DECEMBER 10, 1842. No. XV. Price One Penny, TIE HALIFAX And now the time in special is, by privilege, to controvcrsal faces, might nqw not unsignificantly be injuriously, by licencing and prohibiting, to Iler. confuting is the best and surest suppressing and speak what may help to the further discussing of matters in agitation. The Temple of Janus, with his two open: and though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do Let her and falsehood grapple. Who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter. AREOPAGITICA. TO ADVERTISERS. In a former announcement, it was stated that Advertisements could not be received at our printer's later than Thursday noon; but as it is desirable to extend the time, we have trans- ferred our advertisements from the first to the fourth page, by which alteration we shall be enabled to receive the favours of our advertising friends until Thursday evening. Our fourth page will, we believe, be a very good situation for advertisements ; for there are very few of our readers, we imagine, who do not dwell, with more or less pleasure, on the poetry and scraps to which that page is usually devoted. The principle upon which the business of the " Fiee Press" is conducted by our printer, is that of low prices and no credit. Our charges for advertisements are— One to three lines.. 2s. Od. I Including the gov- Four to six 2s. 6d. > ernment tax of Seven to nine 3s. Od. j ls- 6d- and so on in proportion to the number of lines. ~ TILE ESSAYIST. EXERCISES*, REVIEWS, AND ACTION. No. XL— INDIAN JARS. It is not surprising that men who recklessly drove their master's Bull into a China shop, should be guilty of any similar or still greater infatuation. Fancy them, then, before their master had become aware of their delinquencies, goading on the irrational animal into a depflt of costly Indian wares, and imagine the destruction and confusion that must ensue. In one part of the establishment were some immensely large and expensive jars, and nothing would satisfy the drivers but that the poor Bull should be driven into the midst of them. We use the term drivers because tbey urged forward the Bull, but driver is an unsuitable tern), and as the term shep- herd is applied to those who have charge of sheep, the term bully would best express the guardianship of the Bull, and the way in which these men conducted themselves. Of course the strength of the Bull was sufficient to crush several of the Indian jars, although entailing a heavy charge on the owner for the damage, and causing a considerable How of blood from the limbs of the animal, in consequence of the wounds inflicted by the broken material. But the wicked and cruel instigators of the mischief cared not for the destruction of property, nor for the agony of the poor beast, and at last he was compelled to set his foot into one enormous jar, which in con- sequence of its peculiar formation or the position in which it was placed, was not so easily crushed. The leg of the Bull was set fast in the jar, nor was he able to extricate it for some time. One of the parties who had a beneficial interest in the jar, ex- cessively annoyed at the intrusion, kept open the wounds which from friction with a broken edge of the jar bled profusely, occasioning great weakness and exhaustion. At one period it was questionable whether the Bull could be withdrawn without the loss of a limb, but at last the enraged animal, stimu- lated by the pain, and by his drivers, made a desperate effort to free himself, and succeeded— thus proving the strength and spirit of the Bull, however bad the conduct of the bullies. Indeed the prowess of the animal is unquestioned, for notwithstanding his weakened state he was able to vanquish another bull • This title is founded on the name which CoUThomnson has given to his works, recently published, namely, " Exer- ciscs. Political and others, Six vols, London, Effinsham Wilson, 1812," which was brought in opposition to him, and J. Bull was more than a match for K. Bull. The bullies hoped to cover their own delinquencies and pacify the farmer by the report of this feat; for it must be acknowledged the old fellow has the failing of liking to hear of his favourite animal being victor at bull runnings and bull fights; but of late he has become very much sobered in this respect, especially since a long and severe contest with a Corsican bull, in which though the farmer's Bull came off the victor he has not yet recovered from the effects, nor has the bill of costs been discharged; moreover some of the shrewd neighbours are inclined to attribute the victory very much to an accidental circumstance of a severe frost, and the Corsican bull'* foot making a slip oil the ice and spraining his leg. Since then, too, the farmer has made a great mis- take in carrying on a contest with a bull of a cross breed, something between a Romish and an Irish bull, in which the farmer found himself if not on the horns of the bull, on the horns of a dilemma, and was compelled to yield. Indeed, from circumstances con- nected with this contest, the farmer was in such dis- grace with his landloid that he was in considerable danger of losing one of his farms, and the farm more celebrated for its breed of bulls and for the number it produces than any other farm in the neighbourhood. But to return to this plunging amongst the Indian jars; it was in vain that one faithful fellow, who was neither a bully nor a coward, ( and it is well known the two are often united,) but an upright, straight- forward, plain- spoken sort of man, remonstrated against the course which the bullies pursued ; he was completely over- i uled, indeed he has intimated that some of those servants who had the characters of good" herdsmen, whom his master looked upon as the most to be depended upon, were the most active in endeavouring to silence him, and that even if they would not have been papty to the actual slaughter of the favourite Bull, they would not have minded that some of their master's oxen should have been slaugh- tered, provided one of them could come in for the marrow- hone, another a joint of ox tail, and another a cask of Irish provision; so when no remonstrance or expostulation could induce the farm- servants to keep the Bull in the pasture, hut they would drive it into the China shop and amongst the Indian jars to demolish and destroy, and get their master into disgrace and expence, and endanger the poor bull himself, there was no course which seemed so proper to the man whose vigilance might well entitle him to the name of the watchman, as to rouse the farmer and the neighbours, and inform them of the wild course pursued by the bullies, with