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C#
 C#

About the Tutorial

C# is a simple, modern, general-purpose, object-oriented programming language
developed by Microsoft within its .NET initiative led by Anders Hejlsberg. This tutorial
covers basic C# programming and various advanced concepts related to C#
programming language.

Audience
This tutorial has been prepared for the beginners to help them understand basics of
c# Programming.

Prerequisites
C# programming is very much based on C and C++ programming languages, so if
you have a basic understanding of C or C++ programming, then it will be fun to learn
C#.

Disclaimer & Copyright

Copyright 2014 by Tutorials Point (I) Pvt. Ltd.

All the content and graphics published in this e-book are the property of Tutorials
Point (I) Pvt. Ltd. The user of this e-book is prohibited to reuse, retain, copy,
distribute or republish any contents or a part of contents of this e-book in any manner
without written consent of the publisher. We strive to update the contents of our
website and tutorials as timely and as precisely as possible, however, the contents
may contain inaccuracies or errors. Tutorials Point (I) Pvt. Ltd. provides no guarantee
regarding the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of our website or its contents
including this tutorial. If you discover any errors on our website or in this tutorial,
please notify us at [email protected].

i
 C#

Contents
About the Tutorial ...................................................................................................................................... i

Audience..................................................................................................................................................... i

Prerequisites............................................................................................................................................... i

Disclaimer & Copyright ............................................................................................................................... i

Contents .................................................................................................................................................... ii

1. OVERVIEW............................................................................................................................. 1

Strong Programming Features of C# .......................................................................................................... 1

2. ENVIRONMENT...................................................................................................................... 3

The .Net Framework .................................................................................................................................. 3

Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for C#.................................................................................... 4

Writing C# Programs on Linux or Mac OS................................................................................................... 4

3. PROGRAM STRUCTURE.......................................................................................................... 5

Creating Hello World Program ................................................................................................................... 5

Compiling and Executing the Program ....................................................................................................... 6

C# Keywords ............................................................................................................................................ 10

4. BASIC SYNTAX...................................................................................................................... 12

The using Keyword .................................................................................................................................. 13

The class Keyword ................................................................................................................................... 14

Comments in C#....................................................................................................................................... 14

Member Variables ................................................................................................................................... 14

Member Functions................................................................................................................................... 14

Instantiating a Class ................................................................................................................................. 14

Identifiers ................................................................................................................................................ 15

C# Keywords ............................................................................................................................................ 15

5. DATA TYPES......................................................................................................................... 17

ii
 C#

Value Type ............................................................................................................................................... 17

Reference Type ........................................................................................................................................ 18

Object Type ............................................................................................................................................. 19

Dynamic Type .......................................................................................................................................... 19

String Type............................................................................................................................................... 19

Pointer Type ............................................................................................................................................ 20

6. TYPE CONVERSION .............................................................................................................. 21

C# Type Conversion Methods .................................................................................................................. 22

7. VARIABLES........................................................................................................................... 24

Defining Variables.................................................................................................................................... 24

Initializing Variables................................................................................................................................. 25

Accepting Values from User ..................................................................................................................... 26

Lvalue and Rvalue Expressions in C#: ....................................................................................................... 26

8. CONSTANTS AND LITERALS.................................................................................................. 28

Integer Literals......................................................................................................................................... 28

Floating-point Literals .............................................................................................................................. 29

Character Constants................................................................................................................................. 29

String Literals........................................................................................................................................... 30

Defining Constants................................................................................................................................... 31

9. OPERATORS......................................................................................................................... 33

Arithmetic Operators............................................................................................................................... 33

Relational Operators................................................................................................................................ 35

Logical Operators..................................................................................................................................... 38

Bitwise Operators .................................................................................................................................... 40

Assignment Operators ............................................................................................................................. 43

Miscillaneous Operators .......................................................................................................................... 46

iii
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content Scribd suggests to you:
 The image of bright Venus; all is still
Too near home to be boasted. They sound
In a far traveller’s ear,
Like the reports of those, that beggingly
Have put out on returns from Edinburgh,
Paris, or Venice; or perhaps Madrid,
Whither a Millaner may with half a nose
Smell out his way; and is not near so difficult,
As for some man in debt, and unprotected,
To walk from Charing Cross to the Old Exchange.
No, I will pitch no neare than the Antipodes;
That which is furthest distant; foot to foot
Against our region.
Lady. What, with their heels upwards?
Bless us, how ’scape they breaking of their necks?
Doct. They walk upon firm earth, as we do here;
And have the firmament over their heads,
As we have here.
Lady. And yet just under us!
Where is Hell then? if they, whose feet are toward us
At the lower part of the world, have Heaven too
Beyond their heads, where’s Hell?
Doct. You may find that
Without enquiry.

Scene, at the Antipodes.

