Part 1

THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.

VOL. X, NO. 272.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1827. [PRICE 2d.

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DUBLIN POST OFFICE.

The general post-office, Dublin, was at first held in a small building on the site of the Commercial Buildings, and was afterwards removed to a larger house opposite the bank on College Green (since converted into the Royal Arcade;) and on January 6, 1818, the new post-office in Sackville-street was opened for business.

The foundation-stone of this magnificent building, which is built after a design of Francis Johnson, Esq., was laid by his excellency Charles, Earl of Whitworth, August 12, 1814, and the structure was completed in the short space of three years, for the sum of 50,000l.

The front, which extends 220 feet, has a magnificent portico (80 feet wide), of six fluted Ionic columns, 4 feet 6 inches in diameter. The frieze of the entablature is highly enriched, and in the tympanum of the pediment are the royal arms. On the acroteria of the pediment are three statues by John Smyth, viz.--Mercury on the right, with his Caduceus and purse; On the left Fidelity, with her finger on her lip, and a key in her hand; and in the centre Hibernia, resting on her spear, and holding her shield. The entablature, with the exception of the architrave, is continued along the rest of the front; the frieze, however, is not decorated over the portico. A handsome balustrade surmounts the cornice of the building, which is 50 feet from the ground. With the exception of the portico, which is of Portland stone, the whole is of mountain granite. The elevation has three stories, of which the lower or basement is rusticated, and in this respect it resembles the India House of London, where a rusticated basement is introduced, although the portico occupies the entire height of the structure.

Over the centre of the building is seen a cupola, containing the chimes and bell on which the clock-hammer strikes. The bell is so loud, that it is heard in every part of the city.

The interior is particularly remarkable for the convenience of its arrangement, and the number of its communicating apartments. The board-room is a very handsome apartment, furnished with two seats, which are for the postmasters-general. Over the chimney-piece, protected by a curtain of green silk, is a bust of Earl Whitworth, in white marble, by John Smyth.

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THE TOPOGRAPHER.

No. XXIV.

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HIGH CROSS.

_A Roman Station--the Camp of Claudius--Manners, Customs, and Dialects of the people of the District._

About two miles to the west of Little Claybrook, in the hundred of Luthlaxton, in Leicestershire, is a place called High Cross, which, according to some antiquarians, was the Benonce or Vennones of the Romans. Dr. Stukely describes this station as situated at the intersection of the two great Roman roads, "which traverse the kingdom obliquely, and seem to be the centre, as well as the highest ground in England; for from hence rivers run every way. The foss road went on the backside of an inn standing here, and so towards Bath. The ground hereabout is very rich, and much _ebulus_ (a herb much sought after for the cure of dropsies,) grows here. Claybrooklane has a piece of quickset hedge left across it, betokening one side of the Foss; which road in this place bears exactly north-east and south-west as it does upon the moor on this side of Lincoln. In the garden before the inn abovementioned, a tumulus was removed about the year 1720, under which the body of a man was found upon the plain surface; as likewise hath been under several others hereabout; and foundations of buildings have been frequently dug up along the street here, all the way to Cleycestre, through which went the great street-way, called Watling-street; for on both sides of the way have been ploughed and dug up many ancient coins, great square stones and bricks, and other rubbish, of that ancient Roman building, not far from a beacon, standing upon the way now called High Cross, of a cross which stood there some time, upon the meeting of another great way."

At the intersection of the roads is the pedestal, &c. of a cross which was erected here in the year 1712; on which are the two following Latin inscriptions. On one side is--

Vicinarum provinciarum, Vervicensis scilicet et Leicestrensis, ornamenta, proceres patritiique, auspiciis, illustrissimi Basili Comitis de Denbeigh, hanc columnam statuendam curaverunt, in gratam pariter et perpetuam memoriam Jani tandem a Serenissima Anna clausi A.D. MDCCXII.

Which is thus translated,

The noblemen and gentry, ornaments of the neighbouring counties of Warwick and Leicester, at the instances of the Right Honourable Basil Earl of Denbeigh, have caused this pillar to be erected in grateful as well as perpetual remembrance of Peace at last restored by her Majesty Queen Anne, in the year of our Lord, 1712.

The inscription on the other side runs thus--

Si Veterum Romanorum vestigia quaeras, hic cernas viator. Hic enim celeberrimae illorum viae militares sese mutuo secantes ad extremes usque Britanniae limites procurent: hic stativa sua habuerunt Vennones; et ad primum ad hinc lapidem castra sua ad Stratam, et ad Fossam tumulum, Claudius quidam cohortis praefectus habuisse videtur.

Which may be thus rendered,

If, traveller, you search for the footsteps of the ancient Romans, here you may behold them. For here their most celebrated ways, crossing one another, extend to the utmost boundaries of Britain; here the Vennones kept their quarters; and at the distance of one mile from hence, Claudius, a certain commander of a cohort, seems to have had a camp, towards the street, and towards the foss a tomb.

The ground here is so high, and the surrounding country so low and flat, that it is said, fifty-seven churches may be seen from this spot by the help of a glass.

