Royal Society of London, will all be found in the 49th vol of Philosophical Transactions, for the year 1755, pages 398, 413, and those following.

Literature, Criticism, &c.

ON THE HAMILTONIAN SYSTEM.

TO THE EDITOR.

of

tion of words (avoiding solecisms, &c.) he adds " All these enrich and beautify our own. As I find that Spanish is things we must learn by grammar." Now I will thank one of the languages taught by Mr. H. I hope he wilpet Mr. H., or any body else who happens to be in the secret, his pupils on their guard against Cervantes, De Solis, to acquaint me who the monks were that composed the glos- many other authors undeservedly called classical; when saries and grammars used by Cato and Cicero; to what or- defiance of his precept to the contrary, have the audacity SIR,-Having recently attended one of those lectures inders they chiefly belonged; and whether any account of to use the same word in five, six, or even seven different which Mr. Hamilton is kindly undertaking to open the them is to be met with in the Ecclesiastical Histories? As acceptations. For example, they do not scruple to emplo eyes of mankind on the subject of education, I take the for Julius Cæsar, who wrote two books," De Analogia," the single word "achaque" to denote a fine or penalty, Kiberty of offering to you a few desultory thoughts, on full of grammatical precepts about genders, cases, declen- fit of illness, an excuse, a matter or subject, a secret acea what appear to me to be the chief beauties and advantages sions, &c. &c. I should wish to inquire whether he was sation, and a composition with smugglers,-just as a par of his system. I must do him the justice to op that I Grand Master of the Order of Knights Templars, as I simonious country-gentleman makes his one man-servant am thoroughly convinced of the superiority of being taught, take it for granted that he must have been a military perform the functions of butler, cook, gardiner, coachman, over the present absurd method of learning; for he has monk, and too ambitious to be satisfied with any subordi- groom, and footman. There is also another class of writers certainly taught me a variety of things which I should nate situation. With respect to Valerius Probus, Pau of whom I would seriously exhort all Hamiltonians to be never have discovered by my own study. Among other sanias, Apollonius Dyscolus, and about fifty other gram-ware. Many of them have doubtless heard great praises novel and interesting matters, I am particularly delighted | marians and lexicographers, Greek and Roman, who flour of French cooks, and French cookery; and, after haring with the information that "the simple sounds of all lan-rished and manufactured their pernicious commodities, had their fill of Moliere, Racine, and Fenelon, may preguages are the same," and that no one who speaks Eng. from the first to the sixth century, I should be glad to sibly feel desirous to know what has been said by the most lish need experience any difficulty in pronouncing Arabic, know whether any of their miracles are recorded in the approved masters in the noble and useful art Russian, or any other language on the face of the earth. Acta Sanctorum, or any of their sufferings in the martyro- Now one Monsieur de Beauvilliers, and several of his As I presume that other nations enjoy the same facilities logies. I must ingenuously confess that I have not been fraternity, practical cooks by profession, and autory of as ourselves, it is, doubtless, from ignorance of Mr. H.'s able to meet with any thing of the kind in the course of certain books called "Le Cuisinier parfait," "Court principles, or some defect in the application of them, that my own reading, except some obscure intimations that | Gostronomie," &c. &c. not content with talking at our French and German visitors are perpetually shocking one of them, called Priscian, frequently used to get his stiks de mouton,” and “ros bif d'agneau,” with tarzig our ears with their “dis," "dat," and "t'oder," and ob-head broken, which, perhaps, Mr. H. will think was no mince pies into "misy paes," and telling their misg stinately persist in saying "didder,” instead of "thither," more than he deserved for his pains. I doubt not that the countrymen that a boiled round of beef, with turnips, a. for the thirty-thousandth time. However, when the new Catholic Board will make a handsome acknowledgment to in England, called “ros-bif," have, moreover, taken a system shall have superseded every other, we may hope Mr. H. for thus clearly proving the high antiquity of mo- dalous liberties with their own mother tongue. All Mr. that all such unseemly corruptions will be exploded; that nastic establishments. H.'s pupils who have gone through a course of Fract no French sojourner then will talk of binding St. Paul with doubtless, know very well that "ris" means a tongs," or degrade his fashionable friends into "tin" filet" a thread, "barde" a bard or poet," pail men and “ tin women ; that our Northumbrian brethren straw bed, and “ cimier" a crest. How, then, musta may overcome their burr, and speak of a "romantic rural stare, when the above-mentioned Epicurean philos ride" so as to be understood by a Cockney; and that no direct them to make half-a-score different dishes of luckless Englishman will hereafter lose his way in Wales, de veau" or smiles of a calf; to season their gravies because he cannot make the natives comprehend that he "un filet," i. e. a thread of vinegar; to truss their tur wishes to go to Llandifrydog, Llanuwchllyn, or Llanfairwith "des bardes," or poels of bacon; to put their ragous pwllgwyngyll. to the fire in a "paillasse,” or straw bed; and to cut ther "bif-stiks" from a "cimier de boeuf," or ox's creat Surely those "wicked cooks" deserve, like Heliogabala' to be "soused in boiling oil alive," or at least to have the own books administered to them in sandwiches, for s flagrant violations of the propriety of language!

