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Who art thou with wrinkled face,
Shivering limbs and sluggish pace,
Hoary hair as white as snow

Thinly scattered o'er thy brow,
Shading many a furrow there,

Evidence of age and care?
Scarcely can thy feet sustain
Feeble limbs that move in pain;
Scarcely can thy trembling hand,
Guidance of thy crutch command;
Weak thine arm and dim thy sight,
Long thy day has turned to night,
Night of sorrow, too, and pain,
Attendants sure in Age's train.
Oft I see thee heave a sigh,

As the tear burts from thine eye;
And thy hand, with action weak,
Strives to dash it from thy cheek.
Man of woe! I pity thee,

And bewail thy misery.

ΝΟΝΑΘΙΝΤΑ.

Drop not thou a tear for me,

I will rather weep for thee;
Thou hast yet the path to tread,
On by hope delusive led.
She awhile may gild the skies;
Sorrow's storms shall soon arise;
I have crossed this vale of tears,
And my resting-place appears:
Where no seeming joys deceive,
Where no fickle pleasures grieve,
Where the mourner's surely blessed,
And the "weary are at rest."

VIGINTI.

Hast thou then no tears to shed
At the thoughts of what has filed?
Canst thou leave this smiling earth,
Scene of joy and cheerful mirth,
For the dull and dreary gloom
Of the dark and chilling tomb?
Canst thou, with unmoistened eye,
See the hand of death so nigh,
Mark his progress with a prayer,
Meet his grasp without a fear?

NONAGINTA.

Look upon this ghastly face,
Seat no more of pleasing grace;
Mark this worn and withered form,
Wasting in misfortune's storm,
Racked by every keenest woe
Man can feel and nature know;
Will the mind consent to dwell
Tenant of so vile a cell?

Will she in this hut of clay
Feel each faculty decay,
Growing weaker every hour,
Losing every active power,
"Till her dim and clowded ray
Fade in idiotey away?

No! she strives to break the chain
Binding to this scene of pain;
Longs to quit this shattered frame,
And a nobler being claim,
Where, in joy and love divine
Still increasing, she may shine!

VIGINTI.

When the human race is run,
And the goal of nature won,
When the grasping hand of age,
Pining with disease's rage;
(Brothers of resistless might)
Rends away each gay delight;
Then, indeed, she fain would soar
Where her troubles all are o'er,
Seeking in another sphere
What she is bereft of here.

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Were she in her early prime,
Free from care, unstained by crime,
Viewing all beneath the sky
With a dazzled youthful eye;
Seeing all the prospect glow,
Clouded by no shade of woe;
Were she summoned to depart,
Would she not with horror start?
Call on every power to save
From the dark and yawning grave,
Swallowing in its wide abyss
All our hopes of mortal bliss.
NONAGINTA.

Talkest thou of earthly joy,
Vain and much deluded boy?

Hear me tell what youth has sought,-
Hear me tell what age has brought.
Once this hair, so hoary now,
Darkly clustered o'er my brow,
Where no wrinkle yet was traced,
And its smoothness undefaced;
Once this dull and darkened eye
Saw but health and vigour nigh,
Sparkled with the ray of mind,
And the light of youth combined;
Then on life's gay verge I stood,
And I said that "all was good;"
For I saw that pleasure's hue
Brightened all within my view.
So we gaze upon the sea,
Slumbering in serenity,
When it's curling summit bright
Ripples in the sun-beam's light,
And a rich empurpled dye
Shot athwart the western sky,
Falls upon some vessel's side,
Slowly moving in her pride;
Little think we that the storm
Soon its calmness shall deform,
Tempests rage, and billows roar,
Roughly dashing on the shore;
All the war of winds arise,
Whirlwinds gathering thro' the skies;
'Till that gay and gallant bark
Founder in the ocean dark.
Strong in hope and rash in youth
Little thought I of the truth,
Blindly entered on my way,
Dazzled by gay Fancy's play.
First Ambition fix'd my aim,
Grasping at the meed of fame;
Soon I found, as well I might
Try to seize the rainbow bright,
Tempting to the cleated eye,
Ever flying, never nigh.
Then I knelt at Wisdom's shrine,
Seeking gems in Learning's mine;
Severed from the throng of men
Turned the page, and plied the pen,
Toiled until my body pined

At the restless search of mind;
When I found, that here below,
There is but one truth we know;
(Man by ignorance still beguiled,
Always must be error's child,)
Then the task I fiercely spurned,
And awhile inactive mourned
O'er my pleasing vision fled,

And the thoughts of knowledge dead;
Still within the spark did glow,

So with yet unfurrowed brow,

I the flag of Hope unfurled,

And again essayed the world.
Giddy was the course I ran,
Tasting all the joys of man,
Wasting not an hour in thought,
At each passing prize I caught;
Heedless of another's grief,
Sought I pleasures vain and brief;
And to banish every care,
Shut my ear to reason's prayer.
Thus I strove to make my hours
Quickly glide o'er paths of flowers,
Soon my youth and vigour failed;
Pain attack'd and age assail'd;
Friends I never yet had known,
So I stood unhelped, alone,
Fore'd in anguish to confess,
Worldly pleasures cannot bless.
Next with sad and blighted heart
Keen I play'd the miser's part,
And, my mind with avarice cold,
Bent before the idol, Gold,

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1347-In the year 1347, when the whole naval power o England was assembled before Calais one vess only was from Ireland, and one from the Rive Mersey, London 25, Bristol 24, Hull 16, a England 811; of which Great Yarmouth fur nished 421 ships and 905 men.

