NOTES OF A READER.
BYRON'S "FARE THEE WELL."
On one occasion of a mediator waiting upon Lord Byron upon the subject of a reconciliation with his wife, he produced from his desk a paper on which was written "fare thee well," and said, "Now these are exactly my feelings on the subject—they were not intended to be published, but you may take them."—Lit. G.
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EARLY HOURS.
Dr. Franklin published an ingenious Essay on the advantages of early rising.—He called it "an economical project," and calculated the saving that might be made in the city of Paris, by using the sunshine instead of the candles—at no less than 4,000,000l. sterling.
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SENSITIVE PLANTS.
Light exercises a very remarkable influence upon the irritability of the sensitive plant. Thus, if a sensitive plant be placed in complete darkness, by carrying it within an opaque vessel, it will entirely lose its irritability, and that in a variable time, according to a certain state of depression or elevation of the surrounding temperature.
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At Brussels, the demand for labour is so great, in consequence of the number of new buildings, that tradesmen consider they confer a favour on a customer by the execution of his orders. The lower classes have become, within the last seven years, extremely dissipated, owing it is supposed to the increase in the wages of the mechanics and labourers employed in the numerous buildings erected within that period. During the Kaermess annual feast of three days, it is calculated 80,000 litres (pots) are drunk each day!
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Cooper, the American novelist, has just published two volumes of "Notions" of his countrymen, in the course of which he bestows on them the following surperlative epithets: "most active, quick-witted, enterprising, orderly, moral, simple, vigorous, healthful, manly, generous, just, wise, innocent, civilized, liberal, polite, enlightened, ingenious, moderate, glorious, firm, free, virtuous, intelligent, sagacious, kind, honest, independent, brave, gallant, intellectual, well-governed, elevated, dignified, pure, immaculate, extraordinary, wonderful," &c. He then calls them the "most improving," which is painting, nay coating, the lily, to "wasteful and ridiculous excess."
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OSTRICHES
Impart a lively interest to a ride in the Pampas. They are sometimes seen in coveys of twenty or thirty, gliding elegantly along the undulations of the plain, at half pistol-shot from each other, like skirmishers. The young are easily domesticated, and soon become attached to those who caress them; but they are troublesome inmates; for, stalking about the house, they will, when full grown, swallow coin, shirt-pins, and every small article of metal within reach. Their usual food, in a wild state, is seeds, herbage, and insects; the flesh is a reddish brown, and if young, not of bad flavour. A great many eggs are laid in the same nest. Some accounts exonerate the ostrich from being the most stupid bird in the creation. This has been proved by the experiment of taking an egg away, or by putting one in addition. In either case she destroys the whole by smashing them with her feet. Although she does not attend to secrecy, in selecting a situation for her nest, she will forsake it if the eggs have been handled. It is also said that she rolls a few eggs thirty yards distant from the nest, and cracks the shells, which, by the time her young come forth, being filled with maggots, and covered with insects, form the first repast of her infant brood. The male bird is said to take upon himself the rearing of the young. If two cock-birds meet, each with a family, they fight for the supremacy over both; for which reason an ostrich has sometimes under his tutelage broods of different ages.—Mem. Gen. Miller.
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Dr. Kitchiner recommends a gentleman who has a mind to carry the arrangement of his clothes to a nicety, to have the shelves of his wardrobe numbered 30, 40, 50, and 60, and according to the degree of cold pointed to by his thermometer, to wear a corresponding defence against it.
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Dr. Harwood fed two pointers; one he suffered to sleep after dinner, another he forced to take exercise. In the stomach of the one who had been quiet and asleep, all the food was digested; in the stomach of the other, that process was hardly begun.
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SIR WALTER'S LAST.
At page 354 of our last vol., the reader will find an eloquent description of Perth, from the Wicks of Beglie, quoted from St. Valentine's Eve. This turns out to be a topographical blunder, for the "fair city" cannot be seen at all from the said Wicks, whereas the author has described it as the best point of view. As our readers have long since enjoyed the description, we shall doubtless be pardoned for thus noticing the mistake.
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TELEGRAPHS.
The system of telegraphs has arrived at such perfection in the presidency of Bombay, that a communication may be made through a line of 500 miles in eight minutes.—Weekly Rev.
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One of the drawing-room critics who uphold the literature of lords and ladies, sums up the merits of fashionable novel-writing as follows:—"After all, it is something to scrutinize lords and ladies, recline on satin sofas, eat off silver dishes—whose nomenclature is the glory of l'artiste—though only in a book."
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MAHOGANY.
The largest and finest log of mahogany ever imported into this country has been recently sold by auction at the docks in Liverpool. It was purchased for 378l., and afterwards sold for 525l., and if it open well, it is supposed to be worth 1,000l. If sawed into veneers, it is computed that the cost of labour in the process will be 750l. The weight on the king's beam is six tons thirteen hundred weight.
