Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

howlings, intermixed with songs,which celebrate the great actions performed by the deceased and his ancestors. The men mourn in a less extravagant manner. The whole village is present at the interment, and the corpse is habited in the most sumptuous ornaments. Close to the body are placed his bows and arrows, with whatever he valued most in life, and a quantity of provisions for his subsistence on the journey which they suppose he takes. The funeral being ended, the relations of the deceased betake themselves to their huts, for a considerable time, to indulge their grief. After an interval of some weeks, they visit the grave, repeat their sorrow, new clothe the remains of the body, and act over again all the solemnities of the funeral.

Among the various tokens of their regard for their deceased friends, the most remarkable is what they call the feast of the dead, or, the feast of souls. The day for this ceremony is appointed by the council of their chiefs, who give orders for every thing which may enable them to celebrate it with pomp and magnificence: and the neighbouring nations are invited to partake of the entertainment.

At this time, all who have died since the preceding feast, are taken out of their graves. Even those who have been buried at the greatest distance from the villages are diligently sought for, and conducted to this rendezvous of the dead, which exhibits a scene of horror beyond the power of description. When the feast is concluded, the bodies are dressed in the finest skins that can be procured, and after being exposed for some time in this pomp, are again committed to the earth with great solemnity, which is succeeded by funeral games.

ANECDOTES OF LONDON.

The Great Fire.--In Pudding Lane, on the front of the house where the fire broke out, the following inscription was put up in stone:

"Here, by the permission of Heaven, hell broke loose upon this protestant city, from the malicious hearts of barbarous papists, by the hand of their agent, Rubert, who confessed, and on the ruins of this place declared the fact, for which he was hanged; viz. That here began that dreadful fire, which is

described and perpetuated on and by the neighbouring pillar, erected anno 1681, in the mayoralty of Sir Patience Ward, Knight."

Gunpowder Plot.-The house in which Lord Monteagle resided at the time of his receiving the letter respecting the Gunpowder Plot, in the year 1605, is yet, in part, standing. It is situated in Monteagle Close, in the Borough, and is occupied by a cooper, who has converted what ground re. mains attached to it to the purpose of his business.

Jane Shore.-The house in which the husband of the celebrated Jane Shore formerly lived, can be proved, by old leases, was No. 43, in Lombard-street. It is supposed the present house of that number is the same dwelling, though, from the extensive repairs it has undergone at various periods, it has now a modern appearance. Shore was a silversmith, and his house has always continued in the occupation of one of that trade till within the last fourteen years.

Animal Consumption.-The consumption of sheep and lambs in London, during the last twelve months, amounted in number to one million, sixty-two thousand, seven hundred. The number of horned cattle slaughtered was one hundred and sixty-four thousand. And the number of horse hides produced at Leadenhall Market amounted to twelve thousand nine hundred.

King's Theatre.-The corridor, or arcade, at the western side of the King's Theatre, is, so far, an imitation of part of the far-famed Palais Royal, in Paris. The petits bureaux, to each of which appertains a souterrain of corresponding size, are nearly all occupied, and well stocked with miscellaneous articles of fashion and luxury. If brilliantly lighted, which will doubtless be the case when the operas commence, the arcade would display an elegant and crowded promenade

Topography.-Sackville-street is the longest in London without a turning. Prince's-square, between Little Queenstreet and Gate-street, Lincoln's-innfields, has only one house. Bankstreet, Cornhill, is a great thoroughfare, and has but two doors that open into it. Engine-street, Piccadilly, has but one entrance to a residence in it.

Frost Fair.-During the fair on the Thames, in February 1814, a man, with a small printing-press, took upwards of thirty-nine pounds in one day, so great was the number of persons, and

so anxious were they to possess a card printed on the ice.

Church Clocks.-A correspondent suggests, that it would be of great advantage if a transparent dial-plate were affixed to St. Dunstan's clock, and lighted with gas; likewise, if all the parish churches which are in conspicuous situations had a similor apparatus. The project appears, however, to be impracticable.

The Rose Theatre-in Southwark,was built by Philip Henslowe, in 1592, and opened by him in that year; the total cost was only 1037. 2s. 7d.-Malone.

Stage Coaches. It is a curious fact, that no less than three hundred stage coaches pass daily through the turnpike-gate at Hyde-park-corner.

