with which the exhibition terminated.' There is a large print of it by Vivares, after a painting by T. Smith, representing Lyme Park during the performance of the annual ceremony, with the great Vale of Cheshire and Lancashire, as far as the Rivington Hills in the distance, and in the foreground the great body of the deer passing through the pool, the last just entering it, and the old stags emerging on the opposite bank, two of which are contending with their forefeet, the horns at that season being too tender to combat with. This "art of driving the deer" like a herd of ordinary cattle, is stated on a monument, at Disley, to have been first perfected by Joseph Watson, who died in 1753, at the age of 104, "having been parkkeeper at Lyme more than sixtyfour years."

The custom, however,

appears not to have been peculiar to Lyme, as Dr. Whitaker describes, in his Account of Townley, (the seat of a collateral line of Legh,) " near the summit of the park, and where it declines to the south, the remains of a large pool, through which tradition reports that the deer were driven by their keepers in the manner still practised in the park at Lyme.'

Lyme Park is situated near the road from Manchester to London, through Buxton, adjacent to the picturesque village of Disley.

Lyme Hall is the seat of the princi

upon but a moor-stone bench, and no refreshments but what they bring with them; for this reason the steward immediately adjourns the court to Tavistock, or some other stannary town. HALBERT H.

DOWRUCK.

IN different parts of the North of England it is customary for the labouring men to come before their masters at the close of their dowruck (day's work,) and inform him of their labours; the number of hours their work took them are cut in notches upon an ash stick, and at the end of the week when the men are paid, the stick is produced, which immediately shows what each man is entitled to. W. H. H.

FAITOUR LANE, OR as it is now called, Fetter Lane, is a term used by Chaucer, for an idle fellow. The propriety of its denomination is indisputable. W. H. H.

ROBIN HOOD.

Ar Brough Sowerby, in Westmoreland, is an ale-house bearing the sign of Robin Hood, with the following lines. beneath it :

"Good frinds, good frinds, my ale is good,
It is the sign of Robin Hood,

If Robin Hood be not at hoame,
Step in and drink with Littel Johne."
W. H. H.

ALIAS AN EOLIPILE.

(For the Mirror.)

P. T. W.

STANNARY PARLIAMENT.

(For the Mirror.)

IN the Forest of Dartmoor, Devonshire, between Tavistock and Chegford, is a high hill, called Crocken Tor, where the tinners of this county are obliged by their charter to assemble their parliaments, or the jurats who are commonly gentlemen within the jurisdiction, chosen from the four stannary courts of coinage in this county, of which the lord-warden is judge. The jurats being met to the number sometimes of two or three hundred, in this desolate place, are quite exposed to the weather and have no other place to sit History of Whalley.

DR. PLOT, in his History of Staffordshire, says, "The following service is due from the Lord of Essington, in Staffordshire, to the Lord of Hilton, about a mile distant, viz. that the Lord of the Manor of Essington, shall bring a goose every New year's day, and drive it round the fire in the hall at Hilton, at least three times, whilst Jack of Hilton is blowing the fire. Now Jack of Hilton is a little hollow image of brass, of about twelve inches high, kneeling upon his left knee, and holding his right hand upon his head, having a little hole in the place of the mouth, about the bigness of a great pin's head, and another in the back about two-thirds of an inch diameter, at which last hole it is filled with water, it holding about four pints and a quarter, which when set to a strong fire, evaporates after the same manner as in an Eolipile, and vents itself at the smaller hole at the mouth in a constant blast, blowing the fire so strongly that it is

very audible, and makes a sensible impression on that part of the fire where the blast lights, as I found by experience, May 26, 1680. After the Lord of Essington, or his deputy, or bayliffe, has driven the goose round the fire (at least three times) whilst this image blows it, he carries it into the kitchen of Hilton Hall, and delivers it to the cook, who having dressed it, the Lord of Essington, or his bayliffe, by way of further service, brings it to the table of the Lord paramount of Hilton and Essington, and receives a dish of meat from the said Lord of Hilton's table, for his own mess.'

