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LADY WIT.I.TBLEY.—Of this lady, whose death-is recorded in the obituary for the past week, Moore has a notice in his Diary. "Lady Wellesley be- comes her station admirably. Lord Lansdowne had already told me how well she went through her presentation. He had a good deal of talk with her and she spoke of her pride in being an American ; recollected being taken when a child to see the place where her grandfather burned the tobacco rather than let it fall into the hands of the English ; and remembers and values this more than she would the proudest heraldry."
" THE FIRST GENTLEMAN IN EUROPE" EN Disueeette.—Lockhart mentioned Chantrey's description of a morning in the King's bedchamber at the cottage. His tailor, Wyatville, Chantrey, and somebody else in attend- ance, and the King in bed, in a dirty flannel waistcoat and cotton nightcap. A servant announces the Duke of Wellington is arrived, and waits an au- dience in the adjoining room. His Majesty gets up, puts on a fine silk. douillette and velvet cap, and goes to the Duke • and after the conference • ended, returns, puts on the dirty flannel waistcoat and cotton nightcapsae to bed again. Generally walks about in his room all the morning in legs.—Moore's Diary.
THE BEST SOCIETY.—A curious conversation after dinner, from my saying that, "after all, it was in high life one met the best society " . Rogers vio- lently opposing me ; he too, of all men, who (as I took care to tell him) had through the greater part of his life shown practically that he agreed with me, by confining himself almost exclusively to this class of society. It is, indeed, the power which these great people have of commanding, among other luxunes, the presence of such men as he is at their tables, that sets their circle (taking all its advantages into account) indisputably above all others in the way of society. Said, with some bitterness, that, on the contrary, the high class were the vulgarest people one met. Vulgar enough, God knows! some of them are ; vulgar in mind, which is the worst sort of vulgarity. But, to say nothing of women, where, in any rank or station in life, could one find men better worth living with, whether for manners, information, or any other of the qualities that render society agreeable, than such persons as Lords Holland, Grey, Carlisle, Lansdowne, Cowper, King, Melbourne, Camervon, John Russell, Dudley, Norman'by, Morpeth, Mahon, and numbers of others that I can speak of from personal knowledge ?—Moores Diary.
ASPIRING TO BE A MEMBER.—Mr. Jerdan, in the concluding volume of his " Autobiography," among many old stories, gives a novel and somewha amusing anecdote of his attempt to become a Member of Parliament in 1831. He was selected as the Government candidate for Weymouth, he states ; and having had some property assigned to him for the nonce by a friend, kept himself in hourly readiness to start at the word of command, " a chaise and posters " being kept " always ready at Fulham Bridge Livery-stables." Un- fortunately for the ambitious journalist, he told his secret to the Times, and the result was a complete failure of the scheme. Just as he was about to drive off from " Fulham Bridge Livery-stables" to canvass the Weymouth electors, he addressed a letter to Mr. Barnes, requesting " such assistance as he could conscientiously extend." " Alas !" says Mr. Jerdan, " my con- fidence was sadly abused. Whether it was owing to the fierceheat of the Reform question, in which the paper took so strenuous an interest, or some overriding reason, I never could ascertain ; but the next morn- ing after receiving the information from my letter, there appeared one of the stinging leaders of the Times, in Which any pretensions of merely ' literary men stinging to be returned to the new Parliament were deprecated in the strongest terms, and Ministers were menaced with popular odium if they dared to countenance such preposterous doings. I was hoist with my own petard. Like poor betrayed Samson, my secret was ploughed out through the means of my own heifer. On calling as usual, I found Mr. Ellice with a long face, and, to cut the story short, he did not at this stormy and trying sera relish a quarrel with the Times. A peace was patched up with Mr. Buxton, my post-chaise was counter-ordered, and after lots of conferences and conversations, I ceased to be even a still-born candidate for the borough of Weymouth. Barnes and I met afterwards, without alluding to the sore subject ; but his able and honourable colleague, James Murray,, wrote me a long letter, expressive of great regret for what had been done. '—.Terdan's Autobiography.
