individuals among us; they were therefore not a little surprised to be seriously assured, that neither the one nor the other belonged to any of us, but to a much richer and more powerful person, to whom we all paid respect and obedience, and at whose command we had come to visit and enrich the Innues, ( Esquimaux ). Ewe rat, on account of his steadiness and intelligence, as well as the interest with which he listened to any thing relating to Kabloonas, (Europeans) was particularly fit to receive information of this nature; and a general chart of the Atlantic ocean, and of the lands on each side, immediately conveyed to his mind an idea of the distance we had come, and the direction in which our home lay. This, and similar information was received by Ewerat and his wife with the most eager astonishment, and interest, not merely displayed in the 'Hei-ya!' which constitutes the usual extent of Esquimaux admiration, but evidently enlarging their notions respecting the other parts of the world, and creating in them ideas which could never before have entered into their minds. By way of trying their inclinations, I asked them if they would consent to leave their own country, and taking with them their children, go to live in ours, where they would see no more Innues, and never eat any more seal or walrus. To all this they willingly agreed, and with an earnestness that left no doubt of their sincerity: Togolat adding in an emphatic manner, Shagloo ooagoot mao,' (we do not tell a falsehood), an expression of peculiar force among them. "The eagerness with which they as sented to this proposal made me almost repent my curiosity, and I was glad to get out of the scrape by saying, that the great personage of whom I had spoken, would not be pleased at my taking them home without having first obtained his permission. Information of the kind alluded to was subsequently given to many of the other Esquimaux, some of whom could at length pronounce the name of King George,' so as to be tolerably intelligible.' ENTERTAINMENTS IN CHILI. As soon as the despatches were sent off, I paid a visit to a Chilian family of my acquaintance, and immediately on my entering the drawing-room, the lady of the house, and one of her daughters, each presented me with a rose, apologizing, at the same time, for having omitted to do so before. This custom of presenting strangers with a flower prevails in all Spanish countries, and is one of an extensive class of minute attentions, which the Spaniards and their descendants understand better than any other nation. The favour itself is nothing; indeed, it seems essential to the civility that it should be a mere trifle; the merit lies in the unaffected and simple expression of good will and kindness which, while it really obliges, is of a nature to impose no obligation. The Chilians are fond of making picnic parties, to dine in the country, at any spot which may suit them during an excursion, and to-day I happened to fall in with some friends bent on such an expedition, all crowded into a careta or covered waggon, on its way to the hills: as they wanted one more cavallero, I was well pleased to be permitted to join them. We reached the destined spot in safety, though sufficiently jolted, and well nigh deafened by the creaking sound of the wheels, which, like those in Spain, are kept purposely without grease, in order, it is said, by this clumsy device, to prevent smuggling-since no cart or waggon can pass within half a league of a customhouse officer without calling his attention to the spot. I went in the evening to visit a family in the Almendral, or great suburb of Valparaiso. The ladies were ranged, as usual, along the wall, in a compact line, with their shawls drawn over the head and across the chin, so as nearly to conceal the face. One young lady played the harp, another the guitar, while some occasionally joined with their shrill voices in singing the patriotic songs of the day. Others were chatting, or working, and the evening was passing away pleasantly enough, when, without any apparent cause, the whole party jumped up, cast away their music and work, and flew in in the most frantic style out of the house, screaming aloud, misericordia! misericordia! beating their breasts at the same time, and looking terrified beyond des cription. I was astonished at all this, but followed the company into the street, calling out misericordia as loud as any of them. It was a bright moonlight evening, and the street, from end to end, was filled with people; some, only half-dressed, having just leaped from their bedschildren, snatched from their sleep, were crying in all directions many carried lights in their hands-in short, such a scene of wild confusion and alarm was never seen, and all apparently occasioned by a spontaneous movement, without any visible motive. After standing in the street for about a minute, the whole crowd turned round again and ran into their houses, so that, in the course of a few seconds, the hubbub was stilled, and not a mortal was to be seen. I now begged to know the cause of this amazing commotion, having a vague idea of its forming some part of a religious ceremony, when, to my surprise, I learned that it had been produced by an earthquake, so severe, that the people had been afraid of the houses tumbling about their ears, and had run into the open street to avoid the danger; for my part, I was totally unconscious of any motion, nor did I hear the sound, which they described as unusually loud. On mentioning this fact afterwards in company, I was assured, that for a considerable period after the arrival of foreigners, they are in like manner insensible to shocks, which a native can at once distinguish. It may be mentioned also, as an unusual effect of