The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 392, October 3, 1829

Among these was old Colonel L–e, in person short and thick-set. He often sacrificed copiously to the jolly god, in his box behind the door; he was a great smoker, and had numbered between seventy and eighty years. Early in the evening he was punctually at his post; he called, for his pipe and his "go of rack," according to his diurnal custom; and surveying first the persons at his own table, and then those in other parts of the room, he commonly sat a few minutes in silence, as if waiting the stimulating effect of the tobacco to wind up his conversational powers, or perhaps he was bringing out defined images from the dim reminiscences which floated in his sensorium. If a stranger were near, he commonly addressed him with an old soldier's freedom, on some familiar topic which little needed the formalities of a set introduction; but soon changed the subject, and commenced fighting "his battles o'er again." He talked much of Minden, and the campaigns of 1758 and 59. He boasted of having carried the colours of the 20th regiment, that bore the brunt of the day there, and mainly contributed to obtain a "glorious victory," as Southey, in his days of uncourtliness, called that of Blenheim. But though thus fond of showing "how fields were won," he was equally delighted with recounting his acquaintance with more peaceful subjects. He had known Johnson and Goldsmith, together with the list of worthies who honoured Fleet-street by making it their abode between thirty and forty years before, and were at that time visitants of the house. "At this very table," said he, speaking of that which is situated on the right-hand behind the door, "Johnson used always to sit when he came here, and Goldsmith also. I knew them well. Johnson overawed us all, and every one became silent when he spoke." The colonel observed of Goldsmith, "That no one would have thought much of him from his company, though he had a great name in the world."

The colonel also knew something of Churchill, described him as by no means prepossessing in person, and one of the last who could have been supposed capable of writing as he wrote. The colonel, in his old age, imagined he too had a taste for poetry, and boasted of Goldsmith's having asserted (perhaps jokingly) that he possessed a talent for writing verse. This idea working in his mind for years, had induced him to print, in his old age, what he called, to the best of my recollection, "A Continuation of the Deserted Village." He always brought a copy with him of an evening, and was fond of referring to it, and passing it round for the company to look at—a weakness pardonable in a garrulous old man. On revisiting the house, for old acquaintance sake, after an absence of some years from London, I missed him from his accustomed place, which I observed to be occupied by a stranger. On inquiry, I found that he was departed to where human vanity and human wisdom are upon a level, and where man is alike deaf to the voice of literary and military ambition.—New Monthly Magazine.

NOTES OF A READER

THE ANNUALS FOR 1830

We feel it a duty to the proprietors of these elegant works, as well as to our readers, to give the following annonces of the several volumes for 1830:—

The Keepsake is very forward. Among the contributors are Sir Walter Scott, Lord Byron, and the author of "Anastasius." Sir Walter's contribution is a dramatic romance, in imitation of the German; and Lord Byron's are ten letters written by him between 1821, and the time of his lordship's death.

The Forget-Me-Not will contain a very gem—being the first known attempt at poetry, by Lord Byron, copied from the autograph of the noble poet, and certified by the lady to whom it was addressed—the object of his lordship's first, if not his only real attachment.

Mr. Ackermann has likewise announced a Juvenile Forget-Me-Not, so as to remember all growths.

The Literary Souvenir is in a state of great forwardness. Among the contributors are the authors of "Kuzzil-bash;" "Constantinople in 1828;" "The Sorrows of Rosalie;" and "Rouge et Noir." The pencils of Sir Thomas Lawrence, Howard, Collins, Chalon, Harlowe, and Martin, have furnished

The Amulet, among its illustrations will contain an engraving from Mulready's picture of an English Cottage; another from Wilkie's "Dorty Bairn;" and another from a drawing by Martin, engraved by Le Keux, for which he is said to have received one hundred and eighty guineas. Mr. Hall, the editor, has likewise been equally fortunate in an accession of literary talent.

The Juvenile Forget-Me-Not, under the superintendence of Mrs. S.C. Hall, also promises unusual attractions, both in picture and print.

The Juvenile Keepsake, edited by Mr. T. Roscoe, is said to be completed.

Another Juvenile Annual, to be called the Zoological Keepsake, is announced, with a host of cuts to enliven the "birds, beasts, and fishes" of the smaller growth.

The Gem will re-appear as the Annual Gem, with thirteen embellishments, superintended by A. Cooper, R.A.

The Bijou promises well. The embellishments are of the first order, from pictures by Sir Thomas Lawrence, Stothard, Wilkie, and the lamented Bonington. Among the gems are a splendid portrait of the King, from the president's picture, in the possession of Sir William Knighton, Bart.; and a portrait of the beautiful Mrs. Arbuthnot.

