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says Burns. In these matters, therefore, castle-building must give place to dry evidence and the matter-of-fact testimony of the senses. Those who act otherwise in these affairs waste their years in running round a circle, and find themselves in the end at the point from which they set out. Among these materializers of the airy nothings of the mind, are the perpetual-motion-hunters, who astound society with their discoveries, and are at last obliged to creep off, as the sporting people say, "like dogs with their tails between their legs." The credulous experimenters after the discovery of the philosopher's stone; of an universal remedy, the elixir of life, by which man is to defy sickness and defer death for a thousand years; the gambler's martingale for subduing chance; and the navigators to the moon-afford examples enough of the folly of endeavouring to realize the fantasies of imagination, and of trying to build with sunbeams and prismatic colours the coarse and ponderous edifices of man's erections.

These objections, however, do not affect castle-building of the right kind: the enjoyer of which truly believes his visions too subtle for the common world, from which he must withdraw himself to see them. He sets out with the perfect consciousness that the feast of which he is going to partake belongs not to tangible existence, that it consists of ethereal aliment laid out in the universe of spirit, and that consequently it is an intellectual entertainment upon "ambrosial food," which, while he tastes, must receive from him no alloy of corporeal substances. He knows that this pleasure is an illusion, like all others, even those that consist of better things; but he, nevertheless, derives a temporary satisfaction from it. Pleasant to him is the short interval of rest in his arm-chair after dinner, for, when the foolish world thinks him taking his nod, he is in an elysium-pleasant are his silent devotions to Raleigh's soothing weed, to the solace of his segar or hookah-pleasant is the still hour of night when sleep is deferred a little only to be sounder when it comes, and the unslumbering fancy revels in unwearied luxury, and rears the noblest edifices in her matterless region-pleasant, in short, is castle-building whenever the mind wants renovation, or amusement of its own peculiar character, and can so employ itself without a waste of time or attention from more important objects.

New Monthly Mag.

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Hezekiah Goddard, Sheriff's Deputy.

48

The Gatherer.

"I am but a Gatherer and disposer of other men's stuff.---Wootton.

AN IRISH BULL.

A WORTHY baronet of Erin's clime, Had a fam❜d telescope in his possession; And on a time

Of it's amazing pow'rs he made profession,

Yon church, cried he, is distant near a mile;

Yet when I view it steady for a while,
Upon a bright and sunny day,
My glass so strong and clear
Does bring the church so near,

That often I can hear the organ play.
CLAVIS.
EPITAPH ON GEORGE DIXON,

A NOTED FOX-HUNTER, By the late William Hickington, Esq. STOP passenger! and thy attention fix on! That true-born honest fox-hunter, George

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TO CORRESPONDENTS. Venedota, P. T. W., F. R---Y., Edgar, and G. S. in our next.

The following communications are either deemed unsuited to the Mirror, too well known, or not possessing sufficient merit:---D. Kn, R. S., Chathamensis, Y., R. F., Moyle, G., Wilkins, Edwin, B.

Will our Twelfth Day correspondents allow their articles to stand over eleven months

Early, H. B., J. B., N. B. D., C. Clarke, W.M., J. S., Francisca.

There are two A. L.'s in the field.

We stand corrected by "Mr. Patrick Bull, Gent. Esq.:" it was certainly in the descent and not the ascent that Pilatre de Rosiere and Romaine were killed.

H. H. C.'s anecdote of Dr. Young, which he thinks has never been in print, is in every jest

In the Cathedral Church of Salisbury. book. In memory of

Thomas Glover, Architect, who having erected many Stately, curious, and artful edifices for others, himself is here lodged under this single stone, in full expectation however of a building with God eternal in the Heavens.

Ob. Dec. 2.

A.D. 1707.
Etat. 68.
T. P. H.

EPITAPH

In Clapham Church-Yard, on a child
three years and eight months old.

The great Jehovah, full of love,
His angels bright did send,

To fetch the little harmless dove,
To joys that never end,

Utopia in our next.

We thank Amicus; but we can do no more.
H.O. in an early Number.

As none of our friends are so obliging as to die for the sake of having Mr. Wall's epitaph, we must refer him elsewhere for a customer.

Mina's Address to his Countrymen is somewhat out of date. Perhaps it may soon be in season. Lines to infant children and young misses can rarely be acceptable to the Mirror.

Will R. S. turn to page 428 of our last volume, and he will find a full account of Capt. Parry's second voyage.

Errata.---Page 19, col. 2, line 44, for " of all," read" at all." Page 20. col. 1, line 28, insert a comma after "Annotationes;" 1. 31, for "Bonmotiane," read "Bonmotiana ;" 1. 11 from the bottom, for "planum," read " plenum;" ool. 2, 1. 20, for "levy," read "levee."

The Second Volume of the Mirror is now ready, and may be had of all Booksellers, price 6s. in boards.

Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) and sold by all Newsmen and Booksellers.