1566 About the year 1566, a Mr. Sekerston was chose a member for the Borough of Liverpool, and wa allowed two shillings per day for his service; h it was who advised to petition Queen Elizabeth to remit the taxes and subsidies which were then levied, which she did, as the town was then at its lowest ebb.

1636.-King Charles's illegal exaction of Ship money Liverpool was rated £25, Chester, £26, Bristo £1000.

1656-Pool-lane, called Liverpool-lane, leading to Park

lane.

1663-Ordered, "That no more Boats be built in Frog lane," now Whitechapel.

1680-A ferry-boat used for passengers at the bottom o Lord-street, and Sir Thomas's-buildings, and a bridge at the bottom of Pool-lane and School-lane 1690-King William III. attended by Prince George of Denmark, the Duke of Ormond, the Earls Oxford, Portland, Scarborough, Manchester, &c left London the 4th June, visited Liverpool o the 11th, embarked his army, then encamped o Wallasea Leasowes, and on the 14th arrived a Carrick furgess in Ireland, previous to the battl of the Boyne.

1699-Liverpool made a distinct parish from Walton for

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in 1708.

1704 The Parish Church of St. Peter consecrated. 1721-A very high tide, the congregation of St. Peter obliged to be taken from the church in boats. 1745-The first Regiment of Royal Liverpool Blues raised 648 men, expense £4859; the Corporation sub scribed £2000, the remainder raised by subscrip tion.

1770-In 1770 the then Collector, John Colquitt, Es said How happy shall I be, when the Customs of Liverpool amount to 100,000 per annum, they were at that time, betwixt £80,000 £90,000 per annum. 1823, Gross amount of the Customs of Li1822, Ditto,

verpool,£1,808,402 136 1,591,123 15 4

Ditto,

Increase,....£217,978 188

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1784-In 1784 an American vessel imported 8 bags of cotton into Liverpool, which were seized by one of his Majesty's Officers of the Customs, as supposing they were not of the growth of America: in 1823 there were imported into Liverpool from the United States of America 409,670 bags of cotton. 1793-In May, 1793 died Mrs. Ann Coore, 86 years old, who, when a very young girl, remembered the bottom part of King-street (then called the Com. mon Shore, now Paradise-street) a corn field. 1794-Before the year 1794, Bristol always took the lead as the second port in this kingdom, the next to London: in 1794 Mr. Pitt's Bill for manning the Navy, provided that each port should provide so many men, according to the quantity of Fo. reign tonnage for the year 1793, Bristol provided 666, Liverpool provided 1711, which she raised in 6 weeks, and offered to procure 500 men more, if the embargo would be taken off her port, which offer was refused.

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23-AN EBBING AND FLOWING CASTLE-CLOCK.

To set a clock in a castle, the water filling the trenches about it; it shall show, by ebbing and flowing, the hours, minutes, and seconds, and all the comprehensible motions of the heavens, and the counterlibration of the earth, according to Copernicus.

24-A STRENGTH-INCREASING SPRING. How to increase the strength of a spring to such a height, as to shoot bumbasses and bullets of an hundred pound weight a steeple height, and a quarter of a mile off and more, stone-bowwise, admirable for fire-works and astonishing of besieged cities, when without warning given by noise they find themselves so forcibly and dangerously surprised.

25-A DOUBLE-DRAWING ENGINE FOR WEIGHTS. How to make a weight that cannot take up an hundred pound, and yet shall take up two hundred pound, and at the self-same distance from the centre; and so proportionably to millions of pounds.

26-A TO AND FRO LEVER.

To raise weight as well and as forcibly with the drawing back of the lever as with the thrusting it forwards; and by that means to lose no time in motion or strength. This I saw in the arcenal at Venice.

27-A MOST EASY LEVEL DRAUGHT.

A way to remove to and fro huge weights with a most inconsiderable strength from place to place. For example, tea ton, with ten pounds, and less; the said ten pounds not to fall lower then it makes the ten ton to advance or retreat upon a level.

28. A PORTABLE BRIDGE.

A bridge portable in a cart with six horses, which in a les hours time may be placed over a river half a mile bread, whereon, with much expedition, may be transported horse, foot, and cannon.

29.-A MOVEABLE FORTIFICATION. A portable fortification, able to contain five hundred fighting men, and yet in six hours time may be set up; and made cannon-proof, upon the side of a river or pass, With cannon mounted upon it, and as complete as a regular fortification, with half-moons and counter scarps.

30.-A RISING BULWARK.

A way in one nights time to raise a bulwark twenty or thirty foot high, cannon-proof, and cannon mounted upon it, with men to overlook, command, and batter a town; for though it contain but four pieces, they shall be able to discharge two hundred bullets each hour.

31. AN APPROACHING Blind.

A way how safely and speedily to make an approach to castle or town-wall, and over the very ditch at noon day.

32.-AN UNIVERSAL CHARACTER.

How to compose an universal character, methodical and easy to be written, yet intelligible in any language; so

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that if an Englishman write it in English, a Frenchman, garbled extract, and should have been as follows: "If passen. Italian, Spaniard, Irish, Welsh, being scholars; yea Gregers have used, time out of mind, when the roads are bad, to cian or Hebrean shall as perfectly understand it in their go by outlets on the land adjoining to a highway, in an open own tongue, as if they were perfect English, distinguishing field, such outlets are parcel of the highway, and, therefore, the verbs from nouns, the numbers, tenses, and cases as properly expressed in their own language as it was written if they are sown with corn, and the tract founderous, the in English." King's subjects may go upon the corn." Now this is a case of extreme and absolute necessity, and of an obstruction, occur

33.-A NEEDLE ALPHABET.

