"This was at a time when, by a sacrilegious perversion, a rich man could not die without being surrounded with covetous priests and monks begging "for our poor convent," while they were wallowing in all the wealth of the country. A rich proprietor near Lyons was on his deathbed, from a sudden attack of palsy, when his son, a tall, stout colonel of dragoons, arrived on the spur from his garrison. He finds at the bed-side a Franciscan friar and a notary. His father could not speak, but nodded, from the effect of the disease. "You leave," says the friar, "to our poor convent, your estate of -, with all the appurtenances?" A nod. "Notary, observe the consent, and write.-You leave to our poor convent your house here at Lyons, with all the plate and furniture?" A nod. "Notary, observe the consent, and write. You leave to our poor convent your farm at With all the arrears?" A nod. "You leave to our poor convent- The officer lost all patience. "My dear father, do you order me to throw this thief from the window?" A nod. "Notary, observe, and write." Said and executed, while the notary was glad to escape." "There have been rare instances of men who could sleep whenever they chose; but, in general, sleep cannot be commanded; and, as the poor negro said to his master when he fell asleep from fatigue, Massa, massa, sleep have no massa." "I have read a few odd books, and am glad to display my little learning, as he who has only one guinea is proud to show it. I must therefore say, and relate the anecdote as curious and important, that in China, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, neither gold nor silver were permitted in currency, but only paper, which was of a yellow colour, and stamped with the imperial seal. Foreign merchants were obliged to leave their coin at the custom-houses in exchange for these bank-notes.” "A nobleman was accustomed to examine bills and accompts with great rigour, even to pence and farthings, and was often ridiculed on this score by an intimate friend. But this friend falling into accidental and unmerited distress, was surprised with the receipt of two bank-notes of 1000l. each in the following laconic epistle." The farthings you have so often laughed at enable me to lend you the enclosed, which you will return at your own convenience. Yours, THE MISER." VARIETIES. From the English Magazines, June 1820. SUPERSTITION. WE translate the annexed from a French publication, as an example of the superstitious opinions which even in our times prevail to a considerable degree, in an otherwise enlightened country. The subject, it will be seen, is a record of supernatural forewarnings of the murder of the Duke de Berri. In ancient as well as modern times, on the approach of one of those events which change the destiny of nations, people have imagined the accustomed harmony of the universe to be broken, and that forebodings of a gloomy or a cheering nature, announced what they had either to hope or to fear. These ferebodings, real or imaginary, serve at least to shew the impor tance which people attach to certain events: thus for instance, the various miracles which took place at Rome previous to the assassination of Cæsar,enable us to judge of the horror which the death of that great man excited among the Romans: and the phantom which appeared to Brutus, on the eve of the battle in which he lost his life, proves how the attention of Rome was fixed on that event, which buried the republic in the tomb of Brutus. Finally when we call to mind the forebodings which tormented Henry IV., on the very morning of his assassination, it is natural to conclude that France, when she beheld the death of the conqueror of the League, could not but fear that thế League would again take up arms. · The Duc de Berri, the august victim of the ferocity of Louvel, has drawn as many tears as the victim of Ravaillac; and the signs which announced the death of the late Prince, are now the theme of conversation in France. The forebodings, dreams, and visions, which preceded the death of the Duc de Berri, have lately been collected and published in a little pamphlet, from which we extract the following. On the 13th of February, Madame M.... was walking in the Faubourg St. Honoré at the time when the Duc - de Berri's carriage passed on its way to the Opera. Some unaccountable fancy or horrible presentiment led her to observe to the Chevalier Dal.... who accompanied her, "I did not know that funerals were suffered to take place at this late hour." "Funerals!" exclaimed M. Dal.... "Yes," added the lady, a hearse has just now passed us." M.Dal.... looked round, and then turning to his companion, said, "You are mistaken; it was the Duc de Berri's carriage."-" Indeed!" said Madame M.... with strong emotion, how singular, that I should have taken it for a bearse !" 66 We are informed by one of his late Royal Highness's grooms, that the Prince's favorite horse, did nothing but neigh and start during the night of the 13th of February. It is remarkable, that several Ducs de Berri have suffered a melancholy death. Louis XVI. was a Duc de Berri. At the Pension Royale of St. Dennis, a young woman dreamt, on the 13th of February, that she received a crown of white roses from his Majesty, and that after plucking off the flowers and the leaves, she placed the thorns on the head of the august widow of the most unfortunate of Princes. The audience, on quitting the Bourdeaux Theatre on the 13th of February, beheld a luminous globe in the air, which did not vanish until day-break. On the same night, a peasant of La Vendée three times heard the cry: to arms! and three times he jumped up to seize his sword. M.G...., who died a few days after the Prince, had a most singular dream. The noble Peer, whom His Royal Highness honored with his friendship, dreamt, on the 11th of January, that as he was standing with His Royal Highness at one of the windows of the Castle of the Tuilleries, they observed a magnificent procession advancing towards the Louvre. A hearse richly decorated, and drawn by eight herses having appeared