experience, that the sensation of alarm, caused by feeling an earthquake, goes on augmenting instead of diminishing, and that one who at first ridicules the terrors of the inhabitants, comes eventually to be even more frightened than they are. PERUVIAN DINNER. WE sat down to dinner, a very merry party, the master of the house insisting upon my taking the head of the table; a custom, he said, that could by no means be dispensed with. The first dish which was placed on the table was bread soup, exceedingly good, and cooked either with fish or meat, a distinction so immaterial, we thought, that our surprise was considerable when we observed a gentleman of the party start up, and, with a look as if he had swallowed poison, exclaim, "O Lord, there is fish in the soup!" and while we were wondering at this exclamation, our friend ran off to the kitchen to interrogate the cook. He returned with a most woe-begone look, and finished his plate of soup as if it had been the last he was ever to taste. A feeling of delicacy prevented our asking questions, although our curiosity was raised to the highest pitch, by observing the gentleman touch nothing else, but literally go without his dinner. It was Friday, and it was in Lent, which might have accounted for his horror at meat; but it was fish which had shocked him; besides, we saw the rest of the company eating both without scruple, which puzzled us exceedingly, and the more so as the self-denying individual was a very sensible man, and showed no other symptoms of eccentricity. We at last discovered that he had, for some reason or other, come under a religious engagement not to eat both fish and flesh, though the South Americans are permitted to do so, by an express bull in their favour, and it so happened, that he had set his fancy this day most particularly on a meat dish close to him, never dreaming of what had been put into the soup; fish once tasted, however, his feast was at an end, and he kept his vow in a manner worthy of an anchorite. THEATRE AT LIMA. THE theatre which was opened during the festivities upon the accession of the new Viceroy, was of rather a singular form, being a long oval, the stage occuwhich means the front boxes were brought pying the greater part of one side, by close to the actors. The audience in the pit was composed exclusively of men, and borrowed, I believe, from Madrid, the that in the galleries of women, a fashion intermediate space being divided into several rows of private boxes. Between the acts, the Viceroy retires to the back seat of his box, which being taken as a signal that he may be considered as absent, every man in the pit draws forth his steel and flint, lights his segar, and puffs away furiously, in order to make the most of his time, for when the curtain rises, and the Viceroy again comes forward, there can no longer be any smoking, consistently with Spanish etiquette. The sparkmakes the pit look as if a thousand fireling of so many flints at once, which flies had been let loose, and the cloud of smoke rising immediately afterwards and filling the house, are little circumstances which strike the eye of a stranger as being more decidedly characteristic than incithe gentlemen in the boxes also smoke on dents really important. I may add, that these occasions; and I once fairly detected a lady taking a sly whiff behind her fan. The Viceroy's presence or absence, however, produces no change in the gallery aloft, where the goddesses keep up an unceasing fire during the whole evening. PERUVIAN BALL. A STRANGE custom prevails every where in this country at balls, public as well as private. Ladies of all ranks, who happen not to be invited, come in disguise, and stand at the windows, or in the passages, and often actually enter the ballroom. They are called Tapadas, from their faces being covered, and their object is, to observe the proceedings of their unconscious friends, whom they torment by malicious speeches, whenever they are within hearing. At the palace, on Sunday evening, the Tapadas were somewhat less forward than usual; but at the Cabildo, or magistrates' ball, given previously, the lower part of the room was filled with them, and they kept up a con stant fire of jests at the gentlemen near the bottom of the dance. Capt. Hall's Journal. Scientific Amusements. No. IV. The Frosted Branch. TAKE a large glass jar, and turn its mouth downwards upon a brick or tile; the jar to have fastened at its bottom (now its upper side), a branch or sprig of any shrub, as myrtle or rosemary, quite fresh, and damped with water. Then, upon a piece of hot iron throw some bits of gum-benzoin, place the iron at the same moment underneath your jar, when the white fumes of the benzoin will ascend, and remain attached to the branch or sprig, beautifully covering it all over with white particles, like the hoar frost of winter: the access of atmospheric air, however, would soon decompose the acid, and must, therefore, be excluded. Arbor Martis, or Iron Tree. IN strong aqua-fortis dissolve steel-filings till the acid is tolerably well saturated therewith. Add thereto gradually a solution of fixed alkali, or oil of tartar, per deliquium. An effervescence accompanies each admixture; in the latter the iron, instead of falling to the bottom of your vessel, will ascend, covering the sides thereof, and forming a great number of curious ramifications heaped one upon another, until they pass over the edge of the vessel, in the form of an over luxuriant plant. The Silver Tree, in a Glass Frame. DISSOLVE silver in aqua-fortis. Put a few drops thereof on a square of glass, and lay thereon small wire of copper or brass, previously formed into the shape of a tree with its branches. After lying an hour or two, a beautiful white vegetation will