still," he exclaimed in amazement, and then murmured to himself," C'est inconcévable!"

Mrs Gutheridge fixed on the French doctor one of her looks of annihilation, but he now only regarded her as an object of professional study, and as such, he gazed on her face with a curiosity that nothing could repel. She slowly arose, and pompously advancing towards Mr and "It is yet Mrs Milstead, coldly took leave of them. quite early, madam," said Mrs Milstead, in some surprise. "Will you not wait till your carriage can be sent for ?" asked Mr Milstead. "I shall be too happy to run up to your house and have it brought for you," volunteered Mr Timmings; "I beg you will honour me by commanding my services in every thing." "I want them not," replied Mrs Gutheridge; "wherever I go, I always keep my carriage waiting, that I may depart whenever I please; I suppose it is still at the door."

whom Mr Milstead was surprised to meet at any thing
denominated a reading party.

"I suppose," said one of the ladies, "we are not to
expect the honour of Mrs Gutheridge's company this
evening,"

Mrs Parley Utley then proposed commencing the duties of the evening, and took her seat at the readingtable. She selected from a magazine a weak, insipid, unmeaning tale, called "The Unheard Of," a fair specimen of the thousand and one stories of Italy, that are scattered through the periodicals, and are descriptive of murderous noblemen, sentimental cottagers, diabolical monks, and graceful robbers. Though the time of the narrative was in the thirteenth century, and the scene in Calabria Ulterior, the author had prudently avoided giving names at full length, the monk being incog. all through, and not discovered even at the denouement; and the other characters were designated as Il Marchese F. Il Contessa D, Giulietta M- Giovanni D—, &c.

She stopped a moment in the hall to put on her cloak; Mr Milstead attended her to the gate, and Mr Timmings ran beside her. When assisting her to the carriage, he While Mrs Utley was favouring the company with this touched her arm with his hand, which she shook off, and then turning to Mr Milstead (who said something imply-story, her son Johnny swung on the back of her chair, trying to overset her; and her youngest girl rolled on the ing his fear that she had not found the reading party floor at her foot, pulling off and on her mother's shoes. agreeable), she replied, "No, sir; after that person was The room was lighted with candles, as Mrs Utley said permitted to read aloud, in the presence of a lady, a that her lamps were out of order, as usual; and one of ridiculous story about a man snoring in a steam-boat, I the amusements of her boy Billy was to snuff the candles should have been wanting to myself had I staid. Much that was offensive to me has taken place this evening. incessantly, and scatter the snuff all about. The other children dispersed themselves among the company, perFor yourself and Mrs Milstead, I know not that I can accuse you of any improper intentions. But, as it is, I forming various feats of annoyance. [After a few more cannot consistently with the respect that is due to myself readings, the children were finally pacified by some again run the risk of coming in contact with the people handfuls of almonds and raisins prepared for supper, and then went to sleep beneath the table.] that seem likely to frequent these reading parties." After this tirade, which was delivered with one foot on the step of the carriage, she took her seat, coldly bowed to Mr Milstead, and ordered her servant to shut the door.

"Mr Milstead," said Timmings, as they returned to the house, "this is really very unfortunate-quite a contretemps; positively a most lamentable circum

stance."

front door when the sound of wheels induced Mrs Milstead to raise her eyes to the window. She saw the carriage of Mrs Gutheridge drive rapidly past, with trunks behind and curtains up, and in it, side by side, sat the lady and Mr Timmings.

"What can this mean!" exclaimed Mrs Milstead "Mrs Gutheridge going to town and Mr Timmings with her!"

"And he will return with her also," said Mr Milstead, "for I have just converted her into Mrs Timmings!!"

A CONVERSATION WITH SIR WALTER
SCOTT.

[The following paper is a correct and unpretending transcript of a conversation which took place, December 17, 1824, between Sir Walter Scott and a young person who was then engaged in writing a work respecting the less conspicuous and remarkable antiquities of the Scottish capital. The conversation took place in the course of a walk through the streets of Edinburgh; and the present report of it was hastily jotted down immediately after, by the younger interlocutor, in the hope of some of the anecdotes told by Sir Walter proving of service as material for the little

book he was then engaged in writing-the design which he be-
lieved Sir Walter to have in view in relating at least the greater
part of them. This hope was not realised, and they are now for
the first time, with some revision, laid before the public. As
authentic memoranda of many of the most curious juvenile re-
miniscences of the great tale-teller of our age, it is thought that

they may have some interest in the eyes of the public.]
YESTERDAY I sent a letter to Sir Walter Scott, in
forming him that I had discovered a curious box in
- a respectable widow in
the possession of a Mrs
Drummond Street, whose father-in-law, a teacher,

Mrs Gutheridge appeared no more at these assemblages, and Mr Timmings dropped off after the second. Gradu ally the original plan became perverted, and the avowed purpose of the meetings sank into a matter of minor consideration. The Scrapefield family, the least opulent of the read-residing in Blyth's Close, Castle Hill, had taken it, ing society, had their refreshments in the most expensive about eighty years ago, from the wall behind the niche style, to show that they were not poor; handing round in the chapel of Mary of Lorraine, situated in that in abundance jellies, ice-creams, wine, liqueurs, and plum now obscure alley. Sir Walter sent me a note, inticake. After this, their example was followed, and it was

"Not at all," replied Mr Milstead. "Yes, sir, it is," reiterated Timmings, warmly. "To seriously offend Mrs thought expedient that at every meeting the entertain- mating that, as "a passion for little old boxes and

Gutheridge is not a thing of so little consequence as you
seem to suppose.
Now, to affront Parley Utley's wife, I
own would be nothing, and could not deserve a second
thought. But the widow Gutheridge of Eaglebury Hall.
Really, Mr Milstead, I am surprised at you."

"For what?" asked Mr Milstead, smiling. "For permitting, in your house, the reading of a piece that was likely to shock the refinement of such a lady as Mrs Gutheridge."

