231 SOCIETY FOR THE ANNIHILATION OF TIME. es, a portion of the society's funds be an nually applied to the purchase of leather breeches, smock frocks, lace hats, rib bons, &c. to be run, wrestled, boxed, or grinned for, at the various fairs and wakes of this country; and that the se On Wednesday last the above society held its anniversary at the Old Slaughter's Coffee-House. The chair was taken by Lord Do-no-more, who opened the proceedings with a luminous speech, which we regret our limits will not permit us to insert.cretary be instructed to prepare a list of Suffice it to say, that it engrossed the attention of the meeting for at least one hour, and was of course rapturously applauded. The report of the proceedings of the society was then read by the secretary, and appeared to give general satisfaction. Several noblemen and gentlemen addressed the meeting at considerable length. In their speeches, no quarter was given to time or the king's English. The following resolutions passed unanimously: That the meeting contemplates with the utmost satisfaction the progress already made in forwarding the objects of the society; and by their unremitting efforts, they confidently anticipate a successful issue to the great cause in which they are engaged. such places as are best qualified for donkey-race plates, and that the same be submitted to the society at their next meeting. That, in order to afford amusement to such gentlemen as are by necessity con→ fined to the house, as well as to encourage the breed of that noble animal the maggot, a golden nut shall be presented annually to each of the principal towns in the kingdom, to be run for by maggots under three years old, over a course not exceeding a ten-feet dining-table, and subject to the rules of the Jockey Club That, as through the means of Sunday schools, it is probable, that, before long, the whole population will be instructed in reading, whereby an opport tunity will be afforded to the ill disposed, both in religion and politics, to sow their tares, rendering it a matter of great consequence to supply the soil prepared with proper seed, it is the opinion of the meet that a part of the funds of the society cannot be better disposed of than in the publication of cheap tracts, containing facetious anecdotes, amusing stories, rules for popular games, &c to be distributed at low prices among the people. That the meeting views with the great-ing, est pleasure the great increase in the means of public amusement, not only in the metropolis, but in the country generally, whether in theatres, tabernacles, exhibitions, shows, races, assemblies, lovefeasts, milling matches, &c. &c.; and, on the other hand, they cannot but deprecate the interference of officious individuals in endeavouring to suppress those manly sports, which constitute the chief means of destroying the enemy among the lower classes, and of maintaining the unrivalled spirit of the people of these islands. That the masters of the ceremonies at the principal places of fashionable resort be requested to attend the next meeting of the society, for the purpose of cons certing the best means of carrying on the war against the enemy among the upper classes in their respective stations. That magistrates in general be requested to afford every facility to the That, with a view to the encourage- lower classes engaged in the same warment of pastimes among the lower class-fare; and that the sheriff's be requested to give public notice of the execution of criminals, and to afford accommodation to the people in viewing this their favourite amusement; and that they may at the same time take measures to keep free from intrusion the pockets of such ladies and gentlemen as may attend these rational and agreeable pastimes." That a special meeting be called for the purpose of electing a new president in the room of their late much-lamented patron, the King of the Sandwich Islands. That prizes be offered at each of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, for the best epitaph on his said majesty, in which no allusion be made to that popular association of eatables, naturally suggested by the association of ideas. That, with a view to the encouragement of giants, dwarfs, and monsters of all kinds, prizes be established for the most approved objects of wonder and delight, whether of foreign or domestic growth. That a reward of 5001. be offered for the first person who shall produce a true mermaid, and if alive, 500/. additional; and that the Board of Longitude be requested to contribute towards this laudable purpose.. -That, in order to encourage all attempts against the common enemy, a premium be granted to that person who, within a period of five years, shall be proved to have spent most time in the endeavour to discover perpetual motion. That a deputation be appointed to wait on the Lord