UNFORTUNATE REMINISCENCES. THE harmony of New South Wales is occasionally disturbed by English recollections. It would be better if some of the colonists knew less of the early history of each other. The following is an instance in point:-A very worthy as well as wealthy magistrate, who did not leave England for biggingo Kirks (as the Scotch phrase has it), happening to take offence at the manner in which he was addressed by an attorney, on his travels in that colony, observed, "You need not hold your head so high, sir, I remember the day when you had not a shilling in your pocket." "And I remember the day (retorted the attorney), when, if I had a shilling in my pocket, I should not have been able to keep it long in your company.” A PROPOSITION. "WELL, sir," said one person to another, to whom he had, in a matter of business, made a very absurd offer, "do you entertain my proposition ?” "No, sir," replied the other, "but your proposition entertains me." PREFACE. LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF SCOTLAND. "The treasures of antiquity laid up In old heroic rolls I opened." Of the Queens of Scotland, generally, how little is known; and yet how important were the parts they played in their day? How prominently were they engaged in many of the stormy scenes of civil broil, religious and political intrigue, which distracted Scotland during the reigns of the unfortunate Stuarts! From the earlyand in many instances violent-deaths of the Scotch Kings, causing almost every reign to commence with a long minority, during which the struggle for power lay between the Queen Mother and the powerful nobles of the realm, much of a deeply interesting nature is connected with the narratives of their lives; the affection or ambition of a mother, a stranger in the land, striving for the guardianship of her son and the political power which it involved, against a turbulent nobility, always in search of their own aggrandizement, and contemptuous alike of foreign and female domination. Events of such importance, and passions of such lasting interest to human nature, are involved in the lives of the Scotch Queens, that their details can scarcely prove less interesting than those contained in the Companion Lives of the New School of Historical Biography, originated by the author of the Lives of the Queen's of England. It is supposed this may induce those, who have not, to look into the history. A PEEP AT GARRAWAY'S. THEY don't stand any nonsense at Garraway's. There is no time to consider, the biddings fly about like lightning. Buying and selling, at Garraway's, is done like conjuring-the lots are disposed of by hocus-pocus. So rapidly does the little nimble hammer fall on the desk, that one might well imagine himself near an undertaker's shop with very lively business. We said that the first "seller" was one of the rising men, with dark bushy whiskers, a sharp twinkling eye, that was everywhere at once, and a strong piercing voice. He let off his words in sharp cracks like detonating balls. By way of starting pleasantly, he flung himself into an attitude that looked like one of stark defiance, scowling with his dark eyes, on the assembled buyers, as though they were plotting together to poison him with his own drugs. Up went the first lots—a pleasant assortment of nine hundred cases of castor oil, two hundred chests of rhubarb, and three hundred and fifty serons of yellow bark. The rising broker stormed and raved, as bid followed bid, piercing the murmuring din with sharp expletives. One, two, three, four-the nine hundred cases were disposed of in no time by some miraculous process of short-hand auctioneering known only at Garraway's. 66 A WONDERFUL MEDICINE. AN American vender of a universal medicine declares that, if his prescriptions be followed liberally, a cure is certain. This medicine is to be taken internally, externally, and eternally. INTEMPERANCE IN POETS. BYRON is a prominent example in point-we all know whence he was wont to draw his inspiration. Burns had a similar taste. Pope remarks, that Parnell was a great follower of drams, and very strange and scandalous in his debaucheries. Pope also tells us, that Cowley's death was occasioned by a mean accident, while his great friend, Dean Pratt, was on a visit with him at Chertsey. They had been together to see a neighbour of Cowley's, who, according to the fashion of the times, made them too welcome. They did not set out on their walk home till it was too late, and had drank so deep, they lay out in the fields all night. This gave Cowley the fever, and carried him off. Pope himself, according to Dr. King, hastened his end by drinking spirits. Indeed, in the time of Queen Anne, drunkenness, was rather popular and fashionable than otherwise. In the manuscripts of the British Museum, there is a letter from the private secretary of the celebrated Duchess of Marlborough, addressed to Pope, which begins thus:"Sir, my lady the Duchess being drunk, was unable to see you when you called yesterday." Shakspeare and Ben Johnson sometimes drank too hard; and if the vicar of Stratford-upon-Avon may be credited, the former died of a fever contracted at a merry meeting," with Johnson and Drayton. Prior was not free from the charge of intemperance. We are told that the temper of Addison, was jealous and taciturn, until "thawed by wine." Dryden, in his youthful days, was conspicuous for his sobriety; but for the last ten years of his life, observes Dennis, he was much acquainted with Addison, and drank with him even more than ever he used to do, probably so far as to hasten his end. Lamb was a victim to the habit, and has left a touching confession of the misery it occasioned him. Coleridge was addicted to the free use of opium, and his gifted but erratic son, Hartley, was a miserable drunkard. The last days of Thomas Campbell were embittered by his habits of too great conviviality, to use no harsher name. LONGEVITY. THERE is something very conducive to longevity, in holding office. To make a man live till eighty, all