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to the wild and precipitate retreat of guilt in making its escape from justice. This peculiar effect upon the child's imagination we might have doubted if we had read it in fiction, and yet how striking it becomes, heard from the mouth of the child herself!"

da The biographer then proceeds to illustrate his commentary on De Foe's talent for "what may be called the plausible style of composition," by referring to a pamphlet which he wrote under the title of "The true History of the Apparition of one Mrs Veal the next day after her Death, to one Mrs Bargrave, at Canterbury, the eighth of September 1705, which apparition recommends the perusal of Drelincourt's Book of Consolation against the Fears of Death." "We are induced to this," says Mr Ballantyne, cause the account of the origin of the pamphlet is curious, the pamphlet itself short, and, though once highly popular, now little read or known, and particularly because De Foe has put in force, within these few pages, peculiar specimens of his art of recommending the most improbable narrative, by his specious and serious mode of telling it.

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An adventurous bookseller had ventured to print a considerable edition of a work by the Reverend Charles Drelincourt, minister of the Calvinist Church in Paris, and translated by M. D'Assigny, under the title of the Christian's Defence against the Fear of Death, with several directions how to prepare ourselves to die well. But however certain the prospect of death, it is not so agreeable (unfortunately) as to invite the eager contemplation of the public; and Drelincourt's book, being neglected, lay a dead stock on the hands of the publisher. In this emergency, he applied to De Foe to assist him (by dint of such means as were then, as well as now, pretty well understood in the literary world) in.rescuing the unfor. tunate book from the literary death to which general | neglect seemed about to consign it.

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De Foe's genius and audacity devised a plan, which, for assurance and ingenuity, defied even the powers of Mr Puff in the Critic; for who but himself would have thought of summoning up a ghost from the grave to bear witness in favour of a halting body of divinity? There is a matter-of-fact, business-like style in the whole account of the transaction, which bespeaks ineffable powers of self-possession. The narrative is drawn up by a gentleman, a justice of peace at Maidstone, in Kent, a very intelligent person.' And, moreover, the discourse is attested by a very sober and understanding gentlewoman, who lives in Canterbury, within a few doors of the house in which Mrs Bargrave lives.' The justice believes his kinswoman to be of so discerning a spirit, as not to be put upon by any fallacy-and the kinswoman positively assures the justice, that the whole matter, as it is related and laid down, is really true, and what she herself heard, as near as may be, from Mrs Bargrave's own mouth, who, she knows, had no reason to invent or publish such a story, or any design to forge and tell a lie, being a woman of so much honesty and virtue, and her whole life a course, as it were, of piety.' Scepticism itself could not resist this triple court of evidence so artfully combined, the justice attesting for the dis. cerning spirit of the sober and understanding gentle. woman his kinswoman, and his kinswoman becoming bail for the veracity of Mrs Bargrave. And here, gentle reader, admire the simplicity of those days. Had Mrs Veal's visit to her friend happened in our time, the conductors of the daily press would have given the word, and seven gentlemen, unto the said press belonging, would, with an obedient start, have made off for Kingston, for Canterbury, for Doverfor Kamtschatka if necessary to pose the justice, cross-examine Mrs Bargrave, confront the sober and understanding kinswoman, and dig Mrs Veal up from her grave, rather than not get to the bottom of the story. But in our time we doubt and scrutinise: our ancestors wondered and believed.

Before the story is commenced, the understanding gentlewoman (not the justice of peace), who is the reporter, takes some pains to repel the objections made against the story by some of the friends of Mrs Veal's brother, who consider the marvel as an aspersion on their family, and do what they can to laugh it out of countenance. Indeed, it is allowed, with admir. able impartiality, that Mr Veal is too much of a gentleman to suppose Mrs Bargrave invented the story-scandal itself could scarce have supposed that -although one notorious liar, who is chastised towards the conclusion of the story, ventures to throw out such an insinuation. No reasonable or respectable person, however, could be found to countenance the suspicion, and Mr Veal himself opined that Mrs Bargrave had been driven crazy by a cruel husband, and dreamed the whole story of the apparition. Now, all this is sufficiently artful. To have vouched the fact as universally known, and believed by every one,

nem. con., would not have been half so satisfactory to a sceptic as to allow fairly that the narrative had been impugned, and hint at the character of one of those sceptics, and the motives of another, as sufficient to account for their want of belief. Now to the fact itself.

Mrs Bargrave and Mrs Veal had been friends in youth, and had protested their attachment should last as long as they lived; but when Mrs Veal's brother

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obtained an office in the customs at Dover, some cessation of their intimacy ensued, though without any positive quarrel.' Mrs Bargrave had removed to Canterbury, and was residing in a house of her own, when she was suddenly interrupted by a visit from Mrs Veal, as she was sitting in deep contemplation of certain distresses of her own. The visitor was in a riding-habit, and announced herself as prepared for a distant journey (which seems to intimate that spirits have a considerable distance to go before they arrive at their appointed station, and that the females at least put on a habit for the occasion.) The spirit, for such was the seeming Mrs Veal, continued to wave the ceremony of salutation, both in go. ing and coming, which will remind the reader of a ghostly lover's reply to his mistress in the fine old

Scottish ballad :

'Why should I come within thy bower? I am no earthly man.

And should I kiss thy rosy lips,

Thy days would not be lang. They then began to talk in the homely style of middle-aged ladies, and Mrs Veal proses concerning the conversations they had formerly held, and the | books they had read together. Her very recent experience probably led Mrs Veal to talk of death, and the books written on the subject, and she pronounced, ex cathedrá, as a dead person was best entitled to do, that Drelincourt's book on death was the best book on the subject ever written.' She also mentioned Dr Sherlock, two Dutch books which had been translated, and several others; but Drelincourt, she said, had the clearest notions of death and the future state of any who had handled that subject. She then asked for the work [we marvel the edition and impress had not been mentioned], and lectured on it with great eloquence and affection. Dr Kenrick's Ascetick was also mentioned with approbation by this critical spectre [the doctor's work was no doubt a tenant of the shelf in some favourite publisher's shop]; and Mr Norris's Poem on Friendship, a work which, I doubt, though honoured with a ghost's approbation, we may now seek for as vainly as Correlli tormented his memory to recover the sonata which the devil played to him in a dream. Presently after, from for mer habits we may suppose, the guest desires a cup of tea; but, bethinking herself of her new character, escapes from her own proposal by recollecting that Mr Bargrave was in the habit of breaking his wife's china. It would have been indeed strangely out of character if the spirit had lunched, or breakfasted upon tea or Such a consummation would have sounded as toast. ridiculous as if the statue of the Commander in Don Juan had not only accepted of the invitation of the libertine to supper, but had also committed a beaf-steak to his flinty jaws and stomach of adamant. A little more conversation ensued of a less serious nature, and tending to show that even the passage from life to death leaves the female anxiety about person and dress somewhat alive. The ghost asked Mrs Bargrave whether she did not think her very much altered, and Mrs Bargrave of course complimented her on her good looks. Mrs Bargrave also admired the gown which Mrs Veal wore, and as a mark of her perfectly restored confidence, the spirit let her into the important secret, that it was a scoured silk, and lately made up. She informed her also of another secret, namely, that one Mr Bretton had allowed her ten pounds a-year; and, lastly, she requested that Mrs Bargrave would write to her brother, and tell him how to distribute her mourning rings, and mentioned there was a purse of gold in her cabinet. She expressed some wish to see Mrs Bargrave's daughter; but when that good lady

went to the next door to seek her, she found on her return the guest leaving the house. She had got with. out the door, in the street, in the face of the beastmarket, on a Saturday, which is market-day, and stood ready to part. She said she must be going, as she had to call upon her cousin Watson (this appears to be a gratis dictum on the part of the ghost), and, maintaining the character of mortality to the last, she quietly turned the corner, and walked out of sight.

