DR. JOHNSON'S PUDDING. [We quote the following adventure of Dr. Johnson in his Scottish tour, which is not recorded by Boswell, from "Angelo's Reminiscences."] LAST Summer I made another excursion to Scotland with the intention of completing my series of views, and went over the same ground described by the learned tourists, Dr. Johnson and Boswell. I am in the habit of taking very long walks on these occasions, and perceiving a storm threaten, I made the best of my way to a small building. I arrived in time at a little neat inn, and was received by a respectable looking man and his wife, who did all in their power to make one comfortable. After eating some excellent fried mutton chops, and drinking a quart of ale, I asked the landlord to sit down, and partake of a bowl of whisky-punch. I found him, as the Scotch generally are, very intelligent and full of anecdote, of which the following may serve as a specimen : "Sir," said the landlord, "this inn was formerly kept by Andrew Macgregor, a relation of mine; and these hard-bottomed chairs (in which we are now sitting) were, years ago, filled by the great tourists, Doctor Johnson and Boswell, travelling like the lion and jackal. Boswell generally preceded the doctor in search of food, and being much pleased with the look of the house, followed his nose into the larder, where he saw a fine leg of mutton. He ordered it to be roasted with the utmost expedition, and gave particular orders for a nice pudding. Now,' says he, make the best of all puddings.' Elated with his good luck, he immediately went out in search of his friend, and saw the giant of learning slowly advancing on a pony. 66 6 My dear sir,' said Boswell, out of breath with joy, good news! I have just bespoke, at a comfortable, clean inn here, a delicious leg of mutton; it is now getting ready, and I flatter myself we shall make an excellent meal.' Johnson looked pleased And I hope,' said he, 'you have bespoke a pudding?' 66 6 Sir, you will have your favourite pudding,' replied the other. Johnson got off the pony, and the poor animal, relieved from the giant, smelt his way into the stable. Boswell ushered the doctor into the house, and left him to prepare for this delicious treat. Johnson feeling his coat rather damp, from the mist of the mountains, went into the kitchen, and threw his upper garment on a chair before the fire; he sat on the hob, near a little boy who was very busy attending the meat. Johnson ocVOL. IV. I casionally peeped from behind his coat, while the boy kept basting the mutton. Johnson did not like the appearance of his head; when he shifted the basting ladle from one hand, the other hand was never idle, and the doctor thought at the same time he saw something fall on the meat; upon which he determined to eat no mutton on that day. The dinner announced, Boswell exclaimed, My dear doctor, here comes the mutton; what a picture! done to a turn, and looks so beautifully brown!' The doctor tittered. After a short grace, Boswell said "I suppose, sir, I am to carve, as usual: what part shall I help you to ?' The doctor replied "My dear Bozzy, I did not like to tell you before, but I am determined to abstain from meat to-day.' "Oh dear! this is a great disappointment,' said Bozzy. ample amends with the pudding. Boswell "Say no more; I shall make myself commenced the attack, and made the first cut at the mutton. 'How the gravy runs ; what fine-flavoured fat-so nice and brown, too. Oh, sir, you would have relished this prime piece of mutton.' "The meat being removed, in came the long wished for pudding. The doctor looked joyous, fell eagerly to, and in a few minutes nearly finished all the pudding. The table was cleared, and Boswell said, "Doctor, while I was eating the mutton you seemed frequently inclined to laugh; pray, tell me, what tickled your fancy?' "The doctor then literally told him all that had passed at the kitchen fire, about the boy and the basting. Boswell turned as pale as a parsnip, and, sick of himself and the company, darted out of the room. Somewhat relieved, on returning, he insisted on seeing the dirty little rascally boy, whom he severely reprimanded before Johnson. The poor boy cried; the doctor laughed. "You little, filthy, snivelling hound,' said Boswell, when you basted the meat, why did you not put on the cap I saw you in this morning?' "I couldn't sir,' said the boy. "No! why couldn't you?' said Boswell. "Because my mammy took it from me to boil the pudding in!' "The doctor gathered up his Herculean frame, stood erect, touched the ceiling with his wig, stared, or squinted-indeed, looked any way but the right way. At last, with mouth wide open (none of the smallest), and stomach heaving, he with some difficulty recovered his breath, and looking at Boswell with dignified contempt, he roared out, with the lungs of a Stentor "Mr. Boswell, sir, leave off laughing; and under pain of my eternal displeasure, never utter a single syllable of this abominable adventure to any soul living, while you breathe.' And so, sir," said my host, 66 you have the positive fact from the simple mouth of your humble servant." VARIETIES. New Life Preserver.