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g££ . ygj Ii E A 3> EB, [No. 325, Sattop...
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, , . T^e Bees, wh^ ch have . wandered f...
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LORD COCKBURN'S MEMORIALS. Memorials of ...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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G££ . Ygj Ii E A 3> Eb, [No. 325, Sattop...
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? Thk pleasant author of the papers caUed "Tangled Talk" in Taifs Magazine , from which we often borrow a passage , this month touches on the " Domestic Relations of Literary Men , " a subject often mooted both in print and talk . He says : — . I am disposed to think there is much exaggeration current upon the unhappiness of men of letters in their domestic relations , and that we should find nearly as many tmcomfortable cheesemongers as uncomfortable authors , tfwe heard so much rioutthe cheeBernonffets ; which we do not , except in cases of wife-beating . If men * talent « ontractmore unhappy marriages than other men , I suppose it must be attributed , partly , to the fact that they are more liable , when young , to mistake the action of the Pagination for that of the heart . But surely somethrng-much-must be laid to the account of the wretched education of our women . Also , although women like distinjrufehed men , they do not habitually sympathize with great ambitions ; and if they do , the children and the tradespeople do not—the same path that leads to crowning in the Capitol leading away from plenty in the cupboard . and it is
Ijfcis certain we do not hear so much about the cheesemongers , probable that if we did , we should find the " wretched education of the women" to be the main , cause of unhappiness amid Cheshires and Double Gloucester * , as it is amid Philosophical Fragments and Essays in the last Quarterly : Well does this writer intimate the secret cause of so much unfcappiness ; and te further elucidates it by the sentence , " Although women like distinguished men , they do not habitually sympathize with great ambibitions ;* ' and the proof , in spite of their protestations , is that they are impatient of the'processes by which great ambitions seek to secure their end . Tfce ' wife may glory in her husband ' s fame , maybe excessively pleased at his success , but is seldom found sympathizing with the labours which earned that success . To spend silent hours over " those musty books ; " to soil one ' s fingers and clothes with those " nasty messes , " chemical or anatomical , can only be regarded with sympathy by a mind of a certain degree of culture in that direction , and women must not be blamed if their education has
beeirin quite . other directions . -The truth . of what has been just said is illustrated in the fact that the happiest marriages are those which unite two artists , two poets , two naturalist ' s ; bir two actors , in short any two persons having the same pursuits in life , Identified by their aims , their interests , their vanities , their occupations . iWfi do , not of course mean ^ to assert that all such marriages are happy . Hlimaa beings' are complex , and terribly prone to make each other miserable ; b ; ut we have Observed it as a general fact that the happiest marriages haye been of this , kind . , .
, , . T^E Bees, Wh^ Ch Have . Wandered F...
T ^ e Bees , wh ^ ch have . wandered from the bright furze bushes on the rocks IntQ . oW study ( where they will find no honey , unless they attack the sea anemones , and make theni yield it ) , remind us that Messrs . Longm-ans have ^ ust ^ ued ^ ina . ^ pr ^ ab ^ six shilling volume , the valuable work , Kibbt and Spknc »* s Itfiroduaiion ' to Entomology , vihlch ., many o £ our readers will have sighed for in vain ,. on account of the price , but which now may be in every one ' s hands ; This single-Volume contains every line of the sixth edition ? and . thq accountof ' the origin and progress of the work which Mr . Spjence wiotoibxthe Life of Kirib y . The type though small is very readable . The book has long passed out of all reviewers'jurisdiction , and we content ourselves with announcing the new edition . , i . In the Nineteenth ; Letter will be found all that was known on the combats
