Newspaper Page Text
228
LITERARY.
WILLIAM W. MANN, Editor.
SATURDAY, DEC. 10, 1859.
TRAVELING AGENT.
Jobs L. Stockton, of this city, is General Traveling
Agent for the Fikld and Fikesipr, and the Constitu
tionalist.
■♦*»
NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
We do not send receipts by mail for subscriptions re
mitted. The receipt of Tn* Soutbekn Field and
Fikbsidb, after the money is remitted, will be e
dence to each subscriber that his money has been re
ceived and his name duly entered on the mail boot.
.
BACK NUMBERS.
Persons subscribing to the Field and Fireside can
be supplied with all the back numbers.
It affords us much pleasure to announce
that in January, or early in February, we shall
commence the publication in The Southern
Field and Fireside of a series of articles from
the brilliant and able pen of Prof. J. H. Ingra
ham, author of “ The Prince of the House of Da
vid," “ The Pillar of Fire," and of numerous
works of Fiction in early life, which have given
him rank among the most admired and popular
writers of this country.
TO CORREBPONDENS AND CONTRIBUTORS.
We have to acknowledge the reception of the
following articles, prose and poetry, during the
week:
The Proper Training of Woman —by E. C. B;
The Rain-Drops —by M. E. M.
Three Articles from Yir.
Our “ Mammy”—by Laura Lincoln.
December —by Abraham Goosequill.
A communication from an “ Old Maid.”
Wooing and Winning—by L’lnconnue.
“Weep on,” by Louise Belmont, is, we are
sorry to say, inadmissible The second article
from the same pen, is accepted. Would our fair
correspondent know why we decline her lines
entitled “Weep On?” Wo will tell her. It is
for her utter contempt of the rules of versifica
tion. She offers the twenty-nine lines as blank
verse; but only six of the twenty-nine lines con
sist of the ten syllables, which, if Sbakspeare,
Milton, Young and Pollock knew anything
about it, the composition of blank verse requires.
We have taken the trouble to make the follow
ing calculation: One of tho linos is of four syl
lables, two of six, one of seven, twelve of eight,
two of nine, six of ten, two of eleven, and three
of twelve. Can our correspondent show any
respectable precedent for this contempt of rule ?
Has it any excuse, but in unwarrantable poetic
license ? If it have, we would like to see it.
Does our correspondent wish to institute a new
style of verse ? If so, she must seek some
other organ than The Field and Fireside.
We make no pretension to the authority in lite
rature that would enable us, without ridicule, to
support or connive at so high-handed an innova
tion. There is a sad want of euphony, too, in
the lines before us. Our correspondent has a
very uncultivated ear for blank verse. We re
commend to her the reading of Milton and Shaks
peare aloud.
We are obliged to C. D., of Jacksonville, Fla.,
for his offer of correspondence, hut the restricted
limits of our paper will not admit of its accep
tance. The long Report with which he has fa
vored us is not exactly of a character appro
priate to our columns, the Fieed and Fireside
not being specially a Religious journal.
>«i
NEW PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
Messrs. Richards <fe Son have kindly laid
upon our table copies of the following new
works—all from the press of the Harpers, of
New York.
The Queen of Hearts —by Wilkie Collins, author
of “ The Dead Secret,” “ After Dark,” Ac., Ac.
Preachers and Preaching, by Rev. Nicholas
Murray, D. D., author of “ Kirwan’s Letters to
Bishop Hughes,” “ Romanism at Horae,” “ Men
and Things in Europe,” Parish and other Pencil
ings,” “ The Happy Heme,” Ac.
Handie; Stories of Rainbow and Lucky, by Ja
cob Abbott—a pretty book for Christmas pres
ents to children, illustrated with seven hand
some engravings.
We find also upon our table (obligingly placed
there by the author) “ A Practical Grammar,"
based upon the structure of the language, with
Progressive Exercises in which words, phrases
and sentences are classified according to their
relation to each other, adapted carefully to
the use of schools and private students, by
P. F. Lamar." Published by J. 11. Christy,
Athens, Ga. This grammar, the author says, is
distinguished by its opposition to “ those prin
ciples of Murray’s grammar, intended by him to
be thoroughly memorized before commencing
the study of Syntax.” To Murray’s Syntax Mr.
