a half, he would have constant day, if he commenced his | Roman Catholic calendar with the date 1613. This watch journey when the sun was above the horizon, and constant bears the name of P. Combret à Lyons, as the maker." night, if he had started after sunset; indeed, it would be to him the same hour and minute." Under "Mean Time," we find the following subtilty: "It has been said, that many simple operations would astonish us, did we but know enough to be so; and this remark may not be inapplicable to those who, having a watch losing half a minute per day, wish it corrected, they may not reflect that as half a minute is the 2880th part of twenty-four hours, each vibration of the balance, (which is only the fifth part of a second,) must be accelerated the 2880th part of its instantaneous duration; while, to make a watch, losing one minute per week, go correctly, each vibration must be accelerated the 10,080th part of its duration, or the 50,400th part of a second." The historical details of horology are briefly related, as are described the sun-dials, sand-glasses, and clepsydræ of the ancients. Then follow details of early clocks, and those of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. Watches are next described; and from this portion we extract the following: "The Earl of Leicester presented Queen Elizabeth with a 'round clocke fullie garnished with diamonds,' suspended to an armlet; this must therefore have been very small and ornamental. Watches were not however, in general use in the following reign, for when Guy Fawkes was seized, suspicions were much increased from a watch being found upon him. It was afterwards discovered that he had procured it for the purpose of ascertaining the exact time the touchwood would burn before reaching the train of gunpowder. "There is still extant a very curious watch of this period: it has a silver case highly ornamented, with mythological sub jects elaborately chased, bearing the following inscription on the inner rim: From Alethea Covntess of Aryndel for her deare sone, Sir William Howard, K. B. 1629.' It is of an Oval form; the extreme size two inches and a half, and an inch and a half in thickness. It strikes the hours and has an alarm; shows the days of the week, the age and phases of the moon, with the days and months of the year, and the signs of the zodiac. On the inside of the cover there is a (To be concluded in our next.) PATENT IMPILIA SHOE. MORE than half the ills of life turn upon trifles. Swift's splenetic humour has been attributed to his disappointment in angling; and many similar instances might be adduced of the temper of men of genius having been soured by slight accidents. Among our minor miseries, a pinching shoe is so common, as to have passed into a proverb expressive of the modicum of evil which falls to the lot of each individual throughout his existence. Metaphor apart, "the Patent Impilia Shoe," the invention of a medical man of note, may conduce to much personal comfort. Its properties are to keep the feet warm and dry; to give ease in walking, to prevent the formation of corns, and to cause the disappearance of those already contracted; to prevent the creaking noise, unpleasant to all, more particularly in the sick chamber; and to render the foot-fall less loud. The soles of these shoes are so constructed as to impart a sensation, while walking on the hardest path or pavement, like that of treading upon the softest carpet. They are alike suited to the pedestrian and equestrian, being calculated equally to preserve the feet from the rough granite, as from the pressure of the iron stirrup. They wear longer than the common shoe, and retain their proper shape to the end; for by the yielding quality of the sole, the foot is allowed to sink as upon a mattrass; thus preventing any extension of the upper leather from side pressure. They likewise possess the advantage over waterproof boots or shoes, of allowing perspiration to pass off, without (so long as the outermost sole remains whole,) suffering the damp to penetrate to the feet. All these improvements do not, however, raise the price of the Impilia shoe; which, from its increased durability, must, therefore, be cheaper than the shoes in com mon wear. The Howard family were at this time great patrons of the arts. Mr. Petty, progenitor of the Lansdowne family, was commissioned by the Countess to procure rare productions both in France and Italy. SONNETS. TO THE STREAMLET. CLEAR streamlet! thou art gently flowing o'er The flags and flowers, that view their slender form SORROW. My thoughts are ever with the "dreamless dead," When I, nor I alone, 'joyed the soft chime To roam the grove or greenwood shades among, To mark the swan upon the lake, or seize The "painted fly"- -or list the wild bird's song. Not e'en one friend of youth remains-they're laid The grave within-whilst I alone am left, To seek with tearful joys, our fav'rite glade, Or mossy