spot, when bewailing the inexorable cruelty of his Laura. The ruins now shown by the peasants as the site of the chateau of Madame Laure,' as they call her, were those of the castle, in which the Bishop of Cavaillion, the dear friend of Petrarch, resided. They stand to the right of the fountain, boldly placed on a pile of stupendous rocks, and command a magnificent view. The walls are on the very verge of the precipice, which overlooks a vast expanse of mountains, rocks, groves of olive trees, and vineyards; while, in the immediate foreground, the fountain, with its sparkling waters and snowy foam, reflecting innumer able prismatic hues as the rays of the sun play on it, forms a magical picture: The cataract created by the rocks over which the water rushes from the fountain, is, when the fountain is filled, truly grand. The spray rises in huge masses, resembling immense flakes of snow. As they are impelled into the air, and descend again with surprising velocity, they are tinged with the brightest tints of a rainbow, and mingling with the snowy foam and vivid green water, have a beautiful effect. **"In the village of Vaucluse is a small inn, called the Hotel of Petrarch and Laura. Here sentimental tourists stop to regale themselves on the delicious trout which the river furnishes; giving, between every morsel of the luscious fare, a sigh to the memory of the celebrated lovers, whose busts decorate the mantel-piece of the chamber where the refection is served. Those travellers who command the most luxurious répasts are considered by the inmates to possess the most sensibility; and those who submit without resistance to extortion, are esteemed to be mirrors of sentimentality: a regulation of which our worthy hostess made us aware, by the warmth of her praises of those who expended what she considers a proper sum, and the severity of her strictures against the more economical or less wealthy visitors. The English, she vowed, were the most sentimental people alive. It was delightful, she said, to see them sit for hours at table, with their eyes turned towards the busts of Petrarch and Laura, and sighing, while they washed down their repast with bumpers to the memory of the lovers. They (the English) never squabbled about the items in the bill. No! they were too noble-minded for that: they were wholly engrossed by tender recollections. Of the Germans, Russians, Italians, and even of her compatriots, the French, she spoke less kindly. Would you believe it, madam, continued she, many of them pass this inn-yes, the inn-sacred to the memory of Petrarch and Laura, without ever crossing its threshold: and the few who do, draw from their pockets biscuits, and demand only a glass of eau sacrée.'** Our hostess became so animated in her eulogium of the English, that she heeded not the reproving looks of her husband; who, observing that two of our party were French, was fearful of her giving them offence. At last, somewhat piqued by her obstinate continuation of this apparently impolitic praise malgré his glances, he said You forget, ma chère, when you talk of the English never passing any mauvaises plaisanteries on the respectable countenances of Monsieur Petrarch and Madame Laure, the two mauvais sujets, that, with a burnt cork, gave a pair of large black mustachios to Madame Laure, and, with a red chalk, made the nose of Monsieur Petrarch redder than a tomato; aye, and gave him a pair of spectacles too. Why, it took me full two hours to get them clean again.” 1972 ARABIC (1492.) NUMERALS OVER THE GATEWAY, AT NEW PLACE, To the Editor of the Mirror. SIR,-The above being a very curious specimen of the manner in which the Arabic numerals* were fashioned at the time of their first public use in this country, about the 13th century, I forward to you a drawing of the same, entertaining no doubt but that' they will awaken the interest of your readers. They may be seen over the gateway at New Place, a mile or two from Pulborough, Sussex. H. M. [Antiquarians are undecided as to the exact period when Arabic numerals were brought to Eugland. Mr. Ames says they were first introduced by Richard I. on his return from the holy wars (1194); but that it was a long time after, that they were received among us, or that people were convinced of their utility. Mr. David Casley in his "Specimens of various Manners of Writing," gives the date 169", which some read one thousand two hundred and ninety-seven, from the similitude of the last figure to our present 7, though Mr. Ames thinks it like enough to stand for one thousand two hundred and ninety-two. In an old folio MS. formerly in the collection of William Jones, Esq., F. R. S., written by Richard Wallingford, monk, and afterwards abbot of St. Alban's, and finished in 1326, entitled 'Albion," are many astronomical canons, and tables, the figures much resembling the Arabic or Indian numerals. We have in the Bodleian Library an Arabic MS. of Ibn Younis, a famous astronomer, wherein all the calculations are in Arabic figures; and what is very remarkable, wherever any number is expressed by them, it is immediately after explained in words at length; thus, if 123 is set down, one hundred twenty and three immediately follows.