The Winter's Wreath will bloom with more than its accustomed beauty. Among the contributors we notice, for the first time, the author of "Rank and Talent."

Religious Annuals are on the increase. One of the novelties of this class is "Emmanuel," to be edited by the author of "Clouds and Sunshine," of the excellence of which we have many grateful recollections. The Iris, to be edited by the Rev. Thomas Dale, is another novelty in this way.

The Musical Bijou has among its composers, Rossini, Bishop, Kalk-brenner, Rodwell, J. Barnet, and others. The lyrists and prose writers are Sir Walter Scott, T.H. Bayley, the Ettrick Shepherd, Messrs. Planche, Richard Ryan, &c.

One of the most splendid designs of the season is a "Landscape Annual, or the Tourist in Italy and Switzerland," from drawings by Prout; the literary department by T. Roscoe, Esq. and to contain the most attractive views which occur to the traveller on his route from Geneva to Rome. Some of the plates are described as extremely brilliant.

Two Transatlantic Annuals, the Atlantic Souvenir, published at Philadelphia, and the Token, published at Boston—may be expected in London.

The foregoing are all the announcements we have been able to collect. We miss two or three established favourites; but we hope to make their promises the subject of a future paragraph.

THE GOOSE

In England the goose is sacred to St. Michael; in Scotland, where dainties were not going every day,

"'Twas Christmas sent its savoury goose."

The Michaelmas goose is said to owe its origin to Queen Elizabeth's dining on one at the table of an English baronet on that day when she received tidings of the dispersion of the Spanish Armada, in commemoration of which she ordered the goose to make its appearance every Michaelmas. In some places, particularly Caithness, geese are cured and smoked, and are highly relishing. Smoked Solan geese are well known as contributing to the abundance of a Scottish breakfast, though too rank and fishy-flavoured for unpractised palates. The goose has made some figure in English history. The churlishness of the brave Richard Coeur de Lion, a sovereign distinguished for an insatiable appetite and vigorous digestion, in an affair of roast goose, was the true cause of his captivity in Germany. The king, disguised as a palmer, was returning to his own dominions, attended by Sir Fulk Doyley and Sir Thomas de Multon, "brothers in arms," and wearing the same privileged garb. They arrived in Almain, (Germany,) at the town of Carpentras, where,

"A goose they dight to their dinner.In a tavern where they were.King Richard the fire bet,Thomas to him the spit set;Fouk Doyley tempered the wood;Dear a-bought they that good;"

for in came a Minstralle, or she-Minstrel, with offer of specimens of her art in return for a leg of the goose and a cup of the wine. Richard, who loved "rich meats," and cared little at this time for their usual accompaniment, "minstrelsy,"—

"—bade that she would go;That turned him to mickle woe.The Minstralle took in mind,And said, ye are men unkind:And if I may ye shall for-thinkYe gave me neither meat nor drink!"

The lady, who was English, recognised the king, and denounced him to the king of Germany, who ordered the pilgrims into his presence, insulted Richard, "said him shame," called him taylard, probably for his affection for goose, and finally ordered him to a dungeon. But Richard, a true knightly eater, who, besides roast goose, liked to indulge in

"Bread and wine,Piment and clarry good and fine;Cranes and swans, and venison;Partridges, plovers, and heron,—

was neither dainty nor over-nice. At a pinch he could eat any thing, which on sundry emergencies stood him in great stead. Wax and nuts, and tallow and grease mixed, carried him through one campaign, when the enemy thought to have starved out the English army and its cormorant commander. The courage and strength of Richard were always redoubled after dinner. It was then his greatest feats were performed.—Romance of Coeur de Lion.

The livers of geese and poultry are esteemed a great delicacy by some gourmands; and on the continent great pains are taken to procure fat overgrown livers. The methods employed to produce this diseased state of the animals are as disgusting to rational taste as revolting to humanity. The geese are crammed with fat food, deprived of drink, kept in an intolerably hot atmosphere, and fastened by the feet (we have heard of nailing) to the shelves of the fattening cribs. The celebrated Strasburg pies, which are esteemed so great a delicacy that they are often sent as presents to distant places, are enriched with these diseased livers. It is a mistake that these pies are wholly made of this artificial animal substance.