couch, where we so oft have slept. A mourner sad I here am doomed to dwell, Whilst sadd'ning thoughts within my bosom swell. DR. Armstrong, of South Lambeth, states that on Thursday, the 25th February, P.M., the moon being full, and at an altitude of ten degrees, a bright illumined belt extended over her disc, in a direction perpendicular to the horizon. Its width, which exactly equalled the moon's apparent diameter, was uniform and well defined from end to end; each being limited by a small cirrostratus cloud. The higher portion of it measured in length three and a half such diameters, and the lower two. He was not fortunate enough to observe the manner of its formation; but it was too interesting a sight not to watch it intently till its disappearance. At eight o'clock, it began to shorten at its upper extremity. Its edge underwent no diminution in distinctness; but had an inclination of forty-five degrees to the moon's horizontal diameter, and which it preserved without any perceptible variation, till the whole vanished. What struck Dr. Armstrong as very remarkable was, the perfect rectilinear uniformity of the belt itself, as well as the manner of its decrease; the inclination of its upper edge towards the horizon not varying in the smallest degree, but preserving its parallelism rigor ously during its downward progress to the base. When very near it, however, the remnant, instead of shortening, dissolved. The time of its disappearing occupied about forty seconds.-Communicated by Dr. Armstrong. New Books. THE DRUNKARD. A POEM. BY JOHN O'NEIL. If we understand the Introduction rightly, this little volume is the production of one who but for certain generous encouragement, "when hope was faint and want was near, might, like so many around him, have fallen a victim to despondency, have sickened in misery and died in premature old age; one more sad example in addition to those recorded in these pages." The object contemplated, and the means taken to effect it, are alike entitled to our approbation: the horrors of drunkenness are set forth in terrific reality, the delights of temperance are painted with equal fidelity, and the congratulation upon the progress of the great work of domestic reformation is alike well told. Rather than quote from the squalor of the subject, we borrow from the bright side-the reformed drunkard: "No more the mantling cup he joys to view, The happy father in delight can see * Sweet is the home of Temperance! the smiles Of fond affection there with mutual wiles Knit heart to heart, and all things in their way Take the bright colours of the ruling ray. Though wealth around may spread a larger hoard, Though costlier viands smoke upon the board,Though cringing sycophants may sit and drain, With brutal zest, dozens of rich champagne; There's more true riches in domestic quiet, Than all their hoard, and revelry, and riot;The approving spirit in the peasant's breast, Which lulls the senses to unbroken rest, After his daily toil and frugal meal, Where nature's simple draughts his heart regale; Which tells him in the honest course he's run, He has done all things that he should have done. He sinks in conscious peace to soft repose, With love and joy his daily prospects close; He on his humble pillow lays his head, With Heaven's approving eye to guard his bed." As the author of these verses is " a poor mechanic, with a family to support," who has "pursued his taste for poetry in preference to debasing enjoyments," his picture is, doubtless, a faithful one, and will work out much good, especially among those classes to whom it is addressed. It is illustrated with four plates by Cruikshank, exhibiting the miseries of intoxication in a very repulsive light. IRELAND. BY MR. AND MRS. S. C. HALL. THE columns of the London Saturday Journal have occasionally been enlivened with extracts from this popular work, which is some testimony to its excellence. The Part (xvi) before us is appropriated to a description of the city of Dublin, and its living characteristics. Of the former, the following is a clever specimen : "The stranger cannot fail to receive a most agreeable impression of Dublin, no matter in what part of it, out of the mere suburbs, he chances to be set down; for its principal streets and leading attractions lie within a comparatively narrow compass; and his attention is sure to be fixed upon some object worthy of observation-to be succeeded, almost immediately, by some other of equal note. If he arrive seaward he will have fully estimated the magnificence of the approach, which nature has formed, and which art has improved; and there is scarcely one of the roads that conduct to it, on which he will not have journeyed through beautiful scenery, and obtained a fine view of the city as he nears it. But we must place him, at once, nearly in its centre--upon Carlisle Bridge; perhaps from no single spot of the kingdom can the eye command so great a number