486 Varieties: Critical, Literary, and Historical. sea, and seems to be less remarkable in very inclined situations. The circumstance is slightly hinted at by Aristotle, and the early writers on meteorology. It shows the power of light on the phonomena of the atmosphere. VULGAR ERrors. Curious stories are told of the enmity of the spider to the toad; Erasmus, whom I should be sorry to doubt, relates the following story : "A monk had in his chamber several bundles of green rushes, wherewith to strew his chamber at his pleasure. One day, after dinner, he fell asleep on one of those bundles, with his face upward; and while he slept, a great toad came and sat on his mouth. When some of his comrades saw this, they knew not how to act; for it was then the foolish belief, that to pull away the toad would have been certain death to them, so prejudiced were the ignorant people against the poor animal; but then to let her stand on the monk's mouth was worse than death. One of them spying a spider's web in the window, wherein was a large spider, advised that the mouk should be carried to that window, and laid with his face right under the spider's web. As soon as the spider saw the toad, she directly wove her thread, and descended on it down upon the toad, when she so severely wounded it, at three different times, that it swelled and died." This tale, though from such good authority, I must say, I feel inclined to doubt. That there is an enmity between the common toad and the spider, is beyond a doubt; but then it appears to be more on the side of the toad, who will swallow down dozens of spiders, without being affected by any venom: but lizards, after biting a toad, have been known to become paralyzed, and to appear dead for as much as two hours; a dog, too, holding a toad, after he has seized it, a little while in his mouth, will be affected with a slight. swelling on his lips, and the saliva will run profusely from its mouth; yet this is nothing more than from the acrimonions acid which the toad exudes from [VOL 4 the skin, whenever it is frightened or agitated. Ugly as this creature may appear, its eyes, perhaps, are the most beautiful of any other living creature. They are of uncommon brilliancy, and are surrounded by a reddish gold-coloured iris; and the pupil, when contracted, appears transverse. The most extraordinary circumstance attending this animal is, its having been found inclosed, or imbedded, without any seeming passage for air, not only in woody substances, but even in blocks of stone and marble. Dr. Shaw, the famous zoologist, expresses his doubts on that subject; and thinks, if a toad had been so overtaken as to have been inclosed by the growth of wood, it yet could only live so long as there was some passage for air, and, of course, for the ingress of insects on which it could occasionally feed. A curious experiment was made by a Monsieur Herrisant, belonging to the French academy, which rather makes me willing to embrace the opinion of Dr. Shaw. In the year 1771, on pulling down a wall at a seat belonging to the Duke of Orleans, and which had been built forty years, a living toad, it was asserted, had been found in it; its hind feet completely imbedded in the mortar. Herrisant, therefore, in the presence of the academicians, inclosed three toads in as many boxes, which were immediately covered with a thick coat of mortar, and kept in the apartments of the academy. On opening these boxes eighteen months afterwards, two of the toads were still found living; these were immediately re-inclosed; but on being again opened three months after, were found dead. These experiments "cannot be regarded as conclusive, and only serve to shew, that the toad, like other amphibia, can support a long abstinence, and requires but a very small quantity of air. THEATRICAL MORALITY! M. A fair daughter of Terpsichore, engaged at one of the principal theatres in Paris, manifested an ardent attachment for a young man, whose expectations in life were of a very humble VOL. 4.] Varieties.-Superstition-Picture of Holland. 487 In describing the exploit, Trimalchio (as it appears) points out on his own person the very place of the wound, by laying his hand to the part: whereupon he immediately exclaims, "Salvum sit, quod tango!"—" Safe be what I touch!"-- exactly equivalent to the Irish God bless [or "God save] 66 the mark!" For the satisfaction of those, among your readers, who have not an opportunity of consulting the original text of Petronius, I here transcribe the passage kind. Her mother had endeavoured, where Trimalchio relates a marvellous by every means maternal tenderness adventure, in which a man thrust his could suggest, to break off a connec- sword through the body of a sorceress. tion which, to use her own words, at once shocked her delicacy, and wounded the purity of her morals. After numerous expostulations, the old lady, aided by the overpowering eloquence of a wealthy banker, who was continually talking of his riches, had the satisfaction to find her daughter completely converted. The other evening, in the coulisses of the Opera, the mother was boasting of her triumph to a female friend, and describing the anxiety and distress she had suffered owing to