bride to pursue her song. She did; but the children had been too much alarmed to enjoy it, and the noise had in its character something so strange and so unearthly, that even the elders of the party, although bound not to admit any thing like apprehension before their offspring, felt glad when they found themselves at home. When the guests were gone, and George's wife lighted her candle to retire to rest. her father-in-law kissed her affectionately and prayed God to bless her. He then took a kind leave of his son, and patting up a fervent prayer for his happiness, pressed him to his heart, and bade him adieu with an earnestness, which, under the common-place circumstance of a temporary separation, was inexplicable to the young man.

When he reached his bed-room he spoke to his wife, and entreated her to prepare her mind for some great calamity. What it is to be," said Harding, “where the blow is to fall I know not; but it is impending over us this night!" "My life!" exclaimed Mrs. Harding, "what fancy is this?"

"Eliza, love!" answered her husband, in a tone of unspeakable agony, "I have seen her for the third and last time !" "Who ?"

66

"MARTHA, THE GIPSY," "Impossible!" said Mrs. Harding, you have not left the house to day!" "True, my beloved," replied the husband; "but I have seen her. When that tremendous noise was heard at supper, as the door was supernaturally opened, I saw her. She fixed those dreadful eyes of hers upon me; she proceeded to the fire-place, and stood in the midst of the children, and there she remained till the servant came in."

"My dearest husband," said Mrs. Harding, "this is but a disorder of the imagination!"

I

"Be it what it may," said he, "I have seen her. Human or superhuman-natural or supernatural-there she was. shall not strive to argue upon a point where I am likely to meet with little credit: all I ask is, pray fervently, have faith, and we will hope the evil, whatever it is, may be averted."

He kissed his wife's cheek tenderly, and after a fitful feverish hour or two fell into a slumber.

From that slumber never woke he more. He was found dead in his bed in the morning!

"Whether the force of imagination, coupled with the unexpected noise, produced such an alarm as to rob him of life, I know not," said my communicant; "but he was dead."

This story was told me by my friend Ellis in walking from the city to Harleystreet late in the evening; and when we came to this part of the history we were in Bedford-square, at the dark and dreary corner of it where Caroline-street joins it. "And, there!" said Ellis, pointing downwards, "is the street where it all occurred!"

"Come, come," said I," you tell the story well, but I suppose you do not expect it to be received as gospel."

"Faith," said he, "I know so much of it, that I was one of the party, and heard the noise."

"But you did not see the spectre ?" cried I."No," said Ellis, "I certainly did not."

"No," answered I, "nor any body else, I'll be sworn." A quick footstep was just then heard behind us-I turned half round to let the person pass, and saw a woman enveloped in a red cloak, whose sparkling black eyes, shone upon by the dim lustre of a lamp above her head, dazzled me. I was startled—“ Pray remember old MARTHA, THE GIPSY," said the hag.

It was like a thunder-stroke-I instantly slipped my hand into my pocket, and hastily gave her therefrom a fiveshilling piece.

"Thanks, my bonny one, said the woman, and setting up a shout of contemptuous laughter, she bounded down Caroline-street, into Russell-street, singing, or rather yelling a joyous song.

Ellis did not speak during this scenehe pressed my arm tightly, and we quickened our pace. We said nothing to each other till we turned into Bedford-street, and the lights and passengers of Tottenham-court-road re-assured us.

"What do you think of that?" saidEllis to me.

"SEEING IS BELIEVING," was my

reply.

I have never passed that dark corner of Bedford-square in the evening since.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Several communications intended for insertion this week are unavoidably postponed.

Numerous letters have reached us to which we cannot at present give answers. All letters inquiring after communications, should be particular in stating the subject and the signature.

The following are intended for insertion :--J. M. C., J. D---s, J. D., Pasche, I. I. C., Siwel Fitzroy, O---ll, J. W. D., D. D., I. A. I., Jonebus, with divers communications from our constant and well-known contributors.

Ergos is very stale. Mathews has the joke.

143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) and sold Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, by all Newsmen and Booksellers.

