The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 12, No. 343, November 29, 1828

A party were intending, I found, to make a trip along the Rhine; so I thought I could not do better than join them. We went by the Hague, Haarlem, and Amsterdam. With the last, I was much disappointed. They say it contains 200,000 human inhabitants, but it has not even a tolerable hotel. The famous Haarlem tulip gardens, I of course visited, particularly those of Van Eeden. I wonder what the fools could see in tulips, who gave 10,000 guilders for one root. The organ is certainly very fine; but it nearly cracked the drum of my ears.

When at Amsterdam, I was nearly carried off to Archangel, which would, at the time, have been rather a bore indeed. After a grand let-off, given by a rich burgo-master, to which my friends got me a special invitation, I incautiously exceeded in the curaçoa, of which I did not at all then know the strength. The vessel put to sea, and I had enough to do to secure my retreat in the pilot boat. From Amsterdam we proceeded in a curious, large diligence to Utrecht, and from that to Cologne. We had twelve (human) passengers inside, who smoked the whole time without intermission. I, as well as all my species, are most partial to perfumes, and I did not therefore fail to visit the representative of Signior Jean Marie Farina in his shop, No. 4568, à la rue haute à Cologne. Nothing struck me particularly in this town of Cologne. The streets are very narrow, and seemed dull enough. To be sure, the principal one, which is said to be a German league in length, is rather fine. The old convent of the Ladies of St. Ursula, is curious at least. They show you in it the bones of 11,000 virgins, who they say were murdered by the Huns at the time of their invasion, when they destroyed the town. I might easily have had a taste of them; but I had no fancy for such antiquated old maids. In the Cathedral, or Dom, as they call it, you see the tomb of the three famous kings of Cologne, and the gold and silver chests which contain the bones of the Holy Engelberth. I don't think, in the whole town, there is any thing else worth the trouble of looking at. The hotel "Le Prince Charles," I found tolerably comfortable: there is a good French cook, but he is a saucy fellow.

(To be concluded in our next.)

THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS

A MOTHER'S LOVE

Oh, beauteous were my baby's dark blue eyes,Evermore turning to his mother's face,So dove-like soft, yet bright as summer skies;And pure his cheek as roses, ere the traceOf earthly blight or stain their tints disgrace.O'er my loved child enraptured still I hung;No joy in life could those sweet hours replace,When by his cradle low I watched and sung—While still in memory's ear his father's promise rung.Long, long I wept with weak and piteous cryO'er my sweet infant, in its rosy bloom,As memory brought my hours of agonyAgain before my mind:—I mourned his doom;I mourned my own: the sunny little roomIn which, opress'd by sickness, now I lay,Weeping for sorrows past, and woes to come,Had been my own in childhood's early day.Oh! could those years indeed so soon have passed away!Past, as the waters of the running brook;Fled, as the summer winds that fan the flowers!All that remained, a word—a tone—a look,Impressed, by chance, in those bright joyous hours;Blossoms which, culled from youth's light fairy bowers,Still float with lingering scent, as loath to fade,In spite of sin's remorseless, 'whelming powers,Above the wreck which time and grief have made.Nursed with the dew of tears, though low in ruin laid.The Sorrows of Rosalie.

FAGGING AT WINCHESTER SCHOOL

The following outline of a recent quarrel at Winchester School serves to illustrate the System of Fagging as practised at one of our leading schools, among the "future clergy, lawyers, legislators, and peers of England." It is extracted from a pamphlet by Sir Alexander Malet, Bart.; and we hope this expose will lead to the extermination of the "custom:"—

