Professes pleasure at the increased circulation of the
Mirror of
LiteratureMirror of Literature, Amusement, and
Instruction
(1822–47)
Mirror Monthly Magazine
(1847–49)
Waterloo Directory
CloseView the register entry >>, which is 'indicative of that spirit of inquiry,
and love of literature, which are now so rapidly extending in this country'.
Considers that there are sufficent public educational institutions to allow
every child to learn to read, and that it has consequently become necessary 'to
provide suitable works to be read'. Observes that 'in this respect the present
age has much the advantage of any preceding one, and that the elementary
treatises now in use in the several branches of education and science are truly
excellent'. Noting the need for other 'stimulants to a love of reading', avers
that the many and various literary journals of the present age are too
expensive for 'general circulation'. Asserts that the Mirror of
Literature was started to 'give the public at large a journal which, while
it embracd the most ample range over the vast domain of English literature,
should be published at a price that would place it within the reach of
ALL'. Considers that its circulation and the response of
critics indicates that it has succeeded in this. Notes the 'improvement in the
printing of the MIRROR with a new type and on superior paper'.
(iii)
Headed 'Translated from the Spanish for the Mirror', the essay begins by
considering the beneficial effects of music, before urging that it should be
taught to all social classes 'in primary schools, in conjunction with reading,
writing, arithmetic, geometry and drawing' (3). Examines how singing has been
incorporated into primary school education by a number of educational
innovators. Observes that, in Switzerland, 'there are many elementary schools,
in which the system of musical instruction has been reduced to practice, as
laid down by Messrs.
PfeifferPfeiffer, Michael Traugott
(1771–1849)
WBI CloseView the register entry >>
and
NaegaliNägeli, Hans Georg
(1773–1836)
WBI CloseView the register entry >>, of
Zurich'. Describes their method, which is 'no other thing than an application,
directed to musical science, of the analytical and philosophical path, traced
out by
BaconBacon, Francis, 1st Viscount St Alban
(1561–1626)
DSB
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>,
LockeLocke, John
(1632–1704)
DSB CloseView the register entry >>,
J. J.
RousseauRousseau, Jean Jacques
(1712–78)
CBD CloseView the register entry >>,
CondillacCondillac, Étienne B, Abbé
de
(1714–80)
DSB CloseView the register entry >>,
Destutt, TracyDestutt de Tracy, Antoine Louis
Claude, comte
(1754–1836)
WBI CloseView the register entry >>,
CabanisCabanis, Pierre Jean Georges
(1757–1808)
DSB CloseView the register entry >>,
&c.; the same which is now so successfully adopted in all arts and sciences
to facilitate their study, and accelerate their progress'. (4)
Mirror of Literature, 3 (1824), 5–8.
The Sketch Book. No. XIV. Will Wizard and Tom Straddle. By Washington
Irving, Esq.
The narrator praises the restorative effect on the mind of building castles
in the air. Remarks: 'Last night, after a series of complicated operations, and
begging a question or two, I cut an excellent canal, from the Nicaragua lake
into the Pacific ocean, communicating with the gulph of Nicoya. [...] I drew
for money to carry on my work upon the sums allotted and expended for Northern
expeditions, which I again collected into masses for my purpose, and found that
I was possessed of ample funds; that
Capt. ParryParry, Sir William Edward
(1790–1855)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>
need labour no more among the Polar ice, that our merchants might ship goods to
Panama via the gulph of Florida' (26). Describes another castle in the
air, in which he purchased Fonthill Abbey and 'completed the edifice on its
original model', including an observatory in the tower with 'a great telescope,
to which
Herschel'sHerschel, Sir William
(1738–1822)
DSB
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>
at Slough, might serve as an eye-glass' (26–27). Describes setting up
there a school for one hundred boys, arranging that the students 'should learn
something more than to be tolerable classics and mathematicians—something
adapted to fit them for the active purposes of life' in accordance with 'the
state of modern discoveries and the present enlightened era' and eschewing
'past superstitions' (27).