N.B. In the Antipodes, every thing goes contrary to our manners:
wives rule their husbands; servants govern their masters; old
men go to school again, &c.
Son. Servant. Gentleman, and Lady, natives. English Traveller.
 Servant (to his young Master.) How well you saw
Your father to school to day, knowing how apt
He is to play the truant!
Son. But is he not
Yet gone to school?
Servant. Stand by, and you shall see.
Enter three old men with satchels.
All three. (singing) Domine, domine, duster:
Three knaves in a cluster.
Son. O this is gallant pastime. Nay, come on.
Is this your school? was that your lesson, ha?
1st old man. Pray now, good son, indeed, indeed—
Son. Indeed
You shall to school. Away with him; and take
Their wagships with him, the whole cluster of ’em.
2d old man. You sha’nt send us now, so you sha’nt—
3d old man. We be none of your father, so we be’nt—
Son. Away with ’em, I say; and tell their school mistress
What truants they are, and bid her pay ’em soundly.
All three. Oh, oh, oh!
Lady. Alas! will nobody beg pardon for
The poor old boys?
English Traveller. Do men of such fair years here go to school?
Gentleman. They would die dunces else.
These were great scholars in their youth; but when
Age grows upon men here, their learning wastes.
And so decays, that if they live until
Threescore, their sons send them to school again;
They’d die as speechless else as new-born children.
English Traveller. Tis a wise nation; and the piety
Of the young men most rare and commendable.
Yet give me, as a stranger, leave to beg
Their liberty this day.
Son. Tis granted.
Hold up your heads, and thank the gentleman,
Like scholars, with your heels now.
All three. Gratias, gratias, gratias. (exeunt singing.)

[From the “Asparagus Garden,” a Comedy, by the same Author,

1634.]
 Private Conference.
Father-in-Law. You’ll not assault me in my own house, nor urge me beyond my
patience with your borrowing attempts.

Spendthrift Knight. I have not used the word of loan or borrowing;

Only some private conference I requested.

Fath. Private conference! a new-coined word for borrowing of money. I tell you,
your very face, your countenance, tho’ it be glossed with knighthood, looks so
borrowingly, that the best words you give me are as dreadful as Stand and Deliver.
—Your riotousness abroad, and her long night-watchings at home, shortened my
daughter’s days, and cast her into her grave; and ’twas not long before all her
estate was buried too.

Spend. I wish my life might have excused

Her’s far more precious; never had a man
A juster cause to mourn.

Fath. Nor mourn’d more justly, it is your only wearing; you have just none
other; nor have had any means to purchase better any time these seven years, I
take it; by which means you have got the name of the Mourning Knight.
Timothy Hoyden, the Yeoman’s Son, desires to be made a
Gentleman. He consults with his friends.
Moneylack. Well, Sir, we will take the speediest course with you.
Hoyd. But must I bleed?
Mon. Yes, you must bleed; your father’s blood must out.
He was but a Yeoman, was he?
Hoyd. As rank a Clown (none dispraised) as any in Somersetshire.
Mon. His foul rank blood of bacon and pease porritch
Must out of you to the last dram—
Springe. Fear nothing, Sir. Your blood shall be taken out by degrees; and your
veins replenished with pure blood still, as you lose the puddle.
Hoyd. I was bewitch’d, I think, before I was begot, to have a Clown to my
father. Yet my mother said she was a Gentlewoman.
Spr. Said! what will not women say?
Mon. Be content, Sir; here’s half a labour saved: you shall bleed but of one
side. The Mother vein shall not be pricked.

Old Striker, after a quarrelling bout with old Touchwood.

 Touchwood. I have put him into these fits this forty years, and hope to choke
him at last, (aside; and exit.)
Striker. Huh, huh, huh! so he is gone, the villain’s gone in hopes that he has
killed me, when my comfort is he has recovered me. I was heart-sick with a
conceit, which lay so mingled with my flegm, that I had perished if I had not broke
it, and made me spit it out; hem, he is gone, and I’ll home merrily. I would not he
should know the good he has done me for half my estate; nor would I be at peace
with him to save it all. I would not lose his hatred for all the good neighbourhood
of the parish.

His malice works upon me

Past all the drugs and all the Doctors’ counsels,
That e’er I coped with; he has been my vexation
E’er since my wife died; if the rascal knew it,
He would be friends, and I were instantly
But a dead man; I could not get another
To anger me so handsomely.
C. L.

BEAR AND TENTER.

