Chapter 2

I was once talking to Anna Maria Porter about him, when she expressed her astonishment at the admiration I bestowed on him! She said, "I thought you was a Whig, and an aristocrat! how can you commend a revolutionary radical?" I answered, "You mistake his character, he is not a radical in the sense you mean! he considers Tom Paine's Rights of Man to be mischievous nonsense!" I could not convince her: but I made my peace with her by praising, with the utmost sincerity, her beautiful novel, _The Recluse of Norway_. I found her full of good sense, and with much command of language. She will forgive me for saying she had not the personal beauty of her gentle sister Jane. She paid many compliments to the imaginative _vivants_ of the green island; for she perceived by my tones that I was an Irishman, though I am not sure, that she knew even my name; for the company was numerous, and of all countries. It was an evening assembly, in which the rooms were so full, that one could hardly move. Tommy Moore was there, and though he is a very little man, he was the great lion of the evening: all the young ladies were dying to see the bard whose verses they had chanted so often with thrilling bosoms, and tears running down their cheeks. They were not quite satisfied when they saw a diminutive man, not reaching five feet, with a curly natural brown scratch, handing about an ugly old dowager or two, who fondly leaned upon his arms, even though they discovered them to be ladies of high titles.

Rogers came in late, and went away early, looking sallower and more indifferent than usual. He paid a few bows and compliments to two or three noble peeresses, and then retired.

The Rev. Thomas Frognel Dibdin was there. He was very facetious and quaint: when he found himself by my side, he instantly started off, crying to me; "Brobdignagian; We Lilliputians must not stand by you! You would make a soldier for the King of Prussia! Look at that tall lady there, that Miss de V----; why do you not take her for a wife?" E---- G----n heard what he said, and looked fierce at us both! I expected another _Bluviad!_ Perhaps the ingenious bibliographer does not recollect the conversation; but he may be assured it took place. And I entreat also Anna Maria Porter to tax her memory, and recall the very interesting and sensible conversation I had with her. I told her some anecdotes of her brother, Sir Robert, whom I met on our travels, which pleased her. Jane would not talk much that night; something heavy seemed to have seized her spirits. Let Jane recollect how she once related to me the curious history and character of Percival Stockdale! It happened at the house of a friend in London, whom I shall not point out with too much particularity. Dibdin endeavoured to excite the envy of some of us litterateurs, that we were not, like him, members of the Roxburgh, which had dukes, and earls, and chancellors of the exchequer, and judges, and the great Magician of the North into the bargain!--_Metropolitan._

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TO A CHILD IN PRAYER.

Fold thy little hands in prayer, Bow down at thy Maker's knee; Now thy sunny face is fair, Shining through thy golden hair, Thine eyes are passion-free; And pleasant thoughts like garlands bind thee Unto thy home, yet Grief may find thee-- Then pray, Child, pray!

Now thy young heart like a bird Singeth in its summer nest, No evil thought, no unkind word. No bitter, angry voice hath stirr'd The beauty of its rest. But winter cometh, and decay Wasteth thy verdant home away-- Then pray, Child, pray!

Thy Spirit is a House of Glee, And Gladness harpeth at the door, While ever with a merry shout Hope, the May-Queen, danceth out, Her lips with music running o'er! But Time those strings of Joy will sever. And Hope will not dance on for ever; Then pray, Child, pray!

Now thy Mother's Hymn abideth Round they pillow in the night, And gentle feet creep to thy bed, And o'er thy quiet face is shed The taper's darken'd light. But that sweet Hymn shall pass away, By thee no more those feet shall stay; Then pray, Child, pray!

_New Monthly Magazine._

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SONG.

BY JAMES SHERIDAN KNOWLES.

A Fair lady looks out from her lattice--but why Do tears bedim that lady's eye? Below stands the knight who her favour wears, But be mounts not the turret to dry her tears; He springs on his charger--"Farewell;--he is gone, And the lady is left in her turret alone. "Ply the distaff, my maids--ply the distaff--before It is spun, he may happen to stand at the door."

There was never an eye than that lady's more bright,-- Why speeds then away her favour'd knight? The couch which her white fingers broider'd so fair, Were a far softer seat than the saddle of war; What's more tempting than love? In the patriot's sight The battle of freedom he hastens to fight; "Ply the distaff, my maids--ply the distaff--before It is spun, he may happen to stand at the door."

