JOHN BULL

IN HIS OWN PASTURES.

BY A BOSTONIAN.

THE annual regatta took place at Liverpool, as usual. This boat-racing is a favorite sport with the mass of the people, who make a holiday of it, and all orders of the community seem to feel some degree of interest in this aquatic competition.

Rowing-boats, most tastefully decorated with silk awnings and rich canopies, pushed out into the river, challenging any boat's crew to compete with them in their rowing.

The dresses of the men were of a very odd and fanciful kind, imitating ancient sea-gods, but each one furnished with a trident, and personating Neptune such shoals of sucking Neptunes probably never before ventured on his legitimate domain. There was one large boat filled with young men, dressed in tight-fitting, elastic black dresses, close adhering to the skin; their faces painted of a dark tawny color, with streaming mustaches, immense white turbans on their heads, and red scarfs thrown over their shoulders. These styled themselves 'the Americans.' Their boat was a neat clipper-built one, much after the model of those made by Francis in New-York, sitting light and high in the water, and holding from ten to twelve pair of oars. At the outset, they commenced with a speed that promised to out-sweep every thing. Shooting away through the calm waters, all other competitors were at first distanced. Their song of triumph began in loud cadence:

"THE sea! the sea! the open sea;

The blue, the fresh, the ever free!
We're on the sea!'

On, on, clipping through the light waves, went the bird-like boat. Unrivalled and almost unapproached, they now take breath and slacken speed, and rejoice, and refresh themselves, proud gainers of the many hundred pounds that were betted on their prowess; and in the height of their convivial enjoyment, they give no heed to a small boat, manned by some dozen oars, starting at the moment with themselves, and dignified by the name of Jim Crow Boys. These, dressed in a very shabby, nautical pea-jacket attire, with tarpaulin hats and blue jackets, started with very moderate speed, and seemed quite incapable of a contest with the gay Americans.' But after much evident hard work, and dodging here and there to take advantage of the river-currents, and also to avoid certain heavy swells, keeping free of the channel-sweep, and clearing certain sand-bars, somewhat covered and concealed from their opponents by a large steam-boat and a splendid frigate-behold! while the 'Americans' are carousing and rejoicing in success, there they go; the Jim Crow Boys are in advance; and now, now comes the 'tug of oar!' In vain, ye sable 'Americans;' your utmost straining cannot save you now. Your rowing was great, but your discipline was lax; and something less than a half

dozen legitimate Whitehall boys would have rowed you all up 'Salt River.'

There was a great variety of other boats, filled with young men in fantastic costumes, rowing en amateur; but the most amusing sight of the day was, several boats manned by females, dressed in long white cotton robes, fitted tight around their necks, with a belt around their waists, and close-fitting long sleeves, fastened at the wrists. These water-nymphs sat perfectly motionless, with their oars held up, until the booming of a cannon gave the signal for all to start. Plash! plash! go at once the thousands of oars, and off they all cut through the water, to the number of something like forty boats.

These females are generally the wives and daughters of the boatmen, tide-waiters, fishermen, and others engaged on the river in different departments of business. The daughter of a celebrated pilot was said to have won two thousand pounds in a few years of successful river-boat rivalry. On this occasion, they certainly acquitted themselves with much credit in the race, gaining several prizes, and leaving at last the soi-disant 'Americans' in the back waters. The skill and dexterity that they displayed in avoiding opposing circumstances, their knowledge of the particular currents in the river, the turn of the tide, and various other tributary circumstances influencing their speed, evidently showed that they were well skilled in their aquatic vocation. This Chemise Race, as it is called, is usually considered the greatest attraction at the regatta, and large bets are made on the results of their rowing. There are several well-arranged swimming-schools for females, many of which are conducted by skilful women who have been successful competitors in the Chemise Race. The rowing of the men was, generally speaking, quite en amateur, and far inferior to that we had witnessed before.

In the evening of the famous regatta day, the boatmen and rowers, accompanied by their wives, daughters and female friends, repair to the Birkenhead Hotel, and to the various inns and public-houses in the village. Birkenhead, now grown into the dignity of a sea-port, was a village only few years since, of inferior note, on the opposite side of the river

a very

Mersey.

