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diff --git a/11447-0.txt b/11447-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c5b51dc --- /dev/null +++ b/11447-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1497 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11447 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 11447-h.htm or 11447-h.zip: + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/4/4/11447/11447-h/11447-h.htm) + or + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/4/4/11447/11447-h.zip) + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. 14, NO. 401.] SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1829. [PRICE 2d. + + + + * * * * * + + + + +The Siamese Twins. + + +[Illustration: The Siamese Twins.] + + +The Engraving is an accurate sketch of this extraordinary _lusus +naturae_, which promises to occupy the attention of the whole Town, +and has already excited no ordinary curiosity among all ranks of the +scientific and sight-loving. Deviations from the usual forms of nature +are almost universally offensive; but, in this case, neither the +personal appearance of the boys, nor the explanation of the phenomenon +by which they are united, is calculated to raise a single unpleasant +emotion. The subject is, therefore, not unfit for our pages, and the +following descriptive particulars, which we have collected from +various authentic sources, and our own observation, will, we are +persuaded, be read with considerable interest: + +The earliest account of the Siamese Twins is by Dr. I.C. Warren, of +Boston, and was published in Professor Silliman's Journal of October +last. They were received of their mother by Captain Coffin and Mr. +Hunter, in a village of Siam, where the last-mentioned gentleman saw +them, fishing on the banks of the river. Their father has been some +time dead, since which they lived with their mother in a state of +poverty. They were confined within certain limits, by order of the +Siamese Government, and supported themselves principally by taking +fish. Their exhibition to the world was suggested to the mother as a +means of bettering their condition; to which proposition she acceded +for a liberal compensation, and the promised return of her sons at a +specific time. She accompanied them on board the ship and, as it was +not about to sail for some time, she was invited to remain on board; +but she declined, observing that she might as well part with them +then as a few days hence. They were first exhibited at Boston, and +subsequently at New York, in the United States. At Boston, Dr. Warren +was appointed to report on them; and such of his observations as are +free from anatomical technicalities, and otherwise adapted for our +pages, will be found in the subsequent pages. In the meantime, we +shall proceed with a more popular account of their present appearance, +which has some of the most interesting characteristics of human +nature. + +They are two distinct and perfect youths, well formed and straight, +about eighteen years of age, and possessing all the faculties and +powers usually enjoyed at that period of life. They are united +together by a short band at the pit of the stomach. On first seeing +them, it may be supposed, so closely are their sides together--or +rather, they over-lap a little--that there is no space between them. +On examining them, however, they are found not to touch each other, +the band which connects them being, at its shortest part, which is the +upper and back part, about two inches long. At the lower front part +the band, which is there soft and fleshy, or rather like soft thick +skin, is about five inches long, and would be elastic, were it not for +a thick rope-like cartilaginous or gristly substance, which forms the +upper part of the band, and which is not above three inches long. The +band is probably two inches thick at the upper part, and above an inch +at the lower part. The back part of the band, which is rounded from a +thickening at the places where it grows from each body, is not so long +as the front part, which is comparatively flat. The breadth or depth +of the band is about four inches. It grows from the lower and centre +part of the breast of each boy, being a continuation of the +cartilaginous termination of the breast bone, accompanied by muscles +and blood-vessels, and enveloped, like every other portion of the +body, with skin, &c. At present this band is not very flexible; and +there is reason to believe that the cartilaginous substance of the +upper part is gradually hardening, and will eventually become bone. +From the nature of the band, and the manner in which it grows from +each boy, it is impossible that they should be in any other position +in relation to each other, but side by side, like soldiers, or coming +up a little to front each other. Their arms and legs are perfectly +free to move. The band is the only connexion between them; and their +proximity does not inconvenience either; each of them, whether +standing, sitting, or moving, generally has his arm round the neck or +the waist of the other. When they take the arm from this position, so +close are they kept together that their shoulders cannot be held +straight; and the near shoulder of each being obliged to be held down +or up, to allow them room to stand, gives them the appearance of being +deformed; but two straighter bodies can scarcely be seen. + +In their ordinary motions they may be said to resemble two persons +waltzing. In a room they seem to roll about, as it were, but when they +walk to any distance, they proceed straight forward with a gait like +other people. As they rise up or sit down, or stoop, their movements +are playful, though strange, not ungraceful, and without the +appearance of constraint. The average height of their countrymen is +less than that of Europeans, and they seem rather short for their age, +even judging them by their own standard. They are much shorter than +the ordinary run of youths in this country at eighteen years of age, +and are both of the same height. In personal appearance there is a +striking resemblance between them; this, however, is but on first +impression, for, on closer examination, considerable difference will +be observed. The colour of their skin and form of the nose, lips, and +eyes, denote them as belonging to the Chinese; but they have not that +broad and flat face which is characteristic of the Mingol race. Their +foreheads are higher and narrower than those of their countrymen +generally. Both are lively and intelligent; they pay much attention to +what is passing around them; and are very grateful for any little +attention that is paid to them. As a proof of their intelligence, it +may be stated that they learned to play at Draughts very readily, and +were soon able to beat those who had assisted in teaching them. Their +appearance is perfect health. To their friends and attendants, and to +each other, they are said to be much attached. They appear to be +excellent physiognomists, for they read the countenance of the visiter +readily, and are easily affronted with any contemptuous expressions. +It is said they have not learnt any manual art beyond rowing a boat, +but they can run and jump, and climb cracks and rigging with great +facility. They are dressed in short, loose, green jackets and +trousers, the costume of their country, which is very convenient, and +allows the utmost freedom of motion, but does not show the form of the +boys to advantage. With their arms twined round each other, as they +bend down or move about, they look like a group of statuary. Dr. +Warren, in his report, states that he _never heard them speak to each +other_, though they were very fond of talking with a young Siamese, +who was brought with them as a companion. They, however, appear to +have a means of communication more rapid than by words. The point most +worthy of remark, in regard to their actions and movements, is, that +they seem, generally speaking, to be actuated but by one will; and +that from whichever of them the volition of the moment proceeds, it +seems imperative upon both. Occasionally, there is an exception to +this remark--as, on the voyage from Siam to the United States, when +one wanted to bathe, and the other refused, on account of the coldness +of the weather, they quarrelled on the subject. + +Each has a name of his own--the one, _Chang_, and the other, _Eng_; +but, when persons wish to address them as one--to claim their +attention to anything, for example, or to call them--they are +addressed as--_Chang Eng_. + +The union of twins is not an unusual occurrence, and various +anatomical collections present many such objects. Ambrose Paré relates +several instances. Dr. Warren is, however, of opinion, that the +_Siamese Boys_ present the most remarkable case of the _lusus naturae_ +which has yet been known, taking into view the perfection and +distinctness of organization, and the length of time they have lived. +The whole phenomenon may be described in a very few words--_two +perfect bodies united and bound together by an inseparable link_. As +we have already stated, their health is at present good; but, observes +Dr. Warren, "it is probable that the change of their simple living for +the luxuries they now obtain, together with the confinement their +situation necessarily involves, will bring their lives to a close +within a few years." We hope that such will not be the result of their +leaving their native shores; and we are much pleased with this passage +in a letter from Drs. Samuel Mitchill and Anderson to Capt. +Coffin--"They (the youths) are under the protection of a kind and +benevolent gentleman, and we know you will take good care of them, and +if they live, return them to their homes again." Of their strength +many instances are related: since they have arrived in London they +have lifted a gentleman of considerable weight, with great ease; and +on this point Drs. Mitchill and Anderson say--"As they are so vigorous +and alert, we readily coincide that in ten seconds they can lay a +stout ordinary man on his back." + +We shall not go out of our way to state half the curious questions +which forcibly arose in our minds on visiting this interesting +exhibition. One of the most important, and least easy of solution, is +the structure of the connecting band--how it is kept alive--whether +blood flows into and circulates through it from each, and passes into +the system of the other--whether it be composed of bone, as well as of +cartilage--and whether it could be safely divided? Upon examining the +connexion, or _cord_, Dr. Warren says--"Placing my hand on this +substance, I found it extremely hard. On further examination, the +hardness was found to exist at the upper part of the cord only, and to +be prolonged into the breast of each boy. Tracing it upwards, I found +it to be constituted by a prolongation of the _ensiform cartilage of +the sternum_, or extremity of the breast-bone. The cartilages +proceeding from each sternum meet at an angle, and then seem to be +connected by a ligament, so as to form a joint. This joint has a +motion upwards and downwards, and also a lateral motion--the latter +operating in such a way, that when the boys turn in either direction, +the edges of the cartilage are found to open and shut. + + * * * * * + +"Besides this there is nothing remarkable felt in the connecting +substance. I could distinguish no pulsating vessel. The whole of this +cord is covered by the skin. It is remarkably strong, and has no great +sensibility, for they allow themselves to be pulled by a rope fastened +to it, without exhibiting uneasiness. On ship board, one of them +sometimes climbed on the capstan of the vessel, the other following as +well as he could, without complaining. When I first saw the boys, I +expected to see them pull on this cord in different directions, as +their attention was attracted by different objects. I soon perceived +that this did not happen. The slightest impulse of one to move in any +direction is immediately followed by the other; so that they appear to +be influenced by the same wish." + +This harmony in their movements, Dr. Warren thinks, is a habit formed +by necessity. His further account of their habits is extremely +curious: + +"They always face in one direction, standing nearly side by side, +and are not able, without inconvenience, to face in the opposite +direction--so that one is always at the right, and the other at the +left. Although not placed exactly in a parallel line, they are able to +run and leap with surprising activity. On some occasions a gentleman, +in sport, pursued them round the ship, when they came suddenly to the +hatchway, which had been inadvertently left open. The least check +would have thrown them down the hatchway, and probably killed one, +or both, but they leaped over it without difficulty. They differ in +intellectual vigour; the perceptions of one are more acute than those +of the other, and there is a corresponding coincidence in moral +qualities. He who appears most intelligent is somewhat irritable in +temper, while the other's disposition is mild." + +The connexion between these boys might present an opportunity for some +interesting observations in regard to physiology and pathology. There +is, no doubt, a network of blood-vessels and some minute nerves +passing from one to the other. How far these parts are capable of +transmitting the action of medicines, and of diseases, and especially +what medicines and diseases, are points well worthy of consideration. +Dr. W. thinks that any indisposition of one extends to the other; that +they are inclined to sleep at the same time; eat about the same +quantity, and perform other acts with great similarity. Both he and +Mr. Hunter are of opinion that touching one of them when they are +asleep, awakens both. When they are awake, an impulse given to +one does not in the least affect the other. There is evidently no +impression received by him who is not touched. But the opinion just +mentioned is undoubtedly erroneous. The slightest movement of one +is so speedily perceived by the other, as to deceive those who have +not observed closely. There is no part of them which has a common +perception, excepting the middle of the connecting cord, and a space +near it. When a pointed instrument is applied precisely to the middle +of the cord, it is felt by both, and also for about an inch on each +side; beyond which the impression is limited to the individual of the +side touched. + +"In the function of the circulation there is a remarkable uniformity +in the two bodies. The pulsations of the hearts of both coincide +exactly under ordinary circumstances. I counted seventy-three +pulsations in a minute while they were sitting--counting first in one +boy and then in the other; I then placed my fingers on an arm of each +boy, and found the pulsations take place exactly together. One of them +stooping suddenly to look at my watch, his pulse became much quicker +than that of the other; but after he had returned to his former +posture, in about a quarter of a minute his pulse was precisely like +that of the other; this happened repeatedly. Their respirations are, +of consequence, exactly simultaneous." + +Dr. Warren next starts a question as to their moral identity, and +says--"There is no reason to doubt that the intellectual operations +of the two are as perfectly distinct as those of any two individuals +who might be accidentally confined together. Whether similarity of +education, and identity of position as to external objects, have +inspired them with any extraordinary sameness of mental action, I am +unable to say--any farther, at least, than that they seem to agree +in their habits and tastes." The concluding observation is on their +separation, which we may remark, appears to be to them a painful +subject; for whenever it is mentioned, they weep bitterly. Dr. Warren +thinks an attempt to cut the cord, or separate them, would be attended +with danger, though not necessarily fatal, and as they are happy in +their present state, he reasonably enough thinks such an operation +uncalled for. "Should one die before the other," adds he, "they should +be cut apart immediately." He, however, quotes a case from Ambrose +Paré, of two girls united by the forehead, one of whom died at ten +years of age, when a separation was made; and the wound of the +surviving girl soon proved fatal. + +From the report of Drs. Mitchill and Anderson, we collect their +opinion that the band which joins these boys, has a canal with a +protrusion of viscera from the abdomen of each boy, upon every effort +of coughing or other exercise. The sense of feeling on the skin of +this band is connected with each boy, as far as the middle of its +length from his body. There can be no doubt, but that if the band was +cut across at any part, a large opening would be made into the belly +of each, and the wound prove fatal. + +Such are the principal and most popular descriptive details of the +Siamese Youths, with the substance of the reports of the American +physicians who have examined them. Of course, we look with some +anxiety for the opinions of the professional men of our own country. +Of equal importance are the questions connected with the _minds_ of +the two youths, which can only be settled by continued observation. +The phenomenon is altogether of the most attractive character, and +will doubtless receive all the attention it deserves from our +_savans_, as well as from all those who delight in witnessing the +curiosities of Nature. + + * * * * * + + +CURTIUS. + +A DRAMATIC SKETCH. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +_The Roman Forum.--An opening in the ground. M. Curtius, Soothsayers, +and a vast concourse of Citizens._ + +_Cit_.--Place ingot upon ingot, till the mass exceed + The bulk of Croesus' wealth, or Sardanapalus' pile. + Let every Roman contribution bring + An offering worthy of his house, since what + Is valued most must in the gulf be cast, + To save us from an overwhelming death. + A richer treasure than the gorgeous Xerxes knew + Will we entomb. + +_Cur_.--How base the offering that were made in gold. + What are riches to the blood that flows + Within a good man's veins? rather let him + Who is the wisest, bravest, best amongst us + Fall in this fearful pit. Now ye who read + The hidden books of nature say--who is + The man most envied by his fellows,--by the gods + Most lov'd?