-Ed. M.] A POPULAR VIEW OF NATURAL HISTORY. in BY JAMES H. FENNELL. (For the Mirror'.) [Continued from page 170.] A MERCHANT who trades to a distant country must first inform himself of the nature of its productions-whether animal, vegetal, or mineral, that he may know what to send, and what he can receive. When, as in these times, new countries are continually opening as marts of traffic, and new channels of commerce are making their way even into the heart of Africa, the man who possesses this sort of information, and turns it to advantage, not unfrequently realizes a fortune; while he, who like the Sheffield cutler, sent a large consignment of patent skates to Beunos Ayres, thinking they would, in a new country, sell for an enormous sum, may very likely be ruined. Every one knows the importance of our fisheries, particularly those for the whale and the seal. Had laws been made by our legislature for the preservation of the former, on the same principle that they so sedulously preserve their own game, we should not hear of the Greenland fisheries being almost ruined; no one, indeed, could have drawn up a parliamentary bill for this purpose, without a competent knowledge of the natural histery of the animal whose race was to be preserved;-while in regard to the seal fishe ries they might be extended, beyond all doubt, parts of the southern hemisphere hitherto entirely neglected. The fur trade, again, opens a field for the practical use of natural history for independent of the necessity of accurately discriminating the different species whose skins form an article of commerce, how much might this trade be extended and benefited by a merchant well acquainted with the geographical range of these animals, the peculiar times when their furs are in the finest condition, and what countries are destitute of such resources! We need not insist that such knowledge, properly and judiciously made use of, will not only be useful, but lucrative. The first traders who supplied China with the furs of America, realized large fortunes; and the same results will always attend every such enterprise, however irregular it may appear, if it is only founded on knowledge, and conducted with prudence. People go on trading in the beaten track, not because there are no others, but because the traders are generally quite uninformed on those circumstances which lead to their discovery. The produce of the animal king dom, in our commercial lists, is much more limited than that of the vegetal and the mineral. Yet how few of the valuable exotic drugs, dyes, and medicines, do we know more of than their ordinary names! Some A fact which occurred in 1806. that, from being produced in small quantities, and in a limited district, bear a high price, may very possibly be abundant in adjacent countries, or might be transplanted and cultivated in other situations less remote, and more convenient. It is the business of the merchant, if he aims at wealth, to discover new sources of commerce of which he can reap the first fruits; but this will never be done, unless by accident, without he is well informed respecting the productions,whether natural or artificial-of other nations; in order that he may supply their wants, or import their produce. The truth is, that the profession of commerce embraces many branches of information, and even of science, which at first sight appear totally. unconnected with it, and among these natural history holds no inconsiderable station." The late Professor Burnett, endeavouring to show the utility of topographical botany to the traveller, says, that he "should never bivouac nor fix his residence where the Arundo phragmites, or common reed, flourishes; as it and the reed meadow-grass (Glyceria aquatica) and the floating meadow-grass, (G. fluitans) are infallible indications of swampy, marshy districts, and of the probable presence of malaria, even, although the tract, as in summer, may seem dry, and be apparently salubrious. A late traveller in Syria, thus was warned by the natives not to pitch his tent on the spot that he had se fected, on account of the luxuriance of the' herbage, if he valued his life, or wished to escape a severe attack of fever; this malign influence, however, they seemed erroneously to attribute to the growth of the plants, but of which, in truth, the luxuriant herbage was the index only." How usefully the knowledge of some little facts in natural history, may occasionally be applied, although regarded previously as merely singular and amusing trifles, is well shown in the following narrative, mentioned by the same excellent botanist:-"The Lichens never grows submerged: the Fuci never grow emerged. The same may be said of other plants which are the living demarcations of land and sea; for example, the samphire (crithmum maritimum) never grows but on the sea-shore, and yet it never grows within reach of the waves; that is to say, it' is never so near as to be covered by the water. It happened, some time since, that a knowledge of this fact was useful in a way' and at a time when botanical knowledge might at first have been expected to be