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From tho Literary World
GRISWOLD’S PARNASSUS*
American poets are increasing with
commendable rapidity. Dr. Griswold can
catch a handful for anew edition at any
moment, but we do not find a correspond
ing increase of poems. That is quite an
other question. It is a harmless thing
enough to glean occasional verses from
the corners of newspapers, and publish
them in a volume for whoever chooses to
buy, but notwithstanding the well preserv
ed formulas of literary reputation, the puff,
the biography, (to which that of Parish
clerk, P. P., is profound in interest by
comparison,) the whole has a meagre, un
real look.
It is a fast country, apparently, where a
yesty young poet can write half a dozen
copies of verses one day, and be bottled
down for immortality the next. But, after
all, there is nothing in it. Poets are not
littered into the world at this rate. The
compiler is not necessarily a critic or liter
ary historian. He may be simply a man
ufacturer of a big octavo out of raw mate
rial, a species of literary directory’ maker,
with whom one name serves the purpose
quite as well as another. In trade, all
shopkeepers are merchants; in Griswold,
all versifiers are poets.
The late guardian of the news-room at
the Society Library, Mr Trappan, of estim
able memory, was accustomed, as we learn
from a pleasant sketch by Cornelius Ma
thews, to amuse his hours of summer leis
ure by a destructive onslaught upon every
species of insect which entered the build
ing. From the elephantine to the micro
scopic, he impaled them all. And duly
framed and glazed, a stout pin through
their backs, they graced a mahogany case,
and constituted “The Natural History of
the Library.” What the ingenious Trap
pan, in his luminous field of operations,
was to science, Griswold is to literature.
To a minnow, he bags them all. The first
faint insect buzzings are perceptible to his
ear. Indeed, he is so accustomed to these
gentle utterances, that it is to be feared a
good genuine roar would annihilate him.
We do not pretend to say that any other
man could do this kind of work better than
Dr. Griswold, for we are not at all certain
that anybody else could be found to do it
at all.
It is but justice, however, to the edi'or
to say, that he appears to labor under an
uneasy sense of the peculiar embarrass
ment of his calling : writing criticisms, for
instance, where ihere is really nothing to
observe, and biographies, where there is
nothing to record. He virtually admits this
in his preface, but why encounter the diffi
culty, or seek to foist upon the world me
diocrity in a volume which makes preten
sions to a National character? “ I believe,”
says the editor, “I admitted nothing inferi
or to passages in the most celebrated for
eign works of like character.” This is
but a poor apology, though it has the pro
tection of Dr. Johnson and others, who put
stupid authors, to the neglect of many re
ally great ones, in their collections. A
better excuse is the difficulty of an editor
with a particle of humanity or hospitality
about him, making a book up from his
contemporaries, and refusing any plausible
comer entrance. The revision of the list
must be left to posterity, and we consign it
to our successors, in the hundredth volume
of the Literary World, to record the pro
cess.
There are exactly one hundred male
American poets according to Dr. Griswold,
the females having been carefully sifted
out in the present edition. These sit at the
first table, and their names are entered in
his octavo in small caps. There are a few
others, some fifty or so “ various authors,”
as they are called, who are huddled togeth
er at the fag-end of the entertainment, and
whose names are in lower-case; small-fry,
we presume, whom piscator Griswold is
feeding up for another edition; star dust
for future planets. In Europe a nation is
lucky if it have a poet in a century ; we
are more fortunate, for we have a century
of poets. And while the old world rejoices
in a Southey, a La Harpe, a Villemain, a
Sismondi, a Tiraboschi, America glories in
her Griswold.
The manifold editor, we speak confident
ly, must be aware of the fun of the thing
himself, as he sits down to cut and carve a
new edition of American poets; to enlarge
or diminish with a clip of the scissors, the
area of the American Parnassus. On
principles best known to himself is this
thing administered. We have compared
edition with edition, one puff preliminary
with another put! preliminary, but have
got no wiser, no nearer to the secret of the
operation. There appears to be in Dr.
Griswold’s mind a “sliding-scale” of repu
tation. The small author, the author, i. e.
in small type of one edition, is a great au
thor in capitals in the next. Some are
occasionally discarded : others are admit
ted without passing through the small type
of the index. They blossom at once in
full expansion. Lost pleiads are missing
from the Griswold constellations, but new
planets are discovered to fill the void.
