WEEKLY DIARY. JULY. REMARKABLE DAYS. MONDAY, 7.-Thomas & Becket. This haughty prelate was born in London, in the year 1119, and was the son of Gilbert, a merchant, and Matilda, a Saracen lady, who is said to have fallen in love with him when he was a prisoner to her father in Jerusalem. Thomas received the first part of his education at Merton Abbey in Surrey, whence he went to Oxford, and afterwards studied at Paris. In 1159, he made a campaign with King Henry to Toulouse, having in his own pay 1200 horses besides a retinue of 700 knights or gentlemen. His bridle was of silver, his saddle of velvet, his stirrups, spurs, and bosses, double gilt. His expenses far surpassing the expenses of an Earl. He fed with the fattest, was clad with the softest, and kept company with the plea santest. And the king made him [Becket] his chancellor, in which office he passed the pomp and pride of Thomas [Wolsey] Cardinal, as far as the ones shrine passeth the others tomb in glory and riches. And after that he was a man of war, and captain of 5 or 6000 men in full harness, as bright as St. George, and his spear in his hand; and encountered whosoever came against him, and overthrew the jolliest rutter that was in all the host of France. And out of the field, hot from blood-shedding, was he made bishop of Canterbury, and did put off his helm, and put on his mitre; put off his harness, and on with his robes; and laid down his spear, and took his cross, ere his hands were cold; and so came, with a lusty courage of a man of war, to fight another while against his prince for the Pope: when his prince's cause were with the law of God, and the Pope's clean contrary. (Old Tracts cited by Dibdin, in his Bibliomania,' p. 234, note.) REVIEW. Halidon Hill; a Dramatic Sketch. By Sir WALTER SCOTT, Bart. Constable, Edinburgh; Hurst and Co. London. 1822. Halidon Hill is a dramatic sketch, very properly so called, for it is nothing more; written in two acts, and designed, as we are informed, to illustrate military antiquities, and the manners of chivalry. The scene opens with the arrival of Adam de Vipont, a Knight Templar, under the guidance of the Prior of Maison-Dieu, (after an absence of 12 years in the wars of Palestine,) before Halidon Hill, which is occupied by the Regent Douglas. Sir Alan Swinton, a knight of gigantic stature and great prowess, relates to Vipont the reduced number of his followers, and the loss of his four sons in a feud with the Gordons, the vengeance taken for their deaths, and the increased power of the present youthful head of the Gordons. The army of England, under King Edward, is descried, and the Scottish leaders, being summond to meet the Regent, disagree about the array of battle. In the midst of their quarrel, intelligence arrives that the English army is within a mile of their position. Even then their madness continues, and they brawl about the lead of the van. Advised by Swinton, they retire to debate in the Regent's Tent; but the knight is himself excluded, on account of the small number of his followers. Young Gordon, not knowing him, resolves to remain with him. On learning his name from Vipont, he is with difficulty restrained from rushing, sword in hand, on the man by whom his father fell Maxwell issues from the Regent's tent, announcing that all is confusion and uproar within; and Gordon learns that Swinton is the only man in the host, who can put the Scottish army on an equality with the enemy. The Regent and Chiefs now come forth, and Douglas finds a remedy for their contention about the command of the van, in the senseless expedient of waiting the attack of the enemy, as the army stands on the hill, utterly exposed to the English arrow-shot. The madness of this resolve is shewn by Swinton, who asks permission to lead a body of horse to attack the English bowmen, and implores the chiefs to lay aside their feuds in this hour of need. Douglas denies his request, and calls for the youths who expect knighthood from his sword. When Gordon is named, he refuses to be knighted by any but Sir Alan Swinton. The Lords Lennox and Maxwell, recommend the consideration of Swinton's counsel; but the Regent tauntingly replies, that he may attack the English bowmen, with his fair threescore horsemen.' Gordon, how ever, declares his resolution to join him with all his followers. Gordon and Swinton are entirely reconciled, and in Hob Hattely, a notorious cattle reaver, Swinton finds a guide to a flank attack on the English. In Act II. while the English chiefs are impatiently waiting the sounding of the charge, the Abbot of Walthamstow enters, to demand certain tithes withheld from his house by Lord Chandos; and, on the entrance of the King, informs him that Chandos had termed his grace a rat-catcher. Chandos, in return, tells the King that the Abbot had declared it was sinful in the King's chaplain to have caught up a secular weapon, and so to have secured the life and liberty of Edward, when he was in great peril from Swinton in a night attack; and that the chaplain's soul is therefore in purgatory. The King questions the Abbot sharply, who is glad to compound with Chandos for his tithes, so he will take off the King. Chandos immediately sees, in front of the army, that which induces Edward to command the attack to be made instantly. Great havoc is made by the English bowmen, when Swinton and Gordon are descried rushing forward from a thicket under the hill, and the King rushes out crying, to the rescue Lords, to the rescue! ha, St. George, St. Edward. Swinton and Gordon are victorious over the English vanguard; and Gordon relates his love, and the accomplishments of the lady of whom he is enamoured. Vipont enters, and they learn that no aid is sent to them from the main arm. Swinton would fain provide for the safety of Gordon by sending him to the Regent; but he refuses to go, and they once more charge the enemy. They fall, desperately wounded-the English pass over them, and they see the flight of their countrymen. Swinton dies-Edward enters, attended by the British leaders, and Baliol the pretender to the Scottish crown.