The fair lady looks out from her lattice, but now Her eye is as bright as her fair shining brow: And is sorrow so fleeting?--Love's tears--dry they fast? The stronger is love, is't the less sure to last? Whose arm sees her knight round her waist?--'Tis his own; By the battle she wept for, her lover is won; "Ply the distaff, my maids, ply the distaff no more; Would you spin when already he stands at the door?"

_Monthly Magazine._

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LORD CORNWALLIS'S MONUMENT, IN INDIA.

The annexed cut represents the mausoleum of the Marquess of Cornwallis, whose distinguished connexion with the success of British arms in India will be recollected by the reader. It stands at Ghazepoor, a large town or city, in the province of Benares, on the river Ganges, about 450 miles from Calcutta. His lordship died on the river in the year 1805, while proceeding to make the requisite arrangements for some ceded prisoners. He was, at the time, governor-general of India, having been appointed to succeed the Marquess Wellesley, in 1804. The last act of his life accords with his general activity and vigilance, for he always gave his instructions in person, and attended to the performance of them. His personal character was amiable and unassuming, and if his talents were not brilliant, his sound sense, aided by his laudable ambition and perseverance, effected much good.

The monument is built of stone, and cost a lac of rupees, or 10,000_l_. It is surrounded by an iron railing, and its vicinity is the favourite promenade of the gentry of Ghazepoor, which has been termed the Montpellier of India.

Bishop Heber, in his interesting Journey through India, objects to the architectural taste of the monument in these critical observations:

"During our drive this evening I had a nearer view of Lord Cornwallis's monument, which certainly does not improve on close inspection; it has been evidently a very costly building; its materials are excellent, being some of the finest free-stone I ever saw, and it is an imitation of the celebrated Sibyl's temple, of large proportions, solid masonry, and raised above the ground on a lofty and striking basement. But its pillars, instead of beautiful Corinthian well-fluted, are of the meanest Doric. They are quite too slender for their height, and for the heavy entablature and cornice which rest on them. The dome instead of springing from nearly the same level with the roof of the surrounding portico, is raised ten feet higher on a most ugly and unmeaning attic story, and the windows (which are quite useless) are the most extraordinary embrasures (for they resemble nothing else) that I ever saw, out of a fortress. Above all, the building is utterly unmeaning, it is neither a temple nor a tomb, neither has altar, statue, nor inscription. It is, in fact, a 'folly' of the same sort, but far more ambitious and costly, than that which is built at Barrackpoor, and it is vexatious to think that a very handsome church might have been built, and a handsome marble monument to Lord Cornwallis placed in its interior, for little more money than has been employed on a thing, which, if any foreigner saw it, (an event luckily not very probable) would afford subject for mockery to all who read his travels, at the expense of Anglo-Indian ideas of architecture. Ugly as it is, however, by itself, it may yet be made a good use of, by making it serve the purpose of a detached 'torre campanile' to the new church which is required for the station; to this last it would save the necessity of a steeple or cupola, and would much lessen the expense of the building."

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THE NATURALIST.

We quote these Facts from the _Correspondence of the Magazine of Natural History_ for May.

_Luminous appearance on the ears of a Horse._

When we cannot find a satisfactory solution for any puzzling occurrence which we are desirous of investigating, perhaps the best way is to endeavour to accumulate a series of facts of the same kind. Some years ago, I was riding from Edinburgh: it was (as I happen to recollect) on the 12th of November, and in the evening. There had been, since past midday, a succession of those stormy clouds, driven by a westerly wind, which are common at that season. Perhaps the wind was a point or two to the north of west, if it makes any difference, and during the intervals there was always a comparative calm or slackening of the wind. I was once taken by one of these storm-clouds about Nether Libberton, on the Dalkeith road. I used the spur a little; and, having been a yeoman for many years, I was unconsciously holding a small rattan cane somewhat after the mode of "carry swords." Roused by the velocity of the wind, and the darkness of the passing cloud, I naturally turned my eyes to the right, and was not a little surprised to observe a pale clear flame, in form like that of a small candle, playing upon the point of the cane. Taking it for granted, forthwith, that a stream of electricity, attracted by the cane, was passing from the cloud through my body, and through the horse, into the ground, I instantly turned it downwards. At the time I did not wait to consider that I was in the hollow of the valley between one of the highest of the Pentlands and Arthur's Seat, and that there were higher objects than myself, and scattered trees in the neighbourhood far more likely to act upon the cloud, or be exposed to its influence. A short time after this happened, I mentioned the circumstance of the flame to a friend. He told me, in return, that once, when riding between Hawick and Jedburgh, during a dark and stormy night, he was greatly annoyed, for most part of the way, by two flames, like candles, that appeared to issue from his horse's ears. He certainly is as little likely to be affected by superstition as most men; but never before having heard of such a circumstance, and the idea of electricity not then occurring to his mind, he could not help thinking that Will o' the wisp and he, hoping it was nothing worse, had got into rather too close intimacy.