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I am also happy to find that Mr. H. is likely to effect as great a revolution in logic as in philology. Of his improvements in this science, he furnishes us with an admirable specimen in his demonstration that every existing dictionary is a tissue of errors, from beginning to end. "Had the authors," says he, "contented themselves with giving one signification to each word, that might possibly have been the right one; but, as they give at least two, nothing can be more clear that both are absolutely false." I was no less gratified with Mr. H.'s novel and enter- To me this reasoning is quite convincing; and my only taining account of the origin of grammars and dictionaries. fear is, lest some perverse people should stumble upon an “Want of money makes me write," was the frank confes-unlucky application of it. A person might say, for examsion of our old friend Tim Bobbin; and the same is sup- ple, "I am desirous to acquire French, if I could be sure posed to be the great stimulus of most of the book-makers in this book-making generation. Formerly, it seems, the case was very different, as the monks, who (according to Mr. H.) were the never-sufficiently-to-be-reprobated inventors of the above pests of learning, took the mischievous pains to compile them,-not because they were poor, but because they were inordinately rich and lazy. Who does not see in this a melancholy confirmation of the old adage, that "money is the root of all evil," as well as an illustration of Pope's celebrated couplet,

"Satan now is wiser than of yore,

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66

In conclusion, I would humbly suggest to Mr. H. the leading principle of his system is capable of a more extensive application than has ever yet been attemp At present, when a youth commences arithmetic, he a undergo the useless drudgery of learning numeration, the four fundamental rules; and, if he advances to m matics, he is compelled to waste a great deal of precis time upon definitions, axioms, and elementary pro tions. There is also another abuse, which calls still loudly for reformation. A most preposterous practic hitherto prevailed of making children begin their by learning the alphabet; and thus the poor little r are tyrannically compelled to commit to memory t of five or six and twenty letters, they neither kes bet why, and afterwards to spell, over and over agat, a titude of syllables, equally devoid of interest and to the great impediment of their progress, and the th rious detriment of their reasoning faculties. I trust, ever, that a new light has dawned upon this hitherto to nighted world, and that the rising generation will subjected much longer to such odious, irrational, and mu lerable thraldom. Let us, then, gladly hail the appro ing period, when the triumph of reason and Hami principles shall be complete; when the young arith cian, agreeably to the epic precept of entering at once" medias res," shall be allowed to begin by "figuring a

of meeting with a competent teacher; but I find that Monsieur P.... has one system and Mr. Hamilton another, diametrically opposite; therefore I will not believe that either of them understands a word about the matter." Doubtless Mr. H. does not wish his argument to be pushed quite so far as this; and I hope he will take care to guard the public against any such mischievous perversion of his principle. For my own part, I cordially assent to his axiom, that words have only one meaning, and that it is very wrong to give them more; and I highly approve of the example afforded by Mr. H. himself, who, in his various And tempts by making rich, not making poor?" translations, is careful never to offend by too much meanAs I rely implicitly upon this account, and am persuaded, ing. I also agree with him that translators have, hitherto, moreover, that Mr. H. has all the literature of Greece and been very faulty in this respect; and that all performances of Rome at his fingers' ends, I should be obliged to him, or this sort (except his own) are very far from being so literal as any of his partners, for some information on one or two they ought to be. We may trust, however, that such unwarpoints, respecting which I still feel a little uncertainty. rantable license will be no longer tolerated; and that no Many of your readers are probably aware that Mr. H., in one, for instance, who has to translate the sentence "Ily his lectures, occasionally alludes to Cato's acquiring Greek a ici un petit garçon qui a cinq pains d'orge et deux petits at the age of eighty, and informs us that he could not pos- poissons-mais qu'est ce de cela pour tant de gens ?" will sibly have done this in the absurd round-about method of dare to render it otherwise than "He there has here a litour grammar schools; but that he must have learnt it, or, tle boy, who has five breads of barley and two little fishes; to speak more correctly, must have been taught it, on the but what is this of that for so much of peoples?". And Hamiltonian system. Now I find that Cato (quoted by Gel- let no caviller object that such phrases are not English; lius) talks of certain "glossaria," or vocabularies, as ex- for, admitting that at present they are not, we must allow tant in his time; and I grieve to say it, because I fear it "qu'ils meritent bien de l'etre ;" and that, by thus natuwill lower him in Mr. H.'s estimation, there is some rea- ralizing the idioms of all other languages, we shall greatly son to suspect that he occasionally consulled them. I hope * As Cæsar is said to have been a general, and to have spent * A friend of mine, having consulted his dictionary Mr. H. will be able to vindicate his memory from this re- a good deal of time in France, he may possibly have been "Ge- I have too much respect for Mr. Hamilton to think of atte proach; but I fear it will not be so easy to acquit Cicero of neral des Truillans," of the reformed order of St. Bernard. ing) informs me that all the above French words are s being somewhat monkishly inclined. It is recorded of Our continental neighbours have set us a laudable exam-tible of a different interpretation, ex. gr.-that " ple of this strict verbal accuracy. In one of their translations veau" is a sweet-bread, and " un cimier de boeuf not an e him, by Quintilian, that he had studied grammar, very from Shakspeare they have converted "pale and woe-begone" but a rump of beef. I admit that his explanations are diligently; and, in one of his own rhetorical treatises, after into "pale et douleur alles vous en," together with a number of plausible, and have no great objection to accede to the speaking at some length on the government and construc-other renderings, equally correct and appropriate. vided they are sanctioned by my Magnus Apollo, Mr. Ha

