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now-a-days, but 'Squire Hervey's for my money." 'Squire Hervey!" rejoins Mrs. Watson; "what's that the great what'shis-name as lives yonder?" "Aye," returns Mrs. Jones, "him as has a niece and nevvy, as they say eats him out of house and land."-and here commences the history of all the last week of the whole neighbourhood round,-which continues amidst the dipping of splashing fists, the rumbling of suds, and the creaking of wringings out, till an hour or two are elapsed, and then for another snack and a pinch of snuff, till the resumption of ano. ther hour's labour or so brings round the time for first breakfast; when having had nothing to signify since five, they sit down at halfpast six in the wash-house to take their own meal before the servants meet at the general one. This is the chief moment of enjoyment. They have just laboured enough to make the tea and bread and butter welcome, are at an interesting point of the conversation (for there they contrive to leave off on purpose) and so down they sit, fatigued and happy, with their red elbows and white corrugated fingers, to a tub turned upside down, and a dish of good, christian souchong, fit for a body to drink. I would dwell a good deal upon this point of time, but I have already, I fear, ran out your limits for a correspondent; and shall only admonish the fastidious reader, who thinks he has all the taste and means of enjoyment to himself, how he looks with scorn upon two persons, who are perhaps at this moment the happiest couple of human beings in the whole street,-who have discharged their duty, have earned their enjoyment, and have health and spirits to relish it to the full.

A washerwoman's cup of tea may vie with the first drawn cork at a bon-vivant's table, and the complacent opening of her snuff-box heat that of the most triumphant politician over a scheme of partition.

I say nothing of the continuation of their labours, of the scandal they resume, or the complaints they pour forth when they first set off again in the indolence of a satisfied appetite, at the quantity of work which the mistress of the house, above all other mistresses, is sure to heap on them. Scandal and complaint, in these instances, do not hurt the complacency of my reflections; they are nothing but a part, as it were, of the day's work, and only so much vent to the animal spirits. Even the unpleasant day which the work causes up stairs, at least in middling houses, the visitors which it excludes, and the leg of mutton which it hinders from roasting, are only so much enjoyment kept back and contrasted, in order to be made keener the rest of the week. Beauty itself is indebted to it, and draws from that steaming outhouse and splashing tub the well-fitting robe that gives out its figure, and the snowy cap that contrasts its curls and its complexion; and for my part, whenever I hear a washerwoman at her foaming work, or see her plodding towards me, with her jolly warm face, her mob cap, her black stockings, clattering pattens, and tub at arms' length resting on her hip-joint, I look upon her as a living lesson to me to make the most both of time and comforts, and a sort of allegorical union of pain and pleasure, a little too much perhaps in the style of Rubens.

KING'S PLATES, 1815.
(From the London Gazette.)

(or to any other person, if indorsed by the winner), at the Office of the Clerk of the King's Stables, in the King's-Mews, Lon don; but, as according to the last Receipt Act, the stamp is to be paid for by the person giving the receipt, it is expected that a two shilling one be brought with each certificate when presented for payment.

THIS is to give notice, that his Majesty has been graciously pleased to give the sum of one hundred guineas to be run for by horses, mares, or geldings, this season, at each of the following places, viz. Newmarket (three), Salisbury, Ipswich, Guildford, Nottingham, Winchester, Lincoln, By order of his Grace the Duke York, Richmond, in Yorkshire; of Montrose, Master of the Horse Lewes, Canterbury, Lichfield, to his Majesty. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Doncaster, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Ascot-Heath, and Warwick.

The particular days of running
will be notified at proper times.
Form of a Certificate.
These are to certify, that his
Majesty's plate of a hundred gui-

neas, was won at

the

day of 1814, by Mr. A. B.'s

horse called

C. D. Clerk of the Course.

WM. PARKER, Clerk of the Stables.

The King's-Mews, April 4, 1815.

ANIMALS AFFECTED BY CO-
LOURS.

IT is stated by Mr. Forbes (in his

interesting and splendid Oriential Memoirs"), that when at Dazagan in Concan, then belonging to the Mahrattas, he kept a *Lord Lieutenant of the chameleon for several weeks, and

E. F. Steward.

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County.

To the Master of the Horse
to His Majesty, at the
Office in the King's Mews,
London.

*The signature of the Lord Lieutenant alone is sufficient; but, in order to obtain that, it is necessary that he be shewn a certificate, signed by the Steward and the Clerk of the Course.

