114 



KIDD'S LONDON JOUKNAL. 



morning, and never did guest make himself 

 more welcome, nor help himself more at his 

 ease. Sugar, milk, bread and butter, egg, 

 marmalade, and that infinite variety of 

 "spread," in which a bachelor so much de- 

 lights, were ours — were his. He ate till he 

 could eat no longer ; then would he come to 

 us to be cuddled, and suddenly running up 

 our shoulder, he would put his paws, one on 

 each side of our face, and lick our chin all 

 over with his rough tongue. 



Such mimic scenes as these were the joy 

 of our young heart, and never did Master 

 feel himself less alone than when so sur- 

 rounded. We had a large house, and that 

 bachelor's curse, a dishonest housekeeper 

 (who had the art. of turning brandy into 

 toast-and-water, and gin into aqua pura) — 

 and our pet squirrel ; other " pets" were 

 afterwards added, of which, more by-and-by: 

 but none of them caused our little friend to 

 be laid on one side. How well he knew our 

 step ! How eager he was to take his seat 

 at the table, whenever we sat down ! We 

 repeat, all this was the result of mutual 

 affection. We pass over a multitude of 

 endearing good qualities in this prince of 

 squirrels, to speak of his mischievous pro- 

 pensities. 



One morning, on quitting our dressing- 

 room, and going into the drawing-room, we 

 found the carpet apparently covered with 

 snow. It was the comminuted remains of 

 two copies of the Times Newspaper, which 

 Skuggy had reduced into the minutest "vul- 

 gar fractions." Glancing at the mantle-piece, 

 we missed several ornaments ; on looking 

 down, we found " their remains" in the fire- 

 place. Several boys were there without 

 heads ; one lady, an orange merchant, with 

 her arm broken ; and a china elephant had 

 lost his trunk. Various other disasters met 

 our eye. 



Glancing round for the culprit, we could 

 find him, as Jullien says, " No-where at 

 all." At last we spied him, seated aloft, 

 at the extreme end of the silk window- 

 curtains, " looking volumes." He knew well 

 he had done wrong, and that he would be 

 punished for it. He did not descend till he 

 was half famished ; and his contrition being 

 then manifest, we lectured him, kissed him, 

 tickled him — and finally tucked him up as 

 usual, in his snug linen bed. We verily 

 believe he would have broken his little heart, 

 had we not done so. 



We shall return to the squirrel, anon. 



Success. — The surest hindrance to success is 

 to have too high a standard of refinement in our 

 own minds, or too high an opinion of the judg- 

 ment of the public. He who is determined not to 

 be satisfied with anything shorfc of perfection, 

 will never do anything at all, either to please 

 himself or others Hazlitt. 



EEVIEW OF BOOKS. 



The Country House, No. 3. The Ox and the 

 Dairy. 12mo. 



We have already dwelt, at some length, 

 on the two former sections of this popular 

 work. 



This is an equally good, and an equally 

 interesting description of another branch of 

 the same general subject. As a treatise on 

 the merit of the Ox, and the best breeds, it 

 is, as a work of reference, indispensably 

 useful. The wood-cuts are numerous and 

 very spirited. 



From the portion of the work which is 

 assigned to " the dairy," we select a short 

 passage or two on that delicious luxury in 

 which we have all often revelled, clouted 

 cream. Would it were even now near 

 " tea-time," and a sensible " cream-jug," that 

 would hold about a quart, were on th eatable 

 filled! How soon would it be emptied ! 



Devonshire is celebrated for a delicacy pre- 

 pared from the milk, well known as clouted 

 cream. In order to obtain this, the milk is suf- 

 fered to stand in a vessel for twenty-four hours ; 

 it is then placed over a stove, or slow fire, and 

 very gradually heated to an almost simmering 

 state, below the boiling point. When this is 

 accomplished (the first bubble having appeared), 

 the milk is removed from the fire, and allowed 

 to stand for twenty-four hours more. At the 

 end of this time, the cream will have arisen to 

 the surface, in a thick or clouted state, and is 

 removed. In this state it is eaten as a luxury 

 [it is indeed !] ; but it is often converted into 

 butter, which is done by stirring it briskly with 

 the hand or a stick. 



It ought to be a crime, punishable by the 

 judges, ever to allow such cream as this to 

 be made into butter ! Send it all up here, 

 good folk ; for it is well known that there is 

 no GOOD cream to be had in London. How 

 should there be ? Any one can answer the 

 question who looks at the London animals, 

 who are falsely and facetiously said to "give 

 milk!" " Milk !" quotha ; drenched grains, 

 colored with chalk and water ! The cream, 

 say the statistics of London, is "manufac- 

 tured from sheeps' brains, whipped into a 

 froth, and delivered to order." We believe 

 it ; so that if anything of the kind should 

 come before us, when we are " asked out to 

 tea," we shall assuredly say, — Whence comes 

 it? 



On the Advantages of the Study of Natural 

 History. A Lecture delivered at the City 

 of Westminster Literary Institution. By 

 Edwards Crisp, M.D. 8vo. 



This is a very sensible Lecture on an all- 

 engrossing and truly interesting subject ; and 

 we recommend a universal perusal of it. 

 We have ourselves gone over much of the 

 same ground in the columns of the Garden- 