And

Then came the news of Mrs Veal's having died the day before at noon. Says Mrs Bargrave, 'I am sure she was with me on Saturday almost two hours." And in comes Captain Watson, and says Mrs Veal was certainly dead. And then come all the pieces of evidence, and especially the striped silk gown. Then Mrs Wat. son cried out, 'You have seen her indeed, for none knew but Mrs Veal and I that that gown was scoured and she cried that the gown was described exactly, for, said she, I helped her to make it up.' next we have the silly attempts made to discredit the history. Even Mr Veal, her brother, was obliged to allow that the gold was found, but with a difference, and pretended it was not found in a cabinet, but else where; and, in short, we have all the gossip of says I, and thinks I, and says she, and thinks she, which disputed matters usually excite in a country town. out, it may be thought too ridiculous to have attracted

When we have thus turned the tale, the seam with.

notice. But whoever will read it as told by De Foe himself, will agree that, could the thing have hap. pened in reality, so it would have been told. The sobering the whole supernatural visit into the language of middle or low life, gives it an air of probability even in its absurdity. The ghost of an exciseman's housekeeper, and a seamstress, were not to converse like Brutus with his Evil Genius. And the circumstances of scoured silks, broken tea-china, and suchlike, while |

they are the natural topics of such persons' conversation, would, one might have thought, be the last which an inventor would have introduced into a pretended narrative betwixt the dead and living. In short, the whole is so distinctly circumstantial, that, were it not for the impossibility of such an occurrence, the evidence could not but support the story.

The effect was most wonderful. Drelincourt upon Death, attested by one who could speak from experience, took an unequalled run. The copies had hung on the bookseller's hands as heavy as a pile of lead bullets. They now traversed the town in every direction, like the same balls discharged from a field-piece. In short, the object of Mrs Veal's apparition was perfectly attained."

BIOGRAPHIC SKETCHES.

COLUMBUS.

CHRISTOPHER COLON-better known by his Latinised surname Columbus-was born at Genoa, a sea-port of Italy, in the year 1436. He was the eldest son of a poor wool-carder, and in his early years, may himself, with his brothers, have worked at the trade of his father. His means of education were of course limited; but it is known that at an early age he had made some progress in the study of mathematics and the Latin language. While a youth, he was very fond of reading all works upon geography, and directed his attention entirely to those branches of learning which would be of use to him in the pursuits to which he had already determined to devote his life. He spent a short time at the college of Padua, where he acquired a knowledge of astronomy and other sciences

most necessary to seamen, and particularly useful at a time when so little progress had been made in the arts of navigation.

Columbus left the university of Padua when he was about fourteen years of age. Of the events which immediately followed, we have no accurate information. It is only known that he began life in the humble capacity of a sailor boy, on board one of the Genoese vessels which sailed in the Mediterranean, and from which station he rose by his ability to be commander of a vessel. Subsequently, about the year 1470, he visited Lisbon, the capital of Portugal; and while here, he married a young lady of the name of Palestrello, the daughter of an Italian who had been on several voyages of discovery under Prince Henry of Portugal. From her Columbus obtained the journals and charts which had been drawn up by her father, on his various voyages, and frequent narrations of interesting incidents that occurred in them. He made inquiries about the voyages of the Portuguese along the coast of Guinea, in Africa, and delighted to converse with the sailors who had been there. At this period there was no knowledge of any land farther westward than Madeira, the Canaries, and Cape Verde with the islands of that name, all lying off the west coast of Africa, and in the track of vessels sailing from Europe to India by the Cape of Good Hope. The Atlantic, within the eastern verge of which these islands lie, was supposed by mariners to be a boundless ocean to

the west, or that it was limited only by Japan, India, and other portions of the Asiatic continent. By pondering on the figure of the globe, and reasoning from conjecture, Columbus became convinced, that if vessels were to sail westward on the Atlantic, islands would certainly be found in that direction, or that India might be reached much more easily by that route than by sailing thither eastward by the Cape of Good Hope. While his mind was occupied by these reflections, he became naturalised in Portugal, and made several voyages to Guinea and the Canaries, by which he improved himself in navigation. When residing at home, as we are told, he supported his family, including his father and younger brothers, by drawing maps and charts. He also lived very temperately, was plain in his dress, and rigorously observant of his religious duties.

As soon as Columbus had completely formed his opinions regarding the discovery of land in the Atlantic, he considered it necessary to put himself under the patronage of some European power, which should furnish him with a vessel or vessels, and all other

requisite means for making good the discovery. It would be very painful to recite minutely the steps he took on this occasion. He applied first to the Portuguese monarch, John II., by whom he was treated exceedingly ill. Offended with the little faith with which he had been treated, he in the year 1484 privately departed from Portugal with his son Diego; his wife having been some time dead. Before leaving Portugal, he sent his brother Bartholomew to make

proposals to the King of England, Henry VII., but Bartholomew was unfortunately captured by pirates on the way to England, which he did not reach till his propositions had been accepted by another power. On leaving Portugal, Columbus betook himself to Spain, with the intention of laying his plans before Ferdinand and Isabella, who at that time governed the united Spanish kingdoms of Castile and Arragon. Columbus arrived at Palos, a small sea-port in Spain, towards the end of the year 1485, and, as it would appear, in a somewhat destitute condition. About half a league from Palos there was a convent of Franciscan friars. Columbus, with his little son, stopped One day at this convent, to ask for some bread and water. The prior of the monastery, Juan Perez de Marchena, was a man of intelligence and learning. Being struck with the appearance and demeanour of Columbus, he immediately entered into a conversation with him. It ended in an invitation to the stranger to become for a while a guest at the convent. Juan Perez talked with Columbus of his plans, and became exceedingly interested in them. He sent for a scientific friend, Garcia Fernandez, the physician of Palos, with whom the matter was industriously examined. All became more and more zealous in their wishes and hopes for putting the project into execution. It happened that Juan Perez was an intimate friend of Fernando de Talavera, the confesser of Queen Isabella. Columbus being furnished with a letter of introduction to Talavera, in which his enterprise was strenuously recommended to the patronage of the crown, he left his son at the convent with his friend, and departed for the court of Castile, in the spring of

1486.

On arriving at Cordova, where the court at that time was residing, he found it almost impossible to obtain a hearing. This he at length accomplished; but it was long before he could make a sufficient impression on Ferdinand or his queen in order to second his views. They referred his suit to a body of learned professors, who laughed at his project, which they declared to be irreligious and impious.

Tired out with waiting on the pleasure of the court of Spain, and receiving a letter of encouragement from the court of France, Columbus departed on a journey to Paris, taking in his way the friendly convent at Palos, where he had left his son under the care of Juan Perez, When his old friend the prior saw Columbus once more at the gate of his monastery, after several years of vain solicitation at court, he was deeply affected. He entreated him by all means to remain in the country. He had been father confessor to the queen, and thought he might still exercise an influence over her mind. He accordingly proceeded to Santa Fé, where the sovereigns were in person superintending the siege of the capital of Granada. Perez obtained a ready access to the queen. He laid before her the propositions of Columbus with freedom and eloquence. Isabella was moved with the grandeur of the project. The principles upon which it was founded, the advantages that would result from its success, and the glory it would shed upon Spain, were for the first time represented to her in their true colours. She promised her patronage to the undertaking,

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interested himself very strenuously in the expedition.
His assistance was effectual. He owned vessels, and
had many seamen in his employ, and consequently
possessed great influence. Ile and his brother Vicente
Pinzon determined to take commands, and sail with
Columbus. Their example had a great effect; they
persuaded their relations and friends to embark with
them, and the vessels were ready for sea within a
month after they had thus engaged in their equip.

ment.

great distance. Fearing that his hopes might deceive him, he called two of his companions to confirm him. One of them came in season to observe it, but the other was too late. It had disappeared. From this they supposed it might be the torch of some fisher. man, raised up and then suddenly dropped again. They were all confident of being near land. About two o'clock in the morning, the Pinta gave the sig. nal of land, which was first perceived by a sailor named Rodrigo de Triana.