in sight, the Prince asked;"Whose funeral that?" on which M. G. . . . replied, "it is yours, Prince" in a few moments, another hearse, less rich than the first appeared, and M. G.... having in his turn asked who was to be buried? the Prince replied, "It is you, Count." When M. G.... related this dream to His Royal Highness, the latter laughed. An officer of the Royal Guard dreamt, on the 13th of February, that a red cap was fixed on the top of the Opera House; he was roused by the rolling of the thunder which he fancied he heard, and which, in his dream, appeared to destroy the Opera House, and the cap of the year 93. The following is an anonymous letter which the Duc de Berri received an hour before he went to the Opera, and to which he unfortunately paid no attention. Monseigneur,-Do not venture out without an escort. A poignard is raised against you. Your confidence will prove fatal to you. Preserve your life for the sake of France, of which you are the idol and the hope. Distrust particularly fair men! A fespectful admirer of your Royal Highness's virtues. A Frenchman, SALE OF WIVES. The illegality of this kind of contract, though it never could have been a subject of doubt, met with a judicial sanc tion as early as the 3d Edward I. John Comoy made a grant of his wife Margaret, to William Paynell, in the following words :-Noveritis me tradidisse et demisisse spontaneâ meâ voluntate domino Willielmo Paynell mi liti Margaretan cumprædicto Willielmo EASTERN TITLES. To a grant of land of the annual value of 20 kabuns or cowries, or 4 rupees, the following assemblage of titles is attached. "Shree Shree Shree Shree Shree Joot Govinda-Chundra Navayuna Bahadoor, Chief of the race of Pandurus, descended from the noon, whose actions are glorions as the effulgence of the white umbrella, worthy of homage from all the sovereigns in the universe, the mighty King Another method of getting rid of rats is to lay bird-lime in their haunts, for, though they are dirty enough in other respects, yet being very anxious with respect to their fur, if it is but daubed with this stuff, it is so troublesome to them that they will even scratch their skins from off their own backs to get it off and will never abide in the place where they have suffered in this manner. A few years ago the corn mill at Glossop, in England, was very much infested with rats. A quantity of bar ley, which lay on the chamber floor, was hourly visited by some of them. The miller one day going to drive them away, as usual, happened to catch one of them under his hat, which he killed; he then singed all the hair off its body, &c. until its skin, tail, and legs became stiff by the operation. In this condition he set it upon its feet, by the side of a heap of barley, where it stood with its pricked-up ears and tail for some of Heerumbra, Lord of Lords!" Our time. After this no rat dared to come STERNE'S ELIZA. After separating from her husband, she repaired to India, and resided some time at Vellore, of which garrison her uncle was commandant, and whose house she there superintended. I learn from an officer, who was accustomed to see her every evening, that she was very plain, but very sensible and accomplished. I am told she was any thing but a prude. She afterwards returned to Europe, and repaired to the South of France, for the benefit of her health, where she died. Mr. Editor, RATS AND MICE. A good method of destruction would be to feed these vermin regularly two or three weeks in any apartment which they infest, the hole by which they enter being first fitted with a sliding door, to which a long string may be added; any apartment might thus be turned into a large rat-trap. T. CAMPBELL'S LECTURES ON POETRY. We mentioned a few weeks ago, that the distinguished poet whose name we have just written, was to deliver a course of lectures, at the rooms of the Royal Institution, on the art to which he is so great an ornament. He commenced on Wednesday; and in an address of nearly an hour and a ball, developed his principles, to the infinite That we can transfer so small a share delight of a very numerous assembly of that gratification to our readers, we exceedingly regret; but it is out of our power to convey any idea of Mr. Campbell's happy illustrations, and we must confine ourselves to even a very concise outline of his general views and sound opinions. On setting out he described poetry rather by what it was not than by what it was; and showed its distinction from prose, not only in the characteristic features of imagery, fiction (generally.) and harmony, but in the absolute necessary quality of a regularly recurring measure of rhyme. The difference between elevated prose composition and measured poetry, then, was that in the former the ear of an auditor was not prepared to follow a reciter, whose successive periods might all possess unlike forms and construction; whereas, in the latter case, the ear anticipated the pauses and modulation of the whole when once accustomed to a few of the sentences. Mr. Campbell next enquired, whether any words were peculiar to poetical composition, or whether the entire range of language was not at the command of the bard. He decided for the last; and held, that provided the application was judicious, and the arrangement harmonious, no expressions whatever ought to be excluded from poetry. Thus a general would not choose to fight with a few picked men ; but to ensure victory would employ his whole army, only taking care to suit the stations of every branch of his force to its talents and powers. He allowed the same latitude in the choice of subject. The poet ought not indeed to select the high and exalted alone, for that shut him out from much of nature nor ought he to confine himself to the mean and common, for that would disgust; and poetry, like painting, should keep unimportant things in their proper situation, nor obtrude the disagreeable upon attention, by pressing it too forward in the picture. A due mingling of the elevated with the true was the right medium, which produced a genuine effect on