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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:38:18 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:38:18 -0700 |
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diff --git a/11888-h/11888-h.htm b/11888-h/11888-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6aa0e42 --- /dev/null +++ b/11888-h/11888-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2287 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> + + <title>The Mirror of Literature, Issue 575.</title> + + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify;} + blockquote {text-align: justify;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} + pre {font-size: 0.7em;} + + hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} + html>body hr {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + html>body hr.full {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;} + + .note, .footnote + {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + + span.pagenum + {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt;} + + .poem + {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 2em;} + + .figure + {padding: 1em; margin: 0; text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em; margin: auto;} + .figure img + {border: none;} + .figure p + --> + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11888 ***</div> + + <hr class="full" /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page305" id="page305"></a>[pg 305]</span> + + <h1>THE MIRROR<br /> + OF<br /> + LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1> + <hr class="full" /> + + <table width="100%" summary="Vol. 20. No. 575. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1832"> + <tr> + <td align="left"><b>Vol. 20. No. 575.</b></td> + <td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1832</b></td> + <td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td> + </tr> + </table> +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<!-- [Illustration] --> +<div class="figure" style="width:100%;"> + <a href="images/575-1.png"><img width="100%" src="images/575-1.png" + alt="Framlingham Castle." /></a> +</div> + +<h2> +FRAMLINGHAM CASTLE. +</h2> + + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Castle of Ancient Days! in times long gone</p> + <p>Thy lofty halls in regal splendour shone!</p> + <p>Thou stoodst a monument of strength sublime,</p> + <p>A Giant, laughing at the threats of Time!</p> + <p>Strange scenes have passed within thy walls! and strange</p> + <p>Has been thy fate through many a chance and change!</p> + <p>Thy Towers have heard the war-cry, and the shout</p> + <p>Of friends within, and answering foes without,</p> + <p>Have rung to sounds of revelry, while mirth</p> + <p>Held her carousal, when the sons of earth</p> + <p>Sported with joy, till even <i>he</i> could bring</p> + <p>No fresh delight upon his drooping wing!</p> + </div> +</div> + +JAMES BIRD. + +<h4> +(<i>From a Correspondent</i>.) +</h4> + + +<p> +This Castle is said to have been founded by Redwald, or Redowald, one +of the most powerful kings of the East Angles, between A.D. 599 and +624. It belonged to St. Edmund, one of the Saxon monarchs of East +Anglia, who, upon the invasion of the Danes, fled from Dunwich, or +Thetford, to this castle; from which being driven, and being overtaken +at <i>Hegilsdon</i>, (now Hoxne, a distance of twelve miles from +Framlingham,) he was cruelly put to death, being bound to a tree and +shot with arrows, A.D. 870. His body, after many years, was removed to +a place called <i>Bederics-gueord</i>, now St. Edmund's Bury. The castle +remained in the hands of the Danes fifty years, when they were brought +under the obedience of the Saxons. William the Conqueror and his son +Rufus retained the Castle in their own possession; but the third son +of William, Henry I., granted it, with the Manor of Framlingham, to +Roger Bigod.—The castle continued in this family till Roger Bigod, +the last of the race, and a man more turbulent than any of his +predecessors, was compelled to resign it to King Edward I.; Edward II. +gave it to his half-brother, Thomas Plantagenet, surnamed De +Brotherton; from whom it descended to Thomas de Mowbray, twelfth Baron +Mowbray, created Duke of Norfolk 29th of September, 1397. From the +Mowbrays it descended to the Howards, Dukes of Norfolk, Sir Robert +Howard having married Margaret, daughter of Thomas Mowbray, first Duke +of Norfolk. His son, John Howard, was created Earl Marshal and Duke of +Norfolk, 28th of June, 1483. He was slain at Bosworth Field, 1485; and +his son, Thomas, Earl of Surrey, being attainted, the castle fell into +the hands of King Henry VII., who granted it to John de Vere, +thirteenth Earl of Oxford, from whom it again returned to the Howards. +Thomas Howard, third Duke of Norfolk, being attainted, (38 Henry VIII. +1546,) it was seized by the king, who dying the same year, his +successor, Edward VI., granted it to his sister, the Princess, +afterwards Queen Mary. King James I. granted it to Thomas Howard, +first Baron Howard de Walden, youngest son of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page306" id="page306"></a>[pg 306]</span> +Thomas, fourth Duke of +Norfolk, created Earl of Suffolk 21st of July, 1603; but his lordship +making Audley Inn his seat, the castle fell into decay, and his son, +Theophilus, second Earl of Suffolk, sold it in 1635, with the domains, +to Sir Robert Hitcham, knight, senior sergeant to James I.; who by his +will, dated 10th of August, 1636, bequeathed it to the master and +scholars of Pembroke College, in trust for certain charitable uses; +the advowson of the living, the castle and the manor, he bequeathed to +the college for its own use; since which time the castle has remained +in a dismantled state. +</p> + +<p> +Loder, in his <i>History of Framlingham</i>, thus describes the former +state of the structure: "This castle, containing an acre, a rood, and +eleven perches of land, within the walls now standing, but anciently a +much larger quantity before the walls enclosing the same were +demolished, was in former ages very fair and beautiful, standing +within a park (long since disparked) on the north side of the town; +fortified with a double ditch, high banks, rampires, and stone walls +44 feet high and 8 feet thick; in these walls were thirteen towers, 14 +feet higher than the walls, built four-square—whereof two were +watch-towers, one looking towards the east and the other towards the +west: and the rooms within the castle were very commodious and +necessary, capable to receive and contain abundance of people. +</p> + +<p> +"In the first court was a deep well, of excellent workmanship, +compassed with carved pillars, which supported its leaden roof, and +though out of repair, was in being in the year of our Lord 1651. A +chapel stood in the same court, adjoining to the east watch-tower; +which in the reign of Henry VIII. was hung with cloth of arras, of the +history of Christ's passion; and a lamp of the value of seven +shillings was usually burnt before the altar there. On the side of the +court, towards the west watch-tower, was the hall, covered with lead; +and over the gate thereof were formerly cut in stone the arms of +Brotherton impaled with Bouchier, quartering Louvain, supported with a +lion and an eagle. Divers other arms there were in the rest of the +buildings, some cut on stone and some on timber, to be seen in the +year of our Lord 1651—as Bygods, Brothertons, Seagraves, Mowbrays, +Howards, and St. Edmund's, the king and martyr. Between the hall and +chancel, fronting the great castle gate, was a large chamber, with +several rooms, and a cloyster under it, pulled down A.D. 1700; for +which, when standing, in the reign of King Henry VIII., there was one +suit of hangings of the story of Hercules; which are supposed to be +those still remaining at the seat of Lord Howard, of Walden. +</p> + +<p> +"Out of the castle were three passages—one a postern, with an iron +gate, on the east side over a private bridge into the park, where +there were arbours, pleasant walks, and trees planted for profit and +delight. Another passage was on the west side, leading to a dungeon, +and forth on to the mere, now filled up with mire and weeds. But the +largest passage and most used was, and is, that towards the south and +town; there being formerly a portcullis over that gate, which was made +in one of the strongest towers, and a drawbridge without, defended by +an half-moon of stone, about a man's height, standing in the year +1657." +</p> + +<p> +These splendid buildings within the walls have long since been +demolished, so that scarcely a vestige remains; but with their +materials a workhouse has been built for the poor. The only armorial +bearings traceable are three shields over the castle-gate. +</p> + +<blockquote> + Over the centre of the gate is a large one; the arms and + quarterings of John Howard IV., first Duke of Norfolk, who + died in 1485; and with lions for supporters. Crest—a lion + passant-guardant. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> + 1. A bend between six cross crosslets, for ... Howard. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> + 2. Three lions passant-guardant in pale—England, for ... + Brotherten. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> + 3. Checky ... Warren. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> + 4. A lion rampant ... Mowbray. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> + 5. A lion rampant crowned ... Seagrave. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> + 6. Semé de cross crosslets fitchy, and a lion rampant, double + queue ... Broes, or Bruce. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> + All within the garter. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> + On the west side, a shield, quarterly—1. Howard—2. + Brotherton—3. Mowbray—4. Seagrave. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> + On the east side, quarterly—1. Brotherton—2. Warren—3. + Seagrave—4. Broes. +</blockquote> + +<p> +This venerable and majestic remain of antiquity, when viewed at a +distance, has certainly more the appearance of a castle than the ruins +of one, the outward walls being almost entire, and presenting nearly +the same appearance they did thirty years ago. +</p> + +<p> +Framlingham Church is a fine structure, and was built by the Mowbrays; +and the Chancel by the Howards, wherein are several stately monuments +of this noble family. +</p> + +<p> +EDWARD DUNTHORN. +</p> + +<p> +The original of the annexed Cut is a lithograph frontispiece to +<i>Framlingham</i>: a Narrative of <i>the Castle</i>—a poem of very +considerable merit, by Mr. James Bird, of Yoxford: the introduction to +which furnishes the following impassioned apostrophe to Framlingham +and its decaying Castle:— +</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Heir of Antiquity!—fair castled Town,</p> + <p>Rare spot of beauty, grandeur, and renown,</p> + <p>Seat of East-Anglian kings!—proud child of fame,</p> + <p>Hallowed by time, illustrious Framlinghame!</p> + <p>I touch my lyre delighted, thus to bring</p> + <p>To thee my heart's full homage while I sing!</p> + <p>And thou, old Castle!—thy bold turrets high,</p> + <p>Have shed their deep enchantment on mine eye,</p> + <p>Though years have changed thee, I have gazed intent</p> + <p>In silent joy, on tower and battlement,</p> + <p>When all thy time-worn glories met my sight;</p> + <p>Thou have I felt such rapture, such delight,</p> + <p>That, had the splendour of thy days of yore</p> + <p>Flashed on my view, I had not loved thee more!</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page307" id="page307"></a>[pg 307]</span> + <p>Scene of immortal deeds! thy walls have rung</p> + <p>To pealing shouts from many a warrior's tongue;</p> + <p>When first thy founder, Redwald of the spear,</p> + <p>Manned thy high towers, defied his foemen near,</p> + <p>When, girt with strength, East-Anglia's king of old,</p> + <p>The sainted Edmund, sought thy sheltering hold,</p> + <p>When the proud <i>Dane</i>, fierce Hinguar, in his ire</p> + <p>Besieged the king, and wrapped thy walls in fire,</p> + <p>While Edmund fled, but left thee with his name</p> + <p>Linked, and for ever, to the chain of fame:</p> + <p>Then wast thou great! and long, in after years</p> + <p>Thy grandeur shone—thy portraiture appears</p> + <p>From history's pencil like a summer-night,</p> + <p>With much of shadow, but with more of light!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Pile of departed days!—my verse records,</p> + <p>Thy time of glory, thy illustrious Lords,</p> + <p>The fearless Bigods—Brotherton—De Vere,</p> + <p>And Kings, who held thee in their pride, or fear,</p> + <p>And gallant Howards, 'neath whose ducal sway</p> + <p>Proud rose thy towers, thy rugged heights were gay</p> + <p>With glittering banners, costly trophies rent</p> + <p>From men in war, or tilt, or tournament,</p> + <p>With all the pomp and splendour that could grace</p> + <p>The name, and honours of that warlike race.</p> + <p>Howards! the rich! the noble! and the great!</p> + <p>Most brave! most happy! most unfortunate!</p> + <p>Kings were thy courtiers!—Queens have sued to share</p> + <p>Thy wealth, thy triumphs—e'en thy <i>name</i> to bear!</p> + <p>Tyrants have bowed thy children to the dust,</p> + <p>Some for their worth—and some who broke their trust!</p> + <p>And there was <i>one</i> among thy race, who died</p> + <p>To Henry's shame!—his country's boast and pride:</p> + <p>Immortal Surrey!—Offspring of the Muse!</p> + <p>Bold as the lion, gentle as the dews</p> + <p>That fall on flowers to 'wake their odorous breath,</p> + <p>And shield their blossoms from the touch of death,</p> + <p>Surrey!—thy fate was wept by countless eyes,</p> + <p>A nation's woe assailed the pitying skies,</p> + <p>When thy pure spirit left this scene of strife,</p> + <p>And soared to him who breathed it into life:</p> + <p>Thy funeral knell pealed o'er the world!—thy fall</p> + <p>Was mourned by hearts that loved thee, mourned by all—</p> + <p>All, save thy murderers!—thou hast won thy crown:</p> + <p>And <i>thou</i>, fair Framlinghame! a bright renown,</p> + <p>Yes! thy rich temple holds the stately tomb,</p> + <p>Where sleeps the Poet in his lasting home,</p> + <p>Lamented Surrey!—hero, bard divine,</p> + <p>Pride, grace, and glory of brave Norfolk's line.</p> + <p>Departed spirit!—Oh! I love to hold</p> + <p>Communion sweet with lofty minds of old,</p> + <p>To catch a spark of that celestial fire</p> + <p>Which glows and kindles in thy rapturous lyre;</p> + <p>Though varying themes demand my future lays,</p> + <p>Yet thus my soul a willing homage pays</p> + <p>To that bright glory which illumes thy name,</p> + <p>Though naught can raise the splendour of thy fame!</p> + </div> +</div> + +<p> +Mr. Bird is also advantageously known as the author of the Vale of +Slaughden; Poetical Memoirs; Dunwich, a tale of the Splendid City; and +other poems, which abound with vivid imagery, life-breathing +incidents, and interesting narrative; though it is but late justice to +recommend his <i>Framlingham</i> to the admirers of fervid verse. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +SPIRIT DRINKING. +</h3> + + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Nothing like the simple element dilutes</p> + <p>The food, or gives the chyle so soon to flow."</p> + </div> +</div> + +<p> +The direful practice of spirit-drinking seems to have arrived at its +acme in the metropolis. Splendid mansions rear their <i>dazzling heads</i> +at almost every turning; and it appears as if Circe had fixed her +abode in these superb haunts. Happy are those who, like Ulysses of +old, will not partake of her deadly cup. If the unhappy dram-drinker +was merely to calculate the annual expense of two glasses of gin per +day, he would find a sum expended which would procure for him many +comforts, for the want of which he is continually grumbling. If this +sum is expended for only two glasses of spirits, what must be the +expense to the habitual and daily sot, who constantly haunts the +tap-room or the wretched bar? to say nothing of the loss of time, +health, and every comfort. +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Willan says—"On comparing my own observations with the bills of +mortality, I am convinced that considerably more than one-eighth of +all the deaths which take place in persons above twenty years old, +happen prematurely, through excess in drinking spirits." +</p> + +<p> +Spirits, like other poisons, if taken in a sufficient quantity, prove +immediately fatal. The newspapers frequently furnish us with examples +of almost instant death, occasioned by wantonly swallowing a pint or +other large quantity of spirits, for the sake of wager, or in boast. +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Trotter says—"We daily see, in all parts of the world, men who, +by profligacy and hard-drinking, have brought themselves to a goal; +yet, if we consult the register of the prison, it does not appear that +any of these habitual drunkards die by being forced to lead sober +lives." And he contends, that "whatever debility of the constitution +exists, it is to be cured by the usual medicinal means which are +employed to restore weakened organs. But the great difficulty in these +attempts to cure inebriety is in satisfying the mind, and in