ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 162, 17 February 1847, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

The Marine Palace at Brighton, by her Majesty's consent, i 3 to be sold, and the proceeds applied towards defraying the expense of alterations and improvements in Buckingham Palace. Two companies will shortly be added to each battallion of the Royal Artillery. The honour of knighthood has been offered to the Mayor of Liverpool, and respectfully declined.

Lawyers' Fees in Railway Business. — Talking of fees, the " traffic takers" in this business compute the pressent session's work to have realized Mr. Railway Austin (the barrister), £45,000. There are no reproaches against him for the return of retainers in cases he could not attend to. It is said he much regrets that Parliament did not acquiesce in the proposition for Irish bills being disposed of in Ireland, because in that case he would have been spared the trouble of pretending to attend to things where attention was impossible, and might pocket the fees all the same ; for as long as his name was to be had, have it the parliamentaryagents would,and that wasa/Ahey had in innumerable instances. It is confident* ly asserted, that no man ever practised at the bar who made in ten years the sums he has made within the last three. The 300 th anniversary of the birth of the illustrious astronomer Tycho Brahe, was celebrated with great pomp, on the 21st July, at the island of Ilveen, near Copenhagen. A great number or\steamers, filled with passen* gers, arrived from the capital on th« occasion;

The total number of visitors was estimated at &030. In the evening there was a banquet, at wlrcli 2000 persons were seated.

Superstition on the Danube. — A superstitious notion prevails in Upper Austria, that the Danube requires a yearly victim. I myself saw a fellow fall overboard and drown, after a long struggle, during which neither the crew of the vessel i.or Ins comrades made the slightest effort to save him. While he was. battling against the impetuous waves, the crew stood quite composedly on the deck, and cried , <but in chorus " Jack, Jack, give in ; dost not -see 'tis what pleases God." — Sketches of Austria.

PUNISHM-ENT IN KeW GARDENS. Tl)£ overseers at Kew Gardens have a very good plan to deter the itching fingered gentry irom pulling flowers, or attempting to destroy anything. When we were there a young man of this genvs had been observed to pull and secrete a flower, and it was put to his option whether he would go to the station-house, and have the charge recorded against him, or roll the walks for two hours with a great stone roller, jusi at hand ! Here was a dilemma for a smartly-dressed young man ! and to add to his calamity, there was a young lady along with him ! He begged and beseeched, but it was of no use with the flinty-hearted keeper; he looked at his downcast sweetheart, and then at the stone roller — and thought, no ■doubt, of the station-house, the magistrate, and the police reports J Ultimately he decided that he should take his punishment in Rolling, which he did amidst the sneers and titierings of all who passed by. The little ■flower would not smell very sweet, I should think, after the sweating he got for it. — Notes of a Sojourn in London.

Purification of Mines. — M. Faucille, of Paris, has lately devised a method of expelling carbonic acid gas from pits, mines, reservoirs, &c, by discharging amongst the deleterious gas a volume of steam, whereby the ,gas is in part expelled, and in part absorbed, by the water brought into minute subdivision whilst the steam is being condensed.

Irish Corn and Cattle. — It appears from a parliamentary return that there were imported into England from Ireland, from the sth April to the sth July, in the present year, 59,498 quarters of wheat, 18,417 quarters of barley, 245,967 quarters of oats, 242,257 cwt. of v, heat-meal or flour, and 138,241 cwt. of oatmeal ; also in the same period, 33,850 oxen, bu'ls, and cows, 1,923 calves, 50,669 sheep and lambs, and 124,762 swine. The Society for improving the condition of the Labouring Classes, with which the Labourers' Friend Society is now united, has just received the munificent legacy of one thousand pounds, bequeathed to it in the will of the late James Tomlin, Esq., of the West Mailing, Kent.

A New Element. — A railway traveller, conversing with a fellow passenger the other day, finding that he was a grazier, asked him whether he thought the new tariff would ever bring down the price of meat ? "it may have that effect in time," replied the grazier ; " but meat can never be very cheap in the neighbourhood of London — London is such a devouring element, sir!" — Literary Gazette.

Mexican -War Costume. — The following description of the frontier Mexicans is curious :—": — " They were dressed in large palmetto hats, covered with glazed cloth, and ornamented bands, of most tremendous size, and silver ' fixins' on the side, that resembled the knob of an old fashioned bureau. Their waists are encircled with gay belts, and their pantaloons tanned deerskins, and open on the outside seam, from the hip down, exposing their white linen drawers. Altogether they are very Mexican and very picturesque. Their plunder — for this is.the word that suits the case exactly, for it is presumable they stole their goods — consists of finely-tanned deerskins, gaily ornamented coats and pantaloons ; bridles loaded with silver, and halters of horsehair."

