lously administering to her necessity. Her eye glanced wildly round for another object, while the old lady strove to soothe her mind; informing her that 'twas herself who had discovered her in the avenue at the request of old Will. Refreshments were placed, of which Lucy partook sparingly, desirous of knowing, yet trembling to ask, whether Mr. M- was in the house, or had seen the worthy veteran, her kind conductor ? man-"This is no longer a home for you; however, you shall first have the satisfaction of facing your accuser;" and again ringing the bell, directed the servant to introduce the stranger. No culprit ever stood more agitated than M while these orders were given; he fixed his eyes upon the door in anxious expectation. But what were his feelings, what his agony, when Lucy herself appear'd! He would have rush'd towards her, but his Uncle caught his arm, and in a voice that made the poor girl tremble" No, Sir; would you again coil like a suake about your victim? Would you once more sting a bosom whose only fault was loving a villain? Go, Sir; you have forfeited all pretensions to my favour "Pray, Sir, (said the Admiral, entering the room abruptly, and addressing his nephew,) Pray, Sir, what does that man deserve who robs a friend of his dearest treasure-who, stealing into the confidence of a young and artless girl under the flag of affection, turns pirate, and plunders his prize with re--you have degraded my name-you morseless cruelty ?" The young man sat petrified, for these questions were precisely accordant to his own feelings previous to the entrance of his Uncle. "Answer me! (exclaimed the Admiral, raising his voice)-answer me directly!" I cannot, Sir, I am too sensible of error.' "Or what does he merit (continued the Admiral) who, contrary to the views of a relative who has raised him to opulence, first contracted himself to a young female, and then deserted her?" 'Infamy-infamy and disgrace! (exclaimed the agonized M.) I feel it all-all, and shudder!' "You have judged right, Sir; your acquaintance with the poor distress'd child of Lieutenant B-I have just received information of, and your own lips have condemn'd you." Not so much as my heart, Sir, (replied M.) Pass what sentence you please, but oh suffer me to expiate my fault-do not drive me to desperation!" "Tis well, Sir, you are convinced of your error ;" and ringing the bell violently, a servant appeared: "Order Mr. M's horse to the door." Then turning to the young have disgraced yourself. Go, and let (Lon. Mag.) BON MOT.r.-A lady being asked what was the difference between a coquette and a woman of gallantry, answered, "The same that there is between a sharper and a thief." AN OLD SAILOR. at "Mr.Sergeant LENS has retired from the Bar." On reading the above, it appears that now the business of the Bar must go on Volens, as NO-LENS is requisite for the performance of it. (Lon. Mag.) BELZONI, THE TRAVELLER. UR poor friend, the enterprising BELZONI, is dead. He fell a sacrifice to the horrid climate of Africa, and died, after a few days' illness, at Benin, on the 3d of December last. His life is before the public in his works, and He was requires no memoir from us. altogether a man of remarkable character; had raised himself to fame by his own well-directed exertions, and perished in the pursuit of those literary and and scientific labours to which he had devoted the energies of a manly body and extraordinary mind. We had a warm esteem for him, and took a heartfelt interest in his undertakings. There is now before us the last memorial which he put into our hands on leaving England, when he expressed his fixed resolution to do something memorable for African geography, or never to return: it is the medal struck to his honour by his admiring Countrymen, and presented by his native city, Padua. It has two Egyptian divinities, seated on an altar-like seat, with the inscription-OB. DONVM. PATRIA. GRATA. A. And on the obverse MDCCCXIX. 10. BAPT. BELZON1 PATAVINO BELZONI was on his way to Housa and Timbuctoo. Of the route to the former place the following statement was given to him by the King of Benin. It is a journey of twenty-seven days; to Taboo, six; thence to Eyoo, three; thence to Tappa, nine; thence to Nyfoo, four; and thence, crossing the big water, considerably above Tongara, to Housa, three. At Tongara, the big water is said to be tremendously rapid, though wide. It flows to the southward, and is thought by some to be the Niger, which disembogues itself into the Bights of Beapor and Benin by the seven mouths called Benin, Dos Escravos, Dos Ramos, Bonny, New Calabar, Old Calabar, and Rio del Rey. Others hold that the Congo is the Niger, and that this big water is another great interior river. Let us mention to the honour of commercial liberality, that BELZONI unsupported by any public body or government, had the sum of two hundred pounds placed at his disposal by a private individual, Mr. Briggs, of Alexandria, whose letters of credit to that