The poem is the supposed lament of the famous clown,
Joseph
GrimaldiGrimaldi, Joseph
(1778–1837)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>, whose ill health precluded his performing in the season's
pantomime at
Covent
Garden TheatreCovent Garden Theatre
CloseView the register entry >>. Refers in particular to Grimaldi's famous
construction on stage of a vegetable man that boxed with its creator 'Joe
Frankenstein': 'Ne'er shall I build the wondrous verdant man, / Tall,
turnip-headed,—carrot-finger'd, —lean;— / Ne'er shall I, on
the very newest plan, / Cabbage a body;—old Joe Frankenstein' (30).
Section: Peter
Pindarics; or,
Joe Miller
Versified
The essay addresses the different classes of Job's comforters. Observes that
the poor 'seem really to have been set up as a sort of target for ingenuity to
try its hand upon; and, from
PapinPapin, Denis
(1647–c.1712)
DSB CloseView the register entry >>, the Bone
Digester, down to
CobbettCobbett, William
(1763–1835)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>, the
Bone Grubber,—from
WesleyWesley, John
(1703–91)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>, who made
cheap physic, and added to every prescription "a quart of cold water," to Hunt
who sells roasted wheat (vice coffee) five hundred per cent above its
cost—an absolute army of projectors, and old women has, from time to
time, been popping at them'. Criticizes
Benjamin Thompson (Count von
Rumford)Thompson, Sir Benjamin,
Count von Rumford
(1753–1814)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >> at length for his writings on how to feed the poor at the
cheapest rate.
Mirror of Literature, 3 (1824), 45–47.
Castle Builders[2/2]Anon, 'Castle Builders', Mirror of Literature, 3 (1824), 26–28
Describes
Bernard Le B de FontenelleFontenelle, Bernard Le Bouyer (or Bovier)
de
(1657–1757)
DSB CloseView the register entry >> as one of
those 'great geniuses' who was a notorious castle builder. Relates: 'He got at
one time among the stars, found them peopled, and began to study the laws,
manners, and dispositions of the inhabitants of worlds many million times
farther from the earth than thrice to "th' utmost pole"'. Describes
Fontenelle's abstraction from ordinary affairs. Observes: 'Perhaps Fontenelle
and
NewtonNewton, Sir Isaac
(1642–1727)
DSB CloseView the register entry >> may
illustrate the difference between the profound thinking of the scholar, and the
amusement of which we are treating. Newton directed all of his faculties into
one focus upon a single object, proceeding by line and rule to develope the
mystery which it was his desire to unravel'. (45) Contrasts this 'wearying'
mental discipline with the 'wayward fancies' of the castle builder
(45–46).
Concerns an Irish baronet who had 'a fam'd telescope in his possession', and
foolishly claimed that it was so powerful it could help him hear the organ play
in a distant church.
P T W, pseud.
[Peter T Westcott]
Westcott, Peter Thomas
(1782/3–1845)
Gentleman's Magazine, n.s. 23 (1845), 328
CloseView the register entry >>Timbs, John
1871.'My Autobiography: Incidental Notes and Personal Recollections',
Leisure Hour (1871), 20–23, 85–88, 181–84,
212–15, 266–69, 293–95, 347–51, 394–98,
420–24, 469–72, 500–03, 596–600, 612–15,
644–48, 685–88, 692–96, 730–33, and 794–99
CloseView the register entry >>
Genre:
Miscellaneous
Subjects:
Natural History, Climatology, Agriculture
Publications cited:
Ray 1670Ray, John 1670. A
Collection of English Proverbs Digested into a Convenient Method for the Speedy
Finding Any One upon Occasion; with Short Annotations. Whereunto are Added
Local Proverbs with their Explications, Old Proverbial Rhythmes, Less Known or
Exotick Proverbial Sentences, and Scottish Proverbs, Cambridge: W.
Morden
CloseView the register entry >>
Asks for instructions as to how to make 'the red and blue Fires used in
conflagrations at theatres', having previously seen them given in newspapers
and forgotten which.
Presents an anecodote of a virtuous individual with a 'forbidding
countenance', asserting that it is 'such a pointed exception to the rules laid
down for this science by
LavaterLavater, Johann Kaspar
(1741–1801)
CBD CloseView the register entry >>, as
at once to render every rule doubtful' (66).
