Part 2

This ancient proverb is found in Horace; and there is one in Italian like it. The BEGINNING only is hard and costs dear.

We often have great reluctance in setting about an appointed task, the apparent difficulty continuing to increase with delay; but once engaged in it, we proceed with pleasure until it is completed. It is the case in those “trifles which make the sum of human beings.” The young scholar wants courage to set about his lesson in time; the friend, or man of business, to answer a letter or acquire some point of useful information: and to go higher in the application of the maxim, it tells us, that to begin to do good leads on to continued improvement. So the Italians say, BEGIN _your web_, _and God will supply you with thread_! Akin to this, are two valuable proverbs, which chide us for indecision and needless hesitation, _Procrastination is the thief of time_: and

_To do what’s right make no delay_, _For life and time slide fast away_.

Birds of a feather flock together.

Persons of similar manners are fond of associating together; but the bad particularly: indeed, when their characters are known, they cannot easily get other companions. Hence it is a saying,—

_Tell me with whom thou goest_, _And I will tell thou what thou doest_!

_These who sleep with dogs rise up with fleas_. _It is bad company that brings men to the gallows_. Burckhardt in his collection of Arabic proverbs, gives the following remarkable one:—_He who introduces himself between the onion and the peel_, _goes not forth without its strong smell_. But on the other hand we have in the Spanish, _Associate with the_ GOOD, _and thou shall be esteemed one of them_.

One Bird in the Hand is worth two in the Bush; and the Italians say, Better have an egg to-day than an hen to-morrow. But this carries the idea too far. Ray, quotes another, which is much better.—

_He that leaves certainty_, _and sticks to chance_, _When fools pipe_, _he may dance_.

This adage, like the fable of the dog and the shadow, advises us not to part with what we actually possess, on the distant prospect of some doubtful or uncertain profit. It seems a kind of madness in any one who has a competence, or is exercising with fair success any business or profession, to hazard all in pursuit of some new scheme, which, however promising in appearance, may fail and involve him in ruin. And yet how many are the victims of this! How many instances in our own country do the records of the year 1825 supply.

_London Post-Office_.

THE ordinary business of each day is, in letters in the inland office alone, 35,000 letters received, and 40,000 sent (23,475,000 annually); exclusive of the numbers in the foreign office department and the ship-letter office, and altogether independent of the two-penny post. The number of newspapers daily varies from 25,000 to 60,000 (on Saturday 40,000, and on Monday 50,000), of which number about 20,000 an put into the office ten minutes before six o’clock. After that hour each newspaper is charged one half-penny, which yields a revenue of fully £1,000 a year, and of which 240,000 newspapers are annually put into the office from six to a quarter before eight o’clock. The revenue derived from charges for early delivery in London is £4 000, and the sum obtained by the charges of _one penny_ on each letter given to the postmen, who go round with bells to collect the letters, is £3,000 a year, giving 720,000, or pearls 2,000 daily. The revenue of London is 6,000 a week, above £300,000 a year; and yet of all this vast annual revenue there has only been lost by defaulters £200 in twenty-five years. The franks amount in a morning to 4,000 or 5,000, or more. Newspapers can only be franked for foreign parts to the first port at which the mail arrives; after this they are charged postage according to their weight, in consequence of which an English daily paper costs in St. Petersburgh £40 sterling per annum.

FLATTERY AND FRIENDSHIP.

Every one that flatters thee But if fortune once do frown, Is no friend in misery. Then farewell his great renown: Words are easy, like the wind, They that fawned on him before, Faithful friends are hard to Use his company no more. find. He that is thy friend indeed, Every man will be thy friend He will help thee in thy need. While thou hast wherewith to If thou sorrow, he will weep; spend If thou wake he cannot sleep. But if store of crowns be scant, Thus of every grief in heart, No man will supply thy want. He with thee doth bear a part. If that one be prodigal, These are certain signs to know Bountiful they will him call. Faithful friend from flattering If he be addict to vice, foe. Quickly him they will entice.