The Strawberry Season. —la the strawberry season hundreds of women are employed to carry that delicate fruit to market -on their heads ; and their industry in performing this task is as wonderful as their remuneration is unworthy of the opulent classes who derive enjoyment from their labour. They consist, for the most part, of Shropshire and Welsh girls, who walk to London, at this season, in droves, to perform this drudgery, just as the Irish peasantry come to assist in the corn and hay harvests. liearnt that these women carry upon their heads baskets of strawberries or raspberries, weighing from forty to fifty pounds, and make two turns in the day, from Isleworth to market, a distance of thirteen miles.each way ;- three .turns from Brentford, a distance of nine miles ; and four turns from Hammersmith, a distance of six miles. For the most part they find some conveyance back ; but, even then, these industrious creatures carry .loads from twentyfour to thirty miles a day, -besides walking back unladen some part of each turn ! Their remuneration for this unparalleled slavery is from Bs.' to 9s. per day ; each turn from fhe distance

of Isleworth being 4s. or 4s. 6d. ; and from that of Hammersmith, 2s. or 2s. 3d. Their diet is coarse and simp'e; their drink, tea and small beer; costing not above Is* or Is. 6d.; and their hack conveyance about 2s. or 2s. 6d. ; so that their net gains are about 55.. per day, which, in the strawberry season of forty days, amounts to £10. After this period, the same women find employment in gathering and marketing vegetables, at lower wages, for other sixty days, netting about £5 more. With this poor pittance they return to their native county, and it adds either to their humble comforts, or creates a small dowry towards a -rustic establishment for life. Can a more interesting picture be drawn of virtuous exertion ? Why have our poets failed to colour and finish it ? More virtue never existed in their favourite shepherdesses than in these Welsh and Shropshire girls. For beauty, symmetry, and complexion, they are not inferior to the nymphs of Arcadia, and they far outvie the pallid specimens of Circassial Their morals, too, are exemplary: 1 and they often perform this labour to support aged parents, or to keep their own children from the workhouse ! — From Sir Richard Phillips' Walk from London to Kest\

The Ice Trade. — This is one of ihe most curious branches of modern commerce. A portion of the foreign ice cosumed in London is imported from the north of Europe, but much of it comes from the United States of America. The principal locality for cutting ice in that country is the Wenham Lake, near Boston, and there are in Boston sixteen companies engaged in transporting ice to the East and West Indies, New Orleans, South America and Europe. The quantity exported from Boston in Febuary, 1845, was 3815 tons and the total export of the previous eight months 51,852 tons, making the whole quantity exported, from June, 1844, to Feb., 1845, 25,667 tons. Since that time the quantity has been greatly increased.

Curious Plant. — The liebiscus mutabilis, a plant growing in the West Indies, is, in the morning of a pale French white colour ; at noon, a delicate pink ; and in the evening crimson.

Time to Reap Corn. — To obtain the greatest amount of nutritive matter in .grain it has been found necessary to cut it down eight or ten days before being dead iipe. Wheat may be reaped at this period before ripening With perfect safety, and will be found attended with many advantages. Some of the earliest varieties of oats — more e&pecially the potato and Siberian — should be reaped before the green tinge has disappeared from the straw, as they are very liable to shed their seed, even by very moderate winds, when too ripe. When oats are cut a little green, the straw is excellent, and little in erior to hay. Barley requires to be more ripened than either wheat or oats, as the object in respect to it is its conversion into malt, and this it is best adapted for when the grain is uniformly ripened. Independent of the advantages accruing from the early leaping of grain, with regard to quality, it is also attended by others, which ought to recommend the practice to every farmer. These are — the avoidance of loss by shaking — getting the grain the sooner into the sack — giving opportunities for sowing winter vetches — transplanting rape, or even iv some localities, of putting down stone turnips. Every farmer, therefore, who consults his interests, should reap his wheat in the condition that will yield the greatest profit, and be attended with the most advantages; and this he will find to be eight or ten days before it has become dead ripe. — Irish Farmer's Almanac.