Botany, Lecturing, Illustration, Gender, Amateurism, Cultural
Geography
Notes that a 'simplicity, solidity, and a preference of domestic enjoyments
over all others' is characteristic of Geneva, especially since the French
Revolution. Relates an anecdote of
Augustin P
de CandolleCandolle, Augustin-Pyramus de
(1778–1841)
DSB CloseView the register entry >>, who borrowed a collection of American plants from a
Spanish botanist and used them in his lectures. When they were unexpectedly
needing to be returned, the entire collection was drawn and coloured in a week
by '114 female artists', exhibiting the universal taste in the city for the
arts and knowledge. (78)
Ray 1670Ray, John 1670. A
Collection of English Proverbs Digested into a Convenient Method for the Speedy
Finding Any One upon Occasion; with Short Annotations. Whereunto are Added
Local Proverbs with their Explications, Old Proverbial Rhythmes, Less Known or
Exotick Proverbial Sentences, and Scottish Proverbs, Cambridge: W.
Morden
CloseView the register entry >>
Describes one martyr who felt no pain as his body was burned, and notes that
this does not require a miraculous explanation: 'Nature is more merciful to us
than man to man; this was a case in which excess of pain had destroyed the
power of suffering; no other bodily feeling was left but that of ease after
torture' (119).
Claims that one of the 'enemies' of the declining public house is 'the
enthusiast, who worships nature on Primrose-hill [then on the outskirts of
London]'. Observes that 'They who study botany on their leads, or rusticate at
Camberwell, consider a public-house as the seat of vice and ignorance'.
(122)
Reports of a punster: 'on seeing a man who went up with
Mr. GreenGreen, Charles
(1785–1870)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >> in his
balloon, fall down, he pronounced him a descendant of that famous
Aeronaut'.
Begins: 'Observing in a monthly scientific journal, an article on the
subject of making butter in winter, I beg leave to furnish a few particulars on
that subject, as practised in Russia'. Describes a process recently invented by
'a Russian nobleman', which involves simmering the milk for fifteen minutes.
(127) Comments that the milk 'is possessed of almost the same value for
ordinary purposes, and by some was considered more healthy, as they supposed
the boiling or scalding to destroy whetever animalculae it may have contained'
(128).
Discusses the origins of the sign often seen at oil shops depicting a
headless woman. In passing, mentions a well attested case, reported to the
Royal SocietyRoyal Society of London
CloseView the register entry >> in 1707, of a woman
without a tongue who could nonetheless speak well.
Signs of Rain; An Excuse for Not Accepting the Invitation of a Friend to
Make an Excursion with Him. An Original Poem, by the Late
Dr. JennerJenner, Edward
(1749–1823)
DSB CloseView the register entry >>
Asks in regard to the male dandy: 'Whence has that mockery of man been
ship't? / Have
RossRoss, Sir John
(1777–1856)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >> or
ParryParry, Sir William Edward
(1790–1855)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >> brought
him to console / The Quidnuncs for the passage to the Pole? / While on her
iceberg howls some Greenland squaw / Robb'd of her pretty monster—till
next thaw?'.
'Philosophers assert, that nature is unlimited in her operations; that she
has inexhaustible treasures in reserve; that knowledge will always be
progressive; and that all future generations will continue to make discoveries,
of which we have not the least idea' (151).
Chiefly concerns the supposed effects of the comet. The final two stanzas
relate to the reactions of a maiden to the comet: 'How clear, how bright, I see
it move, / 'Tis more than I'd expected, / Yon radiant star? that's Venus, love,
/ Your own fair self reflected'.
Begins: 'The great progress which this art is making in this country, and
the curiosity it has excited, has induced me to lay the above sketch for your
inspection, hoping you will give it room in your valuable miscellany as soon as
possible' (164).
Phipps 1774Phipps, Constantine
John 1774. The Journal of a Voyage Undertaken by Order of His
Present Majesty, for Making Discoveries Towards the North Pole, by the Hon.
Commodore Phipps and Captain Lutwidge, in His Majesty's Sloops Racehorse and
Carcase: To Which is Prefixed an Account of the Several Voyages Undertaken for
the Discovery of a North-East Passage to China and Japan, London: F.