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expressions (rough or smooth) for what he wishes to say,
either in prose or in verse. That he sometimes carries a
little too much sail, or too little ballast, in his excursions,
is quite another affair; and he may alter that at his own
convenience, and to his own great benefit.

I cannot conceive why he should, all at once, work
himself into such a passion, and why he should want to
fight the whole battle over again from the very beginning
It almost appears as if his anger had been corked up for
some time, and had unexpectedly escaped without his per-
ceiving it; for he seems totally unaware of his fighting
with a shadow, which fatigues him to no purpose. There
is nothing in what he says about the study of Latin, and
the education of the ladies, which has not already been
answered or granted; and it is really an enigma to me
why he should now (after two entervening letters) fly into
a rage about what was never offensive at any time, since
I had not only admitted that there was a pleasure in tran-
slating for ladies, but had, according to his own decla-
ration, considerably improved upon the subject; so much
so, indeed, that I found it necessary to cool his enthusiasm
a little by adding the question" Whether he was so
very sure, that matters would never take a worse course?"
With regard to the number of your male readers who
understand Latin, I have expressed no doubt at all; and
it is passing strange that Y. Z. should pretend to know
my thoughts.

He further gives the following words as extracted from one of my letters :-" Well, Sir, let those who cannot write not make the attempt." But when and where did I say that? In what number, and in what page? If he will look at number 226, page 139, he will there find the following: "I do not mean to say that he should be always ready to speak or to write with classical elegance; but I maintain that he should always try to do his best." In the meantime, it is certainly true, that such people as are not obliged to write in public may let it alone, if they do not feel themselves competent to the task.

I shall answer his paragraph about the draper, as soon as he will tell me what he means by the word honour, printed in italics; for I cannot, at present, attach any meaning to that; and, as I have but just shown that he ascribes to me a sentence which I never wrote, he cannot blame me for insisting on an explanation.

practise it himself:-( Quod quis juris in alium statuit, eo
ANTI-SUTOR.
ipse utetur.)-Yours, &c.
Liverpool, Jan. 4, 1825.

Chit Chat.

Caution for Christmas.-Ladies, let us entreat ye not to forget the damp and cold nights of this season. Beware of balls and midnight parties or rather of the manner in which you quit them. "A stitch in time saves nine." Cover your throat, ears, legs, and feet well, before you tempt the keen blast, or cold shower of two o'clock in the morning. Don't be ashamed to draw a pair of worsted hose over your silk ones, nor blush to wrap yourself up in a great coat, should your shawl be too flimsy; nay spurn not a "drop o' brandy" when the clock_warns you of your departure from the merry meeting. These thingsif you fear death or doctor's bill.—Medical Adviser.

An apothecary reproached an attorney with the number of strange words which the law indulged in, and, among others, asked what was meant by the words "Docking an doing what you will not do with your patients; it is sufferWhy, doctor," replied the lawyer, "it is ing a recovery."

entail ?" 66

The candles you sold me last were very bad,' said Suett to a tallow chandler. Indeed, sir, I am very sorry for that. Yes, sir, do you know they burnt to the middle, and would then burn no longer. Good heavens, you surprise me! what, sir, did they go out.' No, sir, no; they burnt shorter.'

