The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 13, No. 354, January 31, 1829

RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS

ORIGIN OF ISABELLA COLOUR

The Archduke Albert married the infanta Isabella, daughter of Philip II. king of Spain, with whom he had the Low Countries in dowry. In the year 1602, he laid siege to Ostend, then in possession of the heretics; and his pious princess, who attended him on the expedition, made a vow, that, till the city was taken, she would not change her clothes. Contrary to expectation, it was three years before the place was reduced; in which time her highness' linen had acquired a hue, which, from the superstition of the princess and the times, was much admired, and adopted by the court fashionables under the name of "Isabella colour." It is a yellow or soiled buff, better imagined than described.

HALBERT H.

FAMINE IN ENGLAND

A severe dearth began in May, 1315, and proceeded to the utmost extremity, until after the harvest of 1316. In July, 1316, the quarter of wheat rose to 30s., (equal to 22l. 10s.;) and in August reached to the enormous price of 40s. or 30l. the quarter. A loaf of coarse bread, which was scarcely able to support a man for a single day, sold for 4d., equal in value to 5s. now. Wheat rose in Scotland at one time to the enormous sum of 100s. the quarter, equal to 75l. of the present currency. This dearth continued, but with mitigated severity, until after the harvest of 1317; but great abundance returned in 1318. This famine occasioned a prodigious mortality among the people, owing to the want of proper food, and employment of unwholesome substitutes. The rains set in so early in 1315, and continued so violently, that most of the seed of that year perished in the ground; the meadows were so inundated, that the hay crop of that year was utterly destroyed.

H.B.A.

OLD ADVERTISEMENTS

Puffing is by no means a modern art, although so extravagantly practised in the present day. Of its success two hundred years since, E. S. N. of Rochester, has sent us the following specimens:—

At the end of an old medical book which I have in my possession, are the following, among other advertisements:—"The new Plannet no Plannet , or the Earth no Wandring Star. Here, out of the principles of divinity, philosophy, &c. the earth's immobility is asserted, and Copernicus, his opinion, as erroneous, &c. fully refuted, by Alexander Ross, in quarto."

"A Recantation of an Ill-led Life, or a discovery of the highway law, as also many cautelous admonitions, and ful instructions how to know, shun, and apprehende a thiefe, most necessary for all honest travellers to peruse, observe, and practice; written by John Clavel, gent."

ENGLISH FASHIONS

Our constant changes of habit were the subject of ridicule at home and abroad, even at an early period. Witness the ancient limner's jest in 1570, who, being employed to decorate the gallery of the Lord Admiral Lincoln with representations of the costumes of the different nations of Europe, when he came to the English, drew a naked man, with cloth of various colours lying by him, and a pair of shears held in his hand, as in rueful suspense and hesitation; or the earlier conceit, to the same effect, of "Andrew Borde of Physicke Doctor," alias "Andreas Perforatus," who, to the first chapter of his "Boke of the Instruction of Knowledge," (1542,) prefixed a naked figure, with these lines:—

 
"I am an Englishman, and naked I stande here,
Musing in minde what rayment I shal weare:
For nowe I wil weare this, and now I will weare that—
And now I will weare I cannot telle whatt."
 

THE GATHERER

 
"A snapper-up of unconsidered trifles."
 

SHAKSPEARE.

CONNING (quasi Cunning.)

A convict, during the voyage to New South Wales, slipped overboard, and was drowned—What was his crime?—Felo de se (fell o'er the sea.)

THE CHANGES OF TIME

 
I dreamt, in Fancy's joyous day,
That every passing month was May;
But Reason told me to remember,
And now, alas! they're all December!
 

The only memorial of the death of Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, remaining at Kirkby Moorside (where he died in obscurity and distress,) is an entry in an old register of burials, which runs thus: "1687, April 17th, Gorges Villus, Lord dook of bookingham."—Ellis Correspondence.

 
Had we not lov'd so dearly,
Had we not lov'd sincerely,
Had vows been never plighted,
Our hopes had ne'er been blighted,
Dearest.
 
 
Had we met in younger days,
Had we fled each other's gaze,
Oh had we never spoken,
Our hearts had ne'er been broken,
Dearest.
 
 
Had you not look'd so kindly,
Had I not lov'd so blindly,
No pain 'twould be to sever,
As now we may for ever,
Dearest.
 
 
If yet you love sincerely,
The one who loves you dearly,
Then let the sigh betoken,
Love for a heart you've broken,
Dearest.
 

Z.

