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household was broken up, and Peter went to lodge with a fellowworkman, the father of a family. This man interested Peter exceedingly, for he was quiet, grave, intelligent, and temperate, was partial to pursuits of a mechanical nature, had a small set of chemical apparatus, and dabbled with experiments. Peter talked with him, and walked with him, and looked upon him as altogether a superior man. One day, while he was puzzling himself about a passage in the Bible, he referred to his landlord for an opinion. "Oh," replied the man, with a quiet kind of expression, between a smile and a sneer,—“I never bother my head about these things." "Why?" "Because I am what religious folks call an infidel-a deist." Peter Jones knew what the word deist meant; he knew that it implied a rejection of the Bible as a Divine Revelation-but then he had always heard the character of a deist associated with something wicked or immoral, while here was a man for whose general character he had a great esteem, and who nevertheless professed himself a deist! Peter was staggered-he had felt a recoil from the man the moment he had announced himself to be a deist, and now he was angry with himself about it. His landlord had not pressed his opinions; he had not even suggested them: but seeing Peter disposed to inquire, he lent him a few tracts and pamphlets. Peter had been educated not only with a reverential but a superstitious respect for the Bible; not only did he reverence the words, but he reverenced the paper on which the words were printed. He felt therefore horrified at the manner in which the Bible was treated in the tracts he was reading, for he had not conceived it possible that such a thing could be. His horror subsided into anger; his anger cooled; and as he cooled, the poison was deposited. At first he was afraid to say of himself, that he was a deist: but as soon as he mustered courage to pronounce the word, he repeated it again and again.

Shortly afterwards he met his mother, and she asked if he had been at church on the preceding Sunday. "Oh!" said he, with a conceited air, "I have given up all that nonsense now!" The poor woman did not comprehend him; she looked at him for an explanation; and Peter, drawing his little figure up to its fullest length, added, "Because I am now a deist!" The mother understood that this meant a denial of that faith on which her hope rested; and she turned away with a sore and troubled heart. But Peter acted in a bravado spirit; he told every body he knew that he was now a deist; and the very loudness and firmness of the tone in which he announced it seemed necessary to convince himself that the fact was even so.

But Peter's self-will was strong: he had lost the favour of his patron, he had grieved his mother, and he had also (though unaware of it) offended himself. His joy and happiness had all evaporated; he was discontented and miserable; he hated the sight of friends, and he longed to break away from constraint. So he started for London, indulging, by the way, in vague illu. sions; the motion of travelling scattering unpleasant thoughts. He arrived in the "great city" with fourpence-halfpenny in his pocket; and his first solicitude was to find out a person to whom his recent landlord had recommended him, and who would doubtless have proved a friend, had he been found out; but he had long before left the spot where Peter thought he would have found him, and where else he did not know to turn. Wearied and forlorn, still the novelty of the streets of London diverted the anxious thoughts, and night fell ere the adventurer was aware. The fourpence-halfpenny soon disappeared for the warmth of a fire, a loaf, and a draught of beer. As the night grew, he felt ashamed to see his empty jug stand so long before him; for it looked as if he occupied the room of one who would more profitably repay the shelter of the landlord's roof. So out he went, and the night was spent in pacing the streets, chiefly about the Strand. Till past midnight the scene was amusing enough: the brilliantly lighted shops, the busy thoroughfares, and the crowds that swept along on the closing of the theatres, were enough to engage attention. After midnight the scene was not so busy, but far from being quiet. The coach, at intervals, rattled along, bearing home from evening parties its owners or its hirers; groups were returning from their taverns or their clubs; and unhappy prowlers walked the streets. But in all that long and dreary night (or rather it was the morning that was dreary,) no riots or interruptions to the public peace were remarked.

Two other nights were passed in a similar manner; for the youth's efforts to find out his friend were ineffectual, and applications for employment were ineffectual, perhaps partly on account of Peter's dejected and squalid looks, but principally because he could not tell what he could do. Subsistence was procured by the sale of a handkerchief which he wore about his neck, and for which he got a shilling. But the nights grew, each of them, more intolerable than before, and the desire to lie down in a bed became an absorbing feeling. After traversing the spacious extent of Oxford-street, he had turned up one of the narrow streets or rather lanes of St. Giles's, because its darkness and dirt seemed a relief and a shelter. Here, by a faint glimmering of light, he saw in a window, one pane of which was supplied by a hat and another by a bundle of rags, that beds were to be had within. He had twopence-halfpenny in his pocket; so he en