of therQueeni-bees at the time the book was written , to which we are now enabled to add Borriethihg , from a letter by M . de Beatjvote to Milne Edwards in , the jMnaVes das Sciences Nahirelles . Quoting Huber , the Introduction . to Entomology says , that when a strange queen-boo attempts to enter the bive , thei wOrkerB who are on the watch immediately seize her with their jkwB"by ihe legs' of wings , and hem her in so Btraightly with a clustered circle of guards that it is impossible for her to penetrate within . If they retain her prisoner too long she dies from the want of food or air , but never from their stings . M . de Beauvoye on the contrary asserts that when he placed a queen in a hive the first watcher seized her , plunged its sting fiercely into her body , and this action attracting the attention of the
rest , they came in crowds , every one stabbing the trembling intruder , who scarcely defended herself . On another occasion ho placed a queen in a glajaa hive quite iclpfle , to ^ ho , reigning queen , who , however , affected not to bo aware of the intruder's presence ; her guard , not being so lofty , seized * he unhappy stranger and poniarded her . Why this indifference on the part ; cjf the reigning queen ? When M . do Bbauvoyb placed two queens alone W 4 wia glass globe their first efforts were to find an issue , and , although osfUiig against each other , passed on without insult or defiance ; when they 1
ag « h ^ m ; eV the'fight began , and one . speedily fell a victim . The next day he placfijttjth ' e ^ ictoriQus queen under the globe once more in company with thirty bees , jto Ahem he added another queen and her guard of thirty . But no one seemed disposed to fight ; every one was bent on esoape . After fabnle time he * tbbk ' out all the bees except the two queens , but they left each otb ^ er , in peace . Ho forced them together with a pen , and now they croas them antennae like two bulls preparing for combat . The fight is about to begin . No . One of them lowers her forepaws , and , so to speak , places herself imploringly at the feet of the other . And the other ? She quietly
licks the head of her rival and caresses her tenderly , after which she places herself supplicatingly at the other ' s feet , and receives the same testimonies of friendship . Peace is so obviously being concluded between them that M . de Beau vote , on warlike plans intent , separates them , irritates them , and pushes them against each other . In vain . Night comes on and finds them still amicable . The next day he repeats the experiment with the same result . But leaving them together all night he finds one of them dead the next morning .
Lord Cockburn's Memorials. Memorials Of ...
LORD COCKBURN'S MEMORIALS . Memorials of His Time . By Henry Cockburn . Edinburgh : A . and C . Black . Hebe is a volume of anecdotes and portraits , by an advocate , by a judge , by a man of letters , the pupil of Dugald Stewart , the High School contemporary of Francis Horner and Henry Brougham , the biographer of Jeffrey , himself an Edinburgh Reviewer , the friend of Scott , and Erskine , and one of the successors of Eskgrove and Braxfield on the Scottish Bench . The Memorials illustrate profusely the several phases of his career . They contain sketches , humorous and broad , of old Scotch society , of the unreformed Courts of Criminal Law , of Attic dinners ; full-length portraits of Dugald Stewart , Adam , Finlayson , Ferguson , Robertson , Henry , and a generation of Northern worthies , of eccentric judges and lawyers , of political and literary leaders ; and they contribute some passages to general history . The book ,
therefore , is a book for all readers—light , colloquial , varied , abounding in the suggestions of an acute and well-train # i mind . To the social annals of the Scotch capital it adds a graphic chapter ; for where else than among these reminiscences of his own time by Lord Cockburn do we find suca pleasant and surprising descriptions of ball-rooms ; of an ancient race of ladies , the lingering dynasty of the Sedan ; of authors , booksellers , and counsel , railing and laughing over the strong ambrosia of the Highland still ; of dinner parties regulated by a formalism as austere as martial law . Henry Cockburn himself , though he belonged , properl y * to the * epoch of quieter manners , mixed largely and freely in these scenes . He played , moreover , a special part in some transactions , remarkable in their day , and even now at the notorious
