MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE. THE BYSTANDER. A CHAPTER ON DRINKING. THERE can be little doubt that there is less hard drinking in civilized society now-a-days, than there used to be when I was young. Probably this may be one cause why temperance societies are so popular. The gallows is not a general favourite with thieves; and institutions for the enforcement of sobriety would, we suspect, be looked upon with an unfriendly eye among a nation of decided topers. Some phrenologists have suggested an organ of alimentiveness. If their farther research shall establish the existence of separate organs for the propensities of eating and drinking, (and I see no reason why there should not, since it has been found necessary to supply us with one organ to perceive differences, and another to perceive likenesses,) I will take an even bet that the exponent, or indicative bump, is much larger in the men of the eighteenth than in those of the nineteenth century. Gentle men have positively discovered that it is possible to find one's way to the drawingroom sober. were both of them well to live. Away they went at a rattling trot, up hill, down dale, and across a ford at the mouth of the Urr, which can only be passed at low water, At last the horse stopped at the hall-door, and John began to bawl most lustily upon the handmaidens to come and assist their mistress to dismount. But the stream of light which issued from the opening door, diffusing itself far down the avenue, and flashing upwards upon the leaves of the embowering trees, fell upon the form of no mistress. Loud was the outcry, and instantly the assembled household was out with lanterns and torches to seek for "the lost one," as a sentimental poet might have termed her. A column of light rose high in the air as the phalanx moved along, and their shouts rose higher, and penetrated farther into the night. Carefully did they scan either side of the road, but no mistress was to be seen. The cold blast hurried by them, bearing on its wings intermittent bursts of rain. The wallowing sough of the rising tide was heard in the pauses of the blast. Dreadful forebodings began to arise in their minds. They were near the ford, and the tide rises upon that coast with a fearful rapidity. Their terror, however, was soon dispelled, for, on reaching the bed of the river, they found the good lady stretched upon her back, the small waves of the swelling water rippling into the corners of her mouth as she turned her face from one side to the other, exclaiming, in a voice of pettish displeasure" Nae mair, nae mair! Neither het nor cauld." There is something gigantic in the drinking legends of the last century. The story of "The Whistle" is known A state of society, in which such incidents were of no as far as the name of Burns reaches. But that drinking- unfrequent occurrence, could not well be remarkable for bout was a mere trifle, although the genius of the poet its polish. There was, indeed, a coarse tone diffused has conferred an undue importance upon it. A well-au- throughout it. The reader must not, however, fancy thenticated story still lingers in the memories of the in- that our fathers were without their redeeming qualities: habitants of the Glen-kens, of a party of jolly friends who | There is something in the mere consciousness of elevated kept together carousing for three days and three nights. rank, that communicates dignity and urbanity to a man's At the end of that period one of the party rose, and, not- deportment. Whoever feels himself in a situation which withstanding the most pressing solicitations of the land-raises him above the crowd into the gaze of the world, lord, bestowed his parting benediction upon the rest, mounted his horse, and rode off. The drink, however, had in some measure dulled his perceptive faculties; for falling from his horse while crossing a brook, he enquired at his servant, with the utmost composure, as soon as he again emerged, "John, what was that?" It is scarcely fair to tell tales against the fair sex; but since I have begun to celebrate the prowess of our ances. tors, the amazons among them must not go unsung. Mrs "the gay gudewife o' Gallowa'," was a lady of good family, but rather masculine propensities. Being left at no very advanced period of life in the happy state of widowhood, she managed her property without the aid of any male assistant, attending the fairs and markets as regularly as any gentleman in the county. One marketday, a couple of young wags, thinking to play a trick upon the widow, invited her to take a glass of wine. The lady birled her bawbee as well as the best of them, and, after aiding, glass for glass, in the discussion of sundry bottles of wine, strutted