Cloudy nebule (in small type) are kept in
view for further operations of the tcle
•Tiie Poets axd Poettiy of America, to the
Middle oi the 19th Century. By tiufus Wilroot
Griswold, i enth Ldition. Carey &, Hart.
scope. For some unaccountable reason or
other, unknown to the deponent, the author
of “ Lexington,” who appears in the eighth
edition, is omitted altogether from the
tenth, though his claim is at least quite as
good as that of many others to a distin
guished place in the volume. Henry B.
Hirst, Cornelius Mathews, and James T.
Fields have been discovered to be stars of
a higher magnitude than formerly, and are
promoted from the small type accordingly.
General Morris was brevetted in a previous
edition, somewhere about the sixth. But
the year 1849 has developed discoveries
quite out of the bounds of Dr. Griswold’s
system. Jedediah Huntington. William
Allen Butler, J. M. Legare, Bayard Taylor,
George 11. Boker, Charles G. Eastman,
R. H. Stoddard, have leaped over the
Freshman class and graduated at once A.
B.—American Bards, in Dr. Griswold’s nice
little poetical University.
Such is the progress of the “ The Poets
and Poetry of America to the Middle of
the Nineteenth Century.” What the next
fifty years will produce we know not; but
we have faith. Griswold has taught us
not to despair of the Republic. To recur
to our astronomical illustration, we are
wiser than our ancestors; we live in an
age of discovery. What appeared to them
mere dust and cloud in the heavens, new
telescopic powers resolve into powerful
suns, the centres of systems. Why should
the intellectual world be behind the physi
cal 1 Why may not the dim opacity of the
poets’ corner, as another milky way, be
resolved into Drydens, Miltons, and Shaks
peares 1
sun >
TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM.
We have received a pamphlet contain
ing an essay from the Journal of Science,
by Prof. William A. Norton, of Delaware
I College, upon terrestrial magnetism , which
seems to us likely to attract considerable
J attention from scientific persons, as it pro
fesses to have arrived at new results in re
gard to this subject, of no small interests
and importance.
In a previous paper, published by the
Journal of Science some time since, Prof.
Norton developed anew theory of terres
trial magnetism, based upon the two fun
damental notions, that every particle of mat
ter on the earth’s surface, and fora certain
depth below the surface, acts magnetically
upon the compass needle, with a force ex
erted in the direction of a tangent line to
the circumference of a circle supposed to
be traced around the particle as a centre
and passing through the needle, and that
molecular force depends for its intensity
upon the temperature of the particle. He
showedthat his theory furnished acomplete
explanation of all the great facts and laws
of the general magnetic action of the earth
upon the needle, and also subjected it to
the test of figures—of a rigid comparison
with observations over all parts of the
northern hemisphere of the earth.
Among the results obtained in this paper
arc some of general interest. One conclu
sion is, that the magnetic forces which give
the needle its polarity, so far from having
their seat at the distant pole, or deep in the
mass of the earth, they lie immediately
around the station of the needle. They are
the result of the joint action of all the par
cles of matter which lie immediately around
and within a certain distance from the nee
dle. Another interesting conclusion is that
the intensity and direction of the force with
which the earth acts upon the magnetic nee
dle, is dependent upon the mean tempera
ture of the place, and the amount to which
the mean temperature varies in proceeding
any given distance, in different directions,
from the station of the needle—so that the
magnetic needle by its direction and force
is an index, at the same time, of the mean
temperature of the place, and of all the in
equalities of mean temperature that subsist
for a certain distance around.
In the present memoir Professor Norton
has undertaken a thorough mathematical
discussion of the diurnal variations of the
direction and force of the needle, and has
traced them in all their mintis to the effects,
direct or indirect, of the daily variations of
temperature.
According to his views, they are gener
ally different effects of the cotemporaneous
action of the antagonistic causes, viz : the
daily variaiionsof temperature, and the dai
ly variations in the quality of moisture at
the earth’s surface. Thus the magnetic
needle iremblesand moves responsively to
every variation of temperature,and every rise
or fall of vaporat the surface of the earth.—
It gives notice of the fall of dew at night,
and of the evaporation that occurs during
the morning hours, and measures the
amount of each. This is truly a remarka
ble result, which teaches us to look upon
the magnetic needle in the new light of a
meteorological instrument, as a sort of uni
versal meteorological register or index.—
But the chief interest which attaches to
these investigations lies in the fact that
they have furnished so striking a confirma
tion of the general theory, which Professor
Norton has so systematically elaborated.—
A 1. Courier If Enquirer.