MANBFACTUBE or hum PUBLIC Srrarr.—A good deal of talk upon the Catholic cause. Said, I thought their best policy would have been, after the defeat last session, to have had one great meeting, to have let their feelings explode on that occasion as violently as theypleased, and after that to main- tain a sullen and formidable silence ; which (for the same reason that makes the Government always apprehensive when the fellows are not drinking and breaking. each other's heads at fairs) would have had ten times more effect in alarming their rulers than all the oratorical brawling in the world.. Shiel said, this would not do ; there was but little public spirit in Irelinid; they wanted continual lashing up: the priests were the only lever by whichthey could raise the people, and they had now brought them fully into plwy.s-6 Moore's Diary.
Nom:war, VISITATION.—An incident occurred while I was at Leghorn, which brought home to me a lively sense of the blessings we enjoy in living in a land at once of liberty and law. One night at about twelve o'cloalcI was awakened by the entrance of a number of men into my room. It. peeved. to be my host, attended by three armed officers. The latter approached the bed, examined my features attentively by the light of a lamp, and remarking that I was not the person they were in search of, left me with a cool apology for the disturbance ; which, however, was no substitute for either sleep or patience. It seems that they went through the whole house- in the same way, and entered every apartment " without distinction of sex." They ex- hibited no warrant, except that which they wore by their sides; and gave no intimation of the name or condition of the person for whom they were in acarch.—Six Months in Italy. - rEEL Csirexuen BunDETT'a Touvissr.—Burdett and myself remained with Rogers, talking politics after the rest had gone. Burdett's Conserva- tism deplorable. By the way, young Murray told me the other day, that (koker had, lately met Burdett somewhere (for the first time) at dinner; and that he had afterwards said to Murray, "Talk of Conservatism! he beats me hollow." As en addition to this, I have beard since that Peel was also 0( the party ; and that after one of Burdett's extravaganzas in his new line, peel said quietly, " This is all very well, and I of course agree with you ; but it would be as well not to take quite so high a tone." Peel keeping downEurdetta Toryism is excellent !—Ifoore's .Diary, May 1833.
JAGUAR STEAKS AND GASTRONOMIC REFLECTIONS. —Several of the Ne- groes were sent hunting; and wild ducks of various species, deer, armadillOes, and fish, with beef and mutton, gave us plenty for our table. Several jaguars were killed, as Mr. C. pays about eight shilliings each for their skins : one day we had some steaks at the table, and found the meat very white, and without any bad taste. It appears evident to me that the common idea of the food of an animal determining the quality of its meat is quite erroneous. Domestic poultry and pigs are the most unclean animals in their food, yet their flesh is most highly esteemed; while rats and squirrels, which eat only vegetable food, are in general disrepute. Carnivorous fish are not less deli- cate eating than herbivorous ones; and there appears no reason why some carnivorous animals should not furnish wholesome and palatable food. Venison, so highly esteemed at home, is here the most dry and tasteless meat that can be had, as it must be cooked within twelve hours after it is killed.— Wallace's Amazon and .Rio Negro.
AN UNEXPECTED BALANCE AT Cotersn's Balm—Lord A. F— [Fitz- clarence] happened to drop into Coutts's with his friend Mr. W—, who wanted to draw some money, for which purpose he got a check from the cashier, and filled it up for 2001.: on receiving which, he observed that he bad something to say to one of the partners, and excused himself for running into an inner room a few minutes for the purpose. Lord A., left standing by the counter, ioticed, laughingly, " Well, it is a very pleasant thing to be able to walk in and get helped to 2001. in that way." " If your Lord- ship wishes to draw," replied the cashier, " I will hand you a check." " 011, yes! but as I do not keep an account here, that would be of very little use," said my Lord ; and the conversation went on, as his Lordship thought, jocularly.. I beg your Lordship's pardon ; but I shall be very happy to cash it." "But 1 tell you, I have no money in the bank, and never bad any at Messrs. Coutts's.' " Your Lordship is mistaken ; there is a larger sum than that standing in our books in your name." And, consulting a large ledger, he pointed out the entry. It turned out that his Royal Father had vested certain amounts for the younger branches of his famiiy, and had somehow forgotten to mention the circumstance ; and so there it might have lain for a long time, as it is a rule of the house never to announce monies paid in.—lerdan's Autobiography.