To the Editor.
Morley, near Leeds, July, 1827.
Sir,—On surveying the plays and pastimes of children, in these
northern parts especially, it has often struck me with respect to
some of them, that if traced up to their origin, they would be found
to have been “political satires to ridicule such follies and corruptions
of the times, as it was, perhaps, unsafe to do in any other manner.”
In this conjecture I have lately been confirmed, by meeting with a
curious paper, copied from another periodical work by a contributor
to the old London Magazine, vol. for 1738, p. 59. It is an article
which many would doubtless be glad to find in the Table Book, and
nobody more so than myself, as it would be a capital
accompaniment to my present remarks.
To come at once to the point; we have, or rather had, a few
years ago, a game called the “bear and tenter,” (or bear and bear
warden, as it would be called in the south,) which seems, certainly,
to have been one of the sort alluded to. A boy is made to crawl as a
bear upon his hands and knees, round whose neck is tied a rope
which the keeper holds at a few yards’ distance. The bystanders
then buffet the bear, who is protected only by his keeper, who, by
touching any of the assailants, becomes liberated; the other is then
the bear, and the buffeted bear becomes the keeper, and so on. If
the “tenter” is sluggish or negligent in defence of his charge, it is
then that the bear growls, and the blows are turned upon the
guardian, wholly or partially, as the bearbaiters elect.
Now, my conjecture as to the origin of the game of “bear and
tenter” is this.—Our English youths and their tutors, or companions,
were formerly distinguished in foreign countries by the names of the
bear and the bear leader, from the absurd custom of sending out the
former, (a boisterous, ungovernable set,) and putting them under
the care of persons unfit to accompany them. These bears were at
first generally sprigs of royalty or nobility, as headstrong as need be;
and the tutor was often some needy scholar, a Scotsman, or a
courtier, who knew little more of the world than his pupil; but who,
when he had put on his bag-wig and sword, was one of the most
awkward and ridiculous figures imaginable. While these people were
abroad, there can be no doubt that they were formerly the dupes
and laughingstocks of those who dealt with them; and that, in
exchange for the cash out of which they were cheated, they brought
home a stock of exotic follies, sufficient to render them completely
preposterous characters in the eyes of their own countrymen.
Considering therefore how much good English gold was wasted and
lost in these travels, how hurtful to the national pride the practice
was, and how altered for the worse were both guardian and ward, it
is not to be wondered at if the middling and lower classes of
Englishmen were highly incensed or disgusted. But as complaints
would, at least, be unavailing when such persons as “Baby Charles”
and “Stenny” Buckingham were the “bear and tenter,” the people
revenged themselves, as far as they dared, by the institution of this
game, in which they displayed pretty well what hard knocks, ill
treatment, derision, and scorn, awaited those who forsook their
homes to wander in a land of strangers. And not only so, but they
illustrated, at the same time, the contamination which ensued the
touch of bad tutors, and the general character of the parties
ridiculed.
I am well aware, Mr. Editor, that there was formerly a pastime of
buffeting the bear; but that, as I apprehend, was a very different
sport from that of “bear and tenter,” and had not a political origin.
That this had, I am well assured, from the game being kept up in
these parts, where the Stuarts were ever almost universally
execrated; where patriotism once shone forth in meridian splendour,
and the finest soldiers that the world ever saw, were arranged under
the banners of Cromwell, of Fairfax, or of Lambert.
I remain, yours respectfully,
N. S.

GLANCES AT BOOKS ON MY TABLE.

