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diff --git a/11433-0.txt b/11433-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b6378c --- /dev/null +++ b/11433-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1438 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11433 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. 14, No. 398] SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1829. [PRICE 2d + + + +THE NATURALIST. + + +[Illustration: MANTIS, OR WALKING LEAF.] + +[Illustration: BRANCHED STARFISH.] + +Castles, cathedrals, and churches, palaces, and parks, and architectural +subjects generally, have occupied so many frontispiece pages of our +recent numbers, that we have been induced to select the annexed cuts as +a pleasant relief to this artificial monotony. They are Curiosities of +Nature; and, in truth, more interesting than the proudest work of men's +hands. Their economy is much more surprising than the most sumptuous +production of art; and the intricacy and subtlety of its processes throw +into the shade all the contrivances of social man: a few inquiries into +their structure and habits will therefore prove entertaining to all +classes of readers. + + * * * * * + +1. THE PRAYING MANTIS. + +The Mantis is a species of cricket, and belongs to the Hemiptetera, or +second order of insects. Blumenbach[1] enumerates four varieties:--1. +the Gigantic, from Amboyna, a span long, yet scarce as thick as a +goose-quill, and eaten by the Indians. 2. Gonglyodes, from Guinea. 3. +the Religious Mantis, or Praying Cricket. 4. Another at the Cape, and +considered sacred by the Hottentots. The cut represents the third of +these varieties. + + [1] Manual, translated by Gore. + +It mostly goes on four legs, holding up two shorter ones. The hind legs +are very long; the middle ones shorter. It is sometimes called the +_Dried and Walking Leaf_, from the resemblance of its wing covering, in +form and colour to a dry willow leaf; it is found in China and South +America, and in the latter country many of the Indians believe that +Mantes grow on trees like leaves, and that having arrived at maturity, +they loosen themselves, and crawl or fly away. + +Mr. T. Carpenter[2] has recently dissected the head of this species, in +which he found large and sharp cutting teeth; also strong grinding ones, +similar to those in the heads of locusts: the balls at the ends fit into +sockets in the jaw. The whole length of the insect is nearly three +inches; it is of slender shape, and in its sitting posture is observed +to hold up the two fore-legs slightly bent, as if in an attitude of +prayer, whence its name; for this reason vulgar superstition has held it +as a sacred insect; and a popular notion has often prevailed, that a +child, or a traveller having lost its way, would be safely directed, by +observing the quarter to which the animal pointed, when taken into the +hand. + + [2] Gill's Technological Repository, vol. iv. p. 208. + +Its real disposition is, however, very far from peaceable: it preys with +great rapacity on smaller insects, for which it lies in wait, in the +first mentioned posture, till it siezes them with a sudden spring, and +devours them. It is, in fact, of a very ferocious nature; and when kept +with another of its own species, in a state of captivity, will attack +its fellow with the utmost violence, and persevere till it has killed +its antagonist. Roësal, a naturalist, who kept some of these insects, +observes, that in their mutual conflicts, their manoeuvres very much +resemble those of hussars fighting with sabres; and sometimes the one +cleaves the other through, or severs the head from its body with a +single stroke. During these engagements the wings are generally +expanded, and when the battle is over, the conqueror devours his +vanquished foe. + +Among the Chinese, this quarrelsome disposition in the Mantis, is +converted to an entertainment, resembling that of fighting-cocks and +quails: and it is to this insect that we suppose the following passage +in Mr. Barrow's _Account of China_, alludes:--"They have even extended +their inquiries after fighting animals into the insect tribes, and have +discovered a species of locusts that will attack each other with such +ferocity, as seldom to quit their hold without bringing away at the same +time a limb of their antagonist. These little creatures are fed and kept +apart in bamboo cages; and the custom of making them devour each other +is so common, that during the summer months, scarcely a boy is to be +seen without his cage of locusts."[3] + + [3] Travels in China. + +The country people in many parts of the continent, look upon the +religious Mantis as a divine insect, and would not on any account injure +it. Dr. Smith, however, informs us, that he received an account of this +Mantis, that seemed to savour little indeed of divinity. A gentleman +caught a male and female, and put them together in a glass vessel. The +female, which in this, as in most other insects, is the largest, after a +while, devoured, first the head and upper parts of her companion, and +afterwards the remainder of the body.[4] Roësel, wishing to observe the +gradual progress of these creatures to the winged state, placed the bag +containing the eggs in a large enclosed glass. From the time they were +hatched they were very savage. He put various plants into the glass, but +they refused them, in order to prey upon each other. He next tried +insect food, and put several ants into the glass to them, but they then +betrayed as much cowardice as they had before done of barbarity; for the +instant the Mantes saw the ants, they attempted to escape in every +direction. He next gave them some common house flies, which they seized +with eagerness in their fore claws, and tore in pieces; notwithstanding +this apparent fondness for flies, they continued to destroy each other. +Despairing at last, from their daily decrease, of rearing any to the +winged state, he separated them into small numbers, in different +glasses; but here, as before, the strongest of each community destroyed +the rest. He afterwards received several pair of Mantes in the winged +state, which he separated, a male and female together, into different +glasses; but they still showed a rooted enmity towards each other, which +neither age nor sex could mitigate. The instant they came in sight of +each other, they threw up their heads, brandished their fore-legs, and +each waited the attack. They did not, however, long remain in this +posture; for the boldest throwing open his wings with the velocity of +lightning, rushed at the other, and often tore it in pieces. + + [4] Tour on the Continent. + +The last mentioned species is the supposed idol of the Hottentots; the +person on whom the adored insect happens to light, being considered as +favoured by the distinction of a celestial visitant, and regarded ever +after as a saint. + + * * * * * + +2. BRANCHED STARFISH. + +This is the most curious species of Asterias, or Sea Star. They are +crustaceous animals, and many of the species are noxious to oysters, +others to cod-fish, &c. + +The species represented by the Cut, has five rays, dividing into +innumerable lines or branches. The mouth is in the centre, armed with +sharp teeth, which convey the food into the body, and from this mouth +goes a separate canal through the rays. These the animal, in swimming, +spreads like a net to their full length; and when it perceives any prey +within them, draws them in again with all the dexterity of a fisherman. +It is an inhabitant of every sea; and is called by some the Magellanic +starfish and _basketfish_. When it extends its rays fully, it forms a +circle of nearly three feet in diameter; and Blumenbach tells us that +82,000 extremities have been reckoned in one of these curious creatures. + +In another species of the Asterias, the power of reproduction is +particularly-striking. "I possess one," says Blumenbach, "in which +regeneration had begun of the 4 rays that had been removed out of 5 +which it originally possessed." We have picked up on the seashore many +of the species to which he alludes, and they are much less rare than +that in the Cut. Of the latter we have seen three or four specimens--one +in a small Museum at Margate, and, we think, two others in the Museum in +the _Jardin des Plantes_, at Paris. They resemble a bunch or knot of +dark brown small rope or cord. + +There is a popular idea among the Norwegians, that this animal is the +young of the famous Kraken, of which Pontoppidan has related so many +wonders.