up the streets with her arms akimbo, as if nothing had happened, leaving one of the gentlemen unable to rise from his chair, and the other with just as much self-command left as enabled him to sidle along the wall, and hold by the lintel of the door, as he gazed after her in stupid amazement. Once, however, she was engaged in a more perilous adventure. She had been visiting some of her gossips, and about nightfall her servant John was dispatched, mounted on a stout black horse, with a pillion behind him, to bring home his mistress. The lady was snugly seated beside a rousing fire, sipping tea, considerably diluted with brandy, and naturally in no hurry to encounter a raw and gusty autumnal evening. John and his steed were accordingly allowed to wait for some time at the door-a weary interval, which the considerate denizens of the kitchen endeavoured to enliven, by administering to him divers cups of potent ale. To make a long tale short, by the time the lady mounted, she and John involuntarily assumes a prouder bearing and a firmer step. Whoever knows that the person addressing him is conscious of inferiority, seeks to gratify his own self-love, if nothing more, by reassuring timidity by a graceful condescension. If we add to the influence of these circumstances the good practical education in general enjoyed by the Scottish gentry, we can easily conceive that there was much high and gentlemanly feeling to be found amid the better classes in Scotland. Swas When I retrace the adventures of my youth, numerous scenes of the most ludicrous nature recur to me, to which the greater license in drinking gave rise. But in my present mood of mind, two or three spectral reminiscences completely overpower them. I could fancy amid the stillness of the night that the table at which I last sat with M was visibly before me. It was during the races at. A small party stuck to the bottle, after the greater part of the gentlemen who dined with us had adjourned to the ball-room. One by one they dropped off, and it was far in the morning when I found myself alone with M and S. We were beginning to feel a degree of stupor creeping over us. The unsnuffed candles spread a dim light through the apartment. My two companions offered a strange contrast. a dull, obtuse, good-natured fellow-one whose system converted his drink into a wholesome nutriment, and throve upon it. M was already far gone in a consumption, but habitual dissipation, a naturally high spirit, excited yet more by the unnatural levity of that terrible disease, still goaded him to keep up with the companions of his wild career. He had been married about a year before to a lovely woman, who had already presented him with a boy. S, who, like most men of his calibre, was fond of moralizing over his cups, was reading our friend a lecture on his extravagance. Mtried to parry the dull flood of commonplaces which rubbed over his irritable temper like sand-paper. At last he sprung from his seat, rung the bell, ordered the waiter to bring up a dozen of champagne, and returning to the table, exclaimed with a wild laugh, while a hectic flush swept across his pale cheek, and his dark eye blazed, "I tell you what, S-, my heir will have a d-d long minority to nurse his estate in." In less than two weeks he was dead. The fate of another of our set was yet more horrible. He was born heir to one of the largest estates possessed by a commoner in Scotland. His education was carefully attended to, and his natural talents enabled him to derive the full advantage from it. He was capable of warm and constant friendship. No man's opinion was listened to with greater deference in matters of county business. At the time I am speaking of, the whole island was bristling with volunteers. I have heard it remarked by men of large military experience, who had occasion to see him manoeuvring a troop of yeomanry which he commanded, that they had never seen or conversed with one better qualified for a cavalry officer. The indulgence with which he had been treated as heir to a large estate, had fostered into strength a naturally violent temper. When under the influence of liquor, he gave way to the most fearful paroxysms of rage. Several exposures which he made of himself in this manner, operating upon an extremely sensitive mind, drove him, in a bullying spirit of defiance, under which he strove to cloak his remorse, to associate almost exclusively with the most dissipated of his young contemporaries. Excluded, by his own voluntary act, from the society of modest women, he selected a paramour from the lowest ranks. This reared an additional barrier between him and the respectable portion of society. He indulged with his dissolute companions in deeper orgies, and more