TURKEY

Colonel Rottiers, a recent traveller in Turkey, holds out the following temptation to European enterprise:—

The terrestrial paradise, which is supposed to be situated in Armenia, appeared to M. Rottiers to stretch along the shores of the Black Sea. The green banks, sloping into the water, are sometimes decked with box-trees of uncommon size, sometimes clothed with natural orchards, in which the cherries, pears, pomegranates, and other fruits, growing in their indigenous soil, possess a flavour indescribably exquisite. The bold eminences are crowned with superb forests or majestic ruins, which alternately rule the scenes of this devoted country, from the water's edge to the summit of the mountains. The moral and political condition of the country contrasts forcibly with the flourishing aspect of nature. At Sinope there is no commerce, and the Greeks having, in consequence, deserted the place, the population is at present below 5,000. This city, once the capital of the great Mithridates, enjoys natural advantages, which, but for the barbarism of the Turkish government, would soon raise it into commercial eminence. It has a deep and capacious harbour—the finest timber in the world grows in its vicinity—and the district of the interior, with which it immediately communicates, is one of the most productive and industrious in Asiatic Turkey. Amasia, the ancient capital of Cappadocia, Tokat, and Costambol, are rich and populous towns. Near the last is held an annual fair, commencing fifteen days before the feast of Ramadan, and which is said to be attended by at least fifty thousand merchants, from all parts of the east. From the nature of the country in which it is situated, M. Rottiers is disposed to believe that Sinope holds out peculiarly strong inducements to European enterprise. He also had an opportunity of observing, that its defences were gone totally to ruin, and significantly remarks, that it could not possibly withstand a coup de main. Amastra, a great and wealthy city while possessed by the Genoese in the middle ages, is now a wretched village, occupied by a few Turkish families, whose whole industry consists in making a few toys and articles of wooden ware. It stands on a peninsula, which appears to have been formerly an island, and the Isthmus uniting it to the mainland is wholly composed, according to the account of Mr. Eton, who surveyed part of this coast, of fragments of columns and marble friezes.

GEORGIAN WINE

The chief production of Georgia is wine, which is of excellent quality, and so abundant in the countries situated between the Caspian and the Black Seas, that it would soon become a most important object of exportation, if the people could be induced to improve their methods of making and preserving it. At present the grapes are gathered and pressed without any care, and the process of fermentation is so unskilfully managed, that the wine rarely keeps till the following vintage. The skins of animals are the vessels in which it is kept. The hair is turned inwards, and the interior of the bag is thickly besmeared with asphaltum or mineral tar, which renders the vessel indeed perfectly sound, but imparts an abominable flavour to the wine, and even adds to its acescence. The Georgians have not yet learned to keep their wine in casks, without which it is vain to look for any improvements in its manufacture. Yet the mountains abound in the requisite materials, and only a few coopers are requisite to make the commencement. The consumption of wine in Georgia, and above all at Tiflis, is prodigiously great. From the prince to the peasant the ordinary ration of a Georgian, if we may believe M. Gamba, is one tonque, (equal to five bottles and a half of Bordeaux) per day. A tonque of the best wine, such as is drunk by persons of rank, costs about twenty sous; the inferior wines are sold for less than a sous per bottle.—Foreign Quar. Rev.

HISTORICAL FIDELITY

The court historiographer of the Burmese, has recorded in the national chronicle his account of the war with the English to the following purport: —"In the years 1186 and 87, the Kula-pyu, or white strangers of the west, fastened a quarrel upon the Lord of the Golden Palace. They landed at Rangoon, took that place and Prome, and were permitted to advance as far as Yandabo; for the king, from motives of piety and regard to life, made no effort whatever to oppose them. The strangers had spent vast sums of money in their enterprise; and by the time they reached Yandabo, their resources were exhausted, and they were in great distress. They petitioned the king, who, in his clemency and generosity, sent them large sums of money to pay their expenses back, and ordered them out of the country."– Crawfurd's Embassy to Ava.

To quote a vulgar proverb, this is making the best of a bad job.

DRESS

How far a man's clothes are or are not a part of himself, is more than I would take on myself to decide, without farther inquiry; though I lean altogether to the affirmative. The inhabitants of the South Sea Islands were astonished and alarmed when they, first saw the Europeans strip. Yet they would have been much more so, could they have entered into the notions prevalent in the civilized world on the subject of a wardrobe; could they have understood how much virtue lies inherent in a superfine broad cloth, how much respectability in a gilt button, how much sense in the tie of a cravat, how much amiability in the cut of a sleeve, how much merit of every sort in a Stultz and a Hoby. There are who pretend, and that with some plausibilty, that these things are but typical; that taste in dress is but the outward and visible sign of the frequentation of good company; and that propriety of exterior is but evidence of a general sense of the fitness of things. Yet if this were really the case, if there were nothing intrinsic in the relation of the clothes to the wearer, how could a good coat at once render a pickpocket respectable; or a clean shirt pass current, as it does, with police magistrates for a clean conscience. In England, a handsome toggery is a better defensive armour, than "helm and hauberk's twisted mail." While the seams are perfect, and the elbows do not appear through the cloth, the law cannot penetrate it. A gentleman, (that is to say, a man who can pay his tailor's bill,) is above suspicion; and benefit of clergy is nothing to the privilege and virtue of a handsome exterior. That the skin is nearer than the shirt, is a most false and mistaken idea. The smoothest skin in Christendom would not weigh with a jury like a cambric ruffle; and moreover, there is not a poor devil in town striving to keep up appearances in spite of fortune, who would not far rather tear his flesh than his unmentionables; which can only arise from their being so much more important a part of himself.—New Monthly Magazine.

