Page:Littell's Living Age - Volume 131.djvu/123

Rh volume we notice, thus early, the medical repute of a district since become famous — the Malvern Hills. An "extraordinary instance of the efficacy" of the Malvern waters in the cure of "an inveterate skin-disease is the subject of a lengthy communication from a Dr. Wall of Worcester to Mr. Urban.

The record of a "miracle" below has considerable humor and an unexpected ending: —


 * By the Paris A-la-main we are told that they write from Mocon, near Nogent, upon the Seine in France, that as a couple of men were digging a grave in the churchyard there, they turned up the head of a dead person, which they threw upon the grass; but it had not lain there long ere it was perceived to move. The fellows went in a very great hurry to acquaint the parson of the parish, that a saint had been interred in the very place where they were at work: whereupon the parson went immediately to the spot, and was so surprised at the prodigy when he saw it, that he cried out, A miracle! A miracle! as did also the rest of the spectators; and not being willing to stir from so precious a relick, he sent for his crucifix, his holy-water bottle, his surplice, his stole, and his square cap, and caused all the bells to be rung, to give notice of it to the parishioners; who assembling together in great numbers, he ordered a dish to be brought, wherein he put the head, covered it with a napkin, and carried it in procession to the church. The people had great disputes by the way upon account of the several claims of affinity to the sacred skull: but they were soon pacified; for when the head was arrived at the church, and placed upon the high altar, while Te Deum was singing upon the occasion, just as they came to that verse, The holy church throughout the world doth acknowledge Thee, &c, a mole leaped out of the head upon which discovery of the cause of its motion, the parson put a stop to Te Deum, and the inhabitants went quietly home.

The references in these journals to the current political questions of the time need only be mentioned here in the most cursory way. In the early numbers we find much violent discussion regarding such topics as the character and work of William — the repeal of the Septennial Act — the famous Spirituous Liquors Bill, or the Gin Act as it was popularly called — the unhappy differences in the royal family; and farther on there is abundance of equally combustible matter. The inquiry into the administration of Walpole, the reform of the calendar, and the rebellion of 1745, are the most prominent subjects during these later years. The persistence, variety, and bitterness of the attacks on Walpole are something wonderful. There are diatribes in prose and in verse, in essays, in dialogues, in Parliamentary speeches, in letters to the editor — in every possible form of invective. He was the "grand corrupter," the "insolent tyrant," the "political pimp" of the age. The change from old to new style, mainly due to the influence of Lord Chesterfield, provoked a great deal of amusing commentary and animadversion.

The following letter is a fair sample of the pleasantries occasioned by the "lost eleven days:" —


 * How is all this? I desire to know plainly and truly! I went to bed last night, it was Wednesday, Sept 2, and the first thing I cast my eye upon this morning at the top of your paper was Thursday, Sept. 14. I did not go to bed till between one and two :have I slept away eleven days in seven hours, or how is it? For my part, I don't find I am any more refreshed than after a common night's sleep.
 * They tell me there's an Act of Parliament for this. . . . That the bench of bishops should agree to it is, I confess, an astonishment to me. What do their reverences intend to do about St. Enurchus? Who he was I don't know, nor, I suppose, you nor they neither; but that's neither here nor there; you'll find him in your Prayer-book: look into the calendar, and his name stands right against the 7th of September. I don't know whether I'm right awake, but if I am there's no 7th of September this year.

He had also lost his intended wife, who had promised to marry him on the 10th of September: —


 * A fine affair, sir, that a man must be cheated out of his wife by a parcel of mockmaticians and almanack-makers before he has her; a new sort of divorce truly. But, however, it is by Parliament.

Going back to August 1732 we find an "Account of the Designs of the Trustees for Establishing the Colony of Georgia in America." The advantages likely to result are pointed out in rather a rose-colored fashion, but it is worthy of observation that the one great source of the future wealth and prosperity of the province is, as yet, undreamt of. Silk, wine, oil, drugs, and other articles are included in the list of probable productions, but cotton is not once mentioned. Thirty years, even, after that date, however, the whole cotton trade of the Manchester district did not exceed 200,000l. per annum. The following resolution of the "Committee of Trade" at Norwich in 1736 is also interesting in this connection, and looks like a foreseeing of the great future extension of the infant industry.