The History and Antiquities of Weston Favell, in the County of
Northampton. By John Cole, Editor of ‘Herveiana,’ &c.
Scarborough: Printed (only 50 copies) and published by John
Cole; and Longman and Co. London, 1827.—8vo. pp. 74.
According to Mr. Cole, Weston Favell is entered in Domesday
book as “Westone,” and the addition of Favell was derived from a
family of that name, who formerly possessed the manor. From each
of three mansions standing there at the commencement of the last
century, but not one of which remained at its close, the important
equipage of a “coach and six” formerly issued to the admiration of
the villagers. The church is dedicated to St. Peter, “and consists of a
body, south porch, and chancel, with a coped tower at the west end,
containing five bells.” Mr. C. remarks, on the authority of tradition,
that the tower had once a spire to it, which was many years ago
destroyed by lightning; and this observation induces him to cite, by
way of note, that “Tradition is a very poetical, a very pleasing
personáge; we like to meet him in our travels, and always ask him a
question. You will find him grey and blind, sitting among old ruins,
and ‘Death standing, dim, behind.’”
 Mr. Cole copies several monumental inscriptions within the
church, chiefly in memory of the Hervey family, and one especially
on his favourite, viz.:—
HERE LIE THE REMAINS
OF THE REV. JAMES HERVEY, A. M.
LATE RECTOR OF THIS PARISH:
THAT VERY PIOUS MAN
AND MUCH ADMIRED AUTHOR!
WHO DIED DEC. 25TH 1758
IN THE 45TH YEAR OF HIS AGE.
Reader expect no more to make him known
Vain the fond Elegy and figur’d Stone,
A name more lasting shall his Writings give;
There view displayed his heavenly Soul, and live.
Such are the lines on the tomb of the author of the “Meditations
among the Tombs; Reflections on a Flower Garden; and
Contemplations on the Night, and on the Starry Heavens.” He was
buried under the middle of the communion-table in the chancel:
when his body was conveyed to the church it was covered,
according to his express desire, with the poor’s pall. He was the
most popular rector of Weston Favell, of which living he was the
patron and incumbent, as his father had been. Hervey was not born
in that parish, but in the neighbouring one of Hardingston.
 Hervey’s Birth-Place at Hardingston.
In this house (the representation of which is derived from Mr.
Cole’s History of Weston Favell) the author of the “Meditations” first
saw light. He was instructed by his mother in reading till the age of
seven, and then sent to the free grammar-school at Northampton,
where he remained till seventeen, at which age his father placed him
at Lincoln college, Oxford, and there he resided seven years, and
gained an exhibition of twenty pounds. In 1736 he returned to his
father, who was then rector of Weston Favell, and became his
curate. In May, 1737, he succeeded the celebrated George Whitefield
in the curacy of Dummer, Hampshire, and in about a twelvemonth
removed to Stoke Abbey, Devon, where he lived with his friend, Mr.
Orchard, upwards of two years. In 1739 he accepted the curacy of
Bideford, which he retained till his final settlement at Weston Favell,
where he
To ampler plenitude and sweeter days
Proceeded hourly.
It was in Hervey’s native parish, Hardingston, that the battle of
Northampton was fought on the 10th of July, 1460, and king Henry
VI. taken prisoner by the earl of Warwick: the duke of Buckingham,
the earl of Shrewsbury, and other noblemen were killed: and many
of the slain were buried in the convent of Delapre, and at St. John’s
hospital, Northampton. In Hardingston parish is a military work,
supposed to have been raised by the Danes, and therefore called the
Danes’ camp.
The wake of Weston Favell is held on the next Sunday after St.
Peter’s day. In the afternoon the rector preaches an appropriate
sermon, the choristers prepare suitable psalms, and throngs of
visitants from the neighbouring villages attend the service in the
church. During the first three or four days of the feast-week there
are dances at the inns, with games at bowls and quoits, and
throughout the week there are dinner and tea-parties from the
environs, whose meetings usually conclude with a ball. On St.
Valentine’s day the village lads and lasses assemble, and go round
with a wish of “Good morrow, morrow, Valentine!” to the principal
inhabitants, who give money to the juvenile minstrels. On Shrove
Tuesday, at noon, it is the custom to ring one of the church-bells,
called the “Pancake bell;” its sound intimates a holiday and
allowance of sport to the village youngsters. The fifth of November
is jovially celebrated with a bonfire, which may be viewed
throughout a circuit of many miles. Christmas is kept merrily, but the
ancient usages of the season have passed away, except the singing
by the church-choir, of whose carols Mr. Cole produces three, “which
may serve,” he says, “as an addition to Mr. Gilbert’s collection.”
In this “history” there is an engraving of two “figures on bricks,
near the pulpit:” the other engravings are from a former work by Mr.
Cole, entitled “Herveiana,” (2 vols. foolscap 8vo. 1822,) wherein is
collected a large number of particulars concerning Hervey from
various sources. The latter work enumerates from Hervey’s “Theron
and Aspasio,” the plants of the parish, and agreeably describes the
common but beautiful plant, called Cuckoo-pint, or Wake Robin,
which abounds under the hedge-rows. It is spoken of by its scientific
name: “Arum—a wild herb, which unfolds but one leaf, formed after
a very singular pattern, bearing some resemblance to the hare’s ear.
It is really one of the prettiest fancies in Nature’s wardrobe, and is so
much admired by the country-people, that they have dignified it with
the appellation of lords and ladies; because it looks, I suppose,
somewhat like a person of quality, sitting with an air of ease and
dignity in his open sedan. In autumn, after both flowers have
vanished, a spike of scarlet berries, on a simple stalk, is all that
remains.”
On the first publication of Hervey’s “Meditations and
Contemplations,” and for several years afterwards, they were highly
popular, and are still greatly admired by young persons, and others
who are delighted by a florid interjectional manner of writing.
Hervey’s work occurs in Mr. Bohn’s “Catalogue of the Library of the
late reverend and learned Samuel Parr, LL.D.” with the following
remarkable note attached to the volume—“This book was the delight
of Dr. Parr, when he was a boy; and, for some time, was the model
on which he endeavoured to form a style.”
*

ARUM—CUCKOO-PINT—STARCH-WORT.
Old John Gerard, who was some time gardener to Cecil lord
Burleigh, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, says, in his “Herbal,” that
“beares, after they have lien in their dens forty dayes without any
manner of sustenance, but what they get with licking and sucking
their owne feet, do, as soon as they come forth, eate the herbe
Cuckoo-pint, through the windie nature whereof the hungry gut is
opened, and made fit againe to receive sustenance.”
Gerard further tells, that “the most pure and white starch is made
of the roots of Cuckow-pint; but is most hurtful to the hands of the
laundresse that hath the handling of it, for it choppeth, blistereth,
and maketh the hands rough and rugged, and withall smarting.”
From this ancient domestic use of the arum, it was called “Starch-
wort:” it bore other and homelier names, some of them displeasing
to a modern ear.
Gerard likewise relates of the arum, medically, that after being
sodden in two or three waters, whereby it may lose its acrimony,
and fresh put to, being so eaten, it will cut thick and tough humours
in the chest and lungs; “but, then, that Cuckow-pint is best that
biteth most—but Dragon’s is better for the same purpose.”
I know not whether I have fallen in with the sort of arum “that
biteth most,” but, a summer or two ago, walking early in the
afternoon through the green lanes to Willsden, and so to Harrow on
the Hill, its scarlet granulations among the way-side browse and
herbage, occasioned me to recollect the former importance of its
root to the housewife, and from curiosity I dug up one to taste. The
piece I bit off was scarcely the size of half a split pea, yet it gave out
so much acrid milk, that, for more than an hour, my lips and tongue
were inflamed and continued to burn, as if cauterized by hot iron;
nor did the sensation wholly cease till after breakfast the next
morning. Gerard says that, according to Dioscorides, “the root hath a
peculiar virtue against the gout,” by way of cataplasm, blister-wise.
Hervey introduces the flower of the Cuckoo-pint as one of the
beautiful products of the spring. “The hawthorn in every hedge is
partly turgid with silken gems, partly diffused into a milk-white
bloom. Not a straggling furze, nor a solitary thicket on the heath, but
wears a rural nosegay. Even amidst that neglected dike the arum
rises in humble state: most curiously shrouded in her leafy
tabernacle, and surrounded with luxuriant families, each
distinguished by a peculiar livery of green.” I am almost persuaded
that I have seen the fruited arum among the ornaments of gothic
architecture, surmounting pinnacles of delicate shrine-work.
*

MEMORIALS OF JOHN KEATS.