the " good" herdsman looking on or assisting ; but so completely had the rascals the ear of their master, and so much had they misrepresented the man of all others to be relied on, that the farmer was slow to take the alarm ; however he now finds who was right, and the worth and vigilance of the watchman are beginning to be duly estimated. The expence of the damage incurred from the inroad of the bull in the China shop, and the Bull amongst the Indian jars, has not yet been discharged, and is not yet ascertained; but it must be prodigious, to say nothing of the serious wounds and the loss of blood of the poor Bull himself. The bullies have contrived to mitigate the expence for broken China by the unjust proceeding of making the owuer of the China shop lay down a considerable sum of money to prevent further damage being done to his crockery ! How far he will not seek and obtain redress, by reimbursing himself for that, and a still further sum when and in a way that the Bull and the bullies have no power to prevent, remains to be seen. Neighbouring shopkeepers will be inclined to view with jealousy such injustice to the unfortunate owner of the China, he will perlnps find friends to assist him, and the Bullies may find that they have in reality " caught a Tartar." In any case the cost of the Indian jars must be paid immediately. It has been said that the object in entering the Indian depflt was not so much to destroy the jar as some jug or juggernaut, but any allusion to jug was probably jugglery, and instead of any thing ending in nought, it has ended in something much worse than nought. Our readers are sufficiently acquainted with the general course of events, to render it unnecessary to explain, that the large Indian Jar is the Afghan- istan Jar, into which the bull has been driven, they will also know the bullies by whom he was so driven, and that J. Bull or John Bull has overpowered K. Bull, or Cabul. The allusion to the conflict with the Corsican bull, and the bull of the Romish- Irish Cross breed, will be equally well understood. Those who have gone through their " Exercises" will be at no loss to know who are designated the" good" herdsmen ; and the near resemblance between Marrowbone and Mary- le- bone furnishes a key to the enigma of the Ox tail and the Irish provisions. If one object of the Affghanistan mission was to crush juggernaut, it will be admitted the result is much worse than nought. The remonstrances of the watchman are on record ; the men who were able to prevent his giving the alarm by his voice in his proper sphere of action, the House of Commons, were not able to prevent him from doing it with the pen, and the printing- press. Fortunately he was not unheeded by the country, if he was by the legislature. Those who were ^ he authors of the mischief, lost their popularity, and their majorities rapidly dwindled down, as will those of their successors, unless they shall in future take the advice of the watchman, for which probably they are too hardened in iniquity. If in ancient times the goose did, what the senators could not do, save the capitol, perhaps in modern times the goose- quill, and the printing press, may do what the senators could not or would not do, save the capitol by repealing the Corn- law, and preventing unjust, unnecessary wars. We will turn to one or two of the evidences of the watch> man's quiet use of the goose- quill and the printing press in reference to Indian jars. We cannot be knaves, or tyrants, or fools, because our government desires it. There is a limit to all things, and there is a limit here. Look at the working classes standing up solemnly before their Maker and praying His interference against their rulers in behalf of the oppressed nations of India, through whose countries they have just seen a British army led, on the most execrable breach and disavowal of all prin- ciples consonant with just and British feeling, that stain the page of history, and accompanied with horrible and revolting circumstances of military cruelty, which are coming out bit by bit in the pages of historians of the campaign and even through the revelations of the Military Gazettes in the untoward zeal for their defence ; levelling the British officer to the rank of hack executioner and butcher's journey- man, and making every man curse his fate, and creep about under a load of conscious degradation who has been unfortunate enough to pass his life in the dis- honoured office.— Exercises Vol. V. p. 122, Sept. 2. 1840. Not to attack an enemy, or to resist some injury inflicted or contempla ed, but to displace the existing ruler of a distant country, and substitute another by force, who from the baseness of his life and manners, and his utter disqualification for every function of government, was known to be the most distasteful possible to the inhabitants ; and this uuder the rascal policy of profiting by the weakness wliichmust ensue, and by the necessity that such an instrument must be simply subservient to those who maintained him against the aversion of the people.— Vol. V. p. 128 Sept. 1G. 1840. The natural consequence of such conduct is, that by the last news f r om India, the country is up i n a r m s, 2 THE HALIFAX FREE PRESS. and must be either abandoned or reconquered at the expense of four millions more ; and all this for a murderous whim. Ought not such a government to have its immediate " Descendas " from every man capable of anxiety for the interests committed to it. — Vol. V. p. 266, Nov. 12.1840. And the government had its " descendas," as in these days of the spread of information will every government have a rapid " Descendas," that either engages in war, or perpetuates bread tax, sugar- tax, and restrictions on commercial intercourse. How ex- actly does this description of the origin of the war pub lished more than two years ago, agree with the account of its origin given in the government proclamation recently issued for the evacuation of Affghanistan. The effect of the proclamation is to show that after the sacrifice of treasure to the extent of many millions sterling, after the sacrifice of the lives of tens of thousands of our fellow- countrymen, all that we have done has produced no good result whatsoever, but has left desolation and anarchy. Moderation is claimed for withdrawing the troops, bnt it is obvious the province hasbeen abandoned from the impossibility of retaining it. There is one very amusing sentence in the pro clamation :— " To force a sovereign npon a reluctant people, would be as inconsistent with the policy as with the principles of the British government." This from a Tory government which waged a five and twenty years war, and expended more than one thousand millions to place a Bourbon on the throne of France is curious '. and to be issued from India too is still more curious '. Colonel Thompson will explain the way affairs are managed in India. No holder of power among the Indian governments is without a rival claimant to the throne. As fast therefore as any native potentate aspires to improve- ment, and shows signs of possessing the attachment of his subjects, the unprincipled knaves whom you and I find from time to time in honours and in pen sions, attack him, declare his subjects rebels, as the means of letting loose upon them the military bru- tality which tyrants in all ages have been allowed to exercise under the shelter of that term, and set up his rival in his stead, to be pulled down in turn by a similar process whenever he shows signs of strengthening himself by attending to the interests of those he governs.