FEW streets are more celebrated in the history of London, than Cheapside, a place where the busy merchant, the heavyloaded porter, the chivalrous knight, and even the monarch have played their parts. Tilts and tournaments have frequently been held in Cheapside, and at one of these martial sports, which a French king well observed, were too much for a jest, and too little for earnest, had nearly been attended with disastrous consequences. This was in the year 1329, when the lists were appointed between King-street and Wood-street: near the latter place a scaffold was erected across the street,"resembling a tower," says the historian Stowe, in which the Queen and principal ladies of the court were seated, to behold the spectacle. The justings continued three days, on one of which the scaffold broke down and the Queen and many ladies were precipitated to the ground, but fortunately escaped unhurt. Edward III. threatened the builders with exemplary punishment, but through the intercession of Philippa (his Queen), made on her knees, the King and Council were pacified, whereby,

VOL. III.

says Stowe, "she purchased great love of the people."

It was

just opposite to Wood-street. A Cross formerly stood in Cheapside, erected as a monument of the affectionate regard which Edward I. entertained for the memory of his Queen, Eleanor, who had been his companion in the Crusades, and who, according to report, had saved his life when wounded with a poisoned arrow, by sucking his wounds. Cross at Cheapside, like that at Waltham, given in No. 55 of the MIRROR, was erected on one of the places where her corpse rested on its way from Hareby, in Lincolnshire, where she died, to Westminster Abbey, the place of her inter

ment.

The

In the year 1581, after complaint had been made that the Cross was a nuisance, on the night of the 21st of June, the images round about the Cross were broken and defaced, and the image of the Virgin was robbed of that of her son, which she bore in her arms; the images were repaired, but were again demolished in 1596 with profane indignity. Queen Elizabeth did all in her power to restrain the bigots; but the Cross at Cheapside met with more formidable enemies in the succeeding age of Puritanism. On the 27th of April, 1642, the Common Council ordered the city members to apply to Parliament for leave to take down this Cross, which was one of the most elegant ancient structures that had ornamented the city; and in the following year, the Parliament passed a law for the demolition of all Crosses.

The destruction of this famous Cross was committed to Sir Robert Harlow, who marched to Cheapside with a troop of horse, and two companies of foot. The soldiers were necessary to protect the workmen from the indignation of the citizens, many of whom viewed with pain and regret the demolition of one of their proudest monuments.

Our engraving represents the parties in the Gothic art, and at the same time exhibits the beauty of this ancient Cross.

THE INVENTION AND PROGRESS OF PRINTING. (To the Editor of the Mirror.) MR. EDITOR,-To the art of printing we chiefly owe our deliverance from ignorance and error; the progress of learning; the revival of the sciences: and numberless improvements in the arts, which, without this noble invention, would have been either lost to mankind, or confined to the knowledge of a few.

Thus the art of printing deserves to be considered with respect and attention. From the ingenuity of the contrivance, it has ever excited mechanical curiosity; from its intimate connection with learning, it has justly claimed historical notice; and from its extensive influence on morality, politics, and religion, it is now become a very important speculation. Coining and taking impressions on wax are of great antiquity, and the principle is precisely that of printing. The application of this principle to the multiplica tion of books, constituted the discovery of the art of printing. The Chinese have for many ages printed with blocks, or whole pages engraved on wood; but the application of single letters, or moveable

types forms the merit and superiority of the European art.

The honour of giving rise to this method has been claimed by the cities of Haerlem, Mentz, and Strasburg; and to each of these it may be ascribed in some degree, as printers resident in each made successive improvements in the art.

It is recorded by a reputable author, that one Laurentius, of Haerlem, walking in the wood near that city, cut some letters upon the rind of a beech tree, which for fancy sake, being impressed upon paper, he printed one or two lines for his grandchildren; and this having succeeded, he invented a more glutinous ink, because he found the common ink sunk and spread; and then formed whole pages of wood, with letters cut upon them, and (as nothing is complete in its first invention) the sides of the pages were pasted together, that they might have the appearance of manuscripts, written on both sides of the paper.

These beechen letters he afterwards changed for leaden ones, and these again for a mixture of tin and lead, as a less flexible and more solid and durable substance. He died in 1440, and we may suppose his first attempt to have been about 1430.

