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asked him if he would stay all night; he answered, Just as it falls: meaning, if the drop fell among the meat he would be off; if it fell by, he would stay.

CC AS FINE AS CREDITON SPINNING." Devonshire proverb. As a proof of the fineness of Crediton spinning, it is related that one hundred and forty threads of woollen yarn, spun in that town, were drawn together through the eye of a tailor's needle; which needle and threads were to be seen for many years in Watling-street, London, in the shop of one Dunscombe, at the sign of the Golden Bottle. The discoveries, however, of Watt and Arkwright, have enabled the manufacturers of the present day far to excel ancient Crediton in the fineness of spinning.

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"He that gives his goods before he be dead, Take up a mallet and knock him on the head." Taken from the history of one John Bell, who, having given all his substance to his children, was by them neglected: after he died there was found a mallet with this inscription :1, John Bell, leaves here a mell, the man to fell, Who gives all to his bairns, and keeps nothing to himsell.

" A WELCH BAIT."-Welch. A short stop, but no refreshment. Such baits are frequently given by the natives of the principality to their keffels, or horses, particularly after climbing a hill.

A KENT-STREET DISTRESS."-Surrey. A mode of distress formerly practised on the poor inhabitants of Kentstreet; on non-payment, the rent collectors took away the doors of the de

faulters.

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<< JOHN O'GROAT'S HOUSE.'

Every one is familiar with the name and situation of this celebrated building, but few Southrens are acquainted with its origin. Its history is interesting:

"John O'Groat's House is a memorable

place, in the parish of Canisbay, in Caithness, in Scotland, which, perhaps, owes its fame less to the circumstances of its local situation, at the northern extremity of the be improper to relate, as it inculcates an island, than to an event which it may not useful lesson of morality. In the reign of James IV. of Scotland, three brothers, Malcolm, Gavin, and John de Groat, supposed to have been originally from Holland, arrived in Caithness, with a letter from that Prince, recommending them to the countenance and protection of his lov. ing subjects in the county of Caithness. These brothers purchased some land near Dungisbayhead, and in a short time, by the increase of their families, eight different proprietors of the name of Groat possessed these lands in equal divisions. These eight families have lived peaceably and comfortably for a number of years, established an annual meeting to celebrate the anniversary of the arrival of their ancestors on the coast. In the course of the festivity on one of these occasions, a question arose respecting the right of taking the door, the head of the table, and such points of precedency, each contending for the seniority and chieftainship, which increased to such a degree as would probably have proved fatal in its consequences, had not John de Groat, who appears to have acquired great knowledge of mankind, interfered. He exfore enjoyed, owing to the harmony which patiated on the comfort they had heretohad subsisted among them; he assured them that as soon as they appeared to quarrel, their neighbours, who had till then treated them with respect, would fall upon them, and expel them the country. He therefore earnestly requested them, by the ties of blood and their mutual safety, to return quietly to their several homes, and pledged himself that he would satisfy them on all points of precedency, and prevent the possibility of such disputes at their future anniversary meetings; they all acquiesced, and departed in peace. In due time John de Groat, to fulfil his engagement, built a room distinct from all other houses, having placed a table of oak of the same in an octagon figure, with eight doors, and shape in the middle; when the next meet

ing took place, he desired each of them to enter by his own door, and to sit at the head of the table, he himself occupying the last. By this ingenious contrivance, the harmony and good humour of the company was restored. The building was then named John O'Groat's House; and though nothing remains but the foundation of the building, the place still retains the name, and deserves to be remembered for the intentions and good sense which gave it origin.

66 JEMMY DAWSON."

Shenstone's pathetic and affecting ballad of Jemmy Dawson is founded in truth, and was taken from a narrative first published in The Parrot of the 2nd of August 1740, three days after the transaction it records. It is given in the form of a letter, and it is as follows:

"A young lady of a good family and handsome fortune had for some time extremely loved, and was equally beloved by Mr. James Dawson, one of those unhappy gentlemen who suffered on Wednesday last, at Kensington Common, for high treason; and had he either been acquitted, or have found the Royal mercy after condemnation, the day of his enlargement was to have been that of their marriage.

"I will not prolong the narrative by any repetition of what she suffered on sentence being passed on him; none, excepting those utterly incapable of feeling any soft or generous emotions, but may easily conceive her agonies; beside, the sad catastrophe will be sufficient to convince you of their sincerity.