whetting +the blunted resolutions of the patient; and this is, doubtless, more +easily accomplished by a gradual abstraction of his favourite +potations." +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Lettsom mentions a person who usually drank twelve drams a day; +but being convinced of his approaching misery, took the resolution to +wean himself from this poison. He always drank out of one glass, into +which he daily let fall a drop of sealing-wax. By this means he had +twelve drops less of spirit every day, till at length, his glass being +filled with wax, his habit was cured. +</p> + +<p> +"In the drunkard," says Dr. Willan, "the memory and the faculties +depending on it, being impaired, there takes place an indifference +towards usual occupations, and accustomed society or amusements. No +interest is taken in the concerns of others—no love, no sympathy +remain: even natural affection to nearest relatives is gradually +extinguished, and the moral sense obliterated. The wretched victims of +a fatal poison fall, at length, into a state of fatuity, and die with +the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page308" id="page308"></a>[pg 308]</span> +powers both of body and mind wholly exhausted. Some, after +repeated fits of derangement, expire in a sudden and violent phrenzy; +some are hurried out the world by apoplexies; others perish by the +slower process of jaundice, dropsy," &c. +</p> + +<p> +P.T.W. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +A SCENE ON WINDERMERE. +</h3> + + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i4">"Beautiful scene! how fitted to allure</p> + <p class="i4">The printless footsteps of some sea-born maid."</p> + </div> +</div> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>It was a holy calm—the sunbeams tinged</p> + <p>The lake with gold, and flush'd the gorgeous brow</p> + <p>Of many a cloud whose image shone beneath</p> + <p>The blue translucent wave; the mountain-peaks</p> + <p>Were robed in purple, and the balmy air</p> + <p>Derived its fragrance from the breath of flow'rs</p> + <p>That seem'd as if they wish'd to close their eyes,</p> + <p>And yield their empire to the starry throng.</p> + <p>The wind, as o'er the lake it gently died,</p> + <p>Bequeath'd its cadence to the shore, and waked</p> + <p>The echo slumbering in the distant vales,</p> + <p>Diversified with woods, and rural homes.</p> + <p>The calm was lovely! and o'er such a scene</p> + <p>It brooded like a spirit, softening all</p> + <p>That lay beneath its blessed influence!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>On Windermere—what poetry belongs</p> + <p>To such a name—deep, pure and beautiful,</p> + <p>As its trout-peopled wave!—on Windermere</p> + <p>Our skiff pursued its way amid the calm</p> + <p>Which fill'd the heart with holiest communings.</p> + <p>On Windermere—what scenes entranced the eye</p> + <p>That wander'd o'er them! either undefined</p> + <p>Or traced upon the outline of the sky.</p> + <p>Afar the lovely panorama glow'd,</p> + <p>Until the mountains, on whose purple brows</p> + <p>The clouds were pillow' d, closed it from our view.</p> + <p>The fields were fraught with bloom, on them appear'd</p> + <p>The verdant robe that Nature loves to wear,</p> + <p>And rocky pathways fringed with bristling pine,</p> + <p>O'er which the wall of many a cottage-home</p> + <p>Graced with the climbing vine, or beautified</p> + <p>With roses bending to each passing breeze,</p> + <p>Attracts the eye, and glistens in the sun—</p> + <p>Were interspersed around; while in the vale</p> + <p>The streamlet gave a silver gleam, and flow'd</p> + <p>Beneath the hill, on whose majestic brow,</p> + <p>Dimm'd with the ivy of a thousand years,</p> + <p>The rural fane, encircled with its tombs,</p> + <p>Displayed its mouldering form. Amid the light</p> + <p>And harmony of this enchanting scene,</p> + <p>'Tis sweet to have a temple that recalls</p> + <p>The heart from earth's turmoil, and hallows it</p> + <p>With hopes that soar beyond the flight of time.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Beautiful Lake! most lovely Windermere!</p> + <p>Thou mirror to the mountains that enclose</p> + <p>Thy shores with zone magnificent;—in storm,</p> + <p>Or calm—when summer wantons with thy waves,</p> + <p>Or winter clouds thy crystal brow with gloom,</p> + <p>Oh! mayst thou still entrance the wanderer's eye,</p> + <p>And keep congenial quiet in his soul.</p> + <p>Thy fairy haunts, where solitude pervades</p> + <p>The feelings like a spirit, might allure</p> + <p>Some visionary youth to muse beneath</p> + <p>The rocks empurpled with the sunny beam,</p> + <p>And blend the music of his harp with thine</p> + <p>In gentlest murmurs,—consecrated Lake!</p> + </div> +</div> + +<p> +G.R.C. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + +<h2> +NEW BOOKS. +</h2> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +PETER THE GREAT. +</h3> + +<h4> +(<i>Concluded from page 303.</i>) +</h4> + + +<p> +His attention was forcibly attracted to the magnificent building of +Greenwich Hospital, which, until he had visited it, and seen the old +pensioners, he had some difficulty in believing to be any thing but a +royal palace. King William having one day asked him how he liked his +hospital for decayed seamen, the Tzar answered, "If I were the adviser +of your Majesty, I should counsel you to remove your court to +Greenwich, and convert St. James's into a hospital." +</p> + +<p> +It being term time while the Tzar was in London, he was taken into +Westminster Hall; he inquired who all those busy people in black gowns +and flowing wigs were, and what they were about? Being answered, "They +are lawyers, sir;"—"Lawyers!" said he, with marks of astonishment, +"why, I have but <i>two</i> in my whole dominions, and I believe I shall +hang one of them the moment I get home."<a id="footnotetag1" name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +In the first week of March, vice-admiral Mitchell was ordered to +repair forthwith to Spithead, and, taking several ships (eleven in +number) under his command, hoist the blue flag at the fore-topmast +head of one of them. It is not stated for what purpose these vessels +were put under his command, nor was any public order given. But the +<i>Postman</i>,<a id="footnotetag2" name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> +under date of 26th March, says, "On Tuesday the Tzar of +Muscovy went on board admiral Mitchell, in his Majesty's ship the +Humber, who presently hoisted sail and put to sea from Spithead, as +did also his Majesty's ships the Restauration, Chichester, Defiance, +Swiftsure, York, Monmouth, Dover, Kingston, Coventry, Seaforth, and +Swan." And the <i>Flying-post</i>, or <i>Postmaster</i>,<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a> +has the following +intelligence: "The representation of a sea engagement was excellently +performed before the Tzar of Muscovy, and continued a considerable +time, each ship having twelve pounds of powder allowed; but all their +bullets were locked up in the hold, for fear the sailors should +mistake." It is stated in the logs of the Humber and the Kingston that +they had two sham fights; that the ships were divided into two +squadrons, and every ship took her opposite and fired three +broad-sides <i>aloft and one alow</i> without shot. The Tzar was extremely +pleased with the performance. It is said, indeed, he was so much +delighted with every thing he saw in the British navy, that he told +admiral Mitchell he considered the condition of an English admiral +happier than that of a Tzar of Russia.<a id="footnotetag4" name="footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4"><sup>4</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +On returning from Portsmouth, Peter and his party stopped at Godalming +for the night, where, it would appear, from the bill of fare, they +feasted lustily. Among the papers of Ballard's Collection, in the +Bodleian Library, is one from Mr. Humphrey Wanley<a id="footnotetag5" name="footnotetag5"></a><a href="#footnote5"><sup>5</sup></a> +to Dr. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page309" id="page309"></a>[pg 309]</span> +Charlett,<a id="footnotetag6" name="footnotetag6"></a><a href="#footnote6"><sup>6</sup></a> +which contains the following passage:—"I cannot vouch +for the following bill of fare, which the Tzar and his company, +thirteen at table, and twenty-one in all, ate up at Godalming (or +Godliming), in Surrey, in their way home, but it is averred for truth +by an eye-witness, who saw them eating, and had this bill from the +landlord. At breakfast—half a sheep, a quarter of lamb, ten pullets, +twelve chickens, three quarts of brandy, six quarts of mulled wine, +seven dozen of eggs, with salad in proportion. At dinner:—five ribs +of beef, weight three stone; one sheep, fifty-six pounds; three +quarters of lamb, a shoulder and loin of veal boiled, eight pullets, +eight rabbits, two dozen and a half of sack, one dozen of claret."