--That man is more than all the gems + This teeming earth can boast. Name but that man + And in an instant shall the debt be paid; + For Rome's best patriot is her greatest good. + +_Sooth_.--Ay, noble Curtius, and that man art thou, + Thy words proclaim thy patriotic blood! + Thy tongue first names the gift that angry heav'n + Asks of rebellious earth. We need thy life. + Destruction hovers o'er the trembling crew, + That fills this little forum. Thou alone, + The noblest, bravest, wisest, best of us, + Canst scare the monster from the frowning skies, + And fill the gulf that yawns beneath us. + Die, Curtius, and thy name shall be enroll'd + With gods and heroes--honour'd, lov'd, and fam'd. + When senates are forgot! + +_Cur_.--Since then by dying I can refound Rome, + For Rome preserv'd is built and born again. + Be mine a Roman's death. Else 'twere in vain + That once Eneas toil'd--that Romulus bore sway! + In vain the matron's tears subdued her flinty son! + In vain did Manlius for his country fight! + In vain Lucretia and Virginia bleed! + Romans, farewell!--I look around and see + A band of augurs--an assembled senate, + Plebeians and patricians-- + A people and a nation met together + In council to avert calamity, + And all are friends. Farewell, farewell, farewell! + Favourites of Fortune what is it to die? + Ye sons of pleasure! look on him who once + Did sternly look on you--who dies for you! + Scions of Victory! how cracks the heart, + In that short moment of a bright career, + When the last echo from the couch of Fame + Falls on the dying ear? Oh! this mine act + Were best done whilst the blood is warm--lest time + For thought should mar the purpose. Thought?--a glorious deed + Needs none. Come horse!--and at one fearful bound + Plunge in the gulf beneath! + +_Curtius leaps into the chasm._ + +_Sooth_.--The gods attest the worth of this bold youth. + +_Cit_.--The chasm closes--and the dangers pass: + With buried Curtius following envy lies, + Nor dare she lift her sickly head + Above his giant grave. + +CYMBELINE. + + + * * * * * + + +ETYMOLOGICAL CURIOSITIES. + +(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.) + + +Probably the following observations upon singular words, may amuse +some of your readers. I should, however, premise that as regards +myself, the greater part are not original. + +Without further preface, allow me in the first place to call your +attention to a word, which, by adding a syllable, becomes shorter, +viz. the word _short_--on the other hand we have words of one +syllable, which, by taking away two letters, become words of two +syllables, as plague, league, both of which, by such an elision, leave +_ague_. By dropping the two first letters of the word _monosyllable_, +we have _no syllable_ remaining. + +It has been remarked that _heroine_ is one of the most peculiar words +in our language, as it may be thus divided--the two first letters of +it are male--the three first female--the four first a brave man, and +the whole word a brave woman. Thus: _he, her, hero, heroine_. A beggar +may address himself, and say, _mend I can't!_--leave out the +apostrophe and he still remains a _mendicant_. _Tartar, papa, murmur, +etc._ may be noticed as doubling the first syllable, and _eye, level_, +and other words as having the same meaning whether read backwards or +forwards. Some few by a reverse reading give a different sense as +_leper, revel, etc._ + +W.F. + + * * * * * + + + + +FINE ARTS + + * * * * * + +ADDITIONAL REMARKS ON THE SCHOOL OF PAINTING, AT THE BRITISH +INSTITUTION. + +(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.) + + +My first view of the copies at the British Institution being rather +too cursory to allow me to do ample justice to several of much merit. +Another visit has enabled me to make a few additional remarks on the +performances of many worthy young aspirants, who, it is presumed, will +receive fresh stimulus from the approbation extended to them. + +In my last notice, which appeared in No. 396, of the MIRROR, I +adverted to Miss Sharpe's water-colour drawing of the Holy Family, by +Sir J. Reynolds; this is really an inimitable copy, possessing all the +richness of tint, and even the boldness and texture, of the original. +It is unquestionably the finest copy in water ever executed in the +Institution, to which, as well as to the talented lady, it is a very +high honour. From the numerous _small_ copies _in oil_ of the Holy +Family, I regret not being able to select more than one--that by Mr. +Sargeant. + +Mr. Heaphy, in all his drawings, evinces considerable artistical +knowledge; his small study from Vandyke's Portrait of a Gentleman is +admirable in colour and execution. + +Messrs. Drake, Fussell, and Sargeant, have cleverly imitated the fine +Cattle Piece, by Cuyp; and Messrs. Pasmore and Novice deserve notice for +their studies from Gainsborough's large landscape with figures. Messrs. +Anderson and Woolmer are the best imitators of Berghem's Landscape +and Cattle; and the Interior of a Kitchen, by Maaes, has met with the +greatest possible attention from Miss Alabaster, Mr. Bone, Jun., and +Messrs. Novice and Buss. The best attempts from the Canaletti are by +Miss Dujardin, Mr. F. Watts, and D. Pasmore, Jun. From the copies of +Titian's Holy Family, we may prefer Mr. Rochard's, which is the same +size as the original. + +Guercino's magnificent work, the Soul of St. Peter ascending into +Heaven attended by Angels, which was formerly an altar-piece, has +been copied in small. This is not, perhaps, at first sight, a very +attractive picture; but the longer we look at it, the longer we seem +disposed to admire it, for it insensibly conveys to the mind sublime +ideas, seldom experienced before. + +Perhaps the most novel performance in the present school is by Mr. +Davis; representing a View of the Gallery, with all the original +pictures, the different styles of which he has well succeeded in. His +work is a sort of _multum in parvo,_ extremely pretty and interesting. + +To conclude--the copies by Mrs. Pearson, Miss Farrier, Miss Kearsley, +&c. are very clever; as are those by Messrs. Wate, Phillips, Brough, +Hastings, Mackay, and Irving. + +G.W.N. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE NOVELIST + + * * * * * + + +ISABEL. + + +Several years ago I took up my abode at the retired village of D----. +I had chosen this residence on account of its sequestered situation, +as solitude was, at that time, more accordant to my feelings than the +bustle of a populous town. At no great distance from my habitation +stood the Castle of D----, an ancient Gothic structure, sinking fast +into decay. The last of its original possessors had been dead more +than half a century, and it was the property of a gentleman who +resided on the continent. The interior of the mansion spoke loudly +of desolation and ruin: the state apartments were despoiled of their +magnificent decorations, and scarcely a vestige remained of their +former splendour. An aged female domestic was the sole inhabitant of +this deserted pile. Born in the service of the family of D----, she +had survived the last of its race, and remained a solitary relic of +that illustrious house. It was the business of old Alice to show the +castle to strangers; and I soon became a favourite with her, from the +interest I appeared to take in the fate of its former inhabitants. The +gallery was our chief resort; and, finding me a willing listener, my +ancient companion delighted to inform me of all tradition had supplied +her with, respecting the mighty warriors and stately dames, whose +portraits still hung on the walls, smiling, as if in mockery of the +desolation around. + +One fine autumnal evening found me, as usual, in my favourite retreat. +The rays of the departing sun streamed in rich dyes through the +coloured window, and fell with softened glory on the picture of a +bridal ceremony. I was surprised that it had never before engaged my +attention. The bridegroom was young, graceful, and noble--the bride, +fair, soft, and delicate. By her side stood a form of unequalled +loveliness: it seemed too beautiful to have belonged to a daughter +of earth; and I imagined the painter had designed it to represent +the guardian saint of the youthful pair. I inquired of my ancient +conductress the history of this picture, and whether the beautiful +female was not an ideal being? "Alas!" said she, "it commemorates a +heavy day for the house of D----; on that day the last and fairest of +its race sunk the victim of unrequited affection. That is her picture; +but, oh! her soul was more angelic than her person; she"--but, reader, +let me give the story in my own words. The Lady Isabel was the last +descendant of the family of D----; her father had fallen in battle; +his lady did not long survive him; and thus, at an early age, Isabel +became an orphan. Her mother's brother was appointed her guardian, +and, with his son Albert, came to reside at the Castle. The children, +thus insulated from the world, and educated entirely at home, saw +nothing so worthy to be loved as each other, and