To the Editor.
 Sir,—The anecdote of Keats, which appeared in a late number of
your Table Book,[356] recalled his image to my “mind’s eye” as
vividly, through the tear of regret, as the long-buried pictures on the
walls of Pompeii appear when water is thrown over them; and I
turned to reperuse the written record of my feelings, at hearing him
spoken of a few months since. These lines I trouble you with,
thinking they may gratify the feelings of some one of his friends, and
trusting their homeliness may be pardoned for the sake of the
feeling which dictated them.
I should also be glad of this opportunity to express the wishes of
many of his admirers for a portrait of Keats. There are two in
existence; one, a spirited profile sketch by Haydon; the other, a
beautiful miniature by his friend Severn; but neither have been
engraved. Mr. Severn’s return to England will probably produce some
memorial of his “span of life,” and a more satisfactory account of his
last moments than can be gleaned from report. The opportunity that
would thus be afforded of giving to the world the posthumous
remains of his genius, will, it is to be hoped, not be neglected. Such
a volume would be incomplete without a portrait; which, if seen by
the most prejudiced of his literary opponents, would turn the laugh
of contempt into a look of thoughtful regret. Hoping my rhymes will
not frustrate my wishes, I remain, sir,
Your obliged correspondent,
and humble servant,
Sept. 13, 1827. Gaston.
Extemporaneous Lines, suggested by some thoughts and recollections of
John Keats, the Poet.
Thy name, dear Keats, is not forgotten quite
E’en in this dreary pause—Fame’s dark twilight—
The space betwixt death’s starry-vaulted sky,
And the bright dawn of immortality.
That time when tear and elegy lie cold
Upon the barren tomb, and ere enrolled
Thy name upon the list of honoured men,
In the world’s volume writ with History’s lasting pen.
No! there are some who in their bosom’s haven
Cherish thy mem’ry—on whose hearts are graven
The living recollections of thy worth—
Thy frank sincerity, thine ardent mirth;
That nobleness of spirit, so allied
To those high qualities it quick descried
In others’ natures, that by sympathies
It knit with them in friendship’s strongest ties—
Th’ enthusiasm which thy soul pervaded—
The deep poetic feeling, which invaded
The narrow channel of thy stream of life,
And wrought therein consuming, inward strife.—
All these and other kindred excellencies
Do those who knew thee dwell upon, and thence is
Derived a cordial, fresh remembrance
Of thee, as though thou wert but in a trance.
I, too, can think of thee, with friendship’s glow,
Who but at distance only didst thee know;
And oft thy gentle form flits past my sight
In transient day dreams, and a tranquil light,
Like that of warm Italian skies, comes o’er
My sorrowing heart—I feel thou art no more—
Those mild, pure skies thou long’st to look upon,
Till friends, in kindness, bade thee oft “Begone
To that more genial clime, and breathe the air
Of southern shores; thy wasted strength repair.”
Then all the Patriot burst upon thy soul;
Thy love of country made thee shun the goal
(As thou prophetically felt ’twould be,)
Of thy last pilgrimage. Thou cross’d the sea,
Leaving thy heart and hopes in England here,
And went as doth a corpse upon its bier!
Still do I see thee on the river’s strand
Take thy last step upon thy native land—
Still feel the last kind pressure of thy hand
 Still feel the last kind pressure of thy hand.
A calm dejection in thy youthful face,
To which e’en sickness lent a tender grace—
A hectic bloom—the sacrificial flower,
Which marks th’ approach of Death’s all-withering power.
Oft do my thoughts keep vigils at thy tomb
Across the sea, beneath the walls of Rome;
And even now a tear will find its way,
Heralding pensive thoughts which thither stray.—
How must they mourn who feel what I but know?
What can assuage their poignancy of woe,
If I, a stranger, (save that I had been
Where thou wast, and thy gentleness had seen,)
Now feel mild sorrow and a welcome sadness
As then I felt, whene’er I saw thee, gladness?—
Mine was a friendship all upon one side;
Thou knewest me by name and nought beside.
In humble station, I but shar’d the smile
Of which some trivial thought might thee beguile!
Happy in that—proud but to hear thy voice
Accost me: inwardly did I rejoice
To gain a word from thee, and if a thought
Stray’d into utterance, quick the words I caught.
I laid in wait to catch a glimpse of thee,
And plann’d where’er thou wert that I might be.
I look’d on thee as a superior being,
Whom I felt sweet content in merely seeing:
With thy fine qualities I stor’d my mind;
And now thou’rt gone, their mem’ry stays behind.
Mixt admiration fills my heart, nor can
I tell which most to love—the Poet or the Man.
Gaston.
November, 1826.