FACTS IN NATURAL HISTORY.
A globe placed in water, or in air, in
moving meets with resistance, and its ve
losity will be retarded. If you alter the
globe to the form of an egg. there will be
less resistance. And then there is a form
called the solid of least resistance which
mathematicians studied for many years to
discover; and when they had discovered it,
they found they had the form of a fish’s
head ! Nature had ‘rigged out’ the fish
with just such a figure.
The feathers of birds, and each particu
lar part of them are arranged at such an an
gle as to be most efficient in assisting flight.
ll®ollii® distil
The human eye has a mirroi on which ob
jects are reflected, and a nerve by which
these reflections are conveyed to the brain:
and thus we are able to take an interest in
the object which passes before the eye. —
Now, when the eye is too convex, we use
one kind of glass to correct the fault; and
if it be not convex enough, or if we wish
to look at objects aV a different distance, we
use glasses of entirely another description.
But as birds cannot get spectacles, Provi
dence has given them a method of supply
ing this deficiency. They have the pow
er of contracting the eye,of making it more
convex, so as to see the specks which float
in the atmosphere and catch them for food;
and also of flattening the eye, to see a great
distance, and observe whether any vulture
or enemy is threatening to destroy. In ad
dition to this they have a film, or coating,
which can be suddenly thrown down over
the eye to protect it; because at the veloc
ity with which they fly, and with the deli
cate texture of their eye, the least speck of
dust would act upon it as a penknife thrust
into the human eye. This film is to pro
tect the eye, and the same thing exists to
some extent, in the eye of the horse. The
horse has a large eye, very liable to take
dust. The coating in the horse’s eye is
called the haw, or third eye-lid; and if you
will watch closely, you may see it descend
and return with electric velocity. It clears
away the dust and protects the eye from in
jury. If the eye should catch cold, the haw
hardens and projects, and ignorant persons
cut it off, and thus destroy this safeguard.
—Professor Mopes.
A Beautiful Piece of Mechanism.—
The Gateshead Observer mentions having
seen under a glass shade, the size of a la
dy’s thimble, a steam-engine that might
have served for a cotton mill in Lilliput.
The whole machinery, fly-wheel included,
stands upon a two-penny piece, yet so ex
act is the workmanship, that when a steam
pipe is applied, for there is no boiler, the
engine is immediately set in motion, and
works with admirable precision.
Ship Timber Machine. —A Yankee has
invented a machine for preparing the irreg
ular-shaped timber employed in ship-build
ing. Two of these machines are now in op
eration in the Woolwich dock-yard, and the
inventor, Mr. Cochran, is about to estab
lish an extensive depot of ship timber in
New York, where with the aid of his ma
chinery he may be prepared to execute or
ders for ship timber of any form or size,to
any extent. So says the Journal of Com
merce.
Glass. —This was long considered a mod
ern invention. Within fifty years,four quar
to volumes were written in Italy to prove
that it was unknown to the ancients, and
on the very day that these volumes were
published,a warehouse was opened in Pom
peii filled with cut, wrought, pressed and
stained glass.
A SETTLER’S STRATAGEM.
Did you ever hear of “Old Smith,” that
used to live away down east, during the
early settlement of the country now called
Maine 1 Old Smith had lost several rela
tions by the hands of the Indians, and had
vowed eternal enmity to the whole race.
He had been twice taken by the savage
tribes, but contrived to escape from them,
and had killed several of their number.
He sought every opportunity to do them
mischief in any way. By this course he
had become so exceedingly obnoxious tothe
red men, that they would not even kill
him if they could, but were almost con
stantly on the watch to take him alive, for
the purpose of satisfying their revenge, by
the infliction of the utmost torture that
barbarity could invent. Smith was aware
of this disposition of the savages, and was
the less afraid of their bullets.
It is reported that Smith was at one
time engaged in splitting some pine logs
for fence rails, and in the ardor of his
employment he had neglected his “look
out,” till six Indians came upon him with
a yell of exultation. The chief of the
party, whose name was V/ahoos, seized
him by the arm, exclaiming,
“Now Smit! now Smit! me got you.”