[5] This monster, it will be recollected, is supposed to live in +the depths of the sea, rising occasionally, to the great danger of the +ships with which it comes in contact, at which times the projection of +its back above the surface of the sea, resembles a floating island. + + [5] Nat. Hist. Norway. + +Blumenbach has some sensible observations on this subject. When all that +has been said about it is carefully examined, it is clear that various +circumstances have given rise to the misconception. Much of it is +applicable to the whale;[6] much is referable to thick, low, fog-banks, +which even experienced seamen have mistaken for land,[7] an opinion +coinciding with what has been said of this same Kraken, by a Latin +author of considerable antiquity. + + [6] See, for instance, the narrative of an accident from the + rising of such an animal, in W. Tench's "Account of the + Settlement at Port Jackson." + + [7] See a remarkable instance in _Voyage de la Perouse autour du + Monde_, vol. iii. p. 10. + + * * * * * + +We are persuaded that our readers will be delighted with these +attractive facts in the history of the Mantis and Starfish. The +Illustrations themselves are extremely interesting and effective; but in +order to gratify the admirer of Art as well as the lover of Nature, we +have selected for the _Supplement_ published with this Number, a +splendid Engraving of the city of _Verona_, from a Drawing by the late +J.P. Bonington. + + * * * * * + + +CATS. + +(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.) + + +Having read an interesting account of the "Veneration of Cats in ancient +days," in a recent number of your entertaining and useful publication, I +am induced to send you the following respecting the part they formed in +the religious worship of the middle ages:-- + +In Mills's "History of the Crusades", we meet with the following:--"At +Aix in Provence, on the festival of _Corpus Christi_, the finest tom cat +of the country, wrapped in swaddling clothes like a child, was exhibited +in a magnificent shrine to public admiration. Every knee was bent, every +hand strewed flowers or poured incense, and grimalkin was treated in all +respects as the god of the day. But on the festival of _St. John_, poor +tom's fate was reversed. A number of the tabby tribe were put into a +wicker basket, and thrown alive into the midst of an immense fire +kindled in the public square by the bishop and his clergy. Hymns and +anthems were sung, and processions were made by the priests and people +in honour of the sacrifice." + +It is well known that cats formed a conspicuous part in the old religion +of the Egyptians, who under the form of a cat, symbolized the moon or +Isis, and placed it upon their Systrum, an instrument of religious +worship and divination. + +Cats are supposed to have been first brought to England by some +merchants from the Island of Cyprus, who came hither for fur. + +The prices and value of cats and kittens, mentioned by your +correspondent, _P.T.W._ were fixed by that excellent prince, _Hoel dda_, +or Howel the Good. _Vide Leges Wallicae_, p. 427 and 428. + +[Greek: S.G.] + + * * * * * + + +TO MISS MITFORD, + +_On reading her "Lines to a Friend, who spent some days at a country +inn, in order to be near the writer."_ + +IN NO. 386, OF THE MIRROR. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + + "My noble friend! was _this_ a place for thee? No fitting place" + "No fitting place" to meet thy "noble friend," + Where "heart with heart" and "mind with mind" might blend? + "No fitting place?" now, lady, dost thou wrong + The magic might that appertains to song, + And humbly I refute thee--though it seem + Uncourtly bold; for at Castalian stream + I never drank; but oft my spirit bows + Before that altar where thy genius glows: + And who can fail to worship who have seen + _Foscari's_ frenzy in thy tragic scene? + Beheld _Rienzi_ light the latent fire + Of swelling liberty in son and sire; + Or left the seven-hilled city's Roman pride-- + With Caesar's pump, and Tiber's classic tide; + And wander'd with thy muse to homely bowers, + Of verdant foliage wreathed with varied flowers. + But pardon, lady, scarcely need I tell, + That song delights in Nature's haunts to dwell; + Eschews the regal robe and stately throne, + To walk, enraptured, in a world its own. + O'er _sylvan_ scenes the muse her radiance flings; + And hallows wheresoe'er she rests her wings. + And thou, all joyous in her blessed smile, + (Soft as the moonbeam on a monkish pile,) + Art gifted with the godlike power to give + A speechless charm to meanest things that live; + And lifeless nature where thy voice is heard, + Like midnight music of the summer bird, + Receives new lustre. E'en the "taper's" light, + Which in the lowly inn illumed the night, + The "wood-fire" warm, and "casement swinging free," + Were stamp'd with teeming interest by thee. + What higher bliss than listening by thy side + Within that cot thy genius sanctified? + Though on thy "noble friend" the diamond shone, + Thy words were richer than the precious stone; + Though on that head there bent the rarest plume, + Thy looks could well a loftier air assume; + Though theirs the pride of coronet and crest, + Thyself wert clad in Inspiration's vest: + And all these baubles, beauteous in the sight, + Might veil their lustre in thy glorious light. + + Then, lady, call it not a "_selfish_ strain," + Thy supplicating wish to "come again." + Deem not the "village inn" "no fitting place" + To greet congenial feeling face to face; + To learn that genius no distinction knows. + But doats upon the meanest flower that blows; + Where e'en thy friends might drop their title's claim, + Forgetting honoured race and ancient name; + Where round your souls the flowers of song might twine, + Lost in the rapture of the bard's design. + +* * H. + + * * * * * + + + +RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS. + + + * * * * * + + +TOUCHING FOR THE CURE OF THE KING'S EVIL. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +The author of a treatise on this subject, tells the following anecdote, +which may in some degree account for the numbers registered at +Whitehall, (who were _touched_) which were from the year 1660 to 1664 +inclusive, a period of five years, 23,601; and from May 1667 to May +1684, 68,506; viz. an old man who was witness in a cause, had by his +residence fixed the time of a fact, by Queen Anne having been at Oxford, +and _touched_ him while a child, for the cure of the evil. When he had +finished his evidence, the relater had an opportunity of asking him +whether he was really cured. Upon which he answered with a significant +smile, "that he believed himself never to have had a complaint, that +deserved to be considered as the _evil_, but that his parents were poor, +and _had no objection to the bit of gold_." + +When King Charles II. _touched_ at Whitehall, he usually sat in a chair +of state, and put about each of their necks a white ribbon, with an +_angel_ of gold on it. Query.--Was not this the _original golden or +angelic_ ointment? + +Edward the Confessor is generally mentioned as the first possessor of +this art; although the historians of France are disposed to maintain, +that it was originally inherent in their kings. + +Dr. Johnson's mother is said to have been instigated by the advice of a +celebrated physician, Sir John Floyer, to bring her son to London for +the purpose of receiving the remedy, and it is recorded that he was +_touched_ by Queen Anne. + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + +ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE AMONG THE EGYPTIANS. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +The Egyptians were exceedingly exact about the administration of +justice, believing that the support or dissolution of society altogether +depended upon that. Their highest tribunal was composed of thirty +judges. They placed at the head of this tribunal the person who at once +possessed the greatest share of wisdom, knowledge, and love of the laws, +and public esteem. The king furnished the judges with every thing +necessary for their support, so that the people had justice rendered +them without expense. _No advocates were allowed_ in this tribunal. The +parties were not even allowed to plead their own causes. All trials were +carried on _in writing_, and the parties themselves drew up their own +cases. Those who had settled this manner of proceeding well knew that +the eloquence of advocates _very often darkened the truth, and misled +the judge_. They were unwilling to expose the ministers of justice to +the deceitful charms of pathetic, affecting orations. The Egyptians +avoided this by making each party draw up the statement of his own case +in writing, and they allowed a competent time for that purpose.[8] But +to prevent the protracting of suits too long, each party was only +allowed one reply. When all the evidence necessary for their information +was given to the judges, they began their consultation. When the affair +was thoroughly canvassed, the president gave the signal for proceeding +to a sentence, by taking in his hand a little image adorned with +precious stones, which hung to a chain of gold about his neck. This +image had no eyes, and was the symbol with which the Egyptians used to +represent Truth. Judgment being given, the president touched the party +who had gained the cause with this image. This was the form of +pronouncing sentence. According to an ancient law, the kings of Egypt +administered an oath to the judges at their installation, that if the +king should command them to give an unjust sentence, they would not obey +him. + + [8] All this must be understood with some limitations, otherwise + we must suppose that all the inhabitants of Egypt had not only + learned to write, but that they had sufficient talents and + knowledge of the laws, to draw up their own defences, which is + not to be supposed. This law then must have been liable to some + exceptions and modifications. We must say the same thing of + other countries where they tell us there are no advocates, and + that all trials are carried on in writing, as in Siam, China, + Bantam, &c. _Origin of Laws, G.M. Gognet_. + + * * * * * + + + +THE TOPOGRAPHER. + + + * * * * * + + +CLIFTON HOT WELLS. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + + Glide, Avon, gently glide.... + More prodigal in beauty than the dreams + Of fantasy,... beneath the chain + Of mingled wood and precipice, that seems + To buttress up the wave, whose silvery gleams + Stretch far beyond, where Severn leads the train. + +Gilpin says, and says truly, that "the west is the region of fine +landscape;" it also follows as a natural consequence that it +predominates in the number of its artists. The beautiful vignette of +Clifton in a recent number of the MIRROR,[9] has recalled a multitude of +interesting recollections to my mind. I have passed a good deal of time +there at several periods, and as the writer of the description +accompanying the vignette has been led into an error or two, perhaps a +few desultory notes by way of _pendant_ to his paper, may not be +entirely devoid of interest to the reader. + + [9] See MIRROR, No. 390. + +The old Tower on the Downs no longer exists. A Tower designed for an +observatory has been erected near its former site, which is fitted up +with several large telescopes, and a camera obscura, to which the public +are admitted. This Tower which is seen in the engraving, stands, as +stated, on an extensive Roman camp, or fortification. It would have been +difficult to have selected a more appropriate situation for such a +building; for the combination of picturesque and sublime scenery, united +with the beauties of art, is no where more enthrilling to the mind than +at Clifton. + +Clifton Hot Wells has long been celebrated as a watering-place. +Smollett, in his "Humphry Clinker," has given a very interesting picture +of its society in the middle of the last century. Clifton is now, +however, considerably neglected. Omnipotent fashion has migrated to +Cheltenham, though no comparison can be made with Clifton on any other +score. The natives of the Emerald Isle, indeed, since the introduction +of steam navigation, come in crowds to the Hot Wells. Though the "music +of the waters" cannot be heard there, yet you may in a few hours be +transported to scenes where Ocean revels in his wildest grandeur. Few +places are more favourably situated for the tourist. There is a regular +communication by steam with the romantic and interesting coasts of North +Devon and South Wales; while the sylvan Wye, Piercefield, Ragland, and +above all, Tintern, are within the compass of a day's excursion. Clifton +can boast of much architectural magnificence: its buildings rising from +the base to the summit of a crescent-shaped eminence remind me, in a +distant view, of an ancient Greek city; while the tiers of crescents +have a singularly fine effect, and seem to fill a sort of gap in the +landscape. + +The rise of the tide in the Avon, in common with most of the ports on +the Bristol Channel, is a very extraordinary phenomenon. The whole +strength of the mighty Atlantic seems to rush up the Channel with +impetuous force. At Rownham Ferry, five miles inland, near the entrance +to Cumberland-Basin, the spring-tides frequently rise thirty-seven feet. +The tide rises at Chepstow, farther up the Severn, more than sixty feet, +and a mark on the rocks below the bridge there, denotes that it has +risen to the height of seventy feet, which is perhaps the greatest +altitude of the tides in the world. + +The views on the Downs, above the Hot Wells, are infinitely varied and +delightful, and glimpses constantly occur of the Avon + + "Winding like cragged Peneus, through his foliaged vale," + +while "ocean fragrance" is wafted around. The scenery on the Avon is +said strikingly to resemble the vale of Tempe in Greece. The student of +nature may there enjoy "communion sweet," with all that his heart holds +dear as life's blood. How often have I wandered through that valley of +cliffs by the light of the "cold, pale moon," watching their dark and +gigantic masses and silvery foliage, thrown into bold outline on the sky +above, with not an echo, save the solitary cry of the bittern; and +perhaps only aroused by an impetuous steamer, like some unearthly thing, +rushing rapidly past me. Parties of musicians sometimes place themselves +amongst the rocks at night when the effect is extremely fine. Perhaps +autumn is the fittest season for enjoying these scenes. At that season +the many coloured liveries of the foliage, the lonely woodland +wilderness and rocky paths, and the mists which in the earlier part of +the day linger on the tops of the cliffs and woods, when partially +dispersed by the suns rays, give a character of vastness and sublimity +to the scenery which it would be difficult to describe. I would +particularly point out on these occasions the view from the hill near +the new church at Clifton, towards Long Ashton, and Dundry Tower. + +I visited the latter place during the last summer. It was a glorious +sunset in July, when after climbing a long and mazy turret-stair, we +stood at the summit of Dundry Tower. A magnificent landscape of vast +extent, stretching around on every point of the compass, burst almost +simultaneously on the sight, embracing views of the Bristol Channel, the +mountains of South Wales and Monmouthshire, the Severn, Gloucestershire +and the Malvern Hills, Bath, the Vale of White Horse in Berkshire, and +the Mendip Range; while at the foot of the rich champagne valley below +you, which gradually descends for about five miles, lies the city of +Bristol with its numerous fine churches; and a splendid view of Clifton +completed the scene. This may be said to be a succession of truly +English landscapes. + +The recollection of such a moment as this, is treasured up in the memory +as a green spot in the oasis of existence. Fancies come thickly crowding +on the mind, which banish for the moment, all feelings of the drear +realities of life; if one may be pardoned for being sometimes romantic, +it is surely on such occasions as these. We descended the tower--"Please +remember the Sexton----!" + +The church of Dundry is of great antiquity, and the tower, which is one +of the most extraordinary in England, is a fine specimen of early church +architecture. + +There is another tower, remarkable for the beauty of its situation, +which overlooks the Avon, about two miles west of Clifton, at the +extremity of the Downs. It is of an octagonal shape, and its name +(Cooke's Folly) is said to be derived from the following circumstance:-- +Several centuries since, the proprietor of the land, a gentleman named +Cooke, dreamed that his only son was destined to be killed by the sting +of an adder. This idea took such hold of his mind, that in order to +avert the dreaded catastrophe, he built this tower, to which he rigidly +confined his son. The tradition goes on to relate the futility of all +human precautions against the decrees of fate: for a short period after +the erection of the tower, an attendant happening to bring in some +bundles of fagots in which an adder was coiled, the youth was stung by +it and died in consequence. + +There has been a beautiful lithographic engraving, published in Bristol, +of Cooke's Folly, which includes a view of King's Road. + +VYVYAN. + + * * * * * + + + +MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS. + + + * * * * * + + +THE GERMANS AND GERMANY. + +_Translated from a German Work, in the Foreign Review, No. 8._ + + +Pope Ganganelli compared the Italians with the fire, the French with the +air, the English with the water, and us Germans with the earth, _omne +simile claudicat_. The German is not so nimble, brisk, and witty as the +Frenchman; the latter gallops _ventre à terre_, whilst the German at the +utmost trots, but holds out longer. The German is not so proud, +humoursome, and dry as the Englishman; not so indolent, bigoted, and +niggardly as the Italian; but a plain, faithful, modest fellow, +indefatigable, staid, quiet, intelligent and brave, yet almost always +misknown, purely from his constitution. The words of Tacitus still are +true: "_nullos mortalium armis aut fide ante Germanos_." Should you +class the four most cultivated nations of Europe, according to the +temperaments, the German would be Phlegma; and as such, I, a German, in +German modesty, which foreign countries should duly acknowledge, can +assign it only the fourth rank. Among the English, whims are mixed in +every thing; amongst the French, gallantry; among the Spaniards, +bigotry; among the Germans, when things can go halfway, _eating_, +_drinking_, and _smoking_; and the last is the true support of Phlegma. +Genius with the Germans, tends to the root, with the French to the +blossom, with the British to the fruit. The Italians are imagination; +the French, wit; the English, understanding; the Germans, memory. In +colonies, Spaniards commence by building a church and cloister; +Englishmen a tavern; Frenchmen a fort, where, however, the dancing-floor +must not be wanting; the Germans by grubbing the field. A riding-master +distinguished them even by their modes of riding; the English hop, the +French ride like tailors, the Italian sits on his steed like a frog in +the air-pump, the Spaniards sleep there, the Russians wind the upper +part of their bodies like puppets, and the German alone sits still like +a man--man and horse are one as with the Hungarians. + +The royal oak, the favourite tree of our fathers, requires centuries for +its full developement, and so long do we also require. The oak is a +fairer symbol of the German nation than the German postboy, from which +original most foreigners appear to judge of us. A postilion in the +north, however, is the true representative of Phlegma. Bad or good +roads, bad or good weather, bad or good horses and coach, curses or +flattery from the traveller--nothing moves him if his pipe-stump be but +smoking, and his schnaps paid. + +The hereditary enemy of our neighbours is levity, ours heaviness. In the +ancient bass-fiddle, Europe, the thickest string is the German, with +deep tone and heavy vibration; but once in vibration, it hums as if it +would go on humming for an eternity. Our primitive ancestors deliberated +on every thing twice--in drunkenness, and in sobriety; and then they +acted. But we, with the most honest and slowest spirit of order--which +might, without danger, be spared many _reglemens_--we lost all +elasticity, and sank dismembered into a stupid spirit of slavery, which +originated in our passion for imitation, our faintheartedness, and our +uncommonly low opinion of ourselves, which often looks like true dog +humility. This humility the French have in view, when if naughtily +treated by their superiors, by the police, &c., they cry out "Est ce +qu'on me prend pour un Allemand?" The Englishman is fond of being +represented as a John Bull, but John Bull pushes about him. We, however, +are personified by the German _Michel_, who puts up with a touch on the +posterior, and still asks, "What's your pleasure?" + +Voltaire sang of the Marechal de Saxe:-- + + "Et ce fier Saxon que lion _croit nè parmè nous_," + +exactly like a Maitre d'Hôtel, who, whenever he wished to flatter me, +used to say, "Vous savez, Monsieur, je vous regarde _presque_ comme +Français." Voltaire was not ashamed at Berlin, when the Prussian +soldiers did not enact the Roman legions to his mind, to exclaim in the +midst of German princesses, "F----j'ai demandé des hommes, et on me +donne des Allemands!" Marechal Schomberg, to whom the impertinent +steward, on committing a fault, said, "Parbleu, on me prendra pour un +Allemand!" would long ago have set them to rights with his answer, "On a +tort, on devrait vous prendra pour un sot!" + +To be, not to seem, is still the fairest feature in the character of +my--I had almost said nation--of my quiet, thrifty, contented, diligent, +honest countrymen. The German, at first glance, appears rarely what he +is, and strikes the stranger as awkward and heavy. Yet, behind this +plain quiet outside, there often dwells a cultivated mind, reflection, +and deep feeling of duty, honour, diligence, and domestic virtue. In our +father-land, honesty is universally at home; and during the night, you +are safer on the highways and in the forests, than in the streets of +Paris or London. "When in foreign countries," says an old author, "I +fall in with a man too helpless for a Frenchman, too ceremonious for an +Englishman, too pliable for a Spaniard, too lively for a Dutchman, too +cordial for an Italian, too modest for a Russian--a man pressing towards +me with oblique bows, and doing homage with ineffable self-denial to all +that seems of rank; then my heart, and the blood in my face, says, 'that +is thy countryman.'" How true! and how often have I lighted on such +countrymen. + +North Germany commences as soon as you leave behind you Nurenberg and +Cassel. Cassel, in comparison with Hamburg resembles an Italian town. +The Thuringian Forest separates north and south. The north is a +coast-land, commerce its destination; the south inland: hence +agriculture and industry are more suitable. The spirit of the South +German is more directed to what is domestic: a fruitful soil rewards his +labour, and alleviates it by the juice of the grape. The mouths of his +rivers and his harbours allure the North German into foreign lands; his +father-land is there, where he finds what he seeks, and what his own +country has denied him. The South German must hence be more +self-dependent, for he has a father-land at home full of blessing and +beauty;--the North German has to seek one elsewhere; and this makes him +more pliant, more polished, more active; but also more ostentatious, +less to be confided in, more adventurous. This distinction is primeval. +The North Germans mingled themselves with the Britons, Gauls, Italians, +and Slavonians; the Alemanni and Bavarians remained in their native +country. + +The southern sky draws forth a vegetable world more luxuriant, fierier, +spicier; the northern, a much duller, waterier, colder, and the men are +so too, except where government and education have powerfully +encroached. In the north the people have evidently less fancy and +feeling, less genialness and versatility, even flatter, duller +physiognomies, but also evidently greater intelligence, more +consideration, seriousness, and constancy. The wastes, storms, and +floods, the unthankful, sandy, moory country, must of themselves make +the people more serious, more enterprising, more capable of contentment +than in the south, where Nature is not so like a step-mother, nay, has +flattered her favourites, thereby rendering them light-minded, indolent, +and desirous of enjoying. Here the flesh triumphs over the spirit; there +the spirit over the flesh, "_nos besoins sont nos forces_!" + +The North German is hence more solid, gloomier, more retired, less +kindly. Here you may still find the athletic forms of Tacitus, with blue +eyes and yellow, or, more properly, red hair, which are rarer in the +south. In the north the men seem to me more handsome, in the south the +women. The South German is softer, and on the other hand his speech +harder. The North German, though without wine, writes many a noble +catch, which we in the south troll over our wine. The inhabitants of the +wine countries have fewer singers of wine than those of the beer +countries; the latter sing of it, the former are fonder of drinking it. +It is as with songs of love; one sings of his mistress, seldom of his +wife. + +The North and South German bear the same relation to each other as beer +and schnaps to wine, as bilberries to grapes, as butter and cheese to +roast and dessert, as mountains and levels, as leagues and miles. In the +south or wine land prevails a lighter, sprightlier, tone of intercourse; +in the land of beer and schnaps with its moist air, all seems more +dubious and measured; and thus the moment of enjoyment passes over. The +sex is livelier in the south and more complaisant, without on that +account being more wanton. In the south there is everywhere more nature, +in nature herself as in man, and most of all with the sex. In the north +more culture and art, in the south more natural capability, as well as +more nature and life. + +The southern climate is softer, hence the wine; and the loose, light, +fruitful soil compensates for the high, bare mountains. In the south we +are more advanced in gardening, agriculture, tillage, and cattle-breeding. +The south is not only richer in towns, palaces, and gardens, but also in +excellently built villages of stone, and not of wood and earth. In the +north many such villages would be called towns. What a difference +between our cleanly cottages, and the filthy huts and half-stalls of the +north. The very waters in the south are clear, flowing, rustling; in the +north muddy, sneaking, stagnant. There the fountains gush spontaneously +from the rocks; here they must first be dug out of the earth. The south +extracts its treasures from the soil; the north more from commerce and +manufactures. There the national capital is more in the hands of the +nobility (the church) and the peasantry; here more in those of the +merchant and manufacturer. Prussia, Saxony, Hanover, &c. are more free +from debt than Austria, Bavaria, Würtemberg, Baden, &c., because in the +former there is less feasting and revelry; but the latter countries in +themselves are richer, fuller of enjoyment. North Germany, in regard to +road police, post regulations, inns, meat, drink, and lodging--large +towns excepted--is in a state of semi-barbarism compared with the south. + +Among all the North Germans the