The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 17, No. 470, January 8, 1831

Sometimes the party landed, for a walk upon the shore, and, on such occasions, Lord Byron would loiter behind the rest, lazily trailing his sword-*stick along, and moulding, as he went, his thronging thoughts into shape. Often too, when in the boat, he would lean abstractedly over he side, and surrender himself up, in silence, to the same absorbing task.

The conversation of Mr. Shelley, from the extent of his poetic reading and the strange, mystic speculations into which his system of philosophy led him, was of a nature strongly to arrest and interest the attention of Lord Byron, and to turn him away from worldly associations and topics into more abstract and untrodden ways of thought. As far as contrast, indeed, is an enlivening ingredient of such intercourse, it would be difficult to find two persons more formed to whet each other's faculties by discussion, as on few points of common interest between them did their opinions agree; and that this difference had its root deep in the conformation of their respective minds needs but a glance through the rich, glittering labyrinth of Mr. Shelley's pages to assure us.

Letter of Lord to Lady Byron

"I have to acknowledge the receipt of 'Ada's hair,' which is very soft and pretty, and nearly as dark already as mine was at twelve years old, if I may judge from what I recollect of some in Augusta's possession, taken at that age. But it don't curl—perhaps from its being let grow. I also thank you for the inscription of the date and name, and I will tell you why;—I believe that they are the only two or three words of your hand-writing in my possession. For your letters I returned, and except the two words, or rather the one word, 'household,' written twice in an old account book, I have no other. I burnt your last note, for two reasons:—firstly, it was written in a style not very agreeable; and, secondly, I wish to take your word without documents, which are the worldly resources of suspicious people. I suppose that this note will reach you somewhere about Ada's birthday—the 10th of December, I believe. She will then be six; so that in about twelve more I shall have some chance of meeting her; perhaps sooner, if I am obliged to go to England by business or otherwise. Recollect, however, one thing, either in distance or nearness;—every day which keeps us asunder should, after so long a period, rather soften our mutual feelings, which must always have one rallying-point as long as our child exists, which I presume we both hope will be long after either of her parents. The time which has elapsed since the separation has been considerably more than the whole brief period of our union, and the not much longer one of our prior acquaintance. We both made a bitter mistake; but now it is over, and irrevocably so. For, at thirty-three on my part, and a few years less on yours, though it is no very extended period of life, still it is one when the habits and thought are generally so formed as to admit of no modification; and as we could not agree when younger, we should with difficulty do so now. I say all this, because I own to you, that, notwithstanding everything, I considered our re-union as not impossible for more than a year after the separation; but then I gave up the hope entirely and for ever. But this very impossibility of reunion seems to me at least a reason why, on all the few points of discussion which can arise between us, we should preserve the courtesies of life, and as much of its kindness as people who are never to meet may preserve perhaps more easily than nearer connexions. For my own part, I am violent, but not malignant; for only fresh provocations can awaken my resentments. To you, who are colder and more concentrated, I would just hint, that you may sometimes mistake the depth of a cold anger for dignity, and a worse feeling for duty. I assure you, that I bear you now (whatever I may have done) no resentment whatever. Remember, that if you have injured me in aught, this forgiveness is something; and that, if I have injured you, it is something more still, if it be true as the moralists say, that the most offending are the least forgiving. Whether the offence has been solely on my side, or reciprocal, or on yours chiefly, I have ceased to reflect upon any but two things,—viz. that you are the mother of my child, and that we shall never meet again. I think if you also consider the two corresponding points with reference to myself, it will be better for all three."

The Naturalist

DANCING FISH—SEA-SERPENT, &c

In a paper on "Oceanic Dangers," in the United Service Journal is the following:—

There is a species of grampus from two to three tons weight, and about sixteen feet in length, that amuses itself with jumping, or rather springing its ponderous body entirely out of the water, in a vertical position, and falling upon its back; this effort of so large a fish is almost incredible, and informs us how surprisingly great the power of muscle must be in this class of animal. I have seen them spring out of the water within ten yards of the ship's side, generally in the evening, after having swam all the former part of the day in the ship's wake, or on either quarter. When several of these fish take it into their heads to dance a "hornpipe," as the sailors have termed their gambols, at the distance of half a mile they, especially at or just after sun-down, may easily be mistaken for the sharp points of rocks sticking up out of the water, and the splashing and foam they make and produce have the appearance of the action of the waves upon rocks. An officer of the navy informed me, that after sunset, when near the equator, he was not a little alarmed and surprised (because quite unexpected) at the cry of "rocks on the starboard bow:" looking forward through the dubious light (if the expression may be admitted,) he indistinctly saw objects which he and all on board took to be the pinnacles of several rocks of a black and white colour: in a short time, however he discovered this formidable danger to be nothing more than a company of dancing grampuses with white bellies: as one disappeared, another rose, so that there were at least five or six constantly above the surface!