We now find Columbus on the eve of his first grand When the day appeared, they perceived before them expedition, which was to result in the discovery of the a large island, quite level, full of green trees and deAmerican continent and islands. The simple seaman licious waters, and to all appearance thickly inhabited. of Genoa, whom the ignorant derided as a fool, and Numbers of the people immediately collected together, philosophers neglected as an impostor, after years of and ran down to the shore. They were very much poverty and disappointment, had at length obtained astonished at the sight of the ships, which they be the object of his unwearied solicitations, and was go-lieved to be living creatures. The ships immediately ing forward with a calm and dignified assurance of came to anchor. The admiral went ashore in his boat, success. What unspeakable joy must have filled his well armed, and bearing the royal standard. The heart, as the little caravel in which he sailed was other captains each took a banner of the Green Cross, leaving the shores of Spain in the distance, stretching containing the initials of the names of the king and forward into that dim and unexplored ocean, from queen on each side, and a crown over each letter. whose shadows he was to reveal new dominious for The admiral called upon the two captains, and the his country, and a new world for Europe! rest of the crew who landed, to bear witness that he Columbus and his companions sailed from the bar took possession of that island for his sovereigns. They of Saltes, a small island in front of the town of Hu. all gave thanks to God, kneeling upon the shore, elva, early on the morning of the 3d of August 1492. shedding tears of joy for the great mercy received. They directed their course in a south-westerly direc The admiral rose, and called the island San Salvador. tion for the Canary Islands. These they reached; The Indians called it Guanahani, and it is now called and after spending three or four weeks in repairing Cat Island. It belongs to that group called the Ba. a damage in one of the vessels, and taking in fresh hamas. supplies of wood, water, and meat, set sail from the harbour of Gomera on the 6th of September. They steered their course directly west. In a few days they began to fall in with what Columbus considered signs of land; such as quantities of green weeds, a live crab, flocks of birds, and so forth; but all these signs of land continually failed, and the crews were daily more and more disposed to murmur against the admiral. The whole of the sailors in the little fleet were a set of cowardly wretches, who had by turns to be flattered and threatened with punishment, to keep them from open rebellion. Provisions at length were falling short, and some of the men proposed to throw Columbus into the sea, and give out on their return that he had accidentally fallen overboard.

Many of the natives came down to witness this ce. remony. They were very peaceable and quiet peo. ple, and the admiral gave them some red caps, glass beads, and a few other trifles of small value, with which they were very much delighted. They ima gined that the strangers had descended from heaven, and valued the slightest token they could receive from them, as of immense worth. When the admiral and his companions returned to their vessels, the natives followed them in large numbers. Some swam; others went in their canoes, carrying parrots, spun cotton, javelins, and other articles, to exchange for hawks' bells and strings of beads. They went entirely naked, seeming to be very poor and simple.

December, he discovered and landed upon another large island, which he called Hispaniola, now named St. Domingo or Hayti. Here he planted a fort, and made it the seat of a colony. From this period may be dated the commencement of the misfortunes of Columbus. That great man now lost control over his wicked and rapacious companions, who seemed desir ous of plundering the newly-discovered islands, and afterwards of sailing home, to be the first to make known the discoveries that had been made. Pinzon, the commander of the Pinta, took the lead in these dastardly proceedings, for which he afterwards expressed the deepest regret.

In the morning, Columbus sailed along the coast of The first land that Columbus expected to meet was the island towards the north-west, and in his voyage Cipango, which had been placed by geographers at discovered other islands, to which he gave names. the eastern extremity of India. This was the name The largest he fell in with was Cuba, which is nearly given to the island now called Japan, by Marco Polo, as large as Great Britain. At Cuba he expected to the celebrated Venetian traveller. The most extra- find a great trade, abundance of gold and spices, large vagant accounts of the riches of this country were ships, and rich merchants. He inferred that this given by the writers of that age, and the admiral was must be the island of Cipango, of which Marco Polo anxious to proceed directly thither. At sunrise on had said so many marvellous things. In these conSunday the 7th of October, the Nina, which had out.jectures he was entirely mistaken. On the 5th of sailed the other vessels, on account of her swiftness, hoisted a flag at her mast-head, and fired a gun as a signal of having discovered land. There had been a reward promised by the king and queen to the man who should first make this discovery; and each of the vessels was striving very eagerly to get ahead, and obtain the promised recompense. As they found nothing of the land the Nina had made signals for, the admiral shifted his course, about evening, towards the west-south-west, with a determination to sail two days in that direction. The reason for making this change was from watching the flight of the birds. The Portuguese had discovered most of their islands in this manner, and Columbus noticed that the flocks which passed them all flew from the north to the south-west. He inferred from this that land was situated in that quarter. After sailing a day or two, they found the air as soft as that of Seville, in April, and so fragrant that it was delicious to breathe it. The weeds appeared very fresh, and many land birds were taken. The men, however, had lost all faith in any signs of land. They did not cease to murmur and complain. The admiral encouraged them in the best manner he could, representing the riches they were about to acquire, and adding, that it was to no purpo e to complain; for, having come so far, they had nothing to do but to continue, till, by the assist. ance of heaven, they should arrive at the Indies.

It was now only necessary to agree upon the terms. Columbus would listen only to princely conditions. A meaner spirit, after years of unsuccessful toil, poverty, and disappointment, would have been glad to secure the assistance of the sovereigns, on such arrangements as their own liberality might dictate. But Columbus proposed his own rewards and honours, and would consent to no other. He demanded them as if he were already successful, and aware of the extent and impertance of his discoveries. The court were eventually obliged to grant that he should be admiral on the ocean, and enjoy all the privileges and honours allowed to the high admiral of Castile; that he should be governor over all the countries he might discover; and that he should reserve to himself onetenth of all pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, and articles of merchandise, in whatever manner obtained, within his admiralty. They also allowed that he should appoint judges in all parts of Spain trading to those On the 11th of October, they met with signs of land countries; and that on this voyage, and at all other that could not be mistaken, and all began to regain times, he should contribute an eighth part of the ex-spirits and confidence. The crew of the Pinta saw a pense, and receive an eighth part of the profits. These articles of agreement were signed by Ferdinand and Isabella, at the city of Santa Fé, on the 17th of April 1492. Three caravels, or very small vessels, little better than decked boats, were procured at Palos, and orders given that they should be manned and provided with all care and diligence. There were still difficulties before commencing the voyage, that it required all the perseverance of Columbus to overcome. It was almost impossible to prevail upon any seamen to engage in the undertaking. The royal order in respect to the fitting out of the caravels was peremptory; but weeks passed, and it still remained without any thing being done. The old sailors who had passed most of their lives upon the water, shrunk from the enterprise with horror. It shocked all the notions that had been entertained so long in respect to the formation of the earth, and the extent of the ocean. New orders were issued by the court, and officers were appointed to press ships and seamen into the service of Columbus. This measure occasioned a great deal of disputing and confusion, but led to no Important result. At length a rich and adventurous navigator, named Alonzo Pinzon, came forward, and

cane and a log. They also picked up a stick, which
appeared to have been carved with an iron instrument,
a small board, and abundance of weeds that had been
newly washed from the banks. The crew of the Nina
saw other similar signs, and found, besides, a branch
of a thorn full of red berries. Convinced by these
tokens of the neighbourhood of land, Columbus, after
evening prayers, made an address to his crew, re-
minding them of the mercy of God in bringing them
so long a voyage with such fair weather, and encou-
raging them by signs that were every day plainer and
plainer. He repeated the instructions he had given
at the Canary Islands, that when they had sailed
seven hundred leagues to the westward without dis-
covering land, they should lie by from midnight till
daybreak. He told them that, as they had strong
hopes of finding land that night, every one should
watch in his place; and besides the thirty crowns a
year which the Spanish sovereigns had promised to
the first discoverer, he would give him a velvet doub-
let.