"Pho!" returned Mr Milstead; "I never supposed that she had any refinement. Her pride and insolence afford no evidence of it. But, after all, the story is an excellent one, and no woman, with even a moderate degree of intellect, could possibly take exception to it. However, I am expressing myself with too much warmth. In alluding to Mrs Gutheridge, I should rather say, "Alas! poor human nature!' for most sincerely do I consider her an object of compassion."

When the two gentlemen returned to the parlour, they

heard the tongues of all the ladies going at once, and found the whole female part of the company standing round the fire, and talking of Mrs Gutheridge in no very gentle terms; and Mr Timmings could not even gain one assent to his assertion, that "it was merely her manner, and that she was certainly a splendid woman. Refreshments were now handed round, and Mrs Buttercrumb, who was something of a gourmand, wondered that Mrs Gutheridge had not staid for them. "Oh! you need not suppose that she would have condescended to taste them, even if she had staid," remarked Mrs Parley Utley. "Proud people always behave as if they thought nothing fit to eat in any house but their own.' Before the company broke up, Mrs Parley Utley invited them all to meet at her house on the following Wednesday, by which time she promised them that her husband (who was, as usual, absent on business) would certainly be at home.

Accordingly, on the next Wednesday evening, the reading party assembled at Mrs Utley's. Mr Parley Utley had not yet returned; his wife declaring, in the simplicity of her folly, that she was not at all disappointed, as whenever he went from home he always enjoyed himself so much that he never knew when to get back again. This no one could possibly doubt who was acquainted with Mrs Utley as a wife, mother, and housekeeper. In the latter capacity she was especially deficient; for though she spent, or rather wasted, more money than any woman in the village, yet such was her indolence and mismanagement that every thing in her establishment betokened discomfort. Like all bad house

wives, she always had bad servants, and frequently no servants at all. As a set-off to these manifold failings, she possessed the redeeming qualities of a smiling manner, a good temper, and a disposition to make herself agreeable to every body that treated her with civility.

On the appointed evening, she received her company with a very pleasant countenance, apologising for the badness of the fire, which had not been replenished in due season; and for the disorder of the room, her children having, as she said, turned every thing topsy turvy. Her children were eight in number, and all were present except the baby, and one that was almost a baby; the six elder ones having been promised by their mother that they should sit up to the party. They were all palpably dirty and dowdy, therefore Mrs Utley need not have taken the trouble to inform the company that "somehow her children were never fit to be seen." Several of them on the entrance of Mr and Mrs Milstead, who were the first arrivals, called out, "Ma, has the party begun

now ?"

ment, as they called it, should be more and more sump

tuous.

The Miss Dodcombs, having returned from town with great accessions to their wardrobes, sported ball-dresses at one of the parties, and from that night all the young ladies came in thin frocks, bare necks, and flowers, and the elder ones appeared in their best silks, and got new

dress caps.

cabinets was one of the sins that most easily beset
him," he should take it as a favour if I could obtain
for him a sight of the curiosity I had described, or
pilot him to the residence of its proprietor. My reply,
next morning, contained an appointment for my meet-
ing him at the Parliament House at one o'clock, in

At the close of one of the reading evenings, Mr Hop-order to conduct him to Mrs's.
kins proposed an extempore cotillon. This was eagerly
acceded to by all the young people. There was no piano,
but Miss Skreakington and Mr Quobly volunteered to
sing for the dancers, the one performing treble, the other
enacting bass. The vocalists proceeded steadily through
all the varieties of "La la lalla, la la lay. La lalla lalla,
la la lay. Lally lally lally, lally lally lay," &c., till Mr
Milstead disturbed their gravity by remarking, that he
admired the cotillon very much, particularly the words.
At the next assembly there was visible impatience in
the lady of the house and the young people to get the
reading party over as soon as possible. Only three or
four of the guests were asked to read, and hints were
given, that in the choice of pieces brevity was desirable.
As soon as they had gotten through, the centre table was
moved into a corner, the carpet was rolled away (the
tacks having been extracted, and the floor prepared in
the morning), most of the chairs were carried out of the
the fire was nearly extinguished, the scraping of a
fiddle was heard in the entry, and black Cæsar, the vil-
lage Paganini, was ushered into the parlour, and en-
throned on a high stool near the door. Cotillons were
then the order of the night.

room,

From that time the reading parties were only so in name; none but Mr and Mrs Milstead being invited to read after the host or hostess had made a beginning. They were virtually converted into dancing assemblies,

with the usual concomitants of ball-dresses and ball re

freshments. Having been the first proposers of the par-
ties, Mr and Mrs Milstead were unwilling to withdraw
from them entirely till the season was over, but they now
rarely staid more than an hour.

At length the spring set in, and as the pastor and his
lady were going home from the last party, Mrs Milstead
lamented that the ostensible object of the meetings
should have been so strangely lost sight of, deducing the
cause from the incontrovertible fact, that but few of the
congregation were capable of deriving much pleasure from
any thing connected with books.

"True, my dear," replied Mr Milstead, "but, after all, one of our chief designs has been successfully accomplished. These parties have certainly been the means of putting the families on a more sociable footing, and in ducing a more friendly state of feeling towards each other. If the younger members of the company did not take as much interest in the reading as they might have done, they probably found those meetings very much to their satisfaction in other respects. You know we have observed indications of at least half a dozen courtships, possible, probable, and positive. Nay, I have already been bespoken, in my clerical capacity, by no less than three couple. To say the truth, I had little hope of improving the literary taste of my congregation, but I rejoice to have done some good, though indirectly, in breaking down the ridiculous barriers which they had absurdly set up against each other."