To write with a needle and thread, white, or any colour upon white, or any other colour, so that one stitch shall significantly shew any letter, and as readily and as easily shew the one letter as the other, and fit for any language.

34. A KNOTTED STRING-ALPHABET.

ring on the King's highway, and does not at all apply to those roads which have been made over the private property of individuals, for the sake of convenience, and the saving of time

and distance. If the King's highway is, from any cause, renTo write by a knotted silk string, so that every knot dered impassable, it is for the general good that people should shall signify any letter with comma, full point, or interro-be privileged to pass in another line, but I apprehend the gation, and as legible as with pen and ink upon white same principle will not, in all cases, extend to private ways, paper.

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The following curious specimens of orthography are furnished by a correspondent. The first is posted on the door of an empty cottage at Pigs Lee, the second is exhibited in a window at Moorside, and the third is seen in Bolton-street, all in Bury:-

To Leet If you wish To No Ane Ferdr in teleganse you most Im Ply to James Lees of Bure Standle Street. Traikel bear Sould Hear.

Split banes gud whots un proim firches. The following lately appeared as an advertisement in the Wexford Herald:

goes

"ČAUTION.—I caution the public in general not to give credit to Eliza Field, on my Account, as she has already destroyed my character and Credit-put me to goal, and publicly denies me to be her husband, and by her former name, Eliza Elmes, widow, and bonnet maker, in Waterford, now in Wexford.-Therefore I am determined not to pay any debts she may formerly have contracted, or any debts she now has or will contract.

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SIR,-In consequence of some attempts lately made in this neighbourhood, to deprive the public of the benefit of some of those convenient footpaths, which have been enjoyed by his Majesty's liege subjects "from time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary," it is my intention to trouble you with a few observations on the law of the case. In the Mercury a week or two ago, some extracts were given from Jacob's Law Dictionary, which, I suppose, were intended to bear upon the subject, but which, with one exception, are wholly inapplicable. One of them, also, is a

which are not ways of necessity but of convenience: and in order to convince you that I have some just grounds for doubting upon this point, I will give you another quotation from the before-mentioned author. "If one grants a way, and afterwards digs trenches in it, to my hindrance, I may fill them up again. But if a way which a man has becomes not passable, or becomes very bad, by the owner of the land tearing it up with his carts, so that the same be filled with water, yet he who has the way, cannot dig the ground to let out the water, for he has no interest in the soil. But in such a case he may bring his action against the owner of the land, for spoiling the way, or perhaps, (mark the expression), he may go out of the way, upon the land of the wrong doer, as near to the bad way as he can. Where a private way is spoiled by those who have a right to pass thereon, and not through the default of the owner of the land, it seems that they who have the use and benefit of the way, ought to repair it, and not the owner of the soil, unless he is bound thereto, by custom or special agreement."

The discussion of this question first arose on an attempt being made to stop up a road over private property, in the vicinity of this place; and to this point I shall confine myself.

"A man may have a way, either by prescription, custom, usage, or grant;" and, as far as I am able to collect, it appears certain, that, where a foot path has been used, time out of mind, it cannot be stopped up; but it is another question (quite distinct from that of a public highway) whether, in case of a private way becoming, from floods or any other cause,

impassable, the public can justify beating out another for

their temporary convenience; for it is not a good justification in trespass that the defendant has a specific right of way over

the plaintiff's land, and that he had gone upon the adjoining land, because the way was impassable, by being overflowed by a river. Taylor v. Whitehead, Doug. 746, 4 Ma. and Sell 387. It however appears quite clear, that "if there be a common foot way, through a close, by prescription, and the owner of the close ploughs up the way, and sows it, and lays thorns at the side of it, passengers may go over another footway, in the same close, without being trespassers;" for here is, at once, a complete appropriation of property, to a private purpose, in and to which the public had gained, and enjoyed a prescriptive right. Upon this principle, therefore, I take it, that a road, so left open to, and made use of by, the public; for a considerable length of time, without any act done by the owner of the soil, to denote its being a mere road on sufferance, and liable to be closed up whenever he might think proper to do so, becomes a right of road, absolutely and irrevocably vested in the public for ever. This Question is one of general importance, and one upon which I should much wish to have the views of some of your legal correspondents. In conclusion, it may be well to avail myself of the opportunity the subject affords, to caution all those, who are in the habit of frequenting the roads in question, to confine themselves strictly within the limits assigned them, and not, as is too often the case, wantonly abuse and injure the adjoining property, and the crops growing thereon. They should recollect, that they are in the enjoyment of a very great convenience, which without a due regard to that golden rule of "doing unto others, as we would they should do unto us," may prove very detrimental to the interest of the

land owner, and the welfare of the industrious husbandman.

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Gymnasia.

NO. V.

TO THE EDITOR.

SIR,-The feat selected for this week might be explained without a figure it is so simple. Standing on the left foot, take hold of your right foot with your left hand, then take hold of your right ear with your right hand, and in this position, stooping down forwards, raise the hat from the floor, holding the rim with your teeth, and swinging back the head, throw the hat over your shoulder. The latter part of the trick may be omitted, unless an old cast-off Yours, &c. 14

hat be at hand.

The rama.

[SEE A NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS.]

THE THEATRE.

