The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 12, No. 322, July 12, 1828Various
History
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 12, No. 322, July 12, 1828
Various
Popular literature -- Great Britain -- Periodicals
At length Popanilla's trial comes on; the indictment is read; he is
accused of stealing 219 camelopards; perceives that he has all the time
been mistaken for another person: he is, however, detained, on the judge
of Fort Jobation informing him, that in order to be tried in his court
for a modern offence of high treason, he must first be introduced by
fiction of law as a stealer of camelopards, and then being _in praesenti
regio_, in a manner, the business proceeds by a special power for an
absolute offence. This flummery is too much; but every body with whom
Popanilla had conversed while in Vraibleusia is subpoenaed against him:
the judge is about to sum up, when a trumpet sounds, and a government
messenger presents a scroll, and informs him, that a remarkably clever
young man, recently appointed one of the managers, had last night
consolidated all the edicts into a single act. The judge then
compliments the young consolidator, compared to whom, he said, Justinian
was a country attorney. Popanilla is found "not guilty, and kicked out
of court, amidst the hootings of the mob, without a stain upon his
reputation." He then falls senseless on the steps of the Asiatic
club-house, is recovered by the smell of mulligatawney soup, and
moralizes till he perceives "it is possible for a nation to exist in too
artificial a state." He then sees the opposite house lit up, and the
words "Emigration Committee" written on a transparent blind. He enters,
finds the last Emigration squadron is about to sail in a few minutes; is
presented with a spade, blanket, and hard biscuit, and quits the port of
Hubbabub: what became of him will "probably be discovered, if ever we
obtain 'Popanilla's' second voyage"--and thus shuts to the scene.
Here, gentle reader, you have the Captain's fun and _badinage_ on all
the wonderful wonders of Hubbabub--_videlicet_ this wonderful town. They
may serve to while away some of the _ennui_ of this season of roast,
bake, and broil, or be read aloud during the halt of the "march of
intellect" men. There are the principal incidents of his voyage; if you
wish to see them expanded, consult the book itself--that is if you are
gratified with our abstract--if the reverse, let well alone, lest you
find it, like ceremony, "a penny-worth of spirit in a glass of water."
But recollect, Popanilla's adventures have already been published in
quarto.
* * * * *
SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY.
* * * * *
_Machine for Sharpening Knives at once,_
Consists of a number of steel cylinders grooved transversely, and placed
on two revolving axes parallel to each other, and so that the bosses and
recesses of the one fit into those of the other cylinder. Along these
the knife is drawn, and so is immediately sharpened.--_London Jour. of
Arts._
_Influence of Electricity on the developement of Seeds._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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