— Vol. VI. p. 165. Feb. 22. 1841. The effect produced by the Indian jars is like that of the Leyden jars, a severe shock, so much so, that from amongst the Authors of such calamities, a com- mercial nation like England will not again seek or receive her legislators or her statesmen. AN ADJUTANT. INCREASE OF NEWSPAPER TREADING.— The vast increase of newspaper reading, and, of course, of readers, in this country, within the last fourteen years, wilt be obvious from a glance at the following table, which i3 a Parliamentary return just issued in conti- nuation of a previous one published in 1827. LOCAL DOCUMENTS. ON THE RECENT CENSUS, AND THE VITAL STATISTICS OF HALIFAX AND SKIRCOAT. A Lecture delivered to the Members of the Halifax Mechanics' Institution, on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 1842, by Wm. Alexander, M. D., President of that Insti- tution. ( Concluded from our last.) In the two townships of Halifax and Skircoat, 582 deaths occurred during the registration year of 1840- 41, which I have arranged in the following table, under their respective heads :— No. of deaths No. of deaths Average in the of infants un. age Year. der 6 months old. of death Professional men, gentry, merchants, and their families. 18 Tradesmen, and their families. 130 Artizans, labourers, and their families. 434 20 83 60 25| 25J 103 England Years- and Wales. Scotland. Britain. Ireland, 1827 25,863,49!) 1,795,771 27,659,270 3,545,846 1840 48,890,570 5,663,943 54,560,513 6,057,796 1841 47,640,0/ 0 6,129,289 54,769,359 5,990,033 From this it appears that, while in England and Wales, and also in Ireland, the circulation of newspapers has nearly doubled in the fourteen years, in Scotland it has more than trebled. In 1841, the aggregate num- ber of stamps supplied to the newspapers of Great Britain and Ireland was 60,759,392; the number sup- plied in 1827 being only 31,205,116. It is a remark- able feature in the return, that, though the largest aggregate number of stamps for the whole was taken out in 1841, the last year included in the return, the number of stamps taken by the newspapers of Eng- land and Wales were fewer in 1841 by 256,500 than ill the preceding year ; and in Ireland, in the same period, there is also a proportionate diminution, amounting in the year to 67,762 stamps; whilst in Scotland, during the same period, there has not only been no decrease, but an actual increase of 465,346 stamps in 1841 over 1840. It is not easy to assign a cause for the increase in Scotland, though we are in- clined to attribute it to the more universal education so long maintained in that part of the kingdom, mak ing reading a more general want of society, and per- haps in no small measure, at this particular period, to the excitement caused throughout Scotland by the discussion and agitation of the great Church question of the day,— intrusion and non- intrusion— in which all classes of the people take a deep interest. FASHIONABLE BARBARITIES.— Speaking of the fashion in China of crushing out of form the feet of females, Captain Bingham says :—" It would be as difficult to account for the origin of thi3 barbarous practice of the Chinese, as for that of squeezing the waists of Englishwomen out of all natural shape by stays, or flattening the heads among the natives on the Columbia." Total 582 Of the 18 deaths among the gentry, manufacturers, and their families, the average age was thus found to be 60 years, though I am inclined to believe it to be a maximum not attained by this class in ordinary years; for besides several octogenarians,, one old lady had reached her 96th year. Of the second and third classes enumerated, the average age attained was found to be much the same in both, about 25$ years. In the latter', instance, however, I consider the average to have been much raised by an unusual number of deaths, at advanced ages among weavers. In the second class, comprising 130 deaths, twenty were found to be of infants under six months old, and were these omitted, the average age of the parties under this head would be raised to 30 years, and those of the third class, under similar circumstances, to 31 years and a half. It will further be perceived by this table, that the deaths of infants under half a year old, consitute nearly a fifth of the total mortality of the year. As will be supposed, ( although unequally high wages do not mitigate but too often rather increase mortality and foster bad habits) comparative comfort or a state of destitution exercise a material influence upon the health and mortality of every community, however circumstanced as to soil and climate; 1st. directly, by depressing the vital energy and powers of life; 2dly indirectly, bv disturbing that just balance of secretion and deposition in the individual system essential to the maintenance of vigour of body, and of course absolutely necessary to the continuance of labour ; and 3rdly by substituting a coarser diet and deficient clothing and fuel, in place of nutritious and digestible food, and apparel suited to the in- clemencies of the changing seasons. As a general proposition, I would say that the increase of sickness among a destitute population over one in a com- parative state of comfort would be about 30 per cent, per annum, and the mortality wouhl be augmented about 20 per cent in such a community beyond its more ordinary rate,— or in other words more plainly, assuming the average sickness, at all ages, of a people to be usually about 120 persons per annum in every 1000, and the deaths to amount under similar circum- stances to about 22}, calculations not far from being exact as relates to the mean of the Halifax Union and the two townships, under severe privation and hard times the sickness might