of little practical importance. During a violent storm, in November 1821, a vessel passing through the English Channel, was driven on shore, near Beachy Head, and the whole crew being washed overboard, four escaped from the wreck, only to be delivered, as they thought, to a more lingering and fear ful (from its being more gradual and equally inevitable) death; for having, in the darkness of the night, been cast upon the breakers, they found, when they had climbed up those low rocks, that the waves were rapidly encroaching, and they doubted not that when the tide should be at its height, the whole range would be entirely submerged. The dark ness of the night prevented any thing being seen beyond the spot upon which they stood, and which was continually decreasing by the encroachments of each successive wave. The violence of the storm left no hope that their feeble voices, even if raised to the uttermost, could be heard on shore: and they knew that amidst the howling of the blast, they could reach no other ear than that of God. Man could afford them no assistance in such a situation, even if their distress were known. The circle of their existence here seemed gradually lessening before their eyes, their little span of earth gradually contract ing to their destruction; already they had reached to the highest points, and already the infuriated waters followed them, flinging over their devoted heads the foremost waves, as heralds of theirspeedily approaching dissolution. At this moment, one of these wretched men, while they were debating whether they should not, in this extremity, throw themselves upon the mercy of the waves, hoping to be cast upon some higher ground, as, even if they failed to reach it, a sudden would be better than a lingering death, in this extremity, one of these despairing creatures, to hold himself more firmly to the rock, grasped a weed, which, even wet as it was, he well knew, as the ligtning's sudden flash afforded a momentary glare, was not a fucus, but a root of samphire;-a plant which never grows submerged. This, then, became more than an olive-branch of peace, a messenger of mercy; they knew that He who alone can calm the raging of the seas, at whose voice alone the winds and the waves are still, had planted his landmark here; and by this sign, they were assured that he had said to the wide waste of waters, hither shalt thou come, and no further. Trusting, then, to the promise of this child of earth, they remained stationary, during a dreadful, yet comparatively happy night, and in the morning they were seen from the cliffs above, and conveyed in safety to shore." Southey, in his History of Brazil, describes the perilous situation of Cabeza de Vaea when sailing towards that country; and how he was preserved from shipwreck, by a grillo, or ground cricket :-"When they had crossed the line, the state of the water was inquired into; and it was found that of a hundred casks, there remained but three to supply four hundred men and thirty horses: upon this, the Adelantando gave orders to make for the nearest land. Three days they stood towards it. A soldier who set out in ill health, had brought a grillo, or ground cricket, with him from Cadiz, thinking to be amused by the insect's voice; but it had been silent the whole way, to his no little disappointment. Now on the fourth morning, the cricket began its shrill noise, scenting as was immediately supposed, the land. Such was the miserable watch which had been kept, that upon looking out at this warning, they perceived high rocks within bow-shot; against which, had it not been for the insect, they must inevitably have been lost. They had just time to drop anchor. From hence they coasted along, the cricket singing every night as if it had been on shore, till they reached the island of St. Catalina." sea. The Portuguese made most of their dis coveries of foreign land, by observing the flight and species of birds they met with at Columbus, in this way, when in quest of America, happening to notice that the flocks of birds which passed him at sea, flew from the north to the south-west, suspected, and rightly, as it turned out, that land was in the latter quarter. He is, also, said to have been strengthened in this suspicion by his smelling, while on the waters, the aro matic odours of the sassafras tree. The sap which exudes from the broken or cut branches of the manchineel-tree is so very acrid, that it blisters the skin, and causes severe pain, if it falls on it, and even produces death when it enters a wound. A traveller who reposed under a tree of the kind, received some of its exuded drops on his face, which immediately blistered, and became pitted, as in a case of small-pox. It is said that Lord Nelson, in one of his earliest expeditions, having drunk the waters of a spring, in which some boughs of this tree had been thrown, suffered so severely inconsequence, as to produce a lasting injury on his constitution. Scoresby says, that those sailors who, while in the arctic regions, have been obliged to eat the flesh of bears, and have not taken the precaution of rejecting the liver, have almost always been attacked with