Newbery
CloseView the register entry >>
Morland 1673Morland,
Samuel 1673. The Description and Use of Two Arithmetick
Instruments: Together with a Short Treatise, Explaining and Demonstrating the
Ordinary Operations of Arithmetick; As Likewise, a Perpetual Almanack, and
Several Useful Tables, London: M. Pitt
CloseView the register entry >>
Observes: 'In England the practice of ringing is reduced to a science, and
peals have been composed which bear the names of the inventors. Some of the
most celebrated peals (tunes) now known were composed upwards of fifty years
ago by one
PatrickPatrick, John
(fl. 1686–1722)
Clifton 1993 CloseView the register entry >>: this man
was a maker of barometers; in his advertisements he styled himself Toricellion
operator, from
TorricelliTorricelli, Evangelista
(1608–47)
DSB CloseView the register entry >>, who invented instruments of
this kind' (200).
Section: The Selector; or, Choice Extracts from New Works
Freygang 1823Freygang,
Friederike von 1823. Letters from the Caucasus and Georgia: to
which Are Added, the Account of a Journey into Persia in 1812, and an Abridged
History of Persia Since the Time of Nadir Shah, Translanted from the French,
and Illustrated with Maps and Engraving London: John Murray
CloseView the register entry >>
'The Marble Ponds of Persia and the Cascade in
Buckinghamshire, "copied from a MS. collection", appear in the same
juxtaposition in the
"Cabinet of Curiosities"Taylor, Joseph
1807. A Cabinet of Curiosities; or, Repository of Entertainment. Being a
Selection of Extraordinary Legends, Original and Singularly Curious Letters,
Whimiscal Inscriptions, Ludicrous Bills, Authentic and Remarkable Anecdotes,
Brilliant Bon Mots, Ingenious Calculations, Witty Petitions, and a Variety of
Other Eccentric Matter [...], London: Lackington, Allen & Co.
CloseView the register entry >>, as
did the article on the Fecundity of Fish, sent by the same
correspondent.--O! fie
Jacobus'.Jacobus
CloseView the register entry >>.
Attributes the origin of chess to a Brahmin, Sissa, who designed it to teach
an arrogant Indian prince the dependence of kings on their subjects. Relates
that, when offered his choice of reward, the Brahmin suggested a rate of
recompense which exploited the surprising rate of exponential increase to
produce a fortune, using the subterfuge to demonstrate the importance of being
on guard.
Parry 1824Parry, William
Edward 1824. Journal of a Second Voyage for the Discovery of a
North-west Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific: Performed in the Years
1821-22-23, in His Majesty's Ships Fury and Hecla Under the Orders of Captain
William Edward Parry, London: John Murray
CloseView the register entry >>
Reports: 'A NOVEL proposition has been made to the American
CongressCongress, United States CloseView the register entry >>, in a memorial of
Ira HillHill, Ira
(fl. 1824)
ML1/3/78/2 CloseView the register entry >>, of Baltimore, for
a grant of ten acres of land and ten thousand dollars capital, to enable him to
construct in the city of Washington a geographical garden'.
Asserts that
Jean D CassiniCassini, Jean Dominique (Cassini IV)
(1748–1845)
DSB CloseView the register entry >>
cannot find new stars because he does not drink wine. The narrator of the poem
finds that, after he drinks, he sees new stars and also sees old ones
double.
Begins: 'WHATEVER (says an eminent writer) may be the
general character and disposition of the negroes in their own country, they are
influenced in a considerable degree, as we may naturally imagine, by their
condition in a state of slavery, a circumstance that soon effaces the native,
original impression, which distinguishes one nation from another in negroes new
imported, and creates a similitude of manners, and an uniformity of character
throughout the whole body'. Discusses the characteristics of black Africans in
Africa and in slavery. Provides examples which demonstrate the 'capacity of the
negroes for the mathematical and physical sciences' and other branches of
European learning. (243) Celebrates the abolition of the slave trade by the
British
ParliamentHouses of Parliament
CloseView the register entry >>.
Describes the 'placards and advertisements of all descriptions' around the
interior of the piazza, including those for a fire escape and a life preserver.