Away from the consequences, it might have made one smile to hear this little particle of the mysterious, calling himself a deist. For he lived in a most marvellous world, and was him-tered, and inquired from an Irishwoman who was superintendself one of the constituents of the marvellous; and how he breathed, and how he thought, and how the stars were in the heavens, and how the Bible contains the most ancient records of the race, and how it has employed the most varied talent, the most extraordinary intellect, in its elucidation, and what is the destiny of man, and wherefore he is immortal-of all this Peter Jones knew nothing at all, or scarcely anything at all-yet still he went about, proclaiming, "I'm a deist!"

His patron heard of this extraordinary change in one of whom he had entertained such a good opinion; and he sent for the youth, that he might learn from himself the cause. Peter went, full of confidence and conceit, and prepared, as he thought, to out-argue the best, almost the only friend he had in the world. The good man soon saw how it was with Peter; and, instead of arguing, mildly expostulated. Peter was touched, but pride came to the rescue; and he told his patron he was free to choose his own opinions. "Yes," he replied, "you are not only free, but it is your right and your duty to do so on all important matters. But what has produced this change?" "Knowledge is power," said Peter, "and Truth is the daughter of knowledge and power, and we should follow Truth wherever she may lead." Peter was not aware that the only power which knowledge had yet given him was the power of presumption. He told his patron that he was tired of his native place; that he saw no chance of getting on in the world, and he had resolved to go to London; "for that was the field where talent was sure to be encouraged." "Fool," said his patron, more angrily than was his wont, you go to London with a scanty stock of ideas, with your principles unsettled, without a TRADE by which to earn your bread, without money in your pocket, without a friend. Oh! young man, I tremble for the consequences to yourself. How is it that a cloud has overcast so fair a morning!"

ing a pot that hung over a fire, if he could have a bed?"Ay, sure, was the reply; "but at what price, my darling? I have beds of all sorts and sizes." Peter hesitated, and his hesitation was misinterpreted. "Ye can have a bed up stairs, as nice a bed as ye would wish to lie down on, for a sixpence; and I can give ye a bed in the room below [a damp cellar] for threepence, only ye will have more company." The confession was made of poverty, and the twopence-halfpenny was tendered. The landlady became for the moment less gracious; she talked of how often she had been "done" when she gave credit, and that a halfpenny was a halfpenny to her; but suddenly, as if trusting to her skill in physiognomy, she exclaimed, "Sure, then, ye arn't one of the common sort: have ye anybody in London that ye know?" and with other inquiries, until she learnt a portion of Peter's history. "And will ye pay me again, if I trust you?" she asked, looking steadily in his face. "I will." The tone of this answer gave confidence, and in a few minutes the young man was seated by the fire, a mess from the pot was placed before him, and he was enjoined to keep himself quiet. Is there not goodness of heart amongst the rudest and roughest of

mankind?

In a few minutes the room (which might have been in former days used as the parlour, but which was now kitchen and hall) began to fill. The residents in this hotel were returning from their day's avocations. There were Irish labourers newly arrived in town, women and children, pickpockets, and begging impostors. Two long forms with narrow coarse deal tables were ranged out-here each sat down to treat themselves to supper, according to their means, or the success of their day's adventures. The most remarkable of all, at least from his noise and vociferations, was a young athletic Englishman, dressed in an old blue coat, a pair of white trousers (it was the spring of the year), and

an apron rolled round him. With him was connected a young woman who passed as his wife-these two were full of boisterous glee from the success of their speculations at different parts of the town. The man had passed himself off that day as a Spitalfields weaver out of work, and having a young wife and a starving family at home. With what a laugh he recounted the fact (gin and beer were operating on his head) of overhearing one female say to another, Poor man! he seems to be a decent tradesman out of work!" And a kind, benevolent gentleman, to whom he had mentioned the names of several ministers and others who had assisted him, had interested himself for him, and had raised a subscription of four or five shillings for him. The young woman, though not so successful as her partner had been, had also earned a "pretty good day's work." As far as could be judged from their conversation, their gains might have amounted to about twelve or fourteen shillings.