-Gordon rushing on them with Vipont, is made prisoner, and immediately after sinks down and dies. There is something grand in the devoted spirit in which Gordon follows Swinton, surrendering his hereditary hatred to the exigen cies of his country. But the incident, as related, seems altogether beyond our nature. It were indeed a sublime spectacle, to behold a young man performning the last pious offices,, and closing, with a friendly hand, the dying eyes of him by whom his father fell: but that man is not the individual to whom he would in any situation, much less in the midst of carnage, discourse of the power possessed by his mistress to move the feelings by her skill in music. The clamor made by the Abbot for his tithes, in the front of two armies on the very point of engaging, is altogether improbable. And this incident is the more objectionable, not only as it involves none of those sublime sentiments which accompany the other, as proper to the sacrifice of deadly hatred; but as it borders on the ridiculous. THE RING. BY THE AUTHOR OF THE MAGIC LANTERN." Walking up St. James's Street a few days ago, I was attracted by some very beautiful specimens of bijouterie, displayed for sale in the window of shop; and seeing a very curious antique ring, set in diamonds, labelled for a sum that I fancied beneath its value, I was tempted to purchase it. Examining my bargain while sitting in my easy chair after dinner, ring being the last subject of my thoughts, gave rise I dropped asleep, as is my usual custom; and the to the following dream. I thought that, while ia the act of contemplating my new purchase, it thus addressed me-and, however unnatural and improbable it may seem, that an inanimate object should be gifted with the power of speech, yet, with the usual incoherence of a dream, all appeared to me perfectly correct. into your possession for a comparatively trifling sum. Though you see me now with my lustre dimmed by Do not undervalue me because this day I came age, and want of care, time was, that I wore a different aspect. In my fate you will see the lot of all sublanary grandear, and I shall therefore relate to you my eventful history. 'I was purchased in Rome, where I was examined and admired by many virtuoso: but a young Englishman, on his travels, no sooner saw me than he wished to possess me. Doubtful, however, of his own skill as a connoisseur, he determined on consulting a person considered a perfect judge in such matters; and with all the unsuspicious openness of his countrymen, told my owner so. No sooner had he left the house, than my master hastened to the virtuoso that the Englishman had nained as the arbiter of my destiny and having originally demanded double my value, be now offered a handsome douceur to the antiquary, if he could, by his commendations, ensure my sale to the young amateur. Those two precious Romans soon came to a perfect understanding; în a day or two the bargain was made, and I was consigned to the care of my new master. Though I disliked the still it was not without a pang that I bade adieu to cupidity of my late owner, and wished to leave him, the lovely cameos and intaglios that had been so long my neighbours in the same drawer; and the precious antique gems that had been so often in close contact with me, never appeared to possess so many charms as in the moment that I was torn from them for ever. My vanity, however, consoled me for the separation; for it had been cruelly wounded by having overheard my crafty countryman say, that he had two lales, one on a beryl, and another on a sardonyx, both far superior to me, who am, as you perceive, an-agate. and that he heartily wished me off his hands, as mo one bat an Englishman would buy me. My new master having looked at me with a carelessness that bespoke him as little interested sas skilled in antiques, consigned me to his writing-box: where I lay side by side with many other articles of virtu, and surrounded by all the gages d'amour with which he had been favoured since he left college. Here I lay in inglorious obscurity for some time; for, though my prison was frequently opened, to draw from it a fresh supply of money, I remained unnoticed. At length, by finding my cage moved about, I guessed that a change in my destiny was taking place, and I soon discovered, by the rumbling motion and rude jolts which I experienced, that I was leaving my native city, the once proud and imperial capital of the world. I shall pass over the grief which this parting caused me; nor shall I dwell on the desagrémens that took place between my fellow-travellers and myself on the journey; our careless master had bestowed so little attention in packing us, that we frequently experienced some of the unpleasant rubs of life. The glass that covered a portrait fell a victim to one of the quarrels, and some beautiful Roman shells were shattered into fragments. We proceeded to Florence, and thence to Paris, where