wanton outrages of the decorums of society. If any thing excited his rage, it was so fearful that only one favourite groom dared approach him. It is even whispered among the trembling peasantry, that on one occasion, he and three of his associates shut themselves up in a vault of the ruined tower adjoining to his mansion, and amused themselves with kindling and heaping up a huge fire, in order, as they blasphemously expressed themselves, to try which of them would best endure his future punishment. The laird's excesses brought along with them an appropriate punishment in the form of a stomach complaint, under the accesses of which he was only not a fit tenant for a madhouse. At last, deserted by all but a few whom he despised in his heart, tormented with the consciousness of misapplied energies, and threatened with a return of that complaint, under which he had suffered such excruciating agony, and which he feared might one day unsettle his reason, he resolved to put an end to his life. This resolution he carried into execution with a degree of deliberation and forethought that proved his madness-since to madness a mawkish humanity will now-a-days attribute every commission of the crime of suicide to have been of the heart, not of the head. A LOUNGER. Τα σποράδην, OR, SCATTERED NOTICES OF ANTIQUITY, INCIDENTS; APOPHTHEGMS, ANECDOTES, MANNERS, &c. By William Tennant, Author of “ Anster Fair.” In the early ages of Grecian literature the greatest book collectors were, Polycrates of Samos, Pisistratus cf Athens, (whose books were, along with the statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton, taken away by Xerxes, and put up as a trophy in his palace of Susa,) Euclid of Athens, Nicocrates of Cyprus, the Kings of Pergamus, the poet Euripides, Aristotle the philosopher, and one Nelens, of whom nothing is known, but who had latterly in his possession most of the books of the above mentioned, and from whom Ptolemy of Egypt purchased them all, with many more collected from Rome and Athens, to stock his library at Alexandria, the most celebrated in the world. STRABO, who is an excellent authority, says that Aristotle was the first great book-collector, and that he taught the Kings of Egypt the systematic arrangement of books in an extensive library. From the labour of transcription, and paucity of transcribers, copies of books were in those times very rare and dear; hence they were frequently lent out by booksellers to be read, for a considerable price; and a newly-published and popular book was sometimes read publicly for a fee, by one who had procured a copy, to such as, though unwilling or unable to purchase the work, were desirous of knowing its contents; by this mode of oral publication, the philosophers Protagoras and Prodicus acquired great sums of money. Voluminous as are some of our modern authors, the writers of antiquity exceeded them in profusion of composition. The greatest book-makers were Epicurus, who, it is said by his biographers, surpassed all men in endless polygraphy; Chrysippus, who in this respect imitated him, and wrote above 705 volumes; Apollodorus, who wrote above 400 volumes; Demetrius Phalereus, who excelled all of his generation in the multitude of his books, no less written than collected, the number of his verses and his learning; Aristotle, who wrote about 400 volumes, containing above 445,270 lines, and who obtained no less than 800 talents (L.150,000) from Alexander, for his History of Animals; Clitomachus, of whom very little more is recorded saving that he wrote more than 400 volumes; Nicolaus, who wrote 144 volumes, and was called overdos, or many-booked;— but the most gigantic book-compiler was Didymus, the scholiast on Homer, who wrote no less a number than 3500, or, according to Seneca, 4000 volumes, and who was designated by the appropriate title of Chichutus, or the book-forgetter, from his forgetting the number of his books. The Saturnalia were not merely a Roman, but a Babylonian, Persian, Thessalian, Cretan, Troezenian, festival. In various places it was variously celebrated; but what distinguished this solemnity everywhere from all others, was the peculiar characteristic of masters officiating for a time as menials, and menials as masters, and the cousequent hilarity and joyous ease of mind arising from this temporary reign of liberty and equality. It continued at Rome till Latin ceased to be the spoken language, and seems to have been put an end to by the barbarian conquerors from the North, with whose feudal notions of eternal aristocratical predominancy it was without doubt irreconcilable. The custom, like many others practised by the Hesperian tribes, was transmitted from the East, that great and primeval birthplace of all languages and usages. It was celebrated at Babylon for five days, and was called, from the bacchanalian indulgencies that prevailed, SAKEAE.