The scenes of vulgarity and abandonment that generally take place at the merry-makings of the common and middling classes of the English people, are probably unequalled in any part of Christendom. Men, women and children, from the lisping babe to the young adult, and many of these evidently not of the lowest class, smoking their digusting tobaccopipes and spitting away right and left; drinking ale, beer, gin, and Jamaica in most surprising quantities; disputing, arguing, singing songs that would put all modesty to the blush; fiddling and dancing; men and women seizing hold of each other, hugging, kicking, shouting, fighting and swearing; altogether made up a scene that it were hard to believe could exist among a people pretending to the usual observances of the ordinary decencies of life.

We had intended to particularize some of the disgusting orgies of that night, but as they could neither 'point a moral nor adorn a tale,' we leave them unnarrated. Suffice it, that vulgar drunkenness, licentiousness and profanity had no restraint; and the most debased and disgusting habits

seemed here to be without control or check. We are well aware that the habits of boatmen, with others of that class, and their wives, are not by any means those from whom we are to expect refinement either of manners or amusements; but the truth is, they generally were the best behaved of all, and in numbers made up but a very insignificant proportion of those present. The regatta is an occasion of general diversion, attended by thousands of the citizens and their families, and it was this class, generally speaking, that figured in the above-mentioned scenes. There were hundreds of young men, such as clerks, shopmen, and trades-people generally, all well dressed, wearing fine broad-cloth, with valuable pins in their shirt-bosoms, and women with embroidered collars, capes, and rich dresses, with their children, too, in many instances, all partaking with great delight in these shameful and disgusting revels.

As the shades of evening deepened the uproar increased. Fighting with the fists seemed to be the most favored mode of combat; some very hard blows were struck, and the combatants covered with blood; several of the females, rushing between the men to separate them, also received some hard knocks, with the blood flowing from their red and inflamed faces. Many, both males and females, were in a state of extreme intoxication, some of whom were lying down on the benches and the grassplat outside the house. This was the first time that we had ever witnessed the English at home in their diversions and holiday sports; but on repeated subsequent occasions of merriment, at their fairs, elections, races, and regattas, similar scenes to those above described very frequently came under our notice.

On our return from Birkenhead to Liverpool, the old black steamer was crowded to a most alarming excess. All of a sudden, when about half-way over, a heavy crash was heard, with a fizzing of the steam, accompanied with the ominous yell of 'Stop her! Stop her!' The boat reeled over to one side, and some of the drunken ones on board, we faithfully believe, became sobered from the excess of their fright. It seems that the stoker, who on this occasion had charge of the boat, was about as drunk as strong drink could possibly make him, and as might in his case be supposed, made some mistake in steering, and thereby ran foul of a large coal-barge that was moored in the river, stove in the forward part of the boat, and otherwise damaged the old rickety craft. The alarm of those on board was certainly not without reason, for the night was very dark, the stoker very drunk, and the current of the river, in the middle of which we then were, was running very strong.

The sudden manifestation of any strong emotion is sometimes not only very odd, but frequently truly ludicrous. One woman on this occasion, more anxious for the safety of the lucre than the life of her son, urged him with much pathos to tie his sovereigns round him in his handkerchief, and with his last breath declare that he gave them to his dear Mary Crowder. But before these arrangements were brought about, the boat was out of danger; the young man escaped a watery grave; Mary Crowder lost her legacy, and Doctors' Commons a fee as to the validity of such a bequest.

There is a great deal of tippling among the English, and the use of strong liquors is very common through all grades of society. Potations

of strong porter and ale, with a vile compound well drugged called English gin, are among the daily beverages of all who can find the means to procure them. Ale-houses, inns, taverns, and drinking-houses of every description abound in every town and village of the kingdom. Look at the groups of people, both male and female, seated of fine Sunday evenings around the doors of all the drinking-houses in the suburbs of London, and in every village of the kingdom; see the quantity of drink consumed at home, too, on the occasion of any family rejoicing, a marriage or a christening, for instance, and in various other circumstances of every-day life; and there will be ample confirmation for the assertion. The strong beer and ale, or half-and-half, that is, a mixture of each, are the usual drinks; these, too, are frequently most shamefully adulterated with cocculus indicus, aloes and colocynth, and sometimes too with a narcotic drug still more injurious to health than either.

