Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

9 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

THE COURT. -+--

POLITICAL GOSSIP. -.JiiL.o.-----

SPORTS AND PASTIMES. --

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THE ARTS, LITERATURE, &e.…

Agricult,ural Improvements.

Gardening Operations for the…

OUR MISCELLANY. --+-

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

OUR MISCELLANY. --+- A Sweet Remembrance.- Fair is her cottage in its place, When yon broad water sweetly, slowly glides. It sees itself from thatch to base Dream in the sliding tides. And fairer she, but ah, how soon to die Her quiet dream of life this hour may cease, Her .peaceful being slowly passes by To some more perfect peace.-Tennyson. George Sands at Home.—We are favoured by the Monds.Illustrd with a sketch of the vie intime- the everyday life—of "George Sands" at his or her residence at Rohant. According to this description, it must be Liberty Hall" in the pleasantest sense of the expression. All that is expected of you is to come to dinner, to which you are called by a welcome boll. One pewiliarity is, however, observable in this curious establishment. You never see any servants. In the hall are two postboxes, one for letters for the "exterior"—-that is to say, Paris, France, England, the world:, the other, which may well be called It aetite poste," is only for the house, and intended solely to prevent the guests ever speaking to the ser- vants. If, therefore, a visitor prefers muffins to toast, or likes his eggs hard-boiled, he drops a line to the housekeeper. If Madame Z. wants "tea in the morn- ing," or Count X. requires an extra blanket, he writes to the major-domo. It is an eccentric way certainly, but. yet requires a certain constant return to pens and iuk; and I am not sure that ringing a bell does not get over the difficulty with more rapidity and less ceremony.—Paris Letter. A Parisian Anecdote.—" The anecdote, Madame la Marquise," said the Abbe, sipping a glass of Noyeau, was this-it was thought full of sentiment by the philosophers, and amusing by the wits. In the terrible crowd during the festivities in the Place Louis XV., when the firework scaffolding caught fire, some persons were crushed, many of the lower orders suffocated in the ditches, and others trampled to death. Amongst the frightened crowd was a young man and a beautiful girl, to whom he was to be married on the following day. For a long time the lover protected her, and sustained her strength and courage but the tumult, the cries, the terror increased-she fell behind. 'I am sinking! sinking!' she cried, 'my strength is gone! I can go no farther!' There is still a way,' cried the lover, in despair; get on my shoulders.' He did not look round, but his advice seemed instantly followed. The hope of saving her redoubled his ardour, strength, and courage. He breasts the crowd, he prays, he fights, he struggles-at length he clears the crowd! Arrived at a safe place, feint, staggering, he sets down his precious burden, intoxicated wiùh joy. He turns round-it is a Etranger His beloved has perished, and another peasant woman more active has taken advantage of his offer."—Wttdjvre. A Bird at a Battle.-We printed a few days ago, from an Atlanta paper, an account of a mocking bird, which, at the battle of Resaca, perched itself on the top of a tree, and during the fight imitated the whistling of the bullets and other noises incident to a battle. Another, and yet more touching incident of a similar character was yesterday related to us by Cap- tain George Babbitt, of General Gresham's staff, and of which he was himself a witness. Daring the fierce cannonading at Nickajack a small bird came and perched upon the shoulder of an artilleryman—the man designated, we believe, as No. 1, whose duty it is to ram down the charge after ammunition is put in the gun. The piece was a Napoleon, which makes a very loud report. The bird perched itself upon this man's shoulder, and could not be driven from its position by the violent motions of the gunner. When the piece was discharged the poor little thing would run its beak and head up under the man's hair at the back of the neck, and when the report died away would resume its place upon his shoulder. Captain Babbitt took the bird in his hand, but when he released his grasp it immediately t'sumed its place on the shoulder of tbe smoke- begrimed gunner. The scene was witnessed by a large [lumber of officers and men. It may be a subject of curious inquiry what instinct led this bird to thus place itself. Possibly frightened at the violent commotion caused by the battle, and not knowing how to escape and where to go to, some instinct led it to throw itself upon this gunner as a protector.—Neiv Albany (In- diana) Ledger. Why do we Shake Hands ?—The learned Dr. Humphrey has given us the solution to this frequently- conjectured problem. He says:—" It is a very old- fashioned way of indicating friendship. Jehu said to Jehonadab :—' Is thine heart right as mine heart is with thine heart ? If it be give me thine hand.' It is not merely an old-fashioned custom, it is a strictly natural one and, as usual in such cases, we may find a physiological reason if we only take the pains to search for it. The animals cultivate friendship by the sense of touch as well as by the senses of smell, hearing, and sight; and for this purpose they employ the most sensitive parts of their bodies. They rub their noses together, or they lick one another with their tongues. Now the hand is a part of the human body in which the sense of touch is highly developed and, after the manner of animals, we not only like to see and hear our friend (we do not usually smell him, though Isaac, when his eyes were dim, resorted to this sense as a means of recognition), we also touch him, and promote the kindly feelings by the contact and reciprocal pressure of the sensitive hands. Observe, too, how this principle is illustrated by another of our modes of greeting. When we wish to determine whether a substance be perfectly smooth, and are not quite satisfied with the information conveyed by the fingers, we apply it to the lips and rub it gently upon them. We do so because we know by experience that the sense of touch is more activelv developed in the lips than in the hands. Accordingly, when we wish to reciprocate the warmer feelings we are not content with the contact of the hands, and we bring the lips into service. A shake of hands suffices for friendship, in undemonstrative English at least; but a kiss is the token of a more tender affection." Mozart's Sister and Vincent N ovella.