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METHODISM.
In the early period of the history of Metho
dism, some ot Mr. Wesley’s opponents, in ihe
excess of their zeal against enthusiasm, took
tip a whole wagon load of Methodists, and
carried them before a magistrate. W hen they
were asked what these persons had done,
there was an awkward silence ; at last, one
of the accusers said:—
“Why they preten led to be better than oth
er people ; and besides they prayed from
morning till night.” The magistrate asked
if they had done anything else “ Yes, sir,”
said the old man, “’an't please your worship,
they “converted” my wife. Till she went
among them, she had such a tongue! and
now she is as quiet as a lamb.”
“Carry them back, carry them back,” said
the magistrate, “and let them convert all the
scolds in the town.”
ARTIFICIAL MARBLE.
There is an establishment in London where
sculptors may work in chalk, and it he after
wards convertible into the hardest marble
while every mark of the chi-el is preserved.
The inventor is Mr. Wm. Hutchinson, who
has secured a patent and he can make Plas
ter of Paris, Bath lire stones, and other sorts
of stone, chalk, woo l, pasteboard, and infact,
every other material is rendered as hard a*
metal, receiving the most brilliant polish, and
made absolutely imperishable from atmos
pheric action.
The purposes o w hich this patent can be
applied, are innumerable. The first inea of
the patentee was the in duration of tiie softer
and more common and almost useless stones
for the purpose of paving; but so complete
was his success that he soon took a loftier
View, and has rendered the operation not on
ly applicable to all common purposes for
which stone and slate are used in building—
such as paving, internal an 1 external, win
dow sills, cisterns’ fittings of dairies, &c., but
now applies the operation to all the higher
works of art. Plaster of Paris casts, of the
most elaborate designs, in bust, relievos, arch
itectural ornaments, fonts and oramentai floor
ing for churches, trellis work for balconies,
ornamental inkstands, &c., are ren lered im
perishable by the operation of the elements,
?tnd as hard and tough as metal.
A slab of soft fine sand stone, so soft that
it might he rubbed into powder by the ban 1 —
was rendered as hard as granite, and rung
like a hell; numerous Pla.-ter of Paris orna
ments and busts, metamorphosed into bronze,
granite, and party-colorel marbles —iraiu,
water and gass pipes, ma le from Bath stone,
chalk or paper, hard as granite, an 1 polished
internally like marble ; in fact, the results of
the operations are said to be most extraordi
nary, and one of the greatest discoveries of
the age.
An Exquisite Bull. —A Mr. Pollard,
one of the Baltimore Reformed Drunkards,
recently, in a speech before a temperance as
semblage, made the following unique bull:
“Fathers,” exclaimed he, with the most ar
dent en hn siasm, “you have children; or if
you ha os not. your daughters may have. ”
A Wagoner’s Toast. —The fair sex:—
The Jack-screw of the United States, and the
Wheel Horse of all creation.
• ~t ©roup of Hneciro*tco.
ANECDOTES OF PHYSICIANS.
Sir Richard Jebb.— This physician was
very rough and harsh in manner. He said
to a patient, to whom lie had been very rude,
“Sir, it is my way.” “Then,” replied the
patient, pointing to the door, “ \ beg you will
make that your way.” Sir Richard was not
very nice in his mode of expression, and
would frequently astonish a patient with a
volley of oaths. Nothing used to make him
swear more than the eternal question “ What
may I eat ?” “Pray, Sir Richard, may I eat
a muffin'?” “Yes, ‘madam, the best’ thing
you can take.” “Oh dear, lam glad of that.
But, Sir Richard you told me the other day
that it was the worst thing I could eat !”—•
“What would be proper for me to eat to-day ?”
says another lady. “Boiled turnips.” “Boil
ed turnips! you forget, Sir Richard, I told
you I could not bear boiled turnips. “Then,
madam, you must have a very vitiated appe
tite.” Sir Richard being called to see apa
tient, who fancied himself very ill, told him
ingenuously what he thought, and declined
prescribing, thinking it unnecessary. “ Now
you are here,” said the patient, “ I shall be
obliged to you, Sir Richard, if you will tell
Rie how I must live, what I may eat, and
what not.” “My directions as to that point,”
replied Sir Richard, “will be few and simple.