amount in dollars, were sent to Messrs. Briggs & Co. at Fez, with a commission to write to his correspondent at Timbuctoo, to supply the traveller with the sum in the gold coin of the country; and as much more as he might have occasion for, if ever he happily reachTo this grateful tribute we shall noted the place. BELZONI, it is known add any effusion of our own feelings, and regrets. Most sincerely do we mourn the event which has deprived the world of his services, and us of a personal friend. QVI. CEPHRENIS PYRAMIDEM ET VRBEM. RERINICIS IMPAVIDE DETEXIT. altered his route in consequence of the Emperor of Morocco's interdict! and, Heaven rest his ashes! lies buried at Benin. country, while the young girls filled the skins which contain the water, and which they all carry on their backs into the town." Mr. FORBES mentions, that in the East, women of the first distinction, like Rebecca and Rachel, draw water at the public wells, and tend their cattle; and that in some of the villages the young women carry two or three earthen jars, placed over each other, upon their head, which requiring perfect steadiness gives them an erect and stately air. He observes, however, that there is a distinction in point of rank observable in the manner in which they carry their pitchers. The higher class place them on the shoulder, as Rebecca did; the lower bear them on their head. In another part of his work he gives the following characteristic sketches of their obliging and attentive manners. "I sometimes frequented places where the natives had never seen an European, and were ignorant of every thing concerning us; there I beheld manners and customs simple as were those in the patriarchal age. There, in the very style of Re becca and the damsels of Mesopotamia, the Hindoo villagers treated me with that artless hospitality so delightful in the poems of Homer, and other ancient records. On a sultry day, near a Zinore village, having rode faster than my attendants, while waiting their arrival under a tamarind tree, a young woman came to the well. I asked for a little water: but, neither of us having a drinking-vessel, she hastily left me, as I imagined, to bring an earthen cup for the purpose, as I should have polluted a vessel of metal; but as Jael, when Sisera asked for water gave him milk, and brought forth butter in a lordly dish, so did this village-damsel, with more sincerity than Heber's wife, bring me a pot of milk, and a lump of butter, on the delicate leaf of the banana, the lordly dish of the Hindoos. The former I gladly accepted; on my declining the latter, she immediately made it up into two balls, and gave one to each of the oxen that drew my hackery. Butter is a luxury to these animals, and enables them to bear additional fatigue." MARRIAGE PORTIONS. GENESIS XXXiv. 12. "Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me but give me the damsel to wife."It was usual for the bridegroom to give to his bride or her father a dowry or portion of money or goods, as a kind of purchase for her person. That this was the custom among the Greeks and other ancient nations is abundantly evident from Homer and other classical writers. But the practice is still continued in some of the Asiatic countries. "The modern Arabs, who live under tents," observes DE LA ROQUE, "purchase their wives; and fathers are never more happy than when they have many daughters. This is in many cases the principal part of the riches of a house. Accordingly, when a young man would treat with a person whose daughter he is inclined to marry, he says to him, 'Will you give me your daughter for fifty sheep? for six camels? or for a dozen cows?' If he be not rich enough to make such offers, he will propose the giving her to him for a mare or a young colt: considering in the offer the merit of the young woman, the rank of her family, and the circumstances of him that desires to marry her. When these preliminaries are agreed upon on both sides, the contract is drawn up by him who acts as cadi, or judge, among them." THUNBERG alludes to the same practice as still prevailing in Japan; and observes, that the more daughters a man has and the handsomer they are, the richer he esteems himself; it being the established custom for suitors to make presents to their father-in-law before they obtain his daughter. EASTERN LAMENTATIONS. GENESIS 1. 