their attachment was +as romantic as the scenes around them. They both (but particularly +Isabel) delighted in the high chivalrous legends of antiquity--and +the tales of eternal constancy and self-devoted affection recorded +of some of the earlier heroines of her family, were read with sacred +veneration by the young enthusiast. In a mind of ordinary temperament, +little harm would have resulted from the indulgence of such a taste; +to the impassioned soul of Isabel it was destructive and fatal. +Deprived by death of the mother who might have taught her to restrain +and regulate her ardent feelings, they acquired by neglect additional +strength, and eventually concentrated into a passion deep and lasting +as her existence. As years passed on, so did her love increase; she +regarded Albert as the perfection of human excellence, and worshipped +him with all the full devotedness of her warm heart. It was not +so with Albert; he thought of his fair cousin with pride--with +tenderness; but it was only the calm affection of a brother: other +feelings than those of love possessed him--he languished for fame, for +honourable distinction among his fellow men, and at length left his +peaceful home, and the sweet companion of his youth, to fight the +battles of his country. His career was glorious; and after an absence +of three years, he was recalled by the death of his father. Isabel +welcomed him with rapturous joy; he embraced her with a brother's +fondness, and gazed with delight on her improved beauty. He suspected +not that she loved him with more than a sisterly affection, and +thought not of the wound he was about to inflict on this tender, +enthusiastic being. He told her of his attachment to a fair girl, +who had consented to become his bride at the expiration of the term +of mourning for his father. She heard him with death-like silence, +checked the groan that was bursting from her agonized heart, and +strove to assume a look of cheerfulness. Retired to the solitude +of her apartment, she wept in bitter anguish--her young soul was +blighted; she had nothing left to live for; hope, happiness, and +love were at an end; for love would now be guilt. At length she grew +calm, but it was the fearful calmness of despair; she complained +not--reproached not; for she felt that she had been self-deceived; she +could not, however, conceal the devastation which sorrow was making in +her graceful form. Albert beheld her with concern, but ascribed the +alteration to her grief for his father's loss, for Isabel had tenderly +loved her uncle. She rejoiced at his mistake, and attempted not to +undeceive him: one only wish possessed her--it was, to see the chosen +of her Albert; and, with a feverish impatience, she urged him to +accelerate his nuptials. The appointed day arrived--Isabel, attired +in robes of richest state, stood beside the altar, and witnessed the +annihilation of all her earthly happiness; still she sunk not; but, +with a mighty effort, pronounced a blessing on the wedded pair. The +excitement brought back a vivid colour to her cheeks, and rekindled +the lustre of her large dark eyes. The painter had seized that moment +to depict her glowing form--the enthusiasm was but momentary--her +angel face soon lost its lovely tint, and her beautiful eyes sunk +again into languor. The castle was thronged with noble guests--sick +at heart the wretched Isabel wandered abstractedly amid the gay +assembly--her large floating eyes seemed straying vacantly around, +until they met the bridegroom's look of joy. Then came the madness of +recollection; with a convulsive shuddering she averted her head, and +stole unnoticed from the company. Morning came, but she appeared +not; her chamber was searched--she had not entered it. Albert flew +distractedly into the park, and, at length perceived her quietly +sitting by the side of the lake, near a bower, which, when a boy, +he had helped to decorate. She was still clad in the robes of last +night's festival. He ran eagerly towards her--she spoke not--he +entreated her to answer him, but he implored in vain--there was +neither breath, nor sense, nor motion--she was dead! 'Twas a mournful +sight! one white hand, stiffened to marble, was pressed upon her +broken heart, as she had sought to stay its painful throbbings--the +cold night dews hung in large drops upon her silken hair, and shed +a tremulous gleam upon the diamonds that sparkled on her pale, icy +forehead--the withered leaves had found a resting place upon her +bosom, and her white garments were embroidered by their many +colourings. The castle became hateful to Albert after this event: he +removed to a distant part of the country, and never again revisited +the scenes of his earlier years. He also was dead; and Isabel, her +love, and her despair, were forgotten by all, save one aged, isolated +being, whose time-whitened locks and decrepit frame showed that she +too was rapidly descending to the silence of the grave. + +_London University Magazine_. No. II. + + * * * * * + + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + * * * * * + + +MOLES + + +Are so voracious as not even to spare their own species. If two are +shut up together without food, there will shortly be nothing left of +the weakest but its skin, slit along the belly.--_Cuvier_. + + * * * * * + + +SCOTCH ALE. + + +The strength of Scotch ale, whence it deserves the name, ranges between +32 and 44 pounds weight to the imperial barrel, according to the price +at which it is meant to be sold. The general mode of charge is by the +hogshead (about a barrel and a half,) for which five pounds, six, seven, +or eight pounds are paid, as the quality may warrant; the strength for +every additional pound of price being increased by about four pounds per +barrel of weight.--_Library of Useful Knowledge_.--Scotch two-penny was +so called because it was sold at twopence the Scotch pint, which was +nearly two English quarts. + + * * * * * + + +In a Scotch brewer's instructions for Scotch ale, dated 1793, we meet +with the following curious mystical instruction:--"I throw a little dry +malt, which is left on purpose, on the top of the mash, with a handful +of salt, to _keep the witches from it_, and then cover it up. Perhaps +this custom gave rise to the vulgar term _water bewitched_ for +indifferent beer." + + * * * * * + + +AMERICAN LAW. + + +A recent traveller, in describing the American courts of law and +their proceedings, says, in one instance Counsellor Lloyd had grossly +insulted Judge Turner in the street, and was tried for the offence by +the judge. He was half-drunk, but defended himself by the vilest abuse +of the judge, who could not silence him. No jury was appealed to; but +(we suppose for contempt of court) he was ordered to give security for +one year's good behaviour, and, not procuring sufficient bail, was +committed to prison. + + * * * * * + + +The Galwegians who attended David I. of Scotland to Custon Moor, had a +favourite amusement of tossing infants upon their pikes! + + * * * * * + + +A CAT STORY. + + +Lady Morgan tells a story of an "amiable and intelligent" grimalkin, +which belonged to a young girl who was subject to epileptic fits. +Puss, by dint of repeated observation, knew when they were coming on, +and would run, frisking her tail, to the girl's parents, mewing in the +most heart-breaking tones, and clawing at their legs, till she made +them follow her. Her name was _Mina_; and her history is extant in +"choice Italian." At length the girl died, and poor puss went to the +funeral of her own accord. Being a black cat, she was already in +mourning--"nature's mourning!" She wanted to jump into the grave, but +that was prevented. So puss, the "chief mourner," was carried home +again. But her amiable heart could not survive the shock, for, after +pining three months, refusing boiled liver and new milk, poor +grimalkin was found "dead upon the green mound that covered her +beloved mistress's remains." There was a cat for you! + + * * * * * + + +TURKS AND RUSSIANS. + + +The character of the Russ differs from that of the Turk in little more +than in the quality of his barbarism. The Turk loves blood;--the Russ +loves craft;--The Turk takes at once to the dagger;--the Russ begins +by the snare; but when the matter presses, he will use the steel as +readily as any Turk on earth. The ferocity of the Turk flourishes in +the streets, in his own house, in the seraglio--every where that he +has a victim within his reach, and that it pleases him to destroy that +victim. The Russ knows something more of the law, and is by no means +so domestic a cut-throat; but his mercy in the field or in the stormed +city, is massacre.