Another Correspondent says this luminous "phenomenon may be often seen on a gravel walk upon a moist autumnal evening. It arises from something of a slimy nature emitted by the Scolopéndra eléctrica (one of the animals vulgarly called centipedes), which is luminous. As the animal crawls, it leaves a long train of phosphoric light behind it on the ground, which is often mistaken for the presence of a glow-worm. In all probability, one of these animals had recently crawled over the head of the horse, or rather, might be still crawling there, and the person who saw it unconsciously watched its progress."

_The Short Sunfish_

appears to be the name of the "Curious Fish," described by our indefatigable Correspondent, W.G.C., in _The Mirror_, vol. xviii. p.168, and quoted by the Editor; he mentioned the occurrence of this fish to Mr. Yarrell, who has furnished a list of references to most of the British authors by whom it has either been described or figured. (See the Magazine, p. 316.)

By the way, Bishop Heber mentions a sun-fish, or, as it is popularly called _Devil-fish_: it is very large and nearly circular, with vivid colours about it, and it swims by lashing the water with its tail exactly on a level with the surface.

_The Char_.

The char (_S_álmo alpìnus _L_.) is found in several of the deep and rocky lakes of England: viz. Coniston in Lancashire, Windermere in Westmoreland, Buttermere and Cromackwater in Cumberland, and, I believe, in Ulswater. My observations are confined to Windermere. Windermere is fed by two streams, which unite at the head of the lake, named the Brathy and the Rothay: the bottom of the former is rocky, and that of the latter sandy. On the first sharp weather that occurs in November, the char makes up the Brathy, in large shoals, for the purpose of spawning, preferring that river to the Rothay, probably owing to the bottom being rocky, and resembling more the bottom of the lake; and it is singular that those fish which ascend the Rothay invariably return and spawn in the Brathy; they remain in this stream, and in the shallow parts of the lake, until the end of March. While spawning, their colour and spots are much darker than when in season; the mouth and fins being of a deep yellow colour; and they are covered with a thick slime at this time. In the water before Brathy Hall, at Clappersgate, hundreds may be seen rubbing and rooting at the bottom, endeavouring to free themselves from the slime, and probably insects that annoy them. Great quantities are caught during the spawning time, by the netters, for potting, and some are sent up fresh for the London market; but those only who have eaten char in summer, on the spot, when they are in season, can tell how superior they are to those eaten in London in the winter. About the beginning of April, when the warm weather comes in, they retire into the deep parts of the lake; where their principal food is the minnow ( _C_yprinus _P_hòxinus, _L_.), of which they are very fond. At this time, they are angled for by spinning a minnow; but, in a general way, the sport is indifferent, and the persevering angler is well rewarded if he succeed in killing two brace a day. A more successful mode of taking them is by fastening a long and heavily leaded line, and hook baited with a minnow, to the stern of a boat, which is slowly and silently rowed along: in this way they are taken during the early summer months; but when the hot weather comes in, they are seldom seen. They feed, probably, at night; and although they never leave the lake, except during the period of spawning, nothing is more uncommon than taking a char in July and August. When in season, they are strong and vigorous fish, and afford the angler excellent sport. They differ little in size, three fish generally weighing about 2lbs.: occasionally, one is caught larger, but they seldom vary more than an ounce. The char, as it is well known, is a singularly beautiful fish, and is accurately described by Pennant. The fishermen about the lakes speak of two sorts, the case char and the gilt char; the latter being a fish that has not spawned in the preceding season, and on that account said to be of a more delicate flavour, but in other respects there is no difference.