10. "They mourned with a great and very sore lamentation." "This," observes M. CHAR DIN, "is exactly the genius of the people of Asia, especially of the women. Their sentiments of joy or grief are properly transports, and their transports are ungoverned, excessive, and outrageous. When any one returns from a long journey, or dies, his family burst into cries that may be heard twenty doors off; and this is renewed at different times and continues many days, according to the strength of the passion. Especially are these cries long in case of death, and frightful; for their mourning is downright despair and an image of hell. I was lodged, at Ispahan, near the royal square. The mistress of the next house to mine died at that time. The moment she expired, all the family, to the number of twenty-five or thirty people, set up such a furious cry that I was quite startled, and was above two hours before I could recover myself. Sir, These cries continue a long time, then cease all at once; they begin again as suddenly at day break, and in concert. It is this suddenness which is so terrifying, together with a greater shrilness and loudness than one would easily imagine. This enraged kind of mourning continued for forty days; not equally violent, but with diminution from day to day. The longest and most violent acts were, when they washed the body, when they perfumed it, when they carried it out to be interred, at making the inventory, and when they divided the effects. You are not, however, to suppose that those who were ready to split their throats with crying out wept as much: the greater part of them did not shed a single tear through the whole tragedy." THE HEN-PECKED AUTHOR. (Ackerman's Repos.) Tis my misfortune to be wedded to a shrew, by whom I am most grievously hen-pecked. "A wife," they say, "should be taken down in her wedding shoes;" but, having failed to do so, mine has become my better half in earnest, or rather, my threequarters, as I call her, though not to her face. Now this is perhaps the greatest evil that could befall a poor author, and to me in particular it is so; for my three-quarters is one of those matter-of-fact persons who are very upas-trees to genius. She is so averse to my occupation, that it is only by stealth I am enabled to commit to paper the fruit of my meditations. The answer to my remonstrances against such treatment always is, "What good is to come of all this nonsense?" To attempt to reason her out of her ignorant prejudices would be downright folly. The door of her understanding seems closed against any thing like argument. As well might the beggar expect relief after the door has been shut against him by the thrifty housewife, as I to be listened to when once she has given her opinion. If I sit down to write, she is sure to find some cause for interrupting me: I am to go on some message or other; I must surrender the quill, and drop the thread of my subject, to submit my hands to serve as a spindle while she unravels some miles of cotton-twist; and at the same time have my thoughts diverted, and my patience exhausted, by a lecture on the comparative merits of brown and white soap, or some equally important topic; or I must, forsooth, prostitute my talents and waste my time in drawing out an estimate of the difference of expense between finding the maids in ATHENEUM VOL. 1. 2d serics 36 tea and sugar, or giving them a guinea in lieu. It is washing week, perhaps, and I must walk out with the children, or have a legion of noisy brats quartered on me for the day; or my three-quarters wants something from the market-town, and I must drive her in the pony-chaise. All this, to an author who has his head brimful of noble ideas, which he pants to commit to paper, is purgatory itself. Suppose, however, that it is not washing week, and that I have seen my rib-rib, do I say? surely the order of creation must, in such cases as mine, be reversed-well, suppose I have seen my wife (for that word does not imply any thing like subjection), or, if that wont do, my mistress, busily engaged in some domestic occupation, or quietly employed in scolding the maids-a job in which, being congenial to her disposition, she evinces the utmost sang froid, and which once begun, does not readily endthat, taking advantage of this diversion in my favour, I have seated myself snugly down to some favourite work. Well, just as I have got to an interesting passage, and my pen begins to move in unison with my rapidly conceived ideas, in bounces my three-quarters with a ponderous bundle under her arm, and, with the well-known exclamation of, "At your nonsense again, Mr. Quill!" sweeps all the noble plans which I have been cutting out for the good of the nation off the table, to make room for the calicoes which she is going to cut out for the children. Should I seek refuge from this Gothic inroad in a bed-room (for my dressing-room has long been converted into a store-room), I am quickly unkenneled by some Vandal of a housemaid (for my wife, like most scolds, is most insufferably cleanly in her house), and compelled again to break cover. It is ten to one but in a fit of rage I throw my MS. into the fire, and thus perhaps the finest scheme for the salvation of millions ends in smoke. meat-pot is sufficient to throw me into fits. The sight of a hare coming into the house takes away my appetite for the day; and I would rather walk thirty miles than go near the store-room, where the sight of my mutilated pamphlet, ranged in military order on the shelves, is sufficient to throw me into a fit of the blues. My very children, Mr. Editor, are set in array