* The servants had the lordship over their masters, and one of them, clothed in a white splendid garment, resembling that of Nebuchadnezzar himself, had the whole house under his sole government. By the Thessalians, the most ancient Grecian tribe, who were the original Pelasgi, (that is, descendants of Peleg, “in whose days the earth was divided,") this festivity was kept from the earliest ages with the greatest magnificence, and was entitled Peloria-the origin of which name is connected with a very remarkable incident in the physical history of their country. According to the tradition, one of the Pelasgi was in the act of sacrificing victims to the gods, when a stranger, whose name was Pelorus, came * Undoubtedly this word is the Chaldaic and Hebrew SHAKER, to give drink to, or moisten with liquor; as is also the name Zaxas, given by Xenophon to Cyrus' cupbearer; which latter word, therefore, is not a proper noun or patrial adjective, signi fying a Scythian, but merely the Chaldaic appellative, denoting cupbearer. running towards him in a state of perturbation, and reported that the lofty mountains, Ossa and Olympus, had suffered disruption by an earthquake, and that the expanse of marshy water into which the river Peneus had till then, it appears, diffused itself, had, in consequence of the fissure, opened for itself a hollow bed or gutter whereby to escape to the sea, and leave the great and pleasant plain of Thessaly, uninundated, open to the sun, and free to future cultivation and fertility. The Pelasgian, gladdened by the good news, invited the reporter to feast with him, presented him with his best dishes, and officiated to him all the while as his menial. After the Pelasgi began to inhabit and cultivate the unflooded district, they perpetuated the remembrance of that extraordinary incident by the institution of a feast to Jupiter Pelorus, at which all the humanities and joyous reciprocations of the Saturnalian festival prevailed. It continued to be solemnized for several centuries after the Christian era. Devongrove, May 18, 1831. LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES IN EDINBURGH. SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES. Monday Evening, May 23. GILBERT INNES, Esq., Vice-Preses, in the Chair. Present,-Drs Carson, Keith, Borthwick; Messrs Graham Dalyell, Gibson Craig, Gordon, Nairne, Leith, Dauney, Macdonald, Gregory, &c. &c. AFTER the curator had announced the donations received since last meeting, Mr Gregory, secretary, read a short account of three ancient stone monuments, richly carved, which are preserved at Hilton, Sandwick, and Nigg, in Easter Ross. This account was illustrated by copies of several very fine engravings of these monuments, from drawings made a number of years ago by the late Mr Petley. As it does not appear that these engravings have ever been published, and as the only published delineation of any of these monuments (which we take to be among the finest of the kind in Scotland) is a very inferior one, of the Sandwick Stone, from a drawing by the Rev. Charles Cordiner, in his Letters on the Scenery and Antiquities of North Britain, the secretary stated it to be very desirable, that a full description of these interesting remains should be procured, for future publication, along with suitable graphic illustrations, in the Society's Transactions. The secretary then read some "Miscellaneous Remarks on the Fortresses of Scotland, and on the Early Manners and Sepulchral Rites of the People." By John Anderson, Esq. F.S. A. Scot. This being the last evening meeting to be held this season, the secretary briefly stated the progress that had been made in preparing further Transactions for publication, and intimated that this work was now nearly brought to a conclusion. The venerable chairman then, in a short address, recapitulated the proceedings of the society during the session just about to terminate, and congratulated the meeting on the continued prosperity of the society; urging all present to promote its interests in the ensuing vacation, so as to enable them to go through their next business session with increased energy and efficiency. He stole-but now his art is done; Loved ducks-his taste for fowls is dead; Had friends each ragged soul is gone; Had foes-the horde has fled. He loved-but her he loved, a scamp One evening bore from his embrace; Oh! she was fair, but prone to tramp With every taking face. The rolling seasons, day and night, Sun, moon, and stars, and wind and rain, Tann'd, blighted, batter'd, pour'd downright On him, but all in vain! Each gift turn'd up as gipsies find, Where blear-eyed Sawney found the tongs; He toy'd when tawny dames were kind, And sang when they loved songs. The coat and breeches which he wore, The brimless hat that bound his brow, Search ye the Cowgate o'er and o'er, There hangs no vestige now! The annals of the gipsy race Bears not this friend to pot and pan; Than this, you'll find no other traceOnce lived poor tinkler Dan. LITERARY CHIT-CHAT AND VARIETIES. MAJOR RICKETTS is preparing for publication a narrative of the Ashantee War, including the particulars of the capture and mas. sacre of Sir Charles M'Carthey, &c. &c. LONDON.