Saxon is the friendliest, distinguished +by culture, diligence, and high spirit of contentment. But it is strange +what a difference the Elbe makes between him and his neighbour. The +Brandenburger or Prussian is vivacious, talkative, ceremonious, often +dogmatical; the Saxon considerate, reserved, poorer in words; the +former, prepossessed with what is new, feels delight in public places, +loves to shine, and is the man of the world; the Saxon rather hates what +is new, wishes to enjoy in silence in the circle of his own, and loves +rural nature. Frugality is common to both; but it will go hard before +other things become common between Prussians and Saxons. The Hessians +have long distinguished themselves by bravery and military spirit, which +leads to hardiness, patience, and contentment with little. Among the +North Germans, those who live on the sea-coasts seem to me the rudest +and most different from the South Germans; but the Prussians least of +all. + +The Swabian and Franconian is lively, loquacious, genial; and the +Rheinlander is so in a still higher degree; but among the former I think +there will be found more true-heartedness, inoffensiveness, and +simplicity of manners, especially with the female sex, where it borders +on _naïveté_. This good-nature which, as it were, surrenders itself, +while others are lying in wait, and is hence easily over-reached, or +leaves others the advantage, very naturally gave rise to the false +proverb:--"The Swabian does not come to the years of discretion till +forty." Swabians, Franconians, and Rheinlanders are our true +sanguineans; and the last altogether our German-French, who dance +through life like their Rhine-gnats. + +The Bavarian is straight-forward, frank but dry, blunt, and he has +hitherto been ruder, more ignorant, more fond of quarrel and drinking, +more given up to superstition and old things than others; for his land +was the home of priestcraft and monkery. You may ever distinguish the +national Bavarian by his nervous squat body, small round head, and +beer-belly, immediately beneath which the trousers begin; hence the +braces or belt is indispensible. The showy belt, is, as in the Tyrol, +matter of national pomp, so with the girls the boddice; and both are as +little known in the north as the platted hair of the maidens--perhaps +relics of the knight's girdle, bandalier, and breastplate; for noble +knighthood flourished chiefly in the south. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY. + + + * * * * * + + +GEOGRAPHICAL. + +_The Niger_. + + +Sir Rufane Donkin's new hypothesis respecting the Nile, briefly stands +thus: The Niger (Ni-Geir) passes through Wangara, and emptying itself +into the Wad-El Ghazeh, or Nile of Bornou, which is formed by the +continuation of the Misselad (Geir) through Lake Fittre, flows under the +sands of Bilmah into the Mediterranean Sea. Sir Rufane is likewise of +opinion--that "reasoning from analogy, and still more from what we know +of the nature of the country, I have no doubt but that in very remote +ages, the united Niger and Geir did roll into the sea in all the +magnificence of a mighty stream, forming a grand estuary or harbour +where now the quicksand is."--"The question to be solved under such a +supposition is, what revolution in nature can have produced so great a +change in the face of the country, as to cause a great river which once +flowed into the sea, to stop short in a desart of sand." "We know from +all recent, as well as from some of the older modern travellers, that +the sands of the desarts west of Egypt, are encroaching on, and +narrowing the valley of the Nile of Egypt. We see the pyramids gradually +diminishing in height, particularly on their western sides, and we read +of towns and villages which have been buried in the desart, but which +once stood in fertile soils, some of whose minarets were still visible a +few years ago, attesting the powers of the invading sand. The sphynx, +buried almost up to the head, till the French cleared her down to the +back, attested equally the desolating progress of this mighty +sand-flood."--"And if we turn to the valley of the Nile of Egypt, we +shall see at this moment the very process going on by which the lower +part of the Niger, or Nile of Bornou has been choked up and obliterated +by the invasion of the Great Sahara, under the names of the desarts of +Bilmah and Lybia. Thus has been rubbed out from the face of the earth a +river which had once its cities, its sages, its warriors, its works of +art, and its inundations like the classic Nile; but which so existed in +days of which we have scarcely a record." + +_La Perouse._ + +Before quitting Vanikoro, off which island La Perouse was wrecked, M. de +Urville, captain of the Astrolabe, constructed a monument there, bearing +the inscription, "To the memory of La Perouse and his companions. The +Astrolabe, 14 March, 1828." Among the relics which have been withdrawn +with great difficulty from beneath the waves, are a very strong anchor, +and two stout troughs. + +_Siberia._ + +Professor Hansteen and his companions were at Tobolsk, on the 12th of +September, whence they travelled on sledges, the cold being at 40 +degrees Reamur, so that frozen quicksilver could be cut with a knife. + +_The Desart._ + +The opinion generally formed of Desarts is completely erroneous, +according to Mrs. Charles Lushington, who, in her recent Travels, says, +"Though much variety of country or occurrence cannot be expected in the +Desart, I may with truth assert, that the passage through it was, to me, +very interesting and agreeable. For the three first stages, the road was +diversified by some irregularities of ground, and remarkable passes +through the rocky mountains; but the course of our journey in general, +lay through an arid plain of sand and stones, about two miles in +breadth, bounded by rocks of sandstone of an almost uniform appearance. +On the second day's march, I saw one or two trees, and the road was so +varied, that I could then scarcely believe myself in a desart, which I +had always pictured to my imagination as a dreary and interminable +plain, with heavy loose sand, curled into clouds by every breath of +wind." + + * * * * * + +_Stilts._ + +In south-western France, the shepherds make stilts of long poles with +the thigh-bone of an ox fastened at a moderate height from the ground, +as a support for the foot, and to enable them to distinguish the +approach of wolves at a greater distance. + +_Embalming._ + +There are three modes of embalming among the Egyptians: one of these +consists in the injection of some antiseptic drugs previous to drying +the body; but the most perfect and sumptuous is thus effected: The +viscera are removed, and the body sprinkled with aromatics and natron. +After drying, it is enveloped in folds of gummed linen, and placed in +coffins. The great principle of embalming is the exclusion of the +external air, but much is attributable to antiseptics. One of the +principal ingredients in the mummy balsam is colocynth, or bitter apple, +powdered. The same drug is employed in Upper Egypt for destroying vermin +in clothes' presses, and store-rooms; and ostrich feathers sent to Lower +Egypt are sprinkled with it. A recent traveller found in the head of a +mummy, of a superior kind, a balsam, in colour and transparency like a +pink topaz. It burned with a beautiful clear flame, and emitted a very +fragrant odour, in which cinnamon predominated. In the heart of one of +the mummies he found about three drams of pure nitre; the heart being +entire, this must have been injected through the blood-vessels. Mummy +powder was formerly in use all over Europe as a medicine, and is still +employed as such among the Arabs, who mix it with butter, and esteem it +a sovereign remedy for internal and external ulcers. + +_Sulphur._ + +It is well known that sulphur which has been recently fused, does not +immediately recover its former properties; but no one suspected that it +required whole months, and even a longer period, fully to restore +them.--_From the French_. + +_Sympathetic Ink._ + +Write on paper with a weak solution of nitrate of mercury, and the +characters will become black, when held to the fire. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS + + + * * * * * + + +A SINGULAR LETTER FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA. + +_Communicated by Mr. Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd_. + + +MY DEAR FRIEND, + +In my last I related to you all the circumstances of our settlement +here, and the prospect that we had of a peaceful and pleasant +habitation. In truth, it is a fine country, and inhabited by a fine race +of people, for the Kousies, as far as I have seen of them, are a simple +and ingenuous race. + +You knew my Agnes from her childhood--you were at our wedding at +Beattock, and cannot but remember what an amiable and lovely girl she +then was; and when she was going about our new settlement with our +little boy in her arms, I have often fancied that I never saw so lovely +a human being. + +The chief Karoo came to me one day with his interpreter, whom he caused +to make a long palaver about his power, and dominion, and virtues, and +his great desire to do much good. The language of this fellow being a +mixture of Kaffre, High Dutch, and English, was peculiarly ludicrous, +and most of all so when he concluded with expressing his lord's desire +to have my wife to be his own, and to give me in exchange for her four +oxen, the best that I could choose from his herd! + +As he made the proposal in presence of my wife, she was so much tickled +with the absurdity of the proposed barter, and the manner in which it +was expressed, that she laughed immoderately. Karoo, thinking she was +delighted with it, eyed her with a look that surpasses all description, +and then caused his interpreter to make another palaver to her +concerning all the good things she was to enjoy; one of which was, that +she was to ride upon an ox whose horns were tipped with gold. I thanked +the great Karoo for his kind intentions, but declared my incapability to +part with my wife, for that we were one flesh and blood, and that +nothing could separate us but death. He could comprehend no such tie as +this. All men sold their wives and daughters as they listed, I was told, +for that the women were the sole property of the men. When I told him +finally that nothing on earth could induce me to part with her, he +seemed offended, bit his thumb, knitted his brows, and studied long in +silence, always casting glances at Agnes of great pathos and +languishment, which were perfectly irresistible, and ultimately he +struck his spear's head in the ground, and offered me ten cows and a +bull for my wife, and a choice virgin to boot. When this proffer was +likewise declined, he smiled in derision, telling me I was the son of +foolishness, and that _he foretold I should repent it_. + +My William was at this time about eleven months old, but was still at +the breast, as I could never prevail on his lovely mother to wean him, +and at the very time of which I am speaking, our little settlement was +invaded one night by a tribe of those large baboons called +ourang-outangs, pongos, or wild men of the woods, who did great mischief +to our fruits, yams, and carrots. From that time we kept a great number +of guns loaded, and set a watch; and at length the depredators were +again discovered. We pursued them as far as the Keys river, which they +swam, and we lost them. + +Among all the depredators, there was none fell but one youngling, which +I lifted in my arms, when it looked so pitifully, and cried so like a +child, that my heart bled for it. A large monster, more than six feet +high, perceiving that he had lost his cub, returned brandishing a huge +club, and grinning at me. I wanted to restore the abominable brat, for I +could not bear the thought of killing it, it was so like a human +creature; but before I could do this, several shots had been fired by my +companions at the hideous monster, which caused him once more to take to +his heels, but turning oft as he fled, he made threatening gestures at +me. A Kousi servant that we had, finished the cub, and I caused it to be +buried. + +The very morning after that but one, Agnes and her black maid were +milking our few cows upon the green: I was in the garden, and William +was toddling about pulling flowers, when, all at once, the women were +alarmed by the sight of a tremendous ourang-outang issuing from our +house, which they had just left. They seemed to have been struck dumb +and senseless with amazement, for not one of them uttered a sound, until +the monster, springing forward, in one moment, snatched up the child and +made off with him. Before I reached the green where the cows stood, the +ourang-outang was fully half a mile gone, and only the poor, feeble +exhausted women running screaming after him. Before I overtook the +women, I heard the agonized cries of my dear boy, my darling William, in +the paws of that horrible monster. I pursued, breathless and altogether +unnerved with agony; but, alas! I rather lost than gained ground. + +These animals have this peculiarity, that when they are walking +leisurely or running down-hill, they walk upright like a human being; +but when hard pressed on level ground, or up hill, they use their long +arms as fore-legs, and then run with inconceivable swiftness. When +flying with their own young, the greater part of them will run nearly +twice as fast as an ordinary man, for the cubs cling to them with both +feet and hands, but as my poor William shrunk from the monster's touch, +he was obliged to embrace him closely with one paw, and run on three, +and still in that manner he outran me. Keeping still his distance before +me, he reached the Keys river, and there the last gleam of hope closed +on me, for I could not swim while the ourang-outang, with much +acuteness, threw the child across his shoulders, held him by the feet +with one paw, and with the other three stemmed the river, though then in +flood, with amazing rapidity. It was at this dreadful moment that my +beloved babe got his eyes on me as I ran across the plain towards him, +and I saw him holding up his little hands in the midst of the foaming +flood, and crying out, "Pa! pa! pa!" which he seemed to utter with a +sort of desperate joy at seeing me approach. + +Alas, that sight was the last, for in two minutes thereafter the monster +vanished, with my dear child, in the jungles and woods beyond the river, +and then my course was stayed, for to have thrown myself in, would only +have been committing suicide, and leaving a destitute widow in a foreign +land. I was quickly aroused by the sight of twelve of my countrymen +coming full speed across the plain on my track. They were all armed and +stripped for the pursuit, and four of them, some of whom you know, Adam +Johnstone, Adam Haliday, Peter Carruthers, and Joseph Nicholson, being +excellent swimmers, plunged at once into the river and swam across, +though not without both difficulty and danger, and without loss of time +continued the pursuit. + +The remainder of us, nine in number, were obliged to go half a day's +journey up the river, to a place called Shekah, where the Tambookies +dragged us over on a hurdle; and we there procured a Kousi, who had a +hound, which he pretended could follow the track of an ourang-outang +over the whole world. We kept at a running pace the whole afternoon; and +at the fall of night, came up with Peter Carruthers, who had lost the +other three. A singular adventure had befallen to himself. He and his +companions had agreed to keep within call of each other; but as he +advanced, he conceived he heard the voice of a child crying behind him +to the right, on which he turned off in that direction, but heard no +more of the wail. As he was searching, however, he perceived an +ourang-outang steal from a thicket, which, nevertheless, it seemed loath +to leave. When he pursued it, it fled slowly, as if with intent to +entice him in pursuit from the spot; but when he turned towards the +thicket, it immediately followed. Peter was armed with a pistol and +rapier; but his pistol and powder had been rendered useless by swimming +the river, and he had nothing to depend on but his rapier. The creature +at first was afraid of the pistol, and kept aloof; but seeing no fire +issue from it, it came nigher and nigher, and seemed determined to have +a scuffle with Carruthers for the possession of the thicket. At length +it shook its head, grinning with disdain, and motioned him to fling the +pistol away as of no use; it then went and brought two great clubs, of +which it gave him the choice, to fight with it. There was something so +bold, and at the same time so generous in this, that Peter took one as +if apparently accepting the challenge; but that moment he pulled out his +gleaming rapier, and ran at the hideous brute, which frightened it so +much, that it uttered two or three loud grunts like a hog, and scampered +off; but soon turning, it threw the club at Peter with such a certain +aim, that it had very nigh killed him. + +He saw no more of the animal that night; but when we found Carruthers, +he was still lingering about the spot, persuaded that my child was +there. We watched the thicket all night, and at the very darkest hour, +judge of my trepidation when I heard the cries of a child in the +thicket, almost close by me, and well could distinguish that the cries +proceeded from the mouth of my own dear William. We all rushed +spontaneously into the thicket, and all towards the same point; but +found nothing. I cried on my boy's name, but all was again silent, and +we heard no more. He only uttered three cries, and then we all heard +distinctly that his crying was stopped by something stuffed into his +mouth. Before day, we heard some movement in the thicket, and though +heard by us all at the same time, each of us took it for one of our +companions moving about; and it was not till long after the sun was up, +that we at length discovered a bed up among the thick branches of a +tree, and not above twelve feet from the ground; but the occupants had +escaped, and