we took up our abode; and we had not been long there, when I observed that my prison was never opened that my master did not exhibit certain symptoms of chagrin and impatience which boded something disagreeable. One day he seized my cage with a violence that threatened its annihilation, and flattered me with the hope of liberty: but the lock soon obeyed his hand; and from the frequent exclamations I heard him utter, of cursed fool!' stupid dupe!' stingy father!' I guessed that something unusual had occured and I found he was writing to solicit from his father fresh supplies. His application failed of success, but brought him a recal. We soon bade adieu to Paris, and set out for England,-that country, of whose wealth I had heard so much, and whose sons have been considered as the natural prey of the artful and designing. "The scene I had witnessed conveyed no favonrable impression of England; and I could not help ejaculating to myself, is this, then, that famed land of freedom of which I have so often heard; and whose laws and protection of private property are so frequently held up to admiration? How prone are mankind to misrepresent and exaggerate; and how ill-governed must this same England be, and how defective its laws, when the goods for which an individual has paid his money, and which, of course, have become his property, are taken from him without even the civility of an excuse, and this by the very officers employed to carry their boasted laws into effect! I made many more wise reflections on laws and governments, but of which, as they do not concern my history, I shall spare you the recital; let it suffice to say, that no where had I beard law and justice so violently denounced as in an English Custom House: and there it was I first learned that they are not synonymous terms. The motion of the vehicle, as we rolled along from Dover towards London, was so different from that to which I had hitherto been accustomed, that I concluded the roads in England to be much better, or that some peculiar excellence appertained to English horses or postillions. My travelling companions and I agreed much better; and, during my journey from Dover to the metropolis, we maintained our equilibrium with perfect decorum, and had not a single rupture. We arrived in the British capital on a fine evening in May; and I was the next morning released from the narrow precints of my prison, and consigned, with some other articles of virtu, to the fair sister of my master. She admired me extremely; but returned me to her brother, with the observation, that he had better reserve me for the finger of a fair female friend of hers, to whom he was to be present at dinner; but to all bis inquiries as to the name of this fair unknown, she declined giving any information. "The first gleam of light that visited me in England shone through the dusty panes of a window in the Custom House at Dover; where my prison was unceremoniously opened, and my companions "I was placed on the dressing table of my master, and myself exposed to the view of a crowd of spec- and could not help observing that, when attiring himtators, amidst a heap of clothes-bags, dressing- self for dinner this day, he bestowed more than his cases, portfeuilles, portmanteaus, china, artificial usual care in arranging his neckcloth, and giving his flowers, &c. &c. &c Never shall I forget the hair that careless waving flow so much admired by scene that presented itself to me. The looks of in-travelled beaus. I had hitherto fancied that the male exorable rigidity of the Custom House officers,— sex were superior to the minor considerations of the pale faces of the owners of the various proper- personal decorations; but I now discovered that no ties, which told a piteous tale of sufferings past, blooming nymph of seventeen, at her first presentaand from which they had not yet recovered,- the tion, could have taken more pains. in displaying her soiled dresses, mis shaped hats and bonnets, and uncharms to the best advantage, than did my master on curled ringlets falling over languid cheeks,-showed the present occasion. I felt considerable interest to the ladies in no very favourable point of view; while know the result of his interview with the fair unknown, the unshorn chins and rumpled neckcloths of the but had no means of gratifying my curiosity. I regentlemen, betrayed that they had not escaped the marked, however, that from this eventful day, he disasters of the briny element. Each individual appeared more than usually anxious to adorn his stood close to his or her property; and all personal person to the best advantage; and, at the end of a suffering appeared to be forgotten in the anxiety few weeks, I observed him draw a small turquoise which they felt to recover their possessions from the ring from his finger, which he kissed with a rapture ruthless fangs of the Custom House officers. One that excited my astonishment, mingled with indignalady was declaring that a piece of fine Mechlin lace, tion, that an ornament so inferior to myself could be found in her band-box, was English manufacture; so valued, while I was left whole weeks unnoticed and another was insisting that a piece of French silk, on his dressing-table, or only casually touched by the which was discovered peeping through her pocket- housemaid when arranging the room. At length I hole, was merely the lining of her dress. Innumerwas one day taken up, and conveyed by my master to able female voices, all speaking together, were a celebrated