The Æolipile, in hydraulics, is an instrument consisting of a hollow metallic ball, with a slender neck or pipe, arising from it. This being filled with water, and thus exposed to the fire, produces a vehement blast of wind.

This instrument, Des Cartes and others, have made use of, to account for the natural cause and generation of wind; and hence its name, Æolipile, pila Eoli, Eolus's ball.

In Italy it is said that the Æolipile is commonly made use of to cure smoky chimneys; for being hung over the fire, the blast arising from it carries up the loitering smoke along with it. This instrument was known to the ancients, and is mentioned by Vitruvius.

Some late authors have discovered the extraordinary use to which the frauds of the heathen priesthood applied the olipile, viz. the working of sham miracles. Besides Jack of Hilton, which had been an ancient Saxon image, or idol, Mr. Weber shows, that Pluster, a celebrated German idol, is also of the Eolipile kind, and in virtue thereof, could do noble feats: being filled with a fluid, and then set on the fire, it would be covered with sweat, and as the heat increased, would at length burst out into flames.

An Eolipile of great antiquity, made of brass, was some years since dug up on the site of the Basingstoke Canal, and presented to the Antiquarian Society of London. Instead of being globular, with a bent tube, it is in the form of a grotesque human figure, and the blast proceeds from its mouth.

P. T. W.

ORIGIN OF WEARING THE VEIL. (For the Mirror.) THE origin of the veil is referred by the Greeks to modesty and bashfulness.

About thirty furlongs from the city of Sparta, Icarius placed a statue of Mo

DESTY, for the purpose of perpetuating the following incident :-Icarius having married his daughter to Ulysses, solicited his son-in-law to fix his household in Sparta, and remain there with his wife, to which Ulysses would not con sent.

Icarius made the request to his daughter, conjuring her not to abandon him, but seeing her ready to depart with Ulysses, for Ithaca, he redoubled his efforts to detain her, nor could he be prevailed on to desist from following the chariot on the way.

Ulysses wearied with the importunities of Icarius, said to his wife, "You can best answer this request; it is yours to determine whether you will remain with your father at Sparta, or depart with your husband for Ithaca; you are mistress of the decision."

The beautiful Penelope finding herself in this dilemma, blushed, and without making the least reply, drew her veil over her face, thereby intimating a denial to her father's request, and sunk into the arms of her husband.

Icarius, very sensibly affected by this behaviour, and being desirous of transmitting it to posterity by the most durable monument, consecrated a statue to Modesty, on the very spot where Penelope had thrown the veil over her face; that after her it might be a universal symbol of delicacy among the fair sex.

C. K. W.

THE manners of the Welsh must have been even less delicate than those of the Anglo-Saxons; for they thought it necessary to make a law, "that none of the courtiers should give the queen a blow, or snatch any thing with violence from her, under the penalty of incurring her majesty's displeasure."

FUNERAL OF A BURMESE PRIEST.

THE funeral pile, in this case, is a car on wheels; and the body is blown away, from a huge wooden cannon or mortar, with the purpose, I believe, of conveying the soul more rapidly to heaven! Immense crowds are collected on occasions of these funerals, which, far from being conducted with mourning or solemnity, are occasions of rude mirth and boisterous rejoicing. Ropes are attached to each extremity of the car, and pulled in opposite directions by adverse parties; one of these being for consuming the body, the other for opposing it. The latter are at length overcome, fire is set to the pile amidst loud acclamations, and the ceremony is consummated.-Crawfurd's Embassy to Ava.

(To the Editor of the Mirror.) THE various ages, interests, and tastes which govern the progressive growth of cities, seem to be irremediable causes of the irregularity and inconvenience of their final formations or plans-and until this illustrious age of magnanimous projects and improvements, it would have been thought ridiculous to offer any radical expedient for a general improvement in the plans of cities; but now that we see new cities growing round the metropolis, and new towns planned for the distant dominions of Great Britain, it seems to be a convenient season for explaining my notions respecting the general plan of a city, with regard only to the directions of the streets, which after the repeated consideration of fifty years, I have concluded may, and ought to be, all straight streets, from every extremity, to the opposite, whatever be the form of the outermost boundary of the city or town. These conclusions would most probably have passed off in silence, but for an accidental fancy arising in my mind, on reading lately in the Psalms, "Jerusalem is a city that is in unity