VARIOUS

Cure for Drunkenness.—A man in Maryland, notoriously addicted to this vice, hearing an uproar in his kitchen one evening, had the curiosity to stop without noise to the door, to know what was the matter, when he beheld his servants indulging in the most unbounded roar of laughter at a couple of his negro boys who were mimicking himself in his drunken fits; showing how he reeled and staggered,—how he looked and nodded, and hiccupped and tumbled. The picture which these children of nature drew of him, and which had filled the rest with so much merriment, struck him so forcibly, that he became a perfect sober man, to the unspeakable joy of his wife and children.

Mr. Locke was asked how he contrived to accumulate a mine of knowledge so rich, yet so extensive and deep. He replied, that he attributed what little he knew, to the not having been ashamed to ask for information; and to the rule he had laid down, of conversing with all descriptions of men, on those topics chiefly that formed their own peculiar professions or pursuits.

Punctuality.—Mr. Scott of Exeter, travelled on business till about 80 years of age. He was one of the most celebrated characters in the kingdom for punctuality, and by his methodical conduct, joined to uniform diligence, he gradually amassed a large fortune. For a long series of years, the proprietors of every inn he frequented in Devon and Cornwall, knew the very day and hour he would arrive. A short time before he died, a gentleman on a journey in Cornwall stopped at a small inn at Port Isaac to dine. The waiter presented him with a bill of fare, which he did not approve of, but observing a fine duck roasting. “I’ll have that,” said the traveller. “You cannot sir,” said the landlord, “it is for Mr. Scott of Exeter.” “I know Mr. Scott of Exeter very well,” rejoined the gentlemen, “he is not in your house.” “True,” replied the landlord, “_but six months ago_, _when he was here last_, _he ordered a duck_ to be ready for him this day, precisely at two o’clock;” and to the astonishment of the traveller, he saw the old gentleman jogging into the inn-yard about five minutes before the appointed time.

Advantages of Activity.—As animal power is exhausted exactly in proportion to the time during which it is acting, as well as in proportion to the intensity of force exerted, there may often be a great saving of it by doing work quickly, although with a little more exertion during the time. Suppose two men of equal weight to ascend the same stair, one of whom takes only a minute to reach the top, and the other takes four minutes, it will cost the first little more than a fourth part of the fatigue which it costs the second, because the exhaustion is in proportion to the time during which the muscles are acting. The quick mover may have exerted perhaps one-twentieth more force in the first instant to give his body the greater velocity, which was afterwards continued, but the slow supported his load four times as long.

Capability greater than Performance.—Men are often capable of greater things than they perform. They are sent into the world with bills of credit, and seldom draw to their full extent.

CHAPPED LIPS.

The readiest method to cure simple chaps is to wash them with barley water, and apply the following mixture of prepared tutty and olive oil, of each equal parts.

CHAPPED HANDS.

Rough and course hands are very unhandsome; the following compound will always preserve them smooth: mix 4 oz. of fresh hog’s lard that has been well washed in common water with the yolks of 2 new laid eggs, and a large spoonful of honey; add as much fine oat-meal as to work the whole into paste.

TO REMOVE HAIR FROM THE CHIN.

Women of sanguine complexion and habit have frequently hair growing on their chin, which is very unseemly. To extirpate this, use dulcified spirit of salt on the part, and rub it gently with a linen cloth; this will effectually kill the roots of the hair, and at the end of a week they wither, and fall away.

RESTORATIVE POWDER FOR THE TEETH.

Acids of every denomination are unfriendly to the teeth; and by frequent use will destroy the enamel; the following mixture not only whitens, but tends to preserve them. Take Peruvian bark, 2 oz. charcoal, half an oz. Armenian bole, 1 oz. mix them altogether in a mortar. If the teeth are washed, take a piece of wood like a butcher’s skewer, made soft at the end, cover it with linen, dip it them in the above ponder, and apply it to the decayed part.

A COSMETIC TO PRODUCE A FAIR NECK AND BOSOM.

Equal parts of camomile water and white wine, as warm as can be borne, this for a few weeks will make a considerable change in the akin.

OFFENSIVE BREATH.

A constant attendant upon the scurvy of the gums, and putrefied matter lodged in the hollow teeth; the following gargle stands in high esteem. Take 2 oz. of cinnamon, 6 drams of cloves, 6 oz. of Florentine orris root, nutmeg and mace: bruise them and macerate them in a quart of spirits of wine or French brandy, during 48 hours; when used, let it be diluted with water.