jeweller, to whose care he consigned me, heard around, making confusion doubly confused; with particular injunctions to have me reset, enwhile the gentlemen, who appeared less able to circled with diamonds, and made to the size of a argue with the revenue officers, contented themselves very small gold ring which he left as a pattern. He with undervaluing their properties, that the duties gave innumerable directions, expressive of his anxmight be proportionally reduced. I made one reflec-iety to have me completed; all of which convinced tion on the scene around me, which was, that the female sex are all addicted to dealing in contraband goods or smuggling, as it was there called; for out of above fifty ladies present, there was not one who did not endeavour to defraud the revenue. me that I was designed for the finger of some fair "My mistress seemed excessively pleased with hair or dress, and as frequently expressed her admiration of me, which not a little excited my vanity; but my self-complacency was much abated by discovering that she admired the diamonds that surrounded me more than myself, and my respect for ber was much decreased by ascertaining, from her observations, that she was totally unskilled in antiques. For about a year I retained the post of honour with my new mistress; but towards the close of that period, I discovered a visible alteration in her; of which, as it affected her treatment of me, I took particular notice. The first symptom I observed was a want of cordiality between her and my ci devant master. Occasional differences took place between them, conducted on both sides with much warmth; and I noticed that a male visitor, who was very assiduous in his attention, seemed to have taken a great fancy either to my mistress's hand or myself, for he frequently pressed both between his, and as frequently raised them to his lips, though gently reprimanded for it by the lady. At length, one day he removed me drawing off the plain gold ring that I had so faithfrom the fair finger I had so long encircled; and then fully guarded, replaced it by one of nearly a similar kind, and then restored me to my former station, having consigned my old companion to his pocket. 'I felt, or fancied that I felt, my mistresses hand agitated by a tremulous emotion, and a drop that, save from its warmth, I should have taken for crystal, at that moment fell on me, and was hastily brushed away by the lips of the gentleman. I felt indignant at being robbed of this liquid pearl, which, to my prophetic soul, appeared like the last memorial of departing purity, nor could I be reconciled to the new companion who had usurped the place of my old one, to which habit and its unobtrusive qualities had endeared me. The next day my Mistress took advantage of the absence of her husband to elope with her lover, and though pressed by him to remove me for a ring of great beauty and value that he had provided as a substitute, she expressed such a desire still to retain me, that, though with a visible degree of chagrin, he consented to permit me to occupy my old station, and placed his gift on a finger of the right hand. By I soon observed many symptoms of unhappiness in my mistress; I was frequently bedewed with the tears that trickled down her pale cheek, as the hand to which I belonged supported it; and the same hand was often pressed to her burning forehead, as if to still the throbbing pulse that agonized her there. degrees the once snowy hand lost its fairness, and assumed a sickly yellow hue; the once finely rounded taper finger which I had so closely encircled, shrunk from my embrace. Yet still my unhappy mistress seemed to wish to retain me, and, by twisting several silken threads round me, she again secured me; but, alas! in a few days I felt an unusual coldness steal over the attenuated finger, which was succeeded by a rigidity that gave it the feel and semblance of marble." At this moment my servant, entering the room, awoke me, and interrupted a dream, the impression of which was so vivid, as to leave the traces of tears on my cheek.' DIRECTIONS FOR THE RECOVERY OF (Published by the Humane Society of London.) 1.-As soon as the patient is taken out of the water, the wet clothes, if the person is not naked at the time of the accident, should be taken off with all convenient expedition on the spot, (unless some convenient house be very near) and a great coat or two, or some blankets, if convenient, should be wrapped round the body. 2. The patient is to be thus carefully conveyed in the arms of three or four men, or on a bier, to the nearest public or other house, where a good fire, if in the winter season, and a warm bed can be made ready for its reception. As the body is conveying to this place, a great attention is to be paid to the position of the head; it must be kept supported in a natural and easy posture, not suffered to hang down. 3. In cold or moist weather, the patient is to be laid on a mattrass or bed before the fire, but not too near, or in a moderately heated room; in warm or sultry weather, on a bed only. The body is then to be wrapped as expeditiously as possible with a blanket, and thoroughly dried with warm eloths or flannels. coarse 4. In summer or sultry weather too much air cannot be admitted. For this reason it will be necessary to set open the windows and doors, as cool refreshing air is of the greatest importance in the process of resuscitation. 