-An ingenious contrivance for saving the lives of seamen has been invented by Lieutenant Kennedy. It consists of a loose calico waistcoat, made double throughout, sewn close at the edges, and furnished at one part with a little wooden tube and a plug: if the air be blown into the waistcoat, it of course passes through the calico, and nothing particular happens; if the calico, however, be first wetted, and air then blown in, it retains the air under considerable pressure, and affords a buoyancy in water sufficient to sustain two or three men. Lieutenant Kennedy proposes that seamen make these waistcoats for themselves; and, when in danger of shipwreck, or in cases where help is necessary to be given in the water, to put them on, either wetting them first or not; but when wet, inflating them by the mouth, and keeping in the air by the plug. The power of retaining air, in cloth, when wet, is very evident. To Preserve Steel from Rust.-Take some melted virgin wax, and rub it over the article to be preserved. When dry, warm the article again, so as to get off the wax, and rub with a dry cloth until the former polish is restored. By this means all the pores of the metal are filled up, without injury to the appearance, and rust will not at tack it unless it is very carelessly exposed to constant humidity.-Journal des Connaissances Usuelles. The Prince Regent's Cook-Weltjé, the Prince Regent's cook at Carlton House, was renowned for his eccentricities, and the capital feeds he gave his friends at his own house. He was a blunt man, with mighty little" respect for persons." Alderman Newnham was one day dining at Carlton House, when the prince said, "Newnham, don't you think there is a strange taste in the soup?"-" It appears so to me, your highness."- "Send for Weltje." When Weltjé made his appearance, the prince observed, that the soup had a strange taste. Weltjé called to one of the pages-" Give me de spoone," and putting it in the tureen, after tasting it several times, said, "Boh, boh, tish very goote," and immediately left the room, leaving the spoon on the table. At Weltje's own house, after a splendid feast, and when all seemed over, came on a boar's head, of which he insisted on every person's partaking, exclaiming, while mixing up an elaborate sauce piquante-" By Gode, I vil make you all hungry again; two heads gomed to dis gontry, von for me, toder for de queen, dat de Prince of Bronsvick sent." To it the whole party went, as if appetite grew by what it fed on. It was a most jovial day-wines and fruits in abundance and all variety-comic songs from Munden, and Banti kissing him in ecstacy.—Angelo's Reminiscences. Delpini.-Delpini, of comic memory, was a good deal employed at the Carlton House fêtes. The prince, it seems, on one occasion, did not patronise Delpini's benefit, and the first opportunity that presented itself, he addressed the prince sans ceremonie "Mistare Prance, you no come to my benefice, by Gar, me go to your papa's banche."-Ibid. Old Grimaldi.-Old Grimaldi lodged in Holborn at the time of the riots in 1780. The mob passing, and hearing Grimaldi's name, and supposing him to be a papist, raised the cry of no popery, and were proceeding to violence, when Grimaldi, putting his head out of the window, and making his comical grimaces, cried out-" Genteelmen, in dis hose dere be no religion at all!" The mob were delighted, gave him three cheers, and left him undisturbed.-Ibid. The Brazilians.-The Brazilians in any difficulty or danger, make vows to perform certain acts, in token of their gratitude to Providence if they are extricated. These vows they religiously keep, and they are sometimes productive of great unhappiness. The patrona, or master of a boat, in which I used to cross the bay, was a remarkably good-looking man. He was once overtaken by a storm in the same place, and made a solemn vow, that if he reached the shore, he would marry the first disengaged woman he met. He faithfully kept his word; connected himself with a person he knew nothing about, who proved to be a vile character, and his domestic comforts are for ever embittered. They are not indisposed to hospitality, and they constantly accept invitations from strangers, but seldom ask them in return. This arises from the exceeding deficiency of their domestic economy. A Brazilian never keeps a store of any thing in his house; but even those of the highest rank send to a neighbouring venda for whatever they want, in the smallest quantities, and only when they want it. They never purchase more at a time than a pint of wine, or a few ounces of sugar or coffee; and this, they say, is, because if they laid in a store, it would be impossible to prevent their slaves from getting at, and consuming it. When the slave goes for the article, he takes up any thing he can lay his hand on to carry it in. I have often seen one of them returning from a venda with a china tureen full of charcoal under his arm, and a silver cup on his head, holding a few loose