§ © ©if SLS iiil Da il if 1 mISA IB ¥ © Hi.
You must not eat the poker, shovel, or tongs,
for ihey are hard of digestion; nor the bel
lows, because they are windy ; but anything
else you please!”
The Late Mr. Abernethy. —l have heard
my uncle, in adverting to his attendance at a
medical debating society, mention a witty re
tort which occurred in a discussion at one of
its meetings between two young surgeons,
one an Irishman, the other a Scotchman. —
The former maintained that cancer never oc
curred in a woman who had borne children.
The young Scotchman vehemently opposed
this doctrine, and mentioned the case of a la
dy, who twice had twins, and yet had cancer
afterwards. To this apparent conclusive evi
dence the Irishman immediately replied, ‘Ah,
by my soul, hut don’t you know that’s an
exception to the general rule, where’s the
wonder in Cancer following Gemini. It al
ways does ?”—Memoirs of Abernethy.
Dr. Fothergill and the Quaker, —A
Quaker apothecary, meeting Dr. Fothergill,
thus accosted him: “Friend Fothergill, 1 in
tend dining with thee, to-day.” “ I shall
be glad to see thee,” answered the doctor;
“but pray, friend, hast thou not some joke?”
“No joke, indeed,” rejoined th° apothecary,
“hut a very serous matter. Thou hast at
tended friend Ephraim these three days, and
ordered him no medicine. I cannot at this
rate five in my own house, and must live in
thine.” The doctor took the hint, and pre
scribed handsomely for the benefit of his
friend Ephraim, and his friend Leech, the
apothecary!
The Lost Dog.—A physician of Montpel
lier was in the habit of employing a very in
genious artifice to bring h mseif into notice
with the public. When he came to a town
where he was not known, he pretende 1 to
have lost his favorite dog, and ordered the
public crier to offer, with beat of drum, a re
war 1 of twenty-five louis to whoever should
find it. The crier took care to mention all
the titles an ! academic honors of the peripa
tetic physician, as well as his place of resi
dence. He soon became the talk of the town :
“Do you know,” says one, “that a famous
physician has come here—a very clever fel
low, of high academic honors ? He must be
rich, for he offers twenty-five louisfor finding
Ids log?” The dog vms not found, but pa
tients v’ere.
traces of (Stand.
A GERMAN COUNTRY SEAT.
[We copy the following article from the
Boston Musical Gazette, presuming 1 hat it will
interest many of our home realers when we
inform then that the “exiled German gentle
man” mentioned by the author is Professor
Lehman, formerly of our State University.
[Editor.
From Aix-la-Chapelle, I went by diligence
to Cologne. The moment the coach reached
the hotel in this fanned city, the passengers
were beset by boys, who hal the genuine co
logne-water to sell. The vociferous little fel
lows forcibly reminded me of State street in
Boston, where a similar set of urchins are al
ways on hand with their newspapers. I was
intrusted by an exiled German genlteman, a
professor in one of our colleges, with a da
guerreotype for his sister, the wife of a weal
thy merchant, resident in Cologne. On the
evening of my arrival, I called and left the
miniature. [ rang the door bell, and was
ushered by the servant into a room near the
door. T had been seated a few moments
when a little girl, say nine years old, entered
the room an l sauntered towards the window,
casting sheep’s eyes at me. Thinking to a
muse her by the words of (to her) an outlan
dish tongue, I said to her, “Can you speak
English?” “Oh yes, sir,” said she, “I can
speak English as well as I can German, and
ma sent me to ask you out to tea.” I went
out to tea, and found the table set under a
large tree in the garden, under which tree sun
dry lounges and armed chairs gave indications
that the garden was the most frequented sit
ting room “in the house.” 1 received a press
ing invitation which would accept r.o denial,
to accompany the family to their country seat,
on the hanks of the Rhine, about twenty
miles from Cologne, whither they intended re
moving for the season, on the next morning.