<a id="footnotetag7" name="footnotetag7"></a><a href="#footnote7"><sup>7</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +It would appear, indeed, from all accounts, that the Tzar was a +prodigiously hard drinker, in his younger days. In a letter from Mr. +A. Bertie to Dr. Charlett, and in the same collection, he says, "The +Tzar lay the other night at Mr. James Herbert's, being come from +Deptford to see the Redoubt,<a id="footnotetag8" name="footnotetag8"></a><a href="#footnote8"><sup>8</sup></a> +which the justices have suppressed, by +placing six constables at the door. Upon that disappointment he fell +to drinking hard at one Mr. Morley's; and the Marquess of Carmarthen, +it being late, resolved to lodge him at his brother-in-law's, where he +dined the next day; drank a pint of brandy and a bottle of sherry for +his morning draught; and after that about eight more bottles of sack +and so went to the playhouse."<a id="footnotetag9" name="footnotetag9"></a><a href="#footnote9"><sup>9</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +The King having given a grand ball at St. James's, in honour of the +Princess's birthday, Peter was invited; but instead of mixing with the +company, he was put into a small room, from whence he could see all +that passed without being himself seen. This extraordinary aversion +for a crowd kept him away from all great assemblies. Once, indeed, he +attempted to subdue it, from a desire to hear the debates in the House +of Commons, but even then the Marquess of Carmarthen could not prevail +on him to go into the body of the house. +</p> + +<p> +Having dined with the King at Kensington, he was prevailed on to see +the ceremony of his Majesty passing four bills; but, it appears from a +note of Lord Dartmouth, that here, as in the Commons, he avoided going +into the house. His Lordship says, "He had a great dislike to being +looked at, but had a mind to see the King in parliament; in order to +which he was placed in a gutter upon the house-top, to peep in at the +window, where he made so ridiculous a figure, that neither king nor +people could forbear laughing, which obliged him to retire sooner than +he intended." +</p> + +<p> +From the same authority we learn that Peter was, at another time, +placed in an awkward situation. "The King made the Tzar a visit, in +which an odd incident happened. The Tzar had a favourite monkey, which +sat upon the back of his chair; as soon as the King was sat down, the +monkey jumped upon him, in some wrath, which discomposed the whole +ceremonial, and most of the time was afterwards spent in apologies for +the monkey's misbehaviour."<a id="footnotetag10" name="footnotetag10"></a><a href="#footnote10"><sup>10</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +The Tzar is said to have paid a visit to the University of Oxford; but +not a trace appears on any of the records of that university of his +having ever done so. His body physician, Posnikof, who stayed in +England some months behind his master, is, however, known to have been +there. Mr. Wanley writes thus, from London, to Dr. Charlett;—"I will +wait on the doctor (Posnikof,) and if you had been pleased to have +given me orders, I would have been at Oxford before now, for his sake, +and returned hither with him again. His master (the Tzar) gave the +King's servants, at his departure, one hundred and twenty guineas, +which was more than they deserved, they being very rude to him; but to +the King he presented a rough ruby, which the greatest jewellers of +Amsterdam (as well Jews as Christians) valued at ten thousand pounds +sterling. 'Tis bored through, and when it is cut and polished, it must +be set upon the top of the imperial crown of England."<a id="footnotetag11" name="footnotetag11"></a><a href="#footnote11"><sup>11</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +He was introduced to the archbishop of Canterbury, at his palace of +Lambeth, and having expressed a desire to see the different churches +of the capital, and to observe the mode in which the service was +conducted, the archbishop recommended bishop Burnet to gratify his +curiosity in this respect; and to give him all the information, of +which none was more capable, that he might require on ecclesiastical +matters. From this dignitary of the church we have some information +respecting the manner and appearance of this extraordinary character. +</p> + +<p> +The bishop says he wrought much with his own hands, and made all about +him work at the models of ships. Who he had with him, besides +Menzikoff and Golownin, does not anywhere appear, but the +<i>Postman</i><a id="footnotetag12" name="footnotetag12"></a><a href="#footnote12"><sup>12</sup></a> +of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page310" id="page310"></a>[pg 310]</span> +the 29th March says, "The Tzar of Muscovy is returned +from Portsmouth to Deptford, where his second ambassador is arrived +from Holland." The two principal Russian workmen in Holland, of rank, +were Menzikoff and the Prince Siberski, the latter of whom is said to +have been able to rig a ship from top to bottom. The object in +remaining at Deptford would appear to have been, as before stated, +chiefly to gain instruction how to lay off the lines of ships, and cut +out the moulds; though it is said, on the testimony of an old man, a +workman of Deptford yard some forty years ago, that he had heard his +father<a id="footnotetag13" name="footnotetag13"></a><a href="#footnote13"><sup>13</sup></a> +say, the Tzar of Muscovy worked with his own hands as hard +as any man in the yard. If so, it could only have been for a very +short time, and probably for no other purpose than to show the +builders, that he knew how to handle the adze as well as themselves. +</p> + +<p> +When residing at Deptford he requested to see the celebrated Dr. +Halley, to whom he communicated his plans of building a fleet, and in +general of introducing the arts and sciences into his country, and +asked his opinion and advice on various subjects; the doctor spoke +German fluently, and the Tzar was so much pleased with the +philosopher's conversation and remarks, that he had him frequently to +dine with him; and in his company he visited the Royal Observatory in +Greenwich Park. +</p> + +<p> +As in Amsterdam, so also in London, he visited the manufactories and +workshops of various artificers, and purchased whatever he deemed +either curious or useful; and among other things "he bought the famous +geographical clock made by Mr. John Carte, watchmaker, at the sign of +the Dial and Crown, near Essex-street in the Strand, which clock tells +what o'clock it is in any part of the world, whether it is day or +night, the sun's rising and setting throughout the year, its entrance +into the signs of the zodiac; the arch which they and the sun in them +makes above or below the horizon, with several other curious +motions."<a id="footnotetag14" name="footnotetag14"></a><a href="#footnote14"><sup>14</sup></a> +He was very curious in examining the mechanism of a +watch, and it is said he could take one of these ingenious machines to +pieces, and put it together again, before he left London. +</p> + +<p> +The king had promised Peter that there should be no impediment in his +way of engaging, and taking with him to Russia, such English +artificers, and scientific men, as he might desire, with such +instruments as their trade or profession required. +</p> + +<p> +The number of all descriptions of persons that finally left England, +when the Tzar returned to Holland, is stated to have been nearly as +follows:—Three captains of ships of war, twenty-five captains of +merchant ships, thirty pilots, thirty surgeons, two hundred gunners, +four mast-makers, four boat-builders, two master sail-makers and +twenty workmen, two compass-makers, two carvers, two anchor-smiths, +two lock-smiths, two copper-smiths and two tinmen; making, with some +others, not much less than five hundred persons. However uncouth the +manners of Peter may have been, he was a great favourite with King +William, and the Tzar had also a high opinion of his Majesty, whom he +visited frequently, and consulted on all important occasions. The king +engaged him to sit for his portrait to Sir Godfrey Kneller, who +painted a very good picture, said to be a strong likeness, which is +now at Windsor, and the portrait at the head of this volume is +engraved from it. +</p> + +<p> +(The reader will recollect Peter at Zaandam. In after-life he visited +this place,) and the little cottage in which some nineteen years +before he had dwelt, when learning the art of ship-building: he found +it kept up in neat order, and dignified with the name of the <i>Prince's +House</i>. This little cottage is still carefully preserved. It is +surrounded by a neat building with large arched windows, having the +appearance of a conservatory or green-house, which was erected in 1823 +by order of the present Princess of Orange, sister to the late Emperor +Alexander, who purchased it to secure its preservation. In the first +room you still see the little oak table and three chairs which +constituted its furniture when Peter occupied it. Over the +chimney-piece is inscribed +</p> + +<center> +PETRO MAGNO<br /> +ALEXANDER, +</center> + +<p> +and in the Russian and Dutch, +</p> + +<blockquote> + "<i>To a Great Man nothing is little.