the misplaced attachment of the pretty Rose:" At last, my dear madam," said she," the girl has recovered her senses! I knew she would soon blush for her choice! How could she entertain regard for a man who must have ruined her in the public opinion; for you know, Madam, the wretch is lost to all sense of religion, and his income, scanty as it is, is thrown away on sweetmeats and trash!" Rose, of course, figures as the mistress of the Banker, instead of being the young lover's wife. To that specimen of superstitious coincidence, which I pointed out in your Magazine for August, allow me to add another, equally striking. * Among the less enlightened portion of the Irish population, if a person, describing a hurt or wound, should, with the view of illustrating his verbal description, happen to touch the correspouding part of his own or another person's body, that touch is fearfully noticed, as ominous of ill, and a sure precursor of similar mischief to the person and the part so touched, unless the narrator, or some other individual present, be careful immediately to subjoin," God bless the mark!" or " God save the mark!" which prayer avails as a charm, to avert the dreaded disaster. An exactly similar superstition prevailed among the ancient Romans, as we learn from a passage in Petronius, • See Atheneum, vol. 4, p. 277. "Mulierem, tamquam hoc loco, (salrum sit, quod tango!) mediam trajecit." Let me add, with respect to the Irish superstition, that the touch, in those cases, is deemed to possess equally malign influence, whether applied to the naked body itself, or to the garment covering the part: and the Roman idea seems to have been precisely the same; as we can hardly presume that Trimalchio exposed his naked person; since we do not find such circumstance mentioned by Petronius, who would not have failed to notice it if it had taken place. JOHN CAREY. PICTURE OF HOLLAND. The country is entirely flat, and so are the surrounding towns: but nothing can be more neat, more pretty, or more elegant than these towns. They present to the eye, at a great distance, by their numerous canals, planted on each side with trees, the prospect of a great number of hamlets, united together; we seem always in the country, and the hamlets appear as if they had been formed during the night by the wand of a fairy. The public edifices and houses are built on the waters, which surround and divide the country; these appear in the water like so many stationary vessels, without masts, the roofs of which seem to be the decks. They are slight, and have not cost much labour in erecting. They are washed every day, inside and out; the outside, by means of engines -the inside, with spunges. The cor 488 Varieties: Critical, Literary, and Historical. ridors, and stories are all inlaid with Dutch tiling; which give an air of newness to the most ancient buildings. The outside is varnished in all manuer of colours, and the stairs are covered with matting, or strips of cloth. In Holland, the way of living is temperate and wholesome; a piece of beef, weighing about twenty pounds, serves all the week, with a dish of excellent vegetables. This is the whole course. Those who call the Hollanders cheeseeaters, have only been familiar with sailors and other sea-faring men. It is in vain that the Russians may tell a foreigner to be guarded against the effects of cold, or the Hollanders against the influence of their evening dews; experience furnishes the best defence. Would you wish to preserve your health, always follow the regimen of the natives belonging to the country wherein you may sojourn; when in Russia, during the winter, eat their sugar-cakes, and drink the spirituous liquors they offer you before dinner; in Holland,return home early, and when you go out, do not go till it is late. The vicissitudes of the atmosphere require little change in the clothing, from winter to summer. The roads, in several countries, are made with new half-baked bricks, just from the field; they last, because they are well covered with sand, and no heavy carriages pass over them. Every thing is transported in boats, and provisions are carried to their destined place in wheelbarrows. Holland, watered on almost every side by the ocean, offers only extensive fields. There are no forests, and the only trees are those of the gardens, and of places near the towns. Besides the rivers, there are innumerable canals, to facilitate parties of pleasure, voyages, and the transporting of merchandize; and the boatmen undertake to carry provisions and goods at a moderate price. A boat costs but little to keep it, and will contain more than eight cart-loads of merchandize. The public barks, with which the canals are covered, are drawn by horses, and depart and arrive at a given hour. The [VOL. 4 banks of the canals are almost all adorned with beautiful walks of elms, and linden trees, and intersected with handsome houses, and gardens, finely cultivated, with all sorts of trees and flowers; and wherein are bred the most scarce and beautiful birds from India. The roufe of the canal-boat is a little kind of cabin, set apart for some particular travellers. The time of frost and snow is the carnival of Holland; the canals and rivers