A LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY. This Paper is Published Weekly, and may be had of the Booksellers in Manchester; of Agents in many of the principal Towns in the Kingdom; and of the News-carriers. The last column is open to ADVERTISEMENTS of a Literary and Scientific nature, comprising Education, Institutions, Sales of Libraries, &c. No. 37.-VOL. I. FOR THE IRIS. THE EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY. Nec DEUS ipse alio modo intelligi potest, nisi mens soluta quædam et liberata: segregata ab omni concre SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1822. PRICE 3 d. tione mortali; omnia sentiens et movens ; ipsaque præ-large. Of the former little is known. It appears, Egyptians, who equally reverenced the work of dita motu sempiterno. CICERO. TO suppose the finite to be able to comprehend the infinite, or the creature to measure the faculties of the creator, would be to evince a lamentable ignorance of the laws of nature. Still, however, did not experience prevent us, we should naturally conclude, that the religion of a people would be elevated as their manners were refined; that a certain ratio would invariably exist between mental cultivation and purity in religion; and consequently that the faith of the unpolished barbarians would be extremely superstitious, and that of the philosophical Egyptians free from any gross absurdities. Compared with the greatest nations of the antient world, Egypt stood pre-eminent. Greece and Rome received from her the rudiments of knowledge, the dogmas of philosophy, and the models of their political institutes. From her symbolic characters they derived their letters; to her instructions they were indebted for the knowledge of the polite arts; and from her fables they moulded their theogony. Egypt was the grand emporium of the antient world. Here the wise and the illiterate alike repaired for observation and instruction. Here the founder of cities sought for political, and the founder of schools for metaphysical theories. man reason. These numerous and discordant writers may, with some few exceptions, be divided into three classes. The first comprises those who affirm that the Egyptian deities were received and worshipped solely in return for the benefits they con veyed to man. Starving or sick I count it not a sin were the consequence of this absurd religion. To hang it up and flay it for its skin." Some have asserted that it was a mere physical The religion of the antient Egyptians has been system of philosophy, in which the elements of generally divided into the esoteric, which was nature were the only deities, others that the gods confined to a select number of the priesthood; of Egypt were men who were rewarded by an and the exoteric, which was addressed to, and apotheosis for their services to the state: and received the warmest support from, the people at others again have discovered in the deification of beasts and reptiles, a proof of the wisdom of the however, to have consisted, not so much of any an Almighty hand in the strength of the lion and system of morality, as of abstract speculations and idle theories, upon the nature of chaos, the the bull, or in the agility of meaner animals. To creation of matter, and other curious and intri-adduced by some as a proof of the greatness, sum up all, the mythology of Egypt has been cate subjects. The latter, which now falls more immediately under our observation, was composed by others as an evidence of the weakness of huof the grossest and most absurd superstitions. Beasts, fishes, reptiles, and even stones, were amongst its deities; and these, if we may credit the testimony of Cicero, received an homage of enthusiastic devotion altogether unknown to the noblest divinities of the Parthenon or the Capitol.+ Hero-deities are also generally supposed to have been received and adored in Egypt. I do not enter upon this controverted subject, as an examination of the arguments adduced by different authors to prove that the departed spirits of those men who had rendered great services to their country were, or were not, worshipped with divine honours, would extend this paper beyond the limits to which I am confined. I may, howI.-With the heathens of all ages and nations, ever, before I dismiss the subject, be perini ted it has ever been customary to pay extraordinary to remark, that an analogy betwixt Pagan my-mate things through which the divine bounty was honours to those beasts, and even to those inanithology and Jewish history has been carried to a perhaps unwarrantable extreme. Certain writers of profound erudition have discovered, not only a parallel to the minutest circumstances recorded in the books of Moses, in the ceremonies of idolatry, but a prototype for every hero-deity in the patriarchs, and antient worthies of the Jewish Osiris and Isis (the Jupiter and Juno of EgYP church. At the touch of their Ithuriel's wand, tian mythology) are transformed into Adam and Eve,-Apis into the patriarch Joseph. Vulcan into Tubal-Cain, and Niobe into Lot's wife; whilst Saturn and Hercules are the representatives The second are those who have referred not only the Egyptian mythology, but the whole system of polytheism and idolatry, under whatever forms, to the symbolic characters of Egypt for its origin. The third are of opinion that it arose from a physical system, misunderstood by the ignorant people, or misrepresented by the designing priesthood. conveyed; and Cicero has asserted, that the Egyptians consecrated their beasts and reptiles solely out of gratitude for the benefits derived from them. The Ibis, for instance, he assures us, owed its divine honours entirely to its usefulness in devouring and destroying the serpents other names both antient and modern of great with which the banks of the Nile abounded.