Page images
PDF
EPUB

DUKE OF GORDON.

THE late Duke of Gordon, who was famous for his skill in mechanics, was especially remarkable for the exquisite finish of his workmanship in turning. His Grace's taste in this department was so well known, that Queen Charlotte, the mother of his present Majesty, once requested of the Duke to turn a set of neck ornaments for her, which he did in gold, in a style so much to the satisfaction of the royal personage for whom they were executed, that she was pleased to wear them at a drawing-room, and to express in the highest terms her admiration of the present. The Duke, in recounting this anecdote, used to laugh heartily at the idea of his success as a workman; "but," added he, jocularly, "I thought it as well to take myself off to Gordon Castle, else I might perhaps have been appointed necklace-maker to the Queen and the Princesses."

THE STOMACH.

THE stomach, to adopt a simile, is a very hospitable gentleman, who is unfashionable enough to live in a sunk story, as his ancestors have always done before him since the memory of man. The palate is the footman, whose duty it is to receive all strangers at the top of the stairs, and announce their rank and quality before they are suffered to descend to the apartments of his master. The latter is occasionally rather irritable and choleric, and, in such humours, scruples not to kick out his guests, when their company is disagreeable, who rush past the astonished footman at the landing-place, and make their exit with far less ceremony than precipitation. He always uniformly expresses the greatest horror at the very idea of receiving a second visit from the guests he had previously expelled; being no doubt in dread of the voluminous apologies which such a circumstance would render necessary for his rude and indefensible proceedings.

CRANIOLOGY.

WHEN the celebrated Professor Blumenbach was asked his opinion of Craniology, he thus expressed himself: "There is much in it that is true, and much that is new; but that which is true is not new, and that which is new is not true."

LORD BYRON.

BYRON would at times exceed the limits of temperance, and was then particularly kind-not violent or lachrymose. He was certainly rather fond of wine, and could bear a good deal. He has been known to put a bottle of claret to his mouth, and drink it off at a draught. He kept monks' gowns and hoods at the abbey; and used to delight sometimes in frightening his visitors in the gloomy galleries and chambers, so favourable to superstition and romance. One of his frolics was as follows:-A member of the select at the abbey was somewhat given to boasting, after a sufficient quantity of wine, of his freedom from superstitious fears. One dark midnight, Byron told him that he dared not go over the abbey alone at that hour; which piqued him so, that he forthwith took a candle, and proceeded to shew his fearlessness. Byron had previously put a servant into the stone coffin which then lay in the hall, dressed in the costume of a monk, who was to rise on a given signal, as though disturbed from his eternal sleep. It was not long before the hero of the scene had occasion to pass through the room where the coffin was; and as he approached it, up rose the monk, down went the candle---all was darkness; and the shrieks of the affrighted adventurer brought in the rest of the party to laugh at his terror. Boxing-matches were frequent among them; but Byron would never allow them to be carried beyond the limits of sport; for, on one occasion, when two of the party got up from table at twelve o'clock at night to box, and waxed rather warm, Byron rose, and said to another person, also at table-"Come, we must part them-these people, who are boxing now, will be shooting each other to-morrow morning ;"-and he accordingly made them shake hands. When there was no other person

PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA BY NAPOLEON.

121

at the Abbey, he used to box with his favourite servant, Rushton, for an hour every day, enveloped in seven flannel jackets and a Turkish cloak, till the perspiration ran from him; he would then hang down his head and shake the drops off like a dog. He kept a carriage (which, however, he seldom used) and riding horses; and always travelled with four horses when he came to London. He seldom went out any where, and was little known by the people about Newstead; but all those with whom he was in any way connected, speak of him as a good landlord and a kind man.-From an article in the Literary Gazette.

PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA BY NAPOLEON. A SINGULAR Occurrence in the life of this extraordinary man, and which seems to have escaped the notice of his biographers, is mentioned by Baron Larrey in his Memoires de Chirurgie Militaire, Vol. I. p. 274-5. It is known that, during his Egyptian campaign, Bonaparte crossed the desert to Suez, with the view of examining the harbour of that place, and, in the event of its answering his views, erecting fortifications to defend both the port and the town. On his arrival there, however, he was suddenly smitten with a desire to visit the eastern shore of the Red Sea, and plant his foot upon Asia; but as this could not be effected by land without making a long detour round the head of the Gulf, and through a burning sandy desert, he resolved to attempt to cross right over during the reflux of the tide, having previously ascertained that, in certain states of the wind, it was practicable to do so. Accordingly, providing himself with two Arab guides mounted on dromedaries, he descended into the bed of the Gulf on horseback, and reached the opposite shore without accident, notwithstanding the horses were up to their bellies in water, and at one or two places fairly obliged to swim. The return of the party, however, was not equally fortunate, and, if we understand our author correctly, some lives were lost. "It is believed to have been at this point," says Baron Larrey, who was himself of the party, and mentions the exploit with great apparent self-satisfaction, "that

L

Moses passed over with the Israelites to escape from the army of Pharaoh."

A GOOD WIFE.

A GENTLEMAN, the other evening, ended an oration in favour of the fair sex with these words, Ah! Sir, nothing beats a good wife." "I beg your pardon," rejoined one of the company, a bad husband does."

66

THE CUCKOO.

THERE is at present in the possession of Mr. George Carfrae, at Currie, a cuckoo, which was brought up by him from the nest, and, after surviving the winter, is in excellent health and condition. This is the only instance known of a bird of that species living in our climate during the period of migration, when so many of our summer songsters are obliged to seek in southern countries the food and warmth denied them in the northern regions of the globe. It was procured in the end of July last, and has been principally fed on raw meat, cut into small pieces, although it evinces a manifest predilection for insects of all kinds. About two months ago it was first heard to emit the wellknown cry peculiar to the species, which it has frequently repeated since. At present it has nearly assumed the blue colour of the adult bird, the moulting process having commenced several weeks ago. During the winter it manifested no propensity to become torpid. It was exhibited at a late meeting of the Wernerian Natural History Society, where it conducted itself so as to give great delight to all the members present.

[graphic]

WEATHER PROGNOSTICS.

WHEN the clouds are red in the west, with a tint of purple, it portends fine weather, because the air when dry refracts more red or heat-making rays; and as dry air is not perfectly transparent, they are again. reflected in the horizon. A coppery or yellow sun-set generally foretells rain; but, as an indication of wet weather approaching, nothing is more certain than a halo round the moon, which is produced by the precipitated water; and the larger the circle, the nearer the clouds, and, consequently, the more ready to fall. As to the rainbow, the old proverb is correct :

"A rainbow in the morning is the shepherd's warning;
"A rainbow at night is the shepherd's delight."

It may be thus explained. A rainbow can only occur when the clouds containing or depositing the rain are opposite to the sun,-and in the evening the rainbow is in the east, and in the morning in the west; and as our heavy rains in this climate are usually brought by the westerly wind, a rainbow in the west indicates that the bad weather is on the road, by the wind, to us; whereas the rainbow in the east proves that the rain in these clouds is passing from us. When swallows fly high, fine weather is to be expected or continued ; but when they fly low, and close to the ground, rain is almost surely approaching, because swallows follow the flies and gnats, and flies and gnats usually delight in warm strata of air; and as warm air is lighter, and usually moister than cold air, when the warm strata of air are high, there is less chance of moisture being thrown down from them by the mixture with cold air; but when the warm and moist air is close to the surface, it is almost certain that, as the cold air flows down into it, a deposition of water will take place. The augury of the ancients was a good deal founded upon the observation of the instinct of birds, and there are many superstitions of the vulgar owing to the same source. For anglers, in spring, it is always unlucky to see single magpies, but two may be always regarded as a favourable omen; and the reason is, that in cold and stormy weather, one magpie alone leaves the nest in search of food, the other remaining sitting upon the

« PreviousContinue »