The manufacture of artificial brandy, rum and gin is a most extensive business, and one that is tolerated by law. Betts' British brandy is a made-up compound, with a look and taste something like the simulated liquor; and strange as it may appear, certificates with the names of reputable physicians are appended to each bottle, testifying to its innocence and excellence. Pine-apple rum, too, is of the same order of fabricated liquors. The London gin, always savoring strongly of the spirits of turpentine, with the endless slang names by which they are dignified, such as 'Old Tom,' 'Cream of the Valley,' 'Knock 'em Down,' and various others equally expressive, is a made-up liquor of most injurious consequences to the health of the consumer. The same is true of a large proportion of the wines. The juice of gooseberries enters into the composition of much of the champagne wine, with the addition of litharge, or sugar of lead; and regular recipes for making artificial sherry, port, and madeira, are to be found in a very common book, called the Winemaker's Vade Mecum,' and also in another bearing the title of 'The Grocer's Companion.'

That good, potable and wholesome liquors of every description are to be had in this land of many good things, is unquestionably true; but then their prices are so enormous as to be within the reach of the rich only. The excellent and honorable house of Parker and Codman, in Boston, will sell port and sherry for one dollar per bottle, which in London cannot be obtained for less than twelve shillings sterling, nearly three dollars. Good cognac brandy, on which the duties have lately been reduced, sells now from twenty-five to thirty shillings the gallon. Jamaica rum from eighteen to twenty shillings. Port, Sherry, and Madeira wines from five to fifteen shillings per bottle. French wines of every description are exceedingly dear, simply from the enormous excise duties levied upon them.

Much of the tippling in England is, like many other of their habits, quite unsocial and solitary. At the hotels and taverns the lonely man is seen sipping his glass of rum-and-water, his pint of sherry, or his pot of ale, by the hour together, and with oft-repeated additions. There can be no doubt that much of the intemperance so prevalent in England arises from the habit of resorting to the common spirituous liquors, from the impossibility of obtaining any kind of wine at reasonable prices. The fact is notorious, that intemperance is less frequent in countries where wines are

cheap. Now nothing but the excessive duties cause wine to be dear in England. In former times, during the reigns of King Henry the Fourth and Fifth, wines of every description were comparatively cheap; and fat Sir John Falstaff could not have imbibed sack and canary as he did, had they not been reasonable; at least, not until he had robbed the carriers of the king's exchequer upon Gadshill. At the present time, fifteen pence is paid in duty on a bottle of wine, the prime cost of which may vary from two pence half-p -penny to five pence; the common wines of course. The same duty is also paid on that whose original cost is eight or ten shillings the bottle. Here we see the legislation made easy to the rich man, who pays no more duty on his old crusted port or his bees-wing madeira, than does the poor man in common life. But the idea of wine of any kind for the poor in England is preposterous.

The dignified hospitality of a past day in America is now rigidly preserved in England in reference to liquors; the absurd yelpings of itinerant lecturers and disturbers of the peace are hardly listened to, and very generally despised; the matters of drink as well as food are left to every one's individual desires; and in the hospitable house of an English gentleman the tracts of the over-temperate find no place; nor are the absurd ultraisms of the lecturers on this subject regarded in the least degree. On these points every gentleman is of course capable of judging for himself; and in the truly hospitable home of an Englishman no limit is set to the outpourings of either wine or spirits, and he is of course never offended by undue indulgence on the part of his guest.

Many of the distinguished literary men of England have been somewhat remarkable for their social habits. While not visiting any one severely, yet are there few among them who have not been in pretty free custom of libation; paying their devotions either in the tears distilled from the grape, or at the shrine of Saint Cognac. The pleasures of literary conversation, even in the days of Doctor Johnson, were not unmixed with pretty liberal indulgence; and we cannot but believe that the stern old moralist used at times to unbend pretty freely, especially when he left his wife Tetty,' and with Topham, Beauclerk and Goldsmith, went the whole night on a 'frisk. The poets of Ireland and Scotland, too, think no inspiration is equal to that derived from their native potheen, unless it be in a state of amalgamation with the other materials that produce whiskey-punch. In the symposiums of Christopher North and his jolly compeers, the national drink is commemorated in prose no less than it is in illustrious verse, and the Muse is rarely invoked whose Helicon is not savored with something more potent than falls in aquatic draughts.