of interesting points. He turns to the north and looks along a noble street, Sackville street; midway, is Nelson's Pillar, a fine Ionic column, surmounted by a statue of the hero; directly opposite to this is the Post-office, a modern structure built in pure taste; beyond, is the Lying-in Hospital, and the Rotunda; and, ascending a steep hill, one of the many fine squares; to the south, he has within ken the far-famed Bank of Ireland, and the University; to the west, the Four Courts-the courts of law-and the several bridges; to the east, the Custom-house, a superb though a lonesome building, and the quays. Towering above all, and within his ken, wherever it is directed, are numerous steeples, of which no city, except the metropolis of England, can boast so many. In fact, nearly all the great attractions of Dublin may be seen from this single spot." The remarks on the society of Dublin are full of nice discrimination, thus: certainly unsurpassed, if they are equalled, for the qualities of heart, mind, and temper, which make the best companions, the safest counsellors, the truest friends, and afford the surest securities for sweet and upright discharge of duties in all the relations of life."* The principal historical localities of Dublin are briefly noticed, as in the subsequent passage: the Liberties' of Dublin. and the streets in its immediate vicinity, might fill a volume. too much to say, that no 'traitor' ever more honestly believed in the justice of a cause, or more conscientiously considered that rebellion' was duty to his country. With his sad fate, we trust, the evil genius of the Geraldines' for ever disappeared. The history of the family, from their first foot-tread in Ireland to the melancholy year '98, might form a volume more full of wonders than a folio of romance." This Part is liberally embellished: the plates are the Boyne Obelisk, drawn by A. Nicholl, A.R.H.A.—a charming scene; and a picturesque view of Sackville street, by Creswick. The wood-cuts, fourteen in number, are also well executed. "The women of Ireland-from the highest to the lowest-lican principles by his connexion with France; but it is not represent the national character better than the other sex. In the men, very often, energy degenerates into fierceness, generosity into reckless extravagance, social habits into dissipation, courage into profitless daring, confiding faith into slavish dependence, honour into captiousness, and religion into bigotry; for in no country of the world is the path so narrow that marks the boundary between virtue and vice. But the Irish women have-taken in the mass-the lights without the shadows, the good without the bad-to use a familiar expression, the wheat without the chaff.' Most faithful; most devoted; most pure; the best mothers; the best children; the best wives;-possessing, pre-eminently, the beauty and holiness of virtue, in the limited or the extensive meaning of the phrase. They have been rightly described as holding an intermediate space between the French and the English;' mingling the vivacity of the one with the stability of the other; with hearts more naturally toned than either never sacrificing delicacy, but entirely free from embarrassing reserve; their gaiety never inclining to levity, their frankness never approaching to freedom; with reputations not the less securely protected because of the absence of suspicion, and that the natural guardians of honour though rpesent are unseen. Their information is without assumption; their cultivation without parade; their influence is never ostentatiously exhibited; in no position of life do they assume an ungraceful or unbecoming independence; the character is, indeed, essentially and emphatically, feminine; the Irish woman is a very woman' with high intellect and sound heart. : "In writing of Irish women, we refer to no particular class or grade; from the most elevated to the most humble, they possess innate purity of thought, word, and deed; and are that of any publication of its class and time, is a lesson By the way, the success of this work, probably beyond not to be lost sight of. It is light, but not superficial; sufficiently descriptive without being tedious, and altogether satisfactory. By this we are convinced that the days of the Dry-as-dusts are numbered, and their musty speculations are dwindling to dead letters. Views of society are now preferred to lengthy descriptions of crumbling castles, and puerile disputes on etymologies, which, when settled, are as useless as the hard words at the end of a child's spelling-book. Life is too short to be wasted in such trifling-akin to idleness itself. "It will be scarcely necessary to inform the reader, that these remarks proceed from but one of the authors of this work; that they give the opinions, not of an Irishwoman, but of an Englishman." KNIGHT'S MISCELLANIES: BRAND'S POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. EDITED BY SIR HENRY