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WE are sure we shall have the thanks of our poetical readers at least for presenting them with a view of Newstead Abbey, so long the baronial residence of a family which has received more honour from the talent of the present representative, than from the titles which have ennobled it.

Newstead, or New Place, was formerly a monastery of canons of St. Augustine, dedicated to God and the Virgin Mary by the founder, Henry II., who endowed it with the church and town of Papelwick, together with large wastes about the monastery, within the forest, a park of ten acres, &c. In the reign of Henry the Eighth, when the monasteries were stripped and demolished, Newstead AbDey, which is at a short distance from Mansfield, in Nottinghamshire,_came into the possession of the family of Byron, and continued their residence until sold by the present Lord Byron a few years ago. The front of the Abbey is one of the most beautiful and chaste specimens of Gothic architecture in the kingdom. In the open court was a fountain discharging its waters from an antique structure of stone, ornamented with a grotesque assemblage VOL IIL

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of boars, bears, and lions. This foun tain has been removed by Major Wildman, the present proprietor, who is restoring the Abbey in a style of classical and appropriate magnificence. The embellishments which the Abbey had received from the present Lord Byron, had more of the brilliant conception of the poet in them than of the sober calculations of common life. In many rooms which he had superbly furnished, but over which he had permitted so wretched a roof to remain, that in about half a dozen years the rain had visited his proudest chambers, the paper had rotted on the walls, and fell, in comfortless sheets, upon glowing carpets and canopies, upon beds of crimson and gold, clogging the wings of glittering eagles, and destroying gorgeous coronets. A gentleman who visited the Abbey soon after Lord Byron had sold it, gives the following description of it :

"The long and gloomy gallery, which, whoever views, will be strongly reminded of Lara, as indeed a survey of this place will awaken more than one scene in that poem, had not yet relinquished the sombre

pictures of its ancient race.'-In the study, which is a small chamber overlooking the garden, the books were packed up, but there remained a sofa, over which hung a sword in a gilt sheath, and at the end of the room, opposite the window, stood a pair of light fancy stands, each supporting a couple of the most perfect and finely polished skulls I ever saw, most probably selected, along with the far-famed one converted into a drinking cup, and inscribed with some well-known lines, from amongst a vast number taken from the burial-ground of the abbey, and piled up in the form of a mausoleum, but since re-committed to the ground. Between them hung a gilt crucifix.

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"In one corner of the servants' hall lay a stone coffin, in which were fencing gloves and foils; and on the wall of the ample, but cheerless kitchen, was painted in large letters, Waste not, want not.' “During a great part of his Lordship's minority, the abbey was in the occupation of Lord G-, his hounds, and divers colonies of jackdaws, swallows, and starlings. The internal traces of this Goth were swept away; but without, all appeared as rude and unreclaimed as he could have left it. I must confess, that if I was astonished at the heterogeneous mixture of splendour and ruin within, I was more so at the perfect uniformity of wildness throughout. I never had been able to conceive poetic genius in its poetic bower, without figuring it diffusing the polish of its delicate taste on every thing around it: but here that elegant spirit and beauty seemed to have dwelt, but not to have been caressed; it was the spirit of the wilderness. The gardens were as exactly as their late owner described them in his earliest lays :-!

"Thro' thy battlements, Newstead, the hollow winds whistle;

"Thou, the hall of my father's, art gone to decay;

"In thy once smiling gardens the hemlock and thistle

"Now choke up the rose that late bloom'd in the

way.

"With the exception of the dog's tomb, a conspicuous and elegant object, placed on an ascent of several steps, crowned with a lambent flame, and pannelled with white marble tables, of which, that containing the celebrated epitaph is the most remarkable, I do not recollect the slightest trace of culture or improvement. The late Lord, a stern and desperate character, who is never mentioned by the neighbouring peasants without a significant shake of the head, might have returned and recognised every thing about him, except perchance an additional crop of weeds. There still gloomily slept that

old pond, into which he is said to have hurled his lady in one of his fits of fury, whence she was rescued by the gardener, a courageous blade, who was the Lord's master, and chastised him for his barbarity. There still, at the end of the garden, in a grove of oak, two towering satyrs, he with his goat and club, and Mrs. Satyr with her clubby cloven-footed brat, placed on pedestals at the intersections of the narrow and gloomy pathways, struck for a moment, with their grim visages, and silent shaggy forms, the fear into your bosom which is felt by the neighbouring peasantry at 'th'oud laird's devils.'