+ This opinion, though advocated by Cicero, and weight, deserves, and has in general been treated with, but little attention. Many animals of no possible use to man, and some which were noxious and destructive were numbered amongst the tutions, did not obtain for Egypt a greater porYet the wisdom of her civil and political instition of admiration, than the absurdity of her religion did of contempt and abhorrence. With the Greeks and Romans, the religion and the gods of Egypt were a never-failing source of merriment. Alluding to the divine honours paid of Abraham and Joshua. In fine, each individual deities of Egypt, The frog and the serpent are by the Egyptians to the leek and onion, Juvenal ironically addresses a tribute of respect to the happy nation whose holy and prolific gardens produced an annual crop of deities!* Anaxandrides, a Greek poet, if possible still more happy in his raillery, thus addressed the people from whom the Greeks originally borrowed the fables of their own mythology : ""Tis plain that you and I can ne'er agree, • Satire xv. v. 1, &c. of note in the Mosaic history, is represented as having found a niche in the temples of Pagan superstition, disguised under the appellation, and clothed with the attributes of a deity. neither the most useful nor the least harmless of reptiles: yet both these were deified. The hippopotamus, the mouse, and the beetle, are The theories of those who have endeavoured to equally worthless, and, in Egypt, were equally elucidate the mysteries, and discover the origin also worshipped. The former, it is said, for desdivine! The ichneumon and the crocodile were of the Egyptian mythology, are innumerable. Upon no subject have greater zeal and talent troying the eggs of the latter; and yet, it is well been employed: and seldom has so much perse-known, those mothers thought themselves pecuverance been rewarded with less success. Upon liarly blessed whose children happened to be dethis wide field the theories of the speculative, and voured by the crocodile ! the researches of the learned have done their ut most. Some have advanced that the hieroglyphic characters were the cause, and others that they II. At the head of the second class stands the learned, the fanciful, Abbé Pluche. His theory, which, at least, deserves the praise and respect due to a profound acquaintance with the manners and religion of antient Egypt, has been treated lately published on the subject of the "Egyptian Mythology," with too much contempt. It is little known, The above translation is from a learned and valuable work by Dr. Prichard. + Etenim faua multa exspoliata et simulacra Deorum de locis sanctissimis ablata videmus a nostris; at vero ne fando quidem anditum est, crocodilam aut felim, ant ibim violatum ab Aegyptio.-Cic. De Nai. Deor. 1. i. ch. 29. See Gale's "Court of the Gentiles," vol. 1. part 1. book 2. chap. 2.-Edit. Oxon. 1669. Such, at least, is the opinion of a learned and judicious writer.-Bryant on the plagues of Egypt.' ↑ Ipsi, qui irridentur, Aegypti nullam beluam uisi ob aliquam utilitatem quam ex ea caperent, consecraveruut.-De Nat. Deor. Lib. 1. Ch. 36. Especially by Leland, in his Necessity and advantages of a Revelation.' even in the learned world: but it well deserves ceding the annual rising of the Nile, that a star Nearly allied to the above, is the theory of an our serious attention. of the first magnitude and greatest lustre as- antient writer with which we conclude.-"The The symbolic characters, or sacred letters-cended the heavens in the south, as if purposely Egyptian priests," says Porphyry," having proIɛgoyλupika-were, as the Abbé supposes, the intended to warn them of the approaching dan- fited by their diligent study of philosophy, and sole cause not only of the Egyptian, but of every ger. It no sooner disengaged itself from the their intimate acquaintance with the nature of the other system, of polytheism and its inseparable rays of the sun, and appeared before the dawn of gods, have learnt that the divinity permeates not day intensely shining in the heavens, than they human beings only; that man is not the only attendant, idolatry. Of these symbolic characters, the first traces are to be found in the signs of the were assured that the sun had entered Leo, and creature on earth possessed of a soul; but that Zodiac. These signs were invented before any consequently that the inundation must soon fol- nearly the same spiritual essence pervades all the migration to the banks of the Nile took place. low. The rising of this star would therefore be tribes of living creatures. On this account, in They could not have been invented in Egypt, as anxiously expected and diligently observed by fashioning images of their gods, they have they are inapplicable to the course of nature in every family. It served as a faithful dog to warn adopted the forms of all animals, and have somethat country. The sign Virgo, for instance, them of impending danger. They therefore times joined the human figure with those of characterizes the harvest, and refers to the month named it the dog-star, the barker, the monitor-beasts; at others, have combined the forms of men and birds; for some of these images have of August or September. The Egyptian harvest in the Egygtian language ANUBIS and (as from is gathered in March or April. Aquarius, which the rising of this star they commenced their year) the form