"Vespatian, being daub'd with dirt, Was destin'd to the empire for't; And from a scavenger did come

To be a mighty prince in Rome."

merits. Then we have had, besides, The Mountaineers,
Bell Stratagem, The Rivals, Twelfth Night, together
with Man and Wife,-and all in vain; verily there must
be something wrong somewhere. There must be reason
good and cogent for people's staying at home; for that
they do so, and from motives altogether beyond our
divination,

"'Tis true, 'tis pity;
And pity 'tis, 'tis true."
This week, doubtless, things will be very different. We
have a Lilliput Shylock announced, and shall probably be
entertained also with Richard in swaddling clothes. Be-
like, too, Falstaff, emerging from his cradle, awaits
our admiration; the pretty little baby, Sir John, will
surely take prodigiously, being in reality an "INFANT
PRODIGY." Miss Clara Fisher is forthcoming, and in
her portentous train all that's wond'rous in this world of
wonderment! Open wide your gaping mouths, ye pretty
masters of the gallery, for an antidote to your late nar-
cotic is prepared. "THE INFANT PRODIGY" is at

hand: she at whose birth

"The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the public streets.
-and the moist star,

Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands,
Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse.
-at her nativity,

The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes,
Of burning eressets; and at her birth,
The frame and huge foundation of the earth
Shak'd like a coward."

We were much pleased to see Mr. Browne so warmly wel-
comed amongst us again. He is an old favourite of ours,
and of the public; and may be assured, will be remem-
bered in Liverpool with pleasure, so long as there remains
on the stage, fops and melo-dramatic villany. He is now
of the theatre-royal, Drury-lane; we hope, profitably; and
we would be well-pleased could we congratulate him on hav-
ing bid adieu to those vices which, with ourselves, have
always greatly marred the beauty of his acting. His visit
to London, however, appears rather to have confirmed
him in the practice of them. We allude, more particu-
larly, to this gentleman's very resprehensible habit of sub-
stituting his own puerile embellishments for the sparkling
gems of his author's dialogue. Mr. Browne must really
pardon our want of taste in prefering the text of Sheridan
and others; a misfortune, we conjecture, of which most
other frequenters of the theatre participate. We do not
mean even to insinuate, much less absolutely aver, that
Mr. Browne's wit is interior to Sheridan's, but that the lat-
ter is more to our liking; though it is possible, certainly,
we are singular in this respect.

"Ad ogni uccello, suo nido e bello."

The Sofa.

VIVE LA BAGATELLE.

"In order to employ one part of this life in serious and importa
occupations, it is necessary to spend another in mere amus
ments."
JOHN LOCKE

"There is a time to laugh and a time to weep."-SOLOMON. We last week inserted eleven different modes of givin change for a guinea in twenty-one pieces, of the coin the realm, without using any silver. We have been n a little surprised at a note subsequently received from correspondent, who signs Pennywise, containing no few than forty modes of accomplishing the problem. In fac there seems to be no end to ringing the changes.

CHANGE FOR A SOVEREIGN, IN TWENTY PIECES
WITHOUT EMPLOYING SILVER.

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will still have the opportunity for a short time longer to Our readers will perceive by the advertisements that they witness the clever and entertaining performances of Messrs Maffey, and of Monsieur Barnet-See adv.

To Correspondents.

L'HERMITE EN ITALIE.-We have, for one week, suspended
our prepared chapter from this work, in order to allow the
requisite space for Lord Byron's song to his friend Moore
Mr. Jeffrey's admirable speech on the late Mr. Watt, and the
large engraving of a newly-projected raft, for preservation
from shipwreck.

The BALL-ROOM, by M. M. shall appear.
Easine's letter shall have an early place.

MR. HAMILTON'S SYSTEM.-The letter of Titius contains no
argument, and we cannot spare our columns for mere irony

for the benefit of those whom it may concern

The PRIZE POEM recommended by L. W. shall be procured from some quarter. The name of the writer is a sufficient letter of recommendation.

We have just received, but not yet perused, Causticus-Mes

man-G. W.

THE COUNCIL OF TEN.-A correspondent wishes us to giv insertion to the following doggrels:

It is really marvellous how much "the theatre-royal, Covent-garden," or the theatre-royal, Drury-lane," adds to the stature of those ladies and gentlemen of whose nomenclature it forms so important a finish. Nor is it less astonishing, that gentlemen who were wont to be Mr. Such-an-one, and ladies who once made their entrances and their exits on our boards as unobserved by the audience as does Mrs. Radcliffe, should, in the short interval of a few months, be metamorphosed into personages of It is said Miss Hammersley hath improved, consider-Timothy Thoughtful's very singular reverie shall be published such momentous note, that the extreme breadth of a play- ably, by her excursion to Covent-garden. We dare say bill, six inches wide, can scarcely contain their most she has; but certainly know not in what it is that such puissant names; especially if the surname happen to be amendment be visible, whether in her person, acting, preceded by two or three baptismal initials. Thus, ere or her singing. There was not, perhaps, any opportunity long, we presume, the town may anticipate being edi- for melioration; all may have been previously in a state fied by a "respectful" intimation from the managers of perfectibility. Well, be it so; we shall not gainsay that Mr. MERCER, from the theatre-royal, Drury- even this hypothesis. We do say, nevertheless, that she is lane, and Mrs. MORETON," from some other theatre- much the same, in every way, as when last here, having royal, perhaps, are engaged for a LIMITED PE- nor advanced nor retrograded. This is our opinion: there are RIOD; and will have the honour of making their first who think otherwise; and they may be right. Of this lady appearance this season,' on such an occasion; when Miss Cramer has decidedly the advantage in articulation, will be performed"-ROB ROY, for instance. "The as well syllabic as musical. The comparison holds equally part of CAPTAIN THORNTON by Mr. MERCER: the in her favour, when viewed with reference to the natural part of" something else by Mrs. MORETON;" the unaffected ease of tone and manner which characterize other actors, Rob himself included, being, of course, per- her songs, but yields as unequivocally to Miss Hammerssonages of no parts at all. Judging, however, from the ley's force and volume of voice, and highly wrought result of recent occurrences, one would conceive such an execution. There were great beauties, with some imexperiment on the public gullibility by no means likely; perfections, in Miss Cramer's "Tyrant I come," strikthough after seeing, as we did last year, MACBETH an-ingly evincing what she could, and what she could nounced for representation, with "the part of HECATE not accomplish; while the songs assigned to Zelinda, in by Mr. TAYLOR," few things of this kind are calculated to surprise us. Indeed, seeing what we see, and knowing that we do know, it would not greatly amaze us to be told that we had star sceneshifters, a star prompter, and star every thing; with star managers into the bargain.