Smith saw that it would be in vain to re
sist, and assuming an air of composure,
thus addressed his captor:
“Now, VVahoos, I will tell you what I
will do; if you will help me to split open
this log, I will then go with you without
any resistance; otherwise I will not walk
a step, and you will have to carry or kill
me.”
The Indians, now having him safe in
their possession, and willing ,o save them
selves trouble, agreed to help split the log.
if he would show them how. Smith had
already opened one end of the log with a
large wooden wedge, and renewing his
blows on the wedge with a beetle, he
directed them to take hold of the sepa
rated parts of the log, three on each side,
and pull with all their might, while he
should drive the wedge. The red men
were not without suspicions, and kept
their eyes on Smith's motions, while they
pulled at the sundered part of the log.
Every blow of Smith opened the crevice
wider, which enabled the Indians to renew
their holds by inserting their fingers deep
er into the crevice, when Smith slightly
changing the direction of the beetle, struck
oil the side of the wedge, knocking it out
of the log, which closing with great force,
caught every foe by the hands, save one,
who seeing the predicament of his com
panions, took to his heels, but was quick
ly brought down by Smith's long barrel
led gun, which he had kept near him.
The other five expected no mercy, and
were not disappointed. Five blows from
Mr. Smith's axe silenced their death-song.
DIANA OF POITIERS.
At this period. 1535, the widow of Louis
de Breze, (Diana of Poitiers,) had already
attn ucil her thirty-first year, while the
Prince Henry was only in his seventeenth ;
and at the first glance it would appear as
though so formidable a disparity of age
must have rendered any attempt on her
part, to engage the affections of so mere a
youth, alike abortive and ridiculous; but
so perfect had she preserved even the
youthful bloom, which had added so much
to her attractions on her first appearance
at court, that she appeared ten years
younger than she actually was. Her
features wert regular and classical; her
complexion faultless; her hair of a rich
purple black, which took a golden tint in
the sunshine ; while her teeth, her ancles,
her hands and arms, and her bust, were
each in their turn the theme of the court
poets. That the extraordinary and almost
fabulous duration of her beauty was in a
great degree due to the precautions which
she adopted, there can be little doubt, for
she spared no effort to secure it; she was
jealously careful of her health, and in the
most severe weather bathed it. cold water;
she suffered no cosmetic to approach her,
denouncing every compound of the kind
as worthy only of those to whom nature
had been so niggardly as to compel them
to complete her imperfect work ; she rose
every morning at six o’clock, and had no
sooner left her chamber than she sprang
into the saddle ;. and after having galloped
a league or two, returned to bed, where
she remained until mid-day, engaged in
reading. The system appears a singular
one, but in her case it undoubtedly proved
successful, as alter having enslaved the
Duke d’Orleans in her thirty-first year, she
still reigned in absolute sovereignty over
the heart of the King of France when she
had nearly reached the age of sixty! It
is certain however, that the magnificent
Diana owed no small portion of this ex
traordinary and unprecedented constancy
to the charms of her mind, and the bril
liancy of her intellect.— Miss Pardoe.
DONKEY RACING IN ALEXAN
DRIA.
I have ahvays admired a donkey, since
I read John Forrester’s Essay on “Decis
ion of Character,” but the donkeys of Al
exandria, I particularly affect. They are
of the famous Maltese breed ; and plump
and sleek, fleet and sure, spirited and stur
dy', mettlesome and muscular. They are
the gallantest quadrupeds I have seen
this many a day. They are attended by
boys from 10 to 15 years of age—sun
burt, sharp-boned, stripplings. w’hose only
garment is a ragged shirt of blue cotton.
These youngsters are keen and quick, are
all masters of a little English, have won
derful coolness and assurance, and are al
ways on the look-out for a customer, es
pecially an English one, since he is fa
mous for butksheesh. If you are a stran
ger, the moment they spy you, on they
rush shouting, “Massa you berry good
donkey—go to Bombay Billar —go to Cle
opatra Needle—berry good donkey—go
quick.” “ Dat boy. berry great liar—-here
look rmj donkey—he go like one big
steamer;” these and fifty other cries as
sail you, the boy's all the time stirring up
their donkeys, so as to bring out their best
points, and every one crowding and push
ing for the preference. Jostled on all
sides, and perplexed with the confusion,
you take an animal at random and mount.