The prefects, or eight senior boys of the school, are in the habit of fagging the juniors; and that they may have a greater command of their services during meal times, they appoint one of the junior boys with the title of course keeper, whose business it is to take care that whilst the prefects are at breakfast or supper, the juniors sit upon a certain cross bench at the top of the hall, that they may be forthcoming whenever a prefect requires any thing to be done. During that part of the short half-year in which there are no fires kept, a sufficient number of boys for this service was generally furnished from the fourth class, and it was considered that the junior part of the fifth class, which is next in the ascending scale, was exempt from so disagreeable a servitude. It appears, however, that within these few years, there has been a much greater press of boys to enter the school than formerly; the consequence has been, that they have come to it older and more advanced in their studies than formerly, and the upper departments of the school have received a greater accession of numbers in proportion than the lower classes. The fourth class, therefore, gradually furnishing a smaller number of fags, the prefects issued a mandate, that the junior part of the fifth class should share with the fourth in the duty of going on hall: this was for some time submitted to; but at length one of the boys of this class intentionally abstained from seating himself on the cross bench at supper-time, and being seen by the senior prefect, and desired by him to go on hall, refused to do so, and argued the point as a matter of right, alleging, as the ancient usage of the school, the exemption of the junior part of the fifth class from this duty till the commencement of fires; he referred to the course keeper as being the depositary of the rules, and expressed himself prepared to abide by his decision. The course keeper, who does not appear to have been very well versed in the usages of the school, decided that the boy ought to go on hall; and the prefect therefore resolved, not only to enforce this new rule, but to punish the contumely of this unlucky boy by giving him a public chastisement. To this, however, the junior did not feel inclined to submit, and a second prefect laid hold of him, that he might not evade the beating destined for him: a simultaneous movement then took place amongst the juniors, who pinioned the two prefects, released the boy who was being beaten, and gave them to understand that the intended chastisement should not be inflicted. The prefects instantly laid a complaint before the head master, who expelled the boy who had refused to go on hall, and five others, who had appeared most active in preventing the prefect from punishing him.

WRITTEN IN A LADY'S ALBUM

As sweeps the bark before the breeze,While waters coldly close around,Till of her pathway through the seasThe track no more is found;Thus passing down Oblivion's tide,The beauteous visions of the mindFleet as that ocean pageant glide,And leave no trace behind.But the pure page may still impartSome dream of feeling, else untold,—The silent record of a heart,E'en when that heart is cold.Its lorn memorials here may bloom,—Perchance to gentle bosoms dear,Like flowers that linger o'er the tombBedewed with Beauty's tear.I ask not for the meed of fame.The wreath above my rest to twine,—Enough for me to leave my nameWithin this hallow'd shrine;To think that o'er these lines thine eyeMay wander in some future year,And Memory breathe a passing sighFor him who traced them here.Calm sleeps the sea when storms are o'er,With bosom silent and serene,And but the plank upon the shoreReveals that wrecks have been.So some frail leaf like this may beLeft floating on Time's silent tide,—The sole remaining trace of me,—To tell I lived and died.Malcolm's Scenes of War, &c.