--_Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +MR. PITT. + + +Lady Hester Stanhope related the following to Mr. Madden:-- + +When Mr. Pitt was out of office, I acted as his secretary, and he had +then as much business as when he was in. He very seldom opposed my +opinions, and always respected my antipathies. In private life he +was cheerful and affable; he would rise in the midst of his gravest +avocations to hand me a fallen handkerchief; he was always polite to +women, and a great favourite with many of them; but he was wedded to +the state, and nothing but death could divorce him from his country. +He was fond of me; he loved originality in any shape. His great +recreation, after the fatigue of business, was stealing into the +country, entering a clean cottage, where there was a tidy woman and a +nicely-scoured table, and there he would eat bread and cheese like any +ploughman. He detested routs, and always sat down to plain dinners. He +never ate before he went to the House; but when any thing important +was to be discussed, he was in the habit of taking a glass of port +wine with a tea-spoonful of bark. + + * * * * * + + +ENGLISH AND FRENCH. + + +In the arts, while French productions display resource, ingenuity, and +dexterity, they at the same time show a striking want of the sense of +fitness, and are unfinished and flimsy. Such, in the cities of France, +is remarkably the case with whatever regards furniture and decoration, +while the productions of cookery are at once impregnated with filth, +and admirably calculated to conceal it. In the country, again, with a +climate superior to that of England, there is everywhere to be seen open +fields, later harvests, corn full of weeds, and inferior grain. The +difference between French and English taste in dress is very remarkable. +Even when English women take a hint from French contrivances, they +endeavour to be more natural, modest, and classical. As to male dress, +an English gentleman always desires his tailor to avoid the extremes of +fashion; and, as his dress is grave and manly, it is generally followed +throughout Europe. The French use of forks, napkins, &c. really requires +some notice. A French gentleman, in adjusting himself at his coarse deal +table and shabby cloth, does not hesitate to fix a napkin about his +neck, in such a manner as to protect his clothes in front against the +certainty of being bespattered by his mode of eating. An Englishman of +the middle class would be ashamed of such a contrivance; for, without +any particular care, he eats so as not even to stain the damask cloth +with which his mahogany table is covered. The French gentleman is +perpetually wiping his dirty fingers on a napkin spread out before him, +and of which the beauties are not invisible to his neighbours on each +side. The Englishman of the middle class requires no napkin, because his +fingers are never soiled. The French gentleman, incapable of raising +his left hand properly to his mouth, first hastily hacks his meat into +fragments, then throws down his dirty knife on the cloth, and seizing +the fork in his right hand, while his left fixes a mass of bread on his +plate, he runs up each fragment against it, and having eaten these, he +wipes up his plate with the bread and swallows it. An English peasant +would blush at such bestiality. A French gentleman not only washes his +filthy hands at table, but, after gulping a mouthful, and using it as a +gargle, squirts it into the basin standing before him, and the company, +who may see the charybdis or maelstrom he has made in it, and the +floating filth he has discharged, and which is now whirling in its +vortex. In England this practice is unknown, except to those whose taste +and stomach are too strong for offence. It has been stupidly borrowed +from the Oriental nations, who use no knives and forks, and where, +though it has this apology, it has always excited the disgust of +enlightened travellers. When dinner is over, the Englishman's carpet +is as clean as before; the Frenchman's bare boards resemble those of a +hog-sty. In short, in all that regards the table, the French are some +centuries behind the English.--_Blackwood's Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +In the last _Quarterly Review_ we find that "the safety of the British +empire is now entrusted to 130,000 men. Now France, we believe, +maintains about 200,000 soldiers. The forces of Austria and Prussia have +always been on a much higher footing than ours. Even the late King of +Bavaria kept, we know not how, 70,000 men under arms. Indeed Old England +is by nothing more happily distinguished from her neighbours than by the +silence of the trumpet and drum. At this moment, moreover, the due level +of our peace establishment is but an object of speculative research. No +man who looks to the placing of Roumelia, or whose vision reaches even +to the palace of Elysée Bourbon, would consent that this country should +lose the aid of a single right." + + * * * * * + + +ALI PACHA'S HEAD. + + +Dr. Walsh tells us that the head of Ali Pacha was sent to +Constantinople, and exhibited to the public on a dish. As the name of +Ali had made a considerable noise in Europe, and more particularly in +England, in consequence of his negociations with Sir Thomas Maitland, +and still more, perhaps, the stanzas in _Childe Harold_, a merchant of +Constantinople thought it no bad speculation to purchase the head and +dish, and send them to London for exhibition; but a former confidential +agent obtained it from the executioner for a higher price than the +merchant had offered; and together with the heads of his three sons and +grandson, who, according to custom, were all seized and decapitated, +had them deposited near one of the city gates, with a tombstone and +inscription. + + * * * * * + + +THE GOUT. + + +Imagine a sensation in the great toe, as if it had been suddenly +seized with a pair of red-hot pincers. Whew! There they are at it! +nipping and tearing the flesh, and then rubbing the lacerated joint +with aquafortis, or a solution of blue vitriol. And now, the pain +shoots along the nerves on that side, till my head bumps and bumps +as if a legion of imps were playing at leap-frog in it. + + * * * * * + + +AMERICA. + + +The state of business in the United States is thus described in a +letter from Boston, dated the 7th of last July:--"The commercial world +over the globe seems paralyzed, and many manufactories on a large +scale, with the proprietors and stockholders, have failed, and are +utterly ruined. All business is confined to the wants only of the day, +teaching a necessary absolute economy, which men of business in times +past have not been accustomed to." + + * * * * * + + +Rice Paper is the pith of the Tong-t-sao--a valuable Chinese tree. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SELECTOR and LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS. + + * * * * * + + +EMIGRATION TO NEW SOUTH WALES. + + +People who are accustomed to sit half the day with their hands folded, +over a bright November fire, talking of hard times and other standing +grievances, will do well to read "_A Letter from Sydney, the principal +town of Australasia, edited by Robert Ganger_;" and study an annexed +system of colonization as a remedy for their distress. The Letter is +written by a plain-sailing, plain-dealing man of the world, and though +on a foreign topic, is in a homely style. We are therefore persuaded +that a few extracts will be useful to the above class of thinkers and +readers, as well as to others who do not, like the great man of +antiquity, sigh for new worlds. + + +_Climate and Soil_. + +All that you read in the works of Wentworth and Cunningham, as to the +healthfulness and beauty of the climate, is strictly true. There are +scarcely any diseases but what result immediately from intemperance. +Dropsy, palsy, and the whole train of nervous complaints, are common +enough; but then, drunkenness is the vice _par excellence_ of the +lower orders; and the better class of settlers have not learned those +habits of temperance which are suited to the climate of Naples. The +two classes often remind me of English squires and their grooms, as I +used to see them at Florence, just after the peace; masters drinking +at dinner, because they were abroad, and after dinner because they +were Englishmen; the servants drinking always, because wine and brandy +were cheap. Perhaps a generation must pass away before the people here +will accommodate their habits to the climate, which is that of Italy, +without either malaria or the sirocco. + +The soil of New South Wales is not particularly fertile. The plains of +the Granges, and of the great rivers of China, the lowlands of the West +India islands, the swamps of the Gulf of Mexico, and even the marshes +of Essex, produce crops of which the people here have no conception; +but then, as we are without great masses of alluvial deposit, so are +agues and intermittent fevers absolutely unknown. In point of natural +fertility, I am inclined to compare this soil to that of France; and I +have no doubt that, if the same quantity of agricultural labour as is +employed in France, were here bestowed upon an area equal to the French +territory, the quantity of produce would fully equal that of France. +Timber, coal, iron, and other useful minerals, abound; the harbours and +rivers teem with fish; cattle of all sorts thrive and multiply with +astonishing rapidity; every fruit that flourishes in Spain and Italy +comes to the highest perfection; and Nature fully performs her part in +bestowing upon man the necessaries, comforts, and luxuries of life. + + +_Value of Land, &c._ + +I was told that an estate of 10,000 acres might be obtained for a mere +trifle. This was true. I have got 20,000 acres, and they did not cost +me more than 2s. per acre. But I imagined that a domain of that extent +would be very valuable. In this I was wholly mistaken. As my estate +cost me next to nothing, so it is worth next to nothing. It is a noble +property to look at; and "20,000 acres in a ring fence," sounds very +well in England; but here, such a property possesses no exchangeable +value. The reason is plain: there are millions upon millions of acres, +as fertile as mine, to be had for nothing; and, what is more, there +are not people to take them. Of my 20,000 acres I reckon about 5,000 +to be woodland, though, indeed, there are trees scattered over the +whole property, as in an English park. For my amusement, I had a rough +estimate made of the money that I could obtain for all this timber, +were it growing in any part of England. The valuation amounts to above +£150,000. + + +_Building_. + +Having fortune enough for all my wants, I proposed to get a large +domain, to build a good house, to keep enough land in my own hands for +pleasure-grounds, park, and game preserves; and to let the rest, after +erecting farm-houses in the most suitable spots. My mansion, park, +preserves, and tenants, were all a mere dream. I have not one of them. +When, upon my first arrival, I talked of these things to some sensible +men, to whom I was recommended, they laughed in my face. I soon found +that a house would, though the stone and timber were to be had for +nothing, cost three times as much as in England. This was on account +of the very high wages required by mechanics; but this was not all. +None of the materials of a house, except stone and timber, are +produced in the colony. Every pane of glass, every nail, every grain +of paint, and every piece of furniture, from the kitchen copper to the +drawing-room curtains, must have come from England. My property is at +a distance of nearly seventy miles from the sea, and there is no road, +but a track through the forest, for two-thirds of that distance. The +whole colony did not contain as many masons, carpenters, glaziers, +painters, black and whitesmiths, and other mechanics, as I should have +required. Of course, I soon abandoned all thought of building a +mansion. As for a park, my whole property was a park, and a preserve +for kangaroos and emus. + + * * * * * + + +A friend of ours, a free emigrant, has more than once facetiously +wished for our company in the colony; but judging from the following, +we had rather "let well alone," and stay at home, than play the +schoolmaster or march-of-intellect-man at Sydney:-- + +As for mental wants, talking and reading are out of the question, +except it be to scold your servants, and to con over a Sydney +newspaper, which contains little else but the miserable party politics +of this speck upon the globe, reports of crime and punishment, and +low-lived slang and flash, such as fill the pothouse Sunday papers of +London. + +Literary men, men of science, philosophers, do not emigrate to new +countries where their acquirements would be neither rewarded nor +admired. Sir Walter Scott, Sir Humphry Davy, and Mr. Malthus, would +not earn as much in this colony as three brawny experienced ploughmen; +and though the inordinate vanity of a new people might be gratified by +the possession of them, they would be considered as mere ornaments, +and would often be wholly neglected for things of greater utility. + + * * * * * + + +House-rent, that great bugbear of certain economists, is indeed a +grievous affair at Sydney, as page 20 proves:-- + +Behold me established at Sydney, in a small house, a poor vamped-up +building, more inconvenient, and far more ugly, than you can imagine, +for which I pay a rent of £250 a year. For half the money you could +get twice as good a house in any English country town. This excessive +house-rent is caused by the dearness of labour, which enhances +the cost of building; for, either the builder will exact a rent +proportioned to his outlay, or (if he cannot obtain such a rent) +he will not build. + + +_Free Emigrants_. + +Of what class then, you ask, have been the great mass of emigrants from +England, not convicts? Excellent people in their way, most of them; +farmers, army and navy surgeons, subalterns on half-pay, and a number +of indescribable adventurers, from about the twentieth rank in England. +They came here to live, not to enjoy; to eat and drink, not to refine; +"to settle"--that is, to roll in a gross plenty for the body, but to +starve their minds. To these must be added convicts, many of whom are +become rich and influential; and some, not exactly convicts, to whom +England ceased to be a convenient residence. The English who live at +Boulogne, some for cheapness, some from misfortune, and some from fear, +would offer, I should think, a fair sample of the materials which +compose the best society in New South Wales; though, I must admit, that +the bustling, thriving settler of New South Wales is a companion, rather +ignorant though he be--far away preferable to the not more enlightened, +but melancholy English sluggard of Boulogne. To form a due conception of +the "upper classes" here, suppose all the natives of France annihilated, +and the whole country belonging to the English residents of Boulogne. +In that case, there would be an almost perfect resemblance between those +Englishmen who, across a narrow channel, can see their own country, and +those who, at its antipodes look upon the Pacific Ocean. + + +_Society and Manners_. + +As in France, the first class call themselves "gens comme il faut;" and +in England, "people of fashion," or "the world"--so here, the leaders +of society are distinguished by a peculiar term. They are called +"respectable." Not to speak of France, it is difficult to say what in +England constitutes "fashion." Not high birth, certainly--for some of +the despots of English society are sprung from the dunghill. Our epithet +to express exclusiveness is, I think better chosen--for, though strictly +speaking, it means worthy of respect, it is claimed, here, only by those +to whom respect is paid. In England, the _Quarterly Review_ tells us, +"respectability" sometimes means keeping a gig--here it always means +dining with the governor. + +Our manners set the fashion. Those whom we exclude, exclude others. +Free emigrants claim to be of a nature superior to convicts; convicts, +whose terms of punishment have expired, behave as if their flesh and +blood were wholly unlike that of convicts still in durance; convicts, +who have not been convicted south of the line, scorn those who have; +and these several classes, except the last, are as proud and tenacious +of their privileges as is every distinctive class in England, except +the unhappy lowest; or, as is every shade of colour in the West Indies +except the perfect black. + + +_The Population_ + +Of the settlement may amount in round numbers to 45,000. Of these only +14,000, including women and children, have not been convicted of +felony; and two-thirds of the remainder, seven-eights being grown men, +are galley-slaves, still in chains! + + +_Influence of Convict Labour_. + +Little more than forty years ago this country was an absolute waste. +By way of contrast, behold, in the parts first settled, the following +proofs of wealth: a thriving capital, and several interior towns, the +latter being larger and better constructed than the capitals of some +English settlements in America, a hundred years after their foundation; +excellent roads; productive turnpikes; crowded market-places; public +hotels, superior to the best in North America, even at this late hour; +warehouses, through which there is a constant flow of luxuries from all +parts of the world; public carriages, almost as well managed as those of +England; an astonishing number of private carriages, built in Long Acre; +several newspapers, and other periodical works; booksellers' shops, well +supplied from Europe; two banks of deposit and discount; many churches +and chapels; very good schools for rich and poor; scientific, literary, +and philanthropic societies; a botanical garden; a turf club; packs of +hounds; dinner parties, concerts and balls; fine furniture, plate, and +jewels; and though last, not least, many gradations in society, being +so many gradations in wealth. + +Whence have come all those things, over and above mere subsistence, +which astonish the beholder, when he reflects that this colony has +been planted little more than forty years? + +An example has just passed my window, in the shape of a dashing English +landau. It contains a "lady," who married a poor half-pay lieutenant, +and who now drinks tea that would cost in England twenty shillings +the pound. They emigrated to New South Wales in 1815. But how did she +get that carriage, and how does she manage to send to China for the +gunpowder? Thus:--Her husband is both landowner and merchant. Being +constantly supplied with a number of convict labourers, he breeds cattle +and cultivates grain; and as he gives to his labourers but just enough +for their