be perceptible round the wire, which will be partly covered therewith. Then wash it carefully with water, put over another square of glass, apply a frame deep enough to take the thickness of both, and you will thus have a pleasing ornament for a sitting-room. Luminous Bottle, or Watch Light. A BIT of phosphorus, the size of a pea, is to be put into a long glass phial, and boiling oil poured carefully over it, till the pnial is one-third filled. The phial must be carefully corked, and when used, should be unstopped a moment to admit the external air, and closed again. The empty space of the phial will then appear luminous, and give as much light as a dull ordinary lamp, and just sufficient to see the face of a watch. Each time that the light disappears, on removing the stopper it will instantly re-appear. In cold weather the bottle should be warmed in the hands before the stopper is removed. A phial thus prepared may be used every night for six months. Curious Percussion Experiment. Ir a blacksmith strikes his anvil with a hammer, action and re-action are equal, the anvil striking the hammer as forcibly as the hammer strikes the anvil. If the anvil be large enough, a man may place it on his breast, and suffer another person to strike with all his force, without sustaining any injury, because the vis inertio in the anvil will resist the force of the blow; but if the anvil be too small, the blow will be fatal. The Novelist. No. LII. FLOR SILIN. A RUSSIAN TALE.-BY KARAMSIN. LET Virgil celebrate the fame of Augustus! let the eloquence of flatterers glorify the sublime qualities of the great;-I will proclaim the renown of the worthy Flor Silin, who, though only a peasant, was withal a noble man; and in an unadorned relation of his actions shall his fame alone consist! I cannot at this moment reflect without the most painful feelings, on that dreadful year, which is known in the vicinity of the Lower Wolga by the name of the Famine-year. With sorrow I remember the summer, in which, during a long continued drought, the parched fields were only watered by the tears of the unfortunate peasantry. I shudder when I think of the autumn, when naught but the sighs of the distracted villagers at the sight of their empty barns was heard, instead of the usual songs of joy after an abundant harvest; and horror seizes me, whenever I recall to my remembrance the misery of that winter, when whole families left their habitations and passed day and night under the canopy of heaven, in defiance of cold, as beggars on the highways. I will no longer torture the heart f the feeling reader, by more minutely depicting these shocking scenes. I then resided on an estate not far from Simbirsk, where, though yet a child, I felt my share of the universal want, and the sufferings of my brothers filled my heart with anguish. In a neighbouring village lived Flor Silin, an industrious peasant, who cultivated his acres much better than his neighbours, for which reason he had always the richest harvest, and never had occasion to sell all his corn. The dry season came, and all the inhabitants of the village, Flor Silin alone excepted, were reduced to beggary. Yet was not industry his only virtue. Instead of taking advantage of the general distress, and selling his superfluous grain at an advanced price, he assembled the poorest of his neighbours, and thus addressed them: "Hark ye! my brethren; you are in want of corn, I have more than sufficient; help me to thresh out some measures, and every one take as much as he has occasion for.". The peasants were quite thunderstruck; for noble sentiments are equally uncommon in a village, as in a city. The report of Silin's benevolence spread through the whole vicinity, and the impoverished peasants from all the neighbouring villages came also to him, and begged for corn. The worthy Silin received them as brothers, and as long as he had any remaining rejected no one's petition. "At this rate," said his wife, "we shall, at last, have none ourselves." "In the Bible," answered Silin, "it is written, Give, and it shall be given unto you." The following year, God heard the entreaties of the poor, and blessed the harvest. The peasants, to whom Silin had given corn, now came, to pay their debts with interest. With tears in their eyes, they said to him; "Us and our children you have saved from perishing with hunger, and God alone can reward you for the noble deed-we can only pay that part of our debt with thanks." "I am not at present in want of grain, my dear friends," answered Silin; "the harvest has turned out well with me. Return thanks to God; for He it was that relieved you in your misery, not I, a poor impotent individual" In vain the debtors pressed it on him. "No," said he, "I will not take your corn. But if you have a superfluity, share it with those unfortunate beings who, not possessing the means to sow their fields last harvest, now suffer from want. There are many of them in the neighbourhood. Let us help them, my dear brethren, and God will bless us.""Yes, that we will," returned the af fected peasants, "we will divide this corn among the poor, and tell them, that 'tis you they must thank for the benefit; and at the same time bid them join us and our children in prayers to God for you."Silin raised his tearful eyes towards heaven, but his feelings no pen can portray. At another time, fourteen cottages being burnt down in a neighbouring village, Silin sent each of the sufferers two rubles and a scythe. Soon after, a whole village was burnt down, and the poor inhabitants who had nearly lost their all, took refuge with the worthy Silin; but his former benefits had disabled him from giving them assistance equal to his wishes. He was without money. "Yet," said he, "there is a horse, which