of a man up to the neck, with the face evidently alludes to the rain and dulness of the door-keeper, the star that opens and shuts. of a bird, or a lion, or some other creature. winter, is also inappropriate to a country where The visible emblem of this star, was also pre- Others again have the head of a man, with the a shower was so great a phenomenon as to be sented to the people in some conspicuous and remainder of the body shaped like an animal.” If the truth is not to be found amongst the worthy of particular remark from an antient previously determined situation, under different characters. When it was intended to mark the various opinions and theories to which reference close of an old, and the opening of a new, year, has been made, it is much to be feared that it is the public sign was that of a door-keeper bearing beyond our grasp, and will for ever be hidden a key: or they placed upon the figure two heads from us. Liverpool. J. B. M. back to back ;-the one of an old man, to indicate the expiring year; the other of a youth, to But when the people were denote the new one. to be informed of the approaching inundation, instead of two human heads, they placed on the same trunk the head of a dog. historian. : Hence it is concluded, that among the children of Noah assembled round the tower of Babel, we must search for the primitive use and invention of these celestial signs. They found it expedient to declare, in characters easily intelligible, the approaching variations of climate; and thus to direct the operations of agriculture. They fixed upon, and exhibited in a certain public situation, the figures of those animals, or emblems, which were most calculated to attract the attention, and at the same time too simple to mislead the judgment of the common people. With these signs Cham and his followers, who first peopled the banks of the Nile, are supposed to have been well acquainted and the following circumstances gave rise to the whole system of the Egyptian mythology. Being ignorant of the periodical inundations of the river, the new colonists proceeded in their agricultural operations as in the country they had forsaken. But in the dryest season of the year, without any appearance of rain-their crops being now ready for the sickle-the Nile suddenly swelled in an astonishing manner. The water rose twelve or sixteen feet; deluged the adjacent plains; and buried both men and cattle, houses and fields, in one promiscuous ruin. Experience soon taught the survivors to distinguish the signs, and thus avoid the desolation, of this annual deluge. It would be observed that the inundation was preceded by a wind which blew from north to south, collecting the vapors in Nubia and Abyssinia, swelling the tributary streams of the Nile, and thus producing an inundation in those countries in which no rain had appeared. The colonists remembered the signs of the Zodiac, and, in imitation of these, framed another code of signals more suited to their new country and condition. To declare that the period of the wind which caused the deluge was arrived, the figure of a bird was used; -the feathered tribes being, on account of their swiftness, the fit emblems of the wind. Naturalists observe that the hawk dwells in the northern regions during the winter, and in the spring of the year hastens towards the south. This idea prevailed in the remotest antiquity.* This bird was therefore chosen to represent the annual northern wind-the precursor of the inundation. The southern wind, which preceded the fall of the Nile, was indicated by the whoop. This bird is said to emigrate from south to north; and it frequented the banks of the river about the period of its decrease, in search of the flies and insects ingendered in the mud and stagnant water left by the inundation. The Egyptians also observed, immediately pre See the Book of Job, xxxix. ver. 29. We cannot here follow the learned Abbé any further in his profound and complicated theory. Upon its general character the reader will, it is hoped, be able to form a tolerably correct judgment from the specimen brought forward. For a more intimate knowledge of the subject, we refer him to the work of the Abbé himself. Within the limits of this article, it would be in the highest degree presumptuous to attempt an examination, much more, a refutation of this learned work. I shall therefore merely remark, that the chief objection to this theory will be, that it does not agree with the opinion generally received, of the very remote origin of idolatry. A long period must have elapsed before the Egyptian signs were promulgated. A still longer period before these signs could possibly have been so far perverted as to have become the supposed representatives of the deities, and the objects of divine worship. III. The third, and perhaps most plausible theory is, that the Egyptian religion was the effect of a system of philosophy, which in the dawn of science prevailed in Egypt, and afterwards overspread the nations of the east. A learned author of the present day, to whom reference has been already made, has traced with a masterly hand the analogy between the religion of the antient Egyptians, and that of the Hindoos and other neighbouring nations, at the present hour. He finds that the doctrine of the metempsychosis was held by the one as it now is by the other, and justly concludes, that the same known effects resulted from the same acknowledged principles; that the superstitious veneration now paid by the Brahmin to the meanest insect, because it is supposed to contain the transmigrating soul of a departed friend or countryman, was formerly paid by the Egyptian to the same insignificant creatures, for the very same cause. But we cannot here give a fair summary of his arguments; and beg to refer our readers, for further information, to the learned work of Dr. Prichard. L'Histoire du Ciel.