had exhibited the effects of a stream of To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. candle-grease and snuff for more than twelve months: SIR, HROUGH medium your Ma Scrape finely some pipe-clay, the Tine, this to be for Jurer, lay quantity of which may be easily deter mined on making the experiment; lay thereon the sheet or leaf, and cover the spot in like manner with the clay. Cover the whole with a sheet of paper; and apply, for a few seconds, a heated ironing-box, or any substitute adopted by laundresses. On using Indian rubber to remove the dust taken up by the grease, the paper will be found restored to its original degree of whiteness and opacity. Bristol Mercury Office, Sept. 14, 1809. Your's, &c. J. EVANS. P. S. Your correspondent C. in the next page of the same Number, I presume may be fully satisfied upon the subject of Mr. Thomas Moore's assertion respecting General Washington, by referring to the Works of Peter Porcupine in America. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SER, Y OUR correspondent E. M, who en quires after some wash for preserving drawings made with a black-lead pencil, may be informed, that a thin wash of singlass will fix either black-lead, or hard black chalk, so as to prevent their rubbing out; or that the same effect may be produced by the simple application of skimmed milk, as have found by frequent trials. The best way of using the latter, is, to lay the drawing flat upou the surface of the milk; and then, taking it up expeditiously, to hang it by one corner till.it drains and dries. The milk must be perfectly free from cream, or it will grease the paper. Having answered one enquiry, I shall now take the liberty of proposing another, of a very opposite nature. E. M. wishes to fix black-lead; and I wish, on the other hand, to be informed of some cheaper material than black-lead, which may be effaced as completely with Indian rubber, and with as little injury to the paper. I do not, however, require it to be in a solid form; as any dark-coloured matter in a liquid vehicle would answer equally well, or even better, provided they were thoroughly incorporated, so as to flow with a free and equal tint from a pen. Much Jaudable pains have been taken to produce an indelible ink; but a good and cheap delible ink would, to my conception, be found a useful article on many occasions. Milford, South Wales, Your's, &c. September 24, 1809. R. R. some of your numerous readers, with the gazine, I wish to be favoured, by best method of preparing the composition which is now used for varnishing coloured drawings and prints, so as to make them resemble paintings in oil. At the same time I offer to their notice marking linen, &c. which, though not so a receipt to make permanent ink for adapted to that purpose than any other I convenient as may be wished, is better have yet become acquainted with. I speak from experience, having marked my shirts and handkerchiefs with it for some years; and though I claim no merit for periodical work which I do not at present the discovery (having gleaned it from a recollect), I may take to myself credit for an improvement in substituting a tincture of galls for pure water, which I never saw mentioned by any other person. gentum nitratum) one dram; weak soluTake of lunar caustic, (now called artincture) of galls, two drams: the cloth is tion (or perhaps more correctly speaking to be first wetted with the following liquid, viz. salt of tartar, one ounce; water, one ounce and a half; and must be perfectly dry before any attempt is made to write upon it. may be purchased at any druggist's shop. W. WEENE. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. I SIR, am a great reader of novels, and, as way rather different from the usual, I they afford me entertainment in a beg to communicate my observations. right parsons. Cecilia and Evelina both The ladies, I observe, are often downpreach and lecture; and, what is worse, not with the pretty lisp of Miss Byron. As for Clarissa, she is a school-mistress; or at least, has an old head upon young shoulders. The only natural elegant girl I know, is Surr's Lady Emily; but nei ther he nor any of the rest give us any hoydens. No, no, there is no munching of apples, and "have a bite;" no bagging of beds; no half-bawling whisper of "Dont tell ma';" no rattling down stairs, and pushing each other forward; no skipping into the room. Their girls in general are not tittering things; their heads full of nonsense; and Pa's and Ma's never have the head-ache through their intoler able able noise, or are teazed with their sulkiness. In the description of beauty, I find too, that the girls are all fair; all shoulderof-mutton complexions, and dead-fish eyes. They cut the fine majestic brunette, No lark-heels are particularized; no notice is taken of the physiological fact, that the nymph-like form scarcely lasts but from seventeen to twenty-two, and that afterwards the shoulders begin to square, and the haunches to be promineut and mountainous; nor is it noted, that soon after the last period, they often begin to carry a portly abdomen. I observe, that in novels, people have no appetites. They take indeed long walks, but not a word is said of their becoming hungry, though all this is very natural. They do, it is true, partake of au elegant refreshment, but it is always in a mincing petty way: a man might cry "You don't eat" over and over again, till his lungs were cracked; he would stand no more chance of being heard, than a whistle would have in a storm. Miss and Master are staring at each other; or if they don't stare, they do worse, squint; which, in their language, is called glancing. At last down goes a tumbler of beer, out comes the handkerchief, such rubbing and scrubbing! “Maria!" says Mamma, with a grave and reprehensive look. One important incident is also uniformly omitted in novels. I mean little sister Betsy running into the drawing