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The matter then provided for the reading of the English public consisted of a huge jumble of Pamphlets on the Church-question, Sermons, semi-controversial Treatises of Theology, Political Speeches, fragments of Ecclesiastical History, Prose Invectives and Satires, and latterly, when the Civil War was in progress, an abundance of Diurnals, Intelligencers, Mercuries, and other news-sheets.
The bugle sends forth its blast, loud, clear, and ringing. Off go the boys. "Mein Gott!" cries a tough old fellow from Delft. "They beat every thing, these Amsterdam youngsters. See them!" See them, indeed! They are winged Mercuries, every one of them. What mad errand are they on? Ah, I know: they are hunting Peter van Holp. He is some fleet-footed runaway from Olympus.
But the shepherd-astronomers had knowledge more attractive to offer than a mere series of astronomical discoveries. Their ancestors had Watched from the centres of their sleeping flocks Those radiant Mercuries, that seemed to move Carrying through æther in perpetual round Decrees and resolutions of the gods;
"I have much kindness for you now." "Well, then you had more." "It is in your knowledge why now I have no more." "Yes, it's in my knowledge!" she cried. "Yet I carried Mistress Quinton from Dover." I made no answer to that. She sighed "Heigho," and for a moment there was silence. But messages pass without words, and there are speechless Mercuries who carry tidings from heart to heart.
There will always be in society certain persons who are mercuries of its approbation, and whose glance will at any time determine for the curious their standing in the world. These are the chamberlains of the lesser gods. Accept their coldness as an omen of grace with the loftier deities, and allow them all their privilege.
The hubbub in front of the ladies' cabin grew to a perfect uproar; and, as most of the gentlemen were still in the arms of Morpheus, these noisy Mercuries had it all their own way swearing and shouting at the top of their voices, in a manner that rivalled civilized Europe.
Marble statues representing the Graces, winged Mercuries and Cupids, are so cunningly displayed in relief against the green banks of foliage that they seem the natural inhabitants of the place. Snow-spirits, too, with outspread wings, hover in the air, as if to waft cooling zephyrs through the soft summer night.
These Mercuries appeared at different intervals, but none oftener than three times a week, and their price was generally one penny, but sometimes twopence.
Christianity itself has never, I think, suddenly civilized a race; national habits and opinions cannot be cast off at will without miracle. Hence the fury of Pentheus against the Mænades, and of the Scythians against their King Scylas, and the agitation created at Athens by the destruction of the Mercuries.
Here are the usual pocket-book contents, and the laws, &c. of British sports and pastimes as shooting, angling, hunting, coursing, racing, cricket, and skating: from the latter we subjoin a hint for the benefit of the Serpentine Mercuries; which proves the adage ex liguo non fit Mercurius:
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