5. Not more than six persons are to be present to apply the proper means; a greater number will be useless, and may retard or totally prevent, the restoration of life, by rendering the air of the apartment unwholesome. It will be necessary, therefore, to request the absence of those who attend merely from curiosity. 6. It will be proper for one of the assistants, with a pair of bellows of the common size, applying the pipe a little way up one nostril, to blow with some force, in order to introduce air into the lungs; at the same time the other nostril and the mouth are to be closed by another assistant, whilst a third person gently presses the chest with his hands, after the lungs are observed to be inflated. By pursuing this process, the noxious and stagnant vapours will be expelled, and natural breathing imitated. If the 'pipe of the bellows be too large, the air may be blown in at the mouth, the nostrils at the same time being closed, so that it may not escape that way: but the lungs are more easily filled, and natural breathing better imitated, by blowing up the nostril. 7. Let the body be gently rubbed with common salt, or with flannels, sprinkled with spirits, as rum or geneva. A warming-pan heated (the body being surrounded with flannel) may be lightly moved up and down the back. Fomentations of hot brandy are to be applied to the pit of the stomach, loins, &c. and often renewed. Bottles filled with hot water, heated tiles covered with flannel, or hot bricks, may be efficaciously applied to the soles of the feet, palms of the hands, and other parts of the body. The temples may be rubbed with spirits of hartshorn, and the nostrils now and then tickled with a feather; and snuff, or eau-de-luce, should be occasionally applied. 8.-Tobacco fumes should be thrown up the fundament: if a fumigator be not at hand, the common pipe may answer the purpose. The operation should be frequently performed, as it is of importance; for the good effects of this process have been experienced in a variety of instances of suspended animation. But should the application of tobacco smoke in this way not be immediately convenient, or other impediments arise, clysters of this herb, or acrid infasions with salt, &c. may be thrown up with advantage. 9. When these means have been applied a considerable time without success, and any brew-house or warm bath can be readily obtained, the body should be carefully conveyed to such place, and remain in the bath, or surrounded with warm grains, for three or four hours. If a child has been drowned, its body should be wiped perfectly dry, and immediately placed in bed between two healthy persons. The salutary effects of the natural vital warmth, conveyed in this manner, have been proved in a variety of successful cases. 10. While the various methods of treatment are employed, the body is to be well shaken every ten minutes, in order to render the process of animation more certainly successful; and children, in particular, are to be much agitated, taking hold of their legs and arms, frequently and for a continuance of time. 11. If there be any signs of returning life, such as sighing, gasping, or convulsive motions, a spoonful of any warm liquid may be administered; and if the act of swallowing is returned, then a cordial of warm braudy or wine may be given in small quantities, and frequently repeated. The methods which have been fully described, are to be employed with vigour for three hours or¡ ADVERTISEMENTS. upwards, although no favourable circumstances should arise, for it is a vulgar and dangerous opinion to suppose that persons are irrecoverable, because life does not soon make its appearance; an opinion that THE REV. J. J. TAYLOR, A. B. respectfully has consigned to the grave an immense number of the seemingly dead; who might have been restored to life by resolution and perseverance.* Bleeding is never to be employed in such cases, unless by the direction of a medical assistant. FASHIONS FOR JULY. MORNING DRESS. The morning dress is composed of colonnade stripe muslin, worked round the bottom to correspond with the stripe, and trimmed with four narrow worked flounces, the upper one finished with a double row of cord. The body fastens behind, plain and high. but a little open towards the throat; trimmed with in the same delicate work that decorates the cape, which there are two rows, seperated by a puffing of plain book-muslin, through which a lilac ribbon is drawn. The cape is square at the shoulder, where it finishes; but the upper row of trimming is continued to the bottom of the waist, adding to the gracefulness of the form. The cap is elegantly simple, of the cottage form, and composed of beautiful India worked muslin and Mechlin lace, tastefully decorated with fancy lilac ribbon. Shoes, lilac kid. EVENING DRESS. Round dress of delicately striped net, over a white satin slip; the bottom of the dress extended by a double rouleau of rich white satin; above which are elegant festoons, arranged transversely, of puffed crèpe lisse, confined diagonally by three narrow rouleans of white satin, and finished at the top with small clusters of the blue convolvulus. The corsage dis plays the chastest taste, cut round, and edged with a cornelian. English Ambassador.