No. XXII.
Reading edition
A LINNET AT SEA.
It has been often observed, that birds, in the course of their flight from one country to another, will frequently resort to the rigging of a ship, as a resting-place in their transit across the wide ocean. Mr. Gray, in his "Letters on Canada," gives the following instance:—Among the extraordinary things, he observes, one meets with at sea, it is not one of the least surprising to observe small land birds several hundred miles from land. I was sitting on deck, when, to my great surprise, my attention was arrested by the warbling of a bird. I looked up, and saw a linnet perched on the rigging, and whistling with as much ardour as if on a bush in a green meadow. It is not a little astonishing how these little birds should be able to continue on the wing so long as is necessary to fly several hundreds of miles, particularly when the usual shortness of their flight is considered. They continue sometimes with a vessel several days, and are frequently caught by the sailors; but it is remarked that they seldom live, though every care is taken to give them proper food. When the vessel rolls much, they find it difficult to retain their footing on the rigging, and you see them forced, as it were, to resume their flight in search of a better resting-place.
THE ADVANTAGES OF AFFLICTION.
Behold this vine, I found it a wild tree, whose wanton strength Had swollen into irregular twigs And bold excrescences, And spent itself in leaves and little rings; So in the flourish of its outwardness Wasting the sap and strength That should have given forth fruit; But when I pruned the tree, Then it grew temperate in its vain expanse Of useless leaves, and knotted, as thou seest, Into these full, clear clusters, to repay The hand that wisely wounded it. Repine not, O my son! In wisdom and in mercy heaven indicts, Like a wise leech, its painful remedies.
SOUTHEY.
WEATHERCOCKS.
Weathercocks do not always show the real direction of a very gentle wind. The strange figures of them, usually the productions of capricious fancy, is one cause of their imperfection as vanes to indicate the wind. Griffins, half-moons, foxes, or figures of St. Margaret and the dragon, are not good shapes for weathercocks, which ought to be plain fans, the large surface of one side being counterbalanced against the weight of the other.
THE VALUE OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
A general, though superficial acquaintance with such subjects as well-educated men and women talk about in mixed society is absolutely necessary. A practised eye will easily distinguish the silence of modest attention from the mute weariness of ignorance. The most inveterate talker, if he be not quite a fool, desires to be listened to as well as heard; and a "yes" or a "no" may be placed and accented so as to show intelligence, or betray stupidity. Grace in action and deportment is so essential, that it may almost be said to make all that is beautiful in beauty. We do not mean that a lady should, in dancing, walking, or sitting, display attitudes worthy of a painter's model. In walking we, however, recommend something between the listless saunter of a she-dandy, and the bustling gait of a notable body, who perhaps saves three minutes out of four-and-twenty hours, by doing every thing throughout the day with a jerk and a toss.—Dancing, unless it be done quietly and gracefully, without the fatal results of a shining face, and red neck and arms, it is far better to forbear altogether, it being a very superfluous quality in a gentlewoman; whereas to please by all honest means is her proper calling and occupation. A high degree of positive grace is very rare, especially in northern climates, where the form is degraded and spoiled by ligatures and by cold; but every woman may attain to negative grace, by avoiding awkward and unmeaning habits. The incessant twirling of a reticule, the assiduous pulling of the fingers of a glove, opening and shutting a book, swinging a bell-rope, &c. betray either impatience and weariness of the conversation, disrespect of the speakers, or a want of ease and self-possession by no means inseparably connected with modesty and humility; those persons who are most awkward and shy among their superiors in rank or information being generally most over-bearing and peremptory with their equals or inferiors. We are almost ashamed, in the nineteenth century, to say any thing concerning personal neatness; but cannot forbear hinting, that clean gloves and neat shoes aid the captivating powers of a lady much more certainly than pearl ear-rings or gold chains—that clean muslin is more bewitching than dirty blond lace—and that a pocket-handkerchief should be like a basilisk, a thing heard of, but never seen; we mean in the capacity in which our cold-catching, rheum-exciting climate calls it into action.