Or, chew at night a small piece of gum myrrh; or chew night and morning a clove, or a piece of orris root, about the size of a bean; or rub the teeth with a piece of rag dipped in the spirits of vinegar.

TO SWEETEN MEAT, FISH, &c. THAT IS TAINTED.

When meat, fish, &c., from intense heat, or long keeping, are likely to pass into a state of corruption, a simple and pure mode of keeping them sound and healthful is by putting a few pieces of charcoal, each about the size of an egg, into a pot or saucepan wherein the meat or fish is to be boiled. Among others, an experiment of this kind was tried on a turbot, which appeared to be too far gone to be eatable; the cook, as advised, put four pieces of charcoal under the strainer of the fish kettle; after boiling the proper time, the turbot came to the table sweet and firm.

USEFUL RECEIPTS.

OF THE SKIN.

DEFORMITIES as of the skin are generally the consequences of a distempered blood thrown upon it. Promoting the ordinary discharges, and rectifying the skin by proper washes, is the only way to get rid of such disorders. When, therefore, any lotion is employed on the skin, the person must always take care that some other emunctuary may be in readiness, to discharge what to lessened by the application of the external medicine. Diuretics are allowed by all to be the best auxiliaries to cosmetics, and it is hardly safe to use one without the other. We will first notice

OF PIMPLES.

This deformity consists in a redness of the face, attended with inflammatory pustules, the causes of which are commonly attributed to an acrid, thick blood, that swells and corrodes the small vessels; to clear which, the mass of blood must be sweetened and diluted with proper medicines.

For this purpose, infuse 4 oz. of mustard seed in a quart of while wine, and after 3 or 4 days, drink a wine glass full of it every morning filling up the phial as long as the seed gives any strength.—Or boil 3 spoonsful of mustard seed in a quart of milk, take off the curd, and keep the whey for use. This remedy is an excellent diuretic, and a cordial for the nerves, but it differs from the first in quality. Take half a wine glass full every morning.

Among all the lotions, and the best to use with the above diuretic, is a pimpernel water, which is so sovereign a beautifier of the complexion as to deserve a place on every lady’s toilet. It is prepared by only infusing half a handful of this herb in a quart of water, letting it stand all night. It may be used a little warm, but not hot. If not sufficiently powerful to remove the pimples, take camphor rubbed fine in a mortar, put upon it, a little at a time, 1 ounce of the juice of lemons, when dissolved, add 1 pint of white wine. This is a very good lotion for spots and flushings: it may be used with the greatest safety.

TO TAKE IRON MOULDS OR RUSTS OUT OF LINEN.

Dissolve the powder of burnt alum in the juice of lemon: wet the place with it, and dry it with the back of a spoon, in the fore part of which put a live coal; and in doing it 5 or 6 times, the iron moulds will be washed out.

TO CLEAN GOLD AND RESTORE ITS LUSTRE.

Dissolve a little sal-ammoniac in urine: boil your soiled gold therein, and it will become clean and brilliant.

HOW TO TAKE SPOTS OR STAINS OUT OF SILK OR VELVET.

Take sopwort (a herb of that name), bruise it, and strain out the juice; add a little black soap, and mix them well to a moderate thickness; rub it over the stained or spotted place; warm it gradually before the fire, and the stains will rub out with the hand.

TO RESTORE THE VOICE AND REMOVE HOARSENESS.

Many causes may contribute to this defect, particularly severe colds, breathing an air too full of dust, &c., too much speaking or singing, or being too much exposed to the air, on quitting convivial meetings and other entertainments of jollity.

To remove this defect, drink freely of barley and liquorice water, eat black currant jelly, and gargle the mouth twice or thrice every morning with the syrup of hedge mustard, diluted in a glass of milk or warm water.

It is certainly very mortifying to a lady to have a masculine voice, and yet it is a very frequent circumstance. As a means of contracting the larynx, the extra wideness of which is the cause, you must drink nothing hot; frequently drink lemonade, water acidulated with verjuice, oranges, &c., and gargle the throat every morning with equal parts of verjuice and water.

GARGLE FOR A SORE THROAT.

Take a handful of red sage leaves, simmer them 2 minutes in a third of a pint of water, strain the liquor off; when cold add an equal quantity of vinegar, and sweeten it with honey. These receipts are best for general purposes, and may be used with perfect safety, and generally with the happiest effect.