"In the lake before the abbey, the artificial rock which he filled at a vast expense, still reared its lofty head; but the frigate, which fulfilled old mother Shipton's prophecy, by sailing over dry land from a distant part to this place, had long vanished, and the only relics of his naval whim were the rock, his ship buoys, and the venerable old Murray, who accompanied me round the premises. The dark haughty impetuous spirit and mad deeds of this Nobleman, the poet's uncle, I feel little doubt, by making a vivid and indelible impression on his youthful fancy, furnished some of the principal materials for the formation of his Lordship's favourite, and perpetually recurring, poetical hero. His manners and acts are the theme of many a winter evening in that neighbourhood. In a quarrel, which arose out of a dispute between their gamekeepers, he killed his neighbour, Mr. Chaworth, the lord of the adjoining manor. With that unhappy deed, however, died all family feud; and, if we are to believe our noble bard, the dearest purpose of his heart would have been compassed could he have united the two races by an union with the sole remnant of that ancient house,' the present most amiable Mrs. Chaworth-the Mary of his poetry. To those who have any knowledge of the two families, nothing is more perspicuous in his lays than the deep interest with which he has again and again turned to this his boyish, his first most endearing attachment. The 'Dream' is literally their mutual history. The 'antique oratorie,' where stood his steed caparisoned, and the hill'

crowned with a peculiar diadem Of trees in circular array, so fixed, Not by the sport of nature, but of man,' are pictures too well known to those who have seen them to be mistaken for a mo

ment.

"It is curious to observe the opinions entertained by country people, of celebrated literary characters, living at times

amongst them. I have frequently asked such persons near Newstead, what sort of man his Lordship was? The impression of his energetic but eccentric character was obvious in their reply, He's the d-1 of a fellow for comical fancies. He flogs th'oud Lard to nothing; but he's a hearty good fellow for a'that.' One of these mere comical fancies, related by a farmer, who has seen it more than once, is truly Byronic:-He would sometimes get into the boat with his two noble Newfoundland dogs, row into the middle of the lake, then dropping the oars, tumble over into the middle of the water; the faithful animal would immediately follow, seize him by the coat collar, one on each side, and bear him away to land. Dogs tutored in this manner are invaluable, because they may be relied upon in cases of actual danger."

WELSH CARNEDDAU.
(To the Editor of the Mirror.)

SIR,-Upon turning over the leaves of your former volumes, I have found some notices connected, in a certain degree, with the ancient history of Wales, upon which I hope you will permit me to offer, occasionally, a few supplementary observations. I shall at present confine myself to the following.

In vol. ii. p. 305, (No. 50.) you have given the representation of a celebrated Cairn in Minorca, with a short article on these ancient remains, the writer of which presumes, and I think rightly, that they were originally designed for "sepulchral monuments." It would have given additional weight to his hypothesis, if he had noticed some of those to be found in Wales, and which are known by the narne of Carneddau, or Carnau, a word nearly resembling the Scotch Cairn. There are several of these tumuli scattered throughout the Principality; among the most remarkable of which are those on Pumlumon (corruptly called Plinlimon,) the Carneddau Hengwm and Carneddau y Gawres (or the Giantess's Heaps) in Merionethshire, with some in the island of Anglesea. Mr. Rowlands, author of Mona Antiqua, caused one of these latter to be opened, and found it to contain an urn, from which he reasonably concludes, that the Carnedd in question was erected as a place of sepulture. The fact seems to be, that, before the introduction of Christianity into this island, or, at least, before the general adoption of its rites, these Carneddau, or stoneheaps, were used as the sepulchres of persons of note; and that, agreeably

with the Highland custom, every passenger added a stone to the pile out of respect to the memory of the deceased. The conclusion I have here drawn, is confirmed by the popular traditions connected with some of the more ancient tumuli of this description in Wales. It is, however, certain, that, after the Christian ceremony of inhumation had been adopted, the carnedd was no longer used as a mark of honourable distinction, but was appropriated solely to malefactors. The custom, observed by passengers, of casting a stone on the heap was still retained; but now only as a sign of reproach; and hence the popular expression in Wales of Carn ar dy wyneb, “A Carn on thy face," where any ill-will is intended against the person addressed.

The origin of this custom among the Welsh and Highlanders of Scotland is, no doubt, to be traced to a very remote age. It had its source, most probably, in the institution of Druidism, the first establishment of which is lost in the darkness of ages. But the usage was not confined to Britain. Even in the Patriarchial times, as we find from the book of Genesis, the erection of stone-piles was customary, though not for sepulchral purposes. It was then in use, as the passage in Genesis seems to imply, for the purpose of giving solemnity to a contract.* We find, however, from the book of Joshua, that among the Israelites of after ages, the Carn was actually applied to sepulchral uses, since it is recorded, that Achan, who was stoned to death for theft, was buried under a heap of stones in the valley of Achor;+ and the resemblances between the Hebrew Gar-naid and the ancient British Carnedd (both signifying a heap of stones,) may tend to establish the identity of the usage thus adopted by the two nations. It is moreover probable, that the custom of burying malefactors in this manner as well as individuals of celebrity, may have originally prevailed in this country, and that upon the introduction of Christianity, the former description of persons were alone buried in this way.

Nor was the usage confined to the Hebrews and Britons. Homer obviously alludes to a similar practice in the following passage in a speech of Hector to Paris, when the former is haughtily predicting the fall of his adversary, in the contest that was about to ensue between them: +

ἦ τέ κεν ἤδη

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