sire,' says "I have very often known those persons that have carried themselves steadily and commendably in a condition of mediocrity, may have been able to bear with victory the shocks of those temptations that arise from want and poverty; yet when in the late times they were advanced to wealth, power, and command, were lost, and could not bear the temptations that attended greatness, wealth, and power, and the sun of wealth, and prosperity quickly disrobed them of that mantle of innocence, piety, and virtue, that they kept about them against the storms of wants and necessities." Angels.- -"I have often tried to make out the exact ideas the poor people have of angels, for they talk a great deal about them. The best that I can make of it is, that they are children, or children's heads and shoulders winged, as represented in church paintings, and in plaster of Paris on ceilings. It is notorious and scriptural they think that the body dies, but nothing being said about the head and shoulders, they have a sort of belief that they are preserved to angels, which are no other than dead young children."-Blackwood. The Queen. Mr Howitt says, in his "Rural Life,'-"Since the universal use of carriages, for anything I can see, thousands of people might just as well be born without legs at all. With the exception of the Queen and her attendant ladies, who, during the then princess's abode at Claremont, might be every day met in the winter, walking in frost and snow, and facing the sharpest winds of the sharpest weather, I scarcely remember to have met half-a-dozen of the wealthy classes on foot a mile from their residences." The Great Condé at Chapel.—It is amusing to remark in some cases how professional men apply the language of their art to the ordinary affairs of life. After a gay and giddy career the Duchess de Longueville became a devotee, and one day prevailed on her brother, the Prince of Condé, to accompany her to hear Father Bourdaloue preach. The minister kept the congregation waiting, and the Duchess fell asleep. Bourdaloue shortly after made his appearance, when Condé immediately jogged his sister, at the same time whispering with perfect gravity, "Rouse, sister, rouse; the enemy is here." Family Longevity.-About fourteen years ago, a farmer of Elmstead, named Pilcher, died at the great age of eighty-eight, leaving five sons and six daughters still living. On Sunday, the 23rd ult., these eleven persons, whose united ages now amount to seven hundred and sixty years, all dined together at the George Inn, Stone street, and afterwards went to church, where Divine service was performed by the Rev. Mr Prideaux, who took his text Respecting the Shakspeare's autograph, and the deed to which it was attached, lately purchased for the City of London Library, a correspondent thus writes to us:-"I have read so much about the only known autographs of the great Bard, that I think it right to inform you, that thirty years ago I saw his signature to a fine, in Queen Elizabeth's reign, then deposited in the Chapter house, Westminster. It was shown to me by a Mr Ellis." This is probably the deed referred to by a former correspondent-Mr Devon (No. 709)-from which the autograph has been cut off, and purloined. If so, there can be no difficulty in fixing the responsibility. Here we have proof that the deed was unmutilated only thirty years agoin whose official custody has it since been? The daily papers say that Mr Washington Irving has come into possession of a large fortune, bequeathed to him by one of the Society of Friends-to whom, as the story runs, the distinguished author was personally unknown; and from whom this legacy is a homage to his character and literary fame. Mr Irving, it is added, intends to resign his appointment as American minister at the court of Madrid. TO CORRESPONDENTS. "A Subscriber for Ten Years" is informed that the price of the 'Mirror' has never been altered. Original articles are supplied in place of selections, and a type is used which enables the proprietors to give much more matter than formerly, but no increased charge is made. The monthly parts, when they contain four numbers, are 8d., when five, 10d.; in one instance it happened that the usual supplementary number published at the close of a volume came in a month which gave five numbers besides the supplement, which necessarily, in that single instance, made the cost of the six, one shilling. Y.-Small-pox.-This malady existed in China and Hindostan some centuries previous to its being known in Europe. In 572 it destroyed the Abys sinian army at the siege of Mecca. Emma.