A few days after the final reading party, a note arrived for Mr Milstead just as he quitted the breakfast table. He read it with a smile, then put it up, and took his hat to go out. His wife inquired from whom the note came. He replied, "You shall know very shortly, but it conWe need not specify that the children were very trouble- cludes with an injunction of secrecy, which for the presome and extremely inconvenient all the evening. Mrs sent must be complied with." He then left the house, Utley, in her good-nature, had invited a large proportion and walked up the main street. In little more than half of honorary members, and many of them were persons an hour he returned, and he had scarcely entered the

I attended punctually at the hour, and had the pleasure of finding him waiting for me at the door of the Parliament House. He immediately accepted my arm [his lameness at this period of his life made him glad of such support], and we set off for Drummond Street. As we went, I told him every other particular I knew respecting the box, the circumstances of its discovery, and those of the individuals who had since possessed it. One of these circumstances respecting the lady's father-in-law, who had found the box, I may here note down: it was, that several Highland officers, while residing in Edinburgh in 1745, had taken private instructions from him, in order to remedy as far as might be the original defects of their education. This drew from Sir Walter a great number of observations. ** We soon arrived at the house, where I introduced Sir Walter to Mrs and, the box being produced,

he inspected it with a great deal of attention. [It was
of thin iron plate, about six inches in length, and had
a semi-cylindrical top, with a flap for locking, much like
a travelling trunk. The supposition was, that it had
been used for keeping the jewellery of the queen's
chaplain.] Mrs.
- a warm-hearted simple Scotch-
woman, quite overjoyed with the honour of the visit,
offered the box to Sir Walter as a present, mentioning
that, though, for family reasons, she had a great regard
for it, she was happy to part with it to one who would
have so much pleasure in possessing and taking care
of it. Sir Walter was not prepared for this kindness,
and spoke mutteringly of the propriety of giving fair
value for any such gift, or at least giving something
to the poor on the occasion. However, he did not
press this point, but, giving the lady his kind thanks,
left the house, after promising to send for the box in
the evening. When on the stair, a thought struck
him, and he paused on his stick to express it, that the
handsomest return he could make to such a person
for her kindness would be a good engraving of his
portrait, in a neat frame, and he requested of me the
favour of getting such a thing prepared and sent to
Mrs which I readily undertook to do.*

As we walked along the South Bridge, he mentioned that he was to call at the studio of Mr Joseph, the sculptor, in Windsor Street, but, this being a new part of the town, he was totally ignorant of its whereabouts. I was glad, for the sake of prolonging the conversation, to offer to be his guide, and, my services

*The box is now amongst the curiosities preserved in the smaller room at Abbotsford, where, however, its history scems to be unknown.

CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL.

being accepted, we took that direction. As we pro-
ceeded across the Old Town, he told me a great
number of anecdotes respecting it. There was a house,
he said, at the foot of Hyndford's Close in the High
his young days was inhabited by
Street, which
his maternal grandfather Dr Rutherford. The house
contiguous to this had originally belonged to the
same proprietor; but in the course of time it had
come to be sold, but with a strange reservation, of
the nature of what is called by Scottish law a ser-
ritude. The stair of the house latterly possessed by
his grandfather being very narrow, it was stipulated,
that when any person died in that house, the coffin
should be carried by a private door (usually shut up)
into the next house, and taken down to the street
through the stair belonging to that tenement, which
chanced to be of sufficient width. In his uncle's house,
he said, he had spent many of the happiest days of his gentleman with whom she was on some ceremony. the second for the same task; but he also fell under

impressive voice, "If you see a boy with a round hat,
I spoke of the last words
tied shoes, and a short coat like a groom, that is a
see how he will turn out !"
bad boy-mark that boy in after life, and you will
of this ancient master on his deathbed, which, I said,
had always struck me as involving something mystic
and sublime-" It grows dark, boys-you may go."
of death, and might almost be taken as a communica-
It seemed to me a sort of description of the approach
tion from, at least, the confines of the other world. Sir
Walter, who never seemed to be at a loss for a story
of his own wherewith to cap a friend's, mentioned the
case of a dying person who had a candle placed before
seeing it.
him, and made a signal when he lost the power of
Our approach to the head of Leith Walk gave a new
turn to the conversation. Remarking on the fine
spacious street before us, he said, that in his boyhood,
when it was merely a bad road, he had passed along
it in a coach with his mother and a friend of hers, a
Suddenly, taking advantage of a brief pause in the
conversation of his two companions, he said, "Mamma,
I should not be surprised if this road were yet to have
Leith, so that these towns will be joined in one."
houses built along it, all the way from Edinburgh to
His mother said he was a very forward boy, and bade
him be quiet; and when they got home, she took him
apart, and gave him a serious lecture on the bad habit
"For instance," she said, "what could be more absurd
he had of uttering sallies of nonsense in company,
than your remark to-day in the coach! To think of
Edinburgh and Leith ever being joined together—such
a thing, you should know, never can take place." And
here, said Sir Walter, gaily, we see the phenomenon
accomplished. [In reality, this must be regarded as a
seems to have distinguished Scott in his earliest years.]
remarkable illustration of the thoughtful sagacity which
Our next topic, by some chance, was Sir Walter's
late Highland piper, John of Skye, who, he said, had
made a voyage to China, and had brought him as a
present the stick he now carried, being the stalk of a
his wanderings, his long faithful services, and his
tea-tree. He playfully went over John's character,
unfortunate temper, which was the cause of his being
discharged. "The truth is," said my companion, "the
character of the Highland piper is just that of the
came quite unamenable to the domestic regulations of
turkey-cock." John was insufferably proud, and be-
A direct act of disobedience to Mr
Abbotsford.
Laidlaw at last led to Sir Walter parting with him.
The voyage to China had somewhat tamed him, and
he would now have gladly resumed his former service;
hearing an anecdote of John from the late Mr Alex-
but that was not to be thought of. I said I recollected
ander Campbell, to the effect that, contrary to express
orders, he had come from Abbotsford to Edinburgh
to attend the competition of Highland bagpipers,
thinking he should do so without being detected, when,
Edinburgh Theatre-Royal], the first person who met
just as he stepped on the stage [the scene being the
his gaze was his master sitting in one of the boxes!
Sir Walter acknowledged that the anecdote was
strictly true.