subsistence, he has a large surplus produce. Having sold +to the local government wheat and beef for the supply of prisons, +hospitals, and barracks, he is paid partly with bills upon the English +treasury, and partly with dollars, sent from England for the support of +the great penitentiary. He remits one of those bills to his London +agent, and desires him to purchase, with the proceeds thereof, a superb +landau. In less than a year, his wife "rides in her coach." He sends +some of the dollars to Canton, and purchases therewith a cargo of tea, +of which he gives to his wife as much as she likes, and sells the rest +to the wives of other men, who pay him with bills or dollars, received +again from the government for wheat and beef. Thus, you see, Mrs. ---- +is indebted for two decided proofs of wealth to the prevalence of crime +in England. Even the coat of arms on her landau was found by your +Herald's College, in return for a part of the proceeds of that bill, +which was drawn _to pay for the food of the soldiers who drove the +convicts, who produced the food_. Our old friend Sir George Nayler would +no doubt start at being told of his obligation to the pickpockets of +London. And the rogues are little aware of their influence in political +economy; but I have stated a plain fact, which, if you have any doubts +about it, pray submit both to Sir George himself, and to Mr. M'Culloch. + +That is, indeed, an ill-wind which blows no good. We owe every thing, +over and above mere subsistence, to the wickedness of the people of +England. Who built Sydney? Convicts. Who made the excellent roads from +Sydney to Parramatta, Windsor, and Liverpool? Convicts. By whom is the +land made to produce? By convicts. Why do not all our labourers exact +high wages, and, by taking a large share of the produce of labour, +prevent their employers from becoming rich? Because most of them are +convicts. What has enabled the landowner readily to dispose of his +surplus produce? The demand of the keepers of convicts. What has +brought so many ships to Port Jackson, and occasioned a further demand +for agricultural produce? The transportation of convicts. What has +tempted free emigrants to bring capital into the settlement? The true +stories that they heard of fortunes made by employing the cheap labour +of convicts. But here are questions and answers enough. The case is +plain. Nearly all that we possess has arisen from the happy influence +of penal emigration and discipline, on production, distribution, and +consumption. Thanks to the system of transportation, we have had cheap +labour and a ready market; production, consequently, has exceeded +consumption; and the degree of that excess is the measure of our +accumulation--that is, of our wealth. + +The transportation of at least ten males for one female, maintains a +great disproportion between the sexes. This is the greatest evil of +all. + + +_A Rover_. + +On the banks of the Illinois, I met with a labouring man, who was always +tipsy without ever being drunk. Enervated by dram-drinking, he had not +the courage to obtain a bit of forest and settle; but he could earn +seven shillings a day by his labour. When I spoke to him, he complained +of low wages. "At New York, friend," said I, "five shillings a day are +thought quite enough." "I know that," he answered; "I was born there, +and came here to get eight shillings a day, which, I was told, was the +lowest rate hereabouts." It turned out that he never worked more than +three days in the week, and that, in order to obtain twenty-four +shillings a week by three days' labour, he had made a circuitous voyage +of some thousand miles from the place where he was born, and where he +could have earned thirty shillings a week by working every day. + + +_Slang_. + +The base language of English thieves is becoming the established +language of the colony. Terms of slang and flash are used, as a matter +of course, every where, from the gaols to the Viceroy's palace, not +excepting the Bar and the Bench. No doubt they will be reckoned quite +parliamentary, as soon as we obtain a parliament. + + +_Bush-ranging_ + +Is a dreadful evil, being a kind of land piracy. None but back settlers, +it is true, are exposed to its burnings, rapes, and massacres; but these +are as much British subjects as the inhabitants of Sydney or of Downing +Street. And, if the inhabitants of towns escape those horrors, they are +liable to be murdered in a quiet way, and their property is exposed to +every kind of depredation. Their actual losses by robbery, including the +expense and loss of time occasioned by prosecutions, are very great. + + * * * * * + +The concluding observations on "the extension of Britain," and her +colonial interests, are in a forcible and liberal tone, but as they +take rather too political a turn for our pages, we recommend the +anxious reader to the volume itself, which is altogether the +production of an original thinker and an impartial writer. + + * * * * * + + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS + + * * * * * + + +THE CRUISE OF H.M. SHIP TORCH. + +_A Fragment_. + + +I was the mate of the morning watch, and, as day dawned, I had amused +myself with other younkers over the side, examining the shot holes and +other injuries sustained from the fire of the frigate, and contrasting +the clean, sharp, well-defined apertures, made by the 24 lb. shot from +the long guns, with the bruised and splintered ones from the 32 lb. +carronades; but the men had begun to wash down the decks, and the +first gush of clotted blood and water from the scuppers fairly turned +me sick. I turned away, when Mr. Kennedy, our gunner, a good steady +old Scotchman, with whom I was a bit of a favourite, came up to +me--"Mr. Cringle, the captain has sent for you; poor Mr. Johnstone +is fast going, he wants to see you." + +I knew my young messmate had been wounded, for I had seen him carried +below after the frigate's second broad-side; but the excitement of a +boy, who had never smelled powder fired in anger before, had kept me +on deck the whole night, and it never once occurred to me to ask for +him, until the old gunner spoke. + +I hastened down to our small confined berth, and there I saw a sight +that quickly brought me to myself. Poor Johnstone was indeed going; a +grape shot had struck him, and torn his belly open. There he lay in his +bloody hammock on the deck, pale and motionless as if he had already +departed, except a slight twitching at the corners of his mouth, and +a convulsive contraction and distension of his nostrils. His brown +ringlets still clustered over his marble forehead, but they were +drenched in the cold sweat of death. The surgeon could do nothing for +him, and had left him; but our old captain--bless him for it--I little +expected, from his usual crusty bearing, to find him so employed--had +knelt by his side, and, whilst he read from the Prayer Book one of those +beautiful petitions in our church service to Almighty God, for mercy +to the passing soul of one so young, and so early cut off, the tears +trickled down the old man's cheeks, and filled the furrows worn in them +by the washing up of many a salt spray. On the other side of his narrow +bed, fomenting the rigid muscles of his neck and chest, sat Mistress +Connolly, one of three women on board--a rough enough creature, heaven +knows, in common weather; but her stifled sobs showed that the mournful +sight had stirred up all the woman within her. She had opened the bosom +of the poor boy's shirt, and untying the ribbon that fastened a small +gold crucifix round his neck, she placed it in his cold hand. The young +midshipman was of a respectable family in Limerick, her native place, +and a Catholic--another strand of the cord that bound her to him. When +the captain finished reading, he bent over the departing youth, and +kissed his cheek. "Your young messmate just now desired to see you, +Mr. Cringle, but it is too late, he is insensible and dying." Whilst he +spoke, a strong shiver passed through the boy's frame, his face became +slightly convulsed, and all was over! The captain rose, and Connolly, +with a delicacy of feeling which many might not have looked for in her +situation, spread one of our clean mess table-cloths over the body. "And +is it really gone you are, my poor, dear boy!" forgetting all difference +of rank in the fulness of her heart. "Who will tell this to your mother, +and nobody here to wake you but ould Kate Connolly, and no time will +they be giving me, nor whisky--Ochon! ochon!" + +But enough and to spare of this piping work. The boatswain's whistle now +called me to the gangway, to superintend the handing up, from a shore +boat alongside, a supply of the grand staples of the island--ducks and +onions. The three 'Mudians in her were characteristic samples of the +inhabitants. Their faces and skins, where exposed, were not tanned, +but absolutely burnt into a fiery-red colour by the sun. They guessed +and drawled like any buckskin from Virginia, superadding to their +accomplishments their insular peculiarity of always shutting one eye +when they spoke to you. They are all Yankees at bottom; and if they +could get their 