</i>" +</blockquote> + +<p> +The ladder to the loft still remains, and in the second little room +below are some models and several of his working-tools. Thousands of +names are scribbled over every part of this once humble residence of +Peter the Great. +</p> + +<p> +On entering this cottage, Peter is said to have been evidently +affected. Recovering himself, he ascended the loft, where was a small +closet, in which he had been accustomed to perform his devotions and +remained there alone a full half-hour; with what various emotions his +mind must have been affected while in this situation, could be known +only to himself, but might easily be imagined. It could hardly fail to +recall to his recollection the happy period when he "communed with his +own heart" in this sacred little chamber, and "remembered his Creator +in the days of his youth,"—days which he might naturally enough be +led to compare and contrast with those of the last nineteen years of +his life, filled up as they had been with many and varied incidents, +painful, hazardous, disastrous and glorious. +</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page311" id="page311"></a>[pg 311]</span> + +<p> +Every one was anxious to bring to his recollection any little +circumstance in which he had been concerned,—among others, a +beautiful boat was brought to him as a present, in the building of +which he himself had done "yeoman service." He was delighted to see +that this ancient piece of the workmanship of his own hands had been +preserved with such care. He caused it to be put on board a ship bound +for Petersburg, but she was unfortunately captured by the Swedes; and +the boat is still kept in the arsenal of Stockholm. +</p> + +<p> +With his old acquaintance, Kist, the blacksmith, he visited the +smithy, which was so dirty that the gentleman of his suite who +attended him was retreating, but Peter stopped him to blow the bellows +and heat a piece of iron, which, when so done, he beat out with the +great hammer. Kist was still but a journeyman blacksmith, and the Tzar +out of compassion for his old acquaintance made him a handsome +present. +</p> + +<p> +[The Editor's conclusion, or brief summary, is sketched as follows.] +</p> + +<p> +The character of Peter the Great, as has been shown in the course of +this memoir, was a strange compound of contradictions. Owing to the +circumstances in which he was placed, and the determination to execute +the plan he had conceived of remodelling the customs and institutions +of his country, he had to maintain a constant struggle between his +good and evil genius. Nothing was too great, nothing too little for +his comprehensive mind. The noblest undertakings were mixed with the +most farcical amusements; the most laudable institutions, for the +benefit and improvement of his subjects, were followed by shaving +their beards and docking their skirts;—kind-hearted, benevolent, and +humane, he set no value on human life. Owing to these, and many other +incongruities, his character has necessarily been represented in +various points of view and in various colours by his biographers. Of +him, however, it can scarcely be said, that +</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>The evil which men do lives after them,</p> + <p>The good is oft interred with their bones.</p> + </div> +</div> + +<p> +With the exception of a few foreign writers, who have generally +compiled their memoirs from polluted sources, the reverse of the +aphorism may be applied to Peter. His memory, among his countrymen, +who ought to be the best judges, and of whom he was at once the +scourge and the benefactor, is held in the highest veneration, and is +consecrated in their history and their public monuments to everlasting +fame. The magnificent equestrian statue, erected by Catharine II.; the +waxen figure of Peter in the museum of the Academy founded by himself; +the dress, the sword, and the hat, which he wore at the battle of +Pultowa, the last pierced through with a ball: the horse that he rode +in that battle; the trousers, worsted stockings, shoes, and cap, which +he wore at Zaandam, all in the same apartment; his two favourite dogs, +his turning-lathe and tools, with specimens of his workmanship; the +iron bar which he forged with his own hand at Olonitz; the Little +Grandsire, so carefully preserved, as the first germ of the Russian +navy; and the wooden hut in which he lived while superintending the +first foundation of Petersburg;—these, and a thousand other tangible +memorials, all preserved with the utmost care, speak in most +intelligible language the opinion which the Russians hold of <i>the +Father of his Country</i>. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + +<h2> +THE NATURALIST. +</h2> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +THE DODO. +</h3> + + +<p> +Every reader of popular natural history must recollect the figure of +this extraordinary bird; although he may not be aware that it is +considered to have become extinct towards the end of the seventeenth +or beginning of the eighteenth century. The conditions of this +disappearance are self-evident.<a id="footnotetag15" name="footnotetag15"></a><a href="#footnote15"><sup>15</sup></a> +Imagine a bird of the gallinaceous +(<i>gallus</i>, cock, or pheasant) tribe, considerably larger than a +turkey, and consequently adapted for food, totally incapable of +flying, and so unwieldy as to be easily run down, and it must be quite +obvious that such a bird could not long continue to exist in any +country to which mankind extended their dominion. This will account +for its being found only in those islands of the Indian Ocean which, +on their being first discovered by Europeans, were uninhabited, or +difficult of access to the nearest people. The group which is situated +to the eastward of Madagascar, consisting of Bourbon, Mauritius, and +Roderigue, were almost the only islands of this description met with +by the early circumnavigators of the Cape; and it is there that we +find the last traces of this very remarkable bird, which disappeared, +of course, from Bourbon and the Mauritius <i>first</i>, on account of their +being more visited and finally colonized by the French; and lastly +from Roderigue, an island extremely difficult of access, and without +any safe bay or anchorage for shipping. +</p> + +<p> +We obtain these particulars from a paper in the <i>Magazine of Natural +History</i>,<a id="footnotetag16" name="footnotetag16"></a><a href="#footnote16"><sup>16</sup></a> +by John V. Thompson, Esq. F.L.S. This gentleman, during +a residence of some years in the above islands, in vain sought for +some traces of the existence of the Dodo there; he discovered, +however, a copy of the scarce and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page312" id="page312"></a>[pg 312]</span> +curious voyage of Leguat, who, and +his companions, appear to have been the first inhabitants of +Roderigue: and from their journal he has translated the following +account of the Dodo. +</p> + +<!-- [Illustration: <i>The Dodo.</i>] --> +<div class="figure" style="width:50%;"> + <a href="images/575-2.png"><img width="100%" src="images/575-2.png" + alt="The Dodo." /></a> +<center> +<i>The Dodo.