--An English translation bas been made. + The book of Job is universally acknowledged to be the most antient of which any language can boast. It is even referred by some learned men, upon good authority, to the fifth century, after the dispersion of mankid at Babel Yet when Jub wrote idolatry was not unknown. See chap. xxxi. verses 26-7-8. SCRAPIANA.-NO. XI. From the common-place book of a Lancashire Clergyman who flourished upwards of a century ago. The life of a gift is to be done in ye life of ye Silver in ye living Love cheaper than law one must give a great Lethe ye Persian's hell, haveing only one hole at ye top. Loftiest strains of Rhetorick, and ye most elo quent Oratory not able to define Eternity. We are fain to express it, as ye Painter drew ye picture of Helena, with a veil over it. Lick honey with your little finger. Little house well filled, a little land well till'd, a little wife well-will'd. Like as dock to a daisy, i. e. unlike. being most sweet be willing to dye. Lawrence. Lancashire for fair women. Loud as Tom of Lincoln-cast 1610, K. James? time. London lick-penny. London-bridge was made for wise men to go over, Let uter pendragon do what he can Life, contemplative, active and fruitive. A ly going beyond ye truth is properly called arrogancy; when short of it an irony. Aquinas. Lawyers best, when like bread they are fresh and new Physicians best, when like beer they are old and stale. VARIETIES. MERMAIDS. In a History of the Netherlands it is stated, that in the year 1403, the dikes were broken near Campvear by an inundation; and when the inundation had returned, a Merwoman was left in the Dermet Mere; and the milkmaids, who used to cross that Mere in boats, when they went to milk, saw a human head above water, but believed their eyes deceived them, till the repeated sight confirmed their assurance; whereupon, they resolved one night to watch her, and saw that she repaired to a feggy or flaggy place, where it was ebb, and near the side; whereupon, early in the inorning, they got a great many boats together, and environed the place in the form of a half moon, and disturbed her; but she attempting to get under the boats, and finding her way stopped up by staves and other things, on purpose fastened, began to flounce, and make a hideous deafening noise, and with her hands and tail sunk a boat or two, but at last was tired out and taken the maids used her kindly, and cleaned the seamoss and shells from off her, and offered her water, fish, milk, bread, &c. which she refused; but with good usage, in a day or two, they got her to eat and drink, though she endeavoured to make ber escape again to sea: her hair was long and black, her face human, her teeth very strong, her breasts and belly to the navel, were perfect, the lower parts of her body ended in a strong fish tail. The Magistrates of Haerlem commanded her to be sent to them, for that the Mere was within their jurisdiction; when she was brought thither, she was put into the Townhouse, and had a dame assigned to teach her; she learned to spin, and shew devotion to prayer; she would laugh, and when women came into the Town-house to spin with her for diversion, she would signify by signs she knew their meaning in some sort, though she could never be taught to speak; she would wear no clothes in summer; part of her hair was filleted up in a Dutch dress, and part hung long and naturally. She would have her tail in the water, and accordingly had a tub of water under her chair, made on purpose for her: she eat milk, water, bread, butter, and fish: she lived thus out of her element (except her tail) fifteen or sixteen years. Her picture was painted on a board with oil, and hangs now in the Town-house of Haerlem, with a subscription in letters of gold, giving an account when she was taken, how long she lived, and when she died, and in what church-yard she was buried; their annals mention her, and their books have her picture, and travelling painters draw her picture by the table. By the abovementioned relation the querist may be satisfied that she exceeds all the other creatures in cunning and docility that have ever yet been known. CAPTURE OF A CROCODILE. We were floating down the Nile one morning, within sight of Koum Ombos, when we observed a crocodile within fifty yards of us. Mr. Hanbury instantly fired, and struck it in the side; the monster crawled into the wafer, and then almost immediately on shore again. In the mean time, we brought the boat as near as we could, and the sailors landed with shouts after him; as they approach, he escapes once more into the water. The three boldest of them (two Nubians and an Arab) leap in after him; they soon discover him, and continue to elude his attempts to seize them, till one of the Nubians succeeds in finding his tail, and so drags him on shore. They then beat him with a hammer on the head, and a pistol-shot was fired into his neck; all of which he answered by groans and angry cries, till, after a long continuance of such treatment, he at last died. The operation of skinning was then begun; and, after taking the greater part of his flesh on board with them, they left the rest to the hawks and vnltures, of which multitudes had been long collecting on a neighbouring bank. It proved to be a female, and not more than ten feet long, though full grown, and