stance, that in the delineation on their calendars, to illustrate the characters of the months they represented February, as a man in the act of striking his arms across his body to warm himself: while there is also yet in common use a very old saying, grounded upon the like conviction, that when the days lengthen, the frost is sure to strengthen.' "The early Egyptians, whose hieroglyphical characters, aptly adapted by them to the peculiarity of their climate and circumstances, were the principal or perhaps sole origin of all the heathenish superstitions of other nations, were taught by long observation and experience, that as soon as a particular star became visible, the Nile would overflow its banks; and they accordingly upon its very first appearance retreated to their terraces, where they remained until the inundation had subsided. This star, therefore, was called by them Sihor, i. e. the Nile; as Zeigtos is in Greek, and Sirius in Latin; and from the warning it afforded them, they typified it as a dog, or in most cases as a man with a dog's head; that faithful animal having been, even in those times, distinguished for his peculiar qualities of watching over the affairs of man, and affording warning of approaching danger. The names assigned to this star by the Egyptians was Thaaut, or Tayout, the dog; and in later times Sothis, Thotes, or Thot, each bearing the like signification; but it was left for the subsequent ignorance of those other nations who adopted that character for Sihor, now Sirius, without considering the true origin of its appellation, falsely to assign to it, the increasing heat of the season, and its consequent effects upon animated nature. The idea, however, of any such effects, either as to heat, or to disorders, from the influence of the canicular star, is now wholly exploded, from the reasons already assigned, and because 'that star not only varies in its rising every year, as the latitude varies, but that it rises later and later every year in all latitudes; so that when it rises in winter, which, by the way, cannot be for five or six thousand years, it might, with equal propriety, be charged with increasing the frost and besides, it is to be observed, that although Sirius is the nearest to the earth of any of the fixed stars, it is computed to be at the enormous distance of 2,200,000,000,000 miles from our globe; a space too prodigious to admit of its rays affording any sensible heat; and which could not be passed by a cannon-ball, flying with its calculated velocity of 480 miles in one hour, in less than 523,211 years! Upon the whole, therefore, it evidently appears, that the origin of the name of this star was not only wholly disregarded, but that common and undigested opinion made its conjunction with the sun, the cause of heat, &c. instead of having regarded it as a sign of the period when such effects might naturally be expected." Mad Dogs, There is no cure for the bite of a mad ` dog; and as at this time dogs go mad, it is proper to observe, that immediate burning out of the bitten part by caustic, or the cutting of it out by the surgeon's knife, is the only remedy. If either burning or cutting be omitted, the bitten person, unless opiumed to death, or smothered between featherbeds, will in a few days or weeks die in unspeakable agony. The latter means are said to have been sometimes resorted to as a merciful method of extinguishing life. It is an appalling fact, that there is no cure for hydrophobia. Preventive is better than cure, and in this case it is easy. Dogs, however useful in some situations, are wholly useless in towns. Exterminate them, Against this a cry will go forth from all dog-owners: they will condemn the measure as proceeding from a barbarian; but they are the barbarians who keep animals subject to a disease fatal to human life. Such persons, so far from being entitled to a voice against its execution, merit abhorrence and contempt for daring to propose that every man, woman, and child among their friends and neighbours, should run the risk of a cruel death for the gratification of selfishness. Every honest man in every town who keeps a dog, should destroy it, and use his influence with others to destroy theirs. No means of preventing hydrophobic exists but the destruction of dogs. Oh! but dogs are useful; they guard our houses at night; they go in carts and guard our goods by day; they catch our rats; and, then, they are such faithful creatures! All this, though very true, does not urge one reason against their destruction as a preventive from their communicating a fatal and wholly incuiable disease. Instead of house-dogs at night, get additional watchmen, or secure watchmen more vigilant than those you have, by paying a proper price for the important services required of them, which in most places are not half requited. Instead of cart-dogs, employ boys, of whom there are scores halfstarving, who would willingly take charge of carts at little more than the expense of dog-keep. If rats must be caught, cats can catch them, or they may be poisoned, Instead of cultivating the fidelity of dogs, let dog-keepers cultivate a little fidelity in themselves towards their neighbours, and do as they would be done unto, by destroying their dogs. Oh, but would you deprive the "poor" man of his dog? Yes. The poorer he is, the less occasion he has for a dog, and the less ability he has to maintain a dog. Few poor men in towns keep dogs but for the purpose of sport of some kind; making matches to fight them, drawing badgers with them, baiting bulls with them, or otherwise brutally misemploying them. An act of parliament, inflicting heavy penalties for keeping dogs in towns, and empowering constables, beadles, streetkeepers, and others, with rewards for carrying it into effect on every dog they meet, would put an end to hydrophobia. It is a common practice to kill dogs at this season in some parts of the continent, and so did our ancestors. Ben Jonson, in his "Bartholomew Fair," speaks of "the dog-killer in this month of August." A dog-destroyer