ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 380, 24 March 1849, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

It is reported that either the Marquis of Westminster or the Earl of Clarendon will receive the Blue Ribbon vacant by the demise of the Earl of Carlisle. Since the accession of the present Ministry three Garters have fallen to the disposal of the Premier. Sir Robert Peel, during his last Administration, disposed of no less than nine. The following officers have succeeded from the Ist of September to the good service pension of £100 per annum, viz. : — Major-Ge-neral Sir de Lacy Evans, Major- General J. M 'Donald, C.8., Major- General Roderick M'Neill, and Major-General W. Sutherland. Miss Hvi>son*s Marriage. — It is understood that the union announced to take place between Miss Hudson, the only daughter of George Hudson, Esq., M.P., and. Mr. Geo. Dundas, M.P., will be celebrated with great splendour at Christmas. The bride has not yel completed her eighteenth year 4 and the gentleman is in his twenty-eighth. Mri Geo. Dundas, who has represented LiaUthgowslriie

in Parliament since 1847, is a deputy-lieute-n»nt for that county, and holds a commission in tjie Rifle Brigade ; he is the eldest son of 1; Etaiidas, Esq., his mother being the daughter of the celebrated Admiral Viscount Duncan. The principal seat of the family consists of the fine old baronial mansion known as Duhdas Castle, in Linlithgowshire. It has been reported that the Prince de Joinville intends settling in the United States, and will be accompanied by numerous French and English gentlemen of capital, who will unite with him in settling a colony to be called Joinville. A London inventor has applied vulcanised Indian rubber to the purpose of making artificial legs, which are said to be the most useful substitutes for a limb that have yet .been devised. ■>, A Birmingham manufacturer, who was examined before a committee of the House of Commons, stated that he had once received a single order for £500 worth of dolls' eyes. St. Mary's Church, at Stafford, has just been furnished with new machinery for a complete set of chimes; one of the tunes " pricked" on the barrel is, " We won't go home till morning," which would certainly have a fitter sound- from a tavern than a church tower. The same tune is daily heard from one of the towers of Bristol.

HOW TO BECOME A GOOD COLONIST. A man, to be good colonist) must be no slave to routine. He must be ready for every emergency; his previous acquirements may be .of little use to him, except in having sharpened his wits ; he must be ready to put off all, his former habits, and to adopt such as are most suited to his new career, except his religion and morality, as they are adapted to all states ©f,Jife. He must be willing to turn his hand .to anything; to plough, to shear, to build, or dig, to abandon all the physical luxuries of civilized life, but to preserve the refinement 1 of mind and manner which he gained in the world he has quitted. The colonist, who was a gentleman in England, not only remains- so in the bush, but takes a higher grade if possible, though his mansion is a loghut, and his wealth is in flocks and herds ; for he is a more independent man, and he can afford to be more liberal. He is no longer engaged in a struggle with the world; he no longer fears being pressed down below his proper levels he has ap favours to ask for — no votes to give; he will Hot have to ask for posts at court-r-nor offices under government for his sons —of daughters the more he has the better ; for all are sure to marry enterprising spirited gentlemen like himself, and tp iorm a happy family society around him. He knows that he shall float calmly and boldly along the stream of life, respected by himself, and respected and loved by others, till his course, run in honour, is ended in satisfaction ; and as his children and grand-chil-dren surround his death-bed, he feels that he has played his part well in life, and has not lived in vain. The wise colonist remembers that he is a colonist, and not a mere adventurer or sojourner in the land for the purpose, of reaping a fortune, and then returning to the country from whence he came. He never looks back, but he keeps the future steadily in sight. That way lies his road. He is to create a home for his declining years, ail fieritage for his children. He feels that a British colony is a part of the Britjsh empire ; that he lives under the same laws and the same institutions as his fellow subjects — those laws and those institutions which he loves ; he feels that he is every whit a Briton, and that his children are so, although his eyes may never again rest on the green fields and waving woods, of England ; though his children may never see the spot where he was born. He is not a cosmopolite; he does not pretend to love every nation and every land as much as his own ; but he considers that the laws and institutions of the honest, brave, and hardy Saxon race make England what she is, and all those he has with him. He soon learns to love his homestead in Canada or New Zealand as much as the estate which may have descended to him from a long line of ancestors, but from which stero necessity has compelled him to part. His children call the ! land of his adoption their own dear home.; ■: and he looks with pride and satisfaction on the rich fields, the orchards, and gardens, which his industry and perseverance have planted in the wilderness; and as he counts the numerous flocks and herds into which his first limited stock has increased—remembering that had he lingered on in England from want of energy to break his bonds, he should now be a care-worn anxious man, with poverty staring him in the face, and a family destined to struggle on in difficulties, and to sink from the grade their fathers occupied.—he blesses heaven which kindly guided his steps thither, and gave him resolution and sense to become a colonist. —[From a paper by Mr. Kingston in "the first number of a cheap monthly periodical entitled the Colonist, which is likely to do good service in a good cause.]