old. There were several balls in the body, which it had received from the soldiers at different times, and some evidently very long ago; they were generally small, but there was a very large one towards the tail. The fatal one, which it had received from the common English gun of my friend, had passed quite through the body, and lodged in the skin on the other side; and I am quite sure that any part of the scales, except perhaps those just on the top of the back, is penetrable by ball at sixty yards, though the wouud may not always be mortal. There was a male near, who came to the spot immediately after we had left it, to seek his companion. We were surprised to find in its intestine about two hundred stones, one or two of which were not less than a pigeon's egg, It had a large tongue, of which the tip was fastened to the roof of the mouth, and four toes or claws on the fore feet, and five on the hinder, contrary to ancient custom, as exemplified in the Vatican, where are two sculptured crocodiles, of which neither has any tongue, and the one five, and the other six, claws, on the hind feet, as well as the fore. I have given these details, because, I believe, we are the only Egyptian travellers who ever had the fortune to witness the scene described by them.-Waddington's Visit to Ethiopia. UTILITY OF BIRDS. By devouring immense numbers of insects, birds preserve the fruits of the earth from destruction.-Mr. Bradley, in his general treatise on husbandry and gardening, opposes the common opinion that birds, and particularly sparrows, do much mischief in our gardens and fields. He proves that they are more useful than noxious. He shews that a pair of sparrows, during the time they have their young to feed, destroy every week, 3360 caterpillars, which of all insects are the most destractive to plants. He discovered from actual observation, that the two parents carried to the nest 40 caterpillars in an hour. He then supposes that the sparrows daily consumption of 480 caterpillars, which number enter the nest only twelve hours each day, which is a multiplied by seven, or the days in a week, give 3360 caterpillars extirpated weekly from a garden. These birds also feed their young with butterflies, and other winged insects, each of which, if not destroyed in this manner, would be the parent of some hundreds of caterpillars. In the sowing time it is known that sparrows destroy myriads of small worms, which would otherwise eat up the seed corn, and would thus prevent the crops from growing. By the late population report, the following fact is Wales, 3; Scotland, 40: total 100. elicited Men 100 years and upwards, England, 57; sent, not on account of any difficulty there is in solving them, but merely to satisfy you that they are not like some attempts that have been made in this way, incapable of being rationally answered. Yours, &c. Charade 1. S. X. My First may hang upon a lady's arm, Charade 2 Through many a dark and barbarous age, In mystic characters and sage, Long time my First had stood; Till cloath'd in flesh and blood. Ye Gods! how they would scamper! My Whole's a sort of wand'ring throne, To woman consecrate alone, The salique law reversing; Her royal plan rehearsing, MATHEMATICS. Solution of No. 41, by the Proposer. x + 1 Let ,7854d and d x * 2x + 2 circle. Then x x Women 100 years + 81 x and upwards, England, 111; Wales, 18; Scotland, 62: total 191. The Virginia Company, in 1620, sent over 160 girls, 'young and uncorrupt," and well recommended, to become wives to the planters. The price of a wife at first was one hundred pounds of tobacco, but increased to one hundred and fifty pounds, the value of which, in money, 9.x 2 d x area of the greatest 18+2 +812 2d 3 4x 18x +81x = =y, then, y4. gives y = 27, and x = 3. There is a slight imperfection, or rather redundancy, in the two following Charades ;-the constituent words, when compounded, having each a superfluous letter; but who requires extreme accuracy in mere bagatelles? The Publisher of any Miscellany, which admits questions of any description, should always be in possession of the answers, before he proposes them for solution; otherwise he may be imposed upon, or never receive answers, and his readers be ultimately disappointed.-In some respects, indeed, in would be desirable if answers were never printed; as every thing ceases to be interesting when the answer is generally known. Propose" the first, and the last, and the best CHARADE that ever was written," and the reply is immediately at the tongue's end,-" O! I've heard that before; I know the answer.' Inclosed you have the answers to the two Charades now the cone's base from the greatest circle of the spheroid, Again, let 81 2a and 54 2b, let c distance of and let the altitude of the cone equal z; Then the radius and its area of the base will be bz 1 ( - a2 1 1 4db222 X 292 POETRY. MR. EDITOR,-By way of prefacing a self-introduction, let me tell you I am a strange being, though not very old: verging on that period when I find the allurements of the other sex take most effect, my friends tell me, because I am very near that time of life when my own allurements will cease to move the more tender part of the creation, and to shew that I am not forsaken by the little wary God of Love and Poetry, I now and then pen a Sonnet to my Mistress' eye-brow, which I read to her when fortunate enough to receive an invitation to tea with her; and though the younger part of my acquaintance pretend to see no beauties in my verses, they never fail to infatuate my tender host, who, in a reverie, frequently adds an additional spoonful of tea to