kingston chronicle j published weekly by james macfarlane at his office in front street kingston uc nec rege nec populo sed utroque i seventeen shillings and sixpence per annum if sent by mail twenty shilling vol 13 saturday february 25 1832 no 35 for the chronicle sir the pleasure i was wont to feel in read ing y paper has for a considerable time back been greatly abridged in consequence of the large flowers coming back isden with wreaths and garlands with a bonnet of her own sewing to shade her pretty face from the sun and across her shoulders a plaid in which she could sit dry space taken up by the stupid productions of your i during an hour of the heaviest rain beneath the correspondent one of the people not being able to muster sufficient patience to read ou the piebald stuff wilh which this tiresome writer pesters the public week after week i was in hopes that he would in the course of rime brant himself into silence and leave the room he usu ally occupies in your columns open for the in sertion of such articles as might prove intersting to your readers generally or that you mr edi tor would discontinue inserting any more of his effusions- inboth these reasonable expectations i have along with some others of your readers been disappointed- yon appear slid inclined to allow him iftdlpage to himself and his cacatht jeriiendi so far from exhibiting any symptoms of abatement seems to be actually increasing there it one singular circumstance attending this unfortunate disease and which is peculiar toitself namely that those who are not acquaint ed with the patient and who probably have ne ver seen him are liable to be troubled with tho tfcci of the disease particularly when the pa ges of a respectable journal are open to him what the precise him or object of this writer may be in obtruding himself so much on the no tice of the public i believe it would puzzle him self to explain he frequently in the course of a single letter attempts to discuss a variety of subjects which appear to bare no sort of connex ion whatever unless it be in the strange conca tenation of ideas existing in his own confused brain his mind continually appears to be proving that thej are not men of such acute dis cernment as your correspondent for the pyra mid i fully agree with him can no more rest on its apex than mr one of the people himself can should the mania of innovation unfortunately seise him to make the experiment walk on his bead instead of his legs it has been a matter of dispute indeed with some of your readers on which extremity of his corporeal part your cor respondent peregrinates but i judging from the natural order of things and particularly as the reform bill has not yet passed aver that he con tinues still to use his legs for the only for which they were originally intended it has of late been a matter of great consola tion to one of ihepeople that the movements of the sun are beyond the cootroul of these daring innovators- why docs he not include those of the moon also 1 am sure his intellectual la bours derive fully as much assistance from her m the sun and i should think that he ought to feel equal gratitude that her periodical evolu tions are not to bo altered unless perhaps that this wild cou of a comet which is shortly to make his appearance may in some of bis frolics give her a whisk with his tail and destroy the regularity of her movements which may be the means of disturbing that harmony that has for ages existed between her planet and ouro she smallest bield lucy had passed many long hours in the day light and thus knew without think ing of it the whole topography of that pastoral solitude and even something of the changeful appearances of the air and sky the happy child had been invited to spend a whole day from morning to night at ladysidc a farm house about two miles off wilh her playmates the maynes and she left home about an hour after sunrise she was dressed for a holiday and father and mother and aunt isabel all three kissed her sparkling face before she set off by herself and stood listening to her singing till her small voice was lost in tho murmur of the rivulet during her absence the house was si lent but happy and the evening being now far advanced lucy was expected home every minute and michael agnes and isabel went to meet her on the way they walked on and on won dering a little but in no degree alarmed till they reached ladyside and heard the cheerful din of the imps within still rioting at the close of the holiday jacob mayne camo to the door but on their kindly asking why lucy had not been sent home before daylight was over he looked painfully surprised and said she had not been at ladyside agnes suddenly sat down without speaking a word on the stone beside the door and michael supporting her said jacob our child left us this morning at six oclock and it is now near ten at night god is merciful but perhaps lu- if he riaw euhe tho moon or the stars run over to racbornsome of you said jacob and tell what has happened do you isaac my good boy cross over to a the towns on the in- verlelhen side and oh mr