About ten o clock that evening, while Columbus
was keeping an anxious look-out from the top of the
cabin, he thought he beheld a light glimmering at a

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After cruising about for some time, and endeavour. ing to enter into friendly alliances with native chiefs in the islands, he set sail with his vessels on his return to Spain. His homeward voyage was exceedingly stormy; and after braving the most imminent dangers, they came in sight of land near Lisbon, on the 4th of March 1493. Having paid his respects, in passing, to the Portuguese monarch, he proceeded without loss of time towards the coast of Spain; and on the 15th of March, he entered and anchored in the harbour of Palos. The joy and confusion excited in Palos by the arrival of Columbus may be easily imagined. He was every where received with shouts and acclama tions, and such honours as were usually paid to sovereigns.

After the first expressions of joy and admiration, Columbus departed for Seville. From this place he sent a message to Barcelona, where the king and queen at that time resided, to lay before them a brief account of his voyage, and to receive from them an indication of their royal will. His reception at Barcelona was particularly gratifying. He made a sort of triumphal entry, surrounded by knights and nobles, who emulated each other in their efforts to swell his praises. He was received publicly by the sovereigns, in a splendid saloon, seated on the throne, and encircled by a magnificent court. On his entrance, they rose to greet him, and would hardly allow him to kiss. their hands, considering it too unworthy a mark of vassalage. Columbus then gave an account of his discoveries, and exhibited the different articles which he had brought home with him. He described the quantity of spices, the promise of gold, the fertility of the soil, the delicious climate, the never-fading verdure of the trees, the brilliant plumage of the birds, in the new regions which his own enterprise had acquired for his sovereigns. He then drew their attention to six na tives of the New World, whom he had brought, and who were present, and described their manners and disposi tions. He exhibited their dresses and ornaments, their rude utensils, their feeble arms, which corresponded with his description of them, as naked and ignorant

barbarians. To this he added, that he had observed no traces of idolatry or superstition among them, and that they all seemed to be convinced of the existence of a Supreme Being. The conclusion of his speech was in these words: "That God had reserved for the Spanish monarchs, not only all the treasures of the New World, but a still greater treasure, of inestimable value, in the infinite number of souls destined to be brought over into the bosom of the Christian church."

After he had finished his address, the whole assembly fell upon their knees, while an anthem was chanted by the choir of the royal chapel. With songs of praise, the glory was given to God for the discovery of a New World. Columbus and his adventures were for many days the wonder and delight of the people and the court. The sovereigns admitted the admiral to their audience at all hours, and loaded him with every mark of favour and distinction. Men of the highest rank were proud of the honour of his com

pany.

All matters were soon prepared for the second expedition to the New World. On the dawn of the 25th of September 1493, the Bay of Cadiz was crowded with the departing fleet of Columbus. There were three large ships and fourteen caravels waiting for the signal to sail. All on board were breathing hope and joy. Instead of the gloomy despondency that overshadowed the leave-taking at Palos, there was now animation and cheerfulness. The whole fleet was under way before the rising of the sun, sailing joyfully, under a serene sky, through the tranquil waters.

The monument erected by Ferdinand to his memory bears this inscription :—

"Por Castilla y por Leon
Nuevo mundo hallo Colon."

Which may be thus translated :

"For Castile and Leon Columbus found a New World."

The discoveries of Columbus laid open a knowledge of what are now termed the West India Islands, and a small portion of the South American continent, which this great navigator, till the day of his death, believed to be a part of Asia or India. In about ten years after his decease, the real character of America and its islands became known to European navigators; and by a casual circumstance, one of these adventurers, Amerigo Vespucii, a Florentine. had the honour of conferring his name upon a division of the globe which in justice ought to have been called after the unfortunate Columbus.

CLEANING AND PRESERVING BOOKS.
A NEAT little work has just been published on the
ART OF BOOKBINDING (Groombridge, London; Oliver
and Boyd, Edinburgh), containing a great number of
valuable definitions of the various branches of that
useful handicraft. Referring practical men to the
publication itself, we extract the following recipes for
the benefit of book-collectors and private families.
The first is, to take out stains of ink, oil, and grease,
from books: " Oxymuriatic acid, or chlorine, removes
perfectly stains of ink; and should the paper require
bleaching, the operation will answer both ends at the
same time; but as it more frequently happens that
the stains are the only blemish necessary to remove,
the proceedings are given for taking them out with-
out pulling to pieces the volume.

During this second voyage, Columbus extended his discoveries, though without reaping any solid advantage to himself. He found the fort which he had planted entirely destroyed, and the men whom he had left slain, their avaricious and quarrelsome disposition having led to their extirpation by the enraged natives. A new colony under better auspices was, however, settled, and the payment of a tribute by the natives en- Nearly all the acids remove spots of ink from paper, forced. In the meantime, the disaffected and worthless but it is important to use such as attack its texture among his companions carried groundless complaints the least. Spirits of salts, diluted in five or six times against him to the court of Spain, and he returned to obtain reparation of the injurious imputations. On the quantity of water, may be applied with success appearing before his sovereigns, he was soothed by upon the spot, and after a minute or two washing it some trifling apologies, and dispatched on a third voy-off with clear water. A solution of oxalic acid, citric age in May 1498, and in this expedition he landed on acid, or tartaric acid, is attended with the least risk, the coast of Paria, in South America. He found the and may be applied upon the paper and plates withlately discovered islands distracted with the horrors out fear of damage. These acids taking out writing of civil discord. The vices of the settlers he had left ink, and not touching the printing, can be used for restoring books where the margins have been written upon, without attacking the text.

had produced misery and despair, and the unfortunate Columbus was loudly accused of being the cause of the universal ruin. His enemies in Spain had likewise the influence to induce the dispatch of a commissioner, one Bovadilla, to Hispaniola, to inquire into the truth of the charges against Columbus, and to supersede his administration. The consequence of this harsh procedure was, that Columbus, with his brothers Diego and Bartholomew, after being treated with the utmost indignity, were sent to Spain in

chains.

When the paper is disfigured with stains of iron, it may be perfectly restored by applying a solution of sulphuret of potash, and afterwards one of oxalic acid. The sulphuret extracts from the iron, part of its oxygen, and renders it soluble in the diluted acids. The most simple, but at the same time very effectual method of erasing spots of grease, wax, oil, or any other fat substance, is by washing the part with ether, and placing it between white blotting-paper. Then with a hot iron press above the parts stained, and the defect will be speedily removed. In many cases, where the stains are not bad, rectified spirits of wine will be found to answer the purpose.

mix a portion with the paste used for covering the books. M. Prediger, among other instructions to German bookbinders, advises them to make their paste of starch instead of flour. He also recommends them to slightly powder the books, the covers, and even the shelves on which they stand, with a mixture of that in the months of March, July, and September, powdered alum and fine pepper, and is of opinion books should be rubbed with a piece of woollen cloth, steeped in a solution of powdered alum, and dried.”