are covered with skaters, both male and female. A villager carries his provisions to market skating; a female villager does the same. It seems that, without the business of commerce, which draws the Hollanders together, there is no kind of society among them, so little do they frequent each other. The country-house of a wealthy individual, has the appearance of a Prince's palace. The coffee-houses are very simple; there are no women seen presiding in them; there is no bar, no marble tables; neither glasses, nor chandeliers. The carriages are built high, and are very light, because the country is sandy, and a heavy carriage would require several horses to drag it out of the deep ruts which the wheels would make. The quantity of diamonds worn by the ladies, the buckles, knives, scissors, chains of gold, rings on the fingers of the tradesmen's wives, and even on those of female peasants, are proofs of the riches in the country. The women yet wear hanging to their sides, a kind of purse, similar to the ancient French Escarcelle, ornamented with a spring circlet, and hooks of silver. The young maidens, however wealthy, do not marry so early as in France; the fathers keeping close together as long as they possibly can, their tuns of gold. The Dutch women are, in general, truly virtuous; and there are few men prodigals or libertines. Interest, labour, the love of gain, and close application to business, with a natural taste for commerce, absorb every other passion. The women, as we have said before, are virtuous and modest, good house VOL. 4.] Varieties: Critical, Literary, and Historical. : Several women wear large rings of gold on the first finger and on the thumb of the right hand the ring on the forefinger is a mark of their having gold enough; and that on the thumb, that they have abundance. The Dutch women are fair, but they are apt to stoop much; they are handsome, if we may allow a woman to be so who is enormously fat. Such as we see them painted by Rubens, such we actually behold them in their houses. The young women seldom marry till they are five-and-twenty. On the wedding-day, the bride receives a present, with part of her household furniture. The present is what is observed, as a custom, with the most opulent; the furniture is bestowed among the common people, at the expense of the aunts, cousins, relations, and friends, who are present at the wedding, where there is always an equal number of each sex invited. There are very pretty children, few handsome men, and scarce any beautiful women, in Holland. If morals are not attended to more in Amsterdam than in Paris, it is not the case in other towns; a public courtezan would not be allowed to remain in Saardam: at this place, the women wear short petticoats, folded like fans, a corset, tight to the shape, and a straw hat; not even the shadow of a naked bust is to be seen at any time in the year. They wear fine laces, rings on their fingers, earrings, their legs almost bare, and they stir up the dung with forks, like men: but one cause of the extreme neatness of the Dutch, is, that there are a far greater number of women than men-servants. The Hollanders take, regularly, four meals a day; their coffee in the morning, dine between one and two o'clock, drink tea at six, and sup at nine. Economical as is the Dutchman, he yet 30 ATHENEUM VOL. 4. 489 loves a good table. The birth of a child, its christening, its weaning, all agreements, betrothings, weddings, lyings-in, departing on a journey, and on return, are all subjects for feasting. The Westphalians in Holland, are what the Savoyards are in France. They are industrious, faithful, and parsimonious; they live on bread and water, with a little of their own country bacon; they are employed in all kinds of works, but in particular with the gathering in of the "hay-harvest, which is considerable in a country covered with fields and meadows. The women are attached to the country-houses, where they are employed in gardening. There are fewer thieves in Holland than in other parts of the world: and how could they possibly exercise the perilous trade of a highwayman, in a country cut out into ditches, canals, and rivers, and set thick, all over, with barriers? On Sunday, every man and woman is seen flocking to church; they never work on that day, neither do they buy, sell, negotiate, nor make any demand or payment; and Sunday is a day of liberty to every debtor. The Dutch keep their dead unburied for a whole week; they often wash the corpse with warm water, shave it, dress it, and expose it, for two or three days, to its nearest relatives and friends; they place it in an oak coffin, lined with iron plates, the head placed on a cross-bar, which serves as a pillow: the coffin is nailed and screwed down. The women are dressed in the habiliments suitable to their sex, trimmed with black ribband; the men are in night-gowns, with wigs on their heads, and are buried with an expence proportionate to their means.-Translated from the French of Diderot's Supplementary Work, just published. In a little French town they lately got up a sort of dramatic entertainment, in two acts, entitled, " Adam and his family." At another, where they played" The Death of Abel," it was aunounced to be acted" in the costume of the times." 