Extremes in Music. — It is curious to \ observe in this, as in every otber art, how the two extremes combine tbe greatest number of admirers. Handel and Jullien bold the two ends of the great net which draws all mankind ; the one catching' the ear with the mere beat of time — the otber subduing the heart with the sense of eternity. But it is in the wide territory between them that the surest instincts must be tried. Here there are amateurs of every shade and grade, some learned in one instrument, others infatuated for one 1 performer — some who listen ignorantly, others intelligently, but both gratefully, to whatever is really music — others again, conspicuous as musical wickedness in high places, who care for none but their own., Doubtless some acquaintance with the principles of the art, and practical skill of hand, greatly enhance the pleasure of the listener ; but still it is a sorrowful fact, that the class of individuals who contentedly perform that species of self-se-renade which goes by the omnibus title of " playing a little," are the last in whom any real love for it is to be found. There is something in the small retailing of the arts, be it music, painting, or poetry, which utterly annihilates all sense of their real beauty. There is a certain pitch of strumming and scraping which must be got over, or they had better never have touched a note. Apparently the highly-gifted and cultivated amateur, on the other hand, is one of the most enviable creatures in the world. Beauty must always dazzle and wealth buy ; but no disparity in the respective powers of attraction ever strikes us as so.great as that which exists between the woman who has only to lift her hand, or open Ijer mouth, to give pleasure, and her who sits by and can do neither. — Quarterly Review. The Mother of Cavaignac. — General Cavaignac, who, by one of those sudden changes so common in history, has become the hero of the day, is the son of an old member of the convention, who died in exile. His republican baptismj therefore,dates very far back. His moderate but firm opinions were not calculated to render him acceptable to a monarchical government. Consequently, he was forced to win his rank step by step, at the poinfof the sword, and with the assistance of his courage at Algiers. His manners are very striking, and would render him a marked man anywhere. He speaks with emphasis and accent, and his voice is clear and distinct. His countenance is highly expressive of frankness and candour. There is one trait in his char-* acter which is exceedingly interesting to me, who hold the memory of my mother as sacked as though it were a point of religion. It is that, iron soldier as he is, he entertains for his mother, who is still alive, an almost infantile affection, and obeys her as implicitly as though he were still a child. She is a woman who, notwithstanding seventy-three years have passed over her head, possesses all her faculties, unimpaired by age, and still preserves the same indomitable resolution which distinguished her in her younger days. True as a Roman matron to the faith of her youth, she may be said to have swaddled her children in the flag of the republic, under the folds of which her husband died. — Le Courier dcs Etats Unis.