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An Irish Judge noted for his parsimony, one day while mounted on a miserable half-starved Rosinante, met Joynt Parsons, whom (as knowing as horse flesh) he consulted he, "I have tried every thing with him that could be as to the unfortunate condition of his steed. "Sir," says thought of, what would you recommend ?" "Why," replied the lawyer, "it is hard to say; but has your Lordship ever tried him with a feed of oats?"

At the coronation of the Emperors of China it was customary to present them with several sorts of marbles, and of different colours, by the hand of a mason, who was then to address the new Emperor to this purpose:

"Choose, mighty Sir, under which of these stones, Your pleasure is that we should lay your bones."

SIR,-Considering the great length to which the disission between Mr. Y. Z. and myself has already been tended, it is really a great pity that this gentleman ould have wasted so much of his time in proving what nts no proof at all, and what I had voluntarily admitted my very first letter, and repeated in my last; namely, at there are passages, in every language, which cannot be endered in another with the same neatness and brevity. 3. The extracts from Mr. Campbell may be very interest*g to those who had not read them before; but they have rtainly nothing to do with our cause. Mr. C. spoke as poet, and as a teacher of rhetoric; and, in both catities, he must often have experienced the superiority of ciseness, which the Latin idiom undoubtedly possesses, be many instances, over some of the modern languages, rticularly with regard to personal pronouns and ellipses; ed, if there were any necessity, or moral obligation, to ranslate literally, and yet with the brevity of the original, complaint would be just: but where is that necessity, * for a poet? what should prevent him from giving Esther turn to the phrase, if that will better the effect in language into which he translates? he is not obliged a- Indertake a task which he does not feel himself coment to complete; and Mr. Campbell can scarcely have a serious when he said that dum saturent could only Englished by-" provided they fill my belly." Mottos are, of course, difficult to translate; because it heir very conciseness which has made them into mottos the original language: those who brought them for ad did so because they contained much sense in a small pass. Every nation has some expressions which it ald be difficult for another to understand without exnation or elongation; and the more a language is cul- His complaint about my harsh behaviour comes with a ated, the more it will become elegant and powerful. very bad grace from one whom you had introduced by modern nation has as yet equalled antiquity in that saying that he was very severe, and who confirmed your ject, because none has as yet taken the same trouble opinion by confessing that he had intended to be even its native language which the Greeks and the Ro-more bitter than the attacked person could imagine. I as took with theirs. The French have, indeed, taken had no recourse to the dispute between Z. and him, e pains in that line, and their labours have not re- but inasmuch as it served my argument, in showing the ined without reward; for they can now express many origin of the contest, which was certainly not carried on igs with more delicacy than their neighbours, although with gentleness on either side of the classical gentlemen, ir tongue is not naturally a rich one, and owes much I had not attacked Y. Z., for my first letter was rather on je to art than to fulness. We are always talking and his side; and he forced me to become his antagonist in my When to leave off Drinking.-When you feel particu ing about the ancients, but we do not imitate their own defence. What then does he mean with all his fretting larly desirous of having another glass, leave off; you have fice. They exerted themselves in what interested and foaming? the language which he uses can only dis-had enough. When you look at a distant object, and appear to see two, leave off; you have had too much. 1, and what lay before them; whereas we are always grace himself, and I am sorry for it, because I really think When you knock over your glass, spill your wine upon ing backwards, and think ourselves wonderfully clever him a man of parts and information, who allows his pas- the table, or are unable to recollect the words of a song we can compose a few sentences in a dead language, sion to get the better of his judgment. He surely cannot you have been in the habit of singing for the last dozen ilst we neglect our own. How is it likely that we should expect that his blustering will bewilder the minds of your years, leave the company; you are getting troublesome. m to rival our predecessors, so long as we persist in readers to such a degree, that they will allow him to bring to lurch on your neighbour's shoulder, go to bed; you are When you nod in the chair, fall over the hearth-rug, or tinually repeating what they have said, and in using my door what he is now ashamed of having before his own. drunk.-Economist. in their very words and phrases? why should we not do The jest, which I reprobated, was certainly an indecent one; it they have done, and act according to our situation? but it was he who brought it forward, and it stands in No. 2. labours very hard to prove that the English language 222, page 109. Let him scratch it out if he can, I have ut a poor one, and yet he expresses himself very well in not the least objection. Before he boasts of his politeness he will perhaps say that he owes that faculty to his towards me, he should also efface the following expressions, dy of ancient literature; but if it were so, the effect must of which he will find no instance in my letters :-" Plun. re been the same on his former antagonist, Z., and dering and officious," (before the 16th of November;)

sent assistant, Quotator; but this is very far from being -"sheer absurdity;"-" low humour ;"-" round and case; and saying that his own style is infinitely supe- bold assertion ;"-" ridiculous reasons;"-" can any z, is not paying him a compliment at all; it is meaǝx thing be more absurd ;"-" unhandsome manner;"nowledging a fact. He has cultivated the language in" wilful perversion ;"-"most unmanly and ungentle ich he writes, and he is himself a living argument manly;"-"defiling touch." ainst the essity of quoting; since he is never short of If he lays claim to gentle treatment, he should also