candles. Some trades are associated in a manner seemingly as incongruous. On many shops you see written vidros e xa, glass and tea; intimating that the shopkeeper is both a glazier and a grocer. Some, however, are latterly approximating to a more natural association, and have added china to their glass, and so sell both tea and tea-cups. The avocations of barbers are also very various. They vend and prepare tortoiseshell to make combs. They bleed and draw teeth as usual; and so far are only employed in business connected with their calling, as barber-surgeons. But besides that, they exclusively mend silk stockings, and are remarkable for the neatness with which they sole and vamp them. I never passed a barber's shop that I did not see him, when not otherwise engaged, with a black silk stocking drawn on one arm, and his other employed in mending it. They are, besides, the musicians of the country, and are hired also to play at church doors during festivals. All the persons who compose the bands on these occasions are barbers. Over the middle of every shop is an arch, on which are suspended the different articles for sale. In a barber's shop, the arch is always hung round with musical instruments. This association of trades was formerly the usage in England, when the lute and cithern were always found in a barber's shop, to amuse the customers of better condition who came to be trimmed, as they are now presented with a newspaper; or sometimes to alleviate the pains of a wound, which the barber, in his avocation of surgeon, was probing or dressing. But the remains of those customs which have entirely gone out in Europe, still linger in America among the descendants of those who originally brought them over. It is highly creditable to the citizens of Rio, that no native beggars are ever seen in their streets. The only persons of that class I ever was accosted by, were foreign sailors, particularly English and North Americans, who often attacked me, complaining rudely that they were out of employment; they had all the appearance of being worthless, intemperate fellows, whose poverty was their own fault. All the natives in distress are fed and clothed by the different irmandades of citizens, or by the convents; and it is a pleasing sight to see the steps of religious edifices filled, at stated times, with poor people disabled by age or infirmity, and the good Samaritans walking among them, distributing food and raiment as they require them. It is also much to be cómmended, that no women of bad character are ever seen in the streets, either by day or night, so as to be known as such. The decency and decorum of this large town, in this respect, is particularly striking to those who have been accustomed to the awful display of licentiousness, which besets them in the streets and public places of Paris and London.-Dr. Walsh's Notices of Brazil. Preservation of Potatoes.-Potatoes, at the depth of one foot in the ground, produce shoots near the end of spring; at the depth of two feet, they appear in the middle of summer; at three feet of depth, they are very short, and never come to the surface; and between three and five feet, they cease to vegetate. In consequence of observing these effects, several parcels of potatoes were buried in a garden, at the depth of three feet and a half, and were not removed till after intervals of one or two years. They were then found without any appearance of germination, and possessing their original firmness, freshness, goodness, and taste.Ann. Soc. d'Agric. Cultivation of Potatoes.-A French soldier placed half a dozen potatoes at the bottom of a cask, upon a layer of sand and fresh earth, three or four inches thick; when the stalks had risen a few inches, he bent them down, and covered them four or five inches deep with the same mixture. He continued this operation until the cask was full. Six or seven months after, upon emptying the vessel (which stood in a court-yard), he found that the half-dozen potatoes had produced an enormous quantity of new ones, from the portions of the mother stems, which had been successively laid down and covered.-Jour. des Connais, Usuelles. Delicate Instrument.-At a late meeting of the Royal Society, Mr. Ritchie exhibited his new and exceedingly delicate torsion balance and galvanometer, in both of which glass threads are employed; the balance is an invention of great interest, and is intended to show extremely minute weights, as small as even to indicate the millionth part of a grain. Antidote to Prussic Acid.-M. D'Auvergne, in a letter to M. Gay Lussac, dated Paris, April 25, 1829, states, that M. Simeon, apothecary to the hospital St. Louis, poisoned a cat with hydrocyanic acid, by placing two drops in the corner of its eye; the animal was violently affected, and when to all appearance past recovery, a large quantity of chlorine was diffused in his throat, which very soon alleviated the symptoms, and when able to raise his head, which before he could not do, he appeared to take pleasure in smelling the chlorine, from the relief which it afforded. In an hour he rose on his feet, and in the course of two hours more scarcely any traces of morbific symp toms remained. The experiment has been tried on various other animals with similar results.