ANECDOTES OF AVARICE.

[From Dr King's Aneedotes of his Own Times. London, Murray, 1819.]

AVARICE, says the author of Religio Medici, seems to me not so much a vice, as a deplorable piece of madness; and if he had added incurable, his definition would have been perfect; for an avaricious man is never to be cured unless by the same medicine which perchance may cure a mad dog. The arguments of reason, philosophy, or religion, will little affect him; he is born and framed to a sordid love of money, which first appears when he is very young, grows up with him, and increases in middle age, and when he is old, and all the rest of his passions have subsided, wholly engrosses him. The greatest endowments of the mind, the greatest abilities in a profession, and even the quiet possession of an immense treasure, will never prevail against avarice. My Lord Hardwick, the late Lord Chancellor, who is said to be worth L.800,000, sets the same value on half a crown now as he did when he was only worth one hundred. That great captain, the Duke of Marlborough, when he was in the last stage of life, and very infirm, would walk from the public rooms in Bath to his lodgings in a cold dark night to save sixpence in chair hire. If the duke, who left at his death more than a million and a half sterling, could have foreseen that all his wealth and honours were to be inherited by a grandson of my Lord Trevor's, who had been one of his enemies, would he have been so careful to save

sixpence for the sake of his heir? Not for the sake of his heir; but he would always have saved a sixpence. Sir James Lowther, after changing a piece of silver in George's Coffeehouse, and paying twopence for his dish of coffee, was helped into his chariot (for he was then very lame and intirm), and went home : some little time after he returned to the same coffeethat she had given him a bad halfpenny, and dehouse on purpose to acquaint the woman who kept it manded another in exchange for it. Sir James had about L.40,000 per annum, and was at a loss whom to appoint his heir. I knew one Sir Thomas Colby, who lived at Kensington, and was, I think, a commissioner in the victualling-office; he killed himself by rising in the middle of the night when he was in a very profuse sweat, the effect of a medicine which he had taken for that purpose, and walking down stairs to look for the key of his cellar, which he had inadvertently left on a table in his parlour: he was apprehensive that his servants might seize the key and The rumour was no sooner circulated at Cadiz and rob him of a bottle of port wine. This man died inSeville, that Columbus and his brothers had arrived, testate, and left more than L.200,000 in the funds, loaded with chains, and condemned to death, than it which was shared among five or six day-labourers, gave rise to an immediate expression of public indigwho were his nearest relations. Sir William Smyth nation. The excitement was strong and universal; of Bedfordshire, who was my kinsman, when he was and messengers were immediately dispatched to connear seventy, was wholly deprived of his sight; he vey the intelligence to Ferdinand and Isabella. The was persuaded to be couched by Taylor, the oculist, sovereigns were moved by this exhibition of popular who by agreement was to have sixty guineas if he refeeling, and were offended that their name and authostored his patient to any degree of sight: Taylor rity should have been used to sanction such dishosucceeded in his operation, and Sir William was able nourable violence. They gave orders for the immeto read and write without the use of spectacles during diate liberation of the prisoners, and for their being the rest of his life; but as soon as the operation was escorted to Granada with the respect and honour they performed, and Sir William perceived the good ef. deserved. They annulled all the processes against fects of it, instead of being overjoyed, as any other them, without examination, and promised an ample person would have been, he began to lament the loss punishment for all their wrongs. He was hot, how(as he called it) of his sixty guineas. His contriv. ever, restored to his command at Hispaniola, nor was ance, therefore, now was how to cheat the oculist: he it till many months afterwards that he was placed at pretended that he had only a glimmering, and could the head of an expedition to open a new passage to the see nothing perfectly: for that reason the bandage on East Indies. On the 9th of May 1502, Columbus again his eye was continued a month longer than the usual set sail from Cadiz on a fourth voyage of discovery. time; by this means he obliged Taylor to compound During this voyage he touched at some parts of the the bargain, and accept of twenty guineas; for a coSouth American continent, and also at some of the vetous man thinks no method dishonest which he formerly discovered islands; but he failed in making may legally practise to save his money. Sir William any important discoveries, in consequence of the bad was an old bachelor, and at the time Taylor couched state of his vessels, which were old and unfit for sailing. him, had a fair estate in land, a large sum of money With a squadron reduced to a single vessel, he now in the stocks, and not less than L.5000 or L.6000 in his returned to Spain, where he heard with regret of the house. But to conclude this article: all the dramadeath of his patron Isabella. This was a sad blow to tic writers, both ancient and modern, as well as the his expectations of redress and remuneration. Ferdikeenest and most elegant satirists, have exhausted nand was jealous and ungrateful. He was weary of The following is the mode recommended to destroy their whole stock of wit to expose avarice; this is the a man who had conferred so much glory on his king-worms, or to prevent them from injuring books :- chief subject of Horace's satires and epistles; and yet dom, and unwilling to repay him with the honours "There is a small insect, Aglossa pinguinalis, that the character of a covetous man hath never yet been and privileges his extraordinary services so richly deposits its larvæ in books in the autumn, especially fully drawn or sufficiently explained. The Euclio of merited. Columbus therefore sunk into obscurity, in the leaves nearest the cover. These gradually pro- Plautus, the L'Avare of Moliere, and the Miser of and was reduced to such straitened circumstances, that duce a kind of mites, doing the binding no little in- Shadwell, have been all exceeded by some persons who according to his own account, he had no place to re- jury. But the little wood-boring beetles, Anobium have existed within my own knowledge. pair to except an inn, and very frequently had not pertinax and Striatum, are the most destructive. M. could bestow on a man of this disposition the wealth wherewithal to pay his reckoning. Disgusted and Peignot mentions an instance where, in a public li. of both the Indies, he would not have enough; bemortified by the base conduct of Ferdinand, and ex-brary but little frequented, twenty-seven folio volumes cause by enough (if such a word is to be found in the hausted with the hardships which he had suffered, were perforated in a straight line by the same insect, vocabulary of avarice) he always means something and oppressed with infirmities, Columbus ended his in such a manner that, on passing a cord through the more than he is possessed of. Crassus, who had life at Valladolid, on the 20th of May 1506. He died perfectly round hole made by it, these twenty-seven yearly revenue sufficient to maintain a great army, with a composure of mind suitable to the magnani- volumes could be raised at once. The seat of the mis- perished, together with his son, in endeavouring to mity which distinguished his character, and with chief appears to lie in the binding, and the best pre-add to his store. In the fable of Midas, the poet had sentiments of piety becoming that supreme respect ventive against their attacks is mineral salts, to which exhibited a complete character, if Midas, instead of for religion, which he manifested in every occurrence all insects have an aversion. Alum and vitriol are renouncing the gift which the god had bestowed on of his life. proper for this purpose, and it would be advisable to him, had chosen to die in the act of creating gold.