They brought him patterns for his grave-stone, that the prospect of death might contain his thoughts within the due bounds of modesty and moderation in the midst of his

new honours.

Personal Security." Will you do me a favour," says young George Brooks to his wealthy friend, Simon Hanson. "What is it, George ?" says Hanson. "I wish you to lend me a hundred pounds, Sir," replies George. "Call at my counting-house," rejoined Hanson. George was not long in paying his respects. "What security can you give me, young gentlemen?" My own personal security, Sir." "Very well; get in here," says Hanson, lifting up the lid of a large iron-chest. "Get in there!" that is the place where I always keep my securities." exclaimed George in astonishment; "what for?" "Why,

66

ter Journal is an advertisement from a deserted husband,
Caution against a light Woman.—In Berrow's Worces-
cautioning the tradesmen of that city against giving his
wife, Mary Annc, credit, for any article whatever," as
she has an ample allowance for clothes and pocket money."
He thus describes her:-"The said Mary Anne Corfield
complexion, and weighs seventeen stone!"
is between forty and fifty years of age, a fair, fat, florid

Dean Cooper, of Durham, who was very saving of his wine, descanting one day on the extraordinary performance of a man who was blind, remarked that the poor fellow could see no more than "that bottle!"-" I do not wonder at all, Sir," replied Mr. Drake (a minor canon)" for we have seen no more than that bottle' all the afternoon!

THE MARKET QUADRILLE,

Being one of a series lately composed, but not yet published, by Mr. P. STUBBS, Teacher of Music, Liverpool.

Near the gate of our market-place a poor girl stands singing "Here's nice shoe-blacking, two balls a penny, two balls a penny," &c. Her tones, which attracted Mr. Stubbs's attention, form the theme of this quadrille.

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One man, boy, or young lady, holding a glass of wine or water in one hand, at arm's length, may drink the wine or water, although half a dozen strong men shall

&c. instantly under any one of the hats which the company
may fix upon.

SOLUTIONS TO THE CONUNDRUMS IN OUR LAST.

7. There are capers cut round it.

8. He has many rents.

9. Because he is a person of little waste (waist.)
10. They are laid.

11. It is a cough-fee (coffee!)

12. To dye (die) well.

NEW CONUNDRUMS, BY BATHOS.

When her master's laid up in a fit of the gout;
When together you've joined my first and my second
There appears what by females most useful is reckoned

SOLUTION TO RECREATION VL

1

• This trick is performed by interposing between the white ball and that near the pocket, the slender part of a cue, or a mace. It m be placed parallel to side of the table, at the tance of two or three inc

from the black ball. It must be held down firmly to 13. Why is a man who spoils a bowl of punch in the table to prevent its shaking. Then if the ball (1) be str forwards towards the pocket, it will hop over the h mixing like a fragrant flower? 14. Why is cabinet-maker's workshop like a pigeon-ball. A very few trials will enable any person to ball, and fall into the pocket without disturbing the bi

house?

15. Why is a barber like a greyhound?
16. Why does a young girl admiring herself in a mir-

ror resemble that mirror?

tain the distance of the black ball from the poo as well as that of the cue or mace over which white ball passes. This feat, like the other, may done by substituting marbles for the billiard balls,

endeavour to prevent it, by holding his or her arm.-Q. animals-is there any instance in the vegetable world in the barrel of a quill or a pencil, &c. as the barner

How is this to be done.

RECREATION VIII.

17. It is generally supposed that madness is confined to which it prevails to a greater extent, and is fatal?

CHARADE, BY LITTLE MISERY.

Take three pieces of apple, or bread, &c. and place them on a table, in a row, about a foot or eighteen inches My first is most frequently used by the fair,

which the marble must hop. The pocket is unneces and the trick will be simply to drive the white marble over the side of the table, without disturbing the b marble; the two marbles, and the part of the table

asunder, and place a hat over each. Then lifting up each When arranging their dress, or when dressing their hair; which the white one passes, being all in a right line.

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