</i> +</center> +</div> + +<p> +"Of all the birds which inhabit this island, the most remarkable is +that which has been called Solitaire (the solitary), because they are +rarely seen in flocks, although there is abundance of them. +</p> + +<p> +"The <i>males</i> have generally a greyish or brown plumage, the feet of +the turkey-cock, as also the beak, but a little more hooked. They have +hardly any tail, and their posterior, covered with feathers, is +rounded like the croup of a horse. They stand higher than the +turkey-cock, and have a straight neck, a little longer in proportion +than it is in that bird when it raises its head. The eye is black and +lively, and the head without any crest or tuft. They do not fly, their +wings being too short to support the weight of their bodies; they only +use them in beating their sides, and in whirling round; when they wish +to call one another, they make, with rapidity, twenty or thirty rounds +in the same direction, during the space of four or five minutes; the +movement of their wings then makes a noise which approaches +exceedingly that of a kestrel (Crécerelle), and which is heard at more +than 200 paces distant. The bone of the false pinion is enlarged at +its extremity, and forms, under the feathers, a little round mass like +a musket-bullet; this and their beak form the principal defence of +this bird. It is extremely difficult to catch them in the woods; but +as a man runs swifter than they, in the more open spots it is not very +difficult to take them; sometimes they may even be approached very +easily. From the month of March until September, they are extremely +fat, and of most excellent flavour, especially when young. The males +may be found up to the weight of 45 lb.; Herbert even says 50 lb. +</p> + +<p> +"The <i>female</i> is of admirable beauty. Some are of a blond, others of a +brown, colour; I mean by blond the colour of flaxen hair. They have a +kind of band, like the bandeau of widows, above the beak, which is of +a tan colour. One feather does not pass another over all their body, +because they take great care to adjust and polish them with their +beak. The feathers which accompany the thighs are rounded into a +shell-like form, and, as they are very dense at this place, produce a +very agreeable effect. They have two elevations over the crop, of a +somewhat whiter plumage than the rest, and which resemble wonderfully +the fine breast of a woman. They walk with so much stateliness and +grace combined, that it is impossible not to admire and love them; so +much so, that their appearance has often saved their life. +</p> + +<p> +"Although these birds approach, at times, very familiarly when they +are not chased, they are incapable of being tamed; as soon as caught, +they drop tears, without crying, and refuse obstinately all kind of +nourishment, until at last they die. There is always found in their +gizzard (as well as in that of the males) a brown stone, the size of a +hen's egg; it is slightly tuberculated (raboteuse), flat on one side, +and rounded on the other, very heavy and very hard. We imagined that +this stone was born with them, because, however young they might be, +they always had it, and never more than one; and besides this +circumstance, the canal which passes from the crop to the gizzard, is +by one-half too small to give passage to such a mass. We used them, in +preference to any other stone, to sharpen our knives. +</p> + +<p> +"When these birds set about building their nests, they choose a clear +spot, and raise it a foot and a half off the ground, upon a heap of +leaves of the palm tree, which they collect together for the purpose. +They only lay one egg, which is very much larger than that of a goose. +The male and female sit by turns, and it does not hatch until after a +period of seven weeks. During the whole period of incubation, or that +they are rearing their young one, which is not capable of providing +for itself until after several months, they will not suffer any bird +of their own kind to approach within 200 paces of their nest; and what +is very singular is, that the male never chases away the females; +only, when he perceives one, he makes, in whirling, his ordinary +noise, to call his companion, which immediately comes and gives chase +to the stranger, and which she does not quit until driven without +their limits. The female does the same and allows the males to be +driven off by her mate. This is a circumstance that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page313" id="page313"></a>[pg 313]</span> +we so often +witnessed, that I speak of it with certainty. These combats last +sometimes for a long time, because the stranger only turns off, +without going in a straight line from the nest; nevertheless, the +others never quit until they have chased them away."<a id="footnotetag17" name="footnotetag17"></a><a href="#footnote17"><sup>17</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Thompson finds this evidence strengthened by the facts and +statements of a paper by Mr. Duncan, in the <i>Zoological Journal</i> for +January, 1828; and infers that a bird of corresponding size and +character did actually exist, of which the only remains are a bill and +foot in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, and a foot in the British +Museum, all of which Mr. Thompson examined on his return from the +Mauritius in 1816. The specimen, which in part remains at Oxford, was +originally in the museum of Tradescant, at Lambeth, which was +purchased and removed to Oxford by Dr. Ashmole; the <i>entire bird</i> is +proved to have been in the Museum in 1700; and in a catalogue of the +collection drawn up since 1755, the disappearance of all but the bill +and foot of the Dodo is explained by an order of a meeting of the +visitors in the last-named year. Tradescant, it will be recollected, +was gardener to Charles the Second; and in the portrait of him still +preserved is introduced a Dodo, which belonged to him when alive. +Another painting of the bird, to be seen in the British Museum, is +stated by Mr. Duncan, to have been executed from a living bird, sent +from the Mauritius to Holland, the Dutch being the first colonists of +that island; but, Mr. Thompson thinks, "to dissipate all doubts as to +its accuracy, it should be collated with a description taken from the +Ashmolean specimen, should such be found to exist." +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Thompson is inclined to consider Leguat's natural history of the +Dodo as "the only one that was ever penned under such favourable +circumstances. No doubt this first colony, in so small an island, +considerably reduced the number of the Dodo; but when they finally +disappeared, does not seem to be anywhere recorded." The most +interesting consideration connected with their disappearance is their +being "the only vertebrated animals which we can make certain of +having lost since the creation. If we seek to find out what link in +the chain of Nature has been broken by the loss of this species, what +others have lost their check, and what others necessarily followed the +loss of those animals which alone contributed to their support," Mr. +Thompson thinks "we may conclude that, the first being seen by the +Omniscient Creator, at least no injury will be sustained by the rest +of the creation; that man, its destroyer, was probably intended to +supplant it, as a check; and that the only other animals which its +destruction drew with it, were the intestinal worms and pediculi +peculiar to the species." +</p> + +<p> +Buffon, Latham, and Gmelin have three species of Dodo, while we find +it difficult to establish the existence of one. Indeed, it is +improbable that the three islands of the Mauritius group possessed +each a distinct type of so singular and unique a bird. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +MOUNT ARARAT. +</h3> + + +<p> +Ararat is celebrated as the resting-place of Noah's ark after the +Deluge, and as the spot whence the descendants of Noah peopled the +earth. It rises on the Persian frontier, on a large plain, detached, +as it were, from the other mountains of Armenia, which make a long +chain. It consists, properly speaking, of two hills—the highest of +which, where the ark is said to have rested,<a id="footnotetag18" name="footnotetag18"></a><a href="#footnote18"><sup>18</sup></a> +is, according to +Parrot, 2,700 toises, or 17,718 feet above the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page314" id="page314"></a>[pg 314]</span> +level of the ocean.<a id="footnotetag19" name="footnotetag19"></a><a href="#footnote19"><sup>19</sup></a> +The summit is covered with perpetual snow; the lower parts are +composed of a deep, moving sand; and one side presents a vast chasm +tinged with smoke, from which flames have been known to issue. +</p> + +<!-- [Illustration: <i>Mount Ararat, from a drawing, by Sir Robert Ker Porter.</i>] --> +<div class="figure" style="width:100%;"> + <a href="images/575-3.png"><img width="100%" src="images/575-3.png" + alt="Mount Ararat, from a drawing, by Sir Robert Ker Porter." /></a> +<center> +<i>Mount Ararat, from a drawing, by Sir Robert Ker Porter.