A Small Family* — *' The upper part of a house to let to a small family," is a very common notice. Words do not always express the meaning intended. A lady called toJook at a house wheie there was such a notice — a foreigner evidently. The bargain was ne.arly struck when the question was put, " How small is your iamily ?" Dar is, m idam, eleven, — myself, my .husbane, and nine little children." " Oh dear, we want a very small family.', True, madam, the oldest is only nine ; dey are very small, very leetle children." — American Paper.

Conversational Powers of Great Men. — The late William Hazlitt, a man gifted with great powers of observation and expression, was of opinion that actors and authors were not fitted, generally speaking, to shine in conversation. 'Authors ought to be read, anil not heard ;' and as to actors they could not speak tragedies in the drawing room, and their wit was likely to be comedy and farce at second hand. The biography of men of letters in a great measure confirms this opinion : some of the greatest names in English and French literature, men who have filled books whh an eloquence and truth that defy oblivion, were mere mutes before their fellow men. They have golden ingots, which in the privacy of home, they could convcrt-jntri cojn.D.earfng an imprest that would insure universal currency ; but they could not, on the spur of the moment, produce the farthings

current in the market-place. Descartes, the famous mathematician and philosopher, LaFontaine, celebrated for his witty iables, mnd Button, the great naturalist, were all singularly deficient in the powers of conversation. Marmontel the novelist, was so dull in society, that his friend said of him, after an interview, ' 1 must go and read his tales, to recompense myself for the weariness of hearing him.' As to Coineille, the greatest dramatist of France, he was so completely los>t in society, so absent and embarrassed, that he wrote of himself a witty couplet, implying that he was never intelligible but through the mouth of another. Wit on paper seems to be something widely different from that play of words in conversation which, while it sparkles, dies; for Charles 11, the wittiest monarch that ever sat on the English throne was so charmed with the humour of 4 Hudibras,' that he caused himself to he introduced, in the character of aprivaiegentleman, to Butler, its author. The witty king found the author -a very dull companion ; and was of opinion, with many others, that so stupid a fellow could never have written so clever a book. Addison, whose classic elegance of style has long been considered the best model for young writers, was shy and absent in society, preserving, even before a single stranger, a stiff and dignified silence. He was accustomed to say that there could be no real conversation but between two persons — friends — and that it was then thinking aloud. Steele, Swift, Pope, and Congreve, men possessing literary and conversational powers of the highest order, allowed him to have been a delightful companion amongst intimates ; and Young writes of him, that 'he was rather route in society on some occasions, hut when he began to be company, he was full of vivacity, and went on in a noble strain of thought and language, so as to chain the attention of every one to him.' Goldsmith, on the contrary, as described by his contemporary writers, * appeared in company to have no spark of that genius which shone forth so brightly in his works. His address was awkward, his manner uncouth, his language unpolished; he hesitated in speaking, and was always unhappy if the conversation did not turn upon himself.' Dr. Johnson spoke of him as an inspired idiot ; yet the greatest essayist, though delivering oracles to those around him in pompous phrases, which have been happily described as spoken in the Johnsonian tongue, was not entitled to be called a good converser. Nearer to our own time we have had many authors whose faculty told twice. Sheridan and Theodore Hook were fellows of infinite jest ; they could ' set a tabli in a roar,' and fill pages with pathos and wit of such a quality, that it makes their survivors think ' we could have better spaied better men.' Burns was famous for his colloquial powers; and Gait is reported to have been as skilful as the storytellers of the East in fixing the attention of his auditors on his prolonged narrations. Coleridge was in the habit of pouring forth brilliant unbroken* monologues of two or threehours' duration, to listeners so enchanted, that, like Adam, whose ears were filled with the, eloquence of an archangel, they forgot ' all place — all seasons and their change ;' but this was not conversation, and few might .venture to emulate that * old man eloquent' with hopes of equal success. Washington Irving, in the account he has •given of his visit to Abbotsford, says of Sir Walter Scott, that his conversation was frank, hearty, picturesque, and dramatic. He never talked for effect or display, hut from the flow of his spirits, the stores of his memory, and the vigour of his imagination. He was as good a listener as a talker ; appreciated everything that others said, however humble might be their rank and pretensions, and was quick to testify his perception of any point in their discourse. No one's concerns, no one's thoughts and opinions, no one's tastes and pleasures, seemed boneath him. He made himself so thoroughly the companion of those with whom he happened to be, that they forgot, for a time, his vast superiority, and only ! | recollected and wondered, when all was over, that it was Scott with whom they had been on such familiar terms, and in whose society they had felt so perfectly at their ease. — Chambers' Journal.