The uncertainty attending the visual organ during the continuance of the aurora and of the twilight, must have been noticed by all those person's who have frequented the ocean. Most sailors have the power of eye-sight strengthened from constant practice, and from having an unobstructed view so generally before them; yet I have known an officer, who was famous for his quickness of sight, declare that in the evening and morning he found it difficult to retain sight for more than a second or two at a time, of a strange sail; at night, even with an inverting glass, his practised eye could retain the object more steadily.

The public were amused for some time, a few years ago, by the tales of brother Jonathan respecting the huge sea-serpent. Without at all disputing the existence of creatures of that nature in the ocean, I have little doubt that a sight I witnessed in a voyage to the West Indies, was precisely such as some of the Americans had construed into a "sea-serpent a mile in length," agreeing, as it did, with one or two of the accounts given. This was nothing more than a tribe of black porpoises in one line, extending fully a quarter of a mile, fast asleep! The appearance certainly was a little singular, not unlike a raft of puncheons, or a ridge of rocks; but the moment it was seen, some one exclaimed, (I believe the captain)—"here is a solution of Jonathan's enigma"—and the resemblance to his "sea-serpent" was at once striking.

Ice, sometimes, when a-wash with the surface of the sea may be mistaken for breakers; and that which is called "black ice" has, both by Capt. Parry and Mr. Weddell, been taken for rocks until a close approach convinced them of the contrary; and, I dare say, others have been in like manner deceived, especially near Newfoundland.

A scole of or indeed, a single, devil fish (Lophius) when deep in the water, may appear like a shoal; and I think, that of all the various appearances of strange things seen at sea, this monstrous animal is more likely to deceive the judgment into a belief of a submarine danger being where none actually exists, than any other. I have watched one of these extraordinary creatures, as it passed slowly along, occupying a space two-thirds of the length of the ship (a 32-gun frigate;) its shape was nearly circular, of a dark green colour, spotted with white and light green shades, like the ray, and some other flat-fish.

Mr. Kriukof gave a curious description to Capt. Kotzebue of a marine serpent which pursued him off Behring's island: it was red and enormously long, the head resembling that of the sea-lion, at the same time two disproportionately large eyes gave it a frightful appearance. Mr. Kriukof's situation seems to have been almost as perilous above the surface of the sea, as Lieutenant Hardy's Spanish diver's was, with the tinterero underneath!

In the History of Greenland, (which, by the by, may with propriety be called Parrynese,) I think there is a well authenticated account of a large sea-serpent seen upon the coast of that vast insular land in Hudson's sea.

Sea-Devil.—Extract from the log-book of the ship Douglas.—"Sailed May 3rd from Curaçoa. May 6th, at three P.M. in lat. 35 long. 68.40, made, as we supposed, a vessel bottom up, five or six miles distant—proceeded within forty feet of the object, which appeared in the form of a turtle—its height above water ten or twelve feet; in length twenty-five or thirty feet, and in breadth twelve feet, with oars or flappers, one on each side; twelve or fifteen feet in length, one-third of the way from his tail forward, and one on each side near his tail five feet long. The tail twenty to twenty-five feet long,—had a large lion face with large eyes. The shell or body looked like a clinker-built boat of twenty-five or thirty tons, bottom up, and the seams of the laps newly paid. There were some large branches on him. This animal was standing south-east, and in the course of Bermuda, and his velocity about two knots per hour. A vessel running foul of this monster might be much injured.—New York Paper, May 22.

Spawn of fish, minute mollusca, the small classes of squilla and cancer, are known to voyagers as causing a discolouration of the sea in particular places. Patches and lines of these are often seen within the tropics, of a brown colour, and sometimes of a yellow, and of a red shade, floating upon the surface of the ocean, which, to those unused to such sights, are considered as indications of danger beneath. I met with two patches of this description lately in the Torrid Zone, but the captain being familiar with such instances, sailed through them without apprehension. The first consisted of myriads of small orbicular medusæ, about the size of a pea, of a purple hue; the other patch of a reddish-brown colour, was produced by small mollusca, the size of a needle, and about a line in length.

The Gatherer

A snapper up of unconsidered trifles.SHAKSPEARE.

CURIOUS SIGN

The following is on a violin maker's sign-board, at Limerick:—"New Villins mad here and old ones rippard, also new heads, ribs, backs, and bellys mad on the shortest notice. N.B. Choes mended, &c.

"Pat O'Shegnassy, painter."W.G.C

ANCIENT PROPHECY

The author of "The Blasynge of Armes,"7 at the end of Dame Julian Berners's celebrated Treatise on Hawking, Hunting, and Fishing, has informed us that "Tharmes of the Kynge of Fraunce were certaynly sent by an angel from heven, that is to saye, thre floures in manere of swerdes in a feld of azure, the whyche certer armes were given to the forsayd Kynge of Fraunce in sygne of everlastynge trowble, and that he and his successours alway with batayle and swerdes sholde be punysshyd."

BATHOS AND PATHOS

(To the Editor.)

Perceiving that you sometimes admit curious and eccentric epitaphs into your very amusing and instructive periodical, if the enclosed is worthy a place, it at least has this merit, if no other, that it is a literal copy, from a tombstone in St. Edmund's churchyard, Sarum:—

In Memory of 3 Children of Joseph and Arabella Maton, who all died in their Infancy, 1770.

1Innocence Embellishes Divinely CompleatTo Prescience Coegent Now Sublimely GreatIn the Benign, Perfecting, Vivifying State.2So Heavenly Guardian Occupy the SkiesThe Pre-Existent God, Omnipotent AllwiseHe can Surpassingly Immortalize thy ThemeAnd Permanent thy Soul Celestial Supreme.3When Gracious Refulgence, bids the Grave ResignThe Creators Nursing Protection be ThineThus each Perspiring Æther will Joyfully RiseTranscendantly Good Supereminently Wise.W.C

THE LETTER B

"Or like a lamb, whose dam away is fet,He treble baas for help, but none can get."SIDNEY.

Its pronunciation is supposed to resemble the bleating of a sheep; upon which account the Egyptians represented the sound of this letter by the figure of that animal. It is also one of those letters which the eastern grammarians call labial, because the principal organs employed in its pronunciation are the lips. With the ancients, B as a numeral stood for 300. When a line was drawn above it, it stood for 3,000, and with a kind of accent below it, for 200.

P.T.W

A DOUBLE

(To the Editor.)

I read your story of the cherry-coloured cat. The clergyman with whom I was educated astonished me when a child, by saying, when at his living at –, he preached in a cherry-coloured gown and a rose-coloured wig (white.)

AN OLD ONE

PROPHECY OF LORD BYRON

In his journal, under the date of January 13, 1821, Lord Byron writes: "Dined—news come—the powers mean to war with the people. The intelligence seems positive—let it be so—they will be beaten in the end. The King-times are fast finishing. There will be blood shed like water, and tears like mist; but the people will conquer in the end. I shall not live to see it—but I foresee it."

HARDHAM'S 37

Snuff-takers generally, especially the patrons of Hardham's 37 will read the following record of benevolence with some gratification:—"In 1772, Mr. John Hardham, a tobacconist, in London, a native of Chichester, left by his will the interest of all his estates to the guardians of the poor, 'to ease the inhabitants in their poor-rates for ever.' This valuable legacy amounting to 653l. per annum was subject to the life of the housekeeper of the testator, so that it was not till 1786 that it reverted to the city."—This is even better than the plan for snuff-takers paying off the national debt.

PRESTON, LANCASTER

Preston is a market-town, borough, and parish; situated on the river Ribble, in the hundred of Amounderness, county palatine of Lancaster. It was incorporated by Henry II., in 1160; and the privileges and free customs granted by this and subsequent royal grants were confirmed by Charter of 36th Charles II. The body corporate consists of a mayor, recorder, seven aldermen, and seventeen capital burgesses, who, together, form the common council of the borough. The mayor, two town-bailiffs, and two sergeants are elected annually, upon the Friday preceding the festival of St. Wilfrid, who was formerly lord of this town; and they are invested, on the 12th of October following, by a jury of twenty-four guild burgesses. The members of the council, with the exception of the mayor, retain their seats for life, or during the pleasure of a majority, and vacancies are supplied by the remaining members. The town sends two representatives to parliament, and affords the nearest practical example of universal suffrage in the kingdom—every male inhabitant, whether housekeeper or lodger, who has resided six months in the town, and who has not, during the last twelve months, been chargeable to any township as a pauper, having a right to vote for two candidates at elections. This principle was established by a decision of the House of Commons, on an appeal, in the year 1766, and has ever since been acted upon. The burgesses are entitled, by the charter of Henry II., to have a GUILD MERCHANT, with the usual franchises annexed, of safe transit through the kingdom, exemption from toll, pontage, and stallage; liberty to buy and sell peaceably; and power to hold a guild for the renewal of freedom to the burgesses, the confirming of by-laws, and other purposes. This privilege is still made the occasion of great festivity. For a long time after their first institution, the guilds were held at irregular periods, but they have now, for more than a century, been uniformly celebrated every twentieth year, commencing on the Monday next after the Decollation of St. John, which generally happens in the last week of August; the last was held in 1822, and commenced on the 22nd of September. The amusements, which are of great variety, continue for a fortnight; but, for civic purposes, the guild books are open for one entire month. The corporation are obliged to hold this carnival, on pain of forfeiting their elective franchises, and their rights as burgesses. The guild appears to be of the nature of the ancient frank-pledge: it is of Saxon origin, and derived from the word gile, signifying money, by which certain fraternities enter into an association, and stipulate with each other to punish crimes, make losses good, and acts of restitution proportioned to offences;—for which purposes, they raised sums of money among themselves, forming a common stock; they likewise endowed chantries for priests to perform orisons for the defunct. Fraternities and guilds were, therefore, in use, long before any formal licenses were granted to them; though, at this day, they are a company combined together, with orders and laws made by themselves, under sanction of royal authority. The several trades of Preston are incorporated; twenty-five chartered companies go in procession on the guild festival.

W.G.C

EPIGRAM

Bob scrubs his head, in search of wit,And calls his follies phrenzy fit;But Bob forgets, with all his wit,Poëta nascitur, non fit!P.T

COMPLETION OF VOL. XVI

WITH THE PRESENT NUMBERA SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER,

With a Portrait of the Queen, and a Memoir of her Majesty; with Title-page, Preface, and Index to Vol. XVI.

*** Books are flocking fast around us. Among them are Mr. Boaden's Life of Mrs. Jordan—the Romance of History—Vols. 13 and 14 of Lardner's Cyclopaedia—Dr. Dibdin's Sunday Library—Vol 1 of the Cabinet Library—and three other volumes of the periodical libraries. Our preference of Moore's Byron is, we hope, borne out by its paramount interest.

1

Dent de Jaman.

2

It is interesting to observe the use to which he afterwards converted these hasty memorandums in his sublime drama of Manfred:—

It is not noon—the sunbow's rays still archThe torrent with the many hues of heaven,And roll the sheeted silver's waving column,O'er the crag's headlong perpendicular,And fling its lines of foaming light along,And to and fro, like the pale courser's tail,The Giant steed, to be bestrode by Death,As told in the Apocalypse.

3

Ye avalanches, whom a breath draws downIn mountainous o'erwhelming, come and crush me!I hear ye momently above, beneath,Crash with a frequent conflictThe mists boil up around the glaciers; cloudsRise curling fast beneath me, white and sulphury,Like foam from the roused ocean of deep hell!MANFRED.

4

O'er the savage sea,The glassy ocean of the mountain iceWe skim its rugged breakers, which put onThe aspect of a tumbling tempest's foamFrozen in a moment.MANFRED.

5

Like these blasted pines,Wrecks of a single winter, barkless, branchless

6

Childe Harold, Canto 3.

7

This book was printed at St. Albans in the year 1486, and afterwards reprinted by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1496.