We were now at Mr Joseph's door, where we found,
on inquiry, that the master sculptor was not at home.
to whom Sir W. expressed a desire of seeing a copy
We walked in, and were soon attended by a foreman,
which had been made by Mr J. of "his own unworthy
head;" and we were then conducted to the studio at
the back of the house. In going along, we passed
Scotch divine], and then one of Mr Fergusson of
first a bust of Sir Henry Moncrieff [an eminent
Raith, on seeing which Sir Walter instantly said,
came to Sir Walter's own bust, which represents him
"My handsome schoolfellow, Fergusson." Finally, we
in his serious and poetical mood, as Chantrey's does in
is that which he is described in "Peter's Letters" as
his comic and conversational aspect. The expression
wearing, when he pronounces the verses,

It fell about the Lammas tide,
When the Englishmen won their hay,
That Earl Douglas he would ride

Into England to fetch a prey, &c.

[This bust is now at Prestonhall, in the county of
Edinburgh, the beautiful mansion of Mr Burn Cal-

After Sir Walter had transacted some money business with the foreman, we took our departure, and returned towards the centre of the town. I covered, the composition of a judge of the Court of spoke of a curious old manuscript diary lately disSession, and which opened with an account of the This led to a conversation about city conflagrations. great fire of the Parliament Square in the year 1700. He told me that at the fire of a large house in the Lawnmarket in 1771, his father and uncle had been very active in working the engines. His uncle, to favour this labour, took off his coat, and gave it to a poor woman, a bystander, to be kept for him, not recollecting that he had sixty pounds in one of its to him next morning, with the money untouched in pockets. To his great surprise, the coat was returned the pocket, a letter in the other pocket having led the †This anecdote became the foundation of a tale which appoor woman to a knowledge of the owner. I reminded Sir Walter that that fire had burnt out Mr Hume of remarks on Mr Hume's younger brother, the cele-peared in the fourth number of the present publication. Ninewells, who occupied the fifth flat. This led to brated philosopher, of whom Sir Walter seemed inclined to think without asperity. He said he believed that Hume was the most amiable man that ever

THE oyster is a species of shell-fish known to every one, and in very general estimation as a light article of diet, or rather as an appetising whet to more solid feeding. This has long been the case in the civilised world; for we learn from history that the Greeks and Romans held these shell-fish in high repute. Oysters are abundant in most of the seas of the globe. They are found in beds or banks near the shore, and particularly in rocky and sandy situations, or at the mouth of streams. It is thought that the mildness produced in the water by the influx of fresh currents is agree able to them, and favourable to their increase. In such positions, accordingly, they are found in greatest numbers, and of the best quality, as regards bulk, flavour, and nutritiousness.

The appearance of oysters is too familiar to require particular description. Within an uncommonly coarse bivalve shell resides the animal, the body of which is of a round flattish form, composed chiefly of a whitish jelly-like substance, in which scarcely any appearance of structure can be traced by the naked eye. The most conspicuous feature of the oyster is the part called the beard, which extends about half way round the edge of the body, and is, in reality, the bronchia or gills of the animal, the mouth being also placed there. The shell of the living oyster is usually found very tightly closed, although the animal has the power of opening it to a certain extent. It was long imagined that oysters possessed no means of locomotion, but this is now ascertained to be a mistake. A French naturalist has discovered that oysters which locate in deep situations are in the habit of propelling themselves to short distances, by forcibly ejecting water from their shells, the reaction so caused being a means of self-movement. If oysters of this kind be placed in situations which are liable to be left dry by the recess of the tides, they will perish by ejecting the water, when left without the means of procuring a new supply. Oysters, however, that are accustomed to lie on beaches left dry daily by the tides, do not resort to this process of advancement, being apparently aware of its danger. Oysters spawn chiefly about the close of spring, when the sun begins in some measure to warm the waters of the ocean; and what they then throw out consists of small naked oysters, completely formed. Each of these secretes its shell, and expands to a full sized oyster in the space, it is believed, of about three years. They are then fit for food. The sea generally removes the light spawn to a short distance from the parent, but it is quite common to find twenty small ones sticking close to the shell of the old one. Some writers speak of male and female oysters, but Professor Beckmann, who paid considerable attention to the subject, considers this idea as erroneous. However this may be, it is certain that oysters are very prolific, and increase rapidly in numbers. Before the year 1700, no oysters were known to exist in the Straits of Menai, the narrow channel separating Anglesey from Caernarvonshire. About that time, however, some person threw into these straits nearly a hundred oysters, and by the year 1712 they had multiplied so greatly as to yield abundant work for the fisherman. Ever since that period, they have been found in the same place in great plenty.

Oysters are leanest at the time of spawning, and on this account fishing for them at that time is forbidden in Britain and other countries where prudent regulations prevail. The months whose names contain an, as some quaint-thoughted person has discovered, are those in which oyster-banks are fished on the British coasts. In May, June, July, and August, they are left undisturbed. The mode in which oysters are taken from the sea differs in various places, and must be determined in a great degree, indeed, by the character of the sea-bed in the locality where the bank is placed. Uneven rocky ground cannot be fished in the same manner as places that are level and sandy, or clayey. In some situations, a box bound with iron, and open

*The London oyster season begins on the 4th of August, and ends on the 12th of May.

at one end, is dragged along the oyster-bank, and
from time to time drawn up and emptied. Other
fishers have rakes, with about twenty strong pikes,
blunt and curved, and nearly ten inches long, which
are fastened to a long elastic pole. The fishermen,
seated in their boat, draw this rake over the bottom,
and thus collect the oysters, which, on being raised to
the surface, are retained in their place by a board
fixed over the rake. But the most common method
of oyster-fishing is by dredging with nets. The net in
this case is very strong, being sometimes made with
leather thongs, and is drawn along the ground as in
the preceding instances. It is kept open by means of
a heavy iron frame, which rakes up the oysters, and
admits of their entering the net. In some places the
tide recedes so far that the oysters can be picked up
with the hand, and in other quarters, where the water
is shallow and clear, the fishermen pick off the oysters
from the bank by using a pair of long pincers or tongs.
This last plan has the advantage of enabling them to
select the large full-grown animals, leaving the young
for another season. Most fishermen, however, who
use the net or rake, have the prudence to pick off the
small oysters adhering to the shells of the older ones,

and throw them back into the water.