-Lord John Russell and Washington Irving supported the Lord Mayor, in the chair, at the anniversary of the Printers' Pension Society.-Two eminent Ourang-Outangs have just arri ved, and will be " At Home" in a few days at the Egyptian Hall. -A number of able artists have united to form the new Society of Painters in Water Colours, announced some time ago as in con. templation. It is intended to open the first exhibition next spring. Her Majesty has taken the society under her immediate patronage. The Cambrian Concert took place at Freemasons' Hall on Wednesday was a week. The music consisted chiefly of Welsh melodies. One great object of the society is to keep alive an inte rest in the ancient British language.-The Duke of Sussex having been prevented, by a sprained ankle, from presiding at the annual distribution of prizes awarded by the Society of Arts, his place was supplied by Joseph Hume. LETTER FROM WESTHOUSES.-In the farther intersection of the mine of which I spoke in my last communication, another fossil tree has been discovered, which, although of less ample dimensions, is in other respects exactly similar, and is nearly at the same depth below the surface. The area of the great coal-field in which these remains are found may be in its extreme length about 100 miles, from St Andrews in Fife, to its termination westward at Ayr, aud in its greatest breadth 45 or 50, from the range of the Ochil moan. tains to its southern termination, where it rests on the tertian and secondary rocks of the Soutra and Morpeth range. Through. out this field vegetable indentations and fossil remains are everywhere found, more or less perfect, and in more or less abundance; but they are most common in that portion of the coal which comes into immediate contact with the secondary rocks; for in all the area described, intervening ranges of these rocks rise abruptly, intersecting the coal field, and limiting its dimensions on all sides, so that its breadth is often less than 20 miles. Entirely beyond its limits two detached formations are found, at Sanquhar, in Dum. fries-shire, and Brora, in Sutherlandshire. At this last-mentioned place the most remarkable appearances of indentations and fossil remains occur that I have anywhere seen. Marine shells have been found very perfect, and of great variety; and what was still more remarkable, stones, apparently rounded by the action of wa ter, and, to all appearance, the debris of the adjacent mountain rocks, were found imbedded in the strata, sometimes weighing five or six hundred weight, and as entire as marble in soft clay. So perfect are the fossil remains, that when the miners have cut what they call a long wall of 50 or 60 yards, it often presents an appearance of a row of barrels set on end.-JAS. MILLER, MEETING OF FENCERS.-Mr Johnston gives his Annual Festival of Fencing on Saturday next. He is a modest and respectable practitioner, deservedly rising into note; and from our recollection of his last year's exhibition, we anticipate a treat on the present occasion. Our readers cannot spend an hour in the forenoon more agreeably than by dropping in. opportunity of display at her benefit. Pasta, it is said, looks thinner than she did during her last visit to this country, but at the same time both younger and handsomer.-At Covent Garden the management has found itself under the necessity of curtailing the spectacle of Napoleon.-Lee retires permanently from Drury Lane.-Mrs Norton has a new opera, "The Village Rose," in re KEAN'S COTTAGE AT ROTHSAY.-The retreat of this actor is si-hearsal.-Kean is performing in Milton (ci-devant Grub) Street, tnated on the banks of a small inland lake. Where the avenue abuts on the road, there is a gate with four posts or pillars, each 'Tis pleasant through the loopholes of retreat, with eclat. Reeve is engaged at the same theatre.-The minors are all in a bustle with holyday pieces, and all doing well.-Our winter theatre closes this evening with the last of the benefitsMrs Pettingall's.