sickness, a peeling off of the skin, and, sometimes, have died from its effects. The same consequences happened to some of Ross's party, who had partaken of it during their stay at Fury Beach. DEFINITION OF THE WORD 'MIND., WHAT is the precise meaning of the word. mind, so commonly employed? By the mind of a man is understood, that in him, which is capable of thinking, remembering, reasoning, or willing. The real essence, both of body and mind, is known. Certain properties of the former, and certain operations of the latter, are known, and by those only can they be defined. In defining what is meant by body, we say it is that which is extended, solid, moveable, and divisible. In like manner, we define mind to be that which thinks, remembers, reasons, and wills. We know, or are conscious of these various thoughts, and we are, by nature, taught to attribute them to the principle of thought, called the mind or the soul of man. THE HERMIT. (From Haas's Gleanings in Germany.) WITH a feeling of silent admiration, and with that submission with which weak man depicts to himself the throne of his Almighty Creator, I contemplated the horizon adorned by the setting sun. In the foreground arose to my view, gloomy and silent, Mount Rigi; on its summit, that seemed to touch the heavens, I beheld the great cross by which it is surmounted, still faintly gilded by the rays of the setting sun concealed behind the mighty Alps, while at the foot of the mountain, all was night and darkness. My heart felt oppressed by painful emotion, and abandoned thus to my own reflections, and excited by some secret feeling, I turned my steps towards Siti, where, to the eastward, the rock of Fallenflue, and westward Mount Shoenbucherberg, together with the Frohnalp, veiled by the grey clouds, served me as guides; these were not, however, the objects which could satisfy the feelings by which I was so agitated. Their high and ancient summits seemed to indicate their close affinity with the higher celestial world above; and thus, feeling how I was enchained to the earth beneath, I shuddered at their frightfully awful elevation. At the end of the grand avenue of trees near Siti, there stands a summer-house. Eastward a beaten path leads towards a hermitage, situated deep within the bosom of the wood here I wished to take up my abode for the night, should the hermit and myself prove mutually pleased with each other. In my juvenile years I had read much of such hermitages, and with all the romantic imagination of yonth, pictured to myself, in the most picturesque and seducing colours, these happy calm retreats and their holy inhabitants. As yet I had never had an opportunity of beholding such a spot, and now, therefore, wished to gratify my curiosity. Accordingly, I was proceeding down a declivity of the mountain, through the thickets and young brambles which opposed my descent, when my progress was suddenly arrested by the appearance of a venerable man; it was the hermit himself, who had just come from having offered his evening prayers in the chapel, some hundred paces distant from his hermitage, to which solitary dwelling he was now returning. I greeted him with silent respect and veneration, to which he as silently replied. "May I, venerable father, be allowed to enter your holy dwelling?" I inquired modestly. "What is your object in making that request ?" he replied, in a tone not altogether repulsive, though neither was it friendly. "Why, I have no particular motive to satisfy,” I replied, with a good-natured smile, "I am a native of the north, travelling through your beautiful country; I have never as yet beheld either hermit or hermitage, though both have often been the subjects of my youthful fancy and meditation; I feel desirous, therefore, holy father, of now satis fying my curiosity, by passing a short and instructive hour in your society. You are more wise and pious than we children of the world; you live in solitude and seclusion; you pass your time in acts of devotion; your silent prayers are not disturbed by those guilty agitations of mind to which we unhappily are too often exposed, and God is nearer to you, because you are more pure and guiltless of those misdeeds with which we too often have to reproach ourselves. 、 Are you not here completely happy, holy father, in your retreat?" "Happy!"-replied he, slowly, stopping of a sudden, and casting an expressive look of grave severity towards the pale-purpled sky, which still faintly gilded the cross on the peak of Mount Rigi. "My son," hẹ continued, after a silent pause," hast thou ever, in thy life, beheld one happy mortal ?" "Yes, holy father, I myself am happy. I have nothing to reproach myself with, I am young and healthy, and at home I have a beloved family and dear and valued friends; I have what I require, and even more than sufficient to satisfy my wants. Nothing pains or disquiets my mind, travelling delights me, and I am now in your beautiful country, where, at every step, nature unfolds new charms, and where God has manifested his great and ever-reigning glory, in so wonderful a manner." "Happy!" replied the venerable man, doubtfully shaking his hoary head, "hast