Love-making Behind the Scenes. — The belief is very common that a considerable quantity of that material called ' love-making' is to be found behind" the scenes of our* London theatres. The opinion, however, is a very erroneous one,* for in few places is decorum better observed than in the green room of our first-class theatres, Indeed, actresses are the last people in the world to be captivated with pretty speeches, or insinuating manners. Love making off the stage is to them so very* similar to love making on it, that they feel a sort of contempt for the foolish individual who imagines they are to be won by the usual method of fascinating sentimental young ladies of society. Actresses generally are sensible people, for they are so constantly forced into sensible reflections by the nature of their proj fession, that they become experienced in matters removed from their practical knowledge, while their intercourse with all descriptions, of people, from the highest to the lowest, gives them an insight into human nature which they do not fail to turn to their own advantage. The delicate bloom of woman's nature when she once appears in public, as an aspirant for its favours, very soon wears off, and, although there are some rare exceptions, she speedily loses, all relish for refinement. Thus the petty baits and snares which men employ to attract and entrap women generally fail when actresses are the game, fox in the ratio to their sensibilities decaying, is the increase of their judgment, and nothing really satisfies them but substantial acts of kindness. The highly educated woman, who moves in her little circle of friends, modest, accomplished, admired, is naturally keenly alive to all those subtle refinements which habit has rendered necessary, while kindness and attention are of every hour's occurrence. The actress, however, has received a sterner lesson. She has been sent on the wprld to earn her bread, by industry

and talents, which only men should be called upon to exert, and she pays the penalty by losing the chief attraction of woman's nature. When her affections and favours are sought, she calculates to a nicety upon the advantages likely to ' accrue from compliance ; but this mercenary spirit is forced upon her by her position, and those who condemn actresses without consideration of the evils they have to endure, should just for once, whether ill or well, whether happy or sorrowful, be made to paint the cheek, rush upon the stage, and enter the soul of another.-— Affection, itsfruits ft/lowers.

An Amekican Maevbl. — A dead alligator, as newspaper readers may remember, which was. lately found floating in the bay of New York, awakened, much.speculation among naturalists ; the recent discovery of the skeleton of another, almost as far north in New Jersey, is therefore mot a novelty of wonder in these regions, except from the immense size of the latter, and from a matter of most curious antiquarian interest connected with its exhumation. This last alligator or crocodile, measuring thirty feet in length, was found at Eatontown, New Jersey, about ten miles from Long Branch, while digging for marl. The skeleton lay aboutsix feet beneath the stratum of green sand ; and underneath this skeleton, a3 if it had dropped from the mouldering stomach of the monster, was found an ancient coin ! This coin is described to us by an intelligent correspondent, who has handled it, as about the size of a dollar ; its composition, in which there is a large share of silver, being probably Corinthian brass. On the face of it is the figure of a lion', with the date 6—416 — 41 in Arabic numerals ; on the reverse, amid several illegible letters, the fragmentary words — " Arg. Procon. Latia Mo," may be deciphered, surrounding two larger letters, in the centre of which is the Greek II with an R interwoven with it. "We understand that the whole of. this curious matter is to be brought before some antiquarian society in the regular mode, with all the necessary testimony as facts particular of discovery. But while those learned gentlemen are puzzling themselves as to the pro-consulship in which this coin was cast, and calling in the aid of the geologist to account for its locality, our quick-minded readers will instantly jump to the honest conclusion, that this crocodile, who found his burial amid the sands of new Jersey, had, two thousand years ago, half digested some Roman soldier in the rivers of Africa, ere he floated, westward for a new meal, with the poor fellow's last coin still preserved in his maw. — New York Literary World.