be expected to reach about 155 persons in the 1000 instead of 120, and the mortality rise from 22} to 27 per annum per 1000. It will be in the recollection of some of my hearers that a great deal of illness prevailed during the last winter, not so much in the town as in the outskirts, and its general character was continued fever. In the summer of 1840, I pointed out, in my treatise on the Horley Green Spa, the localities chiefly visited by this disease, as derived from the records and books of the Infirmary; and it was found to invade the hilly ridges and rising ground in the suburbs more extensively than the densely peopled vicinity around the Parish Church, Clark Bridge, and the foot of Southow ram Bank, where noxious exhalations might reasonably be assumed as its cause in those districts. The fact is, that there are other causes in operation besides a malarious atmosphere in the generation of fever, and its well ascertained prevalence on the hills and rising summits of Nortli- owram, Ovenden, Southowram, and Skircoat, I attribute in a great measure to an ill- advised and coarse provision of the necessaries of life producing intestinal disease, and not in these situations from the decomposition of animal and vegetable matters' defective drainage, combustion of fuel, and the like, to which its origin is commonly ascribed. It is not perhaps known to unprofessional persons, that pathologists of late years have thrown much light upon the nature of fever, and have identified lesion or injury of the intestine as a very frequent accompani- ment, either as cause or consequence, upon the phe- nomena presented by typhus fever. The connexion, therefore, that subsists between an in- nutritious and indigestible diet, daily irritating the mucous surfaces of the bowels, and fever must be obvious to all, and it is to this circumstance, induced by the raw, half cooked, and HI selected vegetable food, containing much of woody fibre and little of the farina, starch, gum, and other nourishing elements, to the exposed and ill constructed dwellings and paucity of warm clothing and bedding, that I ascribe the general pre- valence of fever in these localities of the parish. Halifax and its neighbourhood are healthfully situa- ted in many respects to persons of sound constitu- tion, and yet, nevertheless, fever is never long absent. At this moment it prevails in Pineberry Hill, the Old Bank, Upper'Crib Lane, and in Cavalry Field, to a greater or less extent, and in Stainland and some other of the out- townships. In the early spring whole families were attacked in Whentley who were unprovided with a nurse or any provident reserves for the casualties of sickness. It may still be urged that we have likewise in these localities, though otherwise open and well ventilated, defective sewerage and want of cleanliness, and that those in employment as well as those without work, are sub- ject to disease ; aud it is at once admitted. The one state of things will originate the fever; the other, independently of contagion, will probably propagate and extend it, and are the favouring elements for its continuance. Much might be done, and something will be at. tempted, to mitigate the sufferings so graphically de- scribed in the comprehensive work of which I have already spoken, but the task is great; and, I appre- hend, involves the co- operation of all classes. It would be vain to hope for a simultaneous effort on the part of the labouring classes, and yet such seems to me indispensable to the removal of the greater part of the physical evils with which, in our neigh- bourhood at least, they are encompassed. To expend judiciously their earnings in the selection of suitable food and raiment, to avoid exposure to cold and noisome effluvia, to combine warmth with ventila- tion, and cleanliness of house and person withal, are matters of domestic economy with which the great majority are not familiar ; and yet herein lies one great practical difficulty in the way of amelioration, which in so far as I have glanced at the contents of Mr. Chadwick's invaluable report already alluded to, is not, I think, sufficiently estimated. The owners of property in towns and cities, may < Jo'much ( and acts of parliament will doubtless be procured for the purpose) in the way of improving the abodes of their cottage tenants; and since these habitations too often are the sources of pestilence to their more opulent neighbours, it will be economical as well as humanely wise to spare no pains in effecting this ob- ject. Moral and educational agencies are also re- quired, but may here be accompanied by the scavenger, the builder, and the carpenter. Thorough cleansirg of the courts, streets, and cul de sac alleys of Ratten Row, and Back Barracks, and the like; the age- worn hovels of Britannia Fold, Duckworth's Court, & c., of our own town, converted into tolerable dwel • lings, by the aid of the mason and plumber; the provision of water in each house, with a sink to con- vey the waste into a well covered drain, in lieu of being thrown out at the door ; spaces opened where necessary for more perfect ventilation ; and the re- moval of the receptacles of refuse to a suitable dis- tance, would, each and all, contribute to prevent the developement of disease, diminish the poor rates, nud raise the morale of the inferior portion of the THE HALIFAX FREE PRESS. 3 working classes. The larger the town, the more essential it is to attend to drainage and the early re- moval of all impurities. The metropolis previous to the great fire, is said to have been destitute of drains, and from this and other causes, a plague of fever and small pox occasionally arose which swept off every few years nearly a fourth of its people during each visitation. Manure heaps and pig- styes, so tenderly cherished at their doors, are so many nests of filth and prolific sources of malaria. The recent Tariff will, I hope, remove the latter nuisances from the precincts of towns, by rendering that which was never considered profitable, now wholly unproductive. Were thestreet drains sufficiently large and properly constructed, the surface mire, with the fall we have at Halifax, might be swept during the showers of rain immediately into the sewers, and discharged by the force of water, to the obvious saving of the expense of cartage; and wooden trap doors would be found in- finitely preferable to the iron gratings now in use, through which the most intolerable stenches are oc- casionally emitted, as in Clare Place, where the tenants of that neat row of houses have been compel- led reluctantly to leave the neighbourhood, in consequence. The application of suitable hydraulic power