FOR A COUGH.

Mix vinegar and treacle in equal quantities, let a teaspoonful be taken occasionally, when the cough is troublesome. This is a receipt of the excellent Dr. James, of Carlisle.

FOR CLEANING IRON AND BRASS.

Half an oz. of cream of tarter, half a dram of cochineal, quarter pound of sulphuric acid. The above mixed with a quart of water, and when wanted to use, mix a little Bath brick with the liquid, to the consistency of paste; and apply it to the iron or brass with wash leather.

FOR DESTROYING RATS AND MICE.

Get a sixpenny packet of Winton’s Compound Mixture, (it may be had of any medicine vender), and mix it with a little butter or lard, and scatter it where the vermin resort. Whole parishes have been entirely cleared of them by the above, when it has been generally used.

CORNS.

This plaster will always give relief, and frequently remove them: 1 oz. of Venice turpentine, the yolks of 2 eggs, 2 drams of mercurial plaster, half an oz. of yellow wax; the turpentine and wax must be melted together; mix the other ingredients when fluid. Or, take equal quantities of roasted onion and soft water, beat them together, and apply them as a poultice. This application will instantly appease the pain of the corn.

TO MAKE CHEAP BLACKING.

Take 4 oz. of ivory black, 3 oz. of the coarsest moist sugar, a table spoonful of sweet oil, and a pint of small beer, with half a spoonful of the oil of vitrol; mix them gradually, cold.

HEAD ACHE.

Ceplinile snuff in a general way remove the afflicting pain of the head ache. One scruple of turpeth mineral, half a dram of powdered ginger, 1 scruple of powdered nutmeg, 3 drops of oil of rosemary, well mixed, and snuffed up the nose.

CURE FOR WEAK EYES.

Take a lump of white copperas about the size of a pea, put it in a small phial that contains about 2 ounces of water, carry this in the pocket, and occasionally taking out the cork, turn the phial on the finger’s end, and thus bathe the eyes. This will positively effect a cure in a short time.

INFLAMED EYES.

Is a very painful and well-known complaint, arising sometimes from cold, and frequently from a very acrid blood which stimulates the delicate vessels of the eye, swelling and inflaming them. The following eye waters are very good to cool sharp, hot humours, they may be readily prepared, and will more effectually answer their end if assisted by the use of diuretics at the same time. First, calaminaris levigated, half a dram, rose water, 2 oz.—Second, take white vitrol, 15 grains, rose water, 2 oz.—With either of these, the eyes may be washed at discretion, in all hot defluctions; but when the sight decays from dryness, or a defect in the optic nerve, such things can avail but little.—When a poultice is necessary, you may take half a pint of the decoction of linseed, and as much flour of linseed as is sufficient to make it a proper consistency. This poultice is preferable to bread and milk for sore eyes, it will not grow sour nor acid. In corroboration of the above, we give a letter to the editor of the Mechanics’ Magazine, page 95, vol. I.

“Sir,—Reading your miscellany to a friend, a cure for weak eyes, he had recourse to your receipt, and was cured in a short time, though he had previously spent much money without getting relief from the faculty. I hope your readers who may be in a similar situation, will follow the example.”

OINTMENT FOR BURNS.

This ointment has never yet failed to give relief; yellow basilicon 3 ounces turpentine 1½ ounce.

FOR SHORTNESS OF BREATH.

Mix ¾ of an oz. of fine powdered senna, ½ an oz. of the flour of brimstone, ¼ of an oz. of powdered ginger, in 4 oz. of clarified honey. Take about the size of a nutmeg every night and morning for five successive days, afterwards, once a week for some time, and finally once a fortnight.

TO MAKE GINGER BEER.

One ounce and a half of well-bruised ginger, 1 ounce of cream of tartar, 1 sliced lemon, 1 pound of white sugar. Put these ingredients into an earthen vessel, and pour upon them a gallon of water, boiling; when cold, add a table spoonful of yeast, and let the whole stand till next morning; then skim and bottle it; keep it three days in a cool place it will then be fit for use.

PROBLEMS.