I accordingly embarked early the next morn
ing with them, and spent three days amid the
most charming scenery on earth. * The coun
try seat was at the foot of a mountain which
rises abruptly to the height of perhaps twelve
hundred feet, called the Drachen-fels. This
mountain is the first elevation of any kind
which can be seen in ascending the Rhine,
from the ocean. Between its base and the
North sea a distance nearly four hundred
miles, the country is perfectly level. The
prospect from the top of the Drachen-fels
(Dragon’s Rock) is therefore very extensive.
As there are no fences, walls or hedges in
Germany, the fields of grain extending as far
as the eye could reach, spread out a living
landscape, the like of which I never saw be
fore. The Drachen-fels is the first of a range
of mountains and hills between which tha
Rhine flows fora hundred"miles; every moun
tain and hill has an old castle on its top,
about which many a tale of olden time is told.
On the top of the Drachen-fels is the remnant
of a stronghold of some robber chief, im
pregnable until gun-powder was invented. —
The country seat of which I have spoken is
on ihe opposite bank of the river from Bonn,
the birth place of Beethoven, which town I
of course visited. During the time I remain
e l with thisfamily, many visits were exchang
ed between the occupants of the various vil
las in the vicinity. On the first evening a
garrulous old lady called on my hostess, who
entertained me with numerous rapidly spoken
stories, of which I could understand about as
much as I could of a Hebrew dissertation. —
Towards the close of her visit, she accident
ally learned that I ha 1 come to Germany to
study music; she immediately began question
ing me upon my studies as heietofore pursu
el, and wound up a discourse on the best
seminaries and teachers, by going to the pi
ano and selecting from a cor l of sheet music
a very difficult composition of Ferdinand Ivies,
who she said was born in that neighborhood.
There were several ladies in the room, and I
readily understood that the old grand-mam
wanted to make an examination of my profi
ciency. I glanced at the piece and saw amaz
ingly quick that with a month’s hard practice
on it, I could scarcely have played it, and the
i lea of being requested to play it at sight
was overwhelming. The ol 1 lady never con
descended to ask me whether I had seen it
before or not, but continue 1 coolly descanting
on the merits an 1 peculiarities t)f the piece,
the cold sweat meanwhile beginning to start
from my forehead, as I awaited the dread re
nuest to perform it. She placed the piece on
the piano, adjusted the music rack, altered
the stool, took her seat on it, to see if it was
fixed right for me, smoothed the piece out
very carefully, and— played it herself!
fo retgn dorresponbence.
For the Southern Literary Gazette.
LONDON LETTERS. —No. 8.
London, July 20, 1848.
My Dear Sir, —A fortnight's absence from
this city, passed most delightfully on the
“ Isle of Wight,” must be my apology for
missing the regular packet ot the 15th inst.
Nor can 1 now send you a letter of the cus
tomary length, as I have suddenly resolved
on an excursion into the highlands of Scot
land, with a charming party of my own
country-people, not long arrived from ihe Uni
ted States. I have not, it is true, much prep
aration to make, for a bachelor, like myself,
should be found ever “up and doing—with a
heart for any fate!” Nevertheless, cer
tain things are necessary to be done, and as the
party have decided to take the Rail-way for
Liverpool, this afternoon, I have little time
enough to do even nothing in.
My sojourn on the “Isle of Wight,” was
a refreshing one. The transition from the
hotair of the pent up streets of London, to
the fresh and invigorating breezes that I
inhaled every morning at Cowes or Yar
mouth, or at some interior hamlet, was a
luxury beyond description. You are aware
X hat this Island lies to the Southward of
Hampshire, and is readily accessible, in a
few hours, by the Rail-way to Southamp
ton. and thence by packet to Cowes. The
salutary elfects of its climate, and the'beauty
cl its scenery, attract large numbers of visi
tors during the summer.