mankind. He further said, that art as well as nature furnished subjects for poetry, and such had been chosen by the greatest poets. Quotations from Tickell, Milton, &c. illustrated this sentiment, which our readers may remember, is supported in the prefatory Essay to the Lecturer's British Poets." Popular superstitions were also fine topics for poetry; but to be fully felt, the author ought to live at the era when they were accredited; and should himself partially believe in them. Otherwise he exhibited a phantasmagoria at noon, and had to exclude the sun to darken the room. The last point to which Mr. C. turned his admirable coup d'œil, was to the progress of philosophy and science, as daily diminishing the territories of the poet. Fairy rings were now explained on natural grounds, and hardhearted chemists took away the giantcave of Fingal by mere crystallization. But the mind of man would also expand, and the imagination grow with difficulties, and conquer them. There are, we understand, to be four more lectures; of which we trust to be able to give sketches less imperfect than this of the first. MASONIC ANECDOTE. At an inn, in a town in the west of England, several people were sitting round the fire in a large kitchen, through which there was a passage to other apartments of the house, and among the company there was a travelling woman and a tailor. In this inn there was a Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons held, and it being lodge-night, several of the members passed through the kitchen in their way to the Lodge apartments; this introduced observations on the principles of masonry, and the occult signs by which Masons could be known to each other. The woman said there was not so much mystery as people imagined, for that she could shew any body the Mason's sign; "What," said the tailor, "that of the free and accepted?" "Yes,"she replied, "and I will hold you a half-crown bowl of punch, to be confirmed by any of the members whom you please to nominate." "Why," said he, "a woman was never admitted, and how is it possible you could procure it?" "No matter for that," added she, " I will readily forfeit the wager if I do not establish the fact." The company urged the unfortunate tailor to accept the challenge, which he at last agreed to, and the bet was deposited. The woman got up, and took hold of the tailor by the collar, saying, "Come, follow me," which he did, trembling alive, fearing he was to un dergo some part of the discipline in the making a Mason, of which he had heard a most dreadful report. She led him into the street, and pointing to the sign of the Lion and Lamb, asked him whose sign it was? He answered, "It is Mr. Loders," (the name of the innkeeper). "Is he a Free Mason?" "Yes." 66 Then," said the woman, "I have shewn you the sign of a Free and Accepted Mason." The laugh was so much against poor Saip, for having been taken in, that it was with some difficulty he could be prevailed on to partake of the punch. ANECDOTE. A short time since a mixed company at one of the cantonments in India were eulogizing the poetical merits of Lord Byron. After a variety of elaborate declamations on the genius displayed in "Childe Harold," in which all were endeavouring to display knowledge, taste, and critical acumen, an enraptured amateur declared that "Byron was undoubtedly a genuine son of the Muse of Poesy;"-the company were entertained by the following burst of praise, from an energetic Milesian; "Arrah, my jewel, now be asy, the Muse of Poesy! by my soul, Lord Byron is a son of the whole nine of the hussies, and moreover had the Graces, for a godmother, my honey.” Dandy Criticism.We are fond of dandy criticism, and gather illustrative anecdotes when we can. Two of these worthies were examining Mulready's picture in the exhibition, in which there is a sneaking cur dog; and the following conversation ensued.-Dandy-Primus. "Dd fine 'pon my soul! d-d expressive! what is it?" "Dandy-Secundus, (blowing over the leaves of his catalogue with a gentle breath, and assisting himself with a gloved hand.) "The wolf and the lamb." Dandy-primus. "Exquisite, by gad-(looking at the cur) I see the wolf, but 'pon honour I can't find the lamb!" Dandy-Secundus. "P'r'haps he has eat it!" A woman anxious to get into Notre Dame, whence a sacred proces sion had just issued with the Host, was very urgent with the Verger, who denied her entrance. "I want the blessing of the Good God!" said she : "The Good God is just gone out for a walk," was the answer; "there is no use in being so troublesome-he is not at home!" A pompous fellow made a very inadequate offer for a valuable property, and calling the next day for an answer, enquired of the gentleman if he had entertained his proposition, replied the other, "your proposition entertained me." "No," Anecdotes of Translation.--A French poet having lately undertaken the arduous task of translating Shakspeare into his own language, was much puzzled with the lines in Henry IV— "E'en such a man, so faint, so spiritless, The former epithets he got through pretty well; but at length concluded the verse with," si triste allez vous en." Another of these translators rendered "Out, out, brief candle," Sortez, surtez, courte chandelle. A third, thus entitled "Much ado about nothing," which he translated for the Parisian stage "Beaucoup de bruit pour peu de chose." A French officer quarrelling with a Swiss, reproached him with his country's vice, of fighting on either side for money, while "we Frenchmen, (said he,) fight for honour." "Yes, sir (replied the Swiss,) every one fights for that which he wants most!" Astronomy.-An astronomical observatory, similar to that at Greenwich, is about to be erected at the Cape of Good Hope. Mr. F. Fellows of Cambridge University, is appointed astronomer the situation is finely adapted for the advancement of science. The Vampire story has been dramatized for the Parisian Theatre of the Porte Saint Martin. Mount St. Bernard.—The number of rations of food, given to travellers who passed this mountain in 1819, was 30, 852. |