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Imison, in his Elements of Science, gives the following receipt for taking out spots of grease, and which has been very generally adopted. 'After having gently warmed the paper that is stained with grease, take out as much as possible by means of blotting-paper, then dip a small brush in the essential oil of turpentine, heated almost to ebullition, and draw it gently over both sides of the paper, which must be carefully kept warm. This operation must be repeated as many times as the quantity of the fat body imbibed by the paper, or the thickness of the paper, may render necessary. When the greasy sub. stance is entirely removed, recourse may be had to the following method to restore the paper to its for. mer whiteness, which is not completely restored by the first process. Dip another brush in highly rectified spirit of wine, and draw it in like manner over the place which was stained, and particularly round the edges, to remove the border that would still present a stain. By employing these means with proper caution, the spot will totally disappear, the paper will resume its original whiteness, and if the process has been employed on a part written with common ink, or printed with printers' ink, it will experience no alteration.'"

If you

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Column for the Boys. MY DEAR LITTLE BOYS-I am glad to learn that what I said a few weeks ago regarding the formation of opinions in early life, has not been without its effect upon some of your minds. You are soon about to be engaged in the busy scenes of life, and it is a matter of no small consequence for your future welfare that you should be careful not to do or say any thing that may raise up enemies against you. It is exceedingly unbecoming in any one, but most of all in young people, to laugh at or despise others, either because they are poor in appearance, or possess what are thought odd notions upon any subject whatever. Every one who conducts him or herself with external propriety of behaviour, and is known to be governed by a sound morality, is entitled to respect. It is the vicious which are alone to be shunned: the virtuous, though clothed

in rags, are in all cases deserving of our esteem.

In exercising this amiable spirit of conciliation, which in the language of Christianity is called CHARITY, you will be sure to win favour and make friends; where those who pursue an opposite line of conduct will gain nothing but hatred and enemies. I would beg to warn you in a particular manner against the practice of scoffing at any thing connected with the religious observances and opinions of your fellow. creatures. Here you are loudly called upon to exercise the excellent gift of charity; for unhappily there has ever been, upon this subject, too much acrimony and want of forbearance one towards another. Your chief object ought to be so to adorn your own life with the practice of virtue, as to afford no room for others to call in question your integrity. Remember it is not by a wordy and specious pretension to an adherence this or that form, and a contemptuous sneering at the modes of faith of others, that you will be able to appease your conscience when the period of calm reflection comes at last; it is by solid unimpeachable be. haviour, by practical worth, in the same manner that a tree is entitled to obtain a good or bad character only by the fruits which it is seen to bear. I could not, I believe, better illustrate these simple advices than by telling you the following story from a book, which I have already recommended your papas to purchase for your use, namely, "Minor Morals, by John Bowring," published by Whittaker and Co., London. It is a capital little book for families.

The author thus commences :-"There was a very droll dispute at school to day, papa!" said George; 'one boy insisted that a Latin verse was written one way in the original, another declared it was written another way: the quarrel became so hot that we expected it would have ended in blows; when one of the bigger boys recommended that each should bring his book and it was found that each had quoted the passage correctly from his own copy, but they had different editions, and the text was different."

"It was," said Mr Howard, "only a small display of that intolerance of which there are too many great exhibitions in the world. Each boy thought himself right, and had good reason for thinking so; but there was not the same reason for thinking the other wrong. He had seen his own book with his own eyes, and had, therefore, very sufficient evidence for himself;

but he could not know what evidence the other had had. Hence the folly of expecting every body to think as we think. They will think as we think, if the same reasons are given to them, and if those reasons influence them as they influence us. If they have other reasons unknown to us, or if our reasons appear to them not to warrant our opinions, they cannot think as we think it is impossible, and there is no help for it. But what ought to be helped, and ought to be avoided, is our attempting to punish others because they do not see as we see, or think as we think. This is persecution.

:

"When I was in Lisbon, I was accompanied by a monk to the church of St Anthony. You have heard, perhaps, that the armorial bearings of that beautifully-situated city are a vessel dismasted, but guided through the waters by two crows, one seated on the prow and the other on the stern of the ship. The device is in honour of a miracle said to have been wrought in favour of St Anthony, the patron saint of the Tagus, who, when at sea-some hundreds of years ago-sailing on a mission to the heathen, fancied him. self lost for all the crew of the vessel in which he sailed

we reached a narrow staircase at the foot of the tower.
I ascended after him

Follow me,' said the monk.

the way being only lighted by distant gleams which
the long, long-winding stone steps, the darkness of
broke through the narrow interstices left in the thick
walls; and on reaching the top, the monk pointed out
a huge cage-it was as large as an ordinary sized room
in which were two enormous black crows, gravely
seated on a metal bar. Look there, Senhor,' said
the monk, and bowed his head reverently before the
crows; those are the identical birds which brought
St Anthony hither. And do you doubt the miracle
now ?'

"I doubted, and did not doubt the less in conse-
quence of what I saw. And why did I doubt, Edith ?"
"I suppose, papa, because you did not think they
were the real crows that brought St Anthony to Lis-
bon."

Anthony had been brought to Lisbon by crows at all;

"Even so, my love; and I did not believe that St

and the attempt to convince me that the two crows
were still living, and had lived for many hundreds of
years, was one difficulty more to believe, and not one
difficulty less.

"The monk's reasoning was what logicians call
'begging the question.' He took for granted, the very
thing to be proved, that St Anthony had been escorted
by the crows, and then fancied that his telling me the
crows I saw were the real crows, was to weigh down
all my experience of the habits of the animal, all my
knowledge of natural history, and the very natural
reflection, that it was much more likely there should
be a succession of crows provided by the monk and his
brethren, as the old ones died, than that a perpetual
miracle should be wrought in order to prove the truth
of a very improbable story."

"And did you not tell him, papa, that you could look through the whole of the imposture?" said George. "Did you not tell him that he was a rogue, and that you were not to be duped by his roguery ?"

the homes of ENGLAND.
The stately Homes of England,
How beautiful they stand:
Amidst their tall ancestral trees,
O'er all the pleasant land.

The deer across their greensward bound
Through shade and sunny gleam,

And the swan glides past them with the sound
Of some rejoicing stream.

The merry Homes of England!
Around their hearths by night,
What gladsome looks of household love
Meet, in the ruddy light!

There woman's voice flows forth in song,
Or childhood's tale is told,

Or lips move tunefully along
Some glorious page of old.
The blessed Homes of England!
How softly on their bowers

Is laid the holy quietness

That breathes from Sabbath-hours!
Solemn, yet sweet, the church-bell's chime
Floats through their woods at morn;

All other sounds, in that still time,
Of breeze and leaf are born.

The cottage Homes of England!
By thousands on her plains,
They are smiling o'er the silvery brooks,
And round the hamlet-fanes.
Through glowing orchards forth they peep,
Each from its nook of leaves,
And fearless there they lowly sleep,
As the bird beneath the eaves.

The free, fair Homes of England!
Long, long, in hut and hall,
May hearts of native proof be reared
To guard each hallowed wall!
And green for ever be the groves,
And bright the flowery sod,
Where first the child's glad spirit love
Its country and its God!

66

MRS HEMANS.

