ON BAKERS AND BREAD. The learned are in great doubt about the time when baking first became a particular profession, and bakers were introduced. It is generally agreed that they had their rise in the East, and passed from Greece to Italy after the war with Pyrrhus, about the year of Rome 593; till which time every housewife was her own baker; for the word pistor, which we find in Roman authors before that time, signified a person who ground or pounded the grain in a mill or mortar to prepare it for bakers, as Varro observes. According to Athenæus, the Cappadocians were the most applauded bakers, after them the Lydians, then the Phoenicians. To the foreign bakers brought into Rome, were added a number of freedmen who were incorporated into a body, or, as they called it, a college; from which neither they nor their children were allowed to withdraw. They held their effects in common and could not dispose of any part of them. Each bakehouse had a patronus, who had the superintendancy thereof; and these patroni elected one out of their number every year, who had the superintendance over the rest, and the care of the college. Out of the body of the bakers, every now and then, one was admitted among the senators. To preserve honour and honesty in the college of bakers, they were expressly prohibited all alliance with comedians and gladiators, each had his shop or bakehouse, and they were distributed into fourteen regions of the city. They were excused from guardianships and other offices, which might divert them from their employment. By our own statutes bakers are declared not to be handicrafts. No man, for using the mysteries or sciences of baking, brewing, surveying, or writing, shall be interpreted a handicraft. 22 H. VIII. cap. 13. The bakers of London make the 19th company, and were incorporated in the year 1307. The art of making bread was not known at Rome until A. U. C. 580. Before this time the Romans prepared their flour into a kind of pap, or soft pudding, for which reason Pliny calls them eaters of pap. Among the ancients we find various kinds of bread, such as panis siligineus, panis secundus, autopyrus, cacabaceus, &c. The French have great varieties of bread; *How different in modern days. A few years ago we had a celebrated pugilist, a baker by trade, called the Master of the Rolls. as queen's bread, alamode bread, bread de Segovie, de Gentilley, quality bread, &c. all prepared in peculiar ways by the bakers at Paris. The bread de Gonesse excels all others, on account of the waters at Gonesse, about three leagues from Paris; it is light, and full of eyes,+ which are marks of its goodness. Bonpournichole or bonpournickel, is the name of a very coarse bread eaten in Westphalia, and many other places. It still retains the name once given it by a French traveller, of bonpournichole, good for his horse Nichole, but is by no means a contemptible kind. It is far from being peculiar to this age or country; it has been known in distant places, and in different ages, and was called by the ancients panis furfuraceus or panis impurus, from its not being so thoroughly cleansed from the husk or bran as the fine sorts of bread are. The wrestlers of old ate only this sort of bread, to preserve them in their strength of limbs; and we may learn from Pliny, that the Romans for 300 years knew no other bread: and it has been said, that this coarse bread nourishes more, assuages hunger better, and generates humours less subject to corruption than the white. In Iceland bread is made from dried cod, likewise in Lapland, whose country affords no corn, and even among the Crim Tartars. In Upper Lusatia, a sort of white earth is found, of which the poor, urged by the calamities of war, make bread. This earth dug out of a hill where they formerly worked at saltpetre, when warmed by the sun, cracks, and small globules proceed from it like meal, which ferment when mixed with meal. Some persons have lived upon it for some time. It will keep for more than six years. P. T. W. THE LEANING TOWER OF The leaning tower of Pisa, so deservedly reckoned one of the greatest architectural wonders of modern Europe, has caused the city to be one of the first places that is visited by Tuscan travellers. The town which formerly stood upon the sea coast, was for ages the emporium of riches and commerce; but the sea deserted it, and as the water flowed from its lofty battlements, the merchants and traders of the East retired with it, leaving nothing but the name ofits former commercial grandeur, + An old proverb says, bread with eyes, and cheese without eyes. which the hand of time has not been able to efface. Upon approaching Pisa from Leghorn, the singularity of its first appearance strikes you with a sensation of pleasing novelty, the houses and public buildings seem as if they were but just white-washed, whilst its leaning tower, purely white, is distinctly seen at one end of it, with trees on either side, and the marble mountains of Carrano for the back ground. Upon entering the city, every thing appears beautiful; what looked white at first still remains so on closer inspection-a novelty that fills with admiration every visitor; but such is the purity of the Italian atmosphere, that the hand of time which so defaces the noblest works of art in this country, there loses its power: in vain do we search for moss-grown walks and crumbling stone. Antiquity still beams forth in the garb of youth! The principal objects of curiosity in Pisa, are the cathedral, the baptistery, the leaning tower, and the Campo Santo, or burial ground; a set of walled cloisters, full of the oldest paintings in Italy. All these buildings are detached-they all stand in a fine open situation-they all look but just built-they are all of marble, and the whole place is extremely clean. The baptistery is a fine doomed building, richly carved, and is used solely for christening in. The cathedral is in the Greek style, of the middle ages, and is said to contain whatever is rich, grand, or masterly, in architecits massy pillars of oriental granite give it a pleasant and diversified appearance; yet the leaning tower is considered Pisa's greatest glory