The other individuals made a singular medley. Their modes of living appeared various. Several were adroit in imposition day after day, under different disguises and pretences. Honest wretchedness and poverty were also here, spending the passing night, after having arrived in London, and knowing not where to turn. But the clever vagabonds ascended the creaking stairs to the better sort of beds the less fortunate, honest and dishonest, went down to a cellar having an earthen floor, where about a dozen of truckle beds were spread out. Among the inmates was at least one individual under hiding from the police.

Peter took advantage of the opening of the door to rush out from this squalid abode of wretchedness, poverty, immorality, and crime. He was once more in London streets, and be thought that a form resembling his father was following him, and looking in his face, as if mournfully to upbraid him. "Ah!" he thought, "poor as was our house, it never would have entered my mind that I should have fallen so low as this! Forsaken of God and man! or rather I have abandoned my friends, and forsaken truth, and here I am, left utterly to myself. Is knowledge power? It has given me no power, but the power of ruining myself!" A voice seemed to whisper in his ear" As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place!" The truth of this struck into his heart-he sat down on the steps of a shop-door, and wept.

A SUNDAY AT MOSCOW.

In

To one who a long time had been a stranger to the sound of "the church-going bell," few things could be more interesting than a Sunday at Moscow. Any one who has rambled along the maritime Alps, and has heard from some lofty eminence the convent bell ringing for matins, vespers, and midnight prayers, will long remember the not unpleasing sounds. To me there is always something touching in the sound of the church-bell; in itself pleasing by its effect upon the sense, but far more so in its associations. And these feelings were exceedingly fresh when I awoke on Sunday, in the holy city of Moscow. Greece and Turkey, there are no bells; in Russia they are almost innumerable; but this was the first time I had happened to pass the Sabbath in the city. I lay and listened, almost fearing to move, lest I should lose the sounds; thoughts of home came over me; of the day of rest, of the gathering for church, and the greeting of friends at the church-door. But he who has never heard the ringing of bells at Moscow does not know its music. Imagine a city containing more than six hundred churches, and innumerable convents, all with bells, and these all sounding together, from the sharp, quick, hammernote, to the loudest, deepest peals that ever lingered on the ear, struck at long intervals, and swelling on the air as if unwilling to die away. I arose and threw open my window, dressed myself, and after breakfast, joining the throng called to the respective churches by their well-known bells, I went to what is called the English chapel, where, for the first time in many months, I joined in a regular church-service, and listened to an orthodox sermon. I was surprised to see so large a congregation, though I remarked among them many English governesses with children, the English language being at that moment the rage among the Russians, and multitudes of cast-off chambermaids being employed to teach the rising Russian nobility the beauties of the English tongue. - Stephens's Incidents of

Travel.

EUROPEAN INFLUENCE IN THE EAST. ON looking at the map, we perceive that Europe forms a comparatively small portion of a vast continent, of which Asia is the main body. The Russian empire extends across this continent, occupying its northern quarter, from the Baltic sea to Kamtschatka, and from the Arctic ocean to the Black sea, and the frontiers of Persia and Turkey on the west, and to the frontiers of China on the east. In the interior of the continent are the

steppes of Tartaria and Mongolia-extensive regions, inhabited by those wandering shepherd horsemen, whose forefathers have repeatedly rushed forth in hordes, desolating the fairest portions of Asia, and making Europe tremble. Continuing south, we have Persia on the extreme west, and China on the extreme east; the great space between Persia, China, and the steppes, being occupied by tribes or nations, half nomadic, half agricultural, until, descending from the table-land of Tibet, and the stupendous mountain ranges of the Himalaya, which guard Hindustan along the north-east, we pass through the “ Happy Valley" of Cashmere, and enter upon the great triangular-shaped peninsula of Hindustan, which contains our Indian empire.

By referring once more to the map, the position and boundaries of our Eastern dominions may be easily ascertained. The peninsula of Hindustan is triangular-shaped; and it is round the head of this peninsula that the nations lie, from whose restlessness or enmity danger is apprehended. From the mouth of the Persian gulf, extending northwards to the steppes of Tartary, and forming a western and north-western boundary between Persia and Hindustan, are the extensive countries of Beloochistan, Afghanistan, and Bokhara—all inhabited by mixed races, partly commercial, partly agricultural, but a far greater portion nomadic or wandering pastoral tribes, akin to the Tartars and Mongols. "The territory of the Afghans," says Heeren, "or eastern Persia, called also the kingdom of Cabul, from the name of the principal city, is inhabited by a nation, which, making allowances for the influence of Mohammedism, appears to be in pretty nearly the same stage of civilisation as at the time of the conquest of Alexander the Great. Some of them occupy fixed abodes in cities and villages, others lead a pastoral life under the shade of tents; but even in the case of the former, their wealth principally consists in their cattle; their constitution nearly resembling that of the ancient clans of Scotland. The whole race is divided into different clans or tribes, and though professing a general allegiance to a common prince, they pay a much more implicit obedience to their several chieftains, though the influence of the latter is