the already "weak and economical" beverage. Escorting her the other night from a friendly party, the moon shining most beautifully in the west, whilst the eastern part of the heavens was wrapt in a sombre mantle, from which the lightning momentarily darted with the brightest splendor, she was so struck with the grandeur of the scene that nothing but a piece of Poetry, to be inserted in the Iris, would satisfy her; to oblige my inamorata the following lines were composed, and now await the ordeal of approval by the Editor of that work, the Author not being quite so sanguine as she for whose amusement they were penned. Liverpool, Oct. 7, 1822. IGNOTO. WRITTEN IN A STORM ON A MOONLIGHT NIGHT. Yon beauteous orb, that lumes the murky sky, Seems to have lost her wonted majesty Before the tenfold brightness of each flash That startles nature; the tremendous crash Of jarring elements disturbs the night, As ever and anon 'tis wrapt in light; And the dissolving clouds in torrents spend Their waters on the earth, as to an end The pealing thunders draw; now all is still In nature, and the sparkling stars fulfil Their office, darting o'er this dreary scene With brightest splendour, as if nought had been, As nothing had disturb'd this dead of night, Or dimm'd their beauty, all again is light, And life, and joy; peace reigns again once more, Earth and the heavens shining as beforeThe sea is calm, reflecting on its face Each shining orb, the aged boatmen trace Again their way, as guided by their light, They dare defy the darkness of the nightRobb'd of its horrors, 'tis a soothing hour At night to walk, reflection has its power To strike the soul, in every orb we see, In every star behold thy Majesty. Oh, God! the shining firmament and sky Declare thy power thro' all Eternity! Thy every work declares the power divine Which made us what we are, and made us thine. IGNOTO. THE FISHERMAN'S RETURN. Far far away o'er the western sea, Oh, swiftly may she sail! I know her by the streamer red, But, look, the winds, the waves, arise, I see, I see the lightning's gleam! Oh, is it not?-it is a scream, That strikes upon mine ear! Child, love thy mother! She, with tearful eye, Tends the slow progress of thy opening mind; Removes the cause of every infant sigh, And by her practice lures thee to be kind. Child, love thy mother! calm her beating heart, That throbs, affectionate, with care for thee; Compose her anxious breast with playful art, Press her soft lips, and prattle at her knee. Child, love thy mother! let thy lisping tongue, In broken accents charm her wond'ring ear; And, when again upon her bosom hung, Say, "O Mamma! I love, I love you dear." Child, love thy mother! the reflected beam Will throw new lustre o'er thy mother's name. LINES, Then, Sir, if you think I shall suit- you will write, P. S. I've not mentioned my fortune-but that you know "Is the root of all evil"-the source of all woe. CORRESPONDENCE. TO THE EDITOR, SIR, It is not the least interesting or valuable feature in a publication like the Iris, that it furnishes the means of giving publicity to any suggestion which may be considered to be of general utility. The importance of any idea which may be offered, can also be fully canvassed through the same medium. I have several times heard it stated in conversation, that it would be very desirable that the Manchester Exchange were appropriated to some other purpose than that for which it is used at present, and that the Infirmary were converted into a place of rendezvous for our merchants. I will briefly state a few of the reasons which induce me to entertain a favourable opinion of the suggested alteration. I. The removal of the Infirmary out of town to some more airy situation, as for instance, upon the road to Cheetham Hill, or the vicinity of Strangeways, would, in my opinion, be an improvement. Written by a Gentleman, at Barmouth,* during | suitable and convenient promenade for our merchants, II. The gardens of the Infirmary would be a very who would there be seldom annoyed by intruders, and seldom incommoded for want of room. the Bathing Season. On Barmouth's wide strand, by the waves gently rolling, Nor was there aught here that could drive her away. : A neat little sea-port town, in North Wales, consisting principally of a single irregular street, one side of which is built upon the solid rocky mountain, of a stupendous height. The habitations of the peasants and fishermen are mostly erected upon that immense and continuous rock, and bear, it is said, no slight resemblance to the celebrated fortress of Gibraltar. It is one of the pleasant objects of the place, to see the natives in their little fishing boats, on a fine morning, when the sea is calm, and its wide extended surface, unrippled by a breeze. The village itself, viewed from the ocean, is the most picturesque and romantic imaginable. On account of the excellence of the beach, it is esteemed an admirable bathing place, and has been much frequented, within the last 20 or 30 years, by strangers from various and even remote parts of the kingdom. TO AGABUS, AT LIVERPOOL. Oh, Sir, I have read the first wish of your heart; III. The situation of the present Exchange is much too crowded; and the merchants when they surround the door, not only inconvenience passengers, but are themselves inconvenienced on the same account. I intended to say something more upon the subject ; but I have already, I fear, lengthened my letter too much and I have another suggestion to offer to the mercantile part of my townsmen. dinner hour is put off till about four or five o'clock, and, In some other towns