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The Slave, were given by Miss Hammersley with a laboured vigour quite as inappropriate as Miss Cramer's lack of it was glaring. Miss Hammersley's is the dignified spirit of harmony, pealing upon the ear in strains of high commanding melody, lofty scorn, ennobling paThe celestial galaxy, however, illume not overmuch the thos, or the proud impassioned moan of suffering greatmurky lowering peculiar to our northern hemisphere, ness. Miss Cramer's warbling is the exact reverse; equally neither does the orbit of their evolution here, profit very skilful, less artificial, and of more gentle qualities: plainconsiderably by their irradiating influence; for though tively touching, occasionally swelling out in soft sorrowing we have, at the present moment, a kind of theatrical milky-sweetness, and sometimes breathing forth the sad eloquent way, an indifferently good house is seldom seen. What euphony of despair and woe, enriched with a display of tasteless dolts the people of Liverpool must be. What! well-cultivated musical attainments. Miss Hammersley insensible alike to the irresistible attractions of Mr. Connor, is the declaimer of song; Miss Cramer the pourtrayer of Mr. Meadows, Mr. Browne, Miss Kelly, and Miss M. deeply-subdued feeling, very susceptible, and of most exHammersley! All from the metropolitan theatres royal, quisite texture. each a very comet in our planetary system, and yet only a select few are found capable of appreciating their untold

August 2.

THE COUNCIL OF TEN.

TO THE SOI-DISANT COUNCIL OF TEN.
Ye surly Decemviri, truce with your sneers,
Your partial critiques, and your ill-natur'd jeers:
Ye lavish your praise so profusely on one,,
That the rest of the corps dramatique can have none
Act fairly, or down from your critical pulpit,
Your conceit is so palpable, people can't gulp it;
Then attend to my counsel, ye Council of Ten,
Don't pester the town with your counsel again.

Owing to the temporary absence of the editor on Friday an
part of Saturday, the preconcerted arrangements of th
week's publication have been somewhat disturbed. W
have to regret the postponement for one week, of som
lines of our excellent correspondent G. also of Leigh Wald
grave, a letter of our Old Correspondent on Puffing-Af
teur's character of a Musician; the description of th
eruption of Mount Etna the note of Duryng-of R. L

E. and B.

Printed, published, and sold, EVERY TUESDAY, by
SMITHand Co. 75, Lord-street, Liverpool.
Sold also by J. Bywater and Co. Pool-lane; Evans, Cheg
and Hall, Castle-st.; T.Smith, Paradise-st.; T.Warbrick
Public Library, Lime-street; E. Willan, Bold-street
M. Smith, Tea-dealer and Stationer, Richmond-row
M. Walker, Milliner, Tea-dealer, and Stationer, 47
Mount Pleasant; B. Gamage, 11, Clarence-street; and
J. Lowthian, Library, 3, Great George-place; f
ready money only.

الله

OR,

Literary and Scientific Mirror.

"UTILE DULCI."

a's familiar Miscellany, from which religiousand political matters 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 circulation renders it a most eligible medium for Literary and Fashionable Advertisements.-Regular supplies are forwarded weekly to the Agents,

No. 215.-VOL. V.

Men and Manners.

NO. XXIII.

MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS.

FROM L'HERMITE EN ITALIE, THE LATEST WORK OF M. JOUY. [Translated expressly for the Kaleidoscope.]

TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1824.

PRICE 340.

price much higher than that of the best butter at Paris. | leagues distant from Pisa, and separated from that town
Neither are the grocers exempt from the charge of adul-
terating their merchandise. I once bought some brown
sugar, which, upon boiling it, I discovered to be composed
in the proportion of at least a third of white pulverised
marble.

In the removals of tradesmen and peasants, a cross, or madonna, is always placed in front or at the top of the waggons which convey their furniture.

Tuscany is computed to contain about sixteen hundred I saw, in a large cupboard, at the house of an old thousand inhabitants. Formerly every circumstance seemed countess, a tomb, six feet long and two feet broad, conto concur to render this country the happiest in Italy. It taining a figure of Christ, guarded by three or four sculpis related, that, when Montesquieu, on his arrival at Flo- tured soldiers, dressed in the uniforms worn at the time of rence, went to pay a visit to the prime minister of the the Passion. This sepulchre was become the object of her Grand Duke, he found him dressed in a Nankin coat, adoration; and, when she changed her residence, it was seated at the door of his palace, to enjoy the evening breeze. pompously displayed at the top of the cart loaded with her Montesquieu was accompanied by a haughty young French-furniture. man, who was much disposed to ridicule this appearance I observed, in the streets of Pisa, numbers of peoof simplicity in a prime minister. "Learn," said the Pre- ple deprived of the use of their limbs, or afflicted sident to him, "to judge more correctly of things; do you by rheumatism and other diseases, occasioned by the not see that the people must be happy, since the prime extreme dampness which prevails there during a great minister has nothing to do; and that he must necessarily part of the year. The winter of 1808 was as cold be a man of merit, since he does not fear to expose him- and as unwholesome as the winter at Paris. As early alf to thegaze of the people, divested of external grandeur." as the 15th of December, snow, which is almost as rare The Arno, which throws itself into the sea, near Leg- at Pisa as at Naples, fell abundantly during eight days, born, at four or five miles' distance from Pisa, is the prin and covered the ground to the depth of six inches. Reaucipal river of the grand duchy, and gave its name to the mur's thermometer marked four degrees below zero. The department of which Florence was the chief place. The inhabitants of the country affirmed, that, for forty years, beauty of its shores is justly celebrated by all travellers. so cold a temperature had not been known at Pisa, and It is extremely favourable to the commerce of the Tuscans. that they never remembered having seen so much snow Boats, which descend the stream, are conducted by the oar; fall."It is the French,” said they, “ who bring us every but the eye is often offended by the disgusting spectacle of disaster; they afflict us with their laws, their fogs, their then harnessed like cattle to those which pursue a contrary frosts, their ice, and their snow." direction. During the intense heats of summer, these men The poor inhabitants of Pisa sat shivering in their spaure seen walking, almost naked, along the parapets, in cious drawing-rooms without ceilings, with a scaldino in the performance of this laborious office. The labourers their hand, their only resource against the cold. The are, in general, very lightly clothed during the summer. kitchen is, in general, the only room in their houses furTheir skin is burnt almost black by the sun; but their nished with a chimney; and, even there the hearth is so features and countenances, for the most part, wear the cha-high that the fire affords little warmth to the feet. If there is wacter which distinguishes the fine faces observed in paint- a fire-place in any other apartment it is generally without ings of the Florentine school. Their figures are graceful; fire; for, as the Italians have little fuel except chips, they and they are agile in their movements. Notwithstanding are very sparing of it, and confine themselves to the use the swarthy hue of their complexions, they are seldom of pans of charcoal and scaldinos. The French continued seen in the streets or fields without a fan in one hand and in Italy their national customs. I had a fire in my room a parasol in the other. In the winter they wrap them- at Pisa so late as the 7th of June, 1810; as, even at that selves in brown cloaks, or coats with hanging sleeves, in advanced season, such was the dampness of the air occathe form of that ancient dress denominated houppelande.sioned by the long-continued rains, that my health was They wear round hats, of felt, or of wove straw; and their tmir hangs down upon their shoulders, tied up in green or rey nets. There is little, except this picturesque cosme, to distinguish them from the Caffres, or the inhabitants of the Antilles. When these peasants meet a monk they do not permit themselves to enter into familiar conversation with him before they have first given token of their respect, by kissing his hand.

affected by it. The cold was even more severe at Flo-
rence, on account of its proximity to the mountains, which
were then covered with snow.

The year of 1810 was rendered remarkable at Pisa, as well by the agitation of the earth, as the chillness of the atmosphere. At a quarter before nine, on the morning of the eighth of September, I felt the shock of an earthquake, which was however so slight that I at first attributed the senSuch is the greediness of gain, among small shopkeepers sation produced by it to giddiness, or a disposition to faintin Tuscany, that they adulterate articles of common con-ness, as I had been seated at my desk, near an open winsumption to a degree that renders them absolutely nau- dow, from seven in the morning. The direction of the Beous. They mix large pieces of cheese with the butter, shock was from south to north; the wind was south-west, which, even if not spoiled by the introduction of such ma- the air heavy and close, warm weather having succeeded, terials, is white, and smells like old hog's grease. Good for the last fortnight, to the cold days of July. Several butter can be procured only at the dairies, which are estab-persons assured me during the day that they also had felt Juted near the mouth of the Arno; but it is sold at a the shock, which was more violent at Bologna, about fifty

by a chain of the Appenines. I think it must have lasted two seconds. Two other shocks immediately succeeded it, but they were so slight as to be scarcely perceptible. I was told that these were much more marked at Pistoia, in Tuscany, a town near the Appenines.

The inhabitants of Pisa affirm that these shocks were succeeded by others, on the 15th of the same month at midnight; but as these did not interrupt my sleep, I must depend upon the veracity of others for the truth of the fact.

Very different was the earthquake which took place on the 25th of December of the same year, at a quarter before two in the morning. On this occasion, I was suddenly awoke by the rocking of my bed. The cracking of the furniture, doors, and wainscots gave me warning of some great commotion, and the clock, near my lodging, on the opposite shore of the Arno, continued striking for some time. I felt five or six decided shocks, which succeeded each other in the course of six seconds. I arose, hastily, and opened the door of my balcony to examine the state of the sky. The undulation was from the west, towards the south, under a cloudy sky, partially lighted by the stars. The wind appeared to blow from the northwest, but the air was so tranquil that I, at first, thought the clouds stationary. During the next day, there was alternate rain and sunshine. It was affirmed, that this earthquake took place under the sea. The inhabitants of the town were not at all terrified by this phenomenon, and, as if accustomed to such events, went singing along the streets on their return from noctural mass.

It is the custom of the populace at Pisa, and I think all over Tuscany, to tie sheets of paper to the backs of street-passengers on the day of Mid-Lent, to toss them in blankets, to conduct them through the streets amidst the rattle of bells, kettles, and shovels, and to shake about their heads bundles of straw, and lighted brooms. This is a sort of continuation of the carnival, which is commenced by public masquerades on the first Sunday in January.

The befana of the twelfth day appeared to me remarkable. This name is given to the daughter of Herod, who is supposed to place herself at a window to watch for the return of the adoring Magi from the manger; but, as they do not pass through the states of her father, the curious lady is disappointed, and the Italians call her befana from the verb beffare, which signifies to make a fool of. The daughter of Herod is, at Pisa, merely a figure of plaster, in a gala dress; some of them are adorned with much elegance, and larger than life. The evening before, on the day of the Epiphany, the streets are crowded with people gazing up at the befane, which are fixed at the windows, surrounded by lights, with the head and shoulders advanced into the street, in the attitude of a person vainly seeking some individual in a crowd. Much laughter is excited by the serious and composed demeanor of the befana amidst the taunts and jests of the mob.

On the evening before the day of the Epiphany, groups of young men parade through every quarter of the town till midnight. One of them carries on his head a head of plastered paste-board, with a light placed in the inside. He is preceded by a man blowing a goat's horn, and surrounded by others, shouting, and waving in the air bundles of lighted straw and flaming sticks. These are gene

rally followed by a cart filled with men, sitting in the midst of branches of trees covered with thick foliage, which it would be difficult to find at this season in France. This triumphal car is surrounded by lighted torches, and is supposed to conduct to Bethlehem those who go to adore the infant Jesus. The amusements of the Italians are generally connected with some religious observance, and are, therefore, prosecuted with much assiduity and exactness. Vigils and fasts are exceedingly numerous at Pisa. The eves of festivals of the Virgin and the saints, devoted to fasting, will be found, if the days of Lent are included, to contain four or five months of the year.

All the external marks of devotion are scrupulously observed by the vulgar. Men, women, and children wear their rosaries in the churches, and devoutly repeat them on their kness during the mass. Many of the common people wear in the same pocket a dagger and a rosary. They have all an image of the Virgin, or of their patron saint, suspended from their necks under their shirts; their arms, legs, and even bodies are marked in imitation of St. Francis. They represent upon their bodies the figures of saints by means of pricks of pins made in the flesh, which, while the wounds are recent, is washed over with a pungent liquor of a bluish tint. The impression so produced lasts during their lives.

Children of five or six years old, dressed like ecclesiastics, are seen playing in the streets of Pisa. They have the cassoc and the long cloak, and their heads are covered with three-cornered hats, of dimensions conformable to the rules of their order. The playfulness and lively gestures natural to their years, are singularly contrasted with the soberness of the garb they are compelled to assume. Children so brought up are generally destined to be put in possession of benefices in the gift of their families.

The priests are indefatigable in enforcing the observance of religious rites, and the use of sacraments, to which they summon their flocks at different periods of the year. The curates and their vicars visit the houses of the people during the holy week, for the purpose of bestowing upon them their benediction, and of distributing notes of confession to the master of each house for himself and his family. These notes, of which the distributors keep an account upon a register, containing a list of the names, occupations, and dwellings of the persons who have received them, are expected to be restored to the ecclesiastics, when the sacrament is administered. The persons who do not return these notes, or who have refused to receive them from their curates, are declared, on the inspection of the register, not to have received the sacrament, and are excommunicated. The following is an axact copy of one of these notes, written with the usual abbreviations. Commun. pasch. paræciæ Regalis abbatiæ

Saneti Colombani civitatis Bobii.

Pro anno 1800.

and exposed with great pomp in the markets on Holy Saturday. These oxen are conducted in couples through the streets with bells round their necks, their horns being gilt, or painted various colours, and their bodies ornamented with ribbons. The fattest and finest ox walks at the head; the others are disposed according to their size, the least of all coming last. A large troop of oxen, of a greyish white, are sent from Arezzo, conducted by drivers gaily dressed for the occasion. The butchers of Pisa take their station, for the purpose of weighing the flesh, upon stalls, raised by a flight of eight steps above their customers; and as the latter are permitted to ascend only the first step, they have no means of ascertaining whether or not just weight be given, but by carefully watching the motions of the fingers that direct the scales.

you bring yourself to the scaffold?' she exclaimed; ‘I know not:' but feeling already the point of my sword at her breast, she confessed, and fell in real or counterfeited convulsions on her couch. I did not think it advisable to stop any longer, and merely hurried out the words that she should not escape from my revenge, if she dared to give the slightest hint to the Baron. I then ordered horses to reach this coast; and I have been here these three days, con cealed in the cottage of a fisherman or wandering among the rocks To make me still more miserable!"" added Louisa; but the exclamation did not come from her heart: for the satisfaction of finding her lover innocent, made up, at once, for all her sufferings, and her present feelings could not but be agreeable.

mediately my resolution was taken, and I presented my self before her, with the freedom of an old acquaintance, without having myself announced. She seemed to be little out of countenance at my sudden appearance; but she recovered soon, and bid me welcome with her usual levity. Trembling with passion, I took out her letter to my father, and held it up to her face: she blushed but, after a little while, she stared at me with bold impu dence, and said— Well, and what then? experience must always be bought at some slight expense; and you have now learned, that one ought not to make a confidant of neglected rival: if Ovid has forgotton to mention that, in his Art of Love, it is no fault of mine.' With these words she wished to slip into her cabinet; but I held her by the arm, and dragged her thither myself. She looked on me, as if she conceived me to be out of my senses, and threat At the time of the carnaval in Pisa, the streets and pub- ened to call for assistance. I bolted the door and drew my lic places are frequented by masked figures as early as the sword; telling her that Ovid had also forgotten to men first Sunday in January: all the following Sundays are tion how dangerous it was to reduce a true lover to despair; enlivened by masquerades from noon till evening. The and that I should certainly kill her, if she did not imme. women in particular delight to parade the streets in dif-diately name the place in which you were hidden. Will ferent disguises upon this occasion. Those most commonly used are dominos, the costumes of old women, and a dress consisting of two petticoats, one red, and the other black. During the shrove days, the masks are very numerous. They are seen, as they formerly were at Paris, on foot, on horseback, and in carriages. The coaches of the spectators are drawn up in two files along the southern quay of the Three Bridges. In 1810, an ostrich excited the general curiosity during the four principal shrove days. It was as large as a camel; its beak reached the windows of the first stories, and presented verses and sonnets to the ladies at the windows, who answered by throwing bonbons into its wide throat. It was surrounded by twenty-four harlequins, who kept the people in order by occasional strokes from their wooden sabres, and distributed com- Some happy days were now passed on the lonely sea. pliments to the young girls and pretty women standing shore, which could only be overlooked, in that direction, near. Evviva il struzzo! Long live the ostrich, was the from one window of the castle, and this Louisa knew to general cry. The ladies called it by waving their white belong to an uninhabited room. Robert thought, everhandkerchiefs, and it approached their windows with co-theless, that Mrs. Brigitta might take it into her head to mical gravity, alternately extending and drawing up its have a peep through it, and that it would be safer to meet neck. The crowd of masks which preceded and followed in the fisherman's cottage. He had come with the inten it, fixed their attention exclusively upon the blessed bird. tion of an immediate elopement: but this, Louisa firmly Liverpool. A. W. opposed. "I am the Baron's wife (she said;) and even love itself cannot require the sacrifice of my honour." It sppeared, to her, much more becoming, to obtain a separa tion from her husband; and she did not think that be would have any objection. Robert was willing to be persuaded, and promised to spare no pains for the accomplishment of this measure: he would entreat or force the Baron into compliance; and with this resolution he set off. Louisa's anxious wishes accompanied him, and she beg ged for his happy return: but what was her terror, when she became convinced, that an unguarded moment was likely to have consequences, which neither she nor her lover had taken into consideration: their confidence in the success of the negociation had been so complete, that their ecstacy superseded prudence as well as virtue. How now, if Robert should be detained? what terrible scenes and what fate awaited her? how could she hope to hide her situation from the experienced eye of Brigitta? of how could she stoop to implore the mercy of such a crea ture? She regretted bitterly not having gone to Venice. which would have been so casy; and she wrote immedi ately to propose doing so. Robert had furnished her with writing materials, and she told him, as plainly as shame would permit, that not a moment was to be lost, if be wished to free her from a horrible futurity: she entreated him, to throw himself into the first boat with which he could meet, to put an end to her agony.

THE CHAPEL ON THE SHORE OF THE ADRIATIC.

FROM THE GERMAN OF KOTZEBUE, BY L. MAN, OF LIVERPOOL Translated expressly for the Kaleidoscope.

[Concluded from our last.]

"I hastened to Prague; but you were gone. I flew to Vienna, and arrived there in the evening. I heard of a masquerade; and sent immediately for a domino, in the hope of being able to observe you at a distance: I saw you, It must be observed, that these notes were not offered to and I fancied I perceived marks of sorrow in your counthe French. The above is copied from a note given to me tenance. I drew nearer, and the desire of trying the by an ecclesiastic, for the year 1800; that is to say, of a effect, which my appearance would produce, became at date much anterior to the period of my abode in Italy. last so powerful that it urged me to unmask. You were At Pisa, the curate of my parish came, in the April of soon hurried out of my sight, and I sank down upon the 1810, to bless the house of a French officer, stating that chair which had been occupied by you, whilst our betrayer he thought it proper to give him an opportunity of receiv. whispered to me: Are you mad?' the serpent was not yet ing a note of confession, but that he did not intend to dic-aware of my being acquainted with her wiles; but my tate a duty to him. The curate withdrew after having contemptuous glance must have informed her of this, and received a francesconi (a piece of five francs, fifty-five centimes) which the Frenchman put into a basin, carried by the bearer of the holy water. It is the custom of the faithful to pay, according to their circumstances, for the purification of their houses and lodgings in the holy week. Whilst we are on the subject of the holy week, it will not perhaps be useless to mention the custom of leading through the streets of Pisa, on the morning of Holy Thursday, a number of oxen, which are killed the following day. The flesh is then decorated with green leaves,

I

she disappeared. I mingled with the crowd, and heard you every where mentioned with respect and sympathy. left nothing untried to learn your fate: but I was merely told that you had left the town; and nobody knew what had become of you. I availed myself of a moment, when I knew the Baron to be at court, to wait upon your mother: I found her in tears, and as ignorant of your abode as other people; but she told me, that Madame Wickenfeld was more likely to be informed of it; since she was the only confidential friend of your husband. Im

She entrusted her letter to the fisherman, whose dwel ling had been Robert's asylum, and whom the latter had so liberally rewarded, that his friendship could not be doubted, although Louisa had nothing to give to him: he promised to go himself to the post-office in Raguss, and to erect a pole in sight of her window, if he should

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