The Mirror Of Literature, Amusement, And Instruction | Page 8

and her olives that tempted the rude people of the north to
pour down upon her fertile fields:--
'The prostrate South to the destroyer yields Her boasted titles and her
golden fields; With grim delight the brood of winter view A brighter
day, and heavens of azure hue. Scent the new fragrance of the breathing
rose. And quaff the pendent vintage as it grows.'[8]
"In Greece, too, as well as Italy, the shoots of the vines are either

trained upon trees, or supported, so as to display all their luxuriance,
upon a series of props. This was the custom of the ancient vine-growers;
and their descendants have preserved it in all its picturesque
originality.[9] The vine-dressers of Persia train their vines to run up a
wall, and curl over on the top. But the most luxurious cultivation of the
vine in hot countries is where it covers the trellis-work which surrounds
a well, inviting the owner and his family to gather beneath its shade.
'The fruitful bough by well' is of the highest antiquity."
Passing over the Mulberry, Currant, Gooseberry, and the Strawberry,
the account of the Egg Plant is particularly attractive; and that of the
Olive is well-written, but too long for extract.
Among the _Tropical Fruits_, the Orange and the Date are very
delightful; and equal in importance and interest are the Cocoa Nut and
Bread Fruit Tree. In short, it is impossible to open the volume without
being gratified with the richness and variety of its contents, and the
amiable feeling which pervades the inferences and incidental
observations of the writer.
A word or two on the embellishments and we have done. These are far
behind the literary merits of the volume, and are discreditable
productions. Where so much is well done it were better to omit
engravings altogether than adopt such as these: "they imitate nature so
abominably." The group at page 223 is a fair specimen of the whole,
than which nothing can be more lifeless. After the excellent cuts of Mr.
London's Gardener's and Natural History Magazines, we turn away
from these with pain, and it must be equally vexatious to the editor to
see such accompaniments to his pages.
[Footnote 5: Picturesque Promenade round Dorking. Second Edit.
12mo. 1823, p. 258, 259.]
[Footnote 6: Ibid p. 143.]
[Footnote 7: The Alpenstock, by C.J. Latrobe, 1829.]
[Footnote 8: Gray's Alliance of Education and Government.]

[Footnote 9: See the second Georgic of Virgil.]
* * * * *
SHAKSPEARE'S BROOCH.
[Illustration]
(_TO THE EDITOR OF THE MIRROR._)
Having frequently observed in your valuable publication the great
attention which you have paid to every thing relating to the "Immortal
Bard of Avon," I beg leave to transmit to you two drawings (the one
back, the other front) of a brooch or buckle, found near the residence of
the poet, at New Place, Stratford, among the rubbish brought out from
the spot where the house stood. This brooch is considered by the most
competent judges and antiquarians in and near Stratford, to have been
the personal property of Shakspeare. A. is the back; 1 and 2, faint traces
of the letters which were nearly obliterated, by the person who found
the relic, in scraping to ascertain whether the metal was precious, the
whole of it being covered with gangrene or verdigris. 3 and 4 are the
remains of the hinge to the pin. Fortunately the W. at the corner was
preserved. B. represents the front of the brooch; 1, 3, and 5, are red
stones in the top part (similar in shape to a coronet) 2 and 4 are blue
stones in the same; the other stones in the bottom or heart are white,
though varying rather in hue, and all are set in silver.
HJTHWC.
N.B. The above is shown to the curious by the individual who found
it--a poor man named Smith, living in Sheep Street, Stratford.
* * * * *
SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS
* * * * *
The greater portion of the following Notes will, we are persuaded, be

new to all but the bibliomaniacs in theatrical lore. They occur in a
paper of 45 pages in the last Edinburgh Review, in which the writer
attributes the Decline of the Drama to a variety of causes--as late hours,
costly representations, high salaries, and excessive taxation--some of
which we have selected for extract. In our affection for the Stage, we
have paid some attention to its history, as well as to its recent state, and
readily do we subscribe to a few of the Reviewer's opinions of the
cause of its neglect. But to attribute this falling off to "taxes
innumerable" is rather too broad: perhaps the highly-taxed wax lights
around the box circles suggested this new light. We need not go so far