-An ambassador from England, on being presented to one of the Kings of Spain, was told to do some particular homage, which, as being rather inconsistent with the instructions of his master, and too humiliating for the character he had the honour to bear, he begged leave to decline. Highly piqued at this imaginary insult, and desirous of putting the ambassador out of countenance for it, the king cried aloud to the courtiers around him, "What! has my good brother of England no other men in his court, that he has sent me a fool to represent him?" O yes, may it please your, majesty," replied the ambassador ; my master has many men about him, far wiser than me; but he makes it an invariable rule, to suit every ambassador to the king at whose court he is about to preside.” LITERARY NOTICES. Nearly ready, Werner; or, the Inheritance, a Drama, in five acts. By the Right Hon. Lord Byron. The fifth edition of Miss Neale's Sacred History, in familiar dialogues, is in the Press. The Poetical Works of Barry Cornwall, now first collected. A new Edition of The Florist's Manual, or Hints for the Construction of a Gay Flower Garden. By and Botanical Dialogues," Authoress of the "Sketches of Vegetable Life." A foreign journal states, that Count Las Casas is going to publish the MS. which was taken from him at St. Helena, and which the English ministry has restored to him. Such a work will doubtless contain a multitude of new facts relative to the captivity of Napoleon Buonaparte. informs his Friends and the Public, that he will resume his Instructions in Classics, History, Belles Lettres, &c. on Monday, 5th of August. No. 1, Dickinson-street. This day are published, beautifully printed in 6 vols. 8vo. with vignette title pages, price £3 12s. in boards, THE HISTORICAL ROMANCES of the Author of Waverley; comprising IVANHOE, the MONASTERY, the ABBOT, and KENILWORTH.-Printed for Archibald Constable and Co. Edinburgh; and Hurst, Robinson and Co. London.-The engravings which embellish the title. pages of this edition are from designs by Nasmyth, of real scenes supposed to be described by the Author of these Novels. As above may be had, the NOVELS and TALES of the Author of Waverley; comprising WAVERLEY, GUY MANNERING, the ANTIQUARY, ROB ROY, and TALES OF MY LANDLORD, 1st. 2nd. and 3rd. Serics, 12 vols. 8vo. Price £7 4s. in boards. We this week (in addition to our usual quantity of matter) present our Subscribers with a page of Music, composed expressly for the Iris, and arranged for the Piano Forte by Mr. Bardsley, of this town. TO CORRESPONDENTS. We have received "Retaliator's" letter, but næst decline inserting it. He seems to have forgotten that there are some things too contemptible for notice.-We are not going to "run a-muck, and tilt at all we meet." We have inserted A. A.'s communication.-His letters we shall always be happy to receive, if he continue, accord. ing to his own voluntary assurance, to abstain from reflections on particular individuals. We concur with P. S. in thinking the price of beer onglit to be reduced.-P. S. does not, however, suggest any expedient to effect the reduction.-If the frequenters of taverns were to abstain, for a short time, from going to those places, we think they would experience other benefits besides the diminution of price. "M.'s" song has been received.-We think the authoress capable of something better, and we hope to hear from her again. We shall always treat the lucubrations of onr fair correspondents with respectful attention. "A Foreigner," complains rather too harshly of the female dress now in fashion.-We entertain an utter aversion to long waists as well as our correspondent; but we are happy to find, that at present, all ladies of sense and respectability preserve a medium. In answer to R. P.'s question, we have no hesitation to declare that we approve of the proposal to establish a Botanical Garden, and shall be happy to assist in any way to promote an object so desirable The letter signed "Theatre," has been received.-We should be glad to hear from him on any other subject. Our Rochdale Correspondent, Philarithinns, Peter Puzzlem, and Newtoniensis, are informed that we cannot receive letters, unless free of expence. Serapiana, No. 6,-" Civis," on Female Education,—“ A Friend," in reply to " (),"-Another Querist,-The Letter from Oldham, Mathematics, and several other Articles, are unavoidably deferred until next week. Castigator,-Another Botanist,-Sod.-Non Ego.-T. T.Caper,-Kearswell, and Nugent, came to hand. Letter-Box in the Boor Manchester: Printed, Published, and Sold, by the Proprietors, HENRY SMITH AND BROTHERS, St. Ann's Square, to whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed. FOR THE IRIS. "THE CLUB." No. XII.-FRIDAY, JULY 5, 1822. The garden then unfolds a beauteous scene, TASSO. ALTHOUGH we have been favoured with letters from several correspondents, we have not hitherto thought proper to publish any of their communications. Our reserve in this particular, has arisen, generally speaking, from a very sincere regard for the reputation of the writers. We did not wish to expose the bad taste of those who found fault with our lucubrations; and we were, at least, equally tender with respect to the bad writing of some who admired them. We have, to be sure, received from those who profess to be our friends, several letters of advice, to which neither of these objections could be made. But what is it to the world, (by which term we mean, of course, the readers of the Iris) that one friend exhorts us to study Cobbett on cash payments; that another recommends to us a treatise on heaven and hell, by the honourable Emanuel Swedenborg; that a third desired us to be very severe upon the dandies; that a fourth calls for some remarks on the ladies' stays; and that a fifth bids us mind our business, and leave essay writing to those who have no better