against me. The chickens, as well as the hen, have all a peck at me in turn, The baby may tear my papers with impuni From your soul do not you pity me, Mr. Editor? But how will it harrow up your editorial feelings when I tell you, that, returning from town after a short absence on business of my wife's (for I am not allowed to have any of my own), and having taken, that opportunity to bargain with a booksel-ty, and the elder ones may pull them about, ler for the publication of a pamphlet, or spill the ink over my writing; while a which, as you may suppose from the diffi- page of "pa's nonsense" is, at any time, culties I labour under, must have cost me a a trophy worthy of being exchanged for a world of trouble and anxiety to compose, I sugar-plum. found that my three-quarters had got hold of the MS. and cut it up! Aye, cut it up, Mr. Editor, and before it was published (had she cut it up afterwards, it would have been but fair criticism, whether she had read it or not); and cut it up into what do you suppose? Into coverings for jam-pots! Heavens my grand work on the liquidation of the national debt to be used as a covering for jam-pots! This was more than flesh and blood could bear. In short, it produced such a fracas as almost to end in a separation. It would have been well for the world had it been so; but unhappily the little property we possess came through my wife, and is so settled, that had we parted, I must have depended entirely on my brain for subsistence, and I was not then sufficiently convinced of its provisional powers to trust to its resources. Here I would caution my friends, about to enter the marriage state, never, as they value their peace, to submit to such a settlement; or, whatever fortune a wife may bring, not to let the purse-strings out of their own hands; for as sure as ever she gets them she will turn them into reins, and then she will not only wear the breeches, but the boots and spurs also. This horrible catastrophe of the jam-pots haunts me to this day. The very sight of a sweet Once, when I had smuggled a quire of foolscap into the house, it caught my wife's eye. "Ho! ho! Mr. Quill, that foolscap is to be filled by your fool's head I suppose?" This was a hard hit, and one which I did not expect from that quarter; but I thought to turn it to account, so I attacked my three-quarters on the side of her vanity, by praising her wit But, no, it would not do; I found her impenetrable to flattery on that point. It was clear that the bon-mot had escaped her almost involuntarily, and that she was scarcely conscious she had said any thing out of the common way. Since this I have given up all attempts to reconcile her to my literary pursuits, which I am compelled to carry on in the old way, in holes and corners, and by sly opportunities. No wonder then if my pen, instead of displaying boldness, originality, and freedom, should partake but of the obliquity of my unfortunate situation. If, Mr. Editor, you are desirous of my future contributions, pray give an early place to this statement, which, when she sees it in print, may perhaps produce some change of conduct in my three-quarters; for unless that be effected, I can promise you but little, and that but of indifferent quality. I am, yours, &c. &c. &c. JEREMY QUILL. NEW LAMP. We have just seen one of the neatest and most convenient little inventions of the selfilluminating lamp kind which has been contrived for public use. The name of the inventor is, we understand, Mr. H. Berry. The lamp consists of a small tin box, about six inches long and three wide; it is divided longitudinally, and one of the divisions (out of which a wick rises,) is filled with oil or spirits of wine. On the other side there is an apparatus, the principal parts of which are, a sort of reel of three points, and a pulley to which a silk string of any length is attached; on pulling this, the reel makes one movement, and the first point, which is armed with a match, strikes against the wick, and instantly ignites it. A clear and bright flame is thus lighted, and will burn for eighteen hours, at a very trifling expense: threepence per week, we are assured, will keep the machine in trim. The utility of this lamp struck us much. How convenient to the studious to have in their midnight watch only to apply to the slight silken cord, which they have laid near their pillow,for an agreeable light upon the table where their lamp was left amid books and papers? For the invalid, for all who dislike sleeping in a lighted chamber, for carriage travellers in the night, for the library and letter-sealing in summer when fires are not wanted-in short, for general use, we consider this to be a most eligible invention; and we have no doubt that it will, as soon as known, become a common article of conveniency. We cannot pronounce, without experience, whether it is likely to remain long in perfect repair; but this is essential to its manufacture, and we recommend it to the care of the inventor. |