</i> +</center> +</div> + +<p> +Perhaps the most recent visit to this wonder of the East will be found +described in Mr. J.H. Stocqueler's Journal of <i>Fifteen Months' +Pilgrimage through untrodden Tracts of Khuzistan and Persia</i>, in 1831 +and 1832:— +</p> + +<p> +"We mounted our horses," says the enthusiastic traveller, "soon after +sunrise, and had proceeded for about four hours over numerous +acclivities, and through a territory of undulations resembling the +waves of the sea deprived of motion, when the southern peak of Ararat +(for there are two), snow-clad and 'cloud-clapt' suddenly burst upon +my view! At first I scarcely dared venture to believe we were so near +this celebrated mount, though its situation and the distance we had +journeyed from Tabreez left no doubt of the fact. I even questioned +the guide, and on his answering that it was the summit of Agri-Dagh +(the name by which Ararat is called by the Turks), I involuntarily +clasped my hands in ecstacy! Who can contemplate this superb elevation +without a mixture of awe and admiration, or fail to recur to the page +of sacred writ illustrative of Almighty wrath and the just man's +recompense? Who can gaze upon the majesty of this mount, towering +above the 'high places' and the hills, and turn without repining to +the plains beneath, where puny man has pitched his tent and wars upon +his fellow, mocking the sublimity of Nature with his paltry tyranny? I +felt as if I lived in other times, and my eye eagerly but vainly +sought for some traces of that 'ark' which furnished a refuge and a +shelter to the creatures of God's mercy when the 'waters prevailed, +and were increased greatly on the earth,' till 'all in whose nostrils +was the breath of life, and all that was in the dry land, died!' +</p> + +<p> +"Though distant forty miles at least from the base of Ararat, the +magnitude of the mountain, of about the centre of which our elevated +position now placed us abreast, caused it to appear contiguous to our +route, and produced that indefinable thrill and sense of humility +which the immediate presence of any vast and overpowering object is so +eminently calculated to generate. I continued to gaze until the +decline of day warned us to seek a shelter, and Phoebus, casting a +parting glance at the crystal summit of the noble glacier, for a +moment diffused over all a soft rosy tint,<a id="footnotetag20" name="footnotetag20"></a><a href="#footnote20"><sup>20</sup></a> +then sunk into the west +and left the world in darkness." +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +NUTRIA FUR. +</h3> + +<h4> +(<i>To the Editor.</i>) +</h4> + + +<p> +I read with much pleasure the article in your Number, 574, on Nutria +Fur: it was, to me, particularly acceptable, as I have been connected +for the last ten years with an establishment where, on an average, +150,000 Nutria Skins are annually manufactured, and the wool cut for +the use of hatters. I have searched every book of travels in Brazil, +&c., that I could procure, and the chief English works on zoology, +without being able to gather any description of the scientific name or +habits of the animal. All the information I could collect was from the +captains of various vessels that had visited Buenos Ayres, and brought +cargoes of skins; but their accounts were extremely vague and +unsatisfactory. +</p> + +<p> +I perceive, however, that you have overlooked a peculiarity generally +attributed to the animal, which, if true, is, in my opinion, deserving +notice: viz.—the position of the female's teats, which are not placed +on the belly, as with most animals, but on the side, approaching to +the back, by which means it is enabled to suckle its young on both +sides at once, whilst swimming on the surface of the water; and it +presents, I have understood, a singular group to the observant +traveller. +</p> + +<p> +I have sent the skin of a female Nutria herewith, for your inspection, +as regards the teats, &c. (from which the fur has been cut by +machinery,) with a small sample of the belly fur, prepared for the +covering of a hat; the wholesale price of the latter is now three +guineas per lb.: it is used as a substitute for beaver-wool on +second-rate hats. Our French correspondents term the skins +"Ratgondin." +</p> + +<p> +BENJAMIN NORRIS, JUN. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Windsor Place, Southwark Bridge Road.</i> +</p> + +<p> +*** We thank our intelligent correspondent for this communication, as +well as for the skin and fur. The skin is rather above the usual size: +its length is 26 inches, the tail being cut off; as is always done +before the skins are exported: the width of the skin is 15 inches; the +teats, nine in number, are in two rows, each row being about 2-1/2 +inches from the centre of the back, and about 5 inches from the centre +of the belly; so that they are, as our correspondent observes, <i>on the +side</i>, approaching to the back +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page315" id="page315"></a>[pg 315]</span> +nearer by half than to the belly. This +position of the teats appears to correspond with the animal's habit of +suckling its young whilst swimming. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + +<h2> +THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. +</h2> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +THE CHOLERA MOUNT. +</h3> + +<p> +<i>Lines on the Burying-Place for Patients who have Died of Cholera; a +pleasant eminence in Sheffield Park.</i> +</p> + +<h4> +<i>By James Montgomery, Esq.</i> +</h4> + + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>In death divided from their dearest kin,</p> + <p>This is "a field to bury strangers in:"</p> + <p>Fragments lie here of families bereft,</p> + <p>Like limbs in battle-grounds by warriors left;</p> + <p>A sad community!—whose very bones</p> + <p>Might feel, methinks, a pang to quicken stones,</p> + <p>And make them from the depths of darkness cry,</p> + <p>"Oh! is it naught to you, ye passers by!</p> + <p>When from its earthly house the spirit fled,</p> + <p>Our dust might not be 'free among the dead?'</p> + <p>Ah! why were we to this Siberia sent,</p> + <p>Doom'd in the grave itself to banishment?"</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Shuddering humanity asks—"Who are these?</p> + <p>And what their sin?"—They fell by <i>one</i> disease!</p> + <p>(Not by the Proteus maladies, that strike</p> + <p>Man into nothingness—not twice alike;)</p> + <p>By the blue pest, whose gripe no art can shun,</p> + <p>No force unwrench—out-singled one by one;</p> + <p>When like a timeless birth, the womb of Fate</p> + <p>Bore a new death, of unrecorded date,</p> + <p>And doubtful name. Far east its race begun,</p> + <p>Thence round the world pursued the westering sun;</p> + <p>The ghosts of millions following at its back,</p> + <p>Whose desecrated graves betray'd their track;</p> + <p>On Albion's shore, unseen, the invader stept;</p> + <p>Secret, and swift, and terrible it crept;</p> + <p>At noon, at midnight, seized the weak, the strong,</p> + <p>Asleep, awake, alone, amidst the throng,</p> + <p>Kill'd like a murder; fix'd its icy hold,</p> + <p>And wrung out life with agony of cold;</p> + <p>Nor stay'd its vengeance where it crush'd the prey,</p> + <p>But set a mark, like Cain's, upon their clay,</p> + <p>And this tremendous seal impress'd on all,</p> + <p>"Bury me out of sight, and out of call."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Wherefore no filial foot this turf may tread,</p> + <p>No kneeling mother clasp her baby's bed;</p> + <p>No maiden unespoused, with widow'd sighs,</p> + <p>Seek her soul's treasure where her true-love lies;</p> + <p>—All stand aloof, and gazing from afar,</p> + <p>Look on this mount as on some baleful star,</p> + <p>Strange to the heavens, that with bewildering light,</p> + <p>Like a lost spirit, wanders through the night.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Yet many a mourner weeps her fall'n estate,</p> + <p>In many a home by them left desolate;</p> + <p>Once warm with love, and radiant with the smiles</p> + <p>Of woman, watching infants at their wiles,</p> + <p>Whose eye of thought, while now they throng her knees,</p> + <p>Pictures far other scene than that she sees,</p> + <p>For one is wanting—one, for whose dear sake,</p> + <p>Her heart with very tenderness would ache,</p> + <p>As now with anguish—doubled when she spies</p> + <p>In this his lineaments, in that his eyes,</p> + <p>In each his image with her own commix'd,</p> + <p>And there at least, for life, their union fix'd!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Humanity again asks, "Who are these?</p> + <p>And what their sin?"—They fell by <i>one</i> disease!