ELLIS, F.R.S. ETC. MR. KNIGHT warmly merits the thanks of every lover of antiquarian lore, popular or erudite, for including this reprint of Brand's work in his treasurable English Miscellanies. We heartily thanked the Editor for the Paston Letters in the same series; but the Popalar Antiquities must be considered a boon of greater value and interest. The origin of this work was a reprint of Bourne's Antiquitates Vulgares, by Mr. Brand, in 1777, then Secretary to the London Antiquaries' Society. He was led, by the success of his work, to collect materials for a much larger one on Popular Antiquities, incorporating Bourne's volume; but the industrious Secretary "had made no progress in putting his materials in order at the time of his death. In this state, at the sale of the second part of Mr. Brand's library, in 1808, the manuscript of his Observations on Popular Antiquities was purchased for £600. An examination, however, soon proved that great revision was wanting; and though one or two antiquaries of eminence, engaged in the task of its publication, each after a time abandoned it." In 1810, Sir Henry Ellis undertook the work, which he published in 1813, in two volumes quarto. Sir Henry re-wrote the whole with his own hand, and in many parts augmented it by additional researches. The nominal price of this work was five guineas; but of late years it could be purchased for less than half that sum. Latterly, a new edition was talked of, and the book became somewhat scarce the intended reprint was to have been as expensive as its predecessor: but advantage having been taken of the expiry of the copyright, the edition before us, with Sir Henry Ellis's additions, although in three volumes, is sold at one-seventh the price of the previous one; a reduction which has been made with no diminution save that of size; and "great big books," are cumbrous and inconvenient. The arrangement of the work is the same in the present as in the last edition: the Days of more particular note in the Calendar, with their popular observance, fill the first volume; and the two which follow contain, first, the Customs at Country Wakes, Sheep-shearings, and other rural practices, usages, ceremonies, &c.; together with the Customs and Ceremonies of Common Life, Popular Notions, Sports, and Errors. The entire work must ever be a favourite at the English fireside; and it will long continue to be referred to for innumerable traits of life and character, which a few years hence, will be in vain sought for among the people of once "merrie England;" for it is scarcely possible to read a page of these very attractive volumes, without tracing some custom, the observance of which was the delight of our "careless childhood," or the interest of our buoyant youth. How can we forget even the "Daffying" of this season, and the first rustic treat of the year; when, in a picturesque district of Hertfordshire, we gathered the daffodils into clusters on sticks, and thus carried them home in triumph, often singing on the road, from the old Norfolk ditty: "Daffy down dilly is coming to town, With her yellow petticoat and her green gown." In Sussex, this plant is called Lent Lily, from the period of its coming into flower. It is a favourite with Herrick, as in his well-known ode, beginning "Fair Daffodils, we weep to see Again, the same poet's "Divination by a Daffodil." Hanging down her head t'wards me, First, I shall decline my head; Secondly, I shall be dead; Lastly, safely buried." The elegant pale yellow cups of this flower are the pride of April, and their tender nature droops amidst the early storms of spring. We trust that Mr. Knight's neat reprint of the Popular Antiquities may, from its cheapness, (for each page is as full as an egg) become a portion of every "family library" in the kingdom. It is just the book for the aged to doat upon, and the youthful to linger over, on winter nights, by the cheerful hearth, and throughout the live-long y of summer; the indweller of populous city, and the lover of rural life-of the busy hum of the town, and the quiet of the country,-all must enjoy the infinite variety of these volumes. Their interest too is purely English, and ad dressed to the heart and home of an Englishman; and, although the commercial spirit of this age of extremes, may have blighted the rural population of many a fair district of this happy land, let us hope that the never ending succession of Time and Nature, may keep alive the observance of popular festivals, and the recurrence of seasons and scenes, fraught with interest and instruction for every child of Adam. What if the giant of monopoly cause factories to spring up, fungus-like, in the picturesque pleasaunce, or old park, and "the blatant beast" of this iron age cut up many a landscape of matchless beauty,— there are yet left thousands of nooks, ancestral homes, and dark, umbrageous woods and smiling glades, of winding lanes and well-beaten