A country woman carrying eggs to a garrison, where she had three guards to pass, sold at the first half the number she had, and half an egg more; at the second, the half of what remained, and half an egg more; and at the third, the half of the remainder and half an egg more; when she arrived at the market-place, she had three dozen still to sell, how was this possible, without breaking any of the eggs?

_Solution_.—The possibility of this problem will be evident when it is considered, that by taking the greater half of an odd number, we take the exact half—½. It will he found therefore, that the woman, before she passed the last guard, had 73 eggs remaining, for by selling 37 of them at that guard which is the half—½, she would have 36 remaining. In the like manner, before she came to the second guards she had 147; and before she came to the first, 295.

Two Greeks dicing together, one provided five dishes, the other three. A stranger happened to pop in, and requested to join them. On his departure, he gave the Greek who had provided five dishes _five_ shillings, and to the other who had furnished three dishes, _three_ shillings; but the latter was dissatisfied, and had the matter referred to Solon, who instantly decided that the Greek who had provided five dishes should have _seven_ shillings, and he who furnished the three dishes should receive but _one_ shilling.

_Solution_.—Each Greek paid eight shillings, which are twenty-four shillings for eight dishes, or three shillings per dish. The one who provided five being fifteen shillings out of pocket, had a right to have seven shillings refunded to him, which left him eight shillings, his proportion.

When first the marriage knot was tied, betwixt my love and me, My age did then her’s exceed us three times three doth three. But when we ten and half ten years we man and wife had been, Her age came up as near to mine, as eight is to sixteen.

Solution.—The man was 45, the woman was 15.

EXPENCES OF WITNESSES IN COURTS OF JUSTICE, AT ASSIZES, &c.

From To £. _s._ _d._ £. _s._ _d._ Travelling expences per mile 0 1 0 0 7 0 one way Journeymen, labourers, &c., 0 5 0 0 15 0 while detained, per day Tradesmen, yeomen, farmers, 0 10 0 0 15 0 while detained, per day Merchants, gentlemen, 1 1 0 altogether. auctioneers, clerks if residing in London, and the trial be there If at assizes 1 1 0 per day. Professional men from 1 1 0 £2 2 0 per day. Attornies’ clerks 0 15 0 1 0 0 Families, according to rank 0 5 0 1 0 0

COACHES, WAGGONS, CARTS, PACKETS, AND OTHER PUBLIC CONVEYANCES TO AND FROM HORNCASTLE.

The _Pelham_ arrives at the Bull Inn, Horncastle, from Boston, every morning, (Sundays excepted) at 8 o’clock; proceeds at half-past to New Holland and Hull: returns to Horncastle at half-past 6, and proceeds to Boston immediately.

The _Defiance_ arrives at the George Inn Horncastle, from Louth, every morning (Sundays excepted) at half-past 8 o’clock; proceeds at 9 to Lincoln: returns in the afternoon at 6, and proceeds immediately to Louth.

The _Mail Cart_ leaves the Post Office Horncastle, for the North, every evening at half-past 6, and returns the following day at 2 in the afternoon:—the _Mail_ from the South, arrives at 11 o’clock in the morning, and leaves at half-past 2 in the afternoon:—the _Letter Bags_ from Conningsby and Tattershall, arrive by a foot-post at 11 in the morning, are dispatched at half-past 1 in the afternoon.

Read’s Packet leaves Horncastle every Tuesday morning, for Boston, at 7 o’clock, where it arrives in the evening; leaves Boston the following Friday morning at the same hour, and arrives at Horncastle a the evening.

Slack’s Packet leaves Horncastle every Tuesday morning at 7 o’clock, for Lincoln, where it arrives in the evening; and returns the following Saturday morning at 7.

Riggall’s Sociable leaves the Maid’s Head’s, every morning at 8, for Kirkstead, where it meets the Boston and Lincoln Packets; and returns to Horncastle, at 3 in the afternoon.

Clays Fly Waggon leaves Horncastle for New Holland every Monday noon, passing through Wragby, Rasen and Caistor, arrives at Hull on Tuesday, and returns to Horncastle on Thursdays.

Fletcher, Day, Mower and Thompson’s Carts leave their respective houses, every Monday, for Spilsby, and return in the evening.

Day’s Fly Waggon leaves his house every Wednesday morning at 7 o’clock, for Louth, and returns in the evening.