forrester mr forresler dinno let this trial overcome you sae sairly for michael was leaning against the wall of the house and the strong man was as helpless as a child keep up your heart my dear son said isabel wilh a voice unlike her usual keep up your heart for the blessed bairn is no doubt somewhere in the keeping of the great god yea without a hair of her head being hurt a hun dred things may have happened to her and death not among the number oh no no surely not death that would indeed be too dreadful a judgment and aunt isabel oppressed by the power of that word now needed tho very com fort she bad in vain tried to bestow within two hours a hundred people were tra versing the hills in all directions even to a dis tance which it seemed most unlikely that poor lucy could have reached the shepherds and their dogs all night through searched ever nook every stony and rocky place every littto shxv every piece of taller heather every crevice that could conceal anything alive or dead but no lucy wo there her mother who for a while agnes opened her eyes and beheld lucys bonnet and plaid laying doe beside her and then a silent crowd her senses all at once re turned to kc and she rose up ay sure enough drowncddrowined drownedbut where have you laid her let me see our lucy michael for in my leep i have already seen her laid out for burial the crowd quietly dispersed and horse and foot began to scour the country some took the high roads others all the by paths and many the trackless hills now- that they were in some measure relieved from the horrible belief that the child was dead the worst other calamity seemed nothing for hope brought her back to their arms agnes had been able to walk to bracken braes and michael and isa bel sat by her bed side lucys empty little crib was just as ihe child had left it in the morn- ing before neatly made up with her own handp and her small red bible was lying on her pillow oh mnr husband this is being indeed kind to your anes for much it must have cost you to stay here hut had you left me my silly heart must hav ceased to beat altogether for it will not lie mill even now that i am well nigh resign ed to the will of god michael put his hand on his wifes bosom and fell her heart beating as if it were a knell then ever and anon tho tears came gushing for all her strength was gone and she lay at the mercy of the ruslle of a leaf or a shadow across the window and ihushour after hour passed on till it was again twilight m hear footsteps coming up the brae said agnes who had for some lime appeared to be slumbering and in a few minutes the voice of jacob maync was heard at the outer door was no tirr you speak all this has been but a vain belief and lucy u in heaven something like a trace of hef has been discovered a woman with a child that dw not look like a child of hcrv was last night a clovcnsford and left it by the daw ing do you hear that my beloved agnes 7 said isahev have tramped away with lu cy up into ettrick or yarrow but hundreds of eyes will mjva been upon her for these arc qui et but not solitary glens and the hunt will be over long before she has crossed upon hawick i knew thai country in my young days what say ye mh maync theres a light of hope on your face theres nae reason to doubt maam that it was lucy every body is sure ot if it was imrftto rachel i should hao nae fearo if seeing her h blessed nichi jacob mayne now took a chair and sat down with even i smile on his countenance i may tell you np whatly oliver kens it was your taint for he saw her limping after the lim- and sustenance from its parent stem and starv ed its brother branches each of which is higher than itself this monopolizing bough is por trait painting hogarth was an awkward flatterer and sel dom succeeded in allegory but his satire is not often misapplied and hardly ever feeble in this instance however his shaft may be fairly des cribed as imbttu sine iclu he seems to have fallen into a common error that the patronage of portrait starves the higher and mpre invent ive branches of art a notion sufficiency con futed by the fact that titian was a portrait painter in truth it was the desire to preserve the lineaments of eminent individuals that first brought painting to britain the value we set on our friends faces and our own enables ar tists to live while they arc acquiring the skill to execute their poetic conceptions and to sup pose that the taste for individual likenesses pro duced an insensibility to general beauty is ss absurd as to ascribe to the annuals and other periodical publications the lack of profound eru dition in our modem literature but is it true that the portrait is a work of mere mechanic dexterity io which the hand and eye are alone employed and all that constitute the man is out of office a portrait may be produced mechanically as an air may be com posed by rule and rota and memory but it may safely be assumed that a good portrait can not bepainted without some of the best tolents of the poet and the philosopher it does not in deed demand the fancy the invention the con- struclivencss that enter into tho composition of an epic a tragic or a comic picture but these a ii- ttao itvuiu t vuui w t e i are faculties which many poets ot no trivial name no ttme for ceremony and he advanced into i r bvaftmtof moment and make it an adequate symbol of a total being be tho more peculiar constituent of pictorial genius then we may say that the man who delineates a satisfactory likeness even of on undistinguished child of earth proves that he has evoked and educated the finest powers of his intellect perhaps these porithm require to ho applied and illustrated in order to be intelligible it must be observed that to draw theliving person even with technical accsney is a very different thing from copying a piefare whichmay be done by rule and measurement in the picture not only is all that belongs to proportion and per spective ready aade but the aspect is unchange able the copyist may work and look again and inquire of his model and receiwe the same invariable faithful answer but copying will go but a very little way with a human countenance there a novice might look and look and be so far from getting his lesson by heart that he will but once a day for one short quiet pace a de parted mother a friend a sister that is far a- way in silent visitation communed with our souls who that bears his true loves token in his bosom even in a foreign land would break his plighted faith who wilh a fatherspic- turc looking from his walls would disobey that fathers parting charee 7 could he who had changed bibles with his sweetheart ever be an infidel 7 henco the value of all art all means and in struments that make tho absent present con structing in sense itself a counterbalance to the despotism ot sense l letter keepsakes crook ed sixpences bibles mutually given and received hraided locks of hair buats portraits and epitaphs ftuiit wreath onb of the family i had the pleasure some time ago to become acquainted with the frasers colonel fraser was a travelled man and his storms of informa tion respecting india egypt georgia c c were to me whose peregrinations had never ex tended beyond the grand tour of the united kingdom infinitely interesting and valuable mrs fraser a clever enthusiastic scotchwo man was never weary of narrating nor i of lis- teningto thelaysand legendsofherown roman tic land to her were familiar its poets sages and seers its startling superstitions and olden customs its bodily beautiful scenery itsreligious and political struggle its pride and its nation ality catc but mrs fraser was besides an elegant minded well informed accomplish ed and fascinating woman some persons would no doubt have pronounced her rather blut but i have apmeaant for the azure sisterhood and that i hate no intention of gratifying you in thi respect at present then alas mrs fraser who can be so delightful takes her work or her booh and i am left to amuse and instruct myself as i can instead of having as formerly morca- musement and instruction brought before me than i was enabled to do strict justice to jvbm music and singing now no literary discus uo mer at galfobrig but haeing nae suspicion he find each previous impression impaired and mo dnl nae tflv a second leuk o her hut ae leuk j dified by the succeeding he wilt not be able to is sufficient and he swears it was bonny lucy i note down one feature in just keeping and forrester aunt isabri by tus time had bread i will probably throw the blame on the reetlcss- and checsi an a bottle of her own elder flower the tabic- you have had along and wine on joined in ihe search and with a quaking heart may not then iodeed continue to exercise the j looked into every broke or stopped and listened widflikowuirfj lj t wtty ftn haiao kvectaftfrf amftng i i correspondent pitying mr editor the the hills if she could seize on some tone of re cognition or discovery but the moon sank and then all the stars whose increased brightness seemed inspired wilh supernatural strength had mayne tk some refreshment and michael ness of the sitter and at last either produce a plan instead of a portrait or such an anarchy of hard jouiwt vhcrever you have been mr j lineaments as it would have puzzled mundcn to aafoitanate state of mind of your poor friend tad feeling my bowels of compassion towards him moved i would willingly afford him that consolation which hia condition so much requires lrt him howerer be of good heart and rest as- fmrcri that those rascally innovators the reform- art shall not suoceed in their ridiculous attempt to placetbe pyramid on its apex neither is there any great cause to fear that the comet will put an end to that reciprocation of benefits which has arisen from the long continued harmony that exists between our planet and the moons and in conclusion let me express a fervent hope that one of the people will be saved from thein- aflable absurdity of forgetting the natural use of his legs and if he can only muster cash enough io purchase an axe or some other such useful imptanent let him in the name of merty employ tea audi in another way than filling the pages of the chronicle with stuff unacceptable