always greater or less, in proportion to the weight of their personal character. Elphinstone found them a people of simple manners, whose pastoral habits presented a pleasing picture; while at the same time they were courageous and independent: such also they were found to be by Alexander; and we cannot peruse without indignation the recital of their severe treatment at his hands, for having attempted to defend their cities and possessions."

It is in this direction, the north-west, or in the extensive border land which lies between Hindustan and Persia, that the chief danger is to be apprehended: for though the Birman empire, on the south-east, is supposed to be likely to be troublesome, there is not perhaps much apprehension as to the result of any movement in that quarter. Now, it will hardly be doubted, that the weakening of the English power in the East would be detrimental-a great calamity-to Hindustan, and to the general interests of humanity. European civilisation owes a large debt to the East, which we are only beginning to pay back. We are

tribes that skirt Hindustan, and whose country has hitherto been all but shut up from modern activity and research. But if the English power was broken, another European power could not occupy its place. Anarchy would ensue : a tremendous contest for dominion would arise amongst native adventurers; the barriers which we have erected round Hindustan would be overthrown; mountain tribes from the Himalaya ranges, Afghans from their hills and valleys, nay, even Tartars and Mongols from their distant steppes, might come like sweeping torrents, and renew over the fertile soil of British India some of the fearful scenes enacted by Ghengis Khan or Timur. Events such as these are as likely, and more likely, to occur than a Russian conquest of Hindustan.

Before the discovery of the passage by the Cape of Good Hope, the products of India were carried over-land into Europe

only beginning to understand the country and people, and they are only beginning to feel the influence of our rule. The stores of Hindu literature are just opening to European scholars, and beginning to shed light on the early history of our race ; and Hindu mind, manners, and morals, have received an infusion of life-blood by the exertions of missionaries and the translations of the Scriptures. China, too-that strange country, which knew the composition of the fire-drug while we were handling the bow and arrow, and used the mariner's compass, and practised printing, while we were comparative savages—is beginning to stagger under the repeated assaults on its exclusive system; and the roots of a great English empire have been laid down in Australia. Many indications point to the probable fact, that the East, the cradle of civilisation, from whence issued those arts, sciences, and manufactures, which have lifted Europeans so high in the scale, is about to become again the seat of a higher and a more enhanced civili-Alexandria in Egypt being the great emporium. "It was a sation, which will gradually break up the uniformity of three thousand years. "It was on Asia," says Heeren, "that the first dawn of history broke; and during succeeding ages, when Africa was involved in almost total obscurity, from which Europe herself was slowly disengaged, there rested upon Asia a degree of light which, if it did not illuminate equally all the great events of which that continent was the theatre, served at least to illustrate their general course, and to furnish important data towards the history of the human species." The same distinguished author whose words we have quoted, thus speaks of that particular portion of Asia which we have now under consideration:-"Of all the divisions of Asia, the southern, containing the territory of Hindustan, is distinguished by the richness and diversity of its productions. Here we not only find (with very few exceptions) all the products of other parts of civilised Asia, but so great a variety peculiar to its climate, that it would appear as if a new and more beautiful creation had sprung up under the hand of nature. Nearly all the spices, which become necessary to mankind in exact proportion to the progress of luxury and refinement, have at all times been peculiar to this region, while two of the most important articles used in clothing, viz. cotton and silk, were first produced here, and continue to be so in an especial degree, though their cultivation has been gradually extended to other countries. These natural advantages have rendered this quarter the principal seat of Asiatic commerce; its productions have flowed from the east to the west in a continual stream; and notwithstanding some occasional deviations in its branches, the main current has never been dried up. The influence which an intercourse with India may have had on the civilisation of mankind is a question worthy the close attention of the philosophical student of history."

To disturb or weaken the power of the English in Hindustan would, as we have said, be fatal, at least for a time, to the gradual and tranquil progress of the great re-active process now going on. There is no other European power that could take our place. Looking at the map, one might be apt to fancy that the emperor of Russia might march, as Alexander marched, a great army from his frontiers to the shores of the Indian ocean, and annex Hindustan to his dominions; and thus, with a little license of expression, the Russian empire might be said to extend, in a solid mass, from the north pole to the equator. Such a contingency is a remote one; but supposing it likely to occur within any reasonable period from the present time, still Russia, even if it were able to conquer, could not retain Hindustan as the English retain it. Over the peninsula English law and order are beginning to be diffused-to enter the national character; and we are beginning to get acquainted with those active mountain

necessary consequence of the fact, that the commerce of Asia was principally carried on by land, that it should be materially influenced by the political changes and revolutions which took place there. When new tribes of conquerors emerged from their deserts, and overthrew by their countless hordes an established empire, a revolution so complete could not but affect its commerce also. Nevertheless, it is a remark which the whole tenor of Asiatic history confirms, that, though often interrupted and modified, the commerce of the country was never entirely destroyed. On the contrary, it appears always to have resumed its original position with greater facility than could have been expected; nor are the causes difficult to discover. The victorious nation soon perceived the advantages to be derived from a continuance of the former state of things; the wants of the conquered soon became theirs also; the customs or presents extorted from the caravans which traversed their country enriched them or their chiefs; and it may be added, that a sort of taste for commerce and trade prevails even among the ruder tribes of Asia. Less injury was inflicted on commerce by these changes of dynasty and wars of victorious nations, than by the anarchy into which despotic governments are apt to be dissolved. On such occasions, innumerable hordes of banditti are presently formed, which destroy all internal security-the restraint of a superior power having been removed. The anarchy and confusion which so long prevailed in the state of Persia, caused an almost total interruption of her commerce.

"In this manner, with some partial modifications and occasional interruptions, the internal commerce of Asia continued on the whole the same, through all the mighty political revolutions which affected the interior, from the days of Cyrus and Nebuchadnezzar to those of Ghengis Khan and Timur. As the more recent dynasties were built on the same foundations with their predecessors, so their commerce also retained the same general character. Its principal seats remained unchanged; and the countries in which these were situated were at all times adorned with rich and flourishing cities; which, after the most cruel devastations, rose again from their ashes. The wants of men, whether natural or fictitious, are too mighty and pressing to be lastingly affected, far less annihilated, even by war or despotism. One event, however, has made a sensible epoch in the history of Asiatic commerce, and will, it is probable, always continue to influence it-the discovery of a passage to the East Indies round the Cape of Good Hope. It is true, that even at a very ancient period there existed a communication by sea between the shores of Arabia and Hindustan; and it is well known that this intercourse subsisted, although with some vicissitudes, during the Macedonian and Roman periods, as well as the

Arabian and Venetian. But even at the period of its greatest prosperity, this traffic bore no proportion to the vast land commerce of Asia, through which by far the greater part of the productions of the East consumed in Europe, was conveyed to that quarter of the world by the ports of the Black and Mediter

ranean seas.