no doubt remained but that they were now far beyond our +reach. + +We then tried the dog, and by him we learned the way the fliers had +taken; but that was all, for as the day grew warm, he lost all traces +whatever. We searched over all the country for many days, but could find +no traces of my dear boy, either dead or alive; and at length were +obliged to return home weary and broken-hearted. + +About three months after this sad calamity, one evening, on returning +home from my labour, my Agnes was missing, and neither her maid-servant, +nor one of all the settlers, could give the least account of her. My +suspicions fell instantly on the Kousi chief, Karoo, for I knew that he +had been in our vicinity hunting, and remembered his threat. I and three +of my companions now set out and travelled night and day, till we came +to the chief's head-quarters. Karoo denied the deed; but still in such a +manner that my suspicions were confirmed. I threatened him terribly with +the vengeance of his friend captain Johnstone, and the English army at +the Cape, saying, I would burn him and all his wives and his people with +fire. He wept out of fear and vexation, and offered me the choice of his +wives, or any two of them, shewing me a great number of them, many of +whom he recommended for their great beauty and fatness; and I believe he +would have given me any number if I would have gone away satisfied. But +the language of the interpreter being in a great measure unintelligible, +we all deemed that he said repeatedly that Karoo _would not give the +lady up_. + +What was I now to do? We had not force in our own small settlement to +compel Karoo to restore her; and I was therefore obliged to buy a +trained ox, on which I rode all the way to the next British settlement, +for there are no horses in that country. There I found captain Johnstone +with three companies of the 72nd, watching the inroads of the savage +Boshesmen. He was greatly irritated at Karoo, and dispatched lieutenant +McKenzie, and fifty men along with me, to chastise the aggressor. When +the chief saw the Highlanders, he was terrified out of his wits; but, +nevertheless, not knowing what else to do, he prepared for resistance, +after once more proffering me the choice of his wives. + +Just when we were on the eve of commencing a war, which must have been +ruinous to our settlement, a black servant of Adam Johnstone came to me, +and said that I ought not to fight and kill his good chief, for that he +had not the white woman. I was astonished, and asked the Kaffre what he +meant, when he told me that he himself saw my wife carried across the +river by a band of pongos, (ourang-outangs), but he had always kept it a +secret, for fear of giving me distress, as they were too far gone for +pursuit when be beheld them. He said they had her bound, and were +carrying her gently on their arms, but she was either dead or in a +swoon, for she was not crying, and her long hair was hanging down. + +A whole year passed over my head like one confused dream; another came, +and during the greater part of it my mind was very unsettled. About the +beginning of last year, a strange piece of intelligence reached our +settlement. It was said that two maids of Kamboo had been out on the +mountains of Norroweldt gathering fruits, where they had seen a pongo +taller than any Kousi, and that this pongo had a beautiful white boy +with him, for whom he was gathering the choicest fruits, and the boy was +gambolling and playing around him, and leaping on his shoulders. We +applied to Karoo for assistance, who had a great number of slaves from +that country, much attached to him, who knew the language of the place +whither we were going, and all the passes of the country. He complied +readily with our request, giving us an able and intelligent guide, with +as many of his people as we chose. We raised in all fifty Malays and +Kousis; nine British soldiers, and every one of the settlers that could +bear arms, went with us, so that we had in all nearly a hundred men, the +blacks being armed with pikes, and all the rest with swords, guns, and +pistols. We journeyed for a whole week, travelling much by night, and +resting in the shade by day, and at last we came to the secluded +district of which we were in search, and in which we found a temporary +village, or camp, of one of these independent inland tribes. + +From this people we got the heart-stirring intelligence, that a whole +colony of pongos had taken possession of that country, and would soon be +masters of it all; for that the Great Spirit had sent them a Queen from +the country beyond the sun, to teach them to speak, and work, and go to +war; and that she had the entire power over them, and would not suffer +them to hurt any person who did not offer offence to them; that they +knew all she said to them, and answered her, and lived in houses and +kindled fires like other people, and likewise fought rank and file. That +they had taken one of the maidens of their own tribe to wait upon the +Queen's child; but because the girl wept, the Queen caused them to set +her at liberty. + +I was now rent between hope and terror--hope that this was my own wife +and child, and terror that they would be rent in pieces by the savage +monsters rather than given up. Of this last, the Lockos (the name of +this wandering tribe) assured us, we needed not to entertain any +apprehensions, for that they would, every one of them die, rather than +wrong a hair of their Queen's head. That very night, being joined by the +Lockos, we surrounded the colony by an extensive circle, and continuing +to close as we advanced. By the break of day we had them closely +surrounded. The monsters flew to arms at the word of command, nothing +daunted, forming a close circle round their camp and Queen, the +strongest of the males being placed outermost, and the females inmost, +but all armed alike, and all having the same demure and melancholy +faces. The circle being so close that I could not see inside, I went +with the nine red-coats to the top of a cliff, that, in some degree, +overlooked the encampment, in order that, if my Agnes really was there, +she might understand who was near her. Still I could not discover what +was within, but I called her name aloud several times, and in about five +minutes after that, the whole circle of tremendous brutal warriors flung +away their arms and retired backward, leaving an open space for me to +approach their Queen. + +In the most dreadful trepidation I entered between the hideous files, +being well guarded by soldiers on either hand, and followed by the rest +of the settlers; and there I indeed beheld my wife, my beloved Agnes, +standing ready to receive me, with little William in her right hand, and +a beautiful chubby daughter in her left, about two years old, and the +very image of her mother. The two children looked healthy and beautiful, +with their fur aprons, but it struck me at first that my beloved was +much altered: it was only, however, caused by her internal commotion, by +feelings which overpowered her grateful heart. + +As soon as Agnes was somewhat restored, I proposed that we should +withdraw from the camp of her savage colony; but she refused, and told +me, that she behoved to part with her protectors on good terms, and that +she must depart without any appearance of compulsion, which they might +resent; and we actually rested ourselves during the heat of the day in +the shades erected by those savage inhabitants of the forest. My wife +went to her hoard of provisions, and distributed to every one of the +pongos his share of fruit, succulent herbs, and roots, which they ate +with great composure. + +Agnes then stood up and made a speech to her subjects, accompanying her +expressions with violent motions and contortions, to make them +understand her meaning. They understood it perfectly; for when they +heard that she and her children were to leave them, they set up such a +jabbering of lamentation as British ears never heard. We then formed a +close circle round Agnes and the children, to the exclusion of the +pongos that still followed behind, howling and lamenting; and that night +we lodged in the camp of the Lockos, placing a triple guard round my +family, of which there stood great need. We durst not travel by night, +but we contrived two covered hurdles, in which we carried Agnes and the +children, and for three days a considerable body of the tallest and +strongest of the ourang-outangs attended our steps. + +We reached our own settlement one day sooner than we took in marching +eastward; but then I durst not remain for a night, but getting into a +vessel, I sailed straight for the Cape. + +My Agnes's part of the story is the most extraordinary of all. The +creatures' motives for stealing and detaining her appears to have been +as follows:-- + +These animals remain always in distinct tribes, and are perfectly +subordinate to a chief or ruler, and his secondary chiefs. For their +expedition to rob our gardens, they had brought their sovereign's sole +heir along with them, as they never leave any