Covent Garden.-During the sixteenth century, Long Acre had only one house, which stood at the corner of St. Martin's-lane, and Covent-garden was a square smooth field, with a building, the convent, situated near the north-east corner. About the year 1552, this fabric and the field were granted to the Earl of Bedford; and in little more than half a century, under the elegant and improving hand of Inigo Jones, the two sides of the Piazza arose, on a plan which, had the design of this great architect been completed, would have formed one of the most magnificent squares in Europe.

There is no part of the metropolis that has, in former periods, been distinguished by scenes of greater elegance, or of greater gaiety, than Covent-garden, the Piazza, and its vicinity.

L'ALLEGRO.

No. II.

THE LATE MR. SHERIDAN.-The following anecdote, related by Dr. Watkins in a recent publication, affords a happy illustration of the character and temper of this extraordinary man:As Mr. Sheridan was coming to town in one of the public coaches, for the purpose of canvassing Westminster, at the time when Paull was his opponent, he found himself in company with two Westminster electors. In the course of conversation, one of them asked the other to whom he meant to give his vote? When his friend replied, "To Paull, certainly; for though I think him but a shabby fellow, I would vote

for any one rather than that rascal Sheridan?" "Do you know Sheridan ?" asked the stranger. "Not I, sir," answered the gentleman, "nor should I wish to know him." The conversation dropped here; but when the party alighted to breakfast, Sheridan called aside the other gentleman, and said, "Pray who is that very agreeable friend of your's? He is one of the pleasantest fellows I ever met with, and I should be glad to know his name." "His name is Mr. T, he is an eminent lawyer, and resides in Lincoln'sinn-fields." Breakfast over, the party resumed their seats in the coach; soon after which, Sheridan turned the discourse to the law. "It is," said he, "a fine profession. Men may rise from it to the highest eminence in the state; and it gives a vast scope to the display of talent; many of the most virtuous and noble characters recorded in our history have been lawyers. I am sorry, however, to add, that some of the greatest rascals have also been lawyers; but of all the rascals of lawyers I ever heard of, the greatest is

one T

who lives in Lincoln's-innfields." "I am Mr. T," said the gentleman. “And I am Mr. Sheridan,” was the reply. The jest was instantly seen, they shook hands, and instead of voting against the facetious orator, the lawyer exerted himself warmly in promoting his election.

When the alterations and improvements in Palace-yard were carrying on, the then speaker, Mr. Addington, now Lord Sidmouth, saw a labourer driving scaffolding poles into the flower-beds of the garden belonging to his official house; he remonstrated, the man would not desist, but rudely replied that "the work could not be done without a scaffold, nor a fold put up without poles ;" and went on driving his poles, and increasing the damage at every stroke. To call him to order, Mr. Addington said, "Do you know who I am?" The man (who was an Irishman) answered carelessly in the negative. "Why, I am the Speaker." "Then you may e'en spake to my master," replied the fellow, "for I know nothing about it."

A pert young lady was walking one morning on the Steyne, at Brighton, when she met a gentleman she knew, to whom she said, "You see, sir, I am come out for a little sun and air."

"You had better, madam, get a husband first," said the wit.

A coal-dealer, near London, used, at this time of the year, to hang a cloth out all night on his garden wall. When he arose in the morning, he would ask his wife, if the cloth was frozen? And, on her answering "Yes," he would exclaim, "God help the poor! we must lay a penny a bushel on our coals today."

THE LATE MR. Fox meeting one day with the Hon. J. Dyson, who was uncommonly thin and meagre; the latter, in the course of some ordinary conversation, broke off rather abruptly, by recollecting that he had some business at the Navy Office; on which Charles very coolly replied, "I should rather imagine, Mr. Dyson, that your business lay at the Victualling Office." Being asked what measures government would take to prevent emigration, Mr. Fox replied "that he knew not positively; but, whatever might be attempted, he knew but one effectual way, and that was to make it worth the subjects' while to stay at home." Charles one day received a severe reprehension from his father, who asked him how it was possible for him to sleep, or to enjoy any of the comforts of life, when he reflected on the immense sums he stood indebted ? "Your lordship need not be in the least surprised," answered Charles, " your astonishment ought to be, how my creditors can sleep." Mr. Fox supped one evening with Edmund Burke, at the Thatched House, where they were served with dishes more elegant than substantial. Charles's appetite being rather keen, he was far from relishing the kickshaws that were set before him, and addressing his companion-"These dishes, Burke," said he, "are admirably calculated for your palate-they are both sublime and beautiful."

BIOGRAPHY.