urged by steam for the transmission of the re- fuse in pipes to a distance, for purposes of irrigation of the soil, would scarcely be adapted to Halifax, and the necessary machinery and the laying down the pipes would incur so heavy a charge upon the town's funds as to render this method, under existing circumstan- ces, altogether inexpedient. It becomes however the more necessary that the Hebble Beck which is the recipient of much of this refuse shall be rendered as innoxious as possible to those within its influence. The vicinity of a water course is not a desirable site for residence at any time ; hoiv much less so must it then be, when the stream is charged with foreign impurities ? And I have reason to know that a considerable amount of sickness almost constantly prevails among the inmates of dwellings situated along the water- side from Lee Bridge to Lower Shaw Hill, and instances occasionally occur of sudden seizures of illness in persons when walking along the edgs of the half stagnant pool. During this summer's drought when the bed of the rivulet lay for the most part exposed to the sun's rays, emitting noxious emanations, the results of animal and vegetable decomposition, an example of this kind happened iri the case of one of the parochial autho- rities when on his Sunday rounds with the constables, who was attacked when proceeding from the Four Mills towards the North Bridge with a sick fit of in- sensibility, which lasted an hour, and s.) ill as to require for some days my subsequent attendance. Now to obviate, these evils I would so adjust the levels of this beck and narrow the channel as to leave a constant covering of water over its bed. By this plan when the rains swelled the stream, flood- gates would be opened and the detritus washed away to commingle with the waters of the Calder. This sug- gestion may appear, prima facie, impracticable, for two or three reasons, but I would remind you that the value, in a financial point of view, of the reclaimed land would considerably diminish the cost of the un- dertaking. In conclusion I would observe, for I cannot pursue this subject further, much is needed at Halifax in the way of improvement; the act obtained for that pur » pose having proved, as acts usually do, unequal to the object. Nothing can be worse than is the drain- age in certain parts of the town, especially on the Southowram side of it. Owners of property should be required in the first instance to provide suitable covered drains and sewers from every dwelling, and the ratepayeis or perhaps the tenants under penalties obliged to keep them afterwards in efficient repair ; and as water is indespensable to good domestic habits, a supply of this necessary should be laid down as at Stockport, in every house, at a moderate charge, which would be found in a population, where the young are early sent to labour infinitely cheaper than having to fetch it. With an insufficient supply during the summer sea- son, already, to meet existing wants, such a courses may seem impracticable, and I am readv to admit that Halifax is not geologically favourably situated for a very large supply of this commodity, and it can only be procured in sufficient quantity by availing ourselves of all the several tributary sources within our reach. It matters little that our rain gauge an- nually indicates 26 inches, if the table land into which it filters is but limited, and that portions of the stream are lost to us in Ovenden on the north, and Skircoat on the south, by nature's adjustment of the levels, owing to a breach of the contiguity of stratification in those localities. Nevertheless, open the public purse, in so desirable an object, en- large the powers of the local act, and the limpid stream will be found to flow in all necessary quantity. Lastly, from this digression I would saj, the in- feriorly constructed cottages should be razed to the ground, and replaced by others admitting of warmth and ventilation, leaving unoccupied spaces in crowded districts, for the inmates of miserable huts are de- graded by their habitations, and soon degenerate to the character of the abodes they dwell in. We should thus do much to remove the obstacles to iin- pyovement with which the poor are suirounded, pave a highway for religious and moral influences, and in promoting the general health, attain advantages which in the end would be found the wisest course and truest economy. The power of sight in birds is known to be very great, and far exceeds that possessed by men, and probably by any class of animals. The importance of a ready and quick discernment of their food, in the economy of all kinds of birds, is obvious, and is thus provided for. Indeed, the raptorial tribes would scarcely be able to exist, were they not pro- vided with immense powers of vision. Our readers may have marked, with interest, the flight of the hawk, as, hovering over some underwood or thicket, it has prepared for an instantaneous pour. ce upon its ill- fated victim, which may have been, at the mo- ment, pouring forth a sweet melody, unconscious of the proximity of a destroyer, and the near approach of death. Let us, however, imagine the hawk only provided with ordinary powers of sight, and how different would be the result! It would be compelled to hunt its prey so near as to be immediately ob- served ; and, ere the fatal swoop could be made, til e little birds would set up a note of alarm, heard and understood by their companions, both as a signal of danger and for instant concealment. Buffon affirms, that a hawk can distinguish a lark, coloured like the clod of earth on which it is sitting, at twenty times the distance at which it would be perceived by a dog or a man. Another instance of great powers of vision is afforded by the swallow. Of this bird, Mr. Swainson remarks that, " while darting through the air at the rate of three miles a minute, it is looking on the right hand and on the left, sideways, u pwards and downwards, for its food. The insects it preys upon are often exceedingly minute ;— sometimes flying above or below the level of the swallow's flight : and yet they are seen, captured, and swallowed, without any diminution of the prodigious late at which the bird is flying." Flow useless would have been the eagle's talons, or the swallow's wing, with- out the addition of extraordinary sight ! MOZART.