THE SUICIDE LOVER

A young man, of rich and respectable parents, was for a long time passionately in love with a young lady of the same town, whose birth and fortune were equal to his own; he had also the good fortune not to displease the young lady. Both families were anxious to bring the business to a conclusion; notwithstanding which the intended always found some specious pretext to put off the ceremony. The parents of the lady, after yielding for some time to the different excuses of their future son-in-law, as they could not find out the motive, began to be weary of being put off so often, and at last declared to him that a rival, who was his equal in every thing, had presented himself, and that if he did not soon make up his mind, they should be obliged to give up to the desire of his rival. The young man upon this information made up his mind; and, after the necessary arrangements, the day for the ceremony arrived. The bride, the two families and friends, were assembled, and waited only for the bridegroom in order to proceed to church, when a servant arrived with the sad intelligence that his master was taken suddenly ill, and in consequence requested that the celebration of the nuptials might once more be deferred for a few days. Two of his friends, who witnessed both the surprise and even the indignation which was marked on every countenance, left the party, and hastened to the gentleman's house, and pointed out in such strong colours the folly, as well as the bad consequences of his behaviour, that he sent them away, assuring them that he would dress himself and follow them immediately. But an hour having elapsed, and no bridegroom appearing, the two friends again set out to inquire into the cause of the delay, which seemed to them more than ever extraordinary. They had just arrived at the foot of his staircase, when they heard the report of a pistol. They hastened to ascend, and having forced open the door of the young man's apartment, they found him dead upon the floor, weltering in his blood. They were so shocked at the sight before them, that they could not return to announce the fatal news, but instantly dispatched a servant for that purpose. It is more easy to conceive than describe the consternation such a piece of intelligence was likely to throw every one into; but the situation of the bride was most to be pitied; she not only lost a lover just on the point of being her husband, but fancied that he had received some calumnious information which caused him to prefer death to the necessity of being united to her. It was some days before this mystery was cleared up, as it was not until the seals were broken, that they found the following written paper in his desk, dated eight days before the fatal catastrophe:—"I adore Mademoiselle de N–, and shall do so all my life. Her virtues surpassed if possible her charms; and I would sacrifice the last drop of my blood rather than cause her the least uneasiness. But the cruel and dangerous passion of jealousy possesses me to such a degree, that notwithstanding all her merits, the bare idea of a rival makes me wretched. Every effort on my part, joined to the voice of reason, has never been able to eradicate this dreadful poison from my heart, and which I fear is incurable. If I yield to my penchant for her, and become her husband, instead of being a tender lover, of which she is so worthy, I should be a tyrant, whose frenzy would render her more miserable than myself. They press me to bring our union to a conclusion, they threaten me also with a rival, who without doubt deserves her more than I. How can I, miserable wretch that I am, how can I ward off the blow which threatens me? I flatter myself, at least, to have succeeded in my endeavours to conceal the vice of a heart which, although entirely her own, can never exterminate the miserable passion which possesses it. The time approaches with rapid strides when I must make up my mind. Good Heaven direct me! shall I risk making her unhappy? Can I resolve to see her the wife of another? Never, no never! rather let me die a hundred deaths...."

This unfortunate youth had written no more, but it was sufficient to prove that he had sacrificed himself for the happiness of his mistress.

Album of Love.

THE CRUSADER'S SONG

"Remember the Holy Sepulchre."Forget the land which gave ye birth—Forget the womb that bore ye—Forget each much-loved spot of earth—Forget each dream of glory—Forget the friends that by your sideStood firm as rocks unbroken—Forget the late affianced bride,And every dear love token—Forget the hope that in each breastGlow'd like a smould'ring ember—But still the Holy Sepulchre,Remember! oh remember!Remember all the vows ye've swornAt holy Becket's altar—Remember all the ills ye've borne,And scorn'd to shrink or falter—Remember every laurel'd field,Which saw the Crescent waving—Remember when compell'd to yield,Uncounted numbers braving:Remember these, remember tooThe cause ye strive for, ever;The Cross! the Holy Sepulchre!Forget—forget them never!By Him who in that SepulchreWas laid in Death's cold keeping—By Her who bore, who rear'd him. HerWho by that Cross sat weeping—By those, whose blood so oft has criedRevenge for souls unshriven!—By those, whose sacred precepts guideThe path to yonder Heaven!From youth to age, from morn to eveFrom Spring-tide to December,The Holy Sepulchre of ChristRemember! oh remember!Literary Remains of Henry Neele.

A SERENADE

Wake, Lady, wake! the midnight MoonSails through the cloudless skies of June;The Stars gaze sweetly on the stream,Which in the brightness of their beam,One sheet of glory lies;The glow-worm lends its little light,And all that's beautiful and brightIs shining in our world to-night,Save thy bright eyes,Wake, Lady! wake! the nightingaleTells to the Moon her love-lorn tale;Now doth the brook that's hush'd by day,As through the vale she winds her way,In murmurs sweet rejoice;The leaves, by the soft night-wind stirr'd,Are whispering many a gentle word,And all Earth's sweetest sounds are heard,Save thy sweet voice.Wake, Lady! wake! thy lover waits,Thy steed stands saddled at the gates;Here is a garment, rich and rare,To wrap thee from the cold night-air;Th' appointed hour is flown.Danger and doubt have vanish'd quite,Our way before lies clear and right,And all is ready for the flight,Save thou alone!Wake, Lady! wake! I have a wreathThy broad fair brow should rise beneath;I have a ring that must not shineOn any finger, Love! but thine—I've kept my plighted vow;Beneath thy casement here I stand,To lead thee by thine own white hand,Far from this dull and captive strand—But where art thou?Wake, Lady! wake! She wakes! she wakes!Through the green mead her course she takes;And now her lover's arms enfoldA prize more precious far than gold,Blushing like morning's ray;Now mount thy palfrey, Maiden kind!Nor pause to cast one look behind,But swifter than the viewless wind,Away! away!Ibid.

THE GATHERER

"A snapper-up of unconsidered trifles."SHAKSPEARE.

FILTHY WATER

If the unhappy victims of mud-juice had constant access to the solar microscope, and there was occasionally in London a little sunshine to set off the animated bedevilments which are crowded into the composition, and could see thousands of animals, generated in filth, and living in the highest spirits and the greatest abundance, in the stuff destined for their stomachs, they would go mad. Boiled down in tea (for which, in the midst of starvation, a cockney pays five hundred per cent. beyond its value, and a tax of five hundred per cent. more than that,) these centipedes, toads, small alligators, large worms, white bait, snails, caterpillars, maggots, eels, minnows, weeds, moss, offal in detachments, gas-juice, vinegar lees, tallow droppings, galls, particles of dead men, women, children, horses, and dogs, train-oil, copper, dye-stuff, soot, and dead fish, are all, according to the chemistry of the washerwomen, neutralized, mollified, clarified, and rectified—but this we doubt; and if any of the unhappy persons who imbibe nastiness fourteen times a week, under the idea that it is good and wholesome because it is hot, will take the trouble to look at the agreeable deposit in the bottom of the "slop-basin," they will find that independent of all the muddy, fishy, oily, gaseous, animal and vegetable stuff, introduced into their stomachs under the guise of that most poisonous of all herbs, tea, they are in the habit of swallowing mud, earth, stones, sand, and gravel, in quantities sufficient to establish in less than three months spaces of land as big as Cornish freeholds in their insides.—John Bull.

NAPOLEON

While Napoleon was a subaltern in the army, a Russian officer remarked, with much self-sufficiency, "That his country fought for glory and the French for gain."—"You are perfectly right," answered Napoleon; "every one fights for that which he does not possess."

INA.

FORBIDDEN FRUIT

Sir Richard Steele, who represented the borough of Stockbridge, Hants, in parliament in the reign of Queen Anne, carried his election against a powerful opposition, by sticking a large apple full of guineas, and declaring that it should be the prize of that man whose wife was first brought to bed after that day nine months. This merry offer procured him the interest of the ladies, who, it is said, commemorate Sir Richard's bounty to this day, and once made a vigorous effort to procure a standing order of the corporation, that no man should ever be received as a candidate who did not offer himself on the same terms.

HALBERT H.

EPITAPH ON A SILLY, DRUNKEN SOT

His life and death five letters do express; A.B.C. he knew not, and he died of X.S.

G.J.F.

CONVENIENT ABSENCE

An individual often visited a landscape painter, who had a very beautiful wife, but he always met with the husband. "Zounds," said he, one day to him, "for a painter of landscapes, you are very seldom in the country."

TARRAGON

We recommend our correspondent, Qy? to steep shalots and tarragon in vinegar, to be used as a sauce with rump-steaks. Or he may chop the shalots and tarragon very fine, and sprinkle them over the meat. Tarragon sprinkled over mutton chops is a nice relish; and with sauce piquante flavoured with the above vinegar, makes a dish on "which the gods might dine."

PEREMPTORY CONCLUSION

An advocate, whose pleading appeared too diffuse for the cause he was defending, had received an order from the first president to abridge it; but the former, without omitting a word of his intended address, replied in a firm tone, that all he uttered was essential. The president, hoping at length to make him silent, said to him, "The court orders you to conclude." "Well," replied the advocate, "then I conclude that the court shall hear me."

GROUNDS OF RECOGNITION

A man went to a restaurateur's (or chop-house) in France, to dine. He perceived another man in the room and hurried away to tell the master. "If you do not, Sir, order that man, who is dining alone at the table in the corner, out of your house, a respectable individual will not be able to sit down in it."—"How is that, Sir?"—"Because that is the executioner of R–." The host, after some hesitation, at length went and spoke to the stranger, who calmly answered him: "By whom have I been recognised?"—"By that gentleman," said the landlord, pointing out the former. "Indeed, he ought to know me, for it is not two years since I whipped and branded him."

SINGULAR MISTAKE

A courtier was playing at piquet, and was greatly annoyed by a short-sighted man with a long nose. To get rid of it he took his pocket handkerchief and wiped his troublesome neighbour's nose. "Ah, sir," said he immediately, "I really beg your pardon, I took it for my own."

BROTHERS AND SISTERS

During the revolution, a young man was travelling in the Diligence to Lyons with "a brother and a friend," when they had got about half way the latter's purse became empty; "Brother," said he to the young man, "pay for me, and I will return it to you at Lyons." "I cannot."—"Why, are we not brothers?" "Oh certainly, but our purses are not sisters."

SPANISH REFUGEES

As philanthropy is of no caste or creed, let us dip our pen "in the milk of human kindness," and recommend each of our readers to contribute the amount of the MIRROR purchase-money—Two-pence—to the fund for relief of the Spanish Refugees.

THE ANNUALS

The SUPPLEMENT announced in No. 340 of the MIRROR, will be published next Saturday, December 6, and will contain Notices of such of the ANNUALS as were not included in the previous Supplement, with a FINE ENGRAVING, and their Spirit, or Second Sight.

LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THEFollowing Novels are already Published:

Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers.

1

12th February, 1586-7.

2

Here Henry Percy, the fourth Earl of Northumberland, was murdered by an infuriated mob, in the fourth year of Henry VII.; he having, as lord lieutenant of the county, levied a tax on the people by order of his sovereign, for carrying on the war in Bretague. Skelton, poet-laureat to Henry VIII. lamented his death in some elegiac lines.

3

Aldburgh, or Aldborough, so called by the Normans, was the Iseur of the Ancient Britons, and the Isurium of the Romans. Perhaps there is not another Roman city, not even excepting York, where so many antiquities have been discovered. The opening of ancient baths, burial vaults, &c. has led to the finding of tesselated pavements, coins, urns, rings, lachrymatories, seals, monumental inscriptions, medals, statues, chains, sacrificing vessels, &c. It is to be lamented that modern ignorance and barbarity are fast obliterating all traces of the Roman walls of Isurium; their foundations having been dug up for the mercenary purpose of obtaining their materials. We cannot sufficiently censure such irreverence to "hoar antiquity," or the contracted and grovelling ideas which actuate such village Vandals.

4

The following letter was addressed by Layton, one of the emissaries of the Dissolution, to Lord Cromwell, at the Reformation:—

"Please your worship to understand that the Abbot of Fountaynes hath so greatly dilapidated his house, wasted ye woods, notoriously keeping six –; and six days before our coming, he committed theft and sacrilege, confessing the same; for at midnight he caused the chapleyne to stele the keys of the secton, and took out a jewel, a cross of gold with stones; one Warren, a goldsmith of the Chepe, was with him in his chamber at the hour, and there they stole out a great emerode with a rubye, the said Warren made the Abbot believe the rubye was a garnet, and so for that he paid nothing for the emerode, but £20. He sold him also plate, without weight or ounces.

"Subscribed, your poor Priestand faithful servant,R. LAYTON."