MEMOIR OF SIR R. COTTON. Sir Robert Cotton, the 'learned collector of the Cottonian MSS. was born the descendant of a very ancient family, at Denton, in Huntingdonshire, upon the 22d January 1570, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he early laid the foundation of his preeminent learning in the antiquities and

history of his country. Upon leaving the university this bias was greatly in. creased by the free intercourse he inmediately commenced with those celebrated antiquarians, Jocelin, Lambard, Camden, Noel, and several others, who about that time (unsuccessfully) attempted the establishment of an Antiquarian Society. In 1599, he accompanied Camden in a journey to the north of England, where they jointly explored the whole extent of the Pict's wall, and brought away several inscriptions and monuments, which he ultimately presented to his college at Cambridge, where they are now carefully preserved. Cotton incurred the jealous suspicion of the despotic monarchs of his day, for we find, by order of the privy council, once in the reign of James the First, and again in that of Charles the First (1629), that his library was locked up, as not of a nature to be exposed to public inspection, and he was himself excluded from the use of it. Shortly before his death, he caused it to be signified to the privy council, "that their so long detaining his books from him, without tendering any reason for the same, had been the cause of his mortal malady." He died May 6, 1631. That the library continued in sequestration some time after his death, appears manifest from the petition of Sir Thomas Cotton, his only son and heir, wherein he states, that his study had been a long time locked up, and himself debarred from the use of it; and that it appeared from a schedule of the contents of the said library, that there were no books or papers therein but such as were the undoubted property of the petitioner; he therefore prayed that he might henceforth have the free use of his study, it being the best room in his house. Although no account is extant that the prayer of his petition was acceded to, there is every reason to believe that it was soon after granted, and that Sir Thomas continued to the day of his death, which happened in the year 1662, in quiet possession of the library. Stukely relates that the high sheriff for Bedfordshire (Bramstull,) in 1650, was greatly instrumental in preserving this inestimable treasure, during the convulsions of the civil wars, in which period all documents of a constitutional or legal nature were industriously sought after, in order to be destroyed.

SURNAMES.

The first trace of surnames in history is to be found in the pact made between the Romans and the Sabines, in which a special clause was inserted that the Romans should add to their own names a Sabine name; and that the Sabines should, in like manner, take a Roman name in addition to their own.

These new names became the family or surname, and the old names continued to be proper in personal names; the former were called Cognomina, and Gentilitia nomina, and the latter

Prænomina.

Amongst the Hebrews, surnames were unknown. To preserve the memory of their tribes, the custom was, to take in addition, the name of the father, as Melchi ben Addi, Melchi the son of Addi. The Greeks adopted the same system, for which our readers need only refer to Homer. The Russians also used this method, as Peter Alexiowitz, Peter the son of Alexis.

Scaliger tells us, that the Arabs, on the contrary, take their fathers' name, without preserving their own; as Aven Pace, Aven Zoar; the son of Pace, the son of Zoar. If Pace had a son who, at his circumcision, was called Haly, he would still go by the name of Aven Pace, but the children of Haly would be called Aven Haly.

The Romans, in process of time, greatly multiplied their surnames, to distinguish the particular branches of a family, to which they sometimes added a third, to perpetuate the memory of some remarkable action or event, such as Africanus assumed by Scipio, or Torquatus by Manlius.

These three different kinds of names were severally distinguished by the terms Nomen, Cognomen, and Agnomen. The first only was hereditary.-Vide Spanheim De Præest, et V. su Numism. Diss. 10.

The Agnomen of the Romans was imitated by other nations for the race of their Princes, as Edmund Ironside, William Rufus, Edward the Black Prince, Harold Harefoot, Philippe le Hardi, Philippe le Bel, William the Bastard, Louis le Debonnair, John Lackland, &c. These names being personal, did not descend, but, to distinguish the race, another was adopted, which sometimes had no reference to either the Nomen, Cognomen, or Agnomen of any branch of the family, as Valois, Bourbon, Hapsburg, Oldenburg, &c. to distinguish the races of

the kings of France, Emperors of Germany, and kings of Denmark. Sometimes these names had a reference to one of the three, as Plantagenet, Tudor, Stuart.

Surnames began to be adopted in England, under the reign of Edward the Confessor; but did not begin to be general until the reign of Edward the Second; for, previously, the custom obtained as amongst the Hebrews, Greeks and Saxons, as John Richardson, John the son of Richard, &c.; but this in the beginning was a custom principally confined to the lower class; the higher ranks added the name of their estates, of which abundant evidence is found in Doomsday Book. Some, also, took the names of their trades, profession, or offices, as Gulielmus Camerarius, William Chamberlain. It is unnecessary to cite examples on this point.