"Softly, my impatient boy; that would neither have been prudent nor courteous; it would have done neither me, nor him, nor any body any good. No good to me, for I should have been exposed to some danGASTEN, MARQUIS DE RENTY. ger; the monk would have looked upon me with haThis nobleman was a soldier and a Christian, and had tred, because my expression of incredulity would have a peculiar felicity in reconciling the seeming opposition implied contempt for his opinions, or distrust of his betwixt two different characters. He had a command honesty and veracity; it would have done him no good, in the French army, and had the misfortune to receive for it was his interest to persist in the fraud, and as a challenge from a person of distinction in the same to the facts of the case, he knew more about them than service. The marquis returned for answer by the perI did; and no good to anybody else, for nobody else son that brought the challenge, that he was ready to was present. But it may do good now to you and to convince the gentleman that he was in the wrong, others, for to others you may tell the story, as I may and if he could not satisfy him, he was ready to ask tell it to others. My purpose in telling the story was his pardon. The other, not satisfied with this annot to excite your scorn or dislike towards the monk, swer, insisted upon his meeting him with his sword, who, though he could not believe, against the know- to which he sent this answer: That he was resolved ledge he had, that those identical crows really escorted not to do it, since God and the king had forbidden it; St Anthony up the Tagus, may have believed that St otherwise he would have him know that all the enAnthony was escorted by crows. I did not wish you deavours he had used to pacify him did not proceed to be angry with the monk, or the monk's tale, but I from any fear of him, but of his Creator, and his diswished to ask you two questions. If I had really de-pleasure; that he should go every day about his usual sired and tried to believe the story, could I have done business; and if he did assault him, he would make so, in spite of myself ?" him repent it." The angry man, not able to provoke No, indeed, papa, that would have been impossi-him to a duel, and meeting him one day by chance, ble," said all the children at once; "you would not drew his sword and attacked him, who soon wounded and disarmed both him and his second, with the assistance of a servant that attended him: but then did this truly worthy nobleman show the difference be twixt a brutish and a true courage, for he led them to his tent, refreshed them with wine and cordials, caused their wounds to be dressed, and their swords to be restored to them; then dismissed them with Christian and friendly advice, and was never heard to mention the affair afterwards to his nearest friends. It was a usual saying of his, "That there was more true courage and generosity in bearing and forgiving an injury for the love of virtue, than in requiting it with another in suffering rather than revenging; because the thing was much more difficult: that bulls and bears had courage enough, but it was a brutish courage; whereas ours should be such as should become reasonable creatures and Christians."

have been so foolish."

"And if I could not have believed it, even though I wished to believe it, could I do so because the monk, or any other person, wished me to believe it?"

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Oh, no! no!" they all repeated again and again. "Well, then, my children, the lesson I wished to teach you is this:-Never be angry with any person, merely because his opinion is not your opinion; never be angry because you cannot persuade him to change his opinion; and, above all, never do him an injury, or hesitate about doing him a good, because his opinions and yours are different. Nobody can believe what he likes, however he may try to do so; at all events, if he hears all that is to be said on all sides of a question. Still less can any body believe according to the likings of others. In your conduct to others, be guided by the rule that you should never cause useless pain. In the minds of the best men there is, always has been, and always, perhaps, will be, much difference of opinion as to what is true, but every body knows and feels what is kind, and truth itself is most likely to be found when it is sought for by tolerance and benevolence."

SUPPER AGAINST DINNER.

JACK OF HYLTON.

The following service is due, and has been observed ever since the year 930, from the Lord of Essington to the Lord of Hylton; namely, that the Lord of the Manor of Essington shall bring a goose every newyear's day, and drive it round the tire in the hall of Hylton Castle at least three times, whilst Jack of Hylton (Jack of Hylton is a small hollow brass image or idol, alias an alipile of Saxon origin) is blowing the

After the Lord of Essington has so driven the goose round the fire whilst the image blows it, he carries it into the kitchen at Hylton, and delivers it to the cook, who having killed and dressed it, the Lord of Essington, by way of farther "suit and service," carries it himself to the table of the Lord Paramount of Hylton and Essington, and receives a dish of meat from the said Lord of Hylton's table for his

I have often thought (says Dr Kitchener) to draw
up a memorial in the behalf of SUPPER against DIN
fire.
In NER, setting forth-that the said Dinner has made se-
veral unjustifiable encroachments on the said Supper,
and entered very far upon his frontiers; indeed, that
he has banished him entirely out of several families,
and in all, has driven him from his head-quarters, and
forced him to make his retreat into the hours of mid-
night; and, in short, that he is now in danger of los-
ing his character for ever, by being compelled, in self-
defence, to make similar unreasonable encroachments
upon the territories of his ancient neighbour and old
friend Breakfast.

had perished of plague, and he was left, wholly igno-
rant of navigation, to the mercy of the waves.
his despair, he knelt down to pray, when he saw two
black-pinioned birds descend from heaven, one of
which seized the rudder, and the other perched on the
bow of the ship: by these he was safely conducted to
Portugal. And among the majority of the Portu-
guese there is no more doubt of the miracle than of
the ordinary events of which they have been witnesses
themselves." "Did you believe the story, papa ?"
inquired Edith.

"By no means: though I never said any thing which should show that I felt contempt for the credulity of the Portuguese."

"Come,' said the monk; 'come with me and I will give you such evidence as shall be irresistible.' We walked together under the magnificent arches of the church-between avenues of pillars, on many of which the miracles of the saint were recorded, and

The gentleman who dines the latest
Is, in our street, esteem'd the greatest;
But surely, greater than them all
Is he who never dines at all.

A wag on being told it was the fashion to dine later
and later every day, said, "He supposed it would end
at last in not dining till to-morrow!”

own mess.

LONDON: Published, with Permission of the Proprietors, by ORR
& SMITH, Paternoster Row; G. BERGER, Holywell Street,
Strand: BANCKS & Co., Manchester; WRIGHTSON & WEBB,
Birmingham; WILLMER & SMITH, Liverpool; W. E. SOMER
SCALE, Leeds; C. N. WRIGHT, Nottingham; WESTLEY & Co.
Bristol; S. SIMMS, Bath; J. JOHNSON, Cambridge; W. GAIN,
Exeter; J. PURDON, Hull; G. RIDGE, Sheffield; H. BELLERBY,
York; J. TAYLOR, Brighton; and sold by all Booksellers,
Newsmen, &c. in town and country.

Stereotyped by A. Kirkwood, Edinburgh.
Printed by Bradbury and Evans (late T. Davison), Whitefriars.

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CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM CHAMBERS, AUTHOR OF "THE BOOK OF SCOTLAND," &c., AND BY ROBERT CHAMBERS, AUTHOR OF "TRADITIONS OF EDINBURGH," "PICTURE OF SCOTLAND," &c.

No. 164.

EFFIE.

THERE is no saying more true than that the one-half of the world does not know how the other half lives. It must be acknowledged that those who clothe themselves in silk and fine linen every day, possess, for the most part, a wonderful amount of knowledge respecting the motions of the stars and other heavenly bodiesthe history of nations which flourished before and immediately after the flood-the structure of the materials of the globe-the whole scheme of the animal creation, from an invisible infusoria to the stately giraffe in short, they know a vast deal both of what is useful and what is useless; but with all their stores of information, they generally know nothing of how the myriads of their fellow-creatures, inferior to them in the scale of worldly wealth, find the means of daily subsistence.

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SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 1835.

lation freely and instantly conferred by those who
themselves hardly less require support under their
multifarious and heart-rending distresses. It is also
to be observed, that, mixed up with the miserable and
perhaps the vicious, there are always some individuals
who exert greater energy, and display finer traits of
character. Where there is a prodigate and idle bus-
band, there may be a suffering and industrious wife.
Where the wife is a drunkard and a wretch, the hus-
band, or a grown-up child, or some one connected
with the family, will exhibit a redeeming virtue and
constancy, and contrive to keep the heads of the rest
barely above water. Verily, few Gommorrahs of this
kind are without ten righteous to save from utter ruin
the multitude of the wretched.