of the royal family behind +them, for fear of a surprisal. It was this royal cub which we killed, +and the Queen his mother having been distractedly inconsolable for the +loss of her darling, the old monarch had set out by night to try if +possible to recover it; and on not finding it, he seized on my boy in +its place, carried him home in safety to his Queen, and gave her him to +nurse! She did so. Yes she positively did nurse him at her breast for +three months, and never child throve better than he did. By that time he +was beginning to walk, and aim at speech, by imitating every voice he +heard, whether of beast or bird; and it had struck the monsters as a +great loss, that they had no means of teaching their young sovereign to +speak, at which art he seemed so apt. This led to the scheme of stealing +his own mother to be his instructor, which they effected in the most +masterly style, binding and gagging her in her own house, and carrying +her from a populous hamlet in the fair forenoon, without having been +discovered. + +Agnes immediately took her boy under her tuition, and was soon given to +understand that her will was to be the sole law of the community; and +all the while that they detained her, they never refused her aught, save +to take her home again. Our little daughter she had named Beatrice, +after her maternal grandmother. She was born six months and six days +after Agnes's abstraction. She spoke highly of the pongos, of their +docility, generosity, warmth of affection to their mates and young ones, +and of their irresistible strength. At my wife's injunctions, or from +her example, they all wore aprons: and the females had let the hair of +their heads grow long. It was glossy black, and neither curled nor +woolly, and on the whole, I cannot help having a lingering affection for +the creatures. They would make the most docile, powerful, and +affectionate of all slaves; but they come very soon to their growth, and +are but shortlived, in that way approximating to the rest of the brute +creation. They live entirely on fruits, roots, and vegetables, and taste +no animal food whatever. + +I asked Agnes much of the civility of their manner to her, and she +always describes it as respectful and uniform. For awhile she never +thought herself quite safe when near the Queen, but the dislike of the +latter to her arose entirely out of the boundless affection for the boy. +No mother could possibly be fonder of her offspring than this +affectionate creature was of William, and she was jealous of his mother +for taking him from her, and causing him to be weaned. But then the +chief never once left the two Queens by themselves; they had always a +guard day and night. Win. MITCHELL. + +Vander Creek, +Near Cape Town. +Oct. 1. 1826. + +_Blackwood's Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER + + + A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. + SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +BEFORE AND AFTER DINNER. + + +When Queen Elizabeth dined with Sir Thomas Gresham, before she proceeded +to name the Royal Exchange, Sir Thomas pledged her majesty in a cup +containing a pearl made into powder, of the value of £1,000. So runs the +story, but we should think Sir Thomas superior to such a piece of +ostentatious folly. The display of his grasshopper crest on the +pinnacles of the Old 'Change was in much better taste. + +The old fashion of transacting public business _after dinner_ is not +unworthy of remark and contrast with the present custom. In 1696, the +foundation-stone of Greenwich Hospital was laid by John Evelyn, with a +select committee of commissioners, and Sir Christopher Wren, precisely +at five in the evening, _after they had dined together_, Flamstead, the +royal astronomer, observing the time punctually by his instruments. In +our days the only public business transacted _after dinner_ is that of +parliament, and the alteration of this to the morning has often been +suggested: but if the motto _in vino veritas_ hold good, it were better +left as it is. + +All public business in England is an occasion of eating and drinking, +which gave rise to "wretches hang that jurymen may dine." Gourmands of +fruit all flock to the Horticultural Society's dinner for the sake of +its dessert; and by a recent regulation, tea, coffee, and cakes are +handed round at the evening meetings of the Antiquarian and other +societies. + +Professor Jameson, in noticing the Berlin Geographical Society, says, +"It does not give prizes, nor publish a journal, but confines itself to +its meetings, which, agreeably to the custom of the country, are +concluded by a jovial banquet." Thus, we are not alone in our festal +predilections, and were all meetings of our public societies terminated +like those of the Fellows of Berlin, science would become more popular, +and the lovers of good living be gainers. Still, we recommend the +fellows to keep out of their after-dinner conversations, all such topics +as the course of the Niger, or the position of a new magnetic pole. + +Q. + + * * * * * + + +BELLS. + + + Bells are for all things, all events: + For victories, for fires. + For hanging crimes with ill intents, + Or law proscribed desires. + For this, St. Bride her turret rocks, + For that St. Dunstan rings; + The last St. Sepulchre so shocks, + That all about him swings. + +_Mr. Jerdan--in the Gem for 1830_. + + * * * * * + +Nobody is anybody, until he takes the title of somebody, and is laughed +at by everybody. + + * * * * * + +We are surprised that fifty accidents do not happen every day at the +Zoological Gardens--for mothers let their children rove just as if they +were in the most innocent company on earth; and due credit ought to be +given to the wild beasts in general for their considerate conduct in not +eating up half the rising generation that pay their shilling apiece to +see the Zoological show.--_Monthly Mag_.--Apropos, we find there are now +seven leopards in the society's collection, and that one day last summer +the receipts at the gate amounted to. £108. 12s. + + * * * * * + + +BLUNDERS. + + +Some people mistake the three French Consuls for the three per cent. +Consols; quote Moore's Almanac in illustration of Moore's Melodies; +inquire whether those two great poets, Hogg and Bacon, were not of the +same family; and when asked their opinion of Crabbe, give a decided +preference to lobster. Who has not heard Hervey's Meditations and +Harvey's Sauce mixed up in a most unbecoming manner; and culprits +talking of detaining counsel, whereas the "detention" applies only to +themselves. + + * * * * * + + +A JINGLING POET. + + +The good people of Stockholm have a public holiday in honour of +_Bellman_, a Swedish poet, who died forty years ago. We thought our +gold-laced Christmas rhymsters were the only poets of that name. + + * * * * * + + +SONG. + + +The Swiss are so much attached to their native country, that a certain +song, called _Ranz de Vaches_, sung by the cowherds and milkmaids, +affects them so much, when in a foreign land, that they must return +home, or _pine away and die_! + + Oh, when shall I return to stay + With all I love, now far away; + Our brooks so clear, + Our hamlets dear, + Our cots so nigh, + Our mountains high, + And sweeter still than mount or dell, + The ever gentle Isabel, + Beneath the elm, in verdant mead, + Dance to the shepherd's rural reed. + + Oh, when shall I return to stay, + With all I love, now far away, + My father, mother, I'll caress, + My sister, brother, fondly press, + While lambkins play, + And cattle stray, + And smiles my lovely shepherdess. + + * * * * * + +Napoleon, when in Flanders, caused a double row of trees to be planted +on each side of the public roads; but the present government have caused +them to be cut down (though not at full growth) and others planted. + +PHILO-VIATOR. + + * * * * * + +ANNUALS FOR 1830. + +With the present Number is published, a SUPPLEMENT, containing the first +portion of the SPIRIT OF THE ANNUALS, with a splendid Engraving of the +CITY OF VERONA, and Notices of the _Gem, Literary Souvenir, Friendship's +Offering, Amulet_, and as many others as can be consistently brought +within the compass of one sheet. + + * * * * * + +LIMBIRD'S EDITIONS. + +CHEAP and POPULAR WORKS published at the MIRROR OFFICE in the Strand, +near Somerset House. + +The ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS, Embellished with nearly 150 +Engravings. In 6 Parts, 1s. each. + +The TALES of the GENII. 4 Parts, 6d each. + +The MICROCOSM. By the Right Hon. G. CANNING. &c. 4 Parts, 6d. each. + +PLUTARCH'S LIVES, with Fifty Portraits, 12 Parts, 1s. each. + +COWPER'S POEMS, with 12 Engravings, 12 Numbers, 3d. each. + +COOK'S VOYAGES, 28 Numbers, 3d. each. + +The CABINET of CURIOSITIES: or, WONDERS of the WORLD DISPLAYED. 27 Nos +2d. each. + +BEAUTIES of SCOTT, 36 Numbers, 3d. each. + +The ARCANA of SCIENCE for 1828. Price 4s. 6d. + +GOLDSMITH'S ESSAYS. Price 8d. + +DR. FRANKLIN'S ESSAYS. Price 1s. 2d. + +BACON'S ESSAYS Price 8d. + +SALMAGUNDI. Price 1s. 8d. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11433 *** |