From this period, printing made a rapid progress in most of the principal towns of Europe, superseded the trade of copying, which was, till then, very considerable, and was in many places considered as a species of black art or magic. In 1490 it reached Constantinople, and was extended by the middle of the following century to Africa and America. It was introduced into Russia about 1560; but from motives, either of policy or superstition, it was speedily suppressed by the ruling powers.

Before 1465, the uniform character was the old Gothic or German-text; but in that year a book was printed in a kind of semi-gothic of great elegance, and approaching nearly to the present upright Roman type, which latter was first used in Rome, in 1467. Toward the end of the fifth century, Aldus invented the Italic character.

It was for a long time supposed that printing_was first introduced and practised in England, by William Caxton, a mercer, and citizen of London; who, by many years residence in Holland, Flanders, and Germany, had informed himself of the whole process of the art, and by the encouragement of the great, set up a press in Westminster Abbey, in the year 1471. But a book has since been found, with a date of its impression, from Oxford, in 1468, which is considered as a proof

carded,

And I sigh'd for the easy compliance of Love. Suspicion I own was a merciless traitor,

Who ne'er from the gate any enemy drove; He quickly became an unfeeling dictator, And I mourn'd when I thought of the mildness of Love.

Pride, Envy, and Malice gained easy admission, And each sought in turn their suggestions to prove;

I expell'd from my heart the fell demon, Suspicion,

And grieved that I ever had parted with Love. Despair now presented to fill up the station,

And sought from my heart every hope to re

move;

He admitted pale Sorrow, Remorse, and Vexation,

And with ev'ry harsh epithet vilified Love. If Pity, thy sister, can sway thy decision,

Oh! once more return from the Cyprian grove, At her soft persuasion forgive thy dismission, For the heart must be broke if not guarded by Love, E. G. B. See Mirror, No. 72.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB.

IN two preceding Numbers of the MIRROK, we gave some observations of a correspondent on the best means of instructing those unfortunates who are born Deaf, and consequently are Dumb. In No. 74, we also gave a copy of the Manual Alphabet, which, though we doubt not is familiar to many of our readers, we have reason to believe has been very acceptable to the public; we at the same time adverted to a letter of the celebrated Dr. Wallis, from which we promised an extract. We shall, however, perhaps, best consult the general taste of our readers by a brief analysis, and then insert the concluding letter of our correspondent on the subject.

"It is most natural, as children learn the names of things," says Dr. Wallis, "to furnish them (by degrees) with a nomenclature, containing a competent number of names of things common and obvious to the eye, (that you may show the thing

answering to such a name,) and these digested under convenient titles, and placed under in such convenient order, (in several columns, or other orderly situation on the paper,) as (by their position) best to express to the eye their relation or respect to one another; as Contraries or Correlatives one against the other; Subordinates or Appurtenances under their principle, which may serve as a kind of local memory.

Mankind, may be placed (not confusedly, "Thus (in one paper) under the title but in decent order) man, woman, child, (boy, girl).

"In another paper, under the title Body, head (hair, skin, ear), face, forehead, eye, may be written (in like convenient order) (eyelid, eyebrow), &c.

"And when he hath learned the import of words in each paper, let him write them in like manner, in distinct leaves, or pages of a book, (prepared for that have recourse to it upon occasion. purpose,) to confirm his memory, and to

"In a third paper you may give him the Inward Parts, as skull, (brain), throat, &c.

"You may then put Plants or Vegetables under several heads or subdivisions of the same head. And the like of Inanimates, as heaven, sun, moon, star, element, earth, water, air, fire, &c.

"And in like manner from time to time may be added more collections, or clauses of names or words, conveniently digested under distinct heads and suitable distributions, to be written in distinct leaves or pages of his book, in such order as may seem convenient.

"When he is furnished with a competent number of names, it will be reasonable to teach him under the titles the elements of grammar, the qualities of things, &c. which he will readily learn.

"It will be convenient all along to have pen, ink, and paper ready at hand, to write down in a word what you signify to him by sounds, and cause him to writę, or show him how to write, what he signifies by signs; which way of signifying their mind by signs, Deaf persons are often very good at. And we must endeavour to learn their language, if I may so call it, in order to teach them ours, by showing what words answer to their signs.'