It is a circumstance known to all who are connected
with oyster-fishing, that the quality of this species of
shell-fish depends greatly on the nature of the bed of
the sea at the point where the bank lies. An expe-
rienced fisherman or connoisseur can at once tell, by
the taste and flavour, whether an oyster has been
taken from a rocky, a clayey, or a sandy bottom.
Where the ground is calcareous, they are tender and
friable; where it consists of rock, they are more solid
and heavy; where the channel is marly or clayey,
they are softer, and contain more animal gluten; and
on a slimy bottom they are more rich and oily. The
rock-oysters, generally speaking, are largest and plump-
est, and are distinguished by thin and almost trans-
parent shells. This conjunction of characters is na-
tural and intelligible. In calcareous ground, for
example, the particles of food which the animal absorbs
will be again excreted and go to swell the shell, with-
must be largely mixed with calcareous matter, which
out increasing the bulk of the body. In rocky situa-
tions, such will not be the case; the food, not being
calcareous, will remain to increase the animal's size,
while the shell must be thin for want of calcareous
matter.

The oysters of the British coasts have long been
admitted to be the best procurable in Europe. The
Romans paid great prices for them, although it is not
likely that they would then be taken to Italy in a
very fresh state. Of the British coasts, the districts
and Essex. Those found near Milton in Kent, and
most famous for their oysters are the shores of Kent
usually called the "native" oysters, are perhaps the
very best; they are small, round, plump, and white,
with thin shells, which are easily opened. The oysters
found in the river Coln, on which stands the town of
Colchester, in Essex, are also of excellent quality, and
are renowned over the whole island. Marlow has made
them classical by causing Justice Greedy, in "A New
Way to Pay Old Debts," to say that he had nothing
to speak of this morning before breakfast, except a
barrel of Colchester oysters. The Coln, near that
town, forms a great many arms and creeks exceedingly
setshire oysters rank next in estimation to those of Es-
well suited for the formation of oyster-banks. The Dor-
sex. Those of Pool, especially, hold a high reputation,
as do those also of Feversham in Kent, of the Isle of
Wight, and of Tenby on the coast of South Wales.
Kentish coasts. Several hundred vessels were at one
Vast quantities are carried to the Continent from the
time employed annually in this trade alone. In Lon-
don, during the proper season, the trade in oysters is
very considerable, both for exportation into the coun-
try and native consumption. The dealers bestow great
containing an infusion of salt water with a little oat-
pains in preserving and feeding the oysters in tubs,
meal. At the shops of these tradesmen, which are
usually fitted up like coffee-rooms, with private boxes
for company, oysters, lobsters, shrimps, and other fish,
are served up in a tasteful manner to customers. A
is 8d. or 9d. per dozen. To be in perfection, the oyster
common price for good oysters at these establishments
should be eaten within one or two minutes of being
opened. No true lover of the article in London has
the oysters sent in an opened state to his house; at
lunch, supper, or any other occasion, an oysterman
attends to open them at a side table, and they are
after they are killed.
swallowed from the shell while alive, or the instant

One cause for the better thriving of oyster-banks at
the mouth of rivers than any where else, has already
been mentioned. It is probable that the slime
the oyster. The support of the animal comes en-
brought down by rivers materially aids in feeding
tirely from the minute particles of nutritive matter,
animal or vegetable, which the sea floats to the open
lips of its shell. The oyster, like other animals, is not
eel-formed fish of small size, called by Linnæus ophi-
without its enemies. The worst of these foes is an
dion imberbe, and by the common people the fire-fingered
fish. It is often found in the inside of oyster-shells,
curled up like a ring, and sailors assert that it eats
the former and proper tenant of the abode. On this
account English fishermen recommend all persons who
are anxious for the preservation of oyster-banks to
lay violent hands on this five-fingered fish whenever

it comes in their way. There are other enemies of the oyster, which attack its very shell, and make their way through it. These are worms of various kinds. Sometimes the shell of the oyster is found quite gnawed through, and the intruder lodged inside, feeding on the body of the harmless and unresisting proprietor. Small mussels are also apt to attach themselves to the upper or convex shell of the oyster, and for no good purpose to the inmate. The under shell is flat, and the animal always lies on it.

Besides those on the English shores, oyster-banks are common on the northern coasts of the island, and on the coasts of Ireland. The Scottish capital has been till a recent period plentifully supplied with good oysters from the Firth of Forth, in its imme diate vicinity. Nearly opposite to Leith, there was a large depôt of them, formed around or near the islet of Inchkeith. Local poets speak with rapture of the delicious caller [that is, fresh] oysters which were to be had in Edinburgh for evening festivities. From mismanagement, or some other cause, the Edinburgh oysters have greatly degenerated in quality, and the town has consequently lost one of its objects of attraction. Dublin is supplied from Arklow, a little to the east, and oysters are conveyed thence to artificial beds, near the capital, on the northern side. At Sutton, Polebeg, and Dalkey, places but a short way from Dublin, additional supplies are procured for the tables of the Irish metropolitans.

On the continent of Europe, oyster-banks are also abundant. On the coast of Normandy, near Caen, there is a single bank six miles long by one mile in breadth. The fishing of Normandy is productive of a very large revenue to the inhabitants. At the mouth of the Seine, the oysters, though comparatively few in number, are of the finest quality. Of course these are carried up for the Parisian gourmands. The estima tion in which oysters are held by the highest ranks in France may be guessed from the pun which the people made upon the name of one of their late sovereigns, Louis XVIII., who was held to be specially fond of good living. Eighteen is in their language dix-huit, adopting the latter reading, the French made out their which word is pronounced exactly like des huitres. By king to be "Louis of the oysters," a name which his known tastes gave point to. Medoc, a place at the mouth of the Gironde, is the Colchester of France, as regards oysters. The estuaries of the Rhone and the Loire are also famous for their banks.