But the little ragamuffins were not born
yesterday, and this, by no means set
tles the matter. They only hem you in,
and press on you more closely, to make
you change your mind ; and if rather in
nocent, they will not scruple to seize you
by the leg and haul you off bodily. Rich,
indeed, it would be, to see one of your
good nonresistants mollifying these young
scamps, with the unction of moral suasion.
My crabstick I have found the only effec
tive remedy. Show some determination,
and you are released, and away’ y r ou go in
a beautiful gallop, the boy behind punch
ing the donkey with a. sharp stick, and
jabbering broken English about bucksheesli,
or shouting shimuleck.’ to the obstructing
crowd.— Scenes in the East.
AMERICAN WAR-STEAMERS.
We publish from a London paper the
following paragraph referring to the back
wardness of our people in reference to the
construction of ocean steamers, as com
pared with the progress of Gieat Britain
in that particular:
“ Considering the vigilance with which
the Americans have maintained the gen
eral effectiveness of their navy, it does
seem somewhat singular, that they should
have suffered themselves to fall in arrears
in this one particular department. Noth
ing can exceed the care which is shown
in American dock-yards for the thorough
efficiency, according to the highest known
standard, of every vessel which is launch
ed. All improvements in armament, rig
ging, gunnery, 6cc., are introduced and ap
propriated without a moment’s delay, and
when an American frigate does put to sea
she is still as perfect a model of her class
as the old Chesapeake or Constitution.
There was more in the American marine
than met Mr. Cobden’s eye, for little show
is made, although there is a good deal in
store. Even in the matter of steamers we
should not be surprised if they were doing
more than is imagined. They have cer
tainly four first class steam frigates on the
stocks, every one of which according to
their system of ship-building, is likely to be
larger and heavier than our Terrible ; the
single “ wholesome Man-of-war” which
our steam fleet can show. It way be as
sumed with the most perfect certainty, that
when ail American steamer does show :
herself on the seas, she will be a fair !
match in point of material , for any thing
likely to meet her from any port of Europe."’
SPANISH ETIQUETTE.
BY D’ISRAELI.
The etiquette or rules to be observed in
the royal palaces is necessary, writes
Baron Bieficld, for keeping order at court.
In Spain it was carried to such length as
to make martyrs of their kings. Here is
an instance, at which, in spite of the fatal
consequences it produced, one cannot re
frain from smiling.
Philip the Third was gravely seated by
the fireside : the fire-maker of the court
had kindled so great a quantity of wood,
that the monarch was nearly suffocated
with heat, and his grandeur would not
suffer him to rise from the chair; the do
mestics could not presume to enter the
apartment, because it was against the eti
quette. At ‘length the Marquis de Potal
appeared, and the king ordered him to
dampen the fires: but he excused himself,
alleging that he was forbidden by the eti
quette to perform such a function, for
which the Duke d’Usseda ought to be
called upon, as it was his business. The
duke was gone out; the fire burnt fiercer;
and the king endured it, rather than dero
gate from his dignity. But his blood was
heated to such a degree, that an erysipe
las appealed the next day, which, succeed
ed by a violent fever, carried him off in
1621, in the twenty-fourth year of his age.
The palace was once on fire ; a soldier,
who knew the king’s sister was in her
apartment, and must inevitably have been
consumed in a few moments by the linmes,
at the risk of his life rushed in, and
brought her highness safe out in his arms:
but the Spanish etiquette was here wofully
broken into! The loyal soldier was
brought to trial, and, as it was impocsible
for him to deny that he had entered her
apartment, the judges condemned him to
die! The Spanish princess, however,
condescended, in consideration of the cir
cumstance, to pardon the soldier, and very
benevolently saved his life!
AN INCIDENT.
About ten months ago, Mr. John M.