-Tripharmacum is made of— X. Common Plaster Olive Oil Vinegar 4 oz. 2 - 1 Set them on the fire, and stir them till they become a paste. This recipe is now exploded by the faculty. It was printed in the late London Dispensatory.' LONDON: Published by CUNNINGHAM and MORTIMER, Adelaide Street, Trafalgar Square; and Sold by all Booksellers and Newsmen. Printed by C. REYNELL, 16 Little Pulteney street, and at the Royal Polytechnic Institution. Original Communications. THE RHINE. But it is not only the charms of nature that gratify the wanderer, the grand historical reminiscences bound up with the history of the cities found on the banks of the Rhine inspire additional interest. Some of these will be noticed in future numbers, but for the present we are anxious to call attention to one of the poets of the Rhine. The admirable poem from a Dutch votary of the muses, quoted last week, was not more affecting than that we are about to transcribe. It is from the pen of Borger, who died about twenty years ago. But little of him is known. Enough, however, of his biography is given in the elegant verses which follow, to prove that his career was a melancholy one, and that the "cup of bitterness was filled for him to overflowing." His ode "To the Rhine," while it celebrates the admired features of this ancient stream, gives a deeply affecting picture of the heart-broken bard, "who could his hairs well number but not his tears." [VOL. XLII. ENGLISHMEN were long since said to be in a manner "native to the Rhine." The attraction of this celebrated river has not abated in the present year. Possibly the great publicity gained by Victor Hugo's animated pictures has called attention more generally to its beauties. A letter just received from a correspondent who has passed from Rotterdam to Manheim, describes the English travellers to be numerous, and most enthusiastic in their admiration of the noble varieties which charm the tourist as he advances. Such is the gratification experienced from the exquisite views which it affords, that he and all his fellow-passengers on board the Nederlander,' with a refined greediness, dined on the deck as they proceeded, that not a moment might be lost for gazing on the glorious scenery around. 6 No. 1177] I Few will be able to read the poem without emotion. It goes far to negative the assertion of Tickell, that— "Grief unaffected suits but ill with art, Or flowing numbers with a bleeding heart." We know not which is more exquisitemore rich in unaffected sensibility, the lament for the wife, or that breathed over the tomb of the daughter. Nothing can surpass them in tenderness. TO THE RHINE. "In the Borean regions stormy There's silence-battling hail and rain Are hush'd. The calm Rhine rolls before me, I have had days, like thine, unclouded- When in our little happy bower The crown of glory from my head. At Katwyk, where the silenced billow Thee welcomes, Rhine, to her own breast, My tears shall with thy waters blend them, Old Rhine! thy waves 'gainst sorrow steel them. And greet the babe, which earth's green bosom Was struck by death-the bud-the flower. Where-where could I have found another There are who call this earth a palace I would not drink again life's chalice, I joy at day's decline-the morrow Accomplished. Like this river, years Roll. Press, ye tombstones, my departed Lightly, and o'er the broken-hearted Fling your cold shield, and veil his tears." Many desperate struggles have been witnessed on the banks of this river. The Rhine was crossed in 1672 by the French army. Louis XIV was almost deified for it by the Parisians, such wonders being reported to have been performed by his Majesty, who, after all, modern French historians declare, was not "present." In a letter to his queen, Louis the Great gives the following account of the operation "I commanded the Count de Guiche to discover a part of the river over against a place called Tolhuys, which upon trial he found to be fordable. I planted two batteries upon the bank of the river to play upon them that should open to oppose the horse I intended to send over on the right and left of the batteries, while I was making a bridge of boats in the meantime to pass over the foot upon. On the information brought me by the Count de Guiche, I commanded 2,000 horse of the left wing to pass the river under the command of the said count, at the Ford which he had discovered. The regiment of Cuirassiers was to move first; of which ten or twelve commanded men were to swim over, some by fording it, and some by swimming; they espied three squadrons advancing towards them from behind the hedges and willows, and were at first briskly charged by the first squadron, they drawing back some few steps in the river, till those that had followed to second them could come up, made their way afterwards so bravely and resolutely, that the second and third squadrons, with the fright of it, discharged at random in the air and ran. The first, which hitherto had set a good face upon it, gave back as well as the others, to which the constant fire of our cannon did not a little contribute, and now the rest of the army were all passing over at the Ford, one party of them advanced towards the enemy under the command of the Count de Guiche, and the rest stood in Battalia, on the bank of the river. "This act was attended with all the success and glory we could desire, having lost very few horses in the passage, Nogent being the only person of note that was drowned. But afterwards, as ill fortune would have it, the prince (Condé) to whom I had sent not to pass the river, was already gone, before my