Various

“ Upon the whole, he would not, perhaps, be considered to speak rashly or unadvisedly, who should affirm, that no earthly creature, of the same insignificant character and pretensions, is the agent of nearly so much mischief as the fly.—What a blessed order of things would immediately ensue, if every one of them was to be entirely swept away from the face of the earth! ”

“ Is he possessed with a devil, or does he meditate suicide, that his manner is so wild and hurried? With impetuous velocity he rushes to the window, and beneath his vehement but futile strokes, aimed at a scarcely visible, and certainly impalpable object, the fragile glass flies into fragments, the source of future colds and curtain lectures without number. ”

“ We remember an amiable enthusiast, a worshiper of nature after the manner of Rousseau, who, being melted into feelings of universal philanthropy by the softness and serenity of a spring morning, resolved, that for that day, at least, no injured animal should pollute his board ”

“ His fears, however, began to be on the wane, as he became more accustomed to his new employment. Indeed, he went so far as to gaze on one of the noble knights straight in the face—nay, even at last ventured to sip out of a bowl of wine that stood near him, which diffused a most delicious odour around. He found this sip so invigorating, that he soon took a somewhat longer pull; and in a short time Peter had quite forgotten that such things as Sittendorf, Wife, or Goats had ever existed; and on finding himself the least weary, he had only to apply to the never-failing goblet. ”

“ The good portrait painter always flatters; for it is his business, not, indeed, to alter and amend features, complexion, or mien, but to select and fix (which it demands genius and sense to do) the best appearance which these ever do wear. Happy the creature of sense and passion who has always with him that self which he could take pleasure in contemplating! ”

“ Tory.—A robber, an outlaw, literally, one hunted—a name originally given to the outlawed Irish chiefs of Ulster, in the reign of James I., who after the seizure of their lands, had a price set upon their heads, and were hunted by the soldiery like wild beasts; hence the name of Tories, meaning the hunted people, for Toriacht in Irish signifies a pursuit or hunting, and Torihe, hunted. ”

“ The wildest and most ferocious inhabitants of the desert may be reclaimed from their savage nature, and taught to become the peaceful denizens of a menagerie—but ye are altogether untractable and untameable. ”

“ Le Blanc.—A good fellow is one who studies deep, reads trigonometry, and burns love songs; has a most cordial aversion for dancing and D'Egville, and would rather encounter a cannon than a fancy ball. ”

“ Mercy and forbearance are very great virtues when exercised with proper discretion; but man owes a paramount duty to society, with which none of the weaknesses, however amiable, of his nature should be allowed to interfere. ”

“ Saturn and Ops were husband and wife, and to them we owe the introduction of corn and fruits; for which reason the feast was not held till the harvest and fruit time were over. The vows offered to this goddess were made sitting on the ground, to show that she was Earth, the mother of all things.
The Saturnalia were festivals in honour of Saturn, celebrated the 16th or 17th, or, according to others, the 18th of December. They were instituted long before the foundation of Rome, in commemoration of the freedom and equality which prevailed on earth in the golden reign of Saturn. ”

“ Gall, which differed so widely from the long confirmed habits of thinking, and having to contend with so many prejudices, should encounter a large host of adversaries; for if phrenology be true, all other systems of the philosophy of the human mind must consequently be false. The brain, which, from the earliest periods, has generally been considered as the seat of our mental functions, Dr. Gall regards as a congeries of organs, each organ having a separate function of its own. ”

“ People who aim at the short cuts to knowledge should study stenography, and for this purpose they will do well to provide themselves with Mr. Harding's System, which will be as good as "a cubit to a man's height." ”

“ Observe the stout and respectable gentleman, loved, honoured, and esteemed in all the various relations of father, husband, friend, citizen, and Christian, who is on cushioned sofa composing himself for his wonted nap, after a dinner in substance and quantity of the most satisfactory description, and not untempered by a modicum of old port. ”

“ It may not be so easy a matter to mend the public morals as to build new markets; but the links of popular improvement are too closely connected to make the case hopeless.
It would be amusing to compare this emporium of fruits and vegetables in ancient and modern times. At the first enclosure of Covent Garden, in 1635, the supply must have been very scanty. Upon the authority of Hume, we learn that when Catherine, queen of Henry VIII., was in want of any salads, carrots, or other edible roots, &c. ”

“ His amiable partner, with that refined delicacy and sense of decorum peculiar to the female sex, has already withdrawn with her infant progeny, leaving her good man, as she fondly imagines, to enjoy the sweets of uninterrupted repose. At one moment we behold him slumbering softly as an infant—"so tranquil, helpless, stirless, and unmoved;" ”

“ If a man's dwelling-house be decayed, he will never cease till it be restored; if his barn, where he bestows all his fruits and his goods, be out of repair, what diligence doth he use to make it perfect? ”

“ Can it possibly be imagined by the man who has succeeded after infinite pains in rescuing a greedy and intrusive insect from a gin-and-watery grave in his own vile potations, that he has thereby consulted the happiness of his fellow creatures, or promoted the cause of decency, cleanliness, good order, and domestic comfort? ”

“ This most wished-for event, we fear, it will never be our lot to witness; but it may be permitted to a sincere patriot, in his benevolent and enthusiastic zeal for the well-being of his country, to indulge in aspirations that are tinged with a shade of extravagance. ”

“ The noble Duke, now at the head of his Majesty's Government, has it in his power to add another ray to his illustrious name, to secure the approbation and gratitude of all classes of the community, and to render his ministry for ever memorable, by the accomplishment of so desirable an object. ”