The Dutch have various banks on the coasts of Zealand, but these cannot supply the national demand, and many ship-loads are taken over yearly from England, and pitted on the shores of Holland. There are exceedingly large and rich oyster-banks on the shores king has also extensive fishing-grounds, called the of the duchy of Holstein, and of Jutland. The Danish Royal Oyster-beds, on the western coast of the duchy of Sleswick, amounting in number to more than fifty, the majority of which are under a mile in length. From these, two or three thousand barrels may be drawn yearly. The lessee of these beds is forbidden, under the strictest penalties, to lift any others but those which are full grown and three years old. Sweden has comparatively few beds on its coasts, but these few are large and productive. They lie chiefly near Stromstad and Udewalla. The countries, again, in the south of Europe, lying on the Mediterranean Sea, being more prolific of shell-fish than any other on the are well supplied with oysters, that sheet of water surface of the globe. Perhaps the most noted part of its whole circumference, as regards oysters, is the Gulf of Tarento. There they are produced in immense numbers, and of the finest quality. Formerly, Italy had a rich oyster-field in the Lucrine Lake, which covered a great part of Campania; but in the year 1538 this lake was filled up, and turned into a mere pond, by an earthquake.

Both in the Atlantic and Pacific seas, as well as there the fishery assumes a new and higher degree in the Indian Ocean, oyster-banks are plentiful, and of importance, in consequence of the pearls which are found in a particular variety of oysters, which is abundant in these latitudes. Pearls are sometimes found even in the oysters of the European coasts, but the pearl oyster fishing is chiefly confined, at present, to the southern seas. lucrative traffic on the Ceylon coasts and in the PerIt constitutes an extensive and sian Gulf. The substance called pearl is supposed to be an excrescence, originating in disease. In No. 226 of this periodical, however, an account of the pearl fishing was given, which renders it unnecessary to enter into details here.

We have now glanced at the oyster-trade over the whole world. A good hint, it seems to us, may be given, or taken, from the information here presented, and for which we are chiefly indebted to a short treatise oyster-bank so rapidly established in the Straits of by the late Professor Beckmann. The case of the Menai, is the point to which we particularly allude. Could the same thing not be done, to great advantage, on many parts of our coasts, with the pearl oyster? districts, to have a good bank even of the common Or would it not be an object of importance, in many edible oyster formed? Several hundreds of the finest Persian or Ceylon pearl-oysters might be brought home, at very little expense, and kept alive by the way in casks, with very little trouble. Some of our smaller port-towns, such as Berwick, which can never rise to great commercial eminence, from defect of natural position, and which, with an augmenting population,

CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL.

SKETCHES OF SUPERSTITIONS.

MODERN FICTIONS OF NORTHERN EUROPE.

THE introduction of Christianity among the Goths of northern Europe had naturally the same influence in abolishing the dark and gloomy fictions of their primitive mythology, as it has been shown to have exercised in the case of the Anglo-Saxons, an offshoot from the same great race. But, as appeared also in that instance, the great religious change alluded to could not at once extricate the people from the intellectual darkness in which they were plunged, or prevent the growth and spread of a host of familiar superstitions, not so gloomy in their character, but as wild and fanciful as those which the followers of Odin brought from their native plains of Asia. Nowhere, indeed, in the whole world, has this order of superstitions, which, for want of a better term, have been called familiar, prevailed so extensively, or flourished so luxuriantly, as among the German and Scandinavian nations, from the era of the introduction of Christianity up almost till the present hour.

numerous.

The people of Northern Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and the northern islands, who were originally followers of Odin, adopted in later times very nearly the same class of familiar superstitions, though the names of their spirits and supernatural beings are sometimes found to differ. These names are amazingly Dwarfs (of various descriptions, white, brown, and black), Trolls (or Trows, the same nearly as Dwarfs), Elves (Elfs and Elf-maids), Nisses, Kobolds, Necks, Nixes, Mermen and Mermaids, are but a few of the supernatural beings who flourish in the popular creed of the countries alluded to. The Northmen hold the opinion that all these beings were originally subjected by greater powers, and were doomed in consequence to take up certain assigned abodes and duties. The Dwarfs, or hill-trolls, were appointed to the hills; the Elves, to the groves and trees; the Hill-people, to the caves; and the Mermen, Mermaids, and Necks (or River-spirits), to the seas, lakes, and rivers; and

so on.*

where it now flows." Such was the origin of Tus
In Germany, the Trolls receive commonly the name
Lake, and such the issue of a Troll's revenge.
of Dwarfs, but their character and habits, under both
Brownies of Scotland, the Dwarfs assist workmen,
appellations, are much the same. Sometimes, like the
either openly or otherwise. On one occasion, they
used to come frequently, says the story, to visit a band
of field labourers in the hay-making season. Some-
times they would assist the workmen, but more com-
monly preferred to seat themselves in a cluster upon
"But some mischief-loving people came one night and
the branch of a maple-tree, overlooking the field.
sawed the branch nearly through. The unsuspecting
Dwarfs, as usual, sat down on it in the morning; the
branch snapt in two, and the Dwarfs were thrown to
the ground. When the people laughed at this, they
became greatly incensed, and cried out,

'O how is heaven so high,
And perfidy so great!
Here to-day and never more!'