"Not all the persuasions of her kindred could prevent her from going to the place of execution; she was determined to see the last of a person so dear to her, and accordingly followed the sledges in a hackney coach, accompanied by a gentleman nearly related to her, and one female friend. She got near enough to see the fire kindled which was to consume the heart she knew

was so much devoted to her, and all the other dreadful preparations for his fate, without betraying any of those emotions her friends apprehended; but when all was over, and that she found he was no more, she threw her head back into the coach, and ejaculating, 'My dear, I follow thee! I follow thee! Lord Jesus! receive both our souls together,' fell upon the neck of her companion, and expired the very moment she had done speaking.

"The excessive grief which the force of her resolution had kept smothered within her breast, is thought to have put a stop to the vital motion, and suffocated at once all the animal spirits."

LIEUT. JOSEPH FRASER.

Died at Edinburgh, lately, Lieut. Fraser, of the 87th regiment of foot. Lieut. Fraser entered at the youthful age of sixteen. He passed with approbation through the grades from private to officer in the short space of eight years. His signal bravery at the taking of the Cape of Good Hope in

duced the commanding officer to report him for an officer's commission; for he was one of the party of thirty, who, on that occasion, volunteered to storm a battery, and the only one of the party who survived (but not unwounded) the capture of it. His death was premature, at the age of 42.

A VIRTUOSO.

At Inspruck is to be seen a boot, which it is said belonged to CHARLES XII. The boot is the property of an Exciseman, who conceives it to be of the greatest value. An Englishman offered to fill it with guinens to become its possessor. He then had he said the babouches of MAHOMET II. the sandals ofCARACALLA,the slippers of Charles IX. and the boot straps of CROMWELL.

CONJUGAL AFFECTION.

Some time ago a poor woman labouring under temporary derangement, hung herself in her own house. As soon as her husband was aware of her situation, he set off in search of a medical man, leaving his unfortunate wife suspended by the neck, and giving strict injunctions that she should not be meddled with till he returned. A number of persons collected in consequence of the alarm, among whom was a man who had tasted the "barley-bree," who bawled out "Why don't you cut the woman down?" When several females immediate

ly replied "Ye drunken brute, wou'd you awa' for a doctor." They nevertheless cut put a finger on her, when her gude man's her down, but too late to save her life.

APPALLING ACCIDENT.

On Tuesday se'night, Mr. Ross, a respectable fariner, residing at Waterfowl, in Bræmar, accompanied by a gentleman from Aberdeen and a guide, mounted to the from that stupendous height. The party summit of Lochnager, to enjoy the view had begun to descend, when Mr. Ross requested one of them to hold his pony, while he returned to survey a particular spot overlooking Lochgar. After waiting for some time, the gentlemen became alarmed; and on going back they discovered, dreadful to relate, that he had fallen from the cliff, ular height. It appeared that, in falling, which was here above 300 feet perpendic he had struck against a projecting part of the rock, about fifty yards from the top, a part of his skull being found there; and it was with difficulty his mangled remains could be gathered together at the bottom of the cliff. It is impossible to say how the lamentable accident happened; but it is supposed that a stone had tripped his foot in going round the edge of the precipice, which at the part where he fell, branches off from the usual track taken by travellers.

A CLUB OF WATER DRINKERS. In a small town in Lancashire a Society has been established whose tenets are of a singularly primitive character. The party consists of eight or ten members, all well acquainted with each other, all of whom are excellently initiated in the art of smoking.

It is a law with them as sacred as those of the Medes and Persians, to allow no fluid to assist in their festive rites but the pure drink of nature, and it is really a most amusing spectacle to behold these sober worthies passing away the afternoon of each day in the occupation of smoking round an old oak table, the chief duty of which is to sustain a huge pitcher of water whence they all indulge by turns in copious libations, with the same apparent satisfaction, that we are in the habit of seeing result from a similar vessel of good home-brewed ale. JACK ASHORE.

On Tuesday last, as a party of seamen belonging to His Majesty's ship Salisbury, just arrived from the Halifax station, were walking up Point-street, Portsmouth, rather elated with a heavy wet, a bull, which had escaped from the King's slaughter-house came running towards the jolly Tars, with his tail erect in the air, when all the men jumped out of his way except one, and he being an immense sturdy fellow, stood in the street directly in the way of the bull, and hailed him in the following words"Bull, ahoy! Bull, ahoy! I cry: Drop your peak, and put your helm a starboard, or you'll run aboard of me." The bull continuing his course, came in contact with Jack, and capsized him but Jack not being intimidated, sprung from the ground, and shaking his clothes, very good-naturedly observed to the bull, "Oh you lubberly beast, I told you how it would be."

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NEW RELIGIOUS SECT.