paths, to cherish the pride of the "bold peasantry," and still keep them knit in close bond with their opulent neighbours; for every Englishman will rue the day whenever this compact is broken. Let us hope, therefore, that the apprehension expressed in one of the pages before us is ill-founded-that the Pancake cus tom seems, if the present fashionable contempt of old customs continues, not likely to last another century." Half this period since, "the most popular poet of his generation," "whose pictures of domestic comfort and social refinement can hardly be forgotten, but with the language itself,"-this bard of the people-lamented the neglect of the unsophisticated enjoyments of country life, when 66 "The fashion runs Down into scenes still rural; but, alas! Scenes rarely graced with rural manners now."- Cowper. We shall not be expected to particularise Sir Henry Ellis's additions to the work, which has led us into the above observations; and every page so overflows with quotable passages for our columns, that we dare not trust ourselves among its antiquarian stores. We can scarcely doubt of its becoming as extensively popular as we have already ventured to hope; and as one step towards this success, we recommend the committee of every Mechanics' Institute in the kingdom, to add the Popular Antiquities to their library; for its pleasant quaintness, its characteristics of olden life and manners, and above all, its truly poetic spirit, will furnish a delightful mental reaction to thousands, who become giddy with the vicissitudes of cogwheels, the monotony of the mill, and the spindle-storm of the factory. Let no one be scared at the word "An tiquities," since they are far more poetical than the dull prose of what is emphatically termed "life." Let him remember Warton's elegant couplet: "Nor rough nor barren are the winding ways Of hoar antiquity, but strewn with flowers." Such literature has been very popular in our day. Hone, for example, drew largely from Brand's two quartos about fourteen years since; almost every other cheap periodical work has been more or less indebted to this exhaustless store of antiquarian amusement; and, at this moment, a "Journal" enjoying a larger circulation than any other work of its class, is enlivening its solid, matter-of-fact columns with Brand's attractive customs, ceremonies, sports, and other rural practices. This remark is not invidiously made; for we consider the above course to be a proof of the excellent judgment of the conductors of the work in question. In conclusion, we cannot resist quoting Sir H. Ellis's additions to Twelfth Day: "Feb. 18, 1839, Edward Hawkins, Esq., of the British Museum, showed to the editor of the present work, a silver token or substitute for money, marked to the amount of ten pounds, which appears to have passed among the players for the groom-porters' benefit at Bassett. It is within the size of a half-crown, one inch and a half in diameter. In the centre of the obverse within an inner circle is legend round, AT THE GROOM PORTERS, BASSETT. Mint-mark, a fleur-de-lis. On the reverse, a wreath issuing from the sides of, and surmounting, a gold coronet: the coronet being of gold let in. Legend, NOTHING. VENTURED. NOTHING. WINNS. Mintmark, again, a fleur-de-lis. Brand Hollis had one of these pieces. They are of rare occurrence. The groom-porter was formerly a distinct officer in the lord-steward's department. His business was to see the king's lodgings furnished with tables, chairs, stools, and firing; as also to provide cards, dice, &c., and to decide disputes arising at cards, dice, bowling, &c. Fromm allusions in some of Ben Jonson's and of Chapman's plays, it appears that he was allowed to keep an open gambling-table at Christmas; it is mentioned as still existing in one of Lady Mary Wortley Montague's eclogues: 'At the Groom-porters batter'd bullies play.' Thursday, Ecl. iv., Dodsley's collect. i. 107." This abuse was removed in the reign of George III. Bray, in his Account of the Lord of Misrule, in the Archaologia, vol. xviii. p. 317, says "George I. and II. played hazard in public on certain days, attended by the groom-porter. The appellation, however, is still kept up: the names of three groom-porters occur among the inferior servants, in the present enumeration of her Majesty's household." We may here add a note: "The room in St. James's, formerly appropriated to hazard, was remarkably dark, and conventionally called by the inmates of the palace, Hell;' whence, and not as generally supposed, from their own demerits, all the gaming-houses in London are designated by the same fearful name. Those who play, or have played, English hazard, will recollect that, for a similar inconsequent reason, the man who raked up the dice and called the odds, was designated the groomporter.'" (Theodore Hook, quoted in Popular Errors, p. 199.) Again, on Easter Eggs, Sir H. Ellis notes: : "In Germany, instead of Eggs