back part of one of the carts, and there saw the Nis
sitting quietly and coolly in one of the empty tubs.
The poor man's countenance fell sadly, and more so
when, just before moving, he chanced to turn to the
cried, "Ha! we are moving to-day, farmer !" Accord-
when the Nis popped his head out of the tub, and
ing to one version of the story, the farmer, seeing the
case to be hopeless, ordered the carts to be unloaded,
the tricky Nis became a good friend. In telling a
and went quietly back to his house, after which time
similar story of their Kobold, the Germans say that,
to the barn, in order to burn the tricky "lubber-fiend,"
before departing with his furniture, the farmer set fire
was time for us to come out, farmer-it was time for us
and was just driving off, when to his mortification he
saw the Kobold behind him on the cart, crying, "It
fates and fortunes, indicated by the us of the Kobold,
is most amusing!
to come out !" The cool and determined association of

The Nis, however, is a most useful fellow when he likes, as has been mentioned. Every thing thrives under his vigilant eye. He steals fodder for his host's cattle at all hands; and, according to the stories told And being people of their word, they never were seen The Elves of the north do both good and evil to man- of him, he seems often to have shown himself famiagain." kind; or rather there are Good Elves, and Evil Elves, liarly to those about him. In this intercourse he who respectively comport themselves in a way corre- revenged affronts or injuries very seriously. For spondent with these epithets. The former are a race example, while a Jutland Nis was one day amusunder the leaves of trees or the cups of flowers, frolic-cow-house, and practising gymnastics, seemingly, for the of minute beings, ever dancing on the grass, or lurking ing himself with running up and down the loft of the some as the breeze, and musical as its murmur among good of his health, one of his legs slipped through a hole, the summer boughs. Like the Fairies of Scotland, and a boy below took a hay-fork and gave the Nis a smart and doubt as to their chance of ultimate redemption. into the house laughing, and being asked the cause, the Elves are held to live in a state of mingled hope rap over the shin of the pendent limb. The boy went coaches, with gorgeous trappings. The little circles gave him such a swanking rap with my fork when he They have kings and queens, and ride in stately he replied, "Oh, I got such a blow at Nis to-day, and of green grass, which are called with us fairy-rings, put his leg through the loft!" "No," cried Nis outare the elf-rings of the north, and are the spots where side of the window, "you gave me three blows, for the Elves foot it merrily by night. There is one re- the fork was three-pronged; but see if I don't pay you markable peculiarity in the Danish Elle-women, or for it, my lad." The Nis kept his word. Next night, female Elves. The Elle-woman is fair and captivating, while the boy slept, the Nis lifted him out of bed, and and plays beautiful music to attract young men ; but going out of doors, commenced a novel game at ball let these beware of her, for she, though a fair woman by tossing the lad over the house, and catching him in her front aspect, is hollow in the back, like a dough- again ere he fell, by running to the other side. This a shout at the same time, which brought out all the trough. This the Elle-women endeavour to hide, pleasant recreation the Nis kept up till he got tired, but if the sign of the cross be made, they must turn and then let the boy fall into a great pool, setting up round, and their strange deformity is seen. So runs underground, beneath the houses of mankind, and described as being like the Dwarf in appearance, but as possessing immense strength. the tradition of the Danes. The malicious Elves live people to be witnesses of his revenge. The Nis is the inhabitants above, according to their cleanliness to the subterranean residents. It is curious that the or good behaviour, are objects of liking or dislike Irish at this very day give a similar habitation to them, in almost every particular. their fairies, and hold the same opinions respecting

The Nis of the modern Scandinavians is the Brownie
of Scotland, the Kobold of Germany, and probably
the Friar Rush or Robin Goodfellow of England, a
useful drudging spirit, to whom Milton alludes, when
he makes his rustic

"Tell how the drudging Goblin swate,
To earn his cream bowl duly set;
When, in one night, ere glimpse of morn,
His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn
That ten day-labourers could not end;
Then lies him down the lubber-fiend,
And stretched out all the chimney's length,
Basks at the fire his hairy strength,
And crop-full out of doors he flings,
Ere the first cock of matin rings.'

The Dwarfs or Trolls are the race most universally believed in, with the exception, perhaps, of the Elves or Elfi. The families or nations of the Trolls live in splendid mansions, in the interior of hills, or under level ground. Their figure is represented as being extremely slight and deformed. They dress variously, but have usually grey jackets, with pointed red caps. Sometimes they wear mist-caps, as they are called, which render them invisible. Trolls are not held to be malignant beings, and have often had friendly intercourse with mankind. Out of the immense chests of gold which they possess, they are said often to have bestowed fortunes on people who have had the luck to please them. But, upon This is an admirable picture of the friendly housethe whole, the Trolls are rather disagreeable neigh-spirit of all countries, and without whom no farmbours, having an inveterate propensity to pilfering, house, it was at one time supposed, could thrive. Alwhich they sometimes carry to the extent of kid-luding to this circumstance, the Fairy historian already napping women and children. Fortunately there are various ways of banishing, from any particular spot, these little gentlemen with the humps, long noses, and high red-caps. Drums, bells, and, above all, church-bells, are things they cannot endure. These noises drive them off immediately, and in such a humour, that they generally seek to revenge themselves upon the inhabitants of the place they have left. In "The Fairy Mythology," a clever little book published two years ago, and which gives us much information on these subjects, we find the following account of a Troll's revenge. A Troll had once been forced away from the village of Kund, in Zealand, by the church-bells, and having seen, at the place to which he removed, a person belonging to Kund, "Will you just be so kind,' said the Troll, as to take a letter for me back to Kund? The man said, of course, he had no objection. The Troll then thrust the letter into his pocket, and charged him strictly not to take it out till he came to Kund church, and then to throw it over the churchyard wall, and the person for whom it was intended would get it." On reaching Zealand, the man sat down in a meadow to rest himself, and, remembering the letter, "felt a great desire to look at it, at least. So he took it out of his pocket, and sat a while with it in his hands, when suddenly there began to dribble a little water out of the seal. The letter now unfolded itself, and the water came out faster and faster, and it was with the utmost difficulty that the poor man was enabled to save his life, for the malicious Troll had enclosed an entire lake in the letter. The Troll, it is plain, had thought to avenge himself on Kund church, by destroying it in this manner; but heaven so ordered it, that the lake chanced to run out in the great meadow