the by this means, the labours of the day are, in many cases, finished in the morning. This is, I think, an arrangement which has many advantages to the employer and the persons employed, and would be worthy of adoption in Manchester. October 10th, 1822. CIVIS. prisoner on board a French ship, where he was a sailor, and conducted to England, where he obJoseph Kabris, born at Bordeaux, was taken tained permission to enter on board a whaler, destined for the South Seas. Escaped from the wreck of this vessel, which was lost on the coast of Noukahiwa (St. Catherine), in the Great Ocean, Kabris fell into the hands of the Anthropophagi, or Man-eaters, who were preparing to make lum suffer the fate of Marion, and, perhaps, of La Perouse; the club was actually lifted that was to fell him to the earth, when Valmaiska, the young daughter of the king, demanded and obtained mercy for him, and shortly afterwards married him, to the great disappointment of the gastronomes of the country, to whom the good condition exquisite cheer. of Kabris had excited a hope of enjoying the most The morning after his marriage feast, in which Kabris had appeared with a mantle made of the bark of a tree, like that worn by the king, the monarch tattooed him himself, as the nobles of the island are tattooed; he traced, on the left side of his face, the sign which distinguishes the royal family of Noukahiwa. He was then invested with the functions of grand judge, and acquitted himself with much prudence and cleverness, which was promoted by the simplicity of the language and laws of this people, who do not yet embarrass the march of justice with numerous forms. The thief is tied for several days to a tree. An assassin is killed by the family of the deceased, his body divided between the different tribes. The traitor is flayed alive and thrown into the sea, as he is not thought worthy even of being eaten.-Kabris had been for nine years the father of a family, and enjoyed, in his eminent character of judge, family happiness and the favours of fortune, when he was carried away, in his sleep, as he says, by the Russian Captain Krusenstern. 6 her lands were laid waste, and her subjects plun- : appearance; but, instead of that, I saw only a parcel of plain-dressed men, with sensible faces, who came into council with their provisions in their hands. Their parsimony will ruin the king, my master, in the course of the war, if it be continued, for there is no contending with people whose nobles can live upon a shilling a day, and will do every thing for their country. The king, struck with this account, agreed to treat with them as an independent nation, and to put an end to the war. formance. MASTER MINASI'S CONCERT, Having taken these precautions against the worst, she returned to the hall where the Spaniards were banquetting, and, addressing herself to Alba, gave him an account of what had passed. The Duke, with his usual coldness, treated her tale as trifling, and urged the impossibility of restrain- The lovers of Music will have the opportunity of ing soldiers within such precise limits; but this hearing this astonishing little genius to great advantage reasoning did not satisfy or deceive the Countess this evening. We understand that he is to perform some she appealed to her letter of protection, and de- of the favourite and most difficult pieces of the celesired a written order from Duke Alba, command-brated Drouet, by which bis talents will be put most ing his people to restore what they had plundered. completely to the test. The room in which the perWhen he arrived at Petersburgh, he was ap- This, however, was what Alba would not under-formance is to take place, has been beautified and adorned pointed Professor of Swimming in the Imperial stand; on which she ordered her knights and for the occasion at great expence, and separate seats School for the Navy, and he returned to France soldiers into the hall, saying, You see that I am have also been prepared for the patrons of the perin 1817, on board the vessel which went to Rus-resolute, and I now give you my word that not sia to bring back the remainder of the French one of you shall leave this castle. As to force, do troops. It seems that Captain Krusenstern had not be advised to try it: you may perish, but you no other motive for carrying away Kabris, but to cannot get away with life to that army of which show this prodigy to his sovereign. When he you pretend to be the commander; for how could awoke, far from Valmaiska and his children, he this be if you were, indeed, its chief?' made many useless complaints, but, forced to resign himself to his fate, to make it more agreeable, he solicited permission to return to France. Soon after his arrival at Paris he was presented to the king, who showed him signs of his good will; and, sometime afterwards, he received a similar reception from the King of Prussia, who was then in that capital. 