We now insert the letter of our correspondent, with which we take leave of the subject.

(To the Editor of the Mirror.)

SIR,-Agreeable to my promise, I have taken up my pen for the purpose of pointing out to you the great benefit and advantage that must arise by the education of the Deaf and Dumb with children w

can hear and speak, and the reverse if educated at a close Asylum, where none but the unfortunates are instructed.

Only for one moment let us consider the situation of a child born Deaf and Dumb, when he shows by all outward appearances that he possesses every sense but that of hearing. His sense of sight soon makes him sensible of beings, things, and objects, and by degrees he understands the use of them, and that without knowing a single letter or word. Now, put this child into a school where the children are all unfortunate like himself, what benefit can such children render to each other? and after all their education in such a school, when they return home, their parents, brothers, and sisters, should they have any, find that they should have gone to school with them in order to converse with them; nay, they soon discover that they cannot communicate their ideas to the child so well as before he went to the Asylum. This is one of the least of the evils arising from an Asylum education. To obviate this evil, send the child to a school in common with other children; let him learn a written language the same as them, and which he is as capable of doing; by this means the child will not only be able to exchange ideas with his parents, brothers, and sisters, but his neighbours; and his school-fellows will be equally happy in rendering the unfortunate child every assistance in their power, and, in many instances, would do it better than any one else, particularly when they saw by what simple means the child was taught the meaning of one word. It is not to be supposed that it will ever happen that the Deaf and Dumb who are educated at an Asylum will spend the remainder of their days together, or often see each other, after they leave the Asylum, although when at school they form an attachment for each other much stronger than other children, and separate from each other with greater reluctance and regret; this must be extremely painful to them, when they know they will have to join, as it were, a society of foreigners totally unacquainted with their language or manners. This is one of the greatest evils attached to the present system of educating them. Whereas, if they had the benefit of an education at a common school with other children less unfortunate, or with their parents and family, how happy, how contented must their feelings be, when they grow up in general society, and are capable of exchanging their ideas with all around them. Every thing that tends to do away the distinction between the fortunate and unfortunate must be conducive to the corn

fort and happiness of the latter, and will enable them to fight their way through life with greater pleasure and satisfaction.

That parents in affluent circumstances, who have plenty of leisure time, should think of sending such a child to a school where none but the Deaf and Dumb are taught, is to me as unnatural as a mother who will send her babe to the breast of a stranger for food.

I cannot close this article without stating my opinion of the Deaf and Dumb Asylums, and the manner in which they have been established and supported. The first public Deaf and Dumb Asylum established in England, was opened in Grange Road, Bermondsey, by voluntary contributions in 1792, since which, a

new one has been erected in the Kent Road. As soon as the superintendent had taught a few of his pupils to speak, he presented them to the public by means of advertisements, soliciting the benevolent public to attend at such a church and place, when a sermon would be preached by some eminent divine, and after which a collection would be made for the benefit of the establishment, and that the children would repeat the Lord's Prayer and a hymn, for the gratification of the public, and to show that their money had not been spent in vain. The very idea of teaching the Deaf and Dumb to speak was supposed to be such a miracle, that who would have believed it unless they had actually heard them? When they were heard to speak, how dissonant were their voices; it was even painful to hear them. The encouragement this establishment met with, soon induced the City of Edinburgh to come forward and propose a like Asylum there, and by the same means, a sum was raised for that purpose. I happened to be at Edinburgh a few years ago and attended at one of the annual meetings convened for the purpose of raising money, when it was observed by the superintendent, that as some of the company at the last annual meeting, had expressed a dislike to hear the poor children attempt to speak, it was not intended that they should do so on that day and it was omitted; which clearly justifies the Encyclopædia Edinensis when under the title "Deaf and Dumb" it is said "We do not contemplate the acquisition of speech on the part of the Deaf in any other light than as one of those sorts of feats in which the eclat and fame of the teacher are more promoted than the welfare of the pupil."

Lastly. I shall conclude my observations by the following very just remarks in No. 52 of the Quarterly Review, on