- Monday, July 5.—Mozart's son came to me at about eleven, to conduct us to his aunt. On entering the room, she was reclining placidly in bed-but blind, feeble, and nearly speechless. Her nephew kindly explained to her who we were, and she seemed to derive much gratification from the intelligence we conveyed to her. During the whole time I held her poor thin hand in mine, and pressed it with sincere cordiality of an old friend of her brother. Her voice is nearly extinct, and she appears to be fast approach- ing "that bourne from whence no traveller returns. Her face, though much changed by illness and drawn by age, still bears a strong resemblance to the por- traits that have been engraved of her; but it was difficult to believe that the helpless and languid figure, which was extended before us was formerly the little girl represented as standing by the side of her brother, and singing to his accompaniment. In the middle of the room stood the instrument on which she had often played duets with her b other. It was a kind of clarichord, with black keys for the naturals ani white ones for the sharps. The compass was five octaves, from F to F. The tone was soft, and some of the bass notes, especially those of the lowest octave of C's, were of a good quality. At the time it was made, it was doubtless considered an excellent instru- ment. You may be sure I touched the keys which had been pressed by Mozart's fingers wi-ch great interest. Mozart's son also played a few chords upon it with evident pleasure. The key he chose was C minor and what he did, though short, was quite sufficient to show the accomplished musician. On the desk were two pieces of music, the last which Mozart's sister had ever played, before she took to her bed six months ago. They were" 0 cara Arraonia," from her brother's opera of The Zauberflote," and the minuet in his "Don Giovanni." This to me was a most touching proof of her continued sisterly attachment to-him to the last, and of her tasteful partiality for his inimitable productions.—Life and labours of Vincent Novello, by his Daughter, Mary Cowden ^A Paper House.—An exhibition of a novel and interesting character will shortly take place it is one designed to illustrate the varied and almost exnaust- less uses to which paper may be applied. M. Szerelmey, whose inventive genius is only rivalled by his perse- verance under many difficulties, has been for some time past engaged in the preparation of the materials for • this exhibition. He proposes to build a, house of paper, to construct the walls of paper, to roof it with paper tiles, to floor it with paper boards, to supply the water through paper tubes, to light it with gas supplied through paper pipes, and to supply a large portion of the furniture and nousehold utensils of paper. The inventor, in the preparation of the materials, makes use of a peculiar description of gum, which he calls zopissa, which is found in large- quantities in the East, and which he contends is the same material as that used by the ancient Greeks and Romans as a coating for their ships, and by the ancient" '1 artists for encaustic paintings, sucn as aaornea une tombs of Egypt and the dwellings of Pompeii. M Szerelmey, now a political exile from Hungary, was formerly colonel in the engineers of the Austrian ser- vice, and was appointed by the Imperial Government one of the members of a scientific commission to in- quire into and report upon. various subjects connected with archaeological science, and in the conrse of his extensive travels in the East he was en- abled to throw considerable light upon many questions of interest respecting the encaustic and zopissa processes of the ancients. The gum, treated in various modes, "according to the pur- poses for which it is required, possesses very remark- able preservative qualities. It will indurate or harden stone, as may be seen by those portions of the exterior of the House of Commons on the river front which have been treated with this substance. Its effects may also be seen in a portion of the front of the Bank of England. It has been employed by Mr. Penrose as the base upon which to paint the frescoes on the interior of the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, and, it its merits be as great as are claimed for it, we may soon have reason to regret that this material was not employed for the frescoes of the Houses of Parliament; and that Mr. Herbert's magnificent picture was not painted upon zopissa rather than upon the so-called water-glass. The gum has not only been successfully applied to stone, but bricks; and soft plaster casts, when immersed in, or coated with, the compound, become hard as granite, and sparks may be struck from a substance which but a few days before was only a piece of soft chalk. Iron ftiay be equally pro- tected from decay and oxidation by this process much more successfully than by ordinary paint, and the railings round St. Paul's-churchyard—the last of the products of the once extensive foundries of SUSSÐX- have been preserved from the decay which was rapidly eating them away by several coatings of th's remark- able substance.—Morning Post. —k —k

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