'Before returning to his native town, Kabris showed himself to the public, to levy on it the funds necessary for his journey to Bordeaux, whence he proposed to return to the South Seas, desiring again to propound the oracles of justice to the savages of Noukahiwa, whose manners he pretends to have improved. A young barrister, being reproached by his opponent, for his extreme youth, said, It is true that I am young, but my learned friend will find in the course of this trial that I have read old books.' SHORT HAND. Alba stared, now at the Countess, and now at the armed vassals, who seemed ready to second The specimen of short-hand which our correspondent her words, and retired to a window with Duke 'Stenographus" left at our office, having received the Henry of Brunswick, who, shrugging his shoul- approbation of several who have seen it, that gentleman ders, said, 'Nothing is left for it but compliance.clined to learn his system, and he purposes to teach it is induced to offer his services to any who may be in"This woman,' said Alba, seems very resolute.' through the medium of a written correspondence, withShe is so,' replied the Duke of Brunswick, out personal attendance. This mode, he observes, pos' and her vassals are not less determined; for they sesses peculiar advantages. The pupils are not restricted well know the right is on their side.' to time, they can have their lessons more or less frequently, as their other avocations may permit,-and, by transmitting specimens of their progress, to be returned with suitable remarks for their improvement, and by stating the difficulties that occur, which will be resolved in like manner, they have the system completely before individually, to which they may, at any future period, them, with a course of instructions adapted to themselves have recourse, when oral instructions would be irrecoverably lost. 'And our lives would be really in peril?' Kabris was possessed of good sense and some instruction: and, in his answers, displayed a degree of frankness, which does not permit us to The Duke subscribed the desired order in siapply to his stories, at least not too rigorously, lence, and presented it to his hostess, who, howthe epithet of tiresome, which originates in that ever, requested her guests to remain till it ap-| country where he was born. People who are peared whether the order was obeyed or not. A fond of observing curious relations, have re-request in her case was tantamount to a command; marked that this man, whose greatness had departed like a dream, chose the Cabinet de Illusions as the place to show himself in, and the Solon of Noukahiwa supplied the place of the dog Munito, at a theatre of Manonnettes.' DUKE ALBA IN RUDOLSTADT. A SCENE FROM THE CELEBRATED GERMAN WAR. AFTER the unfortunate battle of Mühlberg, the Elector John Frederick found himself obliged to submit to Charles V. and follow as prisoner in the Emperor's train, to the seige of his own fortress of Wittenberg; while another division of the Imperial army commanded by Duke Alba marched frym Jena on to Rudolstadt. This last city was under the rule of Catherine, Countess of Henneberg, who governed it for her young children, and who had wisely obtained for their lands an Imperial letter of protection. Alba, advancing into the territory of Rudolstadt, invited himself, his sons, and his generals, to breakfast with the Countess, an invitation that was of course accepted by the prudent Catherine! she received them as if they had been her best friends, spared no cost for their entertainment, and had all the outward show of satisfaction at their presence; but in the midst of the banquet came a messenger to the Countess, stating that they were obliged to stay till the messenger came REPUBLICAN SIMPLICITY. When Philip III. King of Spain, sent his ambassador to treat with the States of Holland, about their independency, he was shewn into an antichamber, where he waited to see the members of the states pass by. He staid some time, and seeing none but a parcel of plain-dressed men, with bundles in their hands, (which, as many of them came from distant provinces, contained their linen and provisions) he turned to his interpreter, and asked him when the states would come. The man replied, that those were the members whom he saw go by, upon which he wrote to the commanders in Chief of the Spanish army, to advise the king his master to make peace as soon as possible: in his letter was this remarkable passage; I expected to have seen in the states a splendid A MEDICAL OPINION. An unfortunate man, who had never drunk water enough to warrant the disease, was reduced to such a state by dropsy, that a consultation of the physicians was held upon his case. They agreed that tapping was necessary, and the poor patient was invited to submit to the operation, which he seemed inclined to do in spite of the Father, Father, do not let them tap you, (screamed the entreaties of his son, a boy of seven years old. "Oh, Urchin, in an agony of tears)-do any thing, but do not let them tap you?" "Why, my dear? (said the afflicted parent) it will do me good, and I shall live long to make you happy." No, Father, no, you will not; there never was any thing tapped in our house that lasted longer than a week." 66 CURIOUS ARITHMETICAL PARADOX. In an Arabic manuscript was found the following remarkable decision of a dispute ;-Two Arabians sat down to dinner; one had five loaves, the other three. A stranger passing by, desired permission to eat with them, which they agreed to. The stranger dined, laid down eight pieces of money, and departed. The proprietor of the five loaves took up five pieces, and left three for the other, who objected, an insisted for one half. The cause came on before Ali, the magistrate, who gave the following judgment: "Let the owner of the five loaves have seven pieces of money, and the owner of the three loaves one." Query the justice of the sentence?-- Answer. Ali's sentence was just; for, suppose the loaves to be divided each into three equal parts, making twentyfour parts in all the eight loaves, and each person to eat an equal or eighth part; therefore the stranger bad seven parts of the person who contributed five loaves, or fifteen parts, and only one of him who contributed three loaves, which make nine parts! |