-Ann. de Chim. Smoking. I hate smoking, and I wish it was abolished. Were a certain great author's style of conversation and of writing now in vogue, I would say to our modern Bardolphs, who carry the admiral's light in their mouths instead of in the nose" Sir, no man has a right to smoke; he who smokes destroys the fundamental principle of all human society;-sir, men could never congregate for social enjoyment but upon a primary principle, that no man has a right to disturb the personal comfort of his neighbour. Now, sir, he who pollutes the atmosphere by the circumgiratory ignition of the convolved lamina of either an oriental or occidental shrub, emitting spiral fumigations which inspirate the respirable essence, and send out moliculæ to taint our habiliments for many hours, invades the primary rights of his fellow-men, and saps the very found ations of social existence. Every individual has an inalienable right to pure respirations of the atmospheric element, and he who invades that right for his selfish enjoyment I pronounce a savage. I should as soon think of admitting such a man into my drawingroom, as a Whig, or a Nonconformist." Without such an anathema, smoking has long been on the wane. In the House of Commons there is but one room in which smoking is permitted by the Lex Parliamentaria non scripta. Years ago this Plutonic lobby used to be crowded, and to send forth its villanous compound of unsavoury smells; but for five years there has scarcely been a cigar in the room. Last session I did not see one; though I must confess that there have been a few vain attempts this year to "revive the good old times." For this reformation society owes to the shop-boys and clerks of London a debt of gratitude, as large and as perpetual as the national debt of England. As soon as the Sunday-clad apprentices, the city juvenile aristocracy, and the evening-released clerks of all descriptions became recherché in cigars-not all the laws of the universe could have retained smoking in favour with persons of fashion. Such fumigatory vulgarities are principally confined to the Regent's Park on a summer's evening. Perhaps prejudice, or my antipathy to this vile practice, may taint my philological science, but I never could derive cigar from any other etymology than the French preposition ci, and the old French word gur, from which has been derived the word garder-or, in other terms, ci-gar must have formerly meant, be on your guard here; a caution requisite at the approach of so unpleasant an animal as a smoker. Our old poet Cleveland says, "Why should the smoke pursue the fair?" and Cowley says, that "he knew tears caused by smoke, but not by James the First.-Sir Walter Scott in his "History of Scotland," traces some of James the First's peculiarities to the consequences of the brutal assault upon Rizzio, committed in his mother's presence before his birth. "A weakness in his limbs, which he never entirely recovered, gave him a singular, odd, ungainly, and circuitous mode of walking, diametrically opposite to that which we connect with the movements of majesty. The same shocking scene probably gave rise to a nervous timidity, by which James was affected to a ludicrous degree. It was remarked of him, that different not only from the disposition of his fathers, but from that of his mother Mary, who could look with an unshrinking eye upon all the array of war, James wanted the most ordinary personal courage, a virtue, and one is sometimes tempted to suppose the only one, of that age. The king could never behold a naked sword without shrinking, and he pacific weapon, which he was obliged to draw turned away his head even from that very for the purpose of bestowing the accolade on a knight dubbed with unhacked rapier, and from carpet consideration. The same species of timidity ran through his whole mind and actions, like an extensive flaw in a rich piece of tapestry, defacing and rendering of little value that which would have otherwise been rare and precious. Thus, while nature had given him a sound and ready judgment, and a wit, which was sometimes even brilliant, she withheld from him is manifested in applying to its proper place, that accurate knowledge of propriety, which or using in its fit time, either what is serious: or what is humourous; without which tact or sense of propriety, wisdom sinks into a vender of proverbs, and wit into a mere buffoon. To remedy, if possible, these natural defects, James's education had been. sedulously cared for; his tutor, George Buchanon, being not only one of the best. scholars of the age, but capable of rivalling the purest classics in the composition of their own beautiful language. In this art he accomplished his pupil James, just up. to that point where strength and vigour. of thought is demanded to give animation to language, but unfortunately he could con duct the royal student no farther. The ordinary subtleties of scholastic learning were easily comprehended by a mind which delighted in ingenious trifling, but a timorous disposition cannot form ideas of dignity and resolution, nor, of course, can a timorous mind frame, or a hesitating tongue give utterance to a daring conclusion."