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قراءة كتاب The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 17, No. 484, April 9, 1831
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The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 17, No. 484, April 9, 1831
The three last named places were summoned during the Commonwealth—also Manchester;—when discontinued, not known. Greenwich was summoned 4th and 5th of Philip and Mary; discontinued 6th of Philip and Mary. The other places were principally summoned and discontinued during the reigns of Edward the First, Second, and Third. Calais, in France, was summoned the 27th of Henry the Eighth; discontinued 3rd of Philip and Mary.
In the reign of Edward the Third, an act of Parliament, made in the reign of William the Conqueror, was pleaded in the case of the Abbey of St. Edmundsbury, and judicially allowed by the court. Hence it appears (says a writer on this subject) that parliaments, or general councils, are coeval with the kingdom itself.
The first triennial parliament was in the year 1561; the first septennial one, in the year 1716.
Henry the Eighth increased the representatives in parliament 38; Edward the Sixth, 44; Mary, 25; Elizabeth, 62; and James the First, 27.
P.T.W.
ANCIENT BOROUGH OF LYDFORD.
(For the Mirror.)
Lydford is a poor, decayed village, consisting of ragged cottages, situated about seven miles from the north of Tavistock, Devonshire. It was (says Britton) formerly a place of consequence; and Prince states, that this ancient town and borough was the largest parish in the county, or the kingdom, and that the whole forest of Dart belonged to it; to whose parson, or rector, all the tithes thereof are due. It is said that this town, in its best strength, was able to entertain Julius Cæsar, at his second arrival here in Britain; but, anno 997 it was grievously spoilt by the inhuman Danes. Recovering again, it had, in the days of the Conqueror, 122 burgesses. This is still the principal town of the Stannaries, wherein the court is held relating to those causes. There is an ancient castle, in which the courts are held; and offenders against the stannary laws were here confined, in a dreary and dismal dungeon, which gave rise to a proverb—”Lydford laws punish a criminal first, and try him afterwards.”
It appears from the Domesday Book, that Lydford and London were rated in the same manner, and at the same time.
Lydford formerly sent members to parliament, but was excused from this burden, as it was then considered, by pleading propter paupertatem.
P.T.W.
A WORD FOR THE READERS OF THE MIRROR.
Cadwallader Colden, in his Account of the Five Indian Nations of Canada, says—“They think themselves by nature superior to the rest of mankind, and call themselves Ongue-honwe—that is, men surpassing all others. The words expressing things lately come to their knowledge are all compounds. They have no labials in their language, nor can they pronounce perfectly any word wherein there is a labial; and when one endeavours to teach them to pronounce these words, they tell one they think it ridiculous that they must shut their lips to speak. Their language abounds with gutturals and strong aspirations: these make it very sonorous and bold; and their speeches abound with metaphors after the manner of the eastern nations. Sometimes one word among them includes an entire definition of the thing: for example—they call wine Oneharadeschoengtseragherie, as to say, a liquor made of the juice of the grape.”
N.B. It is hoped the above guttural word will not stick in the throat of the reader.
P.T.W.
SONG.
(For the Mirror.)
Oh fly with me my lady love, my island home is free,
And its flowers will bloom more sweetly still, when gazed upon by thee;
Come, lady, come, the stars are bright—in all their radiant power,
As if they gave their fairy light to guide thee to my bower.
Oh fly with me, my little bark is waiting ’neath the steep,
And the midnight breeze is fresh to waft thee o’er the stilly deep;
Though tempests blow they should not raise thy fears, nor scathe thy form,
For love would hover o’er thee still, a halo in the storm.
I’ve found for thee, my lady love, the freshest flowing springs,
Whose cooling waters ever burst in crystal sparklings;
It is for thee my shaft will wing the wild bird in the air,
Or strike the swift gazelle to deck our simple mountain fare.
Oh ’tis thou canst bid my spirit throb with rapture’s warmest sigh,
As gushing winds will make a lute’s strings sleeping melody;
When other hopes have faded like the flow’rets of the spring,
Thou’lt be to me a joyous wreath for ever blossoming.
Then fly with me my lady love, my island borne is free,
And its flowers will bloom more sweetly still, when gazed upon by thee;
Come, lady, come, the stars are bright in all their radiant power,
As if they gave their fairy light to guide thee to my bower.
WRITING INK.
(To the Editor.)
I see in your admirable work one of the never ending disquisitions about making writing ink. As I have used as much as most people in the threescore and ten years of my life, and my father used perhaps three times as much, and we never were nor are troubled, I suppose we manage as well as most folks—and as it is begged of me to a great amount, I infer that others like it.
I improve a little on my father’s plan, by substituting a better vehicle, and the knowledge of this improvement I obtained from a lady to whom a Princess Esterhazy communicated it.
It is so convenient, that whenever I go to Leamington, Brighton, Tunbridge, or such places of temporary residence, I send to a chemist’s my recipe, reduced to the quantity of half a pint; and my ink is in use as soon as it comes, improving daily.
My home quantities are these:
Three quarts of stale good beer, not porter.
Three quarters of a pound fresh blue Aleppo galls, beaten.
Four ounces of copperas.
Four ounces of gum Arabic in powder.
Two ounces of rock alum.
This is kept for a week in a wide-mouthed pitcher close to the fire, never on it, frequently stirred with a stick, and slightly covered with a large cork or tile.
My small quantity is—
Half a pint of good beer.
Two ounces of galls.
Half an ounce of copperas.
Ditto of gum Arabic.
Quarter of an ounce of rock alum.
It will never mould or lose its substance or colour. The large quantity will bear half as much beer for future use. If it thickens, thin it with beer.
I adopt the Italian ladies’ method of keeping the roving of a bit of silk stocking in the glass, which the pen moving, preserves the consistency of the liquid and keeps the fingers from it.
If you have seen