Social England under the Regency, Vol. 1 (of 2)Ashton, John
History
Social England under the Regency, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Ashton, John
England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century; Regency -- England
Here is a curious superstition which comes from a Bath paper: "A
young woman, who had been married only three months, and lived at
_Widcomb_, being summoned to answer a charge of a breach of the
peace, at the instance of her mother-in-law, threw herself into
the river, at _Widcomb_, and was drowned. Every means to discover
the body have, hitherto, been ineffectual, on account of the great
height of the river, through the late rains. It is curious, however,
to observe some of the methods which fancy, or superstition, has
suggested in order to find the body:--among others, a large drum,
carried in a boat, has been beaten down the river, under the idea
that its sound would alter when approaching the drowned person; and
a small loaf, laden with quicksilver, has been set afloat, which, it
is presumed, would be stopped in its progress, by attraction, when
approaching the immersed object."
In this month of February an event occurred, which stirred Europe
to its very foundation. The lion, so fondly believed to be caged at
Elba, got unchained, and, leaving his petty island kingdom, on the
26th of Feb., he landed at Cannes on the 1st of March. There was
consternation, to use the mildest term, all over Europe. The French
king believed that he would soon be driven back; but in his advance,
his army increased like a vast snowball, and poor Louis had once
more to retire. The Congress at Vienna was broken up, unregretted by
any one, and the Allies entered into a compact, engaging themselves
not to quit the field until Napoleon was subdued. The news was not
received here until the 10th of March, and the _Times_ of next
day, fairly foams over it. "Early yesterday morning, we received
by express from Dover, the important, but lamentable intelligence,
of a civil war having been again kindled in France, by that wretch
Buonaparte, whose life was so impolitically spared by the Allied
Sovereigns. It now appears that the hypocritical villain, who, at the
time of his cowardly abdication, affected an aversion to the shedding
of blood in a civil warfare, has been employed during the whole time
of his residence at Elba, in carrying out secret and treasonable
intrigues with the tools of his former crimes in France," &c.
The Newsboys in London must have reaped a rare harvest.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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