-Murray and Yates commence operations in the Caledonian on Monday. We shall report progress in our next. SAT. WED. WEEKLY LIST OF PERFORMANCES. MAY 28-JUNE 3. Rob Roy, & The Tableaux. The Hypocrite, The Faithful Irishman, & The Wandering The Exile, The Rendezvous, & Giovanni in London. THURS. School for Scandal, & The Forty Thieres. A strange perversion this of a fine idea into a conceit. Report MON. BURNS. The slightest relic of our poet has a value, and on this account we print the following note, addressed by him to Creech, from an autograph which has lately come into our hands. If it shows nothing more, it shows at least that he was in high spirits and happy at the time he wrote. His life had so many dark hours that one is glad to have even one of his most brief sunny moments authentically chronicled. "SIR,-I have been from home, and very throng for some time, else I would have sent you the remaining MSS. I suppose that there will be fifteen or eighteen pages yet, at least. Please send me, by first carrier, Darwin's Botanic Garden, and his Loves of the Plants, as also Professor D. Stewart's Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind. If I exceed in this commission I will pay the balance. Adieu! They gallop fast whom the Devil drives, and I am just going to mount on an excise ride. "There's threesome reels, there's foursome reels, There's hornpipes and strathspeys, man; But the ae best dance e'er came to the land, FRI. Castle of Andalusia, The Waterman, The Manager in Dis. tress, & Tom and Jerry. TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS. THE Athenæum, after taking somewhat more than a week to consider our remarks, provoked by its swaggering assumption of being the only honest periodical in existence, has at last announced its intention to offer, at some indefinite period, a commentary upon our "skimble-skamble stuff." We are horribly afraid. "Confession" is under consideration." Sonnet to Isabella," and a Song by the same Author, are declined, not on account of any want of merit, but simply because their tone is not exactly adapted to our pages.-"The Forgotten One," and "The Disappointed Sailor's Soliloquy," are respectfully declined. LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE OF PIEDMONT.-The Piedmontese dialect is not spoken in all the provinces at present comprehended [No. 134, June 4, 1831.] ADVERTISEMENTS, Connected with Literature, Science, and the Arts. within that state. It is confined in a great measure to the districtsIN HENDERSON AND BISSET, BOOKBINDERS, 21, GEORGE STREET, intimating their Removal from foot of Warris ton Close to Premises in George Street, more commodious and easy of access, beg most respectfully to solicit a continuance of that patronage with which they have hitherto been so liberally honoured; and which, by strict attention, excellence of Workmanship, and mo deration in Charges, it will be their constant aim to merit. Edinburgh, 17th May, 1831. of Turin, Alexandria, and Cuneo. It is rich in vowel sounds-a being the most predominant. The frequent use of the unaccented e and the Lombard u constitute its chief drawbacks. Latin had so completely ceased to be spoken in these districts, at the beginning of the 14th century, that contracts had to be translated into the Piedmontese dialect. Allioni of Asti was the first who attempted to render his native dialect a vehicle of literature; he published, during the first half of the 16th century, a work in verse, which he entitled " Opera piecevole." His language is, Next followed a however, far from being pure Piedmontese. comedy full of low humour, called "Le Comte Pioletto;" and a volume of popular songs, under the title "Toni." These songs In the latter half of the give a vivid picture of popular manners. 16th century, Borelli, Orsini, Orbassano, Ventura, and Balbei, composed heroic and philosophical sonnets in this dialect. Shortly afterwards the physician Pepino published a Piedmontese diction- EXHIBITION of PICTURES, &c., at No. 68, ary and grammar. He was followed by a professional brother of the name of Calor, who composed fables, which Alfieri is said to have read with pleasure not unmixed with jealousy. At a later period Berlete, Casales, and others, have wooed the muses not unsuccessfully in this dialect. Ponza is at this moment preparing a dictionary in Piedmontese and Italian. In the beginning of the year 1830, Count Joannini published specimens of a translation of Petrarch, Tasso, and Alfieri, into Piedmontese: Aprati has done the same for Fénélon's Telemachus. Theatrical Gossip.-Paganini has at last condescended to give his concerts at the King's Theatre for the usual price of admission to the Italian Opera. "La Bajadère," produced last season at Paris, with great splendour, as a two act opera, has been brought out in abridgement, as a brief divertisement, to afford Taglioni an |