room, full of morning-visitors, with Mamma, I saw Mr. Sigh kiss Miss Horse-shoe in the garden;""nor Q in the corner, the stiff formal young man in the window-seat, stothering a horse-laugh; and the entry of Miss Horse-shoe, igno. rantly and innocently running up to him, with Pig-tail, what are you laughing at?" and the tremendous burst which follows. Mr. Sigh does not, of course, laugh it off like a man of the world, for that would be unnovel-like; but suffers the most melancholy sensations on account of poor Miss Horse-shoe-Feeling soul! In the development of their mutual sensations, what a burly-burly ensues! I copy an existing novel. Two constables, a couple of deep and long-drawn sighs, like the city-marshals on Lord Mayor's day, advance and clear the road; then follow in procession, alarm, confusion, starting from seats, amazement, inability to speak or move, and trembling expectatin. After all this, one would naturally expest, that the next thing we should In their lovers there is no inconstancy; there are no Inkles. Girls without fortunes, do as well as those with them; horse-radish without beef, the cloth without the pudding. All this is very generous and very noble; people in this world have no necessity for cating, it is only a bad fashion for the good of butchers: this they ought to insist apon; but very wrongly do they take different measures, even dangerous ones. One half of the peers of this kingdom are bigamists, having one wife in a novel and another in the world; what scandulum magnatum! Then again they take one half of the estates of the kingdom from their right owners, and give thein to people whom nobody ever heard of, How many suits in chancery do or may result from this violent propensity to dispose of other people's property, I cannot tell; but I am sure, that it requires the notice of parliament. It is indeed a tremendous grievance. A person who had a fine estate in Dorsetshire, night find that he had been indulging all this while in a reverie, and become insaur. Besides, it affects the interests of mortga gees and annuitants. 1 find too what the novelists are pleased to call incident, is neither more or less than rouing. All parties must rou, or they are not fit characters for novels. They rou methodically, gradually, or more and more, till the last chapter but one: Then is a universal hubbub wild, And tumult and confusion all embroil'd. But the lucky dog of a lover, in the next » chapter, like Satan, Springs upward like a pyramid of fire Matrimony of course follows: now this in novels is not punch, a mixture of acids, &c. but always sugar candy; miseries enough before, but marriage, in the world of novels, puts an end to all human. evils. Eternal health! no children that die! no cheating servants! no spiteful neighbours! no bad debts! no stray g'ances glances of Mr. IIusband at a pretty maid! no pouting of madam! no family-disputes about the division of a legacy or an estate! No, no: the gift of Dunmow bacon is stopped in good time, or there N, B. Let the music he marked thus: 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, &c. &c. in every part or accompaniment. Some of your numerous readers may improve on the above. would not be a rasher left in the kingdom To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. for money: it would be all for love; that which, according to novels, is the sole ob-. ject of human existence. Your's, &c. T. D. F. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, I BEG leave to recommend the follow ing hint to the notice of your musical friends. Out of a dozen rehearsals, twelve are without the least trouble or inconveni- September 18, 1809. HARMONICUS. SIR, MANY ANY ingenious inventions have been offered to the public, for preserving lives in cases of fire; and there if these salutary means were generally is no doubt that numbers might be saved adopted. But either owing to the expense of those machines, or rather from nere carelessness, people choose the risk of being burnt in their beds; and' some of the inhabitants are consumed in we seldom hear of a conflagration, but their houses. There is one simple mode of security, which I recommended to the public ten years ago; but which, I fear, will be despised on account of its simplicity. I mean a few yards of knotted rope to be fixed to a table, bedstead, scttee, &c. by which means most people might descend with great ease, and perfect safety, from the window to the street. This is attended with almost no expense, occupies' little room, and is within reach of the poorest. I believe the most delicate female would not hesitate a moment to slip down thus from a window, if precluded from other means of escape. I purposely avoid a minute detail of the mode of using this contrivance, as every person possessed of common sense, must at once understand it; only a hook or noose at the end of the rope, and knots, at proper distances, seem absolutely necessary. Such a ropeladder as is used on shipboard, would be still more convenient, and better adapted to the use of women and children. The only objection I can see to this, is the additional expenses, which might be a consideration with many, and that it would occupy more room than the simple rope. For my own part, I can never lie down with pleasure in the lofty attic of a London house, where the drunkenness and dissipation of servants often occasion the dismal calamity of the house and inhabitants perishing together. June 3, 1809. Your's, &c. BENEVOLUS. N. B. As government have humanely Interfered in limiting the number of people on the stage.coaches, it seems equally proper to enforce some such regulation as above, to prevent accidents by fire, To To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. Vex-et præterea nihil. SI live at some distance from Lon the dog, the cat (male and female), the A don, I have but just now received crow, the nightingale, two other birds, your Magazine of the