Mayor, to request he will fix a situation in the city as a market for Time, where persons who have more of this commodity than they know what to do with, may be enabled to dispose of the same to such as may have want of it; which measure they have no doubt will tend much to abridge the society's la bours. The thanks of the meeting were then voted to the following persons: To Mr. Elliston of Drury-lane The To Mr. Secretary Peel, for his firm and successful stand against the efforts of a party to put down the noble diversion of bull-baiting. To Messrs. Hunt, Probert, O'Meara, Battier, O'Callaghan, &c. &c. for the ample share they have taken in occupying the attention of the public. To newspaper-reporters in general, for the pains they have taken, and the taste they have displayed, in catering for the public appetite. To the Far niente Club, for their suc cessful efforts against the common enemy. Prizes were then adjudged to the following persons: The society's gold medal to Mr. Aof Cambridge, for the best copy of nonsense verses on the objects of the institution. Ditto to Mr. B of Oxford, for the longest prose essay on the same subject. for his ode to Ditto to Mr. CMorpheus. Ditto to Mr. D—, for his invention of a new game on the cards. Ditto to Mr. E-, for his admirable work on the art of amplifying, or máking much ado about nothing. Ditto to Dr. F(with the addition of Rousseau's Emile bound in pig), for his learned work on the education of animals, and for his ingenious application: of the Lancasterian system to that pur pose. Ditto to Mr. G, for the best J To Mr.P, for a patent toothpick. To Mr. Q—, for a patent humane cockspur, calculated to retard the death of the animal, to the consumption of time, and the entertainment of the spectators. To Mr. R, architect, for the most approved design of a castle in the air. It was further resolved to confirm the act of the society's committee, which, in consideration of the important services performed by Captain Parry and his brave associates, and of the dreary prospect before them, took upon itself to present each of the ships bound to the polar regions with several sets of the most somniferous birthday odes and Esquimaux melodies, together with a selection, from the society's tracts, the whole bound in white Russia bear. soft bas + Thanks being, as usual, voted to To Mr. S of Bond-street, for an the chairman, the meeting was dis improved fifty minutes' tie of the cravat, solved, most of the company adjourintended to supply the place of that time-ing to the City of London Tavern,› killing part of the male toilet, hair-dress- there to consume, in the festivities ing, now unfortunately out of fashion. of the table, what remained of the enemy after the day's proceedings. "¶ To Mr. T, for the greatest number of buttons pulled off gentlemen's coats during a morning's walk. HANDS AND RINGS. AMONG the Romans a handsome || ideas by mere gestures. As it was hand as well as a handsome foot was not then customary to wear gloves, considered as a great beauty. In so much the more attention was paid speaking, they gesticulated a great to the delicate appearance of the deal, for the purpose of displaying hand: it was above all required that i the hand in every graceful move-the nails should be nicely cut, and ment. The Italians even at the pre- shine as if polished. sent day express a great number of his Art of Love, a Vol. IV. No. XXII. Ovid Ovid says, in fair lady with clumsy fingers and coarse nails must not gesticulate much. In large families there was a female slave expressly to keep the fingers and nails in order. The nails were cut with a small knife; the parings were preserved, and used for sympathetic cures. Pliny says, "If you mix the parings of nails with wax, make it up into a little ball, and stick it against the door of a strange house, the fever will infallibly remove from your house to the other." Those who were not rich enough to keep slaves applied to a barber, whose business embraced the cutting of nails. Nobody took the trouble to do it himself. Thus too the wearing of rings was adopted for adorning the hand. The origin of this practice is so old, that it is lost in the obscurity of remote antiquity. It passed from Egypt to the Greeks, from the Greeks to the Hetruscans, and so to the RoThe first rings were of iron, and were worn only by soldiers, and that on the third finger of the hand, which was thence denominated the ring-finger. Gold rings had come mans. 