employment? SATURDAY, JULY 13, 1822. great favourite with us. Indeed we are almost HARRIET HYACINTH. Oxford-Road, June 27, 1822. We shall doubtless be readily pardoned, even by the writers themselves, for not preI am certainly," said the Doctor, who now senting these letters, at full length, to the took up the subject, "a friend to the projected public. But there is one, which was read by institution, both from its connection with my the Secretary this evening, which, being the profession, and from the pleasure which I first we have received from a lady, and upon have found in botanical studies. Botanical a subject of general interest, we have deter- gardens, in which plants are methodically mined to print without alteration or abridg-arranged, are of the greatest utility, in commu ment. MR. MEDIUM, SIR,-I and my friends are constant readers of the Iris; which appears on the breakfast table as the Spectator did on that of our great grandmothers. We find Messrs. Smiths' nicely printed paper a great help to conversation, and we feel indebted to our ingenious townsmen who write in it. Your Club is a nicating a knowledge of the Linnean system. Advertisements.-The last column of the Iris is open to such advertisements only as are of a Literary or Scientific nature, comprising Education, Institutions, Sales of LAbraries, &c. PRICE 3 d. They comprise, in a comparatively small space, the productions of all parts of the world; and the wondering spectator passes, in a few minutes, from considering the minute beauties of plants, which are natives of the Andes, or of Himalayah, to contemplate the superb vegetables, which rise to a majestic height, beneath the fervid beams of a tropical sun. "In truth Doctor," said the tradesman, rather abruptly, " you seem to me to attach too much importance to this project. I should like the thing well enough, as an agreeable place of resort in fine weather; but, as to the study of botany, I have now and then looked into books on the subject, but finding only a heap of harsh and uncouth terms, I was soon tired, and shall not be easily induced to resume my acquaintance with a science, in my opinion, so little agreeable." "If," replied the Doctor, "you had persevered a little longer in the study of botany, you would have discovered in those very terms which appeared so uncouth, a thousand proofs of the profound genius of Linneus. It is principally for the nice adaptation of his terms to the objects which he describes, that I admire the illustrious author of the sexual system. It is common to recommend the study of the learned languages, or of mathematics, as a mental discipline, but for my part, though I certainly do not wish to undervalue either one or the other, I must yet give it as my opinion, that, for awakening the attention, and strengthening the powers of the mind, nothing can be more effectual than the study of systematic botany." "You have mentioned the system of Linneus," said the tradesman, "as the sexual system, pray have not some objections been made to it on this ground? I do not mean to the correctness of the theory, but to the immoral tendency of the language." "It is true," answered the Doctor, "that some persons, either perverting or mistaking the language of Linneus, have made such objections. In my opinion their remarks are unfounded and unjust.. Nothing but innocence and purity can naturally be associated with this study: and I perfectly agree with Dr. Smith, that the man who attempts to stain its purity, by the introduction of any idea of a contrary tendency, can be likened only to the fiend entering into the paradise of God, and polluting by his presence the native abode of innocence and bliss. Admitting, Doctor," said the Antiquarian, "that for the reasons you have assigned, the study of botany may be recommended to medical men, or to students and men of science generally; yet you must remember that such persons make a very small proportion of our 66 population. I should like a botanical garden For him the Spring Of Autumn tinges every fertile branch * I had followed, for upwards of a mile, the course of the burn which I have before described as flowing beneath the walls of D. It is a sweet meandering stream. Here it rushes swiftly over a narrow rocky channel, between ruddy scaurs and purple banks of heath, and there it winds gently round some fertile haugh, which belted with its natural zone of alders or willows, beats the finest efforts of a Bridgeman or a Repton. The vale had gradually grown deeper and narrower. Lofty rocks arose on each side, over which appeared pendent branches of the mountain ash, the birch, or the yew; and, from their crannies, sprang clusters of wild roses, and woodbines, and bushes of hazel, or black-thorn. The gay flowers of the foxglove, the mountain daisy, and the harebell, sought to throw an air of cheerfulness over a scene that otherwise was sombre in its aspect: the light of the sun but dimly shone upon the torrent, which was deeply tinged with that dark brown hue more or less perceptible in all the mountain streams of the north, acquired On turning a projecting point of the rock, I was prompted to enter the mansion so singularly placed. The silence and desolation of the scene would have induced me to suppose it uninhabited, had not the smoke issuing from its chimney declared the contrary. Two windows, originally less than two feet square, but now reduced by old rags and pieces of board to less than half that size, served but to render darkness visible over the greater part