* The term "Old Nick," a name given in modern times to the devil, is derived from the Neck or Nix of the Scandinavians and Anglo-Saxons

The Neck, a Scandinavian spirit, and called Nökke
by the Danes, is said to sit frequently on the surface of
fish. It is curious that in all countries and in all ages
the water, in the shape of a boy with golden ringlets, and
a red cap, or as a handsome youth, shaped below like a
mankind have attributed fine musical powers to all the
imaginary beings with whom they have peopled the
sea, probably because the original belief in many of
them may have sprung from the accidental transmis-

sion of music over water by night, when, as is well
known, the effect is beautiful. The superstition of
the Neck is connected in an interesting manner with
our faith. The spirit is said to play exquisitely on a
golden harp, and it is stated that he will teach the
art to any one who will present him with a black lamb,
and promise him redemption, the fear of losing which
makes him continually melancholy. In Sweden it is
related that two boys were sitting near a river, when a
Neck came to the surface and played sweetly to them.
One of the boys said, "What is the use of your sitting
there and playing? You will never be saved." The
Neck flung away his harp, wept sorely, and disap-
"Neck, do
peared. On going home, the boys told this to their
father, who was a clergyman, and he told them to go
back and console the Neck with hopes of salvation.
The children went back, and said to the spirit, who
had re-appeared, and was still weeping,
not grieve so; our father says that your Redeemer
liveth also." The Neck resumed his harp, and re-
warded the promise-bringers with sweet playing till
the sun was gone down.

quoted observes, "Well is it for the maids and the
men when they are in favour with the Nis. They may
go to their beds and give themselves no trouble about
their work, and yet in the morning the maids will find
the kitchen swept up, and water brought in, and the
men will find the horses in the stable well cleaned and
Mermen and Mermaids are of northern creation,
curried, and perhaps a supply of corn cribbed for them
from their neighbours' barns." The origin of the idea
rude and troublous times of all countries, or during
of the Nis or house-spirit is pretty intelligible. In the
to this hour. It is needless to describe the Mermaid.
would naturally seek shelter in rural districts, from
But this Every one, from the time of Horace downwards,
the days of religious persecution, persons in hiding and in the north they are still firmly believed in, up
such as knew them or favoured their cause.
shelter could not be granted openly, and hence those knows that creature to be
who received it would be under the necessity of re-
maining in concealment by day, and could only come
out at night to procure food. To repay the hospitality
of their resetter, it is naturally to be supposed that they
would be willing to do such work for him as could be
done under the circumstances. The consumption of
food, and the noise of working, would be laid to the
door of the Nisses, and the secret be maintained. In
Scotland, in very recent times, a case really occurred
in which religious sufferers played the part of Brownie
in this manner; the tradition afforded to the Ettrick
Shepherd the foundation of his well-known tale, "the
Brownie of Bodsbeck."

Many are the stories told of the Nis and the Kobold. They are as annoying in the character of enemies as they are agreeable in the capacity of friends, and when they once attach themselves to a household, either for good or evil, it is scarcely possible to get quit of them. There is a Jutland story (told also in Ireland and many other countries), of a man who was annoyed by the presence of a mischievous Nis in his dwelling, and who resolved to quit it for another. Every thing was packed, accordingly, and put on carts for removal; and the good man was inwardly congratulating himself on his approaching liberation from his late pest,

"A handsome woman with a fish's tail."

Combing their long yellow hair with a golden comb,
It is supposed that the notion
they sit breast-high in the sea, singing sweetly, but
are dangerous to approach, for their beauty and
music entice the unwary into an element which
brings death to man.
of the existence of Mermaids and Mermen originated
in the resemblance which a certain species of seals,
when partially seen in the water, bear to the upper
part of the human body.

This list by no means comprehends all the fanciful have peopled the air, the earth, and the sea; but the beings with whom the German and northern nations as it were, of the classes which have been described. It majority of those not noticed are merely modifications, would be superfluous to remark gravely on the absurdity of these superstitions, which can affect no mind, however partially enlightened, otherwise than to a smile. It is curious, however, to trace them to the natural circumstances out of which the ignorant and wondering peasantry originally formed them to find, for instance, works which cunning persons had probably executed during the night for their own ends,

* Fairy Mythology.

reviewer should have employed. The deficiencies of which our medical men are accused, arise from no want of mental activity, but from certain habits connected with our social condition. The engrossing pursuit of wealth is a formidable barrier to high scientific advancement, but much more so is the storm of sectarian and party prejudice to which the country has for ages been delivered up. This storm, which Harvey and Jenner equally encountered, would have been directed against Cuvier had he dared to make known his discoveries among us; and at this moment those who humbly follow in his views in Britain are the objects of ceaseless persecution. Is there any wonder that our country ranks so low in the history of scientific discovery?

pale, and exclaimed, "Doctor Dobbs! as sure as I live that is Nobbs's voice; I know him by his whinny!" "My dear," said the doctor, "it is Nobbs's whinny sure enough; but, poor thing, he is dead, and has been flayed." He had hardly said this before Nobbs whinnied again. Up jumps the doctor, takes a candle in his hand, and runs into the yard; the first thing he saw was Nobbs himself without his skin. The doctor summoned all his servants, ordered six sheep to be killed, and clapped their skins upon poor Nobbs. To make a long story short, Nobbs recovered, and did his work as well as ever. The sheep skins stuck fast, and answered his purpose as well as his own skin ever did. But what is most remarkable, as well as most to our point, the wool grew rapidly; and when the shearing season came, the doctor had Nobbs sheared. Every year he gave the doctor a noble fleece, for he carried upon his back, you know, as much as six sheep; and as long as Nobbs lived, all the doctor's stockings, and all Mrs Dobbs's flannel petticoats, were made of his wool.