with itself." This text awakened my dormant ideas on the proper formation of streets, and anticipating the reunion of the Jews, I began the accompanying sketch for a "Holy City," or a New Jerusalem," which accounts for the twelve gates according with the original number of the tribes of Israel, and the ten streets which diverge from each gate are symbolic of the Ten Commandments, wherein they were commanded to walk; the twelve circular areas I thought to be properly dedicated to the Twelve Apostles of Christianity, under the idea that when the Jews are again called together it will be under the new covenant of Christianity, so that nothing could (in that case) be more appropriate than placing the original propagators of it where so many paths led towards them-and after fixing the place of public worship in the centre, my orthodoxy ceased to affect my scheme, for want of that technical knowledge which further detail would require and having accomplished my favourite determination of planning a town without winding streets or crooked lanes. I offer it to the MIRROR as an

It is rather late in the day to speak of what is technically termed the "gettingup of this elegant edition of the most popular works of our time. There are now three volumes published-Waverley, in two vols. and one vol. or half of Guy Mannering. Each of the former contains upwards of 400 pages, and the latter nearly that number-beautifully printed in what we call a very inviting type, on excellent paper, of rich colour, and not too garish for the eye of the reader. The engravings to Waverley are by Graves, C. Rolls, and Raddon, after E. P. and J. Stephanoff, Newton, and Landseer—a frontispiece and plate title page and vignette to each voluine. To our taste the vignettes are exquisite - one by Landseer, David Gellatley, with Ban and Buscar, is extremely beautiful. The illustrations to the volume of Guy Mannering are by Duncan, and C. G. Cooke, after Leslie and Kidd. The volumes are in substantial canvass binding. Their low price, a crown a-piece, is the marvel of bookselling, for were they only reprints without copyright, they would be unprecedentedly cheap. The whole series will extend to forty volumes, to be published in three years, and will cost ten pounds. Fifteen-pence a week for the above term will thus provide a family with one of the most elegant drawing-room libraries that can be desired. They will about occupy three cheffonier shelves ;;-or what delightful volumes for fire-side shelves, or a "little book-room,' or a breakfast parlour opening on a carpet of lawn-or to read by the hour, with a golden-haired ladyfriend, and chat awhile, and then turn to the most attractive scenes in the novel, while we ourselves are perhaps enacting the hero in a romance of real life. Few

novels admit of a second reading; but the Waverley series will never lose their attraction-and to remember when and where, and with whom you first read each of them, may perhaps revive many pleasantries.

Of the literary Notes and emendations of the present edition, we have already expressed our opinion by the selection of several of them for the pages of the MIRROR; and in the progress of the publication, we shall endeavour to award similar justice to each of the works.

In the Athenæum, of August 5, the presumed profit on the whole edition is estimated at £100,000.! The calculation of the sale of 12,000 of each work is a reasonable one, and splendid as, in that case, the reward will be, the reading-public will be the gainers.

THE FAMILY LIBRARY.

History of the Jews.

WE scarcely know how to do justice to the high character of the series of volumes now publishing under this denomination. In printing and embellishment they take the lead of the Periodical Works of our day, (and some of these are extremely beautiful,) while their literary worth is even of superior order. Although they are matter-offact works—as in history and biography

they are not mere compilations of dry details and uninteresting lives; but they are so interspersed with new views, and the facts are so often re-written, that the whole have the appearance of original works. Excellent principles, and economy of cost are, likewise, two important points of their recommendations; for many works which have already appeared on the same subjects, have been deformed by party spirit, and written to serve a sect, or are so expensive as to be purchaseable only by the wealthy ranks, and scarcely accessible by the middle classes of society; whereas the Family Library is published at a rate within the reach of two-thirds of the reading public, who may therefore possess what they read, and appreciate the value of these volumes as works of reference and authority.