About the village of Millbrook, a considerable sect, named Bryanites, has lately sprung up, whose teachers claim not only the power of casting out devils, but pretend to possess a still more dangerous powerthe power of seeing into the future world, and ascertaining the lot of the inmates thereof. In the application of this power, they of course see all those who think as they think in Paradise, while all those who do not belong to their persuasion, or who leave their association, are seen amidst hell torments; by which means the simple are gained and the doubting alarmed and bound to their creed. Some distressing in stances of the effect of these anathemas have occurred. In the midst of their religious meetings they are caught in trances, when males and females are all huddled together and thrown into a dark cellar, where the remain till a spirit moves them. One of the fraternity having fallen dangerously ill, his wife, not one of them, sent for the clergyman of the parish to read prayers for the sick by him. This the clergyman went readily to perform; but upon his arrival, his entrance was opposed by a man decent in his appearance, judging from his dress, who assured him that he was too late; that all was over, and the devil dislodged from the sick man. I saw him (the devil) myself, said the Bryanite pastor, come out of the man, pass through this window, fly over the house, and next

over the adjoining heights, to his proper abode; and my brother, added he, is now watching at the bed side of the defunct, lest Satan return by stealth and enter him again. The clergyman, notwithstanding every effort made to get into the house, believing the man to be, as he really was, still alive, was compelled to give up the attempt, and next day, before he returned the poor man had actually expired.

ON WEARING FLANNEL.

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For more than twenty years the language of the prophet (Ezekiel, xliv.) has occasionally engrossed my attention upon this subject. The prohibition is thus worded: "They shall not gird themselves with wool that causeth sweat.' Although Palestine and Babylon are regions many degrees nearer the equinoctial line than Britannia Magna, I think we need not restrict the precept to those limits. What everybody says must be true, The universal rage for wearing flannel next the skin made me try it; for who would be singular at the expense of his health? I do not know what I might wear in the Arctic regions; but in my routine of practice, I have observed that those who continue the use of flannel in immediate contact with the skin, are more susceptible of catarrh and quinsey than others. I have so long noticed the fact, that with me it admits of no doubt. Ten years ago, I was called in to Mr. D, of Aldgate, to pass an opinion upon a very disagreeable and troublesome eruption. Upon inspecting the eruption, which covered the whole body and chest, I observed that he was encased with an armour of flannel, steeped with inspissated perspiration. My olfactory nerves saluted by the fœtid exhalations, which had no means of escape. I exclaimed, "My good Sir, I would not submit to such purgatory for all the Cardinals in Italy: all this is self-procured; get into the hot bath, and put on a new flannel waistcoat over your linen." My patient was shortly well and often thanks me for my advice.

LITERARY NOVELTIES.

were

Colonel Leicester Stanhope is, we hear, preparing a publication on the actual state of Greece in 1823-4.

Mr. Soane is employed upon a History of Art, and Biography of its Professors.

"Tales of Irish Life" will, we are assured, appear on the first of November, with illustrations, by Mr. George Cruikshank, engraved by Messrs Thompson, Hughes and Bonner, in their best style.

A small volume entitled "Suicide and its Antidotes," by the Rev. Solomon Piggott, Rector of Dunstable, and author of various works, will soon appear.

Mr. Dupin says, the number of our harbours, docks, piers, and lighthouses, extend over more than 600 leagues of coast; our canals in length 1000 leagues; our roads 46,000 leagues; and that even the pipes for conveying gas and water through the streets of London reach to 400 leagues.

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The following article on the personal character of Lord Byron, will be read, I think, with peculiar interest, as your readers will immediately perceive that it is written by one who has had unusual oppor tunities of observing the extraordinary habits, feelings, and opinions of the inspired and noble Poet. I am quite sure that, after a perusal of the following paper, the reader will be able to see Lord Byron, mind and all, "in his habit as he lived:"-Much that has hitherto been accounted inexplicable in his Lordship's life and writings is now interpreted, and the poet and the man are here depicted in their true colours. I can pledge myself to the strict correctness of its details.

LORD BYRON'S address was the most affable and courteous perhaps ever seen; his manners, when in a good humour, and desirous of being well with his guest, were winning-fascinating in the extreme, and though bland, still spirited, and with an air of frankness and generosity-qualities in which he was certainly not deficient. He was open to a fault-a characteristic probably the result of his fearlessness and independence of the world; but so open was he that his friends were obliged to live upon their guard with him. He was the worst person in the world to confide a secret to; and if any charge against any body was mentioned to him, it was probably the first communication he made to the person in question. He hated scandal and tittle-tattle-loved the manly straightforward course: he would harbour no doubts, and never live with another with suspicions in his bosom-out came the accusation, and he called upon the individual to stand clear, or be ashamed of himself. He detested a lie-nothing enraged him so much as a lie he was by temperament and education excessively irritable, and a lie completely unchained him-his indignation knew no bounds. He had considerable tact in detecting untruth, he would smell it out almost instinctively; he avoided the timid driv32 ATHENEUM VOL. 2. 2d series.

