Born
:
John Mason Good, medical writer, 1764, Epping; John
Pye Smith, D.D., learned theologian, 1774, Sheffield;
Francis Edward Todleben (military engineering), 1818,
Mitau, Courland.
Died
:
Cardinal D'Amboise, minister of Louis XII, 1510; Dr.
George Fordyce, medical writer and teacher, 1802,
London; Dr. William Paley,
author of Natural Theology,
Evidences of Christianity, &c., 1805; Edmond Malone,
critical writer, 1812.
Feast Day: St. Urban, pope and martyr, 230 (?);
Saints Maximus (vulgarly Meuxe) and Venerand, martyrs
in Normandy (5th century?); St. Adhelm, first bishop of
Sherburn (since Salisbury), 709. St. Dumhade, abbot of
Iona, 717; St. Gregory VII, pope (Hildebrand), 1085;
St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi, 1607.
THE PLAGUE AT
MARSEILLES, 1720
The arrival of a
ship from Sidon on this day, in 1720, at Marseilles,
brought the plague into that city, and caused the
death of an immense number of persons. It was the last
time that this formidable disease appeared in Western
Europe in any force. Only by the most active and
rigorous arrangements was the evil prevented from
extending into the rest of France. Severe as the
affliction was, it brought out some gratifying
results, in showing of how much abandonment of self
human nature is capable. A monument was erected in
1802, to commemorate the courage shown on the occasion
by the principal public functionaries of the city, and
by upwards of 150 priests, and a great number of
doctors and surgeons, who died in the course of their
zealous efforts to relieve and console the afflicted.
Amongst other matters adverted to on this interesting
monument is 'Hommage an Dey Tunisien, qui respecta ce
don qu'un page (Clement XI) faisoit an malheur.'
FLITTING-DAY IN
SCOTLAND
The 25th of May,
as the Whit Sunday term (old style), is a great day in
Scotland, being that on which, for the most part,
people change their residences. For some unexplained
reason the Scotch 'remove' oftener than their
southern neighbours. They very generally lease their
houses by the year, and are thus at every
twelve-month's end able to shift their place of abode.
Whether the restless disposition has arisen from the
short leases, or the short leases have been a result
of the restless disposition, is immaterial. That the
restlessness is a fact, is what we have mainly to deal
with.
It happens
accordingly, that at every
Candlemas a Scotch family
gets an opportunity of considering whether it will, in
the language of the country, sit or flit. The landlord
or his agent calls to learn the decision on this
point; and if 'flit ' is the resolution, he takes
measures by advertising to obtain a new tenant. The
two or three days following upon the Purification,
therefore, become distinguished by a feathering of
the streets with boards projected from the windows,
intimating 'A House to Let.' Then comes on a most
lively excitement for individuals proposing to remove;
you see them going about for weeks, inspecting the
numerous houses offered to them. Considerations of
position, accommodation, and rent, afford scope for
endless speculation. The gentleman deliberates about
the rent�whether it will suit his means. The lady has
her own anxious thoughts about new furniture that may
be required, and how far old carpets can be made to
suit the new premises. Both have their reflections as
to what the Thomsons and the Jacksons will say on
hearing that they are going into a house so much
handsomer, more ambitiously situated, and dearer than
their last. At length the pleasing dream is over�they
have taken the house, and the only thing that remains
to be done is to 'flit.'
Intensely longed
for, the 25th of May comes at last. The departing
tenant knows he must vacate his house before twelve
o'clock; consequently, he has to arrange for a quick
transportation of his household goods that forenoon.
What he is to the new tenant, the tenant of the house
he is going to occupy is to him. He dreads�hates�to be
pushed; but on the other hand he must push, lest his penates be left shelterless
on the street. There is
accordingly all that morning a packing up, a sending
off, a pushing in�upholstery meeting upholstery in
deadly contention; streets encumbered with card-tables
and arm-chairs in the most awkward irrelation to their
proper circumstances; articles even more sacredly
domestic exposed to every idle passerby�a straw-and-ropiness
everywhere. In the humbler class of streets, the show
of poor old furniture is piteous to look upon, more
especially if (as sometimes happens) Jove has chosen
to make it a dropping morning. Each leaves his house
dishevelled and dirty-marks of torn down brackets and
departed pictures on the walls, floors loaded with
unaccountable rubbish�all the beauties and attractions
that were so witching at Candlemas now strangely
obscured. But there is no time for cleaning, and in
each must plunge, with all his goods and all his
family, settle as they may.
There is only a
rude bivouac for the first twenty-four hours, with
meals more con-fused and savage than the roughest
picnic. And yet, such is the charm of novelty, that a
'flitting' is seldom spoken of as a time or occasion
of serious discomfort. Nor are the drawbacks of the
new dwelling much insisted on, however obvious. On the
contrary, the tendency is to apologize for every less
agreeable feature-to view hopefully the effect of a
little cleaning here, a coat of size there; to trust
that something will make that thorough draft in the
lobby tolerable, and compensate for the absence of a
sink in the back-kitchen. Jack does not think much of
the lowness of the ceiling of the bedroom assigned to
him, and Charlotte Louisa has the best hopes of the
suitableness of the drawing-room (when the
back-bedroom is added to it) for a dancing-party.
A few months
generally serve to dispel much of this illusion, and
show all the disadvantages of the new mansion in a
sufficiently strong light. So when Candlemas next
comes round, our tenant has probably become
dissatisfied, and anxious for another change. If
considerations of prudence stand in the way, the
family must be content to stay where they are for
another year or two. If able to encounter another
change, they will undertake it, only perhaps to find
new, though different discomforts, and long for other
changes.
May 26th