order reached him, in a small boat to see what men we should put into the castle of Tolhuys, and to inform himself better of what passed on the other side of the water, so that not knowing anything of my design, and seeing the Prince of Condé and Duke de Longueville advance upon this spot toward a barricade where the three squadrons I mentioned before had joined themselves with some other horse and foot, he made all the haste he could thither, and was followed by several others, who now began to keep no measures after such an exploit. "At first the prince and those other gentlemen astonished the enemy with their threats and their fires, and besides this, Count de Guiche, supporting them in the rear with some squadrons, had pressed them so close that they put themselves in a posture of yielding, on condition that they might have fair quarter; but Monsieur de Longueville having passed the barricade, and crying 'Kill, kill,- -no quarter,' and as some say, having discharged a pistol upon them, out of pure desperation they made one volley more, in which the Prince of Condé had the bone of his left wrist broke, and MM. de Longueville and Guitry were killed on the spot." The most gratifying part of this royal statement is the fact given that the heartless duke, who wished to kill an enemy who offered to ground their arms, paid for his folly and cruelty with his life. A WEEK AT HAMPTON COURT. LETTER I. FEW localities, if any, in the kingdom, present such remarkable public features as Hampton Court and its vicinity-the wellknown resort of royalty, nobility, the middling and lower classes of society, the last generally "making a day of it" to recreate themselves amongst the pleasant and cultivated scenes of the gardens and Bushy park, where they are allowed to roam quite at ease, forming pic-nic parties —promenading in the gardens and picture galleries, threading the labyrinth, or those who are so inclined, retiring to the yews and hawthorns with "Seats beneath the shade, For talking age and whispering lovers made." It is only, however, the sojourner or the inhabitant of Hampton Court who can be aware of the contrasts which the daily crowds in the summer season present. The mere visitor would draw a wrong conclusion in supposing there is no retirement here; on the contrary, the distance from London compels a moderately early departure of the crowds; and those parts which at six o'clock in the evening were full of the busy hum of life and enjoyment, are, at sun-set, positive solitudes. Then do the aristocratical inhabitants of the palace (who enjoy this residence under the Crown, and without payment) emerge from their mahogany-panelled apartments to trip over the grassy lawns, and inhale the refreshing breezes from the Thames. On certain days," weather permitting," a military band adds to the evening enjoyments, and there are few more picturesque and agreeable scenes than these evenings present both to the eye and ear of the visitor. as To those who are not acquainted with the history of Hampton Court and Palace, it may be interesting to state that Wolsey, the Cardinal, who was in mind and ambition far greater than the king his master, obtained a lease of the whole manor of Hampton (whilst yet an archbishop) from the prior and brethren of the Monastery of St John of Jerusalem, near Smithfield, for ninety-nine years, at a rent of 50l. a year, with liberty to cut so much timber was necessary for the repair of the wears on the river Thames, from St John's wood, which then belonged to the said monastery, though it would now be in vain to look for a "wood," or any traces of it, amongst the villas and streets to the north of Paddington. This lease was granted to Thomas Wulcy, at a chapitur holden in oure house of seynt Johns of Clarkenwell, beside London, the 11th day of Januraie, in the yere of our Lord God a thousand five hundreth and fourtene" (1514). The palace and gardens have, properly speaking, two approaches; one opposite the road from Hampton, coming towards London, the other by the celebrated avenue and road of Bushy park, the present residence of the Queen Dowager. By the first of these approaches you enter the old part of the palace the quadrangles scarcely altered from what they were in Wolsey's time. By the latter the visitor is conducted to the gardens and the modern palace of red brick, built by William the Third, "who made the palace what it now is, and laid out the gardens and parks in their present form." For further details of the history of this celebrated spot, which has been the abode of a succession of royal personages down to George the Second and his Queen Caroline, the visitor may do well to consult an excellent 'Stranger's Guide,' by Mr John Grundy, who has the care of the Gallery of Pictures numbering upwards of one thousand. But why is that group of persons lingering about No. 55? It is the reclining Venus of Titian! The young are afraid to look -the old prefer not to be seen looking, and content themselves with a glance -none can pass without it. Some may question the propriety of placing such a picture in a public gallery, but being a royal picture, we will leave it with the royal motto-" Honi soit qui mal y pense." A few words may not be thrown away on some of the paintings, the portraits especially, bringing before us, as they do, the personages of "other times" in all the freshness and vigour of their own days. The large pictures speak for themselves, and will be viewed and appreciated according to the inclinations and tastes of the visitor. In this choice we follow the example of the No. 118, Venus and Cupid,' by Rubens.