[356] Col. 249.

FUNERALS IN CUMBERLAND.

To the Editor.
Sir,—It is usual at the funeral of a person, especially of a
householder, to invite persons to attend the ceremony; and in Carlisle,
for instance, this is done on the day of interment by the bellman, who,
in a solemn and subdued tone of voice, announces, that “all friends
and neighbours of ——, deceased, are requested to take notice, that
the body will be lifted at —— o’clock, to be interred at —— church.”
On this occasion the relatives and persons, invited by note, repair to
the dwelling of the deceased, where they usually partake of a cold
collation, with wine, &c.; and at the outside of the door a table is set
out, bountifully replenished with bread and cheese, ale and spirits,
when “all friends and neighbours” partake as they think proper. When
the preparations for moving are completed, the procession is
accompanied by those persons who are disposed to pay their last
mark of respect to the memory of the deceased. This custom, it has
been remarked, gives an opportunity for “that indulgence which ought
to belong to the marriage feast, and that it is a practice savouring of
the gothic and barbarous manners of our unpolished ancestors.” With
deference to the writer’s opinion, I would say that the custom is
worthy of imitation, and that the assembling together of persons who
have only this opportunity of expressing their respect for the memory
of the deceased, cannot fail to engage the mind to useful reflections,
and is a great contrast to the heartless mode of conducting interments
in many other places, where the attendants frequently do not exceed
half a dozen.
The procession used often to be preceded by the parish clerk and
singers, who sang a portion of the Psalms until they arrived at the
church. This part of the ceremony is now, I understand, seldom
performed.
I am,
Newcastle upon Tyne, Yours, &c.
August, 1827. W. C.

BIDDEN WEDDINGS

In Cumberland.

Sir,—It was a prevalent custom to have “bidden weddings” when a

couple of respectability and of slender means were on the eve of
marriage; in this case they gave publicity to their intentions through
the medium of the “Cumberland Pacquet,” a paper published at
Whitehaven, and which about twenty-nine years ago was the only
newspaper printed in the county. The editor, Mr. John Ware, used to
set off the invitation in a novel and amusing manner, which never
failed to ensure a large meeting, and frequently the contributions
made on the occasion, by the visitors, were of so much importance to
the new married couple, that by care and industry they were enabled
to make so good “a fend as niver to look ahint them.”[357]
A long absence from the county precludes me from stating whether
this “good old custom” continues to be practised: perhaps some of
your readers will favour you with additional information on this
subject, and if they would also describe any other customs peculiar to
this county, it would to me, at least, be acceptable.
The following is a copy of an advertisement, as it appeared in the
Cumberland Pacquet in a number for June, 1803:—
A PUBLIC BRIDAL.

J ONATHAN and GRACE MUSGRAVE purpose having a PUBLIC

BRIDAL, at Low Lorton Bridge End, near Cockermouth, on
THURSDAY, the 16th of June, 1803; when they will be glad to see
their Friends, and all who may please to favour them with their
Company;—for whose Amusement there will be various RACES, for
Prizes of different Kinds; and amongst others, a Saddle, and Bridle;
and a Silver-tipt Hunting Horn, for Hounds to run for.—There will also
be Leaping, Wrestling, &c. &c.
☞ Commodious ROOMS are likewise engaged for DANCING
PARTIES, in the Evening.
 Come, haste to the BRIDAL!—to Joys we invite You,
Which, help’d by the Season, to please You can’t fail:
But should LOVE, MIRTH, and SPRING strive in vain to delight You,
You’ve still the mild Comforts of Lorton’s sweet Vale.
And where does the Goddess more charmingly revel?
Where, Zephyr dispense a more health-chearing Gale,
Than where the pure Cocker, meandring the Level,
Adorns the calm Prospects of Lorton’s sweet Vale?
To the BRIDAL then come;—taste the Sweets of our Valley;
Your Visit, good Cheer and kind Welcome shall hail.
Round the Standard of Old English Custom, we’ll rally,—
And be blest in Love, Friendship, and Lorton’s sweet Vale.
With this, the conclusion of the “bridal bidding,” I conclude, Sir,
Your constant reader,
W. C.
Newcastle upon Tyne,
August, 1827.

[357] An endeavour as to render any additional assistance unnecessary.

Discoveries
OF THE

ANCIENTS AND MODERNS.

No. VIII.

The Milky Way.