Observes: 'Here is a facetius nota bene from
Van ButchelVan Butchell, Mr, the younger
(fl. 1824)
ML1/3/79a/5 CloseView the register entry >> the
younger, and there a modest notification from the knight of the Medical
Board'. (248)
Observes of
HomerHomer
(8th century BC)
CBD CloseView the register entry >> that, while he is
'frequently dragged forth as an authority in history, theology, surgery, and
geography, [he] ought, in justice, to be read only as a poet'.
Medical Practitioners, Dissection, Crime, Superstition
A traveller is believed to have disappeared, and a woodman is suspected.
When some bones are found in a blasted tree and identified as the parts of a
human skeleton, the woodman is brought to trial. However, he is able to show
that the bones had been placed there by a vengeful physician, and had 'for many
years decked a corner of his study' (251).
Byfield 1687Byfield,
Timothy 1687. A Short and Plain Account of the Late-Found
Balsamick Wells at Hoxdon. And of Their Excellent Virtues above Other Mineral
Waters; which Make 'Em Effectually Cure Most Diseases, both Inward and Outward.
With Directions How to Use 'Em, London: Christopher Wilkinson, Thomas Fox,
and John Harris
CloseView the register entry >>
In response to the commercial speculation of the age, makes suggestions for
a number of spoof companies: one to convert 'our granite pavements into dust,
whereby persons will be compelled to stay at home'; another for 'milking cows,
docking horses, and cropping two-legged puppies, by means of a steam-engine'
(278); and a third for erecting a basin on the River Thames, where the water
'may at once be converted into porter, without the unnecessary process of
passing through certain buildings called breweries'. A further plan is proposed
'for blowing up and dissolving the ice in the Arctic Ocean' in order to create
a small block on which a colony might be established. 'A promise has already
been made to the celebrated
Captain SymmesSymmes, John Cleves
(1780–1829)
WBI CloseView the register entry >>,
not to approach within thirty feet of the opening at the pole, to the centre of
the earth, which he claims as the first discoverer'. (279)
Section: The Selector; or, Choice Extracts from New Works
Hall 1824Hall, Basil 1824.
Extracts from a Journal: Written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico,
in the Years 1820, 1821, 1822, 2 vols, Edinburgh: A. Constable and
Co.
CloseView the register entry >>
Human Species, Exploration, Technology, Invention, Ancient
Authorities
The mummy observes of
HomerHomer
(8th century BC)
CBD CloseView the register entry >>: 'One question I can
fairly set at rest / He says that men were once more big and bony, / Than
now—which is a falsehood at the best; / I'll just refer you to my friend,
BelzoniBelzoni, Giovanni Battista
(1778–1823)
CBD CloseView the register entry >>,
/ The resurrection-man, a stately figure; / Now look at me, and tell me,
am I bigger?'. Concerning the use of gas-lights in the pyramids, observes 'Aye!
gas-lights! mock me not; we men of yore, / Were up to all the knowledge
you can mention; / Who hath not heard of Egypt's peerless lore; / Her patient
toil, acuteness of invention?'.
Hutton 1795, Hutton,
Charles 1795. A Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary:
Containing an Explanation of the Terms, and an Account of the Several Subjects,
Comprized under the Heads Mathematics, Astronomy, and Philosophy both Natural
and Experimental; with an Historical Account of the Rise, Progress, and Present
State of these Sciences; also Memoirs of the Lives and Writings of the Most
Eminent Authors, Both Ancient and Modern, who by their Discoveries or
Improvements Have Contributed to the Advancement of them, 2 vols, London:
J. Johnson and G. G. and J. Robinson
CloseView the register entry >>Barlow 1814, Barlow, Peter
1814. A New Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary: Comprising an
Explanation of the Terms and Principles of Pure and Mixed Mathematics, and Such
Branches of Natural Philosophy as are Susceptible of Mathematical
Investigation. With Historical Sketches of the Rise, Progress and Present State
of the Several Departments of these Sciences, and an Account of the Discoveries
and Writings of the Most Celebrated Authors, both Ancient and Modern,
London: G. and S. Robinson [etc.]