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Dugald Stewart, the celebrated metaphysician, of whom Scotland has just reason to be proud, died a short time since at Edinburgh, at the age of seventy-five. He recently published two volumes, of which a distinguished gentleman in Edinburgh thus speaks:—"June 16. Dugald Stewart is to be buried to-morrow. A great light is gone out, or rather gone down,—for its glory will long be in the sky, though its orb be no more visible above the horizon. He corrected his last two volumes with his own hand within these three months. What philosopher, especially palsy-stricken ten years ago,—could ring in better. Glorious fellow! I hear his splendid sentences and exquisite voice sounding in mine ear at the distance of nearly thirty winters. His peculiar merit was the purity and loftiness of his moral taste. For about forty years he raised the standard of thought and feeling among successive generations of young men, to a range it would never otherwise have attained."
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OLD AND NEW VAUXHALL.
Of old, a half-crown at the door, and the price of such comestibles as were devoured, were grumbled at as tax enough; but now the account stands in a fairer form, because you are charged distinctly for every item, so that you know what you are paying for, and may choose or reject, as you think fit. Thus Mr. Bull, from Aldgate, with Mrs. Bull, and only four of the younger Bulls and Cows, numbering six in all, make good their entry at the cost of 1l. 4s.—Books to tell them what they are to see and hear, the when and the how are 3s. Seats for the vaudeville (average of modest places) 9s. Ditto for the ballet 6s. Ditto for the battle 6s. Ditto for the fire-works 6s.—Total 2l. 14s.—But then they are not charged for seeing the lamps; there is no charge for walking round the walks; there is no charge for looking at the cosmoramic pictures; there is no charge for casting a glance at the orchestra; there is no charge for staring at the other people; there is no charge for bowing or talking to an acquaintance, if you meet one—all these are gratis; and if you neither eat nor drink, there is no charge for witnessing those who do mangle the long-murdered honours of the coop, and gulp down the most renovating of liquors, be they hale or stout, vite vine, red port, or rack punch.—Lit. Gaz.
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Bruges, (celebrated as the birthplace of John Van Eyck, said to have invented the art of oil-painting), is now in a very dilapidated condition. It was formerly a place of great commerce, and the merchants of Bruges were the wealthiest in Europe. The population is reduced from 100,000 to 25,000.—Brussels Companion.
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DISTURBING THE DEAD.
Mr. Crawfurd, in his recent Mission to Hué, wished to visit the mausoleum of the late king; "but," says he, "we were politely informed that the king was always reluctant to permit the visits of strangers, whose presence," he said, "might 'trouble the repose of the spirits of his ancestors.'"
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Dine with a march-of-intellect man, and only observe the downcast eyes of his pale-faced, trembling wife—the knit brows of his sullen sons—the sulky sorrows of his joy-denied daughters. All that comes of your hard-hearted, hard-headed, music-painting-and-poetry-despising, utilitarian, intellectual, all-in-all educationists, who know nothing so admirable as a steam-engine, and would wish to see the whole world worked by machinery.
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"FASHIONABLE" NOVELS.
Here is a specimen of the slip-slop with which so many thousand reams of paper have lately been spoiled. "Tea was announced, and the ladies adjourned to the saloon; Lady Harriet and Lady Charlotte, discussing, as they went in together, the difficult question, whether it was or was not an improvement in modern arrangements to have tea en-buffet. One of its advantages the ladies were perfectly aware of, namely, that it afforded a point de réunir, for both beaux and belles, which is always so much wanted before the music begins; and calculating on this important circumstance, Lady Charlotte possessed herself of the chair which was the most accessible of the whole group. Miss Mortimer, with equal foresight, stationed herself at the fire:—"Good generalship," whispered Lady Hauteville to the duchess, as the two experienced matrons communicated together sur les petites ruses, which the actors fancied were unperceived, &c."
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Dr. Walsh, in his Journey from Constantinople, describes a species of woodpecker, about the size of a thrush, of a light, blue colour, with black marks beside the bill. "It entered my room," says he, "with all the familiarity of an old friend, hopped on the table, and picked up the crumbs and flies. It had belonged to the doctor's child, just buried, and by a singular instinct, left the house of the dead, and flew into my room. Its habits were curious, and so familiar, that they were quite attractive; it climbed up the wall by any stick or cord near it, devouring flies. It sometimes began at my foot, and at one race, ran up my leg, arm, round my neck, down my other arm, and so to the table. It there tapped with its bill with a noise as loud as a hammer. This was its general habit on the wood in every part of the room; when it did so, it would look intently at the place, and dart at any fly or insect it saw running. Writers on Natural History say it makes this noise to disturb the insects concealed within, so to seize them when they appear."
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At Brussels apartments are not to be procured for a shorter term than six months.
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In the prison at Ghent, spirits are sold, but pens and paper cannot be obtained without a special application to the governor.
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Mr. Brande, in his recent Lecture on Vegetable Chemistry, says, "Salt has been very much extolled for a manure; I believe that a great deal more has been said of it than it deserves; it certainly destroys insects, but I do not believe what has been said of its value. We are not to infer that because a manure is found to be useful on one soil in a certain climate, that it shall prove equally useful in others; experience must direct us in this particular."
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STROLLING SCHOOLS.
In Prussia there exist, what are termed Strolling Schools, having no fixed place. The teacher, with his scholars or his classical furniture, establishes himself in all the houses or a village successively, where he affords instruction; and his stay is determined by the number of persons he is called upon to instruct under each roof, a week being the allotted term, for each child, during which period the parents supply all the wants of the Domine.—Athenaeum.