490 Varieties: Critical, Literary, and Historical. MONUMENT TO DANTE. A subscription has been opened at Florence, for a monument to be erected in honour of Dante. It is well known that the prince of Italian poets, when in banishment, like Gibelin, was reduced to beg for a shelter and a morsel of bread in foreign countries. The monument will be erected in the church of Santa-Croce, the Pantheon of Tuscany. TRAGIC FALL. At Franconi Circus, Paris, Macbeth and Othello are converted into Pantomimes! "To what base uses may we come at last." VENUS DE MEDICIS. The admirers of antiquity and of the arts were lately gratified with a novel kind of exhibition at Lansdowne house. The great attraction was the Venus de Medicis, which was, after lying under ground for nearly 2,000 years discovered lately among the ruins of Pompeii. This is the original renowned statue, and pronounced such by Canova, who, when he first discovered it, was seized by such an extravagant fit of enthusiasm, as induced common people to suppose that his intellects were disordered. It is considered as the finest specimen of that branch of the art in the known world. This beautiful object is represented as coming from the bath, and by candle light looks as white as snow; but by day the appearance is different; it having acquired those precious tints so highly prized by the lovers of virtu, and which time only can bestow. Around the room were other statues, all very fine, and real antiqui ties. [VOL 4 POLAR EXPEDITION...NEW NATION. Since the above, [see p. 481] advices have been received that the Isabella and the Alexander, discovery ships, are safely arrived, in Brassa Sound, Lerwick, all well; neither ship having lost a man, nor having a man on the sick list. Captain Ross has completely succeeded in exploring every part of Baffin's Bay, and, with the exception of errors in the latitudes and longitu es, of verifying the statements of that old and able navigator whose name it bears, and of ascertaining that no passage exists between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through Davis's Straits and Baffin's Bay, the whole being found to be surrounded by highland, extending to the north as far as lat. 77. 55. and long. 76. W.; and in the 74th degree of latitude, stretching westward as far as 84. W. longitude. They traced the same the whole way down to the Cape Walsingham of Davis, which they ascertained to lie in lat. 66. and long. 60.; from thence they steered for Resolution Island, and then stood homeward. They have made many carious observations and discoveries, of which, perhaps, will not be considered as the least interesting, that of a nation being found to inhabit the Arctic regions, between the latitudes of 76. and 78. who thought that the world to the south was all ice; that generation had succeeded a generation of people who had never tasted the fruits of the earth, had no idea of a Sapreme Being, who never had an enemy, and whose chiefs had hitherto supposed themselves monarchs of the universe. There now only remains to be discovered the termination, if it has one, of Middleton's Repulse Bay, and a few degrees to the northward of it, to determine whether Greenland be an island or joins America; and this might with the greatest ease be done from the northernmost station of the Hudson's-bay Company in any one season." Another account states, that when the Isabella and Alexander reached lat. 76, they were unexpectedly opposed in their Northern progress by terra firma. Here they met with a new race of Esquimaux, who, by their astonishment, appeared never to have seen a ship before. At first they were much afraid, and made signs for the vessels to fly away, thinking they were huge birds of prey that had descended from the moon to destroy them. A few of the natives, however, were soon enticed on board, when they expressed their awe and wonder by hugging the masts, and other extravagant manifestations of inploration, as if to superior beings; at other INGREDIENT OF THE CHELSEA GOUT- times, on attentively surveying the ships, MEDICINE, The efficacy of which has been ascertained by several who have used it. Two pounds of honey clarified to one pound, flour of sulphur 2 ounces, cream of tartar 1 ounce, powder of guiacum 1 drachm,powder of rhubarb 2 drachms, powder of ginger half an ounce, and one nutmeg reduced to powder. The above to be mixed together, and a tea spoonful of the medicine dissolved in a glass of warm water to be taken every night. they laughed immoderately They were en tirely unintelligible to the Esquimaux whom Captain Ross took out with him, although they seem to be of the same origin, their phy siognomy being similar, but of rather a darker complexion---in their general appearance, to the natives of Kamtschatka, or the Northlanguage, and manners, approaching nearer eastern extremity of Asia. Their mode of travelling is on sledges, drawn by dogs, and some of them were seen in this way, going Northward. They were in possession of knives, which, it is conjectured, they must have formed from the iron in its natural state, and which may, perhaps, at some future pe riod, become an object of commerce with the |