If the Lord Lieutenant be out of the kingdom, the signature of the person regularly deputed by him is admissible.

The certificate of the AscotHeath plate must be signed by the Master of his Majesty's Buck Hounds, instead of the Lord Lieutenant of the County.

N. B. The certificates, when properly signed, are payable at sight to the winner of the plate,

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paid great attention to its changing colours. Its general colour was "a pleasant green," spotted with pale blue. Its customary changes were to a bright yellow, a dark olive, and a dull green; but, when irritated, or when a dog approached, in which case fear was perhaps the operating cause, the body became considerably inflated, and the skin clouded like tortoiseshell, in shades of yellow, orange, green, and black: in these circumstances it appeared to most advantage. The animal was most singularly affected by any thing black: the skirting-board of the room was black, and the creature carefully avoided it; but if by chance he came near it, or if a black hat were placed in his way, be shrunk to a skeleton, and became as black as

jet.

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jet. It was evident, by the care he took to avoid those objects which occasioned this change, that it was painful to him. The colour seemed to operate like a poison.

"The fact," says the Quarterly Review," is highly curious, and deserves further investigation. We know but little of the manner in which animals are affected by colours, and that little is only known popularly. The buffalo and the bull are enraged by scarlet, which, according to the blind man's notion, acts upon them like the sound of a trumpet. It is because the viper has a like antipathy, that the viper-catchers present a red rag, when they provoke it to bite, to extract its fangs? Daffodils, or any bright yellow flowers, will decoy perch into a drum-net. He who wears a black hat in summer will have ten-fold the number of flies upon it that his companion will have upon a white one.— When more observations of this kind have been made and classified, they may lead to some consequences of practical utility. We have observed that black clothes attract and retain odours more sensibly than light ones: Is it not possible that they may more readily contract and communicate infection?"

AFFECTIONATE TREATMENT OF THEIR COW-KINE BY THE MOUNTAINEERS OF SWITZERLAND.

THE mountaineer of Switzerland

lives with his cows in a constant exchange of reciprocal acts of gratitude; the latter affording him almost whatever he wants, and the senn, in return, providing for and cherishing them, sometimes more than his own children. He never ill-treats his cattle, nor

makes use of a stick or a whip; a perfect cordiality seems to prevail between them both, and the voice of the keeper is sufficient to guide and govern the whole herd. The cow, in the Canton of Appenzell, enjoys more of that regard which is due to every useful creature, and is altogether more com◄ fortable, than thousands of human beings in Europe. Fine cattle are the pride of the cow-keeper who inhabits the Alps; not satisfied with their natural beauty, he adorns his best cows with large bells suspended from broad thongs, and the expense of such bells is carried even to a luxurious excess. Every senn has an harmonious set of bells, which chime in with the famous ranz des vaches. The inhabitants of the Tyrol bring a num ber of such bells, of all sizes, to every fair kept in the Canton of Appenzell. They are fixed on a broad strap, neatly pinked, cut out and embroidered, which is fastened round the cow's neck by means of a large buckle. One of the largest bells will cost from forty to fifty guilders, and'the whole peal of bells, including the thongs, will be worth a hundred and fifty guilders, while the whole apparel of the senn hinself, when in his best attire, does not amount to twenty. The finest black cow is adorned with the largest bells, the next in appearance have two smaller. These ornaments are not worn every day, but only on solemn occasions, viz. when in the spring they are led up the Alps, or removed from one pasture to another; or when they descend in autumn, or travel in winter to the different farms where their owners have contracted for hay. On such days the seun, even in the depth of winter, appears dressed in a fine white shirt, of

which the sleeves are rolled up above the elbow, neatly embroidered braces keep up bis yellow linen trowsers, which reach down to his shoes; a small leather cap covers his bead, and a new milk-bowl, of wood, skilfully carved, hangs across his left shoulder. Thus arranged, the senn proceeds singing the ranz des vaches, and followed by three or four goats; next comes the bandsomest cow with the great hell, then two others with smaller bells, and these are succeeded by the rest of the cattle, walking one after another, and having in their rear the bull, with a three-legged milking stool hanging upon his horns. The procession is closed by a sledge, on which are placed all the implements for the dairy. No beings can be more happy or more independent than these mountaineers. They adore their cows, love their children, respect their wives, and are kind to every creature.

BEARS AND CATS.