that's necessary is to give him a salary of ten thousand a-year. PROGRESS. THERE is nothing so revolutionary, because there is nothing so unnatural and so convulsive to society, as the strain to keep things fixed, when all the world is, by the very law of its creation, in eternal progress; and the cause of all the evils in the world may be traced to that natural, but that most deadly error of human indolence and corruption-that our business is to preserve and not to improve. It is the ruin of us all alike, individuals, schools, and nations. ine. "Go away!" said Muggins, "you can't stuff sich nonsense in Six feet in his boots! Bah! no man as lives stands more ner two feet in his boots, and no use talking about it. Might as well tell me the man had six heads in his hat!" HEZ called upon the gentleman who advertised to restore oil paintings, and requested him to restore a valuable landscape which was stolen from him two years ago. To say little and perform much is the characteristic of a great man. IN reflecting on the past, we acquire a knowledge which we call experience. "Sleepest thou my friend ?" "Yes, and what would'st thou if I did not sleep?" "I would that thou mightest lend me a guinea." "Oh! I sleep my dear friend.” THOSE who torment their debtors advance not always their affairs. CANVASS OF AN INSURANCE AGENT. THE Manchester agent of an Assurance Company, gives the following curious results of a personal canvass at 1,349 houses, in seventy streets, in the district of Hulme and Charlton, chiefly rentals from £12 to £24 per annum. The inquiry shewed that there were 29 insured; 8 persons too old; 11 who never heard of life assurances, and who were anxious to have it explained to them; 471 who had heard of it, but did not understand it; 419 who were disinclined to assure; 19 favorable, if their surplus incomes were not otherwise invested; 89 persons who had it under consideration, with a view to assure, as soon as their arrangements were completed, and who appointed times for the agent to call again; 21 refused the circulars, or to allow an explanation; 175 doors not answered; 102 houses empty; 3 had sufficient property not to require it; 1 favorable, but afraid of litigation; 1 preferred the saving's bank; I used abusive language; 2 would trust their families to provide for themselves; and 1 had been rejected by an office, although he never was unwell, and was consequently afraid to try again, although very anxious. EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. "Force open the bud, and you spoil the rose." If we desire health and growth for our children, if we wish to ward off from them the whole train of nervous disease, to repel the hereditary tendencies to insanity and consumption, too prevalent in this country, we must exercise their minds only in the gentlest manner, we must follow the dictates of nature, which shew that we may cultivate the observation of children, that faculty being perceptible in its exercise, but forbids us to torture the memory, which is far from being improved by too early a culture. All poetry, except of the simplest character, such as the invaluable nursery rhymes, ought to be reserved to a riper age. A very spare allowance of hymns should be allotted, and reading should not even be begun till five, or in delicate children, till six years of age. Some parents will tell you, that their children will learn, and that they are never so happy as when they have a book before them. This disposition to sit still and to be amused with quiet and mental pleasures, should not be encouraged at any age, when the exercise of every muscle is required to develope the frame-when the brain is as yet only partially formed, and is too delicate to bear the pressure of mental cultivation. The happy carelessness of childhood, often imputed by the ignorant as a fault, is the most promising trait in the child. To boys, and indeed to girls, the diversion afforded by building with bricks, and the use of the hammer as they grow older, and of such tools as it is safe for them to use, are far more healthy, and consequently more improving employment, than spelling hard words, or reckoning up unfathomable sums VOL. I. S 66 occupation which should never be undertaken under eight or nine years of age. In fact, the powers that are overstretched in infancy, generally degenerates as years pass on; a kind of collapse takes place, which is in some cases, never recovered. It is finely said, "that happiness is the best moral atmosphere for man." How far the point may be argued, we are not prepared to decide, but of this we may be sure, that it is the best moral atmosphere for children. "Who," says a popular writer of the day, are but little people, yet they form a very important part of society, expend much of our capital, have considerable influence on the corn laws, employ a great portion of our population in their service, and occupy half the literati of the day for their instruction and amusement. They cause more trouble and anxiety than the national debt; the loveliest women, in the maturity of their charms, break not so many slumbers, nor occasion so many sighs, as they do in the cradle; and the handsomest men, with full-grown mustachoes, and Stultz, for tailor, must not flatter themselves that they are half so much admired, as they were in petticoats!" THE DREAM. When night's sable wing the hour repose, And the bright stars of Heaven are watching the earth, To give to the brightest creations their birth: dreamt that I roved in a far distant land, Where the orange tree grows and the green myrtle waves, In the evergreen bowers of that orient clime- Or the bulbul's sweet song when his own love he sings, But on earth every spot were celestial to me, If my Mary were there to lend joy to the hour. A HORSE dealer, who lately effected a sale, was offered a bottle of wine to confess the amimal's failings. The bottle was drank, and he then said, the horse had but two faults. "When turned loose he was bad to catch, and when he was, of no use when caught." |