— One of the extraordinary feats of Mozart's precocious youth was his wiiting down the Miserere of Allegri, from hearing it performed. In the year 1769, when he was thirteen, his father carried him to Rome, and he heard the Miserere performed in Passion- week. On returning to his lodgings, he wrote it down ; and, returning to the chapel on Good Friday, with the score in his hat, he corrected his manuscript by the help of a second hearing. This circumstance made a great noise in Rome; and Mozart's copy, being examined, was found to be an exact transcript of the original. The matter reached the ears of his Holiness, who good- hnmouredly rallied the young musician on his misdemeanour, and permitted him to keep the fruit of his singular acute- ness and ingenuity. WARNING TO SAUCY DAMSELS.— A young bachelor in Wigan, writing to his " Dear Elizabeth" in Dews* bury, Sept. 21,1812, said :—" I ham Sorrie to ear that you are So uneasey in your Mind But you Say you have the Chance of 3 Men and I think you had Better take the Chance Not that I find aney fault with you No far from it But ! Dont think of Marrieing yet awhile and there is an old Suieethart; here of Mine and my affection Seems to WARM UP again Not that I ham thinking aney warse of You But I think You had better think No More abaut Me hut talc the other Perhaps they are better than I. So fareweel and God bless you is the wish of yours & c." Poor Elizabeth lost her letter in the streets, and it found its way into, the newspapers. POETRY. SELECTED. NO! ( By T. HOOD, Editor of the] New Monthly Magazine.) No sun— no moon ! No morn— no noon- No dawn— no dusk— no proper time of day- No sky— no earthly view- No distance looking blue- No road— no street— no '' t'other side the way"—. No end to any Row- No indications where the Crescents go- No top to any steeple- No recognitions of familiar people- No courtesies for showing ' em- No knowing ' em! No travelling at all— no locomotion- No inkling of the way— no notion— " No go" by land or ocean- No mail— no post- No news from any foreign coast- No Park— no Ring— no afternoon gentility— No company— no nobility— No warmth— no cheerfulness— no healthful ease- No comfortable feel in any member- No shade- . no shine— no butterflies— no bees- No fruits— no flowers— no leaves— no birds— NOVEMBER OUR CHATTER BOX. " Prtemonstrator," on Vocal Music, has reached us ; and we have not, for some time, perused a greater amount of sheer nonsense, wrapped up in would- be- fine phraseology. The Enigma sent us by G. K. is very old, and not his own. Besides, lie has not inclosed the answer ; and we shall not, in future, insert any charade or enigma without being informed, by the writer, what is the correct solution. Dora, J. C. and R. E., have come to hand, and shall be examined at our leisure. The extract from Mr. Pringle's speech shall be in- serted. A correspondent informs us that, a few years ago four females resided in the same bouse, at the village of Wike, between Bradford and Brigliouse; and there were amongst them 1 Great Grandmother, 2 Grandmothers, 3 Mothers, 3 Daughters, 2 Grand- daughters, and 1 Great Grand daughter. MR. MACKINTOSH'S " FACTS."— A correspondent has sent us, as an illustration of the value of Mr. Mackintosh's assertions, the following list of books ordered and presented at the last two committee meetings of the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society :— Ordered— Diophanti Arithmeticorum Libr1 Sex. Recreations of Christopher North. Lindley's Ladies' Botany. Lewis's History of Translations of the Bible. Bentley's Works. Dammii Lexicon" Home's Works. Davy's Malta. Kohl's Russia. Report of the Cottage Improvement Society. Bonny- castle's Newfoundland. Turner's Caistor Castle, Biot, Traite de Physique. Flaxman's Dante. Kerr's Collection of Travels. Mrs. Trollope's Italy. LeU ters of Mary Queen of Scots, by Miss Strickland. Dickens's Notes on America, ( two copies). Belhams's Etruria Celtica. Thomson on. Heat, & c., ( new edition). Young's General Theory of Equations. Young's Analysis of Cubic, & c , Equations. Pugin on Pointed or Christian . Architecture. Jomini, Traites. des Grandes Operations Militaires. Histoire de la Chimie. Sir Philip Sidney's Works. Mscaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome. Macpherson's China. Bart- lett's Life of Butler. Dodd's Manual of Dignities- Thomson's Time and Timekeepers. Presents:— Weddle on Numerical Equations, ( the Author) • Lusitania Illustrata : Notices of the History, Anti- quities, Literature, & c., of Portugal. Literary De- partment : Part I. Selection of Sonnets, with Notices of the Authors and Translations, by John Adamson. Two copies. ( The Author.) Obituary Resolutions of the Committee of the Bible Societj-, ( John Fenwick, Esq.) Letter of the Rev. John Brand to Mr. Airey, ( Mr. G. N. Cork.), Lyall's Lectures on Geology,, delivered in America, ( G. T. Fox, Esq.) Dr. Glover on the Physiological and Medicinal Properties of Bromine and its Compounds, being the Harveian Prize Essay for 1842, ( the Author.) Report of the Newcastle Dispensary for 1842, ( the Committee.) Proceedings of the Geological Society of London, Nos. 81 87, ( the Society ) The days of chivalry are gone !. and the knights too have gone with them : and a very fortunate " go " it is, for the peace and quiet of the present generation:, — Bentley. 4 THE HALIFAX FREE PRESS. OUR SCRAP BOOK. " A lliing of Shreds and Patches." How TO DEAL WITH LAWYERS' LETTERS.— Lord Huntingtower, daring his recent examination in the Insolvent Court, stated that he was continually re- ceiving lawyers' letters— sometimes as many as a dozen in a morning ; and not knowing what to do with them, he stuffed them into the fire! A CANDID CAUTION.— A lawyer residing at New- ton has the following significant warning painted on his garden door :—" Man traps set." QUACKERY.— A man with general dropsy ( without any organic disease), was induced to have recourse to an old woman, who promised to cure him effectually. She ordered him squills in such doses that he died on the second day. UNCLE AND NEPHEW :— THE OLD TIMES AND THE NEW.—" As to my nephew's goold watch, it's like his impudence, when his uncle have gone thro' life with a pinch- back— and what's more, never had a watch at all till five an' twenty. The Cock was my Crownometer."— New Monthly. ROYAL RECREATION.— When the Queen, Prince I Albert, Prince of Wales, and Princess Royal, were at ' Walmer castle, a newspaper correspondent ( probably the royal nursemaid), stated that she had seen " tbe illustrious babies have a right royal sprawl amongs* the beach, which they seemed to enjoy amazingly.'