PRICE THREE HALFPENCE.

wanting both handles and spouts; you might also see teapots past holding water, with a little earth in them to show they might still do for growing thyme and marjoram at garret windows; hearth-brushes with. out bristles; old pieces of tattered carpet, legs of tables, backs of chairs, broken looking-glasses with the quicksilver mostly worn off; above all was conspicu. ous an immense lot of old blacking bottles and medicine phials, with an extensive variety of old keys of all shapes and sizes. There was likewise visible an assortment of second-hand carpenters' tools, particularly planes for cutting grooves in deals, and forming mouldings for doors and panels. These, and innumerable other odds and ends, especially of wearing apparel, filled Effie's shop, leaving little room for doBesides affording mutual succour in the day of mestic purposes. On the walls and at the entrance trouble, and more or less consorting together, it may were hung up in tempting array a complete wardrobe When we pass along the streets of a crowded city, be said that the poor in many instances live upon of old doubly worn-out shawls, with patterns washed how many objects of misery pass by us unheeded!- what they can gain by dealing with each other in the out of all countenance, shreds of petticoats and gowns, pitied if noticed, perhaps, but in general disregarded, | way of trade. In that humble department of society checked aprons and dirty straw bonnets, coats withshunned, and despised. Yet all these miserable which is ordinarily classed under one great head, there out tails, and tails of coats without bodies, with waistchildren of misfortune, who seem to us on the extreme are many degrees of rank, from the little huckster coat fronts, strings of buttons, and trousers full of verge of poverty, must have some means of living. down to the lowest possible outcast. All rank, it | holes. Such were all hung up in an easy fashion They must contrive to do something to help on the will be remembered, is comparative, and, therefore, against the thickly whitened wall, but wisely secured machine of society, so as to earn a crust of bread and within the precincts of an alley, which many would from eloping up or down the close by means of a cramppurchase shelter for the night. Many, too many, shudder to look into, shall we find a world in minia- stick, which kept them to their respective places. there are who contrive to draw a scanty and precari- ture, a high, a middle, and s lower class, an extreme While making myself acquainted with these inteous subsistence from the daily commission of trans- aristocracy and a democracy, fully typifying what is resting particulars, I was also listening to Effie's story. gressions on the persons and property of their fellow- exhibited on a grander scale in the upper regions of It was the old thing over again. "Married out of a creatures; but it is pleasing to reflect, that there are society. I had lately an opportunity of scraping up a good place-man drank-deserted-left her with a far more, even in the very humblest classes in crowded few particulars illustrative of this state of things. sma' family, and married another woman, whom he cities, who shun the paths of vice, and resort to honest One day, while endeavouring to shorten my way by set off with to Newcastle-not able to get any redress and commendable shifts for the sake of themselves and threading a series of dingey alleys in the more ancient -a poor destitute craiter-taken in at last by a widowtheir little ones. If any one would wish to instruct part of the town, my attention was arrested by a wo- woman who kept a mangle-by her set up in her prehimself in the character and resources of these hum- man poorly yet decently apparelled, who was laying sent shop-all she had to begin with only three shilble denizens of this world, he will require to seek them out some things on a shabby decayed table, planted by lings and ninepence had a sair struggle at first, but in their abodes, and there become acquainted with their way of stall at an open door. I immediately knew in the end got into a way o' doin', and was able to divers processes of economy. These cannot be learned the face; it was that of an old servant of one of my keep a house aboon her head-set her bairns to the from books: they are not yet esteemed worthy of familiar friends, subsequently a humble hanger-on, schule, and pay for a seat in Mr Lothian's meetingbeing put in print. The lives of the abject are too but who had latterly vanished, and been no more house in the Vennel." Such was the sum and sub. prosaic for the pages of the romance writer, and the heard of. "Effie, is it you ?" said I. "'Deed is't, stance of Effie's recital of her history; and it is the philosopher has not yet found them out. Occasion- | sir ; it's naebody but Effe, although she has come to history of too many of her class, with the slight dif. ally they furnish a passing detail to the drawer-up of a low met, when you see her in sic a like place as ference that few are so successful in their efforts to reports for destitute sick societies; and it is reason- this." "How do you manage to live here ?" said I rescue themselves from misery. The most curious able to conclude that they are counted once in ten in reply; "do you keep a shop-do you sell things- part of Effie's harangue was the description of her ways years by the individual, whoever he be, who makes what sort of a business do you carry on ?" "Trowth, and means. She had been planted in a bare cavern up the census of the population. Further than this, sir," continued Effie, "it's no easy to say how I in one of the lowest alleys in the town; and her capithey never flourish in literature. Forgotten and un- mak a leeving; I've ha'en a gay sair feght ae way tal, as I have said, amounted to three-and-ninepence, known, however, as hundreds of thousands thus re- and another, frae first to last; but it's been, I hope, out of which she paid a shilling to get her establish. main from age to age, their lives are not passed without an honest fend in the main, and I wad be bauld to ment registered. With no more than two-and-nine. a share of enjoyment, frequently not without the ex. compleen. I canna just say I keep a shop, yet it's a pence, then, did she commence business. Some may ercise of considerable mental energy, and the display kind o' shop too; at least I buy and sell things, and think, as I was inclined to do, that this was a very of traits of sensibility, such as would scarcely be ex- do what I can in a sma' way to gather twa-three small, a uselessly small capital to embark in trade; pected from their education or their habits. But is bawbees. But may be you'll step in a minute and but let us again recollect, that every thing is great or this wonderful?-are they not human beings, even sit down." I certainly did not despise the humble of | small only by comparison. Two-and-ninepence was though steeped to the lips in poverty, and engaged in fer, and so forthwith picked my steps into an exceed a great sum in a close where the circulating medium a keen struggle with the fell enemy starvation? In- ingly ill-lighted apartment, the ground floor of a was very little seen, and which had a dramshop both deed they are, and susceptible in no mean degree of tenement six or seven stories in height. The room at the head and the foot. A single penny is a great the common feeling in the lot of man. Toiling in was arched overhead, and, originally a cellar, seemed sum to some people: it is of more value to them than obscure garrets, dingey apartments in back courts, or now a nondescript mixture of shop and dwelling- a thousand pounds would be to others. So was it in sunk caverns in antiquated and unwholesome alleys, house, the former quality evidently predominating. the neighbourhood of Effie. No sooner had she opened the better sentiments of the heart expand, flourish, No imagination could picture the assortment of goods shop than she began to get customers. Her business and brighten, where nothing could be expected to grow which were lying about and stored up in this obscure consisted in a great measure of buying things from the and ripen into beauty. The greater the gulf that is emporium of merchandise. There seemed to be a poor people about her, and selling them back again at placed betwixt them and the upper stream of huma- collection of every thing that was useless in creation. a profit. One brought her a door-key, another a pair of nity, the more are they thrown upon their own re- It was a concentration of every thing that was de | old shoes, a third a smoothing-iron, a fourth a wornsources, and a dependence on the kindly assistance of cayed, worn out, and incurable in the domestic sys-out apron, a fifth an old brass candlestick, and a sixth each other. In all their distresses, they find the chie. tem of the poor. There were old coal skuttles, filled succour among themselves. When death lays the fa- with women's cast-off shoes that had been long worn ther of the family low, or when a child is brought into as street slippers, or bauchles; by the side of these the world-which too often may be considered a cala- stood a pile of rusty nails and the smallest pieces of mity more than a matter of rejoicing-then are these old iron, such as bits of latches of doors, hinges, and generous feelings developed, and succour and conso-locks; frying-pans without any bottom, and kettles

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a coal-axe. Bargains such as these varied in value from a penny to twopence-halfpenny, or threepence. Beyond the last sum Effie did not go: threepence was her maximum. Articles of greater value naturally went up to the main street to the pawnbroker's, for they were pawnworthy. The broker's charge of

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