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DUTCH RUSHES.

The _E_quisètum hyemàle, is commonly sold under the name of Dutch rushes, for the purpose of polishing wood and ivory. If the rush be burnt carefully, a residuum of unconsumable matter will be left, and this held up to the light will show a series of little points, arranged spirally and symmetrically, which are the portions of silex the fire had not dissipated; and it is this serrated edge which seems to render the plant so efficient in attrition. Wheaten and oaten straw are also found by the experience of our good housewives to be good polishers of their brass milk vessels, without its being at all suspected by them that it is the flint deposited in the culms which makes it so useful.--_Magazine of Natural History, March._

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WOLF-DOG.

In Hutton's Museum at Keswick, is a large stuffed dog (very much resembling a wolf, and having its propensities), which some years ago spread devastation amongst the flocks of sheep in this neighbourhood: a reward was offered for its destruction, and, though hunted by men and dogs, its caution and swiftness eluded their pursuit, till it was found asleep under a hedge, and in that position shot.--_Corresp. Mag. Nat. Hist._

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DUCKS.

"While our voiturier," says Mr. Bakewell, "was resting his horses at Villeneuve, I observed a singular instance of sagacity in some ducks that were collected under the carriage. On our throwing out pieces of hard biscuit, which were too large for them to swallow whole, they made many efforts to break them with their beaks; failing in this, the younger ones gave up the spoil, but some of the older ducks carried parts of the biscuit to a pool of standing water, and held them to soak, till sufficiently soft to be broken and swallowed with great facility. I must leave it to metaphysicians to determine whether this process was the result of induction or instinct."

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POISON OF TOADS.

The circumstance of toads spitting poison, is mentioned in _M.L.B's_. interesting paper on the _Superstitions relative to Animals_. The following is the opinion of Dr. E.J. Clark on this subject, delivered at a recent lecture. S.H.

"The opinions of the vulgar are generally founded upon something. That the toad spits poison has been treated as ridiculous; but though it may be untrue that what the creature spits affects man, yet I am of opinion that it does spit venom. A circumstance related to me by a friend of mine, has tended to strengthen my opinion. He was a timber merchant, and had a favourite cat who was accustomed to stand by him while he was removing the timber; when, (as was often the case) a mouse was found concealed among it, the cat used to kill it. One day the gentleman was at his usual employment, and the cat standing by him, when she jumped on what he supposed to be a mouse, and immediately uttered aloud cry of agony; she then stole away into a corner of the yard, and died in a few minutes. It turned out that she had jumped on a toad."

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THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS_.

SCRIPTURAL ANTIQUITIES.

(_Concluded from page 411_.)

_Phenomenon of the Rainbow._

It seems to us very probable, that the _density_ of the atmosphere was changed at the deluge, having been considerably attenuated, nor can this inference be regarded in the light of mere speculation: there seems sufficient evidence that it really must have been so. The rainbow appearing for the _first_ time--the abbreviation of human life, and the diminished size of animal and vegetable forms, all seem to require this condition. Far be it from us to doubt the direct interposition of JEHOVAH in this catastrophe, but GOD sometimes employs secondary agents to effect his designs. "I do set," says the ALMIGHTY, "my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of the covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you, and every living creature of all flesh: and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh." It cannot be reasonably supposed, that the rainbow ever appeared before the deluge, nor from our previous remarks, is it at all necessary to suppose it. Had the patriarchs seen this beautiful phenomenon in an antediluvian world, its recurrence after the deluge could not have been a symbol of security, since, though the spectacle had been already witnessed, the deluge had supervened; but it was a _new_ phenomenon, the consequence of the altered condition of the atmosphere, and was perhaps the result of a _super-added law_. The design implies stipulations of a somewhat similar description, and even pagan testimony might be cited as concurring in this view of it.

[Greek: En nephei staerixe teras meropon anthropon.][5]

"Jove's wondrous bow of three celestial dies, Plac'd, as a sign to man, amidst the skies."

_The Fall of Manna._