事 into fashion anterior to the battle of Cannæ, after which Hannibal sent to the Carthaginian senate a whole bushel-full of them. The Roman senators likewise wore gold rings; and Florus relates, that, after the disastrous battle just mentioned, the Roman senate possessed no other gold than that of its rings. The plebeians soon began to follow the fashion, but at first with iron rings; gold ones were only granted to them as distinctions. Under the emperors, however, soldiers, nay even freedmen, were seen with gold rings. They were originally prohibited from wearing the latter unless presented to them by the emperor himself, Justinian, however, weary of the numerous petitions soliciting this favour, permitted all who pleased to give them away, Hence none but gold or at least gilt rings were worn: many of them are to be found in antique collections. When none but iron rings were allowed, to such a length was vanity carried, that people endeavoured to give to gold the colour of iron, that they might at least not wear real iron. A SPANISH-AMERICAN DINNER-PARTY. From Captain HALL's " Journal written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico.” THE scene of this entertainment punch, the other of sangaree, a mix was the city of Tepic, in Mexico. I made one, says Captain Hall, of a great dinner-party, a sort of feast, or as it is called in Spanish, a convité. The hour named was one o'clock, but it was half-past one before the company were all assembled. They were first invited to a side-room to take a whet, which looked more like a substantial luncheon. In the middle of the table was placed a ham, flanked by two huge bowls, one of ture of wine, sugar, lemon-juice, and spices. At each end of the table stood a dish of cheese, ingeniously carved into the shape of radishes and turnips. At each corner was a dish of olives, covered with slices of raw onions, floating about in vinegar, I need not add, there was aquardi ente and wine in profusion. Such ample justice was done to this whet, that the dinner, I thought, stood a poor chance of being touched; but end with the blows by which these orators sought to enforce their arguments. Meanwhile the dinner went on, as if nothing remarkable was passing; the plates and dishes were changed by the servants and their volunteer assistants with singular dexterity, and in spite of this vast confusion. The bottle passed more and more in this I was much mistaken. Forty people sat down to one table. At the top were placed the two principal ladies; on their right sat the military commander-in-chief, while I was requested to sit on the other side next to the lady of the house. Then came the alcalde, the chief civil authority, and so on. The master of the house served at table in the capacity of waiter, assisted most good-rapidly; the noise increased; the naturedly by four or five gentlemen, for whom there were no places, and who preferred making themselves useful in this way to dining in an-ed uproar and confusion: groups of other apartment along with ten or a dozen others, equally shut out by want of room. bawlers became more numerous; and by the time the dinner was well over, the party fell to pieces, and all seem 1 four or five, and sometimes twice that number, might be seen clustered together, all speaking or singing At first a suspicious kind of calm at once. I never was more astonishprevailed, but the soup had scarcelyed than at seeing so many men, on been removed before there appeared all other occasions perfect models of symptoms of an approaching storm. decorum, suddenly lose their formaWhile we were discussing the olla,lity, and act like so many professed the dish which always succeeds the topers and merrimakers. At first I soup, a principal person in the com- thought this must needs end in blows, pany rose up, and shouted out, Copas and stood prepared to avoid the boten mano! Handle your glasses! But tles and glasses which were likely to he had to repeat his mandate several be flying about. But after a little times, and to stretch out his tumbler while it was easy to discover more brimfull of wine, before the distant sounds of mirth than of anger; and parts of the table stood up in ho- the ladies, who must have been acnour of the toast, which was one of customed to such scenes, sat very the common-places of the day, Union composedly, viewing it all with great y libertad! After this signal there delight. was kept up during the whole dinner a constant discharge of toasts and sentiments; and upon an average, towards the end of dinner, there could be no less than ten or twelve men on their legs, all speaking at once at the full stretch of their voices, and accompanying every remark with some theatrical gesticulation. Others kept their seats, thinking perhaps they night thereby have a fairer aim at the table, which rung from end to Something like order was presently restored by the feats of a merry Biscayan, who dressed himself like a cook, by throwing off his coat and his waistcoat, turning up the sleeves of his shirt above the elbows, and pinning a napkin across his breast. Those who knew him of old were immediately aware of what he was going to do, and roared out Pastel! pastel! (a pie! a pie!) upon which all singing, drinking, and talk |