and grievona to the bulk of your readers yours ac am eiikvt to humbug the lost child bt john wilsoh lucy was only six years old but bold as a fai ry the had gone by herself a thousand times about the braes and often upon errands to hou ses two or three miles distant what had her parents to fear 7 the footpaths were all firm and led through no places of danger nor are in fants of themselves incautious when atone in their pastimes lucy went singing into the coppico woods and singing she rcappeared on the open hill side wilh her small white hand on the rail she glided along the wooden bridge or lightly as the ewzcl tripped from stone to tono across the shallow streamlet the crea ture would be away for hours and io fears bo felt on her account by any one at horn whether she had gone with her basket under her arm to borrow some articles of household use from a neighbor or merely for her own solitary delight wandered off to tho braes to play among tha risked a bhing jacob saw hat ho might now vciiiurc td reveal the whole truth no no mi intflct v w jct lo ea or l0 drink tou are a prepared forhe messing chit aaits you your bairn is not far and i mysel for h woa i mysel that found herwill bring her by had for a short lime suppked her place all faded the ban and restore her to her parents agnes had raised herself up in the bed at these words but she sunk gently back on her pillow aunt isabel will rooted to her chair and michael os he rose up felt as itbe ground were sinking un der his feet there was a dead silence all around ihc house for a short space and theo the sound of many joyful voices which again by degrees subsid ed the eyes of all then looked and yet feared to look towards the door jacob maync was not so good as his word for ho did not bring lucy by tho hand to restore her to her parents but dressed again in her own bonnet and her gown and her own plaid in rushed their child by herself with tears and sobs of joy and her father laid her within her mothers bosom away and then tame the grey dawn of morning and then tho clear brightness of day and still michael and agnes were childless sfie has sunk into some mossy or miry place said mi chael to a man near him into whose face he ne ver looked a cruel cruel death for one like her the earth on which my child walked has closed over her and wc shall never see her more v at last a man who had left th search and gone in a direction towards the high road came running with something in his arms towards the place where michael and others wero standing beside agnes who lay apparently exhausted al most to dying on the sward he approached hesitatingly and michael saw that ho carried lucys bonnet clothes and plaid it was im possible not to see some spots of blood upon ihe frill that the child had worn round her neck 1 murdered murdered was the one word whis pered or ejaculated all around but agnes heard it not for worn out by that long night of hope and despair alio had fallen asleep and was per haps seeking her lost lucy in her dreams isabel took the clothes and narrowly inspect ing them with eye and hand said with a fervent voice that was heard even in michaels despair no lucy is yet among the living there are no marfts of violence on tho garments ol the in nocent no murderers hand has been here these bloodspots have been put there to deceive besides would not the murderer have carried off these things for what else would he have murdered her but oh foolish despait what speak i of 7 for wicked na this world is ay desperately wickedthere is not on all tho sur face of the wide earth a hand tbal would mur der our child is it not plain as the sun in hea ven that lucy has been stolen by some wretched gipsy beggar and that before the sun has set she will be saying her prayers in her fathers house wilh all of us on our knees beside her or with our faces prostrate upon the floor v a modest defence of portrait painting bt h1rtlct colerldct hogarth in his frontispiece to the adfsts catalogue 1761 has committed a very whimsi cal bit of allegorical testiness from a lions head surmounted by a bust of king george the third there issues a stream of water meant to indicate the royal bounty which flows into a watering pot nothing more nor less from which watering pot a pretty plump neat look ing grifctto such as we may see similarly em ployed in the suburban garden plots that indi cate ibe inextinguishable love of nature of the cockneys is wateringlhree intertwining shrubs one leafy and flourishing t ho others bare stunted and moribund 2ow the pretty damsel whose robes succinct arc tucked up in a way that shown she is used to dirty slrecs wt arc to call britannia and the three plants on which she is pouring the fluid favours of majesty arc inscribed painting sculpture and architecture the last is in good condition but painting looks as iniserablo as wordsworths thorn all except one single branch which has withdrawn the gap realize the fact i that the representative im age the impression nntfcc brain which corres ponds with each person of our acquaintance is abstracted from many continuous or successive