CloseView the register entry >>Chambers 1728, Chambers,
Ephraim 1728. Cyclopædia; or, An Universal Dictionary of
Arts and Sciences: Containing the Definitions of the Terms, and Accounts of the
Things Signify'd Thereby, in the Several Arts, Both Liberal and Mechanical, and
the Several Sciences, Human and Divine, 2 vols, London: James and John
Knapton [and 19 others]
CloseView the register entry >>Briggs 1624, Briggs, Henry
1624. Arithmetica logarithmica, sive logarithmorum chiliades triginta, pro
numeris naturali serie crescentibus ab unitate ad 20,000 et a 90,000 ad
100,000. Quorum ope multa perficiuntur arithmetica problemata et geometrica.
Hos numeros primus invenit clarissimus vir Iohannes Neperus baro Merchistonij.
Eos autem ex eiusdem sententia mutavit, eorumque ortum et usum illustravit
Henricus Briggius. Deus nobis usuream vitae dedit et ingenii, tanquam pecuniae,
nulla praestituta die, London: Gulielmus Iones
CloseView the register entry >>Hawkins, ed. 1678, Hawkins, John,
ed. 1678. Cocker's Arithmetick: Being a Plain and Familiar Method Suitable
to the Meanest Capacity for the Full Understanding of that Incomparable
Art, London: T. Passinger and T. Lacy
CloseView the register entry >>Wingate 1630Wingate,
Edmund. Arithmetique Made Easie: In Tvvo Bookes. The Former, of
Naturall Arithmetique: Containing a Perfect Method for the True Knowledge and
Practice of Arithmetique, According to the Ancient Vulgar Way, Without
Dependance Vpon any Other Author for the Grounds Thereof. The Other of
Artificiall Arithmetique, Discovering how to Resolve all Questions of
Arithmetique by Addition and Subtraction. Together with an Appendix, Resolving
Likewise by Addition and Subtraction all Questions, that Concerne Equation of
Time, Interest of Money, and Valuation of Purchases, Leases, Annuities, and the
Like, London: Phil. Stephens and Chr. Meredith
CloseView the register entry >>
Mirror of Literature, 3 (1824), 327–30.
The Ashantees[2/2]Anon, 'The Ashantees', Mirror of Literature, 3 (1824), 311–14
Wilson 1775Wilson,
Benjamin 1775. A Series of Experiments Relating to Phosphori and
the Prismatic Colours they are Found to Exhibit in the Dark; Together with a
Translation of Two Memoirs, from the Bologna Acts, upon the Same Subject by J.
B. Beccari, London: J. Dodsley [and 4 others]
CloseView the register entry >>
Salt 1814, Salt, Henry 1814.
A Voyage to Abyssinia, and Travels into the Interior of that Country,
Executed under the Orders of the British Government, in the Years 1809 and
1810; in which are Included, an Account of the Portugese Settlements on the
East Coast of Africa, Visited in the Course of the Voyage; and a Concise
Narrative of Late Events in Arabia Felix. And Some Particulars Respecting the
Aboriginal African Tribes, Extending from Mosambique to the Borders of Egypt;
Together with Vocabularies of their Respective Languages, London: F. C. and
J. Rivington
CloseView the register entry >>Chandler 1775Chandler,
Richard 1775. Travels in Asia Minor; or, An Account of a Tour
Made at the Expense of the Society of Dilettanti, Oxford: Clarendon
Press
CloseView the register entry >>
Subjects:
Meteorology, Light, Astronomy, Observation, Instruments, Ancient
Authorities
Invention, Steam-power, Scientific Practitioners, Genius, Patronage,
Government
Publications cited:
Somerset 1663Somerset,
Edward 1663. A Century of the Names and Scantlings of Such
Inventions as at Present I Can Call to Mind to Have Tried and Perfected, Which
(My Former Notes Being Lost) I Have, at the Instance of a Powerful Friend,
Endeavoured Now in the Year 1655 to Set These Down in Such a Way As May
Sufficiently Instruct Me to Put Any of Them In Practice, etc. (An Exact and
True Definition of the Most Stupendious Water-Commanding Engine, Invented by
[...] Edward Somerset, Lord Marquess of Worcester, etc), London: J.
Grismond
CloseView the register entry >>
Supernaturalism, Natural Law, Medical Practitioners
Relates how a widely believed account of a ghostly apparition arose from the
negligence of a nurse, who allowed her patient to wander in a state of delerium
on the night on which he died.