Guizot quotes, from M. Abel Rémusat, a curious illustration of the intercourse which subsisted between Asia and Europe, just previous to the discovery of the passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope. "Many men of religious orders, Italian, French, and Flemings, were charged with diplomatic missions to the court of the Great Khan. Mongols of distinction came to Rome, Barcelona, Valentia, Lyons, Paris, London, and Northampton; and a Franciscan of the kingdom of Naples was archbishop of Pekin. His successor was a professor of theology in the university of Paris. But how many other people followed in the train of those personages, either as slaves, or attracted by the desire of profit, or led by curiosity into regions hitherto unknown! Chance has preserved the names of some of these. The first envoy who visited the king of Hungary on the part of the Tartars, was an Englishman, who had been banished from his country for certain crimes, and who, after having wandered over Asia, at last entered into the service of the Moguls. A Flemish cordelier, in the heart of Tartary, fell in with a woman of Metz, who had been carried off into Hungary; a Parisian goldsmith, and a young man from the neighbourhood of Rouen, who had been at the taking of Belgrade. In the same country, also, he fell in with Russians, Hungarians, and Flemings. A singer called Robert, after having travelled through Eastern Asia, returned to end his days in the cathedral of Chartres. A Tartar was a furnisher of helmets in the armies of Philip the Fair. Jean de Plancarpin fell in, near Gayouk, with a Russian gentleman, and who acted as an interpreter; and many merchants of Breslau, Poland, and Austria, accompanied him in his journey into Tartary. Others returned with him through Russia; they were Genoese, Pisans, and Venetians. Two Venetian merchants, whom chance had brought to Bokhara, followed a Mongol ambassador sent by Houlogou to Kublai Khan. They remained many years in China and Tartary, returned with letters from the great Khan to the Pope, and afterwards went back to the Khan, taking with them the son of one of their number, the celebrated Marco Polo, and once more left the court of Kublai Khan to return to Venice. Travels of this nature were not less frequent in the following century. It may well be supposed that those travels of which the memory is preserved, form but a small part of those which were undertaken; and there were in those days many more people who were able to perform those long journeys than to write accounts of them. Many of those adventurers must have remained and died in the countries they went to visit. Others returned home as obscure as before, but having their imaginations full of the things they had seen, relating them in their families, with much exaggeration, no doubt; but leaving behind them, among many ridiculous fables, useful recollections and traditions capable of bearing fruit. Thus, in Germany, Italy, and Florence, in the monasteries, among the nobility, and even down to the lowest classes of society, there were deposited many precious seeds, destined to bud at a somewhat later period. All these unknown travellers, carrying the arts of their own country into distant regions, brought back other pieces of knowledge not less precious, and, without being aware of it, made exchanges more advantageous than those of commerce. By these means, not only the traffic * Heeren's Researches.

in the silks, porcelain, and other commodities of Hindustan, became more extensive and practicable, and new paths were opened to commercial industry and enterprise; but, what was more valuable still, foreign manners, unknown nations, extraordinary productions,, presented themselves in abundance to the mind of Europeans, which, since the fall of the Roman empire, had been confined within too narrow a circle. Men began to attach some importance to the most beautiful, the most populous, and the most anciently civilised, of the four quarters of the world. They began to study the arts and the languages of the nations by whom it was inhabited; and there was even an intention of establishing a professorship of the Tartar language in the university of Paris. The accounts of travellers, strange and exaggerated indeed, but soon discussed and cleared up, diffused more correct and varied notions of those distant regions. The world seemed to open, as it were, towards the east; geography made an immense stride; and ardour for discovery became the new form assumed by the European spirit of adventure. The idea of another hemisphere, when our own came to be better known, no longer seemed an improbable paradox; and it was when in search of the Zipangu of Marco Polo, that Christopher Columbus discovered the New World."

Bartholomew Diaz sailed past the Cape of Good Hope, which he called Cabo Tormentosa, from the storms with which he was assailed; and Vasco de Gama, sailing in his track, landed on the western coast of the peninsula of Hindustan. The nations of Europe rushed to share with the Portuguese the advantages of the newly discovered channel of commerce. "A total change ensued when the Europeans had discovered a way to the East Indies round Africa. Europe no longer received the commodities required through the accustomed channel of central Asia, but obtained them direct from the southern coasts of that continent, (particularly those of Hindustan,) which from that time necessarily became the principal seats of commerce. In consequence, a large proportion of the internal commerce of the country became attracted to the situations frequented by the European fleets, which were thus rendered the marts for the productions required in the west. Nevertheless, the commerce of the interior continued to maintain itself, as long as the throne of the Persians and Mongols was occupied by princes who, with the love of conquest, possessed some relish for the arts of peace, and sufficient power to assure the safety of individuals within their empire. The iron despotism of the Turks, the anarchy of Persia, and the lawless inroads of the Afghans and Mahrattas, on the north of Hindustan, first caused the almost utter ruin of the commerce of central Asia, and converted into deserts the flourishing countries on the banks of the Euphrates and Indus; where the ruins of what were once royal cities are the only records of their former magnificence."

This introductory view will enable the reader better to follow a sketch of the rise and progress of the English power in India, with other collateral subjects, which we propose introducing from time to time.

DEATHS OF SCIENTIFIC MEN.

Several men of science have died in a scientific manner. Haller, the poet, philosopher, and physician, beheld his end approach with the utmost composure. He kept feeling his pulse to the last moment, and when he found that life was almost gone, he turned to his brother physician, observ

ing, "My friend, the artery ceases to beat," and almost instantly expired. The same remarkable circumstance had occurred to the great Harvey; he kept making observations on the state of his pulse when life was draw

ing to its close," as if," says Dr. Wilson, in the oration spoken a few days after the event, "that he who had taught us the beginning of life, might himself, at his departing from it, become acquainted with those of death."-D'Israeli, Curiosities of Literature.