Lamar does not object. We really have not
been able to judge, by careful examination, of
the merits of this work and must, therefore, refer
readers to the advertisement, with recommenda
tions, which will be found on our fourth page.
We thank the State-Registrar Robt. W.
Gibbes, Jr., M. D., for a copy of The Fifth An
nual Report to the Legislature of South Caroli
na, relating to the Registry and Returns of
Births, Marriages and Deaths in the State for
the year ending December 31,1858. This is an
interesting document, which we are glad to have
O i our shelf and will take occasion soon to refer
to.
We acknowledge also the reception of The
Southern Episcopalian of Charleston: Rev. C.
P. Gadsden and J. 11. Elliott; —Russell’s Maga
zine for December; The Little Pilgrim for De
cember, a Children’s Monthly, by “ Grace Green
wood,” of Philadelphia. This is a delightful
publication, (only 60 cents per annum.) The
present number contains an illustrated Southern
story for children—“ Little Hobby Bun"; The
Chicago Medical Examiner for January: N. S.
Davis, M. D. and E. A. Steele, M. D., Editors.
XR£ SOUSBHEKII BXELB AND FIBJ6BXH*.
OUR PARIS CORRESPONDENCE.
Paris, November 17, 1859.
A week ago yesterday, just while your cor
respondent was making up liis little report on
the affairs of Europe, the plenipotentiaries of
three of its Powers were signing the treaties of
Zurich, —or on their wav, escorted by Swiss dig
nitaries and soldiers through a crowd of
spectators becomingly agape, to the Hotel
de Ville of that town,' where at last, with
considerable attendant pomp, they set down
their names. The first of the treaties, as
you know, is between Austria and France,
and stipulates the cession of a part of
Lombardy to France and its conditions; the
second, between France and Sardinia, cedes this
province with the same conditions to Sardinia;
the third concludes peace among all the parties.
The various clauses of these treaties are but the
filling out of the preliminaries of Yillafranca.—
A circular, addressed by the French minister of
Foreign Affairs to the Emperor’s diplomatic
agents, purporting to explain the treaties and
their bearing on the Italian Question, is given
to the public in the Moniteur. It is chiefly inter
esting as an official representation of the policy
Napoleon intends to pursue, toward Italy and
Europe, for the settlement of this Question. It
is the policy indicated in the famous September
note in the Moniteur and in the recent letter to
Victor Emmanuel. “ The two Emperors have
agreed by treaty to unite their efforts to obtain
from the Pope a system of government answer
ing to the wants of the population.” Now
read this perfectly clear sentence often and
thoughtfully, and you cannot tell what it means.
And so it is with most of the explanatory part
of M. Walewski’s circular —clear in style and
diplomatically indefinite. “A government an
swering to the wants of the people 1” Nothing
could be better than that in the way of “ brave
words.” But the inquisitive reader is curious to
know what forms such a government will be ex
pressed by;—considering that it is to bo asked
for by the Emperor of Austria and Louis Napo
leon from the Pope, his curiosity increases. M.
Walewski docs not fully gratify it in another
passage by saying that “ the Emperor is assured
that the holy father only awaits the opportune
moment to make known the reforms which he
intends to grant to his States, the effect of which
will be, by securing to the country a generally
lay administration, to secure a better distribu
tion of justice and a control of the finances by
means of an elective assembly.” All this clear
ly indefinite talk about reforms in the Papal
States is, however, in one respect highly signi
ficant. .It is the reply to and the refutation of
the arguments and violent assertions of certain
of the bishops and other leaders of the ultra
church party in France, who maintain that the
Papal government has no faults, in the first
place, and that they must not be interfered with
by outside powers, in the second place. Re
garded from the point of view of French do
mestic politics, it defines Napoleon’s position
toward the clerical party, and must persuade
them that he intends to hold it. Their manifes
tation has proved a failure, thanks to his cool
ness and prudence and to their own extrava
gance. It must be homo in mind, to be sure,
that, although it was led on by a few able and
influential men and supported more or less bold
ly by some journals, that the majority even of
the bishops and lower clergy took nono or only
a lukewarm part in it; it had but little effect on
the mass of the religious population. For it is
on the majority and the mass that Louis Napo
leon has been working the last ten years. Noth
ing is better worth noticing than this, liis con
stant policy of making liimself independent of
leaders by seeking support from the people.—
There is hardly a parish church in France that
has not been repaired at government expense or
received a present of an altar cloth or a picture
from the Emperor since 1851; and every parish
priest who received from his bishop one of those
political pastorals, which were so much talked
of a few weeks ago, if his innocent sense were
acute enough to seize their allusions to a back
sliding Emperor, had only to step over to the
mairie to read in the government journal, posted
on the official walls, all those expressions of
profound respect for the church and its head, in
which the government journal abounds. The
political bishops could not be directly prevented
from, nor punished for, issuing their protests, cir
culars, pastorals, or by whatever other name
they chose to style their “political articles.” Nor
if they could have been legally punished, would
they have been. No danger that so shrewd a
man as his majesty would commit the blunder
of persecuting them. But with the newspapers
it was different. For them there is the “organic
law on the press,” the application of whose se
verely repressive provisions has been in nine
cases out of ten too agreeable to this very retro
gade church party, that they can complain with
a good grace of its excessively disagreeable ap
plication in the tenth case. A month ago all
newspapers were “invited” not to print any
more of the Episcopal letters. Now an “ invi
tation” addressed to a French editor is much the
same thing as your invitation to Sambo to brush
your boots. Theoretically the editor, like Sam
bo, may refuse, but practically—the likeness
holds. That measure went far to check the pop
ularising of the Episcopal views. But some few
newspapers, organs of Romanist and legitimist
partizan zeal, ventured to print similar views,
though in more moderate language and general
ly under more thickly veiled allusions. The con
sequence is, that within a mouth half a dozen of
those newspapers have been “warned.”
A warning, as some of your readers are pos
sibly not aware, is a decree issued by the Min
ister of the Interior, or by an officer acting with
his approval, in winch the journalist’s article
containing an offence against the law on the
press is alluded to, its statements denied, and its
sentiments reproved. The offending editor is ob
liged to publish this decree at the head of his first
column, to carry his own disgrace to his own sub
scribers. If he be foolhardy enough to criti
cise, qualify, or complain of the decree and its
preamble, he directly receives a second decree.
Any offence after that—and a man may commit
one, sometimes, quite unintentionally, so inge
niusly wide-spreading and trap-like are the
clauses of the press law—may be followed by
suspension of the journal, which is nearly as
good as hanging or death itself. Hence, this
sort of penal decree is termed a warning—one
to begin, two to show, and three to go out of
existence.
I make no apology for what may seem, at first
glance, a digression; a second will make plain
to every intelligent eye the intimate connection
between it and so much of M. Walewski’s cir
cular as treats of the Roman question. Now,
the Roman question is the knot of the Italian
question. It always has been, and, I fear, is for
yet a long time to be the knot. A very general
opinion is, that the imperial scheme of an Italian
Confederation only tangles it the more. My own
poor opinion, trying to regard it favorably, is
that, at best, it is only a temporary loosening.
And the man who seemed most like and most
fit to cut it, Garibaldi, has, they say, retired
from his post at the head of the army of the
league. This is tho saddest news that has come
up to us from Italy in all this week of bad news.
When I last wrote, I spoke of the election of
Prince Eugene de Savoi Carignan by unani
mous vote of the Assemblies of the three-
Duchies, and of Romagna, as common regent of
all Central Italy. Sharing the general thought
and liberal hope liere and in Italy, I expressed a
confident opinion that he would accept the
office. The question whether Victor Emmanuel
should approve, that is to say permit, his accep
tance. was anxiously and long debated at Turin,
in a Council, of which Cavour, d’Azeglio, and
Buoncampagni, and other Piedmontese states
men. as well as the Ministers of the Crown, took
part, and at last decided in the affirmative. But
then, and just before the delegates of the As
semblies were to have their interview with the
Prince, came urgent opposing representations
from France. Now came the interview. The
Prince, in a brief address to the delegates, nei
ther accepted nor refused, and both accepted and
refused, the proffered office. He declined, lor
reasons of state and propriety, the office for
himself, blit “ designated” Buoncampagni to the
delegates as a proper person to fill it. But the
election was by the Assemblies. Tliey elected
the Prince, and no one else. The delegates
were mere reporters of their vote. Yet the
Prince effectively appoints Buoncompagni as his
substitute, and furnishes him with a written
mandat to fill, and hoiv to fill, the office transfer
red to him.
Let me say, before going further, that the
limits to which your European correspondence
is properly confined, not admitting long quota
tions from documents, whatever their' impor
tance, I am forced to present them in the shape,
not of verbal, but of concentrated extracts. In
the above ten lines I have endeavored to repro
duce the essence of three or four documents,
which, as a perusal of your European files will
convince you, are not less singular and seeming
ly self-contradictory in extenso than in my essen
tial extracts of them.
This curious arrangement of the affair appears
to have been regarded at Turin as it was here,
as an inglorious turning of the difficulty, recon
ciling the requirements of France with the re
quirements ol Central Italy. Come to think of
it, the regency of Victor Emmanuel's own cousin,
on the eve of the meeting of the Congress, was
a sort of indelicacy; the substantial advantages
to be derived from a regency (the advantages to
the Duchies and Romagna of a united strong
bead, to Piedmont of bringing the hoped-for an
nexation so much nearer to a fait accompli)
were hardly diminished by substituting Buon
campagni, an eminent statesman of the mode
rate liberal party, and above all, a Piedmontese
statesman. Again came urgent opposing repre
sentations from France, and Buoncompagni’s en
try upon his functions is “ adjourned.” The
reason given by the French court for this inter
ference in the affairs of Italy is, that nothing
must be done to prejudge, anticipate, or c'og the
action of the Congress to whose deliberations
the two emperors have agreed to submit them
as they are. The real rea«on, of course, is, that
the French court, viledicet Louis Napoleon, ob
jects to the raising of any more fails accomplis in
the way of his favorite scheme of confederation.
One very ugly one has already been raised.
He has not been able to prevent the union of Par
ma, Modena, and the Romagna under one chief,
who would have immediately resigned his pow
ers into the hands of the Regent, had the Prince
of Savoy been suffered to accept the office. In
the minds of the It alians, the purpose of this
triple junction was to bo more effectively carried
out by the quadruple junction under a Regent,
was to present to tho Congress a common cause,
putting the Romagna on the same footing as one
one of the Duchies.
The two emperors have invited Russia, Prus
sia, England, Spain, Portugal, Swedeu, to send
delegates to a Congress for considering the
Zurich treaties, and deliberating on pending
questions. To the representatives of these pow
ers and of France and Austria, are to be added
those of Naples, Rome, and Sardinia. Whether
the votes of the three last named are to count
the same as those of the eight powers who sign
ed the general treaty of Vienna in 1815, we are
not informed by M. Walewski, or any other offi
cial authority. Neither are we informed
whether, among the pending questions, a revis
ion of the Viennese treaties of 1815, the Turk
ish question and the Isthmus of Suez question
are to enter. It is reported that England has
already accepted the invitation to the Congress.
I am inclined to think the report premature.
That she will accept it, I do not doubt.
There has been, of late, a great degree of news
paper irritation displayed on both sides of the
channel. So violent, indeed, has it become, that
timid persons who confound editors with minis
ters, fear that it is the prelude to a war between
France and England. Ido not share the fear.
At the same time, it must be admitted that the
causes of dissension are much graver to-day,
than those growing out of Orsini’s attempt on
Napoleon’s life, over which French and English
editors became so excited two years ago. Eng
land will not fight for Italian liberty, nor against
the Isthmus of Suez — Le jeu ne vaut pas la chan
delle.
—»»t —i
NEW BOOKS.
The Christ-Bearcr, or the Hermit of the Ford. By
Harriet C. Hunt. New York; Gcn’l ProL Ep. Sunday
School Union, and Ch. Book Soc.
The Great Tribulation, or Things Coming on Earth.
By the Eev. John Gumming, D. D, F. It. 8. E., Minister
of the Scottish National Church, Crown Court, Covent
Garden. First Scries. New York:-Eudd & Carlcton.
Sermons. By Bichard Fuller, D. D., of Baltimore.
New York: Sheldon* Co. Boston: Gould & Linooln.
Life of Andrew Jackson. In three volumes. By
James Parton, author of ‘-Life of Aaron Burr,” “Hu
morous Poetry of the English Language,” etc. Motto—
Desperate Courage makes one a Majority. Volume first.
New York: Mason Brothers.
History of Independence Hall, from the Earliest Period
to the Present Time. Embracing Biographies of tho
Immortal Signers of tho Sacred Belies preserved in that
Sanctuary of .American Freedom. By D. W. Belisle.
Philadelphia: James Challen * Son.
History of the Four Georges, Kings of England; con
taining Personal Incidents of their Lives, Public Events
of their Eeigns, and Biographical Notices of their Chief
Ministers, Courtiers and Favorites. By Samuel Smueker,
L.L.D., author of “Court and Beign of Catharine II.,”
“Memorable Scenes in French History,” “Life and Times
of Alexander Hamilton,” etc. New York: D. Appleton
A Co.
Bemlniscenccs of Bufus Choate, the Great American
Advocate. By Edward G. Parker. New York: Mason
Brothers.
Self-Education, or tho Means and Art of Moral Pro
gress. From the French of Baron Degerando. By Eliz
abeth P. Peabody. T. 0. H. P. Burnham, Boston.
The Logic of Political Economy, and Other Papers.
By Thomas De Qulncey, the Opium-Eater. Boston:
Ticknor & Fields.
The AVavcrley Gallery. Being a Series of Engraved
Illustrations of Female Portraits in Sir Walter Scott’s
Bomanccs. With thirty-six steel engravings; with des
criptive text New York: D. Appleton & Co.
Wild Southern Scenes, a Tale of Disunion and Border
War. By J. B. Jones, author of “Wlid Western Scenes,”
“War Path,”eta Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson & Bros.
True Womanhood. A Tale. By John Neal. Boston:
Ticknor & Fields.
Carolina Sports, by Land and Water; including Inci
dents of Devil-Fishing. Wild-Cat, Deer and Bear-Hunt
ing, eta By Hon. William Elliott, of South Carolina.
With six illustrations. New York: Derby <fe Jackson.
Avolio, A Legend’of the Island of Cos. With Poems,
Lyrical, Miscellaneous, and Dramatla By Paul H.
Hayne. Boston: Ticknor & Fields.
[For the Southern Field and Fireside.]
POPULAR ASTRONOMY-NO. 2-
The Solar System. —To one who, uninstruct
ed in the science of Astronomy, looks up at the
spangled heavens, there appears a confused as
semblage of stars but slightly varying in size and
brilliancy, and seemingly at about the same dis
tance from the beholder. Whereas, on better
examination, they will appear in clusters, which
are called constellations, which, after a little fa
miliarity with them become as distinctly appa
rent as the states and counties on a common
school atlas The lines indeed will be wanting,
but the conformations will be easily seen.
The color of the stars, too, is variant: some
are ruddy, some yellow, some blue, whilst others
reveal themselves in purest white. A few also
are quite near, whilst others in untold millions
in the heights and depths of space, are at such
distances that the science of numbers fails to
calculate them, or at least human intellect fails
in the application. It is with those which are
near that we have at present to do.
Amidst the numberless orbs which wheel
through the vast expanse, is an assemblage
known as the “Solar System,” of which our
earth forms a component part. The Solar Sys
tem is so called from the latin word Sol, the sun,
which is the central and controlling member of
the system. It consists of this grand luminary,
and eight planets, named in the order of distan
ces from the Sun; Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Between
the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, area number of
smaller bodies called asteroids, or more properly
planetoids, supposed by some to be the fragments
of a planet which once occupied that region of
the heavens. All these revolve around the sun,
at different distances, and with different degrees
of velocity, the speed diminishing as the dis
tance increases. Each has its own orbit or path,
and all the orbits are confined to a narrow space
around the concave heavens, called the Zodiac.
By the Zodiac, it may be necessary to explain, is
meant a zone or belt 160 deg. in width, running
around the heavens; in some parts passing
nearly over head, and in other parts declining
farther to the South.
The Zodiacal belt is formed by a series of
twelve constellations, known as Aries, the ltam;
Paurus, the Bull, Ac. (see any almanac.) Through
these “signs,” or more plainly betweeu us and
them, all the planets pass in going round their
orbits ; and as already stated, the sun also ap
pears to pass through them, as the earth moves
in its annual journey. The sun is really station
ary with respect to the planets, though it appears
to go around the earth every day, and through
the “ signs ” once a year. But this appearance,
as will be better understood in the sequel, is the
result of the earth’s revolution on its axis, and
in its orbit; the first producing the phenomena
of day and night, and the second making the
sun seem to occupy different places along the
line of the Zodiac, and to be alternately depress
ed or elevated in the heavens at different sea
sons.
To understand more readily this matter of the
Zodiac, let the reader, if he has one, consult an
astronomical chart. Standing with his face to
the South, let him hold the chart over
head, pointing with the bottom in the same
direction. He will thus see the Zodiac delinea
ted in away that will' give a good idea of its
position in the heavens. Or if he will get some
friend to point out its actual place and show him
a few of the constellations, it may answer a bet
ter purpose. Perhaps we cannot find a better
place than the present, before entering into par
ticulars respecting the movements of the hea
venly bodies, to introduce a few remarks on
certain properties of matter, viz : Inertia and
Attraction.
By the Inertia of matter is meant its inability
to put itself in motion, and its inability to stop it
self when in motion. Some force must be ap
plied to start it, and some resistance must be of
fered to stop it. In the absence of the force in
the first case, it would remain still forever, and
without resistance; in the second case, it would
go on to all eternity. Since then the Planets
which are inert matter, are found to be in state
of motion, we must suppose that there is some
force exerted upon them to drive or pull them
along. And since such is the character of
their motion that they are confined within cer
tain limits, we in like manner conclude that some
resisting or restraining force is exerted upon
them. These mysterious forces acting thus in
opposition to each other, and yet combining to
produce the effect of Planetary motion, are
known by the name of Attraction. And as this
cannot exist of itself, nor operate of itself, there
must be a Self-existent and Intelligent Pow
er to produce, direct, and operate through it, just
as a stone, attached to a string, and whirled
around a boy’s head, is entirely dependent upon
the brain and muscle—the intellect and physical
power of the boy. If the boy wishes to stop
the power, the motion ceases; and this, without
urging the analogy too far, is precisely illustra
tive of the centrifugal, and centripetal forces,
which produce the phenomenon of motion
among the planetary, and probably the stellar
bodies. The analogy though, we repeat, is not
to be pressed too far ; for the boy being a crea
ture, is himself subject to conditions. The Great
First Cause is self existent, and independent of
conditions. But let us pause, lest we get into
the deep waters of moral metaphysics.
In our next, we will take up in detail some of
the members of the Solar System.
Lamkin.
—Tiie Publishers, Harper.— The family ori
ginally came from England and settled on Long
Island, near the village of Newton. The father
and mother became the followers of John Wes
ley, and we believe that a majority if not all the
present members of the firm belong to the Meth
odist Church, and have pews in St. Paul’s new
marble Methodist edifice, in Fourth Avenue.—
The Senior, James Harper, ex-Mayor of the
city of New York, is fond of a good joke, and
enlivens the company he may associate with by
relating many a laugh provoking anecdote.
John, the next oldest, is an excellent man, with
a clear head, active habits and great business
tact. Fletcher, the third brother, is a kind
hearted, pleasant and agreeable man ; also
laughs heartily at a good joke, and is, when not
absent in Europe on business, the talking man
of the concern, with authors, idlers and out
siders in general. Wesley, the fourth, we be
lieve, is the youngest of the brothers. He is the
local and active business man of the firm, under
whose supervision all the various mechanical
operations of the house are carried on. Ho is
quick, industrious and of few words, but has a
mind that is as keen as a briar. The “ quarto ”
of brothers deserve great credit for their suc
cess. They commenced in humble but respect
able spheres the eldest as a printer; and
James, the eldest, we are told, in his younger
life, worked many a day pulling at a hand-press
in a job-printing office. From printers they got
to be publishers, and have arrived at the head
of their business.— [Richmond Enquirer.
—
Don’t fret over what you can't help, and don’t
fret over what you can help; therefore, don’t
fret at all. ’
Thompson* and Quin. —Thompson, the poet,
when he first came to London, was in very nar
row circumstadces, and was many times put to
his shifts even for a dinner. Upon the publica
tion of his Seasons, one of his creditors arrested
him, thinking that a proper way to get his mon
ey.
The report of this misfortune reached the ears
of Quin, who lrad read the Seasons, but never
seen their author: and ho was told Thompson
was in a sponging-liouse in Holbom. Thither
Quin went, and, being admitted into his chamber,
“Sir,” said he, “you don’t know me, but my
name is Quin.” Thompson said, that though he
could not boast of the honor of a personal ac
quaintance, he was no stranger either to his
name or merit, and invited him to sit down.
Quin then told him he was come to sup with
him, and that he had already ordered the cook
to provide supper, which he hoped he would ex
cuse.
When supper was over, and the glass had gone
briskly about, Mr. Quin told him it was “ now
time to enter upon business.” Thompson de
clared he was ready to servo him as far as his
capacity would reach, in anything he could com
mand (thinking he was come about some affair
relating to the drama). “ Sir,” said Quin, “you
mistake mo ;lam in your debt. I owe you a
hundred pounds, and I am come to pay you.”
Thompson, with a disconsolate air, replied
that, as he was a gentleman whom he had never
offended, he wondered he should seek an oppor
tunity to trifle with his misfortunes. “No,”
said Quiu, raising his voice, “I say I owe you
a hundred pounds, and there it is and, suiting
the action to the word, immediately laid a bank
note of that value before him.
Thompson, astonished, begged he would ex
plain himself.
“ Why,” said Quin, “ I will tell you. Soon af
ter I read your Seasons, I took it into my head
that, as 1 had something to leave behind me
when I died, I would make my will. Among
the rest of my legatees, I set down the author of
the Seasons for a hundred pounds; and this day
hearing that you were in this house, I thought
I might as well have the pleasure of paying the
money myself as order my executors to pay it,
when perhaps you might have less need of it;
and this, Mr. Thompson, is my business.”
—
Our Minister at Pekin. —The Hungarian's
mails bring us full details of the doings at Pe
kin of our Minister to China, Mr. Ward. He
was well treated at the Imperial city, but failed
to obtain an interview with the Emperor, owing
to his refusal to submit to certain required forms
of courtly etiquette. The Chinese authorities
made considerable concessions on this point, but
politely insisted that Mr. Ward should either
kneel on presentation to tho Emperor or should
touch the floor with his finger. A ludicrous
compromise was proposed, by which Mr. Ward,
on approaching the throne, should bow low,
and then two chamberlains should lift him up
with the exclamation “ don’t kneel” The Em
peror and his council, however, declined to ac
cept this ingenious compromise, and so Mr.
Ward left without seeing the Emperor. He of
fered, however to make nine low bows, and it is
difficult to see how his personal or official ca
pacity would have been more seriously compro
mised by once touching the ground with his fin
ger, as the Emperor required, than by making
this protracted obeisance.
The venerable prime minister with whom Mr.