Spear, upon one of his usual visits to
the Police Court one morning, noticed
among the prisoners a youth who was
pooriy clad, and for some cause was weep
ing. The philanthropist sat down by his
side, and the following conversation en
sued : ‘Why are you here, my son ?’ ‘I
am accused of selling newspapers, sir,
without a license.’ ‘Are you guilty V
‘Yes. sir.’ ‘Have you been arrested be
fore’’ ‘Yes, twice.’ ‘What for?’ ‘For
selling newspapers.’ ‘Why do you per
sist in doing it?’ ‘Because I dont know
what else to do, to get a living.’ ‘Have
you a father?’ ‘No, sir; my father is
dead.’ ‘ls your mother living?” ‘My
mother is a drunkard ; she does not take
any care of me ; I don't know where she is
now.’ As he uttered these last words, the
deep waters of the little fellow’s soul
burst forth afresh, and he expressed his
grief. ‘Where do you lodge ?’ continued
the philanthropist. ‘Near Union street,
sir; I pay ninepence a night for my lodg
ing, in advance, and I buy two plates of
beans in the course of the day, for which
I pay as much more.’ ‘How do you spend
your evenings ?’ ‘1 walk about the streets
or go into the auction rooms.’ ‘Why don’t
you sit down in the house where you
lodge, by the fire, and read ?’ ‘Because
the woman of the house is poor. She has
no room for me at her fire.’ ‘Would you
like to go into the country and work, if a
place could be obtained for you ?’ ‘Yes,
sir, I would be glad to go and work for
my living. I dont want to stay in Boston:
but 1 have nobody to get a place for me.
I don’t want to go down to the jail again.”
After some conversation, the Judge re
duced the fine to one cent and cost, which
the philanthropist paid, and then taking
the boy by the hand, they both left the
court.
Now for the sequel. Mr. Spear took
the boy to his own house, and supplied
I him with food and clothing, and then ob
tained a good place for him in the country.
Last week, the day before Thanksgiv
ing, the grateful boy, for the first time,
came into the city to see his benefactor.
He has been steadily at work at the place
which Mr. Spear provided for him, and is
still at work there, earning nine dollars a
month and his board.
Such is the lesson which charity teach
es us. YVe will not moralize upon the
evil which would have pursued that boy,
had he been left to the mercy of the Po
lice Court, but thank the generosity of him
whose only wish is to heal the wounds of
woe, and who always
* * hath a tear for pity, ami a hand
Open as the day lor melting charity.
for his noble service in the cause of hu
manity. —Chronot ype.
A TRANCE.
Thespius of Soli fell violently on his
neck, and was supposed to be dead. Three
days after, however, when about to be in
terred, he recovered. From this time, a
wonderful change was apparent in his
conduct : for he had been licentious and
prodigal, but ever after was devout, noble, j
and conscientious. On his friends inquiring J
the reason of this strange conversion, he
stated that during his apparent death, his
rational soul had experience and strange vi- j
cissitudes ; his whole being seemed at first !
on a sudden to breathe, and to look about
it on every side, as if the soul had been
all eye, while, at the same time, he felt as 1
if gliding gently aolng, borne upon a
stream of light. Then he seemed to meet
a spiritual person of unutterable loveliness,
who conducted him to various parts of
the unseen world, and explained to him j
the mysteries of divine government, and
showed him the manner in which wicked
ness meets its reward. This vision exert
ed all the influence of truth upon his
mind, and entirely altered his character
and conduct.— Dr. Newman's “ Fascinna
tion.”
POWER OF IMAGINATION.
An honest New England farmer started,
on a very cold day in winter, with his
sled and oxen to the forest, half a mile
from home, for the purpose of chopping
some wood. Having felled a tree, he
drove the team alongside, and commenced
chopping it up. By an unlucky h't he
brought the bit of the axe across his foot,
with a sidelong stroke. The immense
gash so alarmed him as to deprive him of
all strength. He felt the warm blood fill
ing his shoe. With great difficulty he
succeeded in rolling himself on the sled,
and started the oxen for home. As he
reached the door he called eagerly for help.
His terrified wife and daughter, with much
effort, lifted him into the house, as he was
wholly unable to help himself, saying his
foot was nearly severed from his leg. He
was carefully laid on the bed, groaning all
the while very bitterly. His wife hastily
prepared dressings, and removed the shoe
and sock, expecting to see a desperate
wound : when lo ! the skin was not even
broken. Before going out in the morning,
he wrapped his feet in red flannel to pro
tect them from the cold ; the gash laid this
open to view, and he thought it flesh and
blood. His reason not correcting the mis
take, all the pain and loss of power which
attend a real wound followed. Man of
ten suffers more from imeginary evils than
from real ones.