-Notice the flesh; can flesh itself be more natural ? 6 No. 165, Joseph and Potiphar's Wife.' -An especial favourite, and finely painted by a lady. No. 220, 'A Sybil.'—A charming picture, by the same lady. No. 78 is the 'Lady' herself, and her own performance. No. 249, Still Life.'-In this beautiful composition there is a brass pan which certainly cannot be mistaken for any other metal. No: 313, 'The Jester of King Henry the Eighth,' by Holbein, considered the chefd'œuvre of this master, and in the collection it is without price. To fully appreciate the expression of this picture, look upon it a second time, after you have contemplated a more sombre portrait, such as that of Henry the Eighth (who was no jester) adjoining, No. 315. No. 375, The Woman taken in Adultery.'-What charming, small figures, and how admirably grouped. The distinctness of each figure is remarkable. Nos. 380 and 381, by Deuner, who was the painter, par excellence, of old men. Notice the moisture in the eye of the latter picture, not that it is in all respects faultless, but it has an expression about it which must have been painted from the life. Nos. 388, 349, 308, and 435, are all by first masters, and have distinct and peculiar merits. No. 499.-The head and hands of Peter are exquisite. No. 853 is a portrait by Mierevelt, the only one by this author in the collection. His chief characteristics were a remarkable smoothness of style, and his paintings are on wood. No. 597 shows how a glass of wine was poured out in the olden time. No. 750.-Those who have read the "Diary of Madame d'Arblay' (Fanny Burney), and few have not, will be interested in this painting of the luscious grape, by Campidoglio. It was presented by Mrs Delaney, together with her own portrait (No. 868), to George III, and we scarcely know which to admire most-the happy complacency of countenance of the old lady, or her tempting present, which no king could refuse to accept. No.863, 'Fair Rosamond,' is a melancholy picture, and the position of the body not easily to be accounted for, unless the mo ment is supposed to be that when she decided to take the veil. Nos. 871 and 872, Mary de Medicis' (the former) has a remarkable head-dress; Henry IV' (the latter) an admirable painting. No. 908. Decidedly the finest female face in the gallery, but of her history nothing is stated. No. 910.-This celebrated woman ('Madame de Pompadour '), the governor of Louis XV, died at 44. The picture will be admired for the exquisite mode in which the blonde lace of the cap is painted. The beauty of the portrait is of a more equivocal character. The next attraction within the walls of the palace is the ancient dining-hall and drawing-room of Wolsey; in the latter is an oil painting of him in profile. It is said the Cardinal had but one eye, and on that account never had his portrait painted a full face. The promenade of the gardens is a privilege granted to the public at all times, the only restriction being that you shall not destroy the plants and flowers. An intimation to this effect is delicately and even classically conveyed-"It is expected that the public will protect what is intended for public enjoyment." The proximity of the Thames to Hampton Court adds considerably to its attractions, for although the avocation of the "jolly young watermen are now beginning to be interfered with by steam so high as Hampton bridge, the winding reaches of the river are constantly visited by amateurs in rowing and angling, and for the mere pleasure of the promenade à l'eau. All the inhabitants of the banks are followers of Isaak Walton, and the conversation in visits is sure to turn upon this science-the use of the "fly" for trout, the gudgeons for perch, and the "gentles" for gudgeons themselves. If angling, fol. lowed as a daily amusement, be a waste of time (and we incline to think it so), it is generally held to be at least an innocent one. Some oppose it on the score of cruelty-but where is the cruelty of hooking a fish, who, had he not fallen into such a mistake, might the next minute have been swallowed by the pike, or would have unceremoniously gorged one of his finny neighbours. On this subject, also, what says the biographer of the good Sir Roger de Coverley-he whose nature is represented as overflowing with the "milk of human kindness." "I have before hinted at some of my friend's exploits: he has in his youthful days taken forty coveys of partridges in a season; and tired many a salmon with a line consisting but of a single hair." We now turn from the contemplation of these lively scenes to what is always an |