current month:* The Number published on the first of July 1, 1808: page 506. the frog, church-bells, the noise of a "A work outlasting monumental brass." I shall begin, of course, with confirming my old examples; and as your last correspondent seems fond of quotations from the learned languages, I shall gratify him in that respect. The cry of the sheep your first correspondent gave as bad from Theocritus, and I confirmed it from one of O'Keefe's farces. I have since observed this expression of it adopted by some very high authorities, which your correspondents will see at the bottom of the page; as well as by Shakespeare, Such words as snore, biss, clang, and crash, are not at all in point. The writer of the from Wallis (and without approbation, as letter may find many more of that kind cited son's grammar prefixed to his dictionary. The applied in a somewhat similar view) in JohnFrench words quoted are still further from the purpose: our own whistle, chatter, croak, bark, borul, and bleat, would be quite as ap propriate, or rather unappropriate. As to the Latin quotation, he might find a hundredbetter in the same author: what, for instance, does he think of "clamorque virum, clangor. que tubarum?" But all these have absolutely nothing to do with the matter in hand. The more and more removed from the question; Greek, and its translation, are, if possible, tion of ideas they could ever have been inand it is not easy to imagine by what conneetroduced into it. Eustathius, who lived towards the close of the twelfth century, says that Bn Bn is a sound made in imitation of the bleating of a sheep (βῆ ἔχει μίμησιν προβάτων φωνῆς), and quotes to this purpose this verse of an ancient writer called Cratinus: Ὁ δὲ ἡλίθιος ὥσπερ προβάτον, βῇ, βῇ, λέγων βαδίζει. He, like a silly sheep, goes crying baa. Caninius has remarked the same, Hellen. P p. 26. Shakespeare, in the Two Gentlemen of Verona (act. 1. scene 1.) "Proteus. Therefore thou art a sheep.-Speed. Such another proof will make me cry baa."-It is rather extraordinary that Walker remarks, in the Principles of Pronunciation, prefixed to his dictionary (No. 77), that this word has been adopted precisely for the same purpose" in almost all languages." I am afraid this circunstance would go fatally to the very foundation of the whole plan; for it can hardly be supposed that "almost all" nations have been uniform, or even nearly so, in their pronunciation of these identical letters. The barking of the dog I have already given on two-poetical authorities. I find from Walker that Aristophanes expresses it by the diphthong a, a; exactly equivalent, says Walker, to our ow in bow wow. The owl, I have given from Shakespeare. Plautus however expresses it differently, as tu-tu (the very expression which your first correspondent affirms that the same poet has given to the cuckoo!); and two other authors, an English and a French, write it respectively too-too and tou-lou.t The cries of the crow and the frog were also stated in my former letter; but each of these I have since found expres. sed differently. Parkhurst, in his Greek Lexicon, on the word opeg, attributes this word (korax) to the raven or crow, and says, that Aristophanes expresses the oroaking of the frog by kour. I have since seen the frog-chorus in Aristophanes stated more fully (so far as concerns the cry of the animal) as follows: Brekekén, koáx, koáx, Brekekéx, koax, kcáx. p. 26. E longum, cujus sonus in ovium balatu sentitur, ut Cratinus et Varro tradiderunt.The sound of the e long may be perceived in the bleating of sheep, as Cratinus and Varro have handed down to us.” ”— Quoted from Walker's Key to the Classical Pronunciation, c. page x. Key, &c. page x. +Plautus: -Tu, tu, istic, inquam, vin'afferi noctuam, Quæ tu, tu, usque dicat tibi ?" "It appears here, (says Mr. Forster, in his defence of the Greek accents,) that an owl's cry was tu tu to a Roman ear, us it is too too to an English. Lambin, who was a Frenchman, observes on the passage: alludit ad goctuæ vocem seu cantum, tutu seu tou-tou." He here alludes to the voice or noise of an owl, tu-tu or tou-ton (French).'"-Quoted fran Walker's Key, &c. p. xi. As I am no naturalist, my ideas are not perfectly clear on the subject of a bird which I mentioned in my former letter by the name of the pee-wit. Dr. Mavor, in his Elements of Natural History, gives this a secondary appellation of the lapwing. Now Harmer, in some part of his Observations on Passages of Scriptare, speaks of the lapwing as called upupa in the East, from its note being pupu:-and there seems some coinci dence between this remark and the name of hoopoe, given by Dr. Mavor to one, of the birds that he describes, and which, he says, "receives its name from its note." The doctor gives a plate of the hoopoe; which, I suppose, will help those who know more about birds than I do to solve the difficulty. I mentioned explicitly that I did not pretend that the sound assigned to the trumpet, in the poetical quotation which I gave, was at all suited to it. I have since found it much better illustrated : first, in a line from a very old Latin poet (Ennius)* "At tuba terribili sonitu taratantara Heigho chivy ! Hark forward, hark forward, tantivy ! Sec. Some of my fresh examples I have now given incidentally, among the confirmations of my old ones. I shall here add the rest. The name of the bird called cockatoo is given to it from its note. A periodical publication of last month, in some account of the Feast of Fools (or of the Ass), one of the moralities, or sort of sacred dramas, that were formerly exhibited in the churches, at particular seasons, in Roman-catholic countries, gives the following from Du Cange as the first line of the chorus to the song sung in the cathedral of Sens on this oc * Quoted in the notes on Heyne's Virgil, Æneid ix. 503. But the trumpet, with a terrible sound, said taratantara Swift: the verses on Hamilton's bawn. casion} |