The French have a kind of irritable jealousy towards the English, which makes them forget their general politeness. Give them but a civil word, make the least advance, and they receive you with open arms; but show them that cold reserve with which an Englishman generally treats all strangers, and every Frenchman's hand is on his sword.—New Monthly Magazine.

THE GATHERER

A snapper up of unconsidered trifles.SHAKSPEARE.

JACK SHEPPARD

When this notorious felon was under sentence of death, the Right Hon. Charles Wolfran Cornwall, then Speaker of the House of Commons, was strongly solicited to apply to his majesty for a pardon, as he was related to him. "No," said Mr. Cornwall, "I should deserve public censure if I attempted to contribute to the prolongation of the life of a man who has so frequently been a nuisance to society, and has given so many proofs that kindness to him would be cruelty to others. Were my own son to offend one-tenth part so often as he has done, I should think it my duty rather to solicit his punishment than his pardon."

C.C.

EPITAPH

On S– E–, an intelligent and amiable boy, who was unfortunately drowned while bathing.

Though gentle as a dove, his soul sublime,For heav'n impatient, would not wait for time;Ere youth had bloom'd his virtues ripe were seen,A man in intellect! a child in mien!A hallow'd wave from mercy's fount was pour'd,And, wash'd from clay, to bliss his spirit soar'd.

A HOLY HERMIT

A hermit, named Parnhe, being upon the road to meet his bishop who had sent for him, met a lady most magnificently dressed, whose incomparable beauty drew the eyes of every body on her. The saint having looked at her, and being himself struck with astonishment, immediately burst into tears. Those who were with him wondering to see him weep, demanded the cause of his grief. "I have two reasons," replied he, "for my tears; I weep to think how fatal an impression that woman makes on all who behold her; and I am touched with sorrow when I reflect that I, for my salvation, and to please God, have never taken one-tenth part of the pains which this woman has taken to please men alone."

BUNGLING TRANSLATION

At a country village in Yorkshire, was an old established cobbler, who cracked his joke, loved his pipe and lived happy. In short, he was a sober and industrious man. His quiet, however, was disturbed by an unexpected opposition in his trade, at the same village, and to add to his misfortune, the new comer established himself directly opposite to the old cobbler's stall, and at the same time to show his learning and probity, painted in large letters over his door, "Mens conscia recti." To conceive the meaning of this, the poor cobbler laboured night and day, but unsuccessfully; he at last determined that this "consciarecti" was a new sort of shoe made for men's use; he therefore painted over his door, "Men's and Women's consciarecti," where it remains still.

A schoolboy reading Cassar's "Commentaries" came to translate the following passage thus: "Caesar venit in Gallia summa diligentia." "Caesar came into Gaul on the top of the Diligence."

O.O.

VERY BAD

A wag, who "will be the death of us," says he bought a cake the other evening:—"It is thundering weight," observed the baker: "I hope it will not lighten before I get it home," was the equivocal reply.

Q.

IMPROMPTU

On hearing a Watchman cry the hour on Tuesday morning, September 29, the last of his duty.

"Farewell! mine occupation's gone,"He sung in "half-past five;"Here ends his call, his beat is done,How then can he survive.TOM.

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1

At the end of Dorset-street, now communicating with Fleet-street, through Salisbury-square and Salisbury-court.

2

The Globe, the Rose, and the Swan, were on Baukside; besides which there were, either then or after, six other theatres on the Middlesex bank of the Thames.

3

We may add that still fewer have seen the characteristic whole-length portrait of "Harry," the waiter, which has been placed over the fireplace, by subscription among the frequenters of the room. Wageman is the painter, and nothing can describe the bonhommie of Harry, who has just drawn the cork of a pint of port, exulting in all the vainglory of crust and bees' wing.—ED. MIRROR.