The division of the series which has called forth this notice, is No. 5, or the first volume of the History of the Jews, to be completed in three volumes, by the Rev. H. H. Milman, Professor of Poetry at Oxford, and the author of the splendid poem-The Fall of Jerusalem; and judging by the portion before us, this work will form one of the most attractive in the whole series. In proof

of this it would be easy to select many passages which are beautifully picturesque; a few, however, will suffice: "The Jews, without reference to their religious belief, are among the most remarkable people in the annals of mankind. Sprung from one stock, they pass the infancy of their nation in a state of servitude in a foreign country, where, nevertheless, they increase so rapidly, as to appear on a sudden the fierce and irresistible conquerors of their native valleys in Palestine. There they settle down under a form of government and code of laws totally unlike those of any other rude or civilized community. They sustain a long and doubtful conflict, sometimes enslaved, sometimes victorious, with the neighbouring tribes. At length, united under one monarchy, they gradually rise to the rank of a powerful, opulent, and commercial people. Subsequently weakened by internal discord, they are overwhelmed by the vast monarchies which arose on the banks of the Euphrates, and transplanted into a foreign region. They are partially restored, by the generosity or policy of the Eastern sovereigns, to their native land. They are engaged in wars of the most romantic gallantry, in assertion of their independence, against the Syro-Grecian successors of Alexander. Under Herod, they rise to a second era of splendour, as a dependent kingdom of Rome: finally, they make the last desperate resistance to the universal dominion of the Cæsars. Scattered from that period over the face of the earth-hated, scorned, and oppressed, they subsist, a numerous and often a thriving people; and in all the changes of manners and opinions retain their ancient institutions, their national character, and their indelible hope of restoration to grandeur and happiness in their native land. Thus the history of this, perhaps the only unmingled race, which can boast of high antiquity, leads us through every gradation of society and brings us into contact with almost every nation which commands our interest in the ancient world; the migratory pastoral population of Asia; Egypt, the mysterious parent of arts, science, and legislation; the Arabian Desert; the Hebrew theocracy under the form of a federative agricultural republic, their kingdom powerful in war and splendid in peace; Babylon, in its magnificence and downfall; Grecian arts and luxury endeavouring to force an unnatural re. finement within the pale of the rigid Mosaic institutions; Roman arms waging an exterminating war with the in

dependence even of the smallest states; it descends, at length, to all the changes in the social state of the modern European and Asiatic nations."

At page 32, there is an interesting picture of the state of society in Patriarchal times-the whole of the life of Moses is extremely well written-the description of the Plague is indeed terrific-and the death and character of the Prophet drawn with a masterly and vigorous hand. The reigns of David and Solomon, as might be expected, are magnificently told. Among the picturesque sketches none exceed the

DESCRIPTION OF PALESTINE.

"IT is almost impossible to calculate with accuracy the area of a country, the frontier of which is irregular on every side. Lowman has given three different estimates of the extent of territory occupied by the twelve tribes, the mean between the two extremes approaches probably the nearest to the truth. According to this computation, the Jewish dominion, at the time of the Division, was 180 miles long, by 130 wide, and contained 14,976,000 acres. This quantity of land will divide to 600,000 men, about 21 acres in property, with a remainder of 1,976,000 acres for the Levitical cities, the princes of tribes, the heads of families, and other public uses. Assuming this estate of 21 acres, assigned to each household, of course a larger proportion of pasture must have been given to those tribes who subsisted on their herds and flocks, than of arable to those who lived by tillage, the portions of the latter, therefore, must be considerably reduced. On the other hand, the extraordinary fertility of the whole country must be taken into the account. No part was waste; very little was occupied by unprofitable wood; the more fertile hills were cultivated in artificial terraces, others were hung with orchards of fruit trees; the more rocky and barren districts were covered with vineyards. Even in the present day, the wars and misgovernment of ages have not exhausted the natural richness of the soil. Galilee, says Malte Brun, would be a paradise were it inhabited by an industrious people, under an enlightened government. No land could be less dependent on foreign importation; it bore within itself every thing that could be necessary for the subsistence and comfort of a simple agricultural people. The climate was healthy, the seasons regular; the former rains, which fell about October, after the vintage, prepared the ground