sfftovwoft tonuiypobablybsdimtnirt different individuals acceding to the perfection of their organs butasfto substratum to these uncertain representatives there must be an in telligible and therefore communicable form which the portrait paint transfers to the can vass he will paint yttfrnot as you do look at this or that particular nc but as you must and ought to look to arftwer the best possible idea of youiself this h what vandyke lely reynolds and lawrent have done for the great and the fairof their mspective ages much is said about the canity of plainlooking in srcm one of this clasainfinimv preferable to one o they really consider me arranger thought i upon first hearing the word escape mrs fra- sers lips 7 amiable pleasant pair with them i neither can nor will consent to remain upon the cold unsocial footing of a stsmger t and actuated by this generously selfish impulse i one day formally announced to my new friends that as onts of the family they must receive me or not at all fatal error terrible phrase they were of course delighted begged me rfauy to make their house my home and to be with them as frequently as suited my convenience unfortunately i did so it is un necessary to detail the process by which the de light 1 had at first enjoyed in the society of these excellent and agreeable people was gradually dissipatedtho process in short by which i became one of the family suffice it to say that because i am on the most intimare brother ly terms with colonel and mrs fraser because i have adopted mjseif and been adopted by them into their family i have lost it seems all title to their respect all claims to their kindness jvbttr instead of the little handsome little tempting dioners and choice wines with which i was al ways when quite by myself regaled the family dinner viz the plain joii and the plain pudding the cold or hashed remains of yesterdays meat or the sorry remnants of the once sumptuous feast with a meagre supply of port and sherry must serve one of the family jyw a cou ple of dimly burning mould candles not unfre- quently of different lengths supply the place of uitim miwfitmm i hka softly radiant lamps which honored the strmiger these things it is true area mere nothing my only design of mentioning them is to mark a difference but heavier evils follow afttoj be ing one of the family the little members of it per adoption all uproarious and audacious arc let loose upon me yet thoso rude noisy troublesome quarrelsome children arc no longer confined within the limits of their nursery or sent early to their beds because jam no longer copijni they have discovered this they have also discovered that from minding it is glo- significant people sittfrg for ihw pictures as rious fun to ttczt goodnatured mr and ifforsooth any body insignificant by his j hey vent their frolic gaiety now or their unami- own fireside oras if wfcwould have no affec tion for our friends visage or our own without fancying them handsouw o suppose we did itisoncofthemosthartfjw of mortal errors imaginary beauty breed for kindlier feelings than conscious ugliness it were well if all could bclievo themselves conui till they are content to be otherwise but til philosopher the feel ing investigator of humaft nature who loves his species as the children of almighty parent and therefore thinks all belongs to man im portant and interesting form a very differ ent opinion he will irt despise the meanest sketch profile or outline presents an human face he will smile betfgnantly at the veriest dnub that ever stared fro c smoky walla of a club room ifitrepresetf an honest man for he cannot but know ere are or havo been some of his fellow creatures to whom it was dear were tho j imtinum limited as st rome to great and irtwi not only would ma ny worthy citizens limft oilmen eolourmen dealer in canvassc b deprived of their bread but a vast store of innont pleasure would be lost to good people 8pd wor our hearts would miss many profitable hints and sa lutary influence wo ve all too apt to forget the absent and the dead j did wo keep them in our thoughts tw how myici cvil w they preserve us 7 hflw n honld wc dohow many should wo leavo undone if able humors upon or before mc in whose face they dared not once look and in whose presence they feared to let their own bo observed jvbw instead of a mutual intellectual intercourse sub sisting as formerly between my travelled gift ed and experienced friends do we sit dull as monks in the presence of a superior and mute as the fraternity at la trappc colonel fraser be fore oneofth family deems it no infringe ment of etiquette to doze in his choir fairly to stretch his lazy length on the sofa and fall in to a sound snoring slumber to take up book or newspaper and wile away the miserable hours in which he is bored wilh my stupid company to write letters and to enjoin whether dozing reading or writing the itritttsl silence in terms likclheso do bt qdtt or u cant you be silent for one minute my dear love those last tender words pronounced in a tone and accom panied by a look of perfect fury or in a voice attempted