THE TRAGEDY OF DOUGLAS

It may not be generally known, that the first rehearsal of this tragedy took place in the lodgings in the Canongate, occupied by Mrs. Sarah Ward, one of Digges' company; and that it was rehearsed by, and in presence of, the most distinguished literary characters Scotland ever could boast of. The following was the cast of the piece on that occasion:—

 
Dramatis Personae.
Lord Randolph, Dr. Robertson, Principal, Edinburgh.
Glenalvon, David Hume, Historian.
Old Norval, Dr. Carlyle, Minister of Musselburgh.
Douglas, John Home, the Author.
Lady Randolph, Dr. Fergusson, Professor.
Anna (the maid), Dr. Blair, Minister, High Church.
 

The audience that day, besides Mr. Digges and Mrs. Sarah Ward, were the Right Hon. Pat. Lord Elibank, Lord Milton, Lord Kames, Lord Monboddo, (the two last were then only lawyers,) the Rev. John Steele, and William Home, ministers. The company (all but Mrs. Ward) dined afterwards at the Griskin Club, in the Abbey. The above is a signal proof of the strong passion for the drama which then obtained among the literati of this capital, since then, unfortunately, much abated. The rehearsal must have been conducted with very great secrecy; for what would the Kirk, which took such deep offence at the composition of the piece by one of its ministers, have said to the fact, of no less than four of these being engaged in rehearsing it, and two others attending the exhibition? The circumstance of the gentle Anna having been personated by "Dr. Blair, minister of the High Church," is a very droll one.—Edinburgh Evening Post.

THE CUMBERLAND LANDLORD

(To the Editor of the Mirror.)

During a recent excursion in Cumberland, I copied the following epitaph from the album kept at the inn at Pooley Bridge, the landlord of which is well known, as being quite an original:—W.W.

 
Will Russell was a landlord bold,
A noble wight was he,
Right fond of quips and merry cracks,
And ev'ry kind of glee.
 
 
Full five-and-twenty years agone
He came to Pooley Height,
And there he kept the Rising Sun,
And drunk was ev'ry night.
 
 
No lord, nor squire, nor serving man,
In all the country round,
But lov'd to call in at the Sun,
Wherever he was bound,
 
 
To hold a crack with noble Will,
And take a cheerful cup
Of brandy, or of Penrith ale,
Or pop, right bouncing up.
 
 
But now poor Will lies sleeping here,
Without his hat or stick,
Nor longer rules the Rising Sun,
As he did well when wick. ²
 
 
Will's honest heart could ne'er refuse
To drink with ev'ry brother;
Then let us not his name abuse—
We'll ne'er see sic another.
 
 
But let us hope the gods above,
Right mindful of his merits,
Have given him a gentle shove
Into the land of spirits.
 
 
'Tis then his talents will expand,
And make a noble figure.
In tossing off a brimming glass,
To make his belly bigger.
 
 
Adieu, brave landlord, may thy portly ghost
Be ever ready at its heavenly post;
And may thy proud posterity e'er be
Landlords at Pooley to eternity.
 

A WATCH

Before a watch is ready for the pocket, the component parts thereof must have passed through the hands of not less than an hundred and fifty different workmen. The fifteen principal branches are: 1. the movement maker; who divides it into various branches, viz. pillar maker, stop stud maker, frame mounter, screw maker, cock and potence maker, verge maker, pinion maker, balance wheel maker, wheel cutter, fusee maker, and other small branches; 2. dial maker, who employs a capper maker, an enameller, painter, &c. 3. case maker, who makes the case to the frame, employs box maker, and outside case maker, joint finisher. 4. pendant maker; (both case and pendant go to the Goldsmith's Hall to be marked.) 5. secret springer, and spring liner; the spring and liner are divided into other branches; viz. the spring maker, button maker, &c. 6. cap maker; who employs springer, &c. 7. jeweller, which comprises the diamond cutting, setting, making ruby holes, &c. 8. motion maker, and other branches, viz. slide maker, edge maker, and bolt maker. 9. spring maker, (i.e. main spring.) consisting of wire drawer, &c. hammerer, polisher, and temperer. 10. chain maker; this comprises several branches, wire drawer, link maker and rivetter, hook maker, &c. 11. engraver, who also employs a piercer and name cutter. 12. finisher, who employs a wheel and fusee cutter, and other workers in smaller branches. 13. gilder is divided into two, viz. gilder and brusher. 14. glass and hands, the glass employs two, viz. blower and maker; hand maker employs die sinker, finisher, &c. 15. fitter in, who overlooks the whole, fits hands on, &c. The above 15 branches are subdivided again and again.