365 _Islands_--so they call the large stones on which +they live--under weigh, they would not be long in towing them into the +Chesapeake. + +The word had been passed to get six of the larboard guns and all the +shot over to the other side, to give the brig a list of a streak or +two a-starboard, so that the stage on which the carpenter and his crew +were at work over the side, stopping the shot holes above the water +line, might swing clear of the wash of the sea. I had jumped from +the nettings, where I was perched, to assist in unbolting one of the +carronade slides, when I slipped and capsized against a peg sticking +out of one of the scuppers. I took it for something else and damned +the ring-bolt incontinently. Caboose, the cook, was passing with his +mate, a Jamaica negro of the name of Johncrow, at the time. "Don't +damn the remains of your fellow-mortals, Master Cringle; that is my +leg." The cook of a man-of-war is no small beer, he is his Majesty's +warrant officer, a much bigger wig than a poor little mid, with whom +it is condescension on his part to jest. + +It seems to be a sort of rule, that no old sailor who has not lost a +limb, or an eye at least, shall be eligible to the office; but as the +kind of maiming is so far circumscribed that all cooks must have two +arms, a laughable proportion of them have but one leg. Besides the +honour, the perquisites are good; accordingly, all old quartermasters, +captains of tops, &c., look forward to the cookdom, as the cardinals +look to the popedom; and really there is some analogy between them, +for neither is preferred from any especial fitness for the office. +A cardinal is made pope because he is old, infirm, and imbecile--our +friend Caboose was made cook because he had been Lord Nelson's +coxswain, was a drunken rascal, and had a wooden leg; for, as to his +gastronomical qualifications, he knew no more of the science than just +sufficient to watch the copper where the salt junk and potatoes were +boiling. Having been a little in the wind overnight, he had quartered +himself, in the superabundance of his heroism, at a gun where he +had no business to be, and in running it out, he had jammed his toe +in a scupper hole, so fast that there was no extricating him; and +notwithstanding his piteous entreaty "to be eased out handsomely, as +the leg was made out of a plank of the Victory, and the ring at the +end out of one of her bolts," the captain of the gun finding, after a +stout pull, that the man was like to come "home in his hand _without_ +the leg," was forced "to break him short off," as he phrased it, to +get him out of the way, and let the carriage traverse. In the morning +when he sobered, he had quite forgotten where the leg was, and how +he broke it; he therefore got Kelson to splice the stump with the +butt-end of a mop; but in the hurry it had been left three inches too +long, so that he had to jerk himself up to the top of his peg at every +step. The doctor, glad to breathe the fresh air after the horrible +work he had gone through, was leaning over the side, speaking to +Kelson. When I fell, he turned round and drew Cookee's fire on +himself. "Doctor, you have not prescribed for me yet."--"No, Caboose, +I have not; what is wrong?"--"Wrong, sir! why, I have lost my leg, and +the captain's clerk says I am not in the return!--Look here, sir, had +doctor Kelson not coopered me, where should I have been?--Why, doctor, +had I been looked after, amputation might have been unnecessary; a +_fish_ might have done, whereas I have had to be _spliced_." He was +here cut short by the voice of his mate, who had gone forward to slay +a pig for the gunroom mess. "Oh, Lad, oh!--Massa Caboose!--Dem dam +Yankee! De Purser killed, massa!--Dem shoot him troo de head!--Oh, +Oh, Lad!" Captain Deadeye had come on deck. "You, Johncrow, what _is_ +wrong with you?"--"Why, de Purser killed, captain, dat all."--"Purser +killed?--Doctor, is Saveall hurt?" Treenail could stand it no longer. +"No, sir, no; it is one of the gunroom pigs that we shipped at +Halifax, three cruises ago; I am sure I don't know how he survived +one, but the seamen took a fancy to him, and nicknamed him the Purser. +You know, sir, they make pets of any thing, and every thing, at a +pinch!" + +Here Johncrow drew the carcass from the hog-pen, and sure enough a +shot had cut the poor Purser's head nearly off. Blackee looked at him +with a most whimsical expression; they say no one can fathom a negro's +affection for a pig. "Poor Purser! de people call him Purser, sir, +because him knowing chap; him cabbage all de grub, slush, and stuff in +him own corner, and give only de small bit, and de bad piece, to de +oder pig; so, captain"--Splinter saw the poor fellow was like to get +into a scrape. "That will do, Johncrow--forward with you now, and lend +a hand to cat the anchor.--All hands up anchor!" The boatswain's +hoarse voice repeated the command, and he in turn was re-echoed by his +mates; the capstan was manned, and the crew stamped round to a point +of war most villanously performed by a bad drummer and a worse fifer, +in as high glee as if those who were killed had been snug and well in +their hammocks on the berth-deck, in place of at the bottom of the +sea, with each a shot at his feet. We weighed, and began to work up, +tack and tack, towards the island of Ireland, where the arsenal is, +amongst a perfect labyrinth of shoals, through which the 'Mudian pilot +_cunned_ the ship with great skill, taking his stand, to our no small +wonderment, not at the gangway or poop, as usual, but on the bowsprit +end, so that he might see the rocks under foot, and shun them +accordingly, for they are so steep and numerous, (they look like large +fish in the clear water), and the channel is so intricate, that you +have to go quite close to them. At noon we arrived at the anchorage, +and hauled our moorings on board. _Blackwood's Magazine_. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GATHERER. + + A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. +SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +SCRAPS. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +DODSLEY. + + +About five or six miles from Mansfield is the mill where the incident +took place on which Dodsley founded his pleasing drama of _The Miller +of Mansfield_. + + * * * * * + + +Bottles for ginger-beer, soda-water, ink, blacking, &c. are +principally manufactured near Codnor Castle, in Derbyshire. About +fifty women and children finish one hundred gross per day. + + * * * * * + + +Glauber Salts are a more tonic aperient than Epsom Salts, which is +accounted for by the presence of a little iron, in the one, which has +not been detected in the other. + + * * * * * + + +The tip of the cat's nose is always cold, except on the day of the +summer solstice, when it becomes lukewarm. + + * * * * * + + +Cod-fish are sorely attacked by dog and cuttle-fish. The latter, with +their hard mouths, resembling parrots' bills, cut up the mackerel and +herrings with great adroitness. The cuttle-fish are, in their turn, +sometimes attacked by the dog-fish; but they generally escape, by +ejecting a liquid resembling _ink_, which renders the water dark and +turbid. + + * * * * * + + +MACKEREL. + + +When red mullet are abundant in fishmongers' shops, a fine mackerel +season may be expected. The early mackerel are frequently attended by +a few mullet; and whenever they nearly, if not altogether, equal the +mackerel in number, the circumstance is generally the presage of the +approach of great shoals of mackerel. + + * * * * * + + +The course of herrings and mackerel is traced by their eggs, which, +during a calm, may be seen floating on the surface of the water, like +saw-dust, amidst an appearance like the wake or track of a vessel. + + * * * * * + + +SPRATS AND WHITE BAIT. + + +Mr. Yarrell has recently shown that the sprat is not the young of the +herring and pilchard, as has been generally supposed. One of the most +material differences is, that the vertebrae in the sprat are forty-eight +in number, while in the herring there are fifty-six. The same gentleman +has also proved that _white bait_ are not the young of the shad, or +mother of herrings; but that they are a well-marked and distinct +species. + + * * * * * + + + +WHISKY. + + +It is a curious fact, that until the legal distillation of whisky was +prohibited in the Highlands, it was never drunk at gentlemen's tables. +"Mountain dew," and such poetic names, are of modern invention, since +this liquor became fashionable. It is altogether of modern introduction +into the Highlands; the name being only mentioned in modern ballads. + + * * * * * + + +ANNUALS FOR 1830. + + +The Second SUPPLEMENT, containing Choice Extracts from the "Keepsake," +"Forget-me-not," &c., with a fine Large Engraving from the "Landscape +Annual," will be published with our next number. + + * * * * * + + +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. + + * * * * * + +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset +House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; +and by all Newsmen and Booksellers_. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11447 *** |