USES or PAials.—In order to be able to appreciate how much the native tribes of the countries where they most abound are dependent on this noble family of plants, and how they take part in some form or other in almost every action of the Indian's life, we must enter into his but and inquire into the origin and structure of the various articles we shall see around us. Sup- pose then we visit an Indian cottage on the banks of the Rio Negro, a great tributary of the river Amazon in South America. The main supports of the building are trunks of some forest tree of heavy and durable wood, but the light rafters overhead are formed by the straight cylindrical and uniform stems of the Jima palm. The roof is thatched with large triangular leaves, neatly arranged in regular alternate rows, and bound to the rafters with sipes or forest creepers ; the leaves are those of the Carand palm. The door of the house is a framework of thin bard strips of wood neatly thatched over; itsis made of the split stems of the Pashitiba palm. In one corner stands a heavy harpoon for catching the cow-fish ; it is formed of the black wood of the Fashibba barriguda. By its side is a blowpipe ten or twelve feet long, and a little quiver full of small poisoned arrows hangs up near it ; with these the Indian procures birds for food, or for their gay feathers, or even brings down the wild bog or the tapir ; and it is from the stem and spines of two species of palms that they are made. His great bassoon-like musical instruments are made of palm stems ; the cloth in which he wraps his most valued feather ornaments is a fibrous palm spathe ; and the rude chest' in -which he keeps his treasures is woven from palm-leaves. His hammock, his bow. string, and his fishing-line, are from the fibres of leaves which he obtains from different palm-trees, according to the qualities he requires in them,—the hammock from the Miritf, and the bow-string and fishing-line from the Tucdm. The comb which he wears on his head is in- geniously constructed of the bard bark of a palm; and he makes fish-hooks of ate spines, or uses them to puncture on his skin the peculiar markings of his tribe. His children are eating the agreeable red and yellow fruit of the Pupunha or peach palm ; and from that of the Assaf he has prepared a favourite drink, which he offers you to taste. That carefully suspended gourd contains oil, which be has extracted from the fruit of another species ; and that long elastic plaited cylinder used for squeezing dry the mandiocca pulp to make his bread, is made of the bark of one of the singular climbing palms,'which alone can resist for a considerable time the action of the poison- ousinice.—Palm Trees of the Amazon.
Man= SERENADE. —Every night, while in the upper part of the river, we had a concert of frogs, which made most extraordinary noises. There ale three kinds, which can frequently be all heard at once. One of these Makes 'a noise something like what one would expect a frog to make, namely a dismal croak ; but the sounds uttered by the others were like no animal noiseathat I ever heard before. A distant railway-train approaching, and Asblasiliimith hammering on his anvil, are what they exactly resemble. Amman -ouch true imitations, that when lying half-dozing in the canoe I haste,oftexr fesicied myself at home, hearing the familiar sounds of the ap- ProtieltinF mail-train, and the hammering of the boiler-makers at the iron- Iter4r, Chen we often had the "guarhibas," or howling monkeys, with the terrific noises, the shrill grating whistle of the cicadas and locusts, and therpeculiar notes of the mambas and other aquatic birds : add to these the loisd:uppleasmit hum of the mosquito in your immediate vicinity, and you hiyiimpretty,goodidea of our nightly concert on the Tocantins.— Wallace's .taxers and ltbNegro.
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