GOTTFRIED Mind, who lately died at Berne, in Switzerland, in his forty-sixth year, was so fa mous for his extraordinary delineations of bears and cats, that he obtained the name of the Cat's Raphael. Mind, it is said, was worthy of this epithet, not only on account of the correctness of his drawings, but more especially for the life and spirit which he transfused into them in his pictures. This affection for the feline race, might be termed fraternal. When he was at work, a favourite cat generally sat by his side, and he was often seen employed at his table with an old cat on his lap, and two or three kittens on both VOL. XLVI.-No. 271.

shoulders, or even in the hollow formed at the back of his neck, by the inclination of his head. Thus encumbered, he would sit for hours together at his work, and abstain from every motion that could in the least incommode his beloved favourites. In winter evenings, Mind used to amuse himself with carving bears, cats, and other animals in miniature, out of chesnut tree, with such accuracy and skill, that they had a rapid sale, and were bought up by many people as ornaments for their chimney pieces. It is to be regretted that insects attacked the wood, and soon destroyed these pretty little figures. Mind passed many of his happiest hours at the bear's den, in Berne, where, from remote antiquity, two live bears have been continually kept. No sooner did Friedli, for by that name he was known at Berne, make his appearance, than the bears hastened to him with a friendly kind of growl, and were invariably rewarded with a piece of bread, or an apple, from the pocket of their benefactor and friend. Next to cats and bears,

Mind derived the greatest delight from looking over works of art, particularly prints, in which ani mals were introduced. Among these the lions of Rubens, some pieces by Rembrandt, and Potter and Riedinger's stags, were the only copies he allowed to be excellent. Riedinger's bears, he characterised as absolute monsters : nor did he entertain a much more favourable opinion of the celebrated cats of Cornel, Vischer, and Hollar. On other works upon hunting and historical compositions, he often pronounced severe opinions, without the least regard to the celebrity of the master. The following parody of the verses

C

of

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ACCOUNT OF THE EQUESTRIAN PANTOMIME,

Founded on Dibdin's well-known Song of the "High-mettled Racer," which has been brought out at Astley's Theatre, Westminster-Bridge.

THIS grand Equestrian Pantomime, entitled, "The Life, Death, and Restoration of the High-mettled Racer; or, Harlequin on Horseback," was produced on Monday night, the 27th ult.

The busy spectacle commences with a well-executed view of a race course and grand stand, on which are seen assembled a motley groupe of company, some on foot and some on horseback, females as : well as males. Three beautiful racers next attract the attention, which are ridden by jockies, attired in the ordinary costume of the course. The signal being given for starting, the race commences, amidst loud shouts, and the racers start off at full speed, shaping their course over the stage, and then by a circuitous route across the Circus, and in again upon the stage on the opposite side. Although this distance is but short, yet from the art of the riders, who exhibit all the tricks usually practised on the turf, and the admirable training of the horses, the most perfect idea of a race is to be formed-indeed the scene only required to be changed from the theatre to the field, and the thing was complete. There

were three heats, which were eacls won by the High-mettled Racer, whose swiftness was hailed with thunders of applause. The scene was then changed to the tomb of Gulliver, towards which Tim Turf and Equestrian Sweepstakes, two of the dramatis persone in the previous scene, are seen leading two of the racers, which, placing their fore-feet on the tomb, remain perfectly quiet. The Ghost of Gulliver comes forth from his tomb, and after a short preface, in which he describes the virtues, and laments the abuses of the horse, he metamorphoses Tim Turf into Harlequin, and Equestrian Sweepstakes into Columbine. Old Sweepstakes, Looby Long Spurs, and Giles Jolt, then make their appearance, and in their turn change their shapes for Old Pantaloon, Lover, and Clown.

The customary frolics of a pantomime then commence, and a great number of excellent changes take place. Among other scenes is that of a real Fox Chase, which, if possible, for spirit exceeded the horse-race already described. The parties to the hunt are seen assembling near a hunting lodge and kennel, from which latter place a pack of excellent fox-hounds come forth in fine style, filling the whole house with their cries. The scene then changes to a mountainous country, and a company of about twenty fox-hunters, male and female, are seen trailing along the sides of the hills, and leaping over every obstacle which presents itself to their progress. At length an old dog gives tongue, and announces the discovery of the fox; the whole pack of hounds now rush across the stage in full cry, closely followed by the horsemen, horns blowing, and the view

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