-Dr. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia-History of Scotland. be a Rousseau's Idolatry of Fénélon.-Jean Jacques Rousseau almost idolized the memory of Fénélon. Saint Pierre, one of bis intimate friends, one day said to the poet "If Fénélon were alive, you would no doubt good Catholic?"-"Ah!" replied Rousseau, in a transport of enthusiasm, "if that great man were alive, I would endeavour to become his lacquey, that I might afterwards merit the honour of serving him as his valet de chambre !"—Foreign Literary Gazette. St. Ange and Voltaire. St. Ange, a writer chiefly known for his insipid translation of Ovid into French verse, took it into his head to pay his respects one day to Voltaire. The visiter, wishing to terminate the interview by a stroke of wit, observed, while twirling his hat between his fingers, 66 To-day I have seen Homer; to morrow, purpose to visit Euripides and Sophocles; the next day, Tacitus; the next, Lucian; the next-"-" I am rather old," said the sardonic author of La Pucelle; " I may not live long; suppose, therefore, you were to pay your compliments to all these gentle men at one visit?"-Ibid. LAW OF ARREST.† I To say that the law relating to Debtor and Creditor in this country is in a worse state than any other part of the law, or, indeed, that any one part of the law is worse than any other, would be hazardous, for there are certain radical defects which pervade the whole field: in deformities-and in deformities alone is there any degree of uniformity. Previously to entering into an examination of the state of the existing laws on this subject, it will be desirable to have some standard of reference, by which their propriety either in part or in the whole, may be tested. We propose, therefore, in the first instance, to inquire what the law would be under a system founded on the greatest happiness-principle. A debt is a species of contract, written or implied, and entered into by two or more + Abridged from the Westminster Review.-No. XXIV. parties, whereby a right is conferred on one party to receive something; and an obliga. tion on the other party to give that something, which is most commonly a certain sum of money. Smith, a tradesman, for example, sells to Jackson a quantity of goods for 50%.; if Jackson, when called upon to pay that sum, refuses to do so, Smith must appeal to the law to enforce the contract: he goes before the judge, relates the facts of the case, and: calls upon him to compel Jackson to perform the obligation imposed upon him by the contract-to pay him the fifty pounds. Upon hearing this statement, the judge may call upon Smith to give him security, that there is some ground for it, and that it is not a false story invented for the purpose of injuring Jackson, in which case the money given as security might be awarded to Jackson as a compensation for the injury. Unless the security be given at this period of the proceedings, any compensation at all to the injured party would be doubtful, at least, The security being given, the judge sends for and most assuredly could not be so speedy.. Jackson, and on his appearing, tells him what has taken place, and he either pays the fifty pounds, or gives some reason why he will not. It is absolutely necessary that the order that he may hear from him whether he judge should have Jackson before him, in entered into the contract or not, and if he. did, why he refuses to comply with the terms of it: another object is, that the parties may be examined and cross-examined in the presence of each other, or cross-examine themselves, as nobody can know so much of the transaction in question as they do. And a third object in having them both before him is, that either of them may be subjected to immediate punishment if called for-the one for making a groundless charge, and the other for refusing to pay a wellgrounded demand. If Jackson refuses to come when sent for, the judge must compel his attendance, or the laws might be evaded, and injustice committed with impunity. Here, then, it is necessary, to arrest for debt, on mesne process as it is called in law (this means arrest at any time between the commencement and conclusion of a suit, and is used in contradistinction to arrest on final process): and the judge will issue his war. rant accordingly. Should Smith know, or have good grounds for suspecting, that Jackson intended to abscond, and the judge being told as much, were to send a message or citation to Jackson to come before him, the probability is, that instead of going before the judge he would go any where else, and Smith, in addition to the loss of the fifty pounds, would have to put up with the vexation and loss of time attendant on this. fruitless application to the judge: the pro |