of the room: one of them, however, evidently intended by its architect to light the chimney-nook, threw a broad glare of light over the sole inmate of the apartment, who, seated on a log of wood, was busily occupied in replenishing a peat fire, which it is well known requires pretty constant attention. The person thus employed was a female far advanced in the vale of years, and by no means of pleasing aspect. Her skin appeared of a hue somewhat resembling smoked parchment, and her features were harsh and masculine. The fire brightly gleaming over her grotesque form, which was partly concealed in the shade, would have afforded a fine study for a Teniers or a Rembrandt. I had always been ready to join with those who laughed at their more credulous and superstitious neighbours, that credited the tales of witches, bogles, and other 'habitants of air;' and did not suppose it possible that a feeling such as I experienced during my conversation with this miserable old woman, could have pervaded me. But He jests at scars that never felt a wound, and let the most sceptical be left alone, in a gloomy situation, with some unfortunate neighbour supposed to be no canny,' and I dare predict they will feel sensations of a peculiar nature. There is in human beings a love of the marvellous and a natural inclination towards superstition, that, however we may affect to despise it in our cooler moments, wili at such times predominate; nor is it surprising that this should be the case. Independent of the tales of the nursery, and the school, that insidiously work into our minds, and leave effects during after-life, any thing uncommon, or any effect to which we are at a loss in assigning a cause, is apt to raise thoughts and doubts of a superstitious nature; and I candidly confess that I, at the time alluded to, experienced, I will not say fear, but certainly an indescribable sensation somewhat allied to it. Anxious to lead my hostess into rational conversation, that I might satisfy the cravings of curiosity which I felt as to the history of this singular being, I observed, in reply to her last speech, 'You may yet live many years; you seem strong and hale, my good woman. I shall never forget the tone in which she repeated the word good. It rapidly conveyed across my brain the ideas that she felt a mixture of remorse for its inapplicability, and yet a species of contempt for those to whom it would be more generally applied. Aye,' continued she, guid is a bonny word-it is no often I get it, but I was guidance; guid!' As I greeted her with some common-place muttered she in her teeth. Then beckoning salutation, she turned round and afforded me me to approach her, and throwing a strange a full view of a face that I had previously seen air of deep earnestness into her voice and but in profile. It was an old woman's with manner, she said in a half whisper, ‘No, no— the eyes of youth: they had lost none of their ye maun not give me that name-ye maun fire, and afforded a striking contrast with the call the laird guid who harries his tenants o' grey locks and shrivelled countenance by their last bit o' plenishing-ye maun call the which they were surrounded. "Tis seldom labourer guid who earneth not his hire-or the the foot of a stranger passeth my lintel-be steward who cheateth his lord-or the bairn thy errand good or evil?' These words, that breaketh a parent's heart-but me !-no, spoken in a hoarse raven-like voice, added to no, guid is not the word for auld Kate.'the want of an ostensible cause for my intru-What crime have you been guilty of, that sion, prevented my immediate reply to her. you thus blame yourself?'-' Just no crime at Taking advantage of my silence, she con- all-it is no punishable offence I assure ye— tinued-Lang, lang is it syne the gentles no-what if I did murder him, he gave me come to visit me: mony a wintry blast hath guid cause-it was by slow poison.'' How!' blawn past me, and mony a fair lass's corpse interrupted I, you could not commit such a is rotted in the kirkyard-1 had thought to deed?'No,' said she, mechanically, 'it is have spent my last breath without seeing the impossible, but I might murder him for all een of a stranger again-and ye ha' come to that: I have a heart, for all so withered as I molest me.'- Far from it,' replied I, I only look, and I ance loved and was loved, and I came to beg to shelter under your roof, whilst ance was a gay and bonny young maidena cloud which threatens a shower blows past, now could ye think that, Sir?' asked she in and —‘Aweel, aweel, Sir, you're welcome, an altered tone, and an air of such childish but a poor place ha' I to offer to you.-But simplicity, that I unconsciously answered in who be you? A stranger on a visit at D-,' the negative. 'But it is varry true-oh: Sir,' replied I. I ken not the place-oh! aye, said she, laying her hand on her heart, my ye'll be meaning the Manor House-that was spring was far too bonny, and now I ha' owre the name it got when I was young; but they bitter a winter-I'm could, could here?— give a' things fresh names now!-mine was Catherine Hetherton, but now it is Crazy Kate, or, may be, the ould doited witch, or the daft body o' Glenshee; weel, weel, there's a warld without change, and I'll soon be there I deem.' How long have you lived in this lonely place?' asked I-Ever syne I did the deed I have debarred me from people, and kith and kin, and I fled my ain land for lang-and I lived in a brighter country, and had all a body could wish for-but what does it signify when |