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I am, dear sir, &c.

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eler, and generally chose his companions among the lovers and practisers of sincerity and candour. A man tells the false and conceals the true, because he is afraid that the declaration of the thing, as it is, will hurt him. Lord Byron was above all fear of this sort; he flinched from telling no one what he thought to his face; from his infancy he had been afraid of no one : falsehood is not the vice of the powerful; the Greek slave lies, the Turkish tyrant is remarkable for his adherence to truth.

Lord Byron was irritable (as I have said), irritable in the extreme; and this is another fault of those who have been accustomed to the unmurmuring obedience of obsequious attendants. If he had lived at home, and held undisputed sway over hired servants, led captains, servile apothecaries, and willing county magistrates, probably he might have passed through life with an unruffled temper, or at least his escapades of temper would never have been heard of; but he spent his time in adventure and travel, amongst friends, rivals, and foreigners; and, doubtless, he had often reason to find that his early life had unfitted him for dealing with men on an equal footing, or for submitting to untoward accidents with patience.

His vanity was excessive-unless it

may with greater propriety be called by a softer name-a milder term, and perhaps a juster, would be his love of fame. He was exorbitantly desirous of being the sole object of interest: whether in the circle in which he was living, or in the wider sphere of the world, he could bear no rival; he could not tolerate the person who attracted attention from himself; he instantly became animated with a bitter jealousy, and hated, for the time, every greater or more celebrated man than himself: he carried his jealousy up even to Buonaparte; and it was the secret of his contempt of Wellington. It was dangerous for his friends to rise in the world if they valued his friendship more than their own fame-he hated them.

It cannot be said that he was vain of any talent, accomplishment, or other quality in particular; it was neither more nor less than a morbid and voracious appetite for fame, admiration, public applause: proportionably he dreaded the public censure; and though from irritation and spite, and sometimes through design, he acted in some respects as if he despised the opinion of the world, no man was ever more alive to it.

The English newspapers talked freely of him; and he thought the English public did the same; and for this reason he feared, or hated, or fancied that he hated England: in fact, as far as this one cause went, he did hate England, but the balance of love in its favour was immense; all his views were directed to England; he never rode a mile, wrote a line, or held a conversation, in which England and the English public were not the goal to which he was looking, whatever scorn he might have on his tongue.

Before he went to Greece, he imagined thet he had grown very unpopular, and even infamous, in England; when he left Murray, engaged in the Liberal, which was unsuccessful, published with the Hunts, he fancied, and doubtless was told so, by some of his aristocratic friends, that he had become low, that the better English thought him out of fashion and voted him vulgar; and that for the licentiousness of

Don Juan, or for vices either practised or suspected, the public had morally outlawed him. This was one of the determining causes which led him to Greece, that he might retrieve himself.

He thought that his name coupled with the Greek cause would sound well at home. When he arrived at Cephalonia, and found that he was in good odour with the authorities,—that the regiment stationed there, and other English residents in the island, received him with the highest consideration, he was gratified to a most extravagant pitch; he talked of it to the last with a perseverance and in a manner which showed how anxious his fears had been that he was lost with the English people.

They who have not resided abroad are very little aware how difficult it is to keep up with the state of public opinion at home. Letters and newspapers, which are rarely seen even by the richer traveller on account of the immense expense of their transmission, scarcely do anything more than tantalize the spirit, or administer food to the imagination. We gather the state of public opinion by ten thousand little circumstances which cannot, or only a few of which can, be communicated through any other channel of information. While on the spot, absence of calumny, or the fact of not hearing any thing disagreeable, is a proof of its non-existence; abroad, on the contrary, silence is ominous; the fancy is at work, and torments a sensitive man, whose reputation is public property, in a manner of which it is difficult to form an adequate conception: an approach is made to it by wilful seclusion even within the four seas; hence the irritability of Wordsworth; hence also, in a less degree, that of Southey, who mixes a little more with the world.

Lord Byron cannot be said to have been personally vain in any extraordinary degree, that is, not much more than men usually are. He knew the power of his countenance, and he took care that it should always be displayed to the greatest advantage. He never failed to appear remarkable : and no person, whether from the

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