When I left London for the Isle of Wight,
thought it exceedingly probable that before
I returned, “ Irish affairs” might reach their
crisis, and some eventful blow have been
struck. It is not 60, however: and, to use an
Hibernicism, things remain pretty much a*
they were, only more so ! “ The crisis is at
hand,” says your friend, as he meets you on
’Change ; and the opinion is but the echo of
the popular expectation. The crisis is at
hand ! The insurgents are arming in every
quarter, and the Lord Lieutenant has already
“proclaimed” Dublin and sundry regions in
Cork and Waterford. Conceive, if you can,
the excitement which prevails throughout
Erin. The clergy, seriously frightened, are
calling on their flocks to shun the clubs, and
all the while the clamorous power of the dis
affected is arraying itself against the more si
lent, but gigantic power of the government.
Its conflict is inevitable; but what will be it*
results, I can only imagine. If the Irish peo
ple were “ of one heart an l of one mind,” in
this movement, I believe the blow that must
come would sever the alliance that now exist*,
between England a i l her unhappy sister.-*-
The united opposition of Ireland could not
he effectually resisted; but who does not
know that the people of Ireland are divided
against themselves? Anl the emphatic lan
guage of Holy VVrit has declare 1 that “a
house divided against itself shall not stand.”
The power of Englan 1 will, in all probabili
ty, prevail, because Irishmen are not true to
themselves and their country.
Meanwhile, we are all in a state of breath
less anxiety. At no period of the last six
months, so prolific of excitement in England
and Europe generally, has there been mort
manifest interest and solicitude here than at
present. The “ chartist demonstra l ion” was
nothing in comparison. Every one waits and
watches for “further intelligence from Ire
land.” There is some trouble at Lverpool
even now, in consequence of the for nation of
Irish Clubs, occasioning a for the
establishment of a considerable military force
in that city.
1 have nothing of great interest to tell yon
of Paris. Under the judicious yet rigorou*
sway of Gen. Cavaignac, order is maintained.
Business is reviving, anl the shop-keepers
are re-opening their migazim. The places
of amusement, too, are once rn >re presenting
their attractions, and this may help to divert
the popular attention from the dangerous
clubs recently so paramount in Paris. The
Finance Committee of the National Assembly
has rejectel a proposition to confiscate tire
property of the fallen Kin ;.
Plots and conspiracies are yet rife in Paris,
and the continuance of martial law is leemed
absolutely necessary. Tin volcan )is not m
actual eruption, but its fires are only smoth
ered, perhaps, to break on at a moment’*
warning. If the N itionil Ass-e nbly can
make a goo I and perm neat give raiment out
of the existing elements, they will perform
a miracle deserving the admiration of th?
world !
Our Minister mile a very felicitous speech
at a large Agricultural Mieong, hell i t York
on the 13th inst., at which the Earl of Yar
borough presided. This meeting was held
almost in the shalow of the towers of York
Castle, on the bank of the “slow-winding
Ouse.” Mr. Bancroft was loud iy called on,
and his allress, as reportel in the Times’
drew repeated applause.
The Oxford Professorship of Modern Lan
guages has been offerel to M. Guizot, and de
cline Iby that distinguished French man. The
offer itself was seized on by Punch as ground
for a merry travestie, anl, accordingly, be
announced a “new faculty” fir Oxford, fu
el u ling many of the Frenchmen, who have
played such prominent parts of late. I only
remember, now, that Louis Pliillippe was
proposed as Professor of Modern History and
Citoyen Lamartine as Professor of Poetry.
I may, very likely send you a dispatch
from Edinburgh, if I should remain there long
enough to look about me, but you need no!
expect to hear from me at London, for a1
least a month. So I bid you adieu, and ****
• Truly yours, E. F.