VICIOUS PLEASURES.

Centries or wooden frames are put under the arches of a bridge to remain no longer than till the latter are consolidated. Even so, pleasures are the devil's scaffolding to build a habit upon;-that formed and steady, the pleasures are sent for fire-wood, and the hell begins in this life.-Omniana, 342.

A HINT TO PUNSTERS.

Let not thy laughter handsell thy own jest, lest whilst thou laugh at it others laugh at thee, neither tell it often to the same hearers, lest thou be thought forgetful or barren. There is no sweetness in a cabbage twice sod, or a tale twice told.-Quarles' Enchyridion.

IGNORANCE THE GREATEST OF ALL INFIRMITIES.

So long as thou art ignorant be not ashamed to learn; he that is so fondly modest not to acknowledge his own defects of knowledge shall in time be so fondly impudent as to justify his own ignorance. Ignorance is the greatest of all infirmities, and, justified, the greatest of all follies. -Quarles.

MAGAZINE DAY.

Magazine day is a sort of monthly era in the history of a London bookseller. The orders for the forthcoming Numbers of the various periodicals which he is in the habit of receiving for some days previously, keep it constantly in his mind's eye; and when it does arrive, the great contest among the trade is, who shall be able to supply their customers earliest. Magazine day can only be said fairly to commence about half-past nine o'clock, and before twelve you will see the various periodicals in the windows of every retail bookseller throughout the length and breadth of the metropolis. Perhaps in no other instance, that of newspapers alone excepted, is an article so rapidly circulated over town as periodical literature on that day.-Travels in Town, by the Author of " Random Recollections."

FEMALE ATTACHMENT.

Women are formed for attachment. Their gratitude is unimpeachable. Their love is an unceasing fountain of delight to the man who has once attained it and knows how to deserve it. But that very keenness of sensibility, which, if well cultivated, would prove the source of your highest enjoyment, may grow to bitterness and wormwood if you fail to attend to it, or abuse it.

WISDOM.

Wisdom to a fox, who, after long hunting, will at last cost you the pains to dig out. 'Tis a cheese, which, by how much the richer, has the thicker, the homelier, and the coarser coat; and whereof, to a judicious palate, the maggots are the best. 'Tis a sack posset, wherein the deeper you go, you will find it the sweeter. But then, lastly, 'tis a nut, which, unless you choose with judgment, may cost you a tooth, and pay you with nothing but a worm.-Swift.

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AN AMERICAN QUACK'S LOGIC.

Of the great "Brandreth Pills," there is said to go forth weekly from his central depôt, a ton weight. Such undoubting confidence in their efficacy was a mystery to us, till we met incidentally with the logical demonstration with which they go wrapt up, and in which they are doubtless swallowed. It is as follows:-" What is it that we call the constitution? Is not the constitution that which constitutes? and that which constitutes is the blood. There is then but one disease-impurity of blood. Now does not Nature, when she wishes to become purified, put her elements into commotion? It is the principle of commotion, then, that purifics. Ought not man then to copy Nature? And do not the Brandreth Pills take away the bad humours from the blood, and leave the good? Certainly they do. (!!) Pill, price 25 Cents the box." Such is the precious logic by which the uneducated reasoning mind of the multitude is governed by state quacks as well as medical ones. The nostrums of both are of the same stamp, false logic.-New York Review.

A PLEASANT MEMENTO MORI.

Luther, after he had successfully opposed the pope, and was admired by all the world as the invincible champion of the true Christian faith, not long before his death, sent a fair glass to his friend Dr. Jonas Glass, and therewith the following verses :

"Dat vitrum Vitro Jonæ vitrum ipse Lutherus,
Se similem ut fragili noscat uterque vitro."

"Luther a glass, to Jonas Glass, a glass doth send,

That both may know ourselves to be but glass, my friend."
Luth. Colloq.

A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE IS A DANGEROUS THING. Memory indiscriminately loaded is a very foolish thing; and knowledge wrongly applied is, perhaps, worse than ignorance. No one ought to learn more than he can digest, for instead of augmenting what he already knew, it will only confound it. A little correct knowledge is better than a multitudinous mass of loose ideas and inaccurate facts-Sir Egerton Brydges' Recollections of Foreign Travels.