THE BOTTLE TRICK BEFORE
THE QUEEN.
On Monday, (Prince Albert’s birth day,)
during the Festivities at Balmoral, the
Wizzard of the North, Professor Anderton,
was present, and was asked if he would
perform the feat they had heard so much
of his having done successfully—“ The
Inexhaustible Bottle.”
On receiving the royal command to per
form it, he called for a champagne bottle,
and handed a large number of glasses
round, and asked Lord Portman what he
would drink. His Lordship replied whis
key—whiskey was poured out. Mr. An
ton preferred brandy, which he got. Sev
eral demanded wine, which passed freely:
and one of the proprietors of the royal
distillery, Mr. Begg, thinking to baffle the
professor, asked him if he could give him
a glass of his best Lochnager whiskey.
No sooner said than done : and the Loch
nager whiskey became in great demand.
A large number of additional glasses were
distributed, and some called IV Irish whis
key, numbers brandy—the Highlanders
patronized Mr. Begg; when Lord John
Russell, perhaps, like Mr. Begg, wishing
to try the Wizzard’s skill, asked for a glass
of rum, which was immediately supplied,
and his lordship pronounced it excellent.
The London portion of the domestics and
police called for gin, which was freely
poured out of this extraordinary bottle;
and the Wizzard wms returning lo his
seat, when his royal highness, anxious to
test the bottle—presuming, as he was re
turning, that it was exhausted —asked if
more could be poured out. Glasses were
brought for her Majesty and Prince Al
bert, and, on being asked what they pre
ferred, requested Begg’s best Lochnager,
which linmmediately ran forth, and her
Majesty and the Prince, tasting it, ac
knowledged its purity; and the Wizzard
gave the bottle to the Prince, and asked
him to look if it was empty —it was.
Mr. Anderton brought some water, and,
in the Prince’s hand, filled it, ordered
glasses, and asked the Prince what wine
he preferred. Port was selected. The
Prince poured port, and then sherry, then
milk, then champagne, then broke the
bottle, and in it was discovered a beautiful
turtle-dove. —Caledonia Mercury.
The Kooh-i-noor Diamond. The great
diamond captured lately at Lahore by the
English army, and which is the largest, the
most beaulitul, and the most valuable gem
that is to be found in the world, is not to
go to the Crown, that is.jto Queen Victoria,
as booty, but is taken by the English East
Company f 1! on account;” that is, as the
English papers say, “ it is to be appropria
ted to the liquidation of the accumulated
debt due by one of the States to the Indian
government.” And it was stipulated by
treaty that this disposition should be made
of it, otherwise it would have been military
booty, and as such, have been at the dispo
sal of the British sovereign. The Kooh-i
----noor diamond weighs about one thousand
carats, and as the value of diamonds is cal
culated by lipidaries and others, must be
worth several millions of dollars.
Troth in Social Relations. Under
this head come the practices of making
speech vary according to the person spoken
to; of pretending to agree with the world
when you do not; of not acting according
to what is your deliberate and well advised
opinion because some mischief may be
made of it by persons whose judgment in
the matter you do not respect; of main
taining a wrong course for the sake of
consistency; of encouraging the show of;
intimacy with those whom you never can
be intimate with ; and many things of the
same kind. These practices have elements
of charity and prudence as well as fear
and meaness in them. Let those parts
which correspond to fear and meanness
be put aside. Charity and prudence are
not parasitical plants which require poles
of falsehood to climb up upon. It is often j
extremely difficult in the mixed things of j
this world to act truly and kindly too; but j
therein lies one of the great trials of a man
that his sincerity should have kindness i„
it, and his kindness truth.— Friends m
Council.
NEWS GLEANINGS.
Hydrophobia. At a recent meeting 0 f
the French Academy of Sciences, M. Arago
announced that M.d’Hericourt, just return
ed from his travelsin Abyssinnia, has bro't
with him a medicament, which he had seen
employed, with entire success, in cases of
hydrophobia. The traveller offered a quan.
tity of it, sufficient for all necessary expei
iments.