thou no share in the afflictions of others ?" To this question, which sounded so strangely in my ears, I could only reply by casting down my eyes in confusion. "And I too," continued he, "have no reproaches to make myself., I likewise enjoy the blessing of health; I also have my family and friends, if not here, yet in the eternal home of peace above; I too have all that I require; I also, like thee, enjoy pleasure in the survey of God's beauteous creation, and yet I am not happy. The pains, the wants of my more unhappy neighbours too often oppress and overcome my feelings; for to me come only such unhappy beings as seek to pour into my heart those troubles and afflictions with which they are so heavy laden, and under which they would otherwise sink. But thou, who livest within the wide range of this world, hast thou never yet beheld the flow of bitter tears descending down the cheek of sorrow? Hast thou never heard the troubled sigh, when issuing from the breast of affliction? Hast thou never yet experienced the painful sensation which follows the wish to help misfortune's child, and yet the want of power to effect it ?" His discourse fell upon my consciencestricken breast like a burning weight of fire, and my eyes were so chained to the earth, that I neither dared nor could look up. "Who can help all," I exclaimed, wishing to excuse myself; "were one a very Croesus, it would ruin and impoverish at last?" "You do not comprehend my meaning," replied he, sternly," and only prove how little till now you have participated in the sufferings of your fellow-creatures. It is not gold that always serves to alleviate affliction, for often is the beggar far happier than he who aids, and who yet himself endures anguish of mind; it is consolation, counsel, mildness, patience, which you owe to your neighbour, and until you can fulfil these duties with all your zeal and strength, you cannot call yourself happy. Delay not with your help till it be demanded; as soon as you know it is required step forward with a zealous alacrity, but reckon not upon reward, you do only your duty, and cannot require thanks. The feeling, the consciousness of having done our duty, is the highest recompense we can wish to enjoy here below. -God be with you!"-With these words this singular being left me, and thus I had for once beheld a hermit. The venerable man proceeded silently towards his cell, and I saw myself forced to return again to Shwytz, or to pass the night under the canopy of heaven. PROVINCIALISMS. ON looking over one of the early volumes of the Mirror, (1828,) I find an article entitled Cockneyisms, which, I think, is taken from Pegge; but among many, undoubtedly peculiar to the inhabitants of London, I find several to which they have no claim, many which are provincials, and a few genuine old Eng. lish words, corrupted by modern affectation, which, much to the credit of the Cockneys, are still retained in the vernacular tongue : Kiver for Cover.-No doubt kiver is the legitimate word. Kiverchef was the word for a cover for the neck, in ancient authors. Schollard―This is provincial, and not a Cockney word. Margent for Margin.-This word is a comiparatively recent corruption. The old word, margent, was used so late as Queen Anne's time, and probably later. Swift is good authority on this point. His Satirical Epigram on Serjeant Bettes worth is well known: So, at the bar, the booby Bettesworth, Colloguing for Colleaging.-These are not the same, and have different meanings. I find in our dictionaries, to collogue, is to wheedle or flatter; but colleague, as a substantive only, a partner in office, &c. Poticary for Apothecary. A manifest corruption. Poticary is derived from the Spanish, boticario, a shop kept by a vender of medicine; and not as Johnson and others suppose, from the Greek apotheca, a repository. Every author, from Chaucer to Shakespeare, spells the word poticary. Forth he goth, ne longer wold he tarry, Into the toun unto a potecary.-CHAUCER. A-dry, A-cold.-These are not Cockneyisms, but legitimate prefixes; a hundred instances might be adduced to warrant their use, some of which are not obsolete at this day, as, aboard, ameliorate, abroach, amidst, aback, &c. I gin to be awedry of the sun.-SHAKSPEARE. Moral for Model.-A provincial word uniformly used in the midland counties. from the Saxon afferan; and, consequently, Were thou afeared of her eie.-GOWER. Musicianer, Physicianer.-There is good authority in all our old authors for this spel ling, and there seems no reason why these should not be retained, as well as in the word poulterer, and many others. Obstacle for Obelisk.-This has never been used but in burlesque, and therefore cannot be considered as a Cockneyism. WM. TOONE. A SPECIMEN OF WELSH 3 LITERATURE. THE Welsh poetical triads are part of a literature with which the reader may not be acquainted. The following specimen conwith singular brevity:tains many valuable observations expressed The three foundations of genius are-the gift of God, human exertion, and the events of life. The three first questions of genius-an eye to see nature, a heart to feel it, and a resolution that dares to follow it. |