at present I do not much want. Take it, and sell it." For two female slaves, whom he had bought in the name of his landlord, he procured freedom, kept them as his own daughters, and afterwards gave them good portions. If thou yet tarriest upon earth, thou philanthropist, Flor Silin, if thou hast not departed for a better country, and one more worthy of thee, where the hand of the Almighty will raise thee far above many kings and princes, thou art certainly still doing good to thy fellow-creatures, and gaining a higher place in heaven. If ever I return to that country of which thou art the best ornament, with reverence shall I approach thy cottage, and in thy person pay homage to humanity and virtue; but if thou art no longer in existence, I will visit thy grave, and water it with my tears. A stone shall cover thy vault, and I will engrave on it with my own hands: "Here rest in peace the remains of a Noble Man." Miscellanies. RUSTIC BRAVERY. IN the campaign of 1621, it was the intention of the Spanish general to possess himself of a walled village in the Palatinate, named Oggersheim, and he sallied from his quarters, at the head of a large body of troops, for this purpose. On the first alarm nine-tenths of the inhabitants removed to Manheim, leaving behind only about twenty old persons and a poor shepherd, who, besides being a brave fellow, was a man of some humour. The shepherd in good time fastened the gates, pulled up the drawbridge, and made a wonderful shew of resistance. A trumpeter summoned the town in form; on which the few remaining inhabitants escaped through a postern gate, and left only the shepherd and shepherdess, who was enceinte. The peasant, having slipped on the old coat of an officer, gave audience from the walls to the military herald, and, in the style of a representa tive of the garrison, made his bargain of capitulation inch by inch, contracting, at the same time, for the preservation of estate, and the free exercise of the Protestant religion. Let the reader judge what surprise the Spaniards felt, when, upon their entrance within the walls, they found with what a garrison they had been making a capitulation. The fellow, how ever, himself preserved a most inflexible gravity; and some weeks afterwards, when his wife lay in, requested the general to be sponsor. For the humour of the thing the pompous Castilian did not decline the honour, and for ever afterwards protected the child. ANDREW. SPANISH ETIQUETTE.* WHEN the mother of a late King of Spain was on her road to Madrid, she passed through a little town in Spain, famous for its manufactory of gloves and stockings. The honest magistrates of the place thought they could not better express their joy for the reception of their new queen, than by presenting her with a sample of these commodities, for which alone their town was remarkable. The major-domo, who conducted the queen, received the gloves very graciously; but when the stockings were presented, he flung them away with great indignation, and severely reprimanded the magistrate for this egregious piece of indecency. "Know," says he, “that a queen of Spain has no legs." The poor young queen, who at that time understood the language but very imperfectly, and had been often frightened with stories of Spanish jealousy, imagined they were to cut off her legs; upon which she fell a crying, and begged them to conduct her back to Germany, for that she never could endure that operation; and it was with some difficulty they could appease her.-Philip IV. is said never in his life to have laughed heartily but at this story. F. R Y. See Mirror, No. 62 THE MAID OF BALDOCK. THIS celebrated beauty was named Mary Cornwall, and was married about nine or ten years to Henry Leonard, a carpenter, of Baldock. She has been dead between forty and fifty years, and lies buried in Baldock church-yard, where the writer has seen her grave-stone. She was of the middle size, and a fair, good-looking woman. She had one daughter, married to Joseph Green, a cooper, of Harlow Bush, in Essex. She died of a quinsy, from her inability to swallow. The song was popular in her own days, and she frequently avoided all market-places and fairs, where it was constantly sung by ballad-singers. She used to be engaged to work at plain-work in the family of Mr. Pymm, at Rodwell, and lived by her industry. Her father gave her 100% or 1501. when she married, so that she was indebted to her merit for her celebrity. The following is the song once so popular: Who has e'er been at Baldock must needs know the mill, At the sign of the Horse, at the foot of the hill, Where the grave and the gav, the clown and the Without all distinction promiscuously go. beau, The man at the mill has a daughter so fair, But looking again, I perceived my mistake, HOT CROSS BUNS. THE custom of crying "hot cross buns" in London and in many parts of England, on Good Friday, is thought to have had its origin, anterior to the solemn event of which this day is in commemoration. The Greeks were accustomed to present to the gods a kind of consecrated bread, purchased at the gates of the temples. One species of this bread is said to have been called by them boun, which Hesychius describes as a kind of cake with horns; and another ancient author describes its composition to have been of fine flour and honey. The prophet Jeremiah notices this kind of offering, when speaking of the Jewish women falling into idolatry in Egypt. Formerly, a cake was in much request on this day, called water cakes, composed of flour and water only; but, to compensate for the want of flavour, the tops of the cakes were smeared with turmeric, which made them of a fine yellow colour. These have given way to the sweet crossbuns. Although the custom of having hot |