A Literary Swindler. Edward Youl
is the name of the individual who has
been soliciting the nobility of England in
behalf of Mary Howitt, representing her
in a most destitute condition, and pocket
ing the money. It is supposed that heand
his wife have come to America. He is
about thirty years of age, sallow complex
ion, and live feet two inches high—dark
hair, supposed to be a wig.
Casualty. We learn from a gentleman
who was present when the accident occur
red, that two negro boys were lost over
board from the steamer Oregon, a few miles
below this city, yesterday morning, anil
both drowned. They were hauling upon
a rope at the moment, and were dragged
overboard into the Savannah. One, we
understand, belonged to a lady of this city,
the other was a free negro.— Augusta Sen
tinel 12th inst.
Prokits of Plank Roads. The Water
ville and Utica road, nineteen miles long,
and costing $34,000, has just declared a
dividend of 10 per cent, laid by for repairs.
The Utica and Bridgewater road, twenty
miles long, and costing $40,000, pays 25
per cent.
Failure in Boston. A letter from Bos
ton says that the New Year brought along
with it the failure of a firm of drygoods
merchants much respected, in the neighbor
hood of Milk street. Their style was
Cragin, Grcenleaf & Cos. It is said their
assets show a surplus of nearly $60,000,
and their failure created much surprise.
Jl®“Mr. Thomas Williams had his pock
et picked at the New Orleans Post Office,
on the 31st of December, of a pocket book
containing SI9BO in money, and a large
number of valuable papers.
Rabbi Raphael, the celebrated He
braist, has accepted an invitation to preside
over the congregation of the Synagogue,
in Elm street, New York.
A6y* The slate trade of New York and
Boston for the year 1849, it is estimated,
will amount to nearly $75,000,000 in value.
This commerce is said to double itself every
four years. In 1844 it was no more than
$34,000,000.
ffigy“*ln the National Assembly of France,
on the 20th ultimo, M. Charres submitted
a proposition for the immediate sale of the
diamonds of the crown, which are valued
at nearly 21,000,000 of francs.
Santa Anna, the Mexican General, is, it
is said about applying to the Jamaica Le
gislature for the privilege of becoming a
citizen, thereby severing e''ery tie that
binds a Mexican to his country.
8&~ Records from Franconia show the
temperature at 20 deg. below zero, on the
morning of Dec. 26th. The snow is three
feet deep on the mountains.
Akay-The editor of the New Orleans Pic
ayune partook of strawberries and cream
on the 29th of December. The’ berrie
were grown in the open air.
Cut Into. By a typographical error in
one of our exchanges, we learn that two
cows were cut into calves by the railroad
train.
fisa)"’ “ My father was one of the farmers
of the new constitution,” said a youth of a
patrician blood the other day, toanotherof
more than plebean origin. “Y\ r ho cares
for that!” quoth the latter, my father was
one of the framers of the meeting house.”
Kter>“A man who avoids matrimony on
account of the cares of wedded life, is com
pared to one who would amputate a leg to
save his toes from corns.
Usaf- A sleepy Deacon, who sometimes
engages in popular games, hearing the min
ister use the words, “shuffle off this mortal
coil,” started up rubbed his eyes ami ex
’ claimed—“ Hold on, its my deal!”
A gentleman, on placing his hand
i too familiarly on a lady’s knee, was told by
her that he was rude enough to be a sav
age. “Os what tribe, madam I” “The
Paw-knees , to be sure.”
ffey” Good breeding formerly madeagen
tleman. Now brass, a pair of mustaches
and a tailor makes one.
BiziF “ 1 ain't going to be called a prin
ters devil any longer—no more I ain't” ex
claimed our imp the other day, in a terrible
pucker. “Well what shall we call you !
“Call me a typographical spirit of evil, if
you like.”
fita?” \\ r e are rejoiced to sec the ladies
standing up for their rights by wealing
standing up collars. The effect is pretty, re
publican, and very ominous of something-
The Turks have a proverb which
says that the devil tempts all other men,
but that idle men tempt the devil.
iBS-Sf-The Gypsies preserve their family
color in every part of Europe, and le’ s
preserve the same complexion, though dis
persed for 2000 years all over the world.
Hiay- l’ride may sometimes be a useful
spring-board to the aspiring soul, but it
much more frequently a destructive stum
bling-block.
fit®” “If you snap at me, 1 won't Hay
with you,” as the bullet said to the percus
sion cap.