with a mixture of wonder and terror, the beholder views it and instinctively calls out, "It's falling, it falls, it must shortly fall;" yet for ages has it remained, so to more distant time is it calculated to hand down the name of the architect with honour. It was built by William of Inspruck, a German, for the purpose of holding the bells of the cathedral to which it belongs; its height is about 140 feet, and its summit overhangs the perpendicular from the base 14 feet. During the building of the tower, the foundation gave way, from the looseness of the sandy soil on which it is built. Pisa also boasts of a university, with 46 professors, and 80 churches. The city once contained 100,000 inhabitants, but at present there is not above 22,000, so that the grass is seen growing in some of the streets. This city exhibits one ture : of those geological changes which has so often engaged the attention of philo sophers, the sea having now retired from it upwards of five miles, leaving nothing but a barren sterile sand. T. L. PURCHASE OF WIVES. In the Virginia papers lately received, we find some old documents, proving that in the early settlement of that Colony, it was necessary to import from England, young women as wives for the planters. A letter accompanying one of these shipments, and dated London, August 12, 1621, is illustrative of the simplicity of the times, and the concern for the welfare of the colony.It is as follows:-" We send you, in the ship, one widow and eleven maids, for wives for the people of Virginia: there has been especial care had in the choice of them; for there hath not any of them been received but upon good commendations. In case they cannot be presently married, we desire that they be put with several householders that have wives, till they can be provided with husbauds. There are nearly fifty more that are shortly to come, and are sent by our most Honourable Lord and Treasurer, the Earl of Southampton, and contain worthy gentlemen, who taking into consideration, that the plantation can never flourish till families be planted, and the respect of wives and children for their people on the soil; therefore have given this fair beginning, for the reimbursement of whose charges, it is ordered, that every man that marries them, gives 120lbs. of best leaf tobacco for each of them. Though we are desirous that the marriage be free, according to the law of nature, yet we would not have these maids deceived and married to servants, but only to such freemen or tenants as have means to maintain them. We pray you, therefore, to be fathers to them in this business, not enforcing them to marry against their wills." The Gatherer. "I am but a Gatherer and disposer of other men's stuff."-Wotton. EPITAPH On the late tyrannical Dey of Algiers, No TRUTH IN THE LAND.-A WOman, probably decayed in her intellect, stopped a divine in the street, with this salutation, "There is no truth in the land, Sir! There is no truth in the land!" "Then you don't speak truth, good woman," replied the clergyman; "Oh yes I do," returned she hastily; "Then there is truth in the land," rejoined he as quickly. TO CORRESPONDENTS. P. T. W., and Tim T--y--n, in our next. We thank the latter for his hints, which shall be attended to. A Correspondent reminds us that Monday next is the 259th anniversary of Shakspeare's birth-day; and he expresses a hope, in which we join, that every admirer of his genius will do honour to his immortal memory. We are sorry that the letter of our Correspondent reached us too late for insertion this week. The article alluded to by " Amator Veritatis" was taken from the Asiatic Journal. Does not the writer, with whose general sentiments we coincide, mistake the word indulgence for absolution ? Advertisement. DOLBY'S BRITISH THEATRE. A New, Cheap, and Elegant Edition of the Acting Drama. Each separate Play, price Sixpence. Seven Plays will form a volume, and the first play in every volume will be embellished with a Portrait of a distinguished London Performer, drawn expressly for this work by Mr. Wageman. and engraved by Mr. Woolnoth. Each Number is stitched in a neat ornamented wrapper, and is embellished with a Wood Engraving, from an original Drawing (by Mr. I. R. Cruikshank), engraved by Mr. White, representing the most interesting Scene. No. 1. Romeo and Juliet, is embellished with an original PORTRAIT of Miss F. H. KELLY, as JULIET, Drawn expressly for this Work by Mr.Wageman, and Engraved by Mr. Woolnoth: also, a beautiful Wood Engraving of the Tomb of the Capulets. No. 2. She Stoops to Conquer. No. 3. Macbeth. No. 4. Pizarro. No. 5. King Richard III. No. 6. Douglas. No. 7. The Way to get Married. No. 8. Othello. Othello will be embellished, in addition to a fine Wood Engraving of the Death of Desdemona, with a highly finished Engraving of Mr. YOUNG, as lago, by Messrs. Wageman and Woolnoth. DOLBY'S BRITISH THEATRE combines with its cheapness many other attrac tions, not to be found in any other work of a similar nature extant. Its cheapness renders it accessible to all. The Stage Directions and Descriptions of the Costume, render it not only an useful companion to the Theatre, but of obvious utility to provincial Amateurs, and aspirants for theatrical distinction. The sides of entrance and of exit being correctly noted, as well as the Stage Business in general, the work will show the exact manner in which each Play, Opera, or Farce, is conducted in the London The atres. The Managers of the London, as well as those of the Provincial Theatres, will also find their interests combined with those of the Public, in the circulation of this edition of the Acting Plays: the Introductory Remarks prefixed to each play will be principally directed to the illustration of the moral intended to be inculcated by each piece respectively. This feature of the work, the proprietors most respectfully presume, cannot fail to render it peculiarly adapted for the use of family parties, and for the juvenile olass of playgoers in general. Sold by the Booksellers in Bath, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cheltenham, Exeter, Hull, Manchester, Newcastle, Liverpool, Leeds, York, Norwich, Sheffield, Stamford, Notting ham, Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glas gow, &c. &c. The Bookselling Trade are respectfully informed, that the Publisher will at any time exchange one Number for another, of this work, if kept clean, and not cut open. DOLBY, Printer and Publisher, for the Proprietors, 299, Strand, London. Published by J. LIMBIRD, 355, Strand, (East end of Exeter 'Change), and sold by all Newsmen and Booksellers.