in every parish would be an important publie officer. REMEMBER! there is no cure for the bite of a mad dog. To the Bellflower. The azure butterflies that flew So lightly trembling. Where feathery fern and golden broom 'Mid ruins tumbling to decay, Thy flowers their heavenly hues display, Where pride and pomp have passed away When glowworm lamps illume the scene And silvery daisies dot the green, Thy flowers revealing, But most I love thine azure braid, Stealing beneath the hedgerow shade, Thou art the flower of memory; The year's past pleasures; The path she measures. Beneath autumnal breezes bleak, So faintly fair, so sadly meek, I've seen thee bending, Pale as the pale blue veins that streak Consumption's thin, transparent cheek, With death hues blending. The London Barrow-woman See! cherries here, ere cherries yet abound, This is cherry season, but it is not to me as cherry seasons were. I like a great deal that is, but I have an affection for what was. By-gone days seem to have been more fair than these; and I cannot help trying to "catch the manners dying as they fall." I have lived through the extremity of one age, into the beginning of another, and I believe a better; yet the former has been too much detracted: every thing new is not, therefore, good; nor was Shenstone. every thing old, bad. When I was a boy, I speak of just after the French revolution broke out, my admiration and my favourites at all times, and in cherrytaste were pure and natural, and one of time especially, was the London barrowwoman. There are no barrow-women now. they have been "put down," and by They are quite "gone out," or, rather, many they are not even missed. Look around; there is not one to be seen. earth; finely grown, every way well-pro In those days there were women on the and perhaps the last choice was, in the end, the least satisfactory. Indecisiveness is not peculiar to childhood; "men are but children of a larger growth," and their "conduct of the understanding" is nearly the same. with "green codlins;" then followed "golden rennets," "golden pippins," and "ripe nonpareils." These were the common street-fruits. Such "golden pippins" as were then sold, three and four for a halfpenny, are now worth pence a piece, and the true "golden rennet" can only be heard of at great fruiterers. The decrease in the growth of this delightful apple is one of the “signs of the times!" Mr. George Cruikshank, whose pencil is distinguished by power of decision in every character he sketches, and whose close observation of passing manners is unrivalled by any artist of the day, has. The finest apples in Covent-garden sketched the barrow-woman for the Every- market come from Kent. Growers in Day Book, from his own recollection of that county, by leaving only a few her, aided somewhat by my own. It is branches upon the tree, produce the most engraved on wood by Mr. Henry White, delicious kinds, of a surprisingly large and placed at the head of this article. size. For these they demand and obtain very high prices; but instead of London in general being supplied, as it was formerly, with the best apples, little else is seen except swine-feed, or French, or American apples. The importations of this fruit are very large, and under the almost total disappearance of some of our finest sorts, very thankful we are to get inferior ones of foreign growth. Really good English apples are scarcely within the purchase of persons of moderate means. Before barrow-women quite "went out," the poor things were sadly used. If they stopped to rest, or pitched their seat of custom where customers were likely to pass, street-keepers, authorized by orders unauthorized by law, drove them off, or beadles overthrew their fruit into the road. At last, an act of parliament made it penal to roll a wheel or keep a stand for the sale of any articles upon the pavement; and barrow-women and fruitstalls were "put down." Fruit Stalls. These daily purveyors to the refreshment of passengers in hot weather are not wholly extinct; a few, very few, still exist by mere sufferance-no more. Upon recollection of their number, and the grateful abundance heaped upon them, I could almost exclaim, in the words of the old Scotch-woman's epitaph "Such desolation in my time has been I have an end of all perfection seen!" Ah! what a goodly sight was Holbornhill in "my time." Then there was a comely row of fruit-stalls, skirting the edge of the pavement from opposite the steps of St. Andrew's church to the corner of Shoe-lane. The fruit stood on tables covered with white cloths, and placed end to end, in one long line. In autumn, it was a lovely sight. The pears and apples were neatly piled in ha'p'orths," for there were then no pennyworths; "a pen'orth" would have been more than sufficient for moderate eating at one time. First, of the pears, came the "ripe Kat'er'nes;" these were succeeded by "fine Windsors," and "real bergamys." Apples "came in" "Women's Blacks." This is the name of the common black worsted stockings, formerly an article of extensive consumption; they are now little made, because little worn. One of the greatest wholesale dealers in "women's blacks," in a manufacturing town, was celebrated for the largeness of his stock; his means enabled him to purchase all that were offered to him for sale, and it was his favourite article. He was an oldfashioned man, and while the servantmaids were leaving them off, he was unconscious of the change, because he could not believe it; he insisted it was impossible that household work could be done in" white cottons." Offers of quantities were made to him at reduced prices, which he bought; his immense capital became locked up in his favourite "women's blacks;" whenever their price in the market lowered, he could not make his mind up to be quite low enough; his warehouses were filled with them; when he determined to sell, the demand had wholly ceased; he could effect no sales; and, becoming bankrupt, he literally died of a broken heart-from an exeassive and unrequited attachment to "women's blacks." |