memorable . He was counsel for several of the prisoners sedition trials of 1817 . When " the prosecutor struck , " he records , with agreeable simplicity , how , after the prison and castle gates had been opened for the release of the accused , he walked home " with a light step and in an agitation of triumph . " He also defended Helen Macdougal , " the wife , though not regularly married , " of Burke , the resurrectionist . At the trial of Burke and Helen for the West-Port murders—sixteen in number—Cockburn uttered an earnest plea in favour of his client . The quarterly Review afterwards reported that he was , at the same time , persuaded of her guilt , and whispered to a counsel , " infernal hag ! the gudgeons swallow it . " This , " says the Memorial , "is utterly Untrue . I was , and am , honestly convinced that there was not sufficient legal evidence to warrant a conviction Of Helen Macdougal . " So the judges thought , and the jury
were guided to an acquittal . Lord Cockburn adds , " Except that he muraerea , Burke was a sensible , and what might be called a respectable man . lnis isone of . his eccentricities . Another was , his opinion that even JirsJcnies way of spitting was eloquent . • - A , ^ i c The characteristic that renders this book so enticing , is the freedom ot the writer , always governed , however , by his habit of appropriate expression . He tells us that , from the date of his marriage , he never spent more than one night a month at home , and in the sole society of his wife . It was always some scene of conviviality , some Roman banquet , a supper which " is cheaper than dinner ; shorter , less ceremonious , and mote poetical ; but which the dwindling hospitality of Edinburgh is reducing " to paltry wine and water . " And now , for the reader's sake , we must " pick out" a notice with some of Lord Cockburn's sayings and recollections . This is Mrs . Rocheadthe lady of Inverleith : —
, She would sail , like a ship from Tarshisli , gorgeous in velvet or rustling m silk , and done ut > iu all the accompaniments of fan , ear rings and linger rings , falling sleeves , scent-bottle , embroidered bag , hoop and train—all superb , yet all in purest taste ; and managing all this seemingly heavy rigging , with as much ease as a lull-mourn swan does its plumage , she would take possession of the centre of a large sola , anu at the same moment , without tho slightest visible exertion , would cover the wnoio of it with her bravery , tho graceful folds spending to lay themselves over it mco
summer waves . u Passing the full-length portrait of Lord Braxfield , who looked like a formidable blacksmith , " and who apologized to a lady whom he had daraneu at the card-table , by saying he thought she was his wife ; Lord JiiSicgrove , who hung criminals with a jest ; Hermand , who refused to be tied cJownoy any mere law ; Sir Walter Scott , tilting at a turnip ; Creech , the dooksoj er , the founders of the Edinburgh and JBlackwood—vfO open tit a charactuisiuminiature of Newton "the Mighty" : — . Iu court his head generally rested either on his heaving chest , or on hm . ban a crossed on the bench , while , after getting a grip of the case , his eyes were 10 CKt genuine Bleep . Yet , from practice and a remarkably quick ear and intellect , nouu y could say anything worth hoaring without his instantly raising his huge oyenu ,, u keeping it open , and directing his powerful knowing eye , like a mortar , at the spt » . till ho got what was necessary ; after which , when tho babbling began , down Ban * tho eyelid again , till lighted up by tho next shot . . . denvou i
Lord Cockburn had an exaggerated admiration of tho Nodes , , part , from un exaggerated estimate of tho Scotch language . It is a singular and delightful production , ho says , vaulting thence to a generality : — ^ I am really sorry for tho poor ono-tongued Englishman , by whom , l ) OCft ' lhfl Ettrick Shepherd usos the . sweetest and most oxpressivo of living languag « " * homely humour , the sensibility , tho descriptive power , the eloquence , and tue hi joyous hilarity of that animated rustic can novor bo felt . Lord Palmerston , in his " Trial of " un Honourable Member for ca'unfa Lord Ponsonby an Old Woman , " introduced a . Scotch witness tnu" Boing a foreigner , he couldn't speak English . " Lord Cockburn says ¦ « j being English , wo can ' t rpnd Scotch . Instead of defending the on ° -lo "« __ Englishman , however , let us listen to a judge describing a High Cour . At Edinburgh , tho old judges had a practice at which oven thoir barbaric ago "
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 14, 1856, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14061856/page/16/
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