---Printed by T. DOLBY, 299, Strand. THE dexterity of the Hindoos, in tumbling, rope-dancing and legerdemain, is so much superior to that of Europeans, that the statements of travellers on the subject were much doubt ed, until they were brought to exhibit their singular feats in this country. Nothing is more common in India than to see young girls walking on their heads, with their heels in the air, turning round like a wheel, or walking ou the hands and feet with the body bent backwards. Another girl will bend backwards, plunge her head into a hole about eighteen inches deep, full of water and dirt, and bring up between her lips a ring that was buried in the mud. Two women may frequently be seen dancing together on a rope stretched over tressels; the one playing on the vina or Hindoo guitar, the other holding two vessels brimfull of water, and capering about without spilling a drop. A plank is sometimes fixed to the top of a pole twenty-five feet high, which is set upright; a man then climbs up it, springs backward, and seats himself upon the plank. Another mountebank VOL. I. balances himself by the middle of the body on a bamboo pole, fifteen or eighteen feet high. He first sets it upright, and then climbs up it with his legs and arms, as if it was a firmly rooted tree. On reaching the top, he clings to it with his feet and hands, after fixing the centre of the pole in the middle of his sash, and dances, moving about in all directions to the sound of music, without the pole ever losing its equilibrium. He then descends, takes a boy on his shoulders, climbs up the pole again, and stands on the top on one leg. Sometimes a boy lies across the extremity of the bamboo and holds himself quite stiff for a considerable time. A man lifts up the pole and the boy in that state, and moves them about in all directions without losing the balance. A still more extraordinary feat is performed by the Hindoo women. One of them will sometimes balance herself in a horizontal position, with her arms extended like a person swimming, on the top of a bamboo pole ninety feet high, fixed in the ground. In a short time she seems to have lost her balance, and falls, to the no small Ff terror of the spectators; but this is only one of her customary movements; she catches by one foot in a rope fastened to a bar which crosses the middle of the pole, and remains suspended with her head downward. Broughton, mentioning the exhibition of a set of jugglers, tells us, that he was particularly astonished by the feats of a woman, who rested on her head and feet, with her back towards the earth; two swords, with their blades inwards, were crossed upon her chin, and two others, the blades also inwards, under her neck. She then traversed round in a circle with great rapidity: keeping her head always fixed in the centre, and leaping over the points of the swords, whenever her breast chanced to be downward. A man will balance a sword, having a broad blade, with the point resting on his chin. He will then set a straw upright on his nose or on a small piece of stick, which he holds and keeps moving about with his lips: lastly, he will lay a piece of thin tile on his nose and throw up a small stone, which, falling upon the tile, breaks it in pieces. The Hindoos balance themselves on the slack rope with uncommon skill, by means of a long stick placed on the end of the nose. Sometimes at the top of this stick is set a large tray, from which walnut shells are suspended by threads. In each of these shells is a stick which reaches to the juggler's upper lip. By the mere motion of his lips he throws up these shells one after another upon the tray without deranging any thing, and continuing to balance himself all the time. During this operation he strings pearls upon a horse-hair by means of his tongue and lips alone, and without any assistance from his hands. The feats represented in our engraving are three. The first is a juggler playing on the ground with cups and balls. His posture, which seems less favourable for his tricks than that of people of his profession in Europe, is no drawback from his complete success in the deceptions which he practices, upon the astonished spectators. The trick of swallowing a sword two feet long, or rather of thrusting it down the throat into the stomach up to the hilt, as represented in our engraving, has become very familiar in England by the public exhibitions of Ramo Samee and his companions, natives of India. Before the arrival in Europe of these jugglers, whose speculation is said to have been most profitable, attempts had been made, but unsuccess fully, to induce other professors of the art to come to England for the purpose of exhibition. The Hindoos are not only extremely dextrous themselves, but they have found means to communicate their dexterity to the very brutes. They train bullocks, or buffalos, for instance, to the performance of a very difficult task. A Hindoo lies down upon the ground on his back, and places on the lower part of his stomach a piece of wood cut in the shape represented in the third figure in our engraving. A buffalo at the command of his master sets first one foot and then the other on this piece of wood, and then his two hinder feet in succession, and balances himself upon it. But this is not all; the master of the buffalo places a second pedestal by the side of the first; the animal steps upon it in like manner, and when he has placed all four feet on this moveable column, he balances himself upon it with wonderful dexterity. Goats are also taught to perform the trick, in which we know not whether most to admire the patience or the docility of the animal. BELLS AND BELL RINGING. precisely the date of the useful in- |