• She also saw Her Majesty and the Piince " plough their passage along the shingly shore !" " diverge on the very water's edge!" and " amuse themselves by picking up such strange pebbles as attracted their notice!" No more, no more will I resign my couch so warm and soft, To trouble trout with hook or line, that will not spring aloft. With larks appointments one may fix, to greet the dawning skies ; But bang the getting up at six, for fish that will not rise.' T. HOOD, New Monthly Magazine A YOUNG MAN WITH A LARGE SMALL FAMILY. •— The Sultan of Turkey, who will be twenty years of age next April, lias now eight children— the eldest ( a son) being two years old, and tbe youngest ( a daugh- ter) not a month. One of the Sultan's ladies gave hirth to a daughter on the evening of the 18th ult., an event, says a contemporary, " now of weekly oc- currence." KEEPING LENT.— A high Churchman was once asked what made his library look so thin ? His reply was, " My books all keep Lent I" SIGNIFICANT ANAGRAMS.—" Matrimony" may be anagramatized into " Oil try man !" and " Husband" into " Ah I snub'd!" Good jokes for bachelors, but no fun to married men. Fighting is doubtless a very pleasant pastime ; fo millions spend— and end— their days in the pursuit of it.— Bentley, November. " It's a very good game," as the hoop said to tbe slick, " only I get all the licks."— New Monthly How easy it is to call rogue and villain, and that • wittily; but how hard to make a man appear a fool, a blockhead, or a knave ! To spare the grossness of the* names, and to do the thing yet more severely, is to draw a full face, and m: ike tbe nose and cheeks stand out, and yet not to employ any depth of shadowing. A man may be capable, as Jack Kelch's wife said of her servant, of a plain piece of work,— a bare hanging; but to make a malefactor die sweetly, was only belonging to her husband.— Dryden. Have you improved in riding?— Not exactly : I have fallen off a great deal lately.—" I hope I give satisfaction," as the pistol- ball said to the wounded duelist.—" I say, Jem," said a ploughboy the other day to his companion, " I know of a new- fashion Macintosh to keep out the wet." " What's that ?" " Why, if you eat a red herring for your breakfast you'll be dry all day."—" Boy, whose pigs are those!" " The sow's, sir." " Well, then, whose sow is it?" " My father's, sir." " We'. l, well I who is your father?" " If you will mind the pig, I will run home and ask my mother." AMERICAN FIXINGS,—" Will you try," said my opposite neighbour, handinx me a dish of potatoes, broken up in milk and butter, " will you try some of these fixings ?" There are few words which perfo- m such various duties as this word " fix." It is the Caleb Quotem of the American vocabulary. You call upon a gentleman in a country town, and his lielp in forms you that he his " fixing himself'just now, but will he down directly; by which you are to understand that he is dressing. You inquire, on board a steam- boat, of a fellow- passenger, whether break- fast will be ready soon, and he tells you he should think so, for when we was last below, they were " fixing the tables ;" in other words laying the cloth You be,? a porter to collect your luggage, and he en* treats you not to be uneasy, for he'll " fix it present ly ;" and if you complain of indisposition, you are advised to have recourse to doctor so and so, who will " fix you " in no time. One night, I ordered a bottle of mulled wine at an hotel where 1 was staying, and waited a long time for it; at length it was put upon the table with an apology from the landlord, that he feared it wasn't " fixed properly." And I recollect once, at a stage coach dinner, overhearing a very stern gentleman demand of a waiter who presented him with a plate of underdone roast beef, " whether he called that fixing God A'mighty's vittles !"— Dickens's American Notes. EFFECTS OF CULTURE.— The almond, with its rough coriaceous husk, has been changed by long culture into the peach, with its beautiful, soft, and delicious pulp ; the acid sloe, into the luscious plum ; and the harsh, bitter crab, into the golden pippin. Attention to nutrition has produced quite as marked changes in the pear, cherry, and other fruit trees; many of which have not only been altered in their qualities and appearance, but even in their habits. Celery, so agreeable to most palates, is a modifi- cation of the apiuni graveolens, the taste of which is so acrid and bitter that it cannot be eaten. Our cauli- flowers and cabbages, which weigh many pounds, are largely developed coleworts, that grow wild on the sea- shore and do not weigh more than half an ounce each. Therose lias been produced by cultivation from the common wild briar. Many plants may be modified with advantage by suppressing tbe growth of one part which causes increased developement of other parts.— Dr. Truman on Food. SLANDER —" My dear friend, that woman has been talking about you so again 1 She has been telling the awfullest lies you ever heard: why, she railed away at you for a whole hour!" " And you heard it all, did you ?" " Yes." " Well, after this, just bear in mind, that it takes two to make slander— one to tell it, and one to listen to it." SUPERIORITY OF THE " VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE" VINDICATED.— Casting our eye over the " births" in the Leicester Mercury ol last Saturday, we found that the ladies of tbe vicar of St. Mary's and incumbent of St. George's, Leicester, had each been confined— tbe one presenting her husband with a son, the other a daughter; while at Loughborough, in the same county, the ladies of the Particular Baptist and the Independent Ministers were also " in the straw," and had each presented her liege lord with twins ! INTREPIDITY.— The feat performed, during the civil war, by the groom of Sir Philip Stapleton, showed an unusual degree of intrepidity. While at tending his master, on a charge, he had his mare shot under him. " Presently," says Whitelock, in his " Memorials,"—" he complained, to some one of the company, that he had forgot to take off his saddle and bridle from his mare, and to bring them away with him ; adding, that they were new, and that the Cavaliers should not get so much by him, but he would go and fetch them. His master and his com- rades endeavoured to persuade him not to adventure upon so rash an act: the mare lying dead close to the enemy, who would maul him, if he csme so near them ; and his master promised to give him another new saddle and bridle. But all this would not per- suade the groom to leave his saddle and bridle to the Cavaliers, but he w, nt to fetch them, and stayed to pull off the saddle and bridle, whilst hundreds of bullets flew about his ears; and brought them back with him, and had no hurt at all." EXTRAORDINARY DISCOVERY.