Not a Bad Reason for Abjuring Charti3M. — A reverend gentleman of the town of Lancaster, while in conversation* the other day with an individual who formerly figured as a red-hot stickler for the six points, being struck with the subdued language in which his political ideas were clothed, remarked, " Why, , I thought you were a Chartist." "So I was Sir," rejoined the other ; " but" — and the answer is deeply significant — " I have lately built two cottages 1"

The Bee. — That within so small a body should be contained apparatus foe converting the ' virtuous sweets 1 which it collects into one kind of nourishment for .itself, another for the common brood, a third for the royal, glue for its carpentry, wax for its cells, poison for its enemies, honey for its master, with a proboscis almost as long as the body itself, microscopic in its several parts, telescopic in its mode of action, with a sting so infinitely sharp that, were it magnified by the same glass which makes a needle's point seem a quarter of an inch, it would yet itself be invisible, and this, too, a hollow tube — that all these varied operations and contrivances should be enclosed within half an inch of length, and two grains of matter, while in the same " small room" the " large heart" of at least thirty distinct instincts is contained — is surely enough to crush all thoughts of atheism and materialism. — Quarterly Review.

How a Lady became a Freemason. — The Hon. Elizabeth St. Leger was the only female who was ever initiated into the ancient and honourable mystery of freemasonry. How she obtained this honour we shall lay before our readers, having obtained the only genuine information from the best sources. Lord Doneraile, Miss St. Leger's father, a very zealous mason, held a warrant, and occasionally opened lodge at Doneraile House, his .sons and some intimate friends assisting, and ' it is said that never were the masonic duties more rigidly performed than by the brethren of No. 150, the number of their warrant. It appears that, previous to the initiation of a gentleman in the first steps of masonry, Miss St. Leger, who was a young girl, happened to be in an apartment adjoining the room generally used as a lodge room, but whether the young lady was there by design or accident, we cannot confidently state. This room at the time was undergoing "> some . alteration ; , amongst other things the wall was considerably reduced in one part, for the purpose of making a saloon. The young lady having heard the voices of the freemasons, and

prompted by the curiosity, natural to *21 t to see this mystery so long and so secretly locked^Erom public view, she had the courage to pick a brick from the wall with her scissors, and witnessed the ceremony through , the twp first stejs, *. Curiosity, gratified, fear , at .onse took jjiossession of her mind, and those who understand this passage, well know -what the feeling p£ any person mustie whp could unlawfully behold the ceremony ; .let, them then judge what were the feelings of a young girl uuder such extraordinary circumstances. There was no mode of escape except, through the very room where the concluding part of the second step was still being solemnized, and that being at the far end, and the room a very large one, she had resolution sufficient to attempt her escape that way, and with light but trembling step glided along unob-. served, laid her hand on the handle of the door, and gently opening it, before her stood, to her dismay,' a grim and surly, tiler, with his long sword unsheathed. A shriek, that pierced through the apartment, alarmed the members of the lodge, who, all rushing to the door, and finding that Miss St. Leger had been in the room during the ceremony, in the first paroxysm of their rage it is said her death was resolved on, but from the moving »nd earnest supplication of her younger brother, her life was spared on condition of her going through the two first steps of the solemn ceremony she had unlawfully witnessed. This she consented to, and they conducted the beautiful and terrified young lady through those trials which are sometimes more than enough for masculine resolution, little thinking they were taking into the bosom of 4heir craft, a member that would afterwards reflect a lustre on the annals of masonry. Miss St. Leger was directly descended from Sir Ror bert de St. Leger, who accompanied William the Conqueror to England, and was of that high repute that he with his ovra hand supported that prince when he first went out of his ship to land in Sussex. Miss St. Leger was cousin to General Anthony' St. Leger, Governor of St. Lucia, who instituted the interesting race and the celebrated Doncaster St. Leger stakes., Miss St Leger married Richard Aldworfh, - Esq.,' of Newmarket, a member of a highly honourable and ancient: family long celebrated for their hospitality and other virtues. Whenever a benefit Was given at the theatres in Dublin or »Cork, for the Masonic Female .Orphan Asylum, she, walked at the head of the freemasons with : her apron and other insignia of freemasonary, and sat in the front row of the stage box. The house was always crowded on these occasions^ The portrait of this amiable woman is in the lodge room of almost every lodge in Ireland. — Patrician. Boring for Water. — " If you please, sir, the man's called again for the water-rate." — Punch.