to be subdued but tremulous from ill suppressed passion softly soflly good people pray hold your tongues tis very bard that i cant be indulged with a little silence ii mv own house hut i tell you what mrs fraser i shall adopt the plan of passing my evenings in another apartment and your friends 6nd you may then chatter na loud and as long as you please i heartily wish you would retorts the lady so i thought relurnshcrhnsband and you may thereforo rest assured my dear sions and scientific experiments now ik dis sertations upon the fine arts no new publications no beautiful drawings engravings and superbly illustrated works are brought forward expressly for my delectation now no amusing anecdotes and no curious and interesting original facts falling under the weluinfonned narrators obser vation and experience are gleaned in thecoma of their reading in brief no sources of edifica tion and intellectual entertainment are for one of the fomily opened os they havo been to be nefit and delight the stranger no t times are at least to me and manners also sadly altered in the family of colonel and mrs fraser fori have also the mortification of obserring that these same agreeable individuals whonowac- custom themselves to behave so rudely coldly selfishly and disrespectfully lo an old friend are to every nete one that is to every person with whom they are not updn particularly intimate terms as attentive and fascinating as ever and whilst i suffer most acutely whilst ray heart is chilled and saddened by these evident alterations in the disposition and conduct of my excellent friends i can only implore the youth of rach sex inexperienced in the waya of the world if they would visit agreeable people on agreeable terms if they would avoid hearing domestic discussions and jhrs children and ser vants perhaps by turns petted instructed and crudtfcsockt lattftem wfcritoiriai those from whom they arecapable of deriving so great a blessing let them i strenuously urge retain a degree of distance and formality in their acquaintance which shall guarantee respect let them visit pleasant people now and then in a friendly sociable manner but as each value his comfort pleasure and reverential considera tion let him be cautious how he becomes on of the family female attihfi we have no hesitatita in asserting thattils never was a period when the drew of the middle classes was so luxurious and costly as at the present moment the word fashion formerly applied to the duchess of devonshire or the la dy lontderrya of the day and tbe boop and plume mgltgee and flycap were too inconve nient an appendage to the occopations of tha housewife or the menial to admit otgnemi adoption but this is no longer the case ete ry woman from the first lady of thebedhaintoer to the last from the cotintes to the housemaid must be in fashion jf my lady cbooses to wear sleeves a pimbecill pendant from her useless arms my ladyaaid must exhibit aimilai imbe cility no sooner did gigoli inflate themselra round the shoulders of the peerec tbaaovcry cook in london thought proper to ossrimc a style so consonant with her calling flounces waved rooud the taper ancles of the elegant and tho young lady io curl papers who carries overshadow the pavement with her furbelows trimmings were laid aside by the highest and mightiest of fashionable belles and lo from piccadilly to mile end nothing but simple work- bag skirts are to be seen the richly brocaded shawl the plush or velvet bonnet the boa and the silk pelisse appear to haveieconw indispen sable for every woman with a head upon her shoulders a few years ago and a single bargain shop contented the ambition of the metropolis that classical lyric the skein of white worsted at flints will convey to our granddaughters and greatgranddaughters the indisputable fact that grafton house is the parent of those countless depots of riband and tiffany which occupy every sixth house of our commercial streets and are thronged from ten in the morning till ten at night wilh a countless succession of victims to starvation and to that alarming state of the times which still allows pink satin and white gauze to remain indispensable we should like to station joseph hume or the ghost of cocker in comptonstrcct to note the myriads of thete ruined individuals to whom the yard measure of tho haberdasher becomes enchanting as a fairy wand look at the increase of periodicals devoted to female fashion formerly tbe belle aa- scmuee held the mirror up to nature and regu lated the length of waists and ahifcdeof crowoa from penzance to greenock now we have in addition to that venerable chronicle of the graces the ladys magazine the royal ladyv tho world of fashion townscnda costumes the magazine of the bemu monde and half a dozert other vilo faeaimilea of the pihlcouritr dt dams oneoftheae ond incomparably the worst has a circulation of ten thousand copies chiefly among the millinera ond mantuamakers of country towns who can no longer carry on their calling without soma insight into the pariflian mysteries which are no less dear to mrs sconce tbo bnxiora wife tbaa