That lucid whitish zone in the firmament among the fixed stars,
which we call the “Milky Way,” was supposed by the Pythagoreans to
have once been the sun’s path, wherein he had left that trace of
white, which we now observe there. The Peripatetics asserted, after
Aristotle, that it was formed of exhalations, suspended high in air.
These were gross mistakes; but all the ancients were not mistaken.
Democritus, without the aid of a telescope, preceded Galileo in
remarking, that “what we call the milky way, contained in it an
innumerable quantity of fixed stars, the mixture of whose distant rays
occasioned the whiteness which we thus denominate;” or, to express it
in Plutarch’s words, it was “the united brightness of an immense
number of stars.”
The Fixed Stars—Plurality of Worlds.
The conceptions of the ancients respecting the fixed stars were not
less clear than ours. Indeed, the opinions of the moderns on this
subject have been adopted within a century from those great masters,
after having been rejected during many ages. It would be reckoned
almost an absurdity at present, to doubt of those stars being suns like
ours, each respectively having planets of their own, revolving around
them, and forming various solar systems, more or less resembling
ours. Philosophy, at present, admits this theory, derived from the
ancients, and founded on the most solid reasonings of astronomical
science. The elegant work of Fontenelle, on the “Plurality of Worlds,”
first rendered the conception familiar to common minds.
This notion of a plurality of worlds was generally inculcated by the
Greek philosophers. Plutarch, after giving an account of it, says, that
“he was so far from finding fault with it, that he thought it highly
probable there had been, and were, like this of ours, an innumerable,
though not absolutely infinite, multitude of worlds; wherein, as well as
here, were land and water, invested by sky.”
Anaximenes was one of the first who taught, that “the stars were
immense masses of fire, around which certain terrestrial globes,
imperceptible to us, accomplished their periodic revolutions.” By these
terrestrial globes, turning round those masses of fire, he evidently
meant planets, such as ours, subordinate to their own sun, and
forming a solar system.
Anaximenes agreed with Thales in this opinion, which passed from
the Ionic to the Italic sect; who held, that every star was a world,
containing in itself a sun and planets, all fixed in that immense space,
which they called ether.
Heraclides, and all the Pythagoreans likewise taught, that “every
star was a world, or solary system, having, like this of ours, its sun
and planets, invested with an atmosphere of air, and moving in the
fluid ether, by which they were sustained.” This opinion seems to have
been of still more ancient origin. There are traces of it in the verses of
Orpheus, who lived in the time of the Trojan war, and taught that
there was a plurality of worlds; a doctrine which Epicurus also deemed
very probable.
Origen treats amply of the opinion of Democritus, saying, that “he
taught, that there was an innumerable multitude of worlds, of unequal
size, and differing in the number of their planets; that some of them
were as large as ours, and placed at unequal distances; that some
were inhabited by animals, which he could not take upon him to
describe; and that some had neither animals, nor plants, nor any thing
like what appeared among us.” The philosophic genius of the
illustrious ancient discerned, that the different nature of those spheres
necessarily required inhabitants of different kinds.
This opinion of Democritus surprised Alexander into a sudden
declaration of his unbounded ambition. Ælian reports, that this young
prince, upon hearing Democritus’s doctrine of a plurality of worlds,
burst into tears, upon reflecting that he had not yet so much as
conquered one of them.
It appears, that Aristotle also held this opinion, as did likewise
Alcinoüs, the Platonist. It is also ascribed to Plotinus; who held
besides, that the earth, compared to the rest of the universe, was one
of the meanest globes in it.
Satellites.—Vortices.
In consequence of the ancient doctrine of the plurality of worlds,
Phavorinus remarkably conjectured the possibility of the existence of
other planets, besides those known to us. “He was astonished how it
came to be admitted as certain, that there were no other wandering
stars, or planets, but those observed by the Chaldeans. As for his part,
he thought that their number was more considerable than was
vulgarly given out, though they had hitherto escaped our notice.” Here
he probably alludes to the satellites, which have since been
manifested by means of the telescope; but it required singular
penetration to be capable of forming the supposition, and of having,
as it were, predicted this discovery. Seneca mentions a similar notion
of Democritus; who supposed, that there were many more of them,
than had yet come within our view.
However unfounded may be the system of vortices promulgated by
Descartes, yet, as there is much of genius and fancy in it, the notion
obtained great applause, and ranks among those theories which do
honour to the moderns, or rather to the ancients, from whom it seems
to have been drawn, notwithstanding its apparent novelty. In fact,
Leucippus taught, and after him Democritus, that “the celestial bodies
derived their formation and motion from an infinite number of atoms,
of every sort of figure; which encountering one another, and clinging
together, threw themselves into vortices; which being thoroughly
agitated and circumvolved on all sides, the most subtile of those
particles that went to the composition of the whole mass, made
towards the utmost skirts of the circumferences of those vortices;
whilst the less subtile, or those of a coarser element, subsided
towards the centre, forming themselves into those spherical
concretions, which compose the planets, the earth, and the sun.” They
said, that “those vortices were actuated by the rapidity of a fluid
matter, having the earth at the centre of it; and that the planets were
moved, each of them, with more or less violence, in proportion to their
respective distance from that centre.” They affirmed also, that the
celerity with which those vortices moved, was occasionally the cause
of their carrying off one another; the most powerful and rapid
attracting, and drawing into itself, whatever was less so, whether
planet or whatever else.
Leucippus seems also to have known that grand principle of
Descartes, that “all revolving bodies endeavour to withdraw from their
centre, and fly off in a tangent.”

RELIQUIÆ THOMSONIANA.