The system of distinguishing a person, as the son of such a person, was also held in Wales; but, in course of time, for the sake of euphony and brevity, the a in ap was omitted, as Evan ap Rice, Evan the son of Rice, became Evan Price.

THE HOUSEWIFE.

No. II. WOUNDS.

When there is a simple cut or wound, the case is easily managed, very simple means being suflicient to accomplish a cure. All extraneous matter is to be removed; the bleeding, if it does not stop spontaneously, is to be checked by cold water or the use of astringents, such as turpentine, Wade's balsam, &c. and the edges of the cut surface brought accurately in contact, and retained by slips of adhesive strap, and a bandage if necessary. When a vein has been divided, the danger is very little increased, the bleeding in general being easily commanded by pressure. We know that a vein has been injured, by the blood being of a dark crimson colour, and coming away, not in jets, but uninterruptedly. All that is required is to bring the lips of the wound together, apply compresses over it, made with folded linen, and retain them there by a bandage. This is also proper in those cases w ere the bleeding comes from arteries of a somewhat larger size than those formerly noticed.

It is a fact, but not generally known, that the common strawberry is a natural dentifrice; and that its juice, without any previous peparation whatever, dissolves the tartarous incrustations on the teeth, and makes the breath sweet and agreeable.

TO TAKE OUT IRON MOULDS
FROM LINEN.

Rub the iron moulds over with sulphuret of pot-ash; then bathe them well in citric acid (lemon acid), and afterwards wash them well in water, and they will be completely restored.

CURE FOR THE RHEUMATISM.

We recognise bleeding from an artery, by the blood coming away in rapid and successive jets, and being of a bright vermilion colour. There cannot be the least doubt, but that many, after a wound attended with division of an artery, have lost their lives, from those around them being unprepared to give that assistance, which the urgency of the case demanded. A person in a fit of passion has inflicted a blow with a sharp-pointed instrument, a large bloodvessel has been cut, and profuse hemorrhage is the instant consequence. The blood comes away in rapid jets, producing, by the velocity with which it is ejected, a whizzing noise, and the man, in a few seconds, falls down pale and ghastly, in a state of fainting. Then all is confusion. No one is capable of reasoning or reflecting, and the man is either allowed to bleed to death, or clothes and napkins are heaped upon the wound, only serving to conceal from the eye the progress of the mischief. I am not prepared to say, that a person ignorant of anatomy and surgery, may be rendered qualified for managing such a case, merely by reading a few pages of a popular treatise; yet, certainly, very little information would be sufficient to enable any one to restrain the flow of blood, and thereby preserve the life of the man, till the arrival of medical assistance. Our first and most important object is to stop, for a time, the flow of blood, which, unless checked, will speedily destroy the patient. This is to be done, not by covering the part with rags and clothes, but by thrusting the finger down to the bottom of the wound, where we shall be directed by THE MUSES' WILD WREATH. the warm current of the blood to the orifice of the artery, upon which we are to press firmly and unhesitatingly. This being done, you may proceed to check the circulation towards the part. This is performed by the tournaquet, which is drawn tightly around the limb between the heart and the part where the artery is wounded. But as it is supposed that such an instrument is not always at hand, we are to be content by pressing the finger on the artery, thus commanding the flow of blood, till the surgeon arrives.

REMEDY FOR THE STING OF
A WASP.

Press the pipe of a key upon the part stung, for a minute or two, when the pain will cease, and the swelling disappear.

Mr. Thomas M. Davis, of the United States, who had for some time been afflicted with this disease, and made experiments of many of the medicines which were considered efficacious in complaints of that kind, without any sensible change being effected, was induced to try the warm bath, enveloped in a woollen blanket, so as to admit of respiration, and in as hot a temperature as could be borne for an hour and a half, for three successive mornings, which had the most happy effect, and although the disease was not entirely eradicated, he has been restored to comparative ease and comfort. The patient should remain in the bath as long as possible; three hours is not considered too long for those who can bear the operation.

LINES

Written Impromptu, (by the amiable Henry Kirk White,) on reading the following passage in Mr. Capel Lofft's beautiful and interesting Preface to Nathaniel Bloomfield's Poems just published:" It has a mixture of sportive which deepens the impression of its melancholy close. I could have wished, as I have said in a short note, the conclusion had been otherwise. The sours of life less offend my taste than its sweets delight it."

[blocks in formation]
« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »