ORIGINAL TRANSLATION FROM THE FRENCH OF FLORIAN.

THE PLEASURES OF SOLITUDE.

Far from the world, and ruthless strife,
Beneath the foliage-shaded bowers,
Exempt from care, I pass my life,
Calm flows the tenor of my hours.
Here can I taste elysian bliss,

Yielding to man a thousand charms;
Here do I learn, of happiness,

The most is found in nature's arms.

And here is all that mortal needs,

The Inscious fruit, the crystal stream; Where lies my path?-'mid flow'ry meads, On which, the heavens refulgent beam. What, though anon a fated storm

Casts o'er the mind a moment's fear, See yonder floats the misty form,

The beautious Iris now shines there.
And so inthralled in envious strife,

The soul becomes a prey to grief;
Retirement is the balm of life
Which yields the suff'rer sweet relief.
Thus, have I seen in fury wield

Above the rock, the rushing foam;
But having gained the smiling field,
Partakes at length a tranquil home.

Liverpool,

ANCIENT RESIDENCES.

The ruins of the Castle of the Feudal Baron, a few moss-covered stones famous from being the birth place or the residence of active spirits, who bave either incited us to good by their example, or,

"Left a name at which the world turned pale, To paint a moral or adorn a tale."

contrary side from the one which the haughty peer at
that precise moment happened to be of, in the fatal
wars between the Roses, he was brought by his san-
guinary brother-in-law to the block. Caxton, one of
the few persons able to appreciate the Earl of Worces-
ter's mental acquirements, deeply lamented bis untime-
ly end.

In the BARBICAN, which was originally a Roman
Specula, or watch-tower, and so long as London pos-
sessed its walls, was a station of such importance, that
it was always entrusted to a man of rank, stood a house
tenanted by several noble families, and at last desceud-
ing to Catherine Willoughby, the third wife of Charles
Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, was chosen by her as her
residence; when upon the death of that nobleman, she
took for her second husband Richard Bertie, a person
of obscure birth but liberal education. The lady be-
came a zealous Protestant; amused herself during the
reign of young Edward V. with ridiculing the church
of Rome, by dressing one of her dogs in a surplice,
and naming another after Gardiner. When the acces-
sion of Mary had given this cruel prelate the means of
revenge, the Duchess prudently withdrew from a
country, where apostacy or the stake would have been
the only alternatives offered. Her courage, and the
attentions of her husband, preserved her in many dan-
gers incurred during her painful pilgrimage in Germany,
where she was deserted by her servants, robbed by the
natives, and refused admittance by more than one
"rude boor,

"Who 'gainst the houseless stranger shut his door."
Forced to take shelter in the porch of a church. Mr.
Bertie addressed himself in Latin to two scholars whom
he overheard speaking in that language, and through
their interference they obtained more gentle treatment.
The adventures of the fugitives, and the birth of a son,
named, in consequence of his mother's wanderings,
Peregrine, formed the subject of a long ballad pre
served in the Roxburgh collection, "printed in Queen
Elizabeth's time to the tune of Queen Dido;" the last
verse will give a sample of the whole.

"A son she had in Germany,

Peregrine Bertie called by name,
Surnam'd the good Lord Willoughby,
Of courage great and worthy fame.
The daughter young that with her went,
Was afterwards Countess of Kent."

66

when existing in remote solitudes, are visited with
eager solicitade by the learned and the carious. It is
not thus with the remnants of antiquity in London: the
houses which belong to the most powerful grandees
have been usurped by a vulgar race; no trace remains
in the streets of the noble blood which has dyed the
pavement with crimson hues; the noise and din of me-
chanic art drowns the powerful voice that speaks to us
from the dead; and we barry away from a scene of
bustle and confusion, without giving a thought to the
A legend more curious than the ballad, but not equally
history of other days, to the calamities wrought by the
well authenticated, is attached to the story of the illus-
wicked, and the sufferings endured by the virtuous,-
trious exile's first husband, and may beguile a lonely
walk in the Barbican. The plot of Otway's tragedy,
titles which are extinct,-names of families as ancient
as our earliest laws, are pronounced by us carelessly, The Orphan, is said to have been taken from a fact re-
as they denote some petty street. On the site of lated in a very scarce pamphlet, entitled, English
Westmoreland and Windsor Courts stood the noble Adventures," published in 1667. Charles Brandon,
mansion of the Nevilles, Earls of Westmoreland; and
afterwards Duke of Suffolk, is in this work reported
to be the hero of the tale. He lived with his father
part of that once magnificent pile, divided and sub-
divided into various habitations, still remains. This and brother, and a beautiful young lady, the ward of
great northern family, which so often gave the law to
the former, in a country residence in Hampshire; the
England, boasts, amid its descendants, six Earls of same fatal mistake as that which Polydore makes in
Westmoreland, two Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, the play, led to the same dreadful catastrophe. A duel
an Earl of Kent, a Marquis Montacute, a Baron Fer- ensued between the brothers, in which the injured hus-
rers, Barons Latimer and Abergavenny, one Queen, band fell; the lady lost her reason and died; the father
five Duchesses, besides Countesses and Baronesses, also by the story became the victim of a broken heart:
and an Archbishop of York. These noblemen seldom
but in truth, Sir William Brandon, father to Charles
Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, was killed at Bosworth
visited London except when summoned by writ to attend
upon the King, or when determined to brave the Field, bearing the standard of the Earl of Richmond;
and had the honour to fall by the hand of the usurper.
monarch by a display of their power, or to pluck a
Richard, with that desperate valour which won for him
haughty favourite from the council board, or any other
a soldier's death, in his last struggle for the crown,
act of rebellion it was their pleasure to commit. War-
wick, called "the King-maker," rode through the
dashed at the standard of his rival, and, though thrown
streets at the head of 600 men, with ragged staves,
from his horse by the stout resistance of Sir William,
the badge of the family embroidered on their red jack-cleaved the skull of his adversary, and swept on in
ets; a retinue which enabled him to enforce his will intentional author of the misery of his family quitted
search of Richmond. The legend relates that the un-
despite of all opposition.
England in despair, with the determination of wearing
out his life in exile; but bis relations, supposing him
dead, prepared to take possession of his estate; and,
roused by this intelligence, he returned to his native
country, and resided incognito in the vicinity of his
own mansion. Whilst in this retreat, the young King
Henry VIII., divided from his retinue whilst pursuing
the chace, (the usual fête of royalty in every account
extant of a hunting party) heard the cries of a female
in an adjoining wood; the monarch reserving to himself
the prerogative of murdering women, immediately
rushed to ber assistance. Two ruffians left their prey

One of his most illustrious victims was John Tipstaff, Earl of Worcester, a nobleman of learning and accomplishments far superior to the age in which it was his misfortune to live. He caught the earliest dawn of that bright light which began to shed its beams upon a darkened world; and was a scholar and an author. He had married the sister of Warwick bat espousing a

• Warwick possessed a house in Warwick Lane, which still retains the statue carved in stone in front; he is mentioned here as the most celebrated member of an illustrious house, together with his more erudite and little less distinguished brother, the Earl of Worcester, who lived in Thames Street.

to fall upon the intruder, and the King, in considerable jeopardy, was saved by the opportune interference of Charles Brandon. Roused from a melancholy reverie by the scuffle, he ranged himself on the King's side, disarmed one of the assailants, and forced the other to fly. The denouement is perfectly dramatic: Henry discovers bis dignity and rewards his preserver; the lady is unaccountably left out, and Charles Brandon, instead of falling in love with her as in duty bound, gives his despair and his remorse to the winds, follows the the King to court, and afterwards marries Henry's sis ter, the Queen Dowager of France.

It is supposed that the attachment of the Princess
commenced long before she could entertain an idea that
she should ever be united to the object of her secret
choice. When obliged, by the cruel laws which bind
royalty, to ratify the peace between England and
France by a marriage with the old King Louis XII.
her affections for the gallant English Knight was in-
creased by the valour he displayed at the tournaments
given on the occasion. His arms were so irresistible
that the Dauphin, in a fit of jealousy at his superior
prowess, clothed in the armour of a gentleman a gigan-
tic German, who was considered to excel all bis fellow
men in strength, and opposed him to the accomplished
Englishman. Brandon, penetrating the disguise, baf
fled the base plot; he grappled with his mean, yet
powerful adversary, and disdaining to attack him in
the knightly mode of wartare, struck him repeatedly on
the head with the hilt of his sword, and leaving him
breathless and bloody on the earth, presented his shield
to the Queen, who, in the course of the unequal com-
hat, had been surprised into a tender exclamation:
alarmed for his safety, she unconsciously murmured,
"hurt not my sweet Charles." On the death of the
King, Charles Brandon visited the French court as
Duke of Suffolk, with condolence on his lips, and con-
gratulation in his eyes, and in less than two months
carried off the young widow from all competitors. The
kind offices of Cromwell, Henry's minister, and the
tenderness of a heart not yet lost to every feeling of
humanity, procured a pardon from the King of Eag
land, and the Duke of Suffolk made his appearance at
a tournament amid the haughty nobles of the land, on
a charger caparisoned with a saddle cloth made balf
of frize, and half of cloth of gold, and with a molto
on each half. One of the mottos ran thus:-

Cloth of frize be not too bold,
Though thou art match'd with cloth of gold.
The other:-

Cloth of gold do not despise,

Though thou art match'd with cloth of frize.

& felicity of idea and expression which displayed spirit without presumption, and humility devoid of meanness. In the court which is now called Bridgewater Square, stood the town-house of the Earls of Bridgewater, a family as ancient as the Conquest. It was celebrated for its orchards, and formed a beautiful retreat in the suburbs of the city. There are few places more replete with romantic associations than the now despised Barbican. To the appointment of John, first Earl of Bridgewater, to be Lord President of Wales, we are indebted for that exquisite dramatic poem of Milton's, "The masque of Comus." Lady Alice. the fair daughter of this nobleman, had been upon a visit with her brothers to the Egerton family, and passing through Heywood Forest on their return, the party were be nighted and lost their way. The vivid imagination of the poet instantly suggested the beautiful imagery with which he has decked the Sylvan scene. The enchanter with his train of Bacchanals-pleasure in its most be witching shape the-gay and beautiful Euphrosyne in the wood, the young people exhibited the Masque of arose-and delighted with the result of their adventure Comus, as one of the festivities of Ludlow Castle, before the Earl their father, and his friends. The heroine, elegantly designated by the author as "The Lady," was performed by Lady Alice, and three of the principal male characters were supported by her brothers, Lord Brackley, the Hon. Thomas Egerton, and Mr. Lawes. In Beech Lane, adjoining the Barbican, are the remains of the house of Prince Rupert: a general who in the most bustling times cherished a love of the fine arts, which unfortunately were not patronized dar ing the licentious freedom of his kinsman's reign, and languished under succeeding monarchs, more intent

upon preserving the balance of Europe than cultivating | Science at home." Prince Rupert was the inventor of Inezzo-tinto engraving. A private soldier scraping the rust from his fusil, attracted his attention; a mere military man would have been wholly engrossed with the desire of seeing the masket restored to its pristine brilliance, but the artist was struck with the possibility of torping the discovery to advantage, and subsequent experiments produced a style of engraving which Evelyn and contemporary arteurs beheld with delight. To ordinary minds, a midnight ramble in a wood, and the cleansing of a fusil, would have passed as common Occurrences; but the slightest conceptions are sufficient for the foundations of noble works, when they fall under the observation of spirits gifted with genius. This is the enchanter's wand, the cabalistic word, which when wielded and uttered by a magician, creates out of the meanest materials, wonders and marvels, which charm and dazzle the admiring gaze of man.--Museum.

12
0

South-west.
West...

.........

Strong.
Boisterous.

BREEDING OF LEECHES.

5

13020

M. Noble could not observe the formation of any of
the cocoons; but the mode of producing them has been
long known to the people in the department of Finis-
terre, who are thus enabled to supply Paris with
leeches. The workmen dig them up from the bottom,
of the little muddy pools, and place them in small
ponds prepared for that purpose. Six months after-
wards the young are removed into larger ponds, on the
banks of which cows and horses are brought to feed,
experience having taught the country people, that the
leech is never prolific till it has sucked blood.

VARIETIES.

SAINT ANDREW A WIT!

The smart answer of St. Andrew deserves mention.

The devil, in the shape of a beautiful woman, being
sitting at a bishop's table, Saint Andrew came there
"as a pilgrim" to demand alms: upon which she (the
devil) asked the Saint how far distant heaven was
from earth? "Thou should'st better know than I,"

answered Saint Andrew, "because thou hast fallen

from thence."

SINGULAR EXPERIMENT.

The Lancet, a medical weekly publication, has last
week a description of a curious instrument, and no less
curious operation performed with it by Sir Astley Coo-
per, at Guy's Hospital. The instrument, invented by a
Mr. Reed, is for washing or cleaning out poison from
the bowels; and to demonstrate its capability, a dog
was poisoned for the edification of the students.
the expiration of thirty-three minutes from the time the
opium was given, the stomach was evacuated of its
contents, and washed out, by means of the instrument.

66 At

It then describes the apparatus] "The instrument succeeded very well in the dog, which appeared to be little worse for the experiment. Mr. Reed was in the theatre during the whole of the time, and superintended the use of the instrument; on quitting, he received the unanimous applause of those present. Sir Astley Cooper, just after the experiment had been tried, looking at what had been removed from the stomach, smiled, and said that the instrument would do well for an alderman after a city feast."

CONJUGAL AFFECTION.

Some few days ago a vessel, in which was embarked
two loving couples, struck npon a rock off the coast
of Cornwall, and began to fill fast, in spite of all en-
deavours to clear her by exertion, or relieve her by the
pump. The ladies importuned their husbands to give
them their last embrace. They did so; and one of the
parties clung together with a fervour which indicated
a determination to die in that unity they had vowed to
do. The other also embraced, but said, "
my dear,
the vessel is sinking and our children are unprovided
for-you cannot reach the land, and I can, God bless
you!" and he prepared to swim as the vessel was going
down.

the two who clung to each other in the moment of peril,
have separated for ever, from some hidden cause, and
they who were about to separate for their children's
good, are living a happy and domestic life.

IMPROVEMENT IN BUILDING.

At this critical moment the captain announced that the vessel was safe, and the parties were shortly afterAn interesting memoir on this subject has been pub-wards landed. It is as singular as painful to state, that lished by M. Noble, in which he states that these useful animals may be preserved and bred in troughs, with a little care, and a few simple contrivances; the great mortality which occurs among them when crowded into small vessels, being owing to the stronger devouring the weaker for the sake of nourishment. M. Noble constructed a trough seven feet long, three wide, and as many deep, with sloping sides, lined with clay. It had a constant stream of water passing through it, and in one of the corners rushes were planted. It was exposed to the sun, but sheltered from the north wind. In November he placed 200 grey and green leeches in it, where they passed the winter, baried in the mud. Towards the end of the following spring several young ones were seen sticking to the old ones, and swimming Occasionally, as if to try their strength. In August he observed conical holes in the mud, each of which contained a little oval cocoon, as big as that of a silk worm, and porons outwardly. Some of these were perforated at each end and empty, some were filled with a transparent jelly, and the rest contained from nine to twelve young leeches, which in a few days pierced their envelope, and swam vigorously about.

901. Our correspondent, who is highly respectable,
adds, that the weight of the roof and timbers could
not be less than eighty tons, that the room gained is
broken.
ten feet high, and that not a single slate has been

THE USEFULNESS OF CROSS-EXAMINATION.

In Clarkson's history of the abolition of the Slave Trade we are told of a witness, on his examination before a committee of the House of Commons, deposing as to the excellent treatment of the negroes when on board the slave ships: among other things he states, that " they were fed with pulse dressed after the English fashion, and that the dance was promoted, &c. Now at first this sounds not amiss: for it is well known we English like our peas with butter, salt, and pepper; that we are disposed to consider the condition of a and then nothing promotes the dance like music: so slave while on ship-board as rather to be envied than otherwise but then comes the sequel, which is brought out by cross-examination; the "pulse dressed after the English fashion," turns out simply to be boiled horsebeans; and the whip is much cheaper than music for promoting the dance; which was merely jumping together for exercise as they were chained together round the hold of the vessel; for such was the admission wrung by counsel from this very credible witness.

LANGUAGES

Captain, afterwards Sir Alexander, Ball, was once stationed off Goree, on the coast of Africa, and had on board his ship a detachment of the 75th regiment, composed chiefly of Welshmen. A party of them had permission to land on the Continent, and commenced a little barter trade for articles of provisions, &c. with some of the natives who had come from the interior. To the surprise of the Cambrians they found that some Welsh words, used among themselves, appeared to be understood by the negroes. They then addressed them in Welsh, and received replies in a language something similar to Welsh, and thereby maintained an intercourse with the natives in a broken but intelligible manner. So extraordinary a circumstance could not fail to become known to the Captain, and he, with his usual sagacity, was determined to ascertain the fact. He accordingly invited some of the natives on board, and deputed a few of the most steady and intelligent men in the regiment, and who had not been on shore, to converse with them. A conference was accordingly held before him and the whole crew, of course occasionally interrupted by words which were strange to each party; but a conversation was held in a language understood by both.

The astonishment of the Cambrians is not easily con- . ceived, at finding negroes speaking a language in which they could make themselves understood to Europeans of so peculiar a dialect! Captain Ball asked a sergeant what he thought of it; aud the reply was, that the language was certainly not exactly Welsh, but it was so very much like it, that he understood the natives much better than he did a man in the regiment who spoke

Irish.

SWALLOWING KNIVES.

exhibiting his tricks in a public-house in Botchergate, A few days ago, William Dempster, a juggler, while Carlisle, actually accomplished the sad reality of one of those feats, with the semblance of which only he intended to amuse the audience. Having introduced A Cotton Mill, thirty yards long by ten yards wide, into his throat a common table knife which he was presituated at Goit-Stock, near Bingley, the property of tending to swallow, he slipt his hold, and the knife. Mr. J. G. Horsfall, of that place, has within a fort-passed into the stomach. Surgical aid was procured, night been raised a story, by the application of the Hydraulic Press, without disturbing the roof or disbut the knife had passed beyond the reach of instru- . placing any of the machinery. This operation is perments, and now remains in his stomach. He has since.. formed by placing the pump under the rafters in sucbeen attended by most of the medical gentlemen of the cession, and working the piston, when the roof is seen city; and we anderstand that no very alarming symp-. to rise about eight inches at a time, and stones of the toms have yet appeared. His sufferings at first were. requisite dimensions are introduced in succession, till paratively easy. The knife is 94 inches long, one inch very severe, but he is now, when not in motion, coma course of stone is placed all round the mill: the pump is then again applied in the same manner as before, bone, and may be generally distinctly felt by applying. broad in the blade, round pointed, and the handle of and other stones placed, till at length the story is completed, and the additional room gained without affectthe finger to the man's belly; but occasionally, how. ing the stability of the edifice. The saving of expence A brief notice of the analogous case of John Camever, from change of its situation, it is not perceptible. by this mode of elevating a building is considerable, ming, the American sailor, may not be unacceptable : and in the present case it is estimated at from 80% to -About the year 1799, he, in imitation of some jug

esting Iris, and had perused it with considerable satis-
faction, and an increased determination of support,
when up rose my friend Paul, this caviller and inimita-
ble disputant, and with bistrionic attitude and peculiar
grimace, uttered the following philipic

glers whose exhibition he had then witnessed, in antom, I purchased a number of your amusing and inter-
hour of intoxication, swallowed four clasp knives, such
as sailors commonly use; all of which passed from him
in a few days without much inconvenience. Six years
afterwards he swallowed fourteen knives of different
sizes; by these, however, he was much disordered,
but recovered; and again, in a paroxysm of intoxica-
tion, actually swallowed seventeen, of the effects of
which he died in 1809. On dissection, fourteen knife
blades were found remaining in the stomach; and the
back-spring of one, penetrating through the bowels,
seemed the immediate cause of his death.

SOVEREIGN REMEDY.

LOVE, like the Scotsman's pills, has wonderful properties. According to the Salopian Editor [not the Shrewsbury Chronicle] IT kept Capt. Parry physically WARM amidst the rigours of an Arctic winter!!! We never knew before that LOVE had this surprizing quality. But, if the writers have not exaggerated its wonderful properties, our youth, whether male or female, have only on the approach of winter, to fall desperately in LOVE, which will render them proof against the season, and they may then safely dispense with the cloaks, &c. with which they have heretofore, in the simplicity of their hearts, endeavoured to keep out the winter's cold.

MR. LOGIER'S SYSTEM.

It is with great pleasure we announce to our Musical readers the complete success of the Logierian System, in Berlin. An examination of Mr. Logier's Pupils, under the immediate sanction and direction of the King, took place on the 14th and 15th of January last; in consequence of which, Mr. L. received the following document from the Minister:-"Sir, you are herewith informed, that in consequence of the happy result of the examination of your pupils, on the 14th and 15th of January, together with the favourable report of the Committee appointed to investigate your system, his Majesty the King has been pleased to grant the necessary sums for defraying the expenses of introducing your system into the different States; and you are hereby required to declare, whether you are prepared to com. mence your instructions, upon the condition specified by you on the 15th of March; and whether you can finish six professors before the end of December in this year." Academies on the Logierian System have already been opened at Leipsic, Naumburgh, Potsdam, and various other places with the greatest success; and twenty professors (among whom is the celebrated Bach) have adopted it, under the immediate patronage of the King. Mr. Logier received a letter of introduction to Sir G. Rose the British Ambassador, and through him has been introduced into the first society of Berlin. -Mr. L. has received the most pressing invitation from Vienna and St. Petersburgh.-Sure the enemies of Mr. Logier must at length feel ashamed of their virulent and illiberal opposition, to a system which has thas been found worthy the patronage of a Prince and a nation, celebrated throughout Europe for their musical skill and talent.

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE CAVILLER,

TO THE EDITOR,

"It is no small matter of astonishment to me, how rational men, can prostitute their talents, to compose for so insignificant a paper as the Iris; here you behold Gimel tugging through three lengthened columns of uninteresting and unnecessary instruction, and seems by his style to consider his readers as having never learned the propositions in composition; but he commands attention and secures admiration by his Hebrician signature, or his writings would hebetate the most persevering.-There Caswin sighs on through unconnected and irregular verse, now presenting images to the eye, and then withdrawing them too hastily to make a lasting impression; bis metrical compositions compel me to judge him some love-lorn SWAIN."

My friend thus descanted upon all the originals that presented themselves in your miscellany, but the above are sufficient.

In reply, it was observed, that if the Iris was beueath his learned notice, why endeavour by his malignant and incorrect assertions, to poison the minds of his friends, and cause impediments to their receiving that satisfaction which your paper universally gives to our circle.

Besides to every unprejudiced mind, the generous efforts of Gimel's labour, must be evident ;-it was an interesting and learned disquisition, and to those who were versed in classic lore, it strengthens and refreshes the memory, of what has been perhaps too long neglected, and to those who have never studied the Latin language, it is an inestimable treasure; the derivatives of many hundred English words, may be discovered in his short letter which is not too verbose, but pithy and amusing.

Caswin's verses are irregular, and flighty; now
grasping the skies with enthusiastic ardour, and now
descending to terrestrial objects, he evidently is a man
of genius, and knowledge and the irregularity of his
metrical composition, does not in the least minorate
the efficiency of the verse.

I have made known to you the trouble under which
I at present labour, that it might meet the eye of those
who are petulant, opinionated, and cavilling, and cau-
tion them to beware and not subject themselves to the
"Illi damnunt, quod non intelli.
just observation that,
Your's, &c.

gunt."

tune, how grateful to my feelings!-Despair of Spain! Think ye that yon ensanguined cloud

Raised by war's breath, hath quenched the orb of day! To-morrow, he renews his golden flood,

And warms the nations with redoubled ray. What, would you cast into the dust the laurelled flag of Britain, bright with the glory of conquest, or keep it on your own proud shore of liberty, when liberty pants for its presence elsewhere? For myself every tie of blood however near and however dear should be engaged in the glorious combat. Let not the hands of Britons at home, damp the hearts of Britons abroad, and they will conquer; I say again, NEVER DESPAIR OF SPAIN!"

The whole house rose simultaneously, and cheered the manly speech. On another occasion shortly afterwards, as Mr. Canning was pleading the catholic cause, against a most potent opposition, the Chancellor of the Exchequer handed to the Right Honourable Gentleman a memorandum in pencil of news he had just received of a great victory gained by the British in Spain, and as he was reading it, the park and tower guns made the august fabric ring. With that splendid versatility of talent for which the Right Honourable Gentleman is so remarkable, he communicated the news to the bouse in this short sentence

Why what an anomaly is this in withholding sup port to the measure? even now the cannon of the metropolis is pealing in honour of victory,-of victory gained by Protestant England fighting for Catholic Spain!" (Eathusiastic cheering)

G.

The following letter from Stockport we received this morning, and insert it literally.-We are far from complaining that the original matter with which we are favoured, should be thought worthy of transposition, but we are more than displeased when an acknowledgment is not even granted If this were the first time we might have passed it over, but an article headed The Test of Affection, inserted in or Iris of the 23rd March, 1822, was also copied by the Ear pean Magazine verbatim! We are willingly disposed to believe that the Editor of that respectable publication imposed upon. if so, he will only do himself and us faste by holding up to public exposure the individual was ta deceives him.-ED.

TO THE EDITOR,

SIR. You will, no doubt recollect the very excellent article, entitled "The Half Hangit," which appeared in your valuable publication about twelve months ago. The European Magazine published on the 1st December contains, among its ORIGINAL Papers, the same tale word for word Perhaps the Editor of the European presumes, that because the Manchester Iris is a provin cial paper, its circulation is very limited, but I fancy he is a little mistaken: at all events were I the Editor of the Manchester Iris, I should give him of the European, a plain opinion of his piracy. I am, Sir, "Your's &c. Stockport, Dec. 4th, 1823.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.
Emma came too late, but we will attend to the impression of
Forget me not."

her seal, "

A Traveller on the exactions on the road, has been mislaid;-
he would oblige us by a fresh communication.
Peter has been attended to.-The Torch of Hymen has been
applied to his Creed, and the incense has ascended or de-
scended as its merits might require.-We wish we could have
given it insertion.

R. W., T. R., and several others are come to hand; they
must take the will for the deed, for they must repuse in t
portfolio till the exchequer of previous treasure has been
honourably distributed.-The old bridge is a subject we do
not wish to touch upon, and we shall be very glad to get

over it!

SENATORIAL ORATORY, which having had the pleasure of hearing at the time, I can also testify to the incorrect reports made of them in the public papers-a general and crying evil-the House of Lords was crowded to suffocation-the subject was whether or not Great Britain should persevere in sending out an additional and powerful reinforcement to the peninsula-Earl Grey, in a luminous and forcible harangue, protested against the measure-urged the inutility of it-the hopelessness. "What," said he, "shall we exhaust our blood and treasure in so doubtful a canse, or at so remote a distance wage uncertain war against the colossal power of France? in a country where we are denounced as heretics, where jealousy has already arisen amongst their leaders, and one entire army has surrendered? It would be madness! In this case, and as circumstances present themselves, we may despair of Spain!" Never!" said the Marquis Wellesley, rising instantly as the noble Lord had seated himself, "never! is it characteristic of Englishman to abandon a brave people because the aspect of their affairs now wears a lowering complexion? Were the Spaniards conquerors themselves, where would be our glory? If I contribute to a man whose wealth places him above want it might prove an injury, but if I On Saturday, in conformity with my established cus-dispense it to the needy, and he recovers his misfor-Huddersfield, T. Smart.

SIR,-There is not a more abhorrent member of society, nor one who with a malignant and demonian smile, scatters discord and misery, with such an unpli- | ant hand under the most specious and delusive appearances of learning and reasoning, than the hated caviller. This opinion was formed by the painful experience of having a friend, who in all other qualities of the mind, was a sensible and rational man; but possessed of this greatest of evils, which detracts supereminently from his other pleasing qualities, and throws a murky shade of impenetrable nigritude over him, which I can never divest him of, not even with the assistance of sound reason or good sense, for he tenaciously adheres to bis own opinion, thongh convicted of an error in the minds of the auditors, and thus by his obstinacy in captiously cavilling, destroys the social peace and harmonious concordance of our fraternity.

"

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Englishman; he was the saviour of the trial by Monthly Magazine,' in imitation of Gray's dark mover behind this scene of iniquity. I assert,

398

and old age-sees the gates of it blocked up by corruption, and hears the riot and mirth of luxurious landmen drowning the groans and complaints of the wounded helpless companions of his glory, he will tempt the seas no more. The admiralty may press his body, indeed, at the expense of humanity and the constitution; but they cannot press his mind-they cannot press the heroic ardour of a British sailor; and, instead of a fleet to carry terror all round the globe, the admiralty may not much longer be able to amuse us, with even the peaceable unsubstantial pageant of a review. "Fine and imprisonment!-The man deserves a palace, instead of a prison, who prevents the palace, built by the public bounty of his country, from being converted into a dungeon, and who sacrifices his own security to the interests of humanity and virtue."

In the defence of Lord George Gordon, for his share in the riots of 1780, Mr. Erskine commenced his first opposition to the doctrine of constructive treason; he commenced his splendid speech by an ingenious exordium.

"I stand," said he, passion than the noble prisoner. He rests secure in conscious innocence, and in the assurance that his inno

"much more in need of com

cence will suffer no danger in your hands, but I appear before you a young and inexperienced advocate, little conversant with the courts of criminal justice, and sinking under the dreadful consciousness of that inexperience."

particularly on the subject. Speaking of the [
feelings of distant and reluctant nations sub-
mitting to our authority, he said,—
"I have heard them, from a naked savage, in the
indignant character of a prince, surrounded by his sub-
holding a bundle of sticks in his hand, as the notes of
jects, addressing the government of a British colony,

his unlettered eloquence. Who is it?' said the jea-
lous ruler over the desert encroached upon by the rest-
less foot of the English adventurer, who is it that
causes this river to rise in the high mountains, and to
empty itself in the ocean? Who is it that causes to
in the summer?
blow the loud winds of winter, that calms them again
Who is it that rears up the shades of
those lofty forests, and blasts them with the quick
to you a country on the other side of the waters, and
lightning at his pleasure? The same Being who gave
gave ours to us; and by this title we will defend it,'
said the warrior, throwing down his tomahawk upon
the ground, and raising the war-sound of his nation.
These are the feelings of sabjugated man all round
the globe; and, depend upon it, nothing but fear will
control, where it is vain to look for affection.”

liant powers of Lord Erskine's mind were con
It was not to political subjects that the bril
quence, the happiness of domestic life, or the
fined; no lawyer could point out with more elo-
misery and desolation which follow every viola-
amply prove.
tion of it, as his speeches in actions of this kind

The political life of Lord Erskine is brief. In the year 1783, he was elected member of parlia ment for Portsmouth, and continued to possess a seat in the house, until called to the House of Peers, and the woolsack at the same time, in Lord Chancellor only during the brief adminis February, 1806. His lordship held his office of has always acted, though he was perhaps one of tration with the whigs, a party with whom he the most liberal of the party, Lord Erskine retired with them, and received the usual pension of 4000l. a-year.

honour

he did at the bar, though many of his speeches As a senator, Lord Erskine did not shine as his talents, not only procured an acquittal of respectful attention than his lordship. As a lord In the state trials of 1794, Mr. Erskine, by members in either house commanded a more display great eloquence and acuteness, and few all the prisoners, but he expounded and defined chancellor, Lord Erskine's name will not rank the law of treason so clearly, that he may be high, and few of his decisions are likely to form said to have saved, by anticipation, the lives of precedents, but as a man, his memory will be Mr. Erskine's duty on this trial was to reply trine of constructive treason, against which he conduct, amiable in his manners, and firm in bis hundreds, who must have suffered had the doc-long cherished, for he was honoured in his to the evidence, and in no part of his profession so successfully contended, been established. did he display greater tact than in this branch of it. Having stated the doctrine of high trea- his long and glorious career at the bar, for it But we cannot follow Mr. Erskine through friendships. son, as established by the celebrated act of Ed- would demand from us an account of almost ward III., and as expounded by the best autho- every important trial that occurred during a perities, he made a most dexterous application of riod of nearly thirty years. On all occasions in those rules to the evidence which had been ad, which the liberty of the press or trial by jury duced. Those who study his celebrated speech were to be defended, he was the eloquent and on this occasion, will observe, with admiration, dauntless advocate; nor was he to be deterred the subtleties with which he abates the force of from what he conceived to be his duty by any the testimony he has to encounter, and the art-circumstances of a personal nature. ful eloquence by which he exposes its effects and contradiction, when he abruptly and violently exclaimed "I say, by God, that man is a rudian, who, on such evidence as this, seeks to establish a conclusion of guilt."