The following judicious remarks on the customs, mariners, and dialects of the common people of this district by Mr. Macauley, who published a history of Claybrook, may be amusing to many readers.--The people here are much attached to _wakes_; and among the farmers and cottagers these annual festivals are celebrated with music, dancing, feasting, and much inoffensive sport; but in the neighbouring villages the return of the wake never fails to produce at least a week of idleness, intoxication, and riot. These and other abuses by which those festivals are grossly perverted, render it highly desirable to all the friends of order and decency that they were totally suppressed. On Plow Monday is annually displayed a set of _morice dancers_; and the custom of ringing the curfew is still continued here, as well as the pancake bell on Shrove Tuesday. The dialect of the common people is broad, and partakes of the Anglo-Saxon sounds and terms. The letter _h_ comes in almost on every occasion where it ought not, and it is frequently omitted where it ought to come in. The words _fire_, _mire_, and such like, are pronounced as if spelt _foire_, _moire_; and _place_, _face_, and other similar words, as if spelt _pleace_, _feace_; and in the plural you sometimes hear _pleacen_, _closen_, for closes, and many other words in the same style of Saxon termination. The words _there_, and _where_, are generally pronounced _theere_ and _wheere_; the words _mercy_, _deserve_, thus, _marcy_, _desarve_. The following peculiarities are also observable: _uz_, strongly aspirated for _us_; _war_ for _was_; _meed_ for _maid_; _faither_ for _father_; _e'ery_ for _every_; _brig_ for _bridge_; _thurrough_ for _furrow_; _hawf_ for _half_; _cart rit_ for _cart rut_; _malefactory_ for _manufactory_; _inactions_ for _anxious_. The words _mysen_ and _himsen_, are sometimes used for _myself_ and _himself_; the word _shoek_ is used to denote an idle worthless vagabond; and the word _ripe_ for one who is very profane. The following phrases are common, "a power of people," "a hantle of money," "I can't awhile as yet." The words _like_ and _such_ frequently occur as expletives in conversation, "I won't stay here haggling all day and _such_." "If you don't give me my price _like_." The monosyllable _as_ is generally substituted for _that_; "the last time _as_ I called," "I reckon _as_ I an't one," "I imagine _as_ I am not singular." Public characters are stigmatized by saying, "that they set poor lights." The substantive _right_ often supplies the place of _ought_, as "farmer A has a right to pay his tax." Next ways, and clever through, are in common use, as "I shall go clever through Ullesthorpe." "_Nigh hand_" for probably, as he will nigh hand call on us. _Duable_, convenient or proper: thus "the church is not served at _duable_ hours." Wives of farmers often call their husbands "our master," and the husbands call their wives _mamy_, whilst a labourer will often distinguish his wife by calling her the "o'man." People now living remember when _Goody_ and _Dame_, _Gaffer_ and _Gammer_, were in vogue among the peasantry of Leicestershire; but they are now almost universally discarded and supplanted by Mr. and Mrs. which are indiscriminately applied to all ranks, from the squire and his lady down to Mr. and Mrs. Pauper, who flaunt in rags and drink tea twice a day."

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SONG.

TUNE,--"_Love was once a Little Boy_."

(_For the Mirror._)

Beauty once was but a girl-- Heigho! heigho! Coral lips and teeth of pearl; Heigho! heigho! Then 'twas hers, her arms to twine Round my neck, as at Love's shrine, Soft I zoned her waist with mine, Heigho! heigho! Beauty's grown a woman now, Heigho! heigho! Haughty mein and haughty brow, Heigho! heigho! Tossing high her head in air, As if she deems her charms so rare, Will ever be what once they were, Heigho! heigho! Beauty's charms will quickly fade, Heigho! heigho! Beauty's self, erelong, be dead, Heigho! heigho! And should Beauty haply die, Shall we only sit and sigh? No, Bacchus, no--_thy_ charms we'll try! Heigho! heigho!

H.B.

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ORIGINS AND INVENTIONS.

No. XXIX.

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GOING SNACKS.

During the period of the great plague the office of _searcher_, which is continued to the present day, was a very important one; and a noted body-searcher, whose name was Snacks, finding his business increase so fast that he could not compass it, offered to any person who should join him in his hazardous practice, half the profits; thus those who joined him were said to go with Snacks. Hence "_going snacks_," or dividing the spoil.[1]

ANTIPHONANT CHANTING.

St. Ambrose is considered as the first who introduced the antiphonant method of chanting, or one side of the choir alternately responding to the other; from whence that particular mode obtained the name of the "Ambrosian chant," while the plain song, introduced by St. Gregory, still practised in the Romish service, is called the "Gregorian," or "Romish chant." The works of St. Ambrose continue to be held in much respect, particularly the hymn of _Te Deum_, which he is said to have composed when he baptised St. Augustine, his celebrated convert.

[1] _Mems., Maxims,_ and _Memoirs._ By W. Wadd, Esq.

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THE NOVELIST

No. CIX.

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"I HAVE DONE MY DUTY."

_A Tale of the Sea._[2]

She would sit and weep At what a sailor suffers; fancy, too, Delusive most where warmest wishes are, Would oft anticipate his glad return.

COWPER.

"I dearly love a sailor!" exclaimed the beautiful and fascinating Mrs. D----, as she stood in the balcony of her house, leaning upon the arm of her affectionate and indulgent husband, and gazing at a poor shattered tar who supplicated charity by a look that could hardly fail of interesting the generous sympathies of the heart--"I dearly love a sailor; he is so truly the child of nature; and I never feel more disposed to shed tears, than when I see the hardy veteran who has sacrificed his youth, and even his limbs, in the service of his country--

"Cast abandoned on the world's wide stage, And doomed in scanty poverty to roam."

Look at yon poor remnant of the tempest, probably reduced to the hard necessity of becoming a wanderer, without a home to shelter him, or one kind commiserating smile to shed a ray of sunshine on the dreary winter of his life. I can remember, when a child, I had an uncle who loved me very tenderly, and my attachment to him was almost that of a daughter; indeed he was the pride and admiration of our village; for every one esteemed him for his kind and cheerful disposition. But untoward events cast a gloom upon his mind; he hastened away to sea, and we never saw him more."