— At tbe conclusion of a lecture at the Polytechnic Hall, Falmouth, Mr. Robert Hunt, the Secretary, announced the dis- covery by himself of a metallic plate which would receive, by mere contact, impr ssions of any printed page, an engraving, or the like. This discovery was arrived at by following out the recent discoveries of Moeser, that bodies were constantly making im- pressions upon each other iti absolute darkness, by the agency, as he considered, of latent light, but which Mr. Hunt thinks he has certain proof of being latent heat. The impression received on the metal is at first invisible, but is readily brought out by the means of any va our. Mr. Hunt exhibited some specimens of wood and copper- plate engravings, copied from the paper into the metal. These copies exhibited every line of the original, and were far more distinct than any of the early Daguerreotypes. Mr. Hunt proposes to call this new art thermography. THERE'S NO KOWING WHAT MAY HAPPEN.— The Athenceum, in a review of Mr. Claude Hamilton's " Essay on the Art of Flying," observes :—" Have we not lived to see rheumatism cured, in spite of Matthew Bramble, by sleeping in damp sheets ? Have we not witnessed every incurable disease exor- cised by the decillionth fraction of a drop of nothing ? Nay, is it not recorded that by dint of making ugly faces at a weak hysterical woman, she may be taught to smell with her little finger, read with her sederunt, and discover what is passing a hundred miles off? " Here be truths," as Shakespeare has it, and yet men boggle at Mr, Hamilton, and his bird's eye view of things, We say nothing of the still greater nnrvels of the German and French metaphysicians, or of all they have discovered, when, shut up iu the solitude of a darkened chamber, they have driven their " moi" into a corner, and forced it, like another Proteus, to answer questions more stringent than any in a bill of Chancery. Bonaparte was clearly right: there is no such word in the vocabulary of a g? eat man as " impossible;" and as for flying, it would rioft, sur- prise us to see tbe Flying Dutchman sail in at our garret windows; or to meet with amorous swains flying to their mistresses on other wings than those of love ; nay we do not ourselves despair of here- after bringing down a high- flying Frenchman, with his head full of invasion, at a long shot." AN AERIAL STEAM CARRIAGE.— This is the name, which lias been given to a new machine, for which a company has taken out a patent, and which is to con- vey passengers, goods, and despatches through the air, performing the journey from London to India in four days! and to travel at the rate of from " 5 to 100 miles per hour. A company of gentlemen is formed ( mechanical men) ; the patent was formally sealed on the 29th of September last, and systematic arrange- ments are in progress to complete the design,— Atlas. TAKE CARE OF YOUR EMPHASIS.— Mr. W., of South Shields, the father of a numerous family, has lately suffered from severe indisposition, and numer- ous have been the inquiries after his health. One morning, Mr. S. called at his office, and said to a servant, " I'll thank you to make my compliments, and ask how OLD Mr. W. is?" The messenger de- parted on his errand, and speedily returned, saying> " He's just 68, Sir !" How TO PUT A LADY IN GOOD SPIRITS.— Take her to a milliner's shop and buy her a bonnet. The manager of one of the most extensive establishments in London, in the course of her evidence in an action for breach of promise, declared, that " ladies are always in good spirits when they go to a milliner's shop to choose a bonnet." Here we have a valuable recipe, which may be of great use to those gentlemen whose ladies are troubled with ennui and the sullens. Like most applications for the health of " these deli- cate creatures," however, it is expensive. We be- lieve the efficacy is not confined to bonnets. Ladies love to be purchasing ; and we doubt not, if they were permitted to spend their days in shopping, their smiles would he perpetual. EARTH HATH ITS BUBBLES AS THE WATER HATH. — The Argyle- Emigration- Bubble, which has just burst, reminds one of those that were blown in the days of the South Sea Scheme— among which were projects for " discovering gold mines," for " insuring of horses," for a " flying machine," for " an air pump for the brain," for " insurance against divorce," for " making butter from beech trees," for " making radish oil," and for " making deal- boards of sawdust." Also the following, which seem to us most appropriate to the parties concerned ( whether as dupes or direc- tors) in such speculations— viz.," an assurance against thieves I" and companies for the " feeding of hogs 11" for the " making oil of poppies !! !" for curing the gout and stone!! 11" and " furnishing funerals I!! !" ADVERTISEMENTS. TO, THE TRUSTEES UNDER THE IMPROVEMENT ACT FOR THE TOWNSHIP OF HALIFAX. GBNTI. BMEN,— As the resignation of Mr, MICHAEL GAHI. U K , your present Clerk, has now placed that Office at your dis- posal, allow me most respectfully to announce to you that I am a Candidate for the situation he has so long occupied in connexion with you. Of my qualifications, you will no doubt form an opinion without any special reference on my part, and, perhaps, with more satisfaction to yourselves than a statement of my own might produce. Should you consider me worthyof your support, the favour of your Vote and Interest will be highly esteemed. If elected to the office, I shall endeavour to discharge its duties to the best of my. ability. The Election is appointed to take place on WEDNESDAY, Dec. 14th, at Three o'Clock, P. M. when your presence and Votes will oblige me. I am, Gentlemen, Your most obedient Servant, JOSEPH COCHIN HOATSON. West Hill, Halifax, Nov. 3,1842. LB'STBR HOUSK, No. 1, Northgate End, Halifax. Esta- blished for the Sale of all kinds of the best and cheapest Stockings, Knitting VTorsteds and Yarns, Gloves and Ready made Shirts, & c. Women's Stockings and Gloves, Men's Stockings and Gloves, Children's Stockings '. and Gloves, in great variety.— Men's Merino and Lambs' wool under- Shlrts, Drawers, and Pantaloons, much cheaper and superior to Flannels— Many qualities of men's cotton and linen ready made shirts, shirt- fronts, shirt collars, stocks, and braces. — Purchasers are respectfully, invited to try the Le'ster House where there Is kept an extensive assortment of Stockings and Gloves Elastic wool under- shirts and drawers, recom- mended asa sure preventive of rheumatism and gout.—- Every article belonging to the hosiery business, and par- ticularly suitable for the present season, is sold at astonish- ing low prices, at the Le'ster House, No. 1, Northgate End, Halifax. JAMES WHEWALL, Proprietor, November 25th, 1842. HALIFAX -.— Printed and Sold, for the Propretors, at the General Printing Office of H. Martin, Upper George Yard.