Ward conferred, and who rejoices in the eupho
nious appellation Kweiliang, received the Amer
ican embassy with great courtesy, argued the eti
quette question with considerable logical force,
and declared that were he a Commissioner to
tins country he should not object to treat the
President with the same deference he does his
Emperor, and would even burn incense before
him if etiquette required. He considered that,
when it was customary to kneel before the Queen
of England or kiss the Pope’s big toe, no offence
could be taken at the ceremonies that the Amer
ican minister was requested to observe before
his Imperial master. Mr. Ward thought differ
ently ; and thus President Buchanan’s letter was
not given by our Minister to the Emperor of
China, but was confided to the courteous Kweil
iang, who received it with great respect The
treaty was then formerly ratified by tho Com
missioners. A letter dated Canton, Sept. 10th,
says that Mr. Ward had returned to Shanghai.
1 -
The Jewish merchants of Cincinnati have held
a public meeting to consider the Sabbath ques
tion, and resolved to close their places of busi
ness on Sundujf
OBITUARY.
The instinct of natural affection, which leads us to
place the monumental marble over the graves of de
pared friends, often prompts the desire of sketching
those living virtues which drew forth our admiration ana
esteem. When, too, those who die, have lived by faith
in the Son of God, adorned with the graces of the Spirit,
a sanctified wish arises to record the testimony for tho
benefit of the living, and to the glory of God. With
these mingled feelings, the writer would lay before the
world a brief memorial of Mrs. (.’arouse Elizabeth
Smelt, wife of W. I*. Campbell, Esq., who, In the 89th
year of herage, after a brief Illness, on the 22d of Octo
ber last, sweetly fell asleep in Jesus.
The name which has just been penned will recall to
many readers a precious little volume, the Memoirs of
Caroline Elisabeth Smelt, written forty years ago by
Dr. Moses Waddell, and which has been largely blessed
both in this country and in England, in bringing many
to the feet of the Saviour. It was for many years a pop
ular book in our Sabbath-school libraries, but is now, to
a great extent, displaced by the more modern publica
tions of a prolific press. This passing reference may be
useful in again introducing it to public notice.
Mrs. Campbell was the daughter of the Cornelia
Walker, so beautifully styled in that simple narrative,
“the sister-cousin” of Caroline. The unusual affection
between the two, which death itself could not extin
guish, was signalized in the name given to the infant
daughter born in (820, about three years after the de
cease of her Christian namesake. Her character in child
hood was gently moulded under the influence of a pious
mother, and that of Mrs. Smelt, an eminent saint, who
received to her bosom with a certain kind of adopting
love, the child whose name was a continual memorial of
her own departed one. In the spring of 1838, when
about eighteen years of age, Mrs. Campbell became the
subject of renewing grace; and after a short but violent
struggle, took Jesus as her Saviour, and was united by
public profession of her faith with tho Presbyterian
church in Mobile. With what Christian propriety she
fulfilled the duties of a daughter, sister, wile nnd mother,
can only be known in that inner little world where these
sweet relations were sustained. The desolate homes of
a father and a husband remain to testify the greatness of
her worth in the depth of their loss. Modest and retir
ing in disposition, domestic in all her habits—ever
shrinking from public observation, and reserved in tho
expressions of her love to those she loved most, only
few can know the strength of her natural character, the
firmness of her principles, the constancy of her affections,
and the self-sacrificing devotion with which all her trusts
were discharged. Punctual in ail her public and private
duties of the Christian, she was gradually and certainly
rijiening for that great change which has now introduced
her into the society of heaven. Beloved as only such a
one can be loved in the sanctuary of her home, in the
wider circle of earthly friendship, not a single word can
be treasured against her, such ns the foolish woman ut
ters—the bitter words of " the whisperer which separate
chief friends.”
The happy family is now broken—she has gonoto join
her two babes, and with them to look upon the face of
God’s throne; while seven children remain with a sor
rowing husband to embalm her memory in their hearts,
and to shed tears of sodnesß and of resignation over her
early grave.
“ Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of his
saints!” and precious legacy to the bereaved and sorrow
ing Is tho memory of their life.—[Arte Orleans True
Witness.