The sensation produced by this mode of address, which, though not without several examples in Cicero, is not altogether suited to the sober declamation of English eloquence, was extraordinary; and the magic of the voice, the eye, the face, the figure, and the manner in which it was uttered, was quite electrical, and baffled all power of description. The feeling of the moment alone, that sort of sympathy which subsists between an observant speaker and his audience, which communicates to him, as he goes on, their feelings under what he is saying, deciphers the language of their looks, and even teaches him, without regarding what he sees,to adapt his words to the state of their minds, by merely attending to his own,-this intuitive and momentary impulse alone could have prompted a flight, which it alone could sustain; and as its failure would have been fatal, so its eminent success must be allowed to rank it among the most famous feats of oratory.

absent from Scotland, when, richer and fame than in wealth, he, about four years Lord Erskine had been nearly half a century ago, visited the land of his birth, and a public dinner was given to him at Edinburgh. It was during a second visit to Scotland that he was seized with an inflammation of his chest of which he died, a fortnight ago, at the house of his late brother, the Honorable Henry Erskine.

with the order of the thistle by his present left several children. His Lordship was honored Lord Erskine has been twice married, and bas Majesty, who always considered Lord Erskine as one of the oldest and most faithful of his friends.-Literary Chronicle.

to which we have already alluded. On the trial
A proof of this occurred on the trial of Paine,
of Horne Tooke, Mr. Erskine declared that a
conspiracy was formed among the higher orders
said he, "that there was a conspiracy to shut
to deprive Paine of a British trial: "I assert,"
fended; he was to be deprived of counsel; and STANZAS ON A DECAYED YEW TREE IN A
out Mr. Paine from the privilege of being de-
I, who now speak to you, was threatened with
the loss of office if I appeared as his advocate.
I was told, in plain terins, that I must not de-
fend Paine. I did defend him, and I lost my
office." The office to which Mr. Erskine alluded
Cornwall.
was that of attorney-general for the Duchy of

fearlessness with which he contended against Mr. Erskine was always remarkable for the the bench. When on the trial of the Dean of Saint Asaph, for a libel, Judge Buller, his former legal preceptor, interrupted him in his argument, and threatened to compel him to sit sit down. Your lordship may do your duty, down,-Mr. Erskine said, but I will do mine." On another occasion he My lord, I will not acted equally firm towards Lord Kenyon, and, In the defence of Paine, for publishing his appears to have been, as he thus described it in throughout, the whole of his conduct at the bar "Rights of Man," Mr. Erskine delivered a inost powerful address, rich in poetic eloquence. said he, one of his contests with the bench:-" It was," When Mr. Stockdale was prosecuted for a libel youth, always to do what my conscience told "the first command and counsel of my on the managers of Mr. Hasting's impeachment, me to be my duty; and to leave the consehe displayed an eloquence and an ingenuity quences to God. I shall carry with me the mefully equal to any of his preceding efforts. Af- mory, and, I trust, the practice, of this paterter shewing how much the imputed atrocities of nal lesson to the grave. I have hitherto folMr. Hasting's administration were to be attri- lowed it, and have no reason to complain that huted to his instructions, to the policy of Eu- my obedience to it has been even a temporal rope in distant countries, and to the tyranny of sacrifice. I have found it, on the contrary, the civilized man, he introduces a personal adven-road to prosperity and wealth, and I shall point ture of his own in North America, as bearing it out as such to my children."

COUNTRY CHURCH-YARD.

WHILE silent ages glide away,
And turrets tremble with decay,
Let not the pensive muse disdain
The tribute of one humble strain,
To mourn in plaints of pity due
The fate of yonder blasted YEW.
Long blotted from the rolls of time
The day that mark'd thy early prime,
No hoary sage remains to say
Who kindly rear'd thy tender spray;
Who taught its slow-maturing form
From age to age to brave the storm.
Beneath thy widely branching shade
Perchance his weary limbs were laid,
Content, without a stone-to share
The umbrage of thy grateful care;
His utmost wish for thee to shed
Oblivion's dews around his head.
And long thy darkling foliage gave
A hallowed stillness to his grave;
For there if legend's rightly tell,
No vagrant reptile dar'd to dwell:
Even sprights, by moonlight wont to stray,
Scar'd at thy presence fled away.
As thus, in contemplative mood
The venerable trunk I view'd,
Forth issuing from the sapless riad
A hoarse voice trembled in the wind.
Amaz'd I stood and wing'd with fear
These accents caught my wond'ring ear.