To the Editor.
Sir,—The article relating to Thomson, in a recent number of the
Table Book, cannot fail to have deeply interested many of your
readers, and in the hope that further similar communications may be
elicited, I beg to offer the little I can contribute.
The biographical memoranda, the subject of the conversation in
the article referred to, are said to have been transmitted to the earl of
Buchan by Mr. Park. It is not singular that no part of it appears in his
lordship’s “Essays on the Lives and Writings of Fletcher of Saltoun, and
the Poet Thomson, 1792.” 8vo. Mr. Park’s communication was clearly
too late for the noble author’s purpose. The conversation professes to
have been in October, 1791; to my own knowledge the volume was
finished and ready for publication late in the preceding September,
although the date 1792 is affixed to the title.
Thomson, it is believed, first tuned his Doric reed in the porter’s
lodge at Dryburgh, more recently the residence of David Stuart
Erskine, earl of Buchan; hence the partiality which his lordship evinced
for the memory of the poet. At p. 194 of the Essays are verses to Dr.
De (la) Cour, in Ireland, on his Prospect of Poetry, which are there
ascribed to Thomson, and admitted as such by Dr. Thomson, who
directed the volume through the press; although it is certain that
Thomson in his lifetime disavowed them. The verses to Dr. De la Cour
appeared in the Daily Journal for November 1734; and Cave, the
proprietor and editor of the Gentleman’s Magazine, at the end of the
poetical department in that miscellany for August, 1736, states himself
“assured, from Mr. Thomson, that, though the verses to Dr. De la Cour
have some lines from his Seasons, he knew nothing of the piece till he
saw it in the Daily Journal.”
The appellation of the “oily man of God,” in the Essays, p. 258, was
intended by the earl of Buchan for Dr. Murdoch, who was
subsequently a biographer of Thomson. Such designations would
puzzle a conjuror to elucidate, did not contemporary persons exist to
afford a clue to them.
The recent number of the Table Book is not at hand, but from
some MS. papers now before me,—James Robertson, surgeon to the
household at Kew, who married the sister of Amanda, was the bosom
friend of Thomson for more than twenty years. His conversation is
said to have been facetious and intelligent, and his character
exemplarily respectable. He died at his residence on Richmond Green
after four days’ illness, 28th October, 1791, in his eighty-fourth year.
The original MS. of the verses to Miss Young, the poet’s Amanda,
on presenting her with his “Seasons,” printed in the Essays, p. 280,
were communicated by a Mr. Ramsay, of Ocherlyne, to his lordship.
Some other presentation lines, with the Seasons, to the poet Lyttleton,
were transcribed from a blank leaf of the book at Hagley, by
Johnstone, bishop of Worcester, and transmitted by his son to the earl
of Buchan in 1793 or 1794, consequently too late for publication. They
follow here:—
Go, little book, and find our friend,
Who Nature and the Muses loves;
Whose cares the public virtues blend,
With all the softness of the groves.
A fitter time thou can’st not choose
His fostering friendship to repay:—
Go then, and try, my rural muse,
To steal his widowed hours away.
Among the autograph papers which I possess of Ogle, who
published certain versifications of Chaucer, as also a work on the Gems
of the Ancients, are some verses by Thomson, never yet printed; and
their transcripts, Mr. Editor, make their obeisance before you:—
Come, gentle god of soft desire!
Come and possess my happy breast;
Not fury like, in flames and fire,
In rapture, rage, and nonsense drest.
These are the vain disguise of love,
And, or bespeak dissembled pains,
Or else a fleeting fever prove,
The frantic passion of the veins.
But come in Friendship’s angel-guise,
Yet dearer thou than friendship art,
More tender spirit at thine eyes,
More sweet emotions at thy heart.
Oh come! with goodness in thy train;
With peace and transport, void of storm.
And would’st thou me for ever gain?
Put on Amanda’s waning form.
 The following, also original, were written by Thomson in
commendation of his much loved Amanda:—
Sweet tyrant Love, but hear me now!
And cure while young this pleasing smart,
Or rather aid my trembling vow,
And teach me to reveal my heart.
Tell her, whose goodness is my bane,
Whose looks have smil’d my peace away,
Oh! whisper how she gives me pain,
Whilst undesigning, frank, and gay.
’Tis not for common charms I sigh,
For what the vulgar, beauty call;
’Tis not a cheek, a lip, an eye,
But ’tis the soul that lights them all.
For that I drop the tender tear,
For that I make this artless moan;
Oh! sigh it, Love, into her ear,
And make the bashful lover known.
In the hope that the present may draw forth further reliquiæ of the
poet of the “Seasons” in your excellent publication, I beg leave to
subscribe myself,
Sir, &c.
Will O’ The Wisp.
Sept. 17, 1827.

THE BERKSHIRE MISER.

The economy and parsimony of the Rev. Morgan Jones, late curate
of Blewbury, a parish about six miles from Wallingford, were almost
beyond credibility; he having outdone, in many instances, the
celebrated Elwes, of Marcham.
For many of the last years of Mr. Jones’s ministerial labours, he had
no servant to attend any of his domestic concerns; and he never had
even the assistance of a female within his doors for the last twelve
years. The offices of housemaid, chamber-maid, cook, and scullion,
and even most part of his washing and mending, were performed by
himself; he was frequently known to beg needles and thread at some
of the farm-houses, to tack together his tattered garments, at which,
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