at Easter, an emblematical print is occasionally presented one of these engravings is preserved in the Print-room of the British Museum. Three Hens are represented as upholding a basket, in which are placed three eggs, ornamented with representations illustrative of the Resurrection. Over the centre egg, the Agnus Dei, with a Chalice representing Faith; the other eggs bearing the emblem of Charity and Hope. Beneath all, six lines in German, (thus Englished :) "All good things are three. Therefore, I present you three Easter Eggs, Faith to the Church; Hope in God; By these extracts will be seen the Editor's high qualifications, both by his official position, and his reputation as an accomplished antiquary, for completing the Popular Antiquities, with accessions of information to our own time. Varieties. Advertisement Oddities.-A hairdresser advertises "Wigs so well made as to defy detection." Orally, this may be frizzled into a piece of political satire. Some "Life Pills" are said to have created a "sensation." Exaggeration in strong cases, tends to weaken, and not to hands of an unskilful person, diminishes the object which it is support them. It is like the magnifying-glass, which, in the intended apparently to enlarge-Lord Brougham; in Parliament. Slight Circumstances.-Sir Walter Scott, walking one day along the banks of the Yarrow, where Mungo Park was born, saw the traveller throwing stones into the water, and anxiously watching the bubbles that succeeded. Scott inquired the object of his occupation. "I was thinking," answered Park, "how often I had thus tried to sound the rivers in Africa, by calculating how long a time had elapsed before the bubbles rose to the surface." It was a slight circumstance; but the traveller's safety frequently depended upon it. In a watch, the main-spring forms a small portion of the works; but it propels and governs the whole. So it is in the machinery of human life: a slight circumstance is permitted by the Divine Ruler to derange or to alter it; a giant falls by a pebble; a girl at the door of an inn changes the fortune of an empire. If the nose of Cleopatra had been shorter, said Pascal, in his epigrammatic and brilliant manner, the condition of the world would have been different. The Mahomedans have a tradition, that when their prophet concealed himself in Mount Shur, his pursuers were deceived by a spider's web, which covered the mouth of the cave: Luther might have been a lawyer, had his friend and companion escaped the thunderstorm at Erfurt; Scotland had wanted her stern reformer, if the appeal of the preacher had not startled him in the chapel of St. Andrew's castle; and if Mr. Grenville had not carried, in 1764, his memorable resolution as to the expediency of certain stamp duties" on the plantations in Amecharging 66 rica, the western world might still have bowed to the British sceptre. Cowley might never have been a poet, if he had not found the Fairy Queen in his mother's parlour; Opie might have perished in mute obscurity, if he had not looked over the shoulder of his young companion, Mark Otes, while he was drawing a butterfly; Giotto, one of the early Florentine painters, might have continued a rude shepherd boy, if a sheep drawn by him upon a stone, had not attracted the notice of Cimabue as he went that way.-Asiatic Journal. Cook's Voyages.-The Discovery, the ship in which Capt. covery in 1776, lately sailed from Cowes roads for Antwerp. Clerke accompanied Capt. Cook on his last voyage of dis She is now under the Belgian flag, and her name has been changed to the Rubens. She certainly cannot be much less than seventy years old, but has the appearance of a fine brig, and draws seventeen feet water.—Times. Scandal.-Fuller asks indignantly, with reference to the contemptuous neglect with which false and scandalous rumours should be regarded: "What madness were it to plant a piece of ordnance to beat down an aspen leaf!" Burial Custom.-In a forest near Orebio, in Norway, says Lieutenant Breton, 66 we noticed three heaps of stones, each denoting that a traveller had been murdered at that spot. It is singular that this custom of marking a place which has been the scene of violence, should prevail in so many and such distant parts of the globe-for I have seen it in Switzerland, South America, and other countries. The heap is gradually enlarged by those who, commiserating the fall of the departed, throw a stone upon it in passing by; so that in process of time, a rude kind of funeral pile is raised to the memory of one whose very name is long since forgotten." Comus.-Dr. Arne composed the music of Milton's Masque of Comus in the back parlour of the house No. 17, Craven duction, the piece was so warmly received, that the melodies Buildings, Drury Lane, in the year 1738. On its first prowere sung all over the country; and its performance gave rise to vocal and convivial meetings, several of which were called " Comus's Court." |