“ They abound exceedingly in all sunny spots; nor in the shady lane do they not haunt every bush, and lie perdu under every leaf, thence sallying forth on the luckless wight who presumes to molest their "solitary reign;" they hang with deliberate importunity over the path of the sauntering pedestrian, and fly with the flying horseman, like the black cares (that is to say, blue devils) described by the Roman lyrist. Within doors they infest, harpy-like, the dinner-table—
Diripiuntque dapes, contactuque omnia foedant
Immundo—
and hover in impending clouds over the sugar basin at tea ”

“ In the reign of Charles II. it began to be used to designate a party in the state favourable to absolute monarchy; many of these "Tories" having followed the fortunes of that prince in exile, returned with him, and being his most devoted partisans when reseated on his throne.
Admiral.—This word, which appears to have sadly puzzled the etymologists, having been derived from the Phoenician, the Coptic, and half a dozen languages besides, is pure Celtic, but little altered too, in its transit from one language to another. ”

“ The leaves and stem of the dead plant gave, upon chemical examination, traces of arsenic. A branch of a rose-tree, including a flower, was gathered just as the rose began to blow; the stem was put into a vessel, containing a solution of six grains of oxide of arsenic in an ounce of water. The flower and [pg 409] leaves soon showed symptoms of disease, and on the fifth day the whole branch was withered and dead, though only one-fifth of a grain of arsenic had been absorbed. Similar stems, placed in pure water, had, after five days, the roses fully expanded, and the leaves fresh and green. ”

“ Guthrie, in his "Geographical Grammar," tells us, that the English language is a compound of the Saxon, the French, and the Celtic. As far as this latter is concerned, the assertion appears to me to have been made without due consideration; I do not believe that there are twenty words of genuine Celtic in the English language; there are, it is true, a very few Irish words, which have become as it were, English denizens, and of these I have sent you a specimen above ”

“ At this gentleman's princely mansion of Holkham, is one of the finest collections, or, indeed, libraries of manuscripts anywhere preserved; certainly the finest in any private individual's possession. It partly consists of the chief justice's papers; the rest, and the bulk of it, was collected by that accomplished nobleman who built the mansion, the last male heir of the great lawyer. He had spent [pg 411] many years abroad, where his taste was improved and his general education perfected. He collected a vast number of the most valuable manuscripts. ”

“ Fifteen or twenty grains of moistened arsenic were introduced, the cut was closed, and the stem retained in its original position by osier ties. On the 8th, the leaves began to roll up at the extremity; on the 28th, the branches were dry, and, in the second week of July, the whole of the stem was dry, and the tree itself dead. In about fifteen days after the first, a tree, which joined the former a little above the earth, shared the same fate, in consequence of its connexion with that into which the poison had been introduced. ”

“ Some kinds of contrariety or incongruity excite one class of feelings, other kinds altogether different feelings; and consequently, according to the faculty or combination of faculties affected, the kinds of mirth and laughter are varied from the Sardonic grin of Destructiveness to the lover's smile. This view of the origin of laughter enables us to give a satisfactory answer to the hitherto perplexing question, 'Why is man the only laughing animal?'"
EPIGRAM From the Greek Anthology, (Author unknown.) ”

“ Here he was well received in all the cities through which he passed, as well as in Prussia, Sweden, and Denmark, and explained the doctrines he had founded on his observations from nature before several sovereigns, who honoured him with such marks of approbation and respect as were due to his talents. In the course of his travels he likewise visited England, and at length, in 1807, settled in Paris, where his reputation had already preceded him, and which, from its central situation, he considered as the fittest place for disseminating his system. ”

“ Ard, high or chief, Muir, the sea, and Fear, (in composition pronounced ar) a man, so that Ardmurar, or Admiral, signifies literally the Chief Seaman. There is nothing of torture in this derivation, as may be seen by referring to any Irish dictionary, and it is a curious fact, that the Irish seamen in the navy very generally call the Admiral "the Ardmurar." In Irish it is frequently written in two words, thus—Ard muirfhear. ”

“ The immediate author of so much mischief, it is true, is the diminutive vampire which is now making its escape with cold-blooded indifference through a very considerable fracture in one of the panes; but surely the person who saved from destruction, and may thus be considered to have given existence to the cause of all this loss of temper and of property, cannot conscientiously affirm that his withers are unwrung! ”

“ The Turks use the largest cannon of any people in Europe. In our ships, and I believe in our batteries, we seldom use a heavier gun than a 32-pounder. No man-of-war carries a gun of a larger calibre; but the Turks make use of 800-pounders. Mahommed II. is stated to have used at the siege of Constantinople, in 1453, cannon of an immense calibre, and stone shot. When Sir J. Duckworth passed the Dardanelles to attack Constantinople, in 1807, his fleet was dreadfully shattered by the immense shot thrown from the batteries. ”

“ ORIGIN OF THE WORD BROKER, &c. (For the Mirror.)
The origin of this word is contested; some derive it from the French broyer, "to grind;" others from brocader, to cavil or riggle; others deduce broker from a trader broken, and that from the Saxon broc, "misfortune," which is often the true reason of a man's breaking. In which view, a broker is a broken trader, by misfortune; and it is said that none but such were formerly admitted to that [pg 405] employment. The Jews, Armenians, and Banians are the chief brokers throughout most parts of the Levant and the Indies. ”

“ This system, first promulgated by him, is now rapidly advancing in the estimation of the world; and its doctrines, which a few years since were thought too extravagant and absurd for investigation, are now discussed in a more liberal and candid manner. The test for the science of phrenology, and a test by which its validity alone can be tried, consists in an induction of facts and observations; and by this mode it is that the disciples of Gall and Spurzheim challenge their antagonists. ”