VALUE OF LITERARY LABOUR. Sterne, when he had finished his first and second volume of Tristram Shandy, offered them to a bookseller at York for fifty pounds, but was refused; he came to town with his MSS., and he and Robert Dodsley agreed in a manner of which neither repented. The Rosciad, with all its merits, lay for a considerable time in a dormant state, till Churchill and his publisher became impatient, and almost hopeless of success. Burn's Justice was disposed of by its author, who was weary of soliciting booksellers to purchase the MS., for a trifle, and which now yields an annual income. Collins burnt his odes before the door of his publisher.

A BRACE OF AMBASSADORS.

Each having an individual will to consult, character to establish, and interest to promote, you may as well look for unanimity and concord between two lovers with one mistress, two dogs with one bone, or two naked rogues with one pair of breeches.-Knickerbocker.

DELAYS ARE DANGEROUS.

He was a wise man that said "Delay hath undone many for the other world: Haste hath undone more for this. Time well managed saves all in both." Tempus mea possessio, tempus ager est-time is my wealth, time is the field I cultivate, was the admirable motto of an ancient sage.Lloyd's State Works.

LIFE.

Life is divided into three terms: that which was, which is, and which will be. Let us learn from the past to profit by the present, and from the present to live better for the future.

NAPOLEON'S AMBITION.

There is something as great in Napoleon's struggles after a defeat, as in his exultation after victory. The same wearing ambition, the same consciousness that he was never made for the restraints of ordinary laws, strike one as the absorbing feelings of his soul. He could not, and he would not, descend to the level of common men. Amid the snows of the north, which had become the winding-sheet of half his army, he could not help meditating schemes of conquest and of government. Nothing short of the sceptre of Europe would satisfy him. This all-grasping thirst for empire, which prompted him to many a triumph, proved now the very cause of his downfall. On his return from Russia he might with ease have settled down, the Emperor of France, and sat securely, by amusing the full-grown children of that mercurial nation by fêtes, and reviews, and swelling epithets. But this was no fame. He must make another dash at Europe. He did so, and, like a too-daring eagle, he was smitten by the thunderbolt, and pinned to a desert rock.-Fraser's Magazine.

UP AND DOWN.

The Cardinal de Richelieu, when increasing every day in power, met, coming down the steps of the Louvre, the Duke d'Espernon, who had formerly been the principal favourite of the king. What news above there, my lord duke?" asked he. None," answered the other, "except you are coming up and I am going down."

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VALUE OF TIME.

The difference of rising every morning at six and eight, in the course of forty years amounts to upwards of 29,000, hours, or three years, one hundred and twenty-six days, six hours; so that it is just the same as if ten years of life were to be added, of which we might command eight hours every day for the cultivation of our minds or the despatch of business.

EATING.

Every animal eats as much as it can procure, and as much as it can hold. A cow eats but to sleep, and sleeps but to eat; and, not content with eating all day long, "twice it slays the slain," and eats its dinner o'er again. A whale swallows ten millions of living shrimps at a draught; a nursling canary bird eats its own bulk in a day; and a caterpillar eats five hundred times its weight before it lies down to rise a butterfly. The mite and the maggot eat the very world in which they live-they nestle and build in their roast beef; and the hyena, for want of better, eats himself. Yet a maggot has not the gout, and a whale is not subject to sciatica. Nor does Captain Lyon inform us that an Esquimaux is troubled with the tooth-ache, dyspepsia, or hysterics, though he eats ten pounds of seal, and drinks a gallon of oil at a meal, and though his meal lasts as long as his meat. But if eating is to produce diseases, which of all the nosology would be absent from the carcase of Captain Cochrane's Siberian friend, who ate forty pounds of meat, with twenty of rice porridge, at a sitting?.,

SORROW.

Sorrow is a kind of rust of the soul which every new idea contributes in its passage to scour away. It is the putrefaction of stagnant grief, and is remedied by exercise and motion.-Johnson.

ALLEVIATION OF SORROW.

To deep sorrow, and the constant presence of the ghost of past injustice, how pleasant is the distraction of the images of crowded cities, and gentle occupation.-Ser E. Brydges' Recollections.

London: WILLIAM SMITH, 113, Fleet Street. Edinburgh: FRASER & Co. Dublin: CURRY & Co.-Printed by Bradbury & Evans, Whitefriars.

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