</p> + <p>But when they knock'd for entrance at the tomb,</p> + <p>Their fathers' bones refused to make them room;</p> + <p>Recoiling Nature from their presence fled,</p> + <p>As though a thunder-bolt had struck them dead;</p> + <p>Their cries pursued her with the thrilling plea,</p> + <p>"Give us a little earth for charity!"</p> + <p>She linger'd, listen'd; all her bosom yearn'd;</p> + <p>The mother's pulse through every vein return'd;</p> + <p>Then, as she halted on this hill, she threw</p> + <p>Her mantle wide, and loose her tresses flew.</p> + <p>"Live!" to the slain she cried: "My children live!</p> + <p>This for an heritage to you I give;</p> + <p>Had Death consumed you by the common lot</p> + <p>Ye, with the multitude, had been forgot;</p> + <p>Now through an age of ages ye shall <i>not</i>."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Thus Nature spake;—and as her echo, I</p> + <p>Take up her parable, and prophesy:</p> + <p>Here, as from spring to spring the swallows pass,</p> + <p>Perennial daisies shall adorn the grass;</p> + <p>Here the shrill skylark build her annual nest,</p> + <p>And sing in heaven, while you serenely rest;</p> + <p>On trembling dewdrops morn's first glance shall shine,</p> + <p>Eve's latest beams on this fair bank decline,</p> + <p>And oft the rainbow steal through light and gloom,</p> + <p>To throw its sudden arch across your tomb;</p> + <p>On you the moon her sweetest influence shower,</p> + <p>And every planet bless you in its hour.</p> + <p>With statelier honours still, in Time's slow round,</p> + <p>Shall this sepulchral eminence be crown'd;</p> + <p>Where generations long to come shall hail</p> + <p>The growth of centuries waving in the gale,</p> + <p>A forest landmark, on the mountain's head,</p> + <p>Standing betwixt the living and the dead;</p> + <p>Nor, while your language lasts, shall travellers cease</p> + <p>To say, at sight of your memorial, "Peace!"</p> + <p>Your voice of silence answering from the sod,</p> + <p>"Whoe'er thou art, prepare to meet thy God!"</p> + </div> +</div> + +<p> +<i>Blackwood's Magazine</i>. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +THE STEAM ENGINE SIMPLIFIED. +</h3> + + +<p> +It is a universal property of matter, that by the application of heat, +so as to raise its temperature, it suffers an increase in its +magnitude. Also in different substances, when certain temperatures are +attained by the application of fire, or other methods of heating, they +undergo a change of form. Solids, at certain temperatures, are +converted into liquids; and liquids, in like manner, when heated to +certain degrees, become aeriform fluids or gases. These changes are +familiar to every one in the ordinary phenomena attending water. Below +the temperature of 32° of the common thermometer, that substance +exists in the solid form, and is called <i>ice</i>. Above that temperature +it passes into the liquid state, and is called <i>water</i>; and when +raised to the temperature of 212°, under ordinary circumstances, it +passes into the aeriform state, and is called <i>steam</i>. It is to this +last change that we wish at present principally to call the attention +of the reader. In the transition of water from the liquid state to the +state of vapour or steam, an immense change of bulk takes place. In +this change, a solid inch of water enlarges its size about 1,700 +times, and forms 1,700 solid inches of steam. This expansion takes +place accompanied with a certain force or pressure, by which the +vapour has a tendency to burst the bounds of any vessel which contains +it. The steam which fills 1,700 solid inches at the temperature of +212°, will, if cooled below that temperature, return to the liquid +form, and occupy only one solid inch, leaving 1,699 solid inches +vacant; and, if it be included in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page316" id="page316"></a>[pg 316]</span> +a close vessel, leaving the surfaces +of that vessel free from the internal pressure to which they were +subject before the return of the water to the liquid form. If it be +possible, therefore, alternately to convert water into vapour by heat, +and to reconvert the vapour into water by cold, we shall be enabled +alternately to submit any surface to a pressure equal to the elastic +force of the steam, and to relieve it from that pressure, so as to +permit it to move in obedience to any other force which may act upon +it. Or again, suppose that we are enabled to expose one side of a +movable body to the action of water converted into steam, at the +moment that we relieve the other side from the like pressure by +reconverting the steam which acts upon it into water, the movable body +will be impelled by the unresisted pressure of the steam on one side. +When it has moved a certain distance in obedience to this force, let +us suppose that the effects are reversed. Let the steam which pressed +it forwards be now reconverted into water, so as to have its action +suspended; and at the same moment, let steam raised from water by heat +be caused to act on the other side of the movable body; the +consequence will obviously be, that it will now change the direction +of its motion, and return in obedience to the pressure excited on the +opposite side. Such is, in fact, the operation of an ordinary +low-pressure steam-engine. The piston or plug which plays in the +cylinder is the movable to which we have referred. The vapour of water +is introduced upon one side of that piston at the moment that a +similar vapour is converted into water on the other side, and the +piston moves by the unresisted action of the steam. When it has +arrived at the extremity of the cylinder, the steam which just urged +it forwards is reconverted into water, and the piston is relieved from +its action. At the same moment, a fresh supply of steam is introduced +upon the other side of the piston, and its pressure causes the piston +to be moved in a direction contrary to its former motion. Thus the +piston is moved in the cylinder alternately in the one direction and +in the other, with a force equivalent to the pressure of the steam +which acts upon it. A strong metal rod proceeds from this piston, and +communicates with proper machinery, by which the alternate motion of +the piston backwards and forwards, or upwards and downwards, in the +cylinder, may be communicated to whatever body is intended to be +moved. +</p> + +<p> +The power of such a machine will obviously depend partly on the +magnitude of the piston or the movable surface which is exposed to the +action of the steam, and partly on the pressure of the steam itself. +The object of converting the steam into water by cold, upon that side +of the piston towards which the motion takes place, is to relieve the +piston from all resistance to the moving power. This renders it +unnecessary to use steam of a very high pressure, inasmuch as it will +have no resistance to overcome, except the friction of the piston with +the cylinder, and the ordinary resistance of the load which it may +have to move. Engines constructed upon this principle, not requiring, +therefore, steam of a great pressure, have been generally called +"low-pressure engines." The re-conversion of the steam into water +requires a constant and abundant supply of cold water, and a fit +apparatus for carrying away the water which becomes heated, by cooling +the steam, and for supplying its place by a fresh quantity of cold +water. It is obvious that such an apparatus is incompatible with great +simplicity and lightness, nor can it be applied to cases where the +engine is worked under circumstances in which a fresh supply of water +cannot be had. +</p> + +<p> +The re-conversion of steam into water, or, as it is technically +called, the <i>condensation</i> of steam, is however by no means necessary +to the effective operation of a steam-engine. From what has been above +said, it will be understood that this effect relieves the piston of a +part of the resistance which is opposed to its motion. If that part of +the resistance were not removed, the pressure of steam acting upon the +other side would be affected in no other way than by having a greater +load or resistance to overcome; and if that pressure were +proportionately increased, the effective power of the machine would +remain the same. It follows, therefore, that if the steam upon that +side of the piston towards which the motion is made were not +condensed, the steam urging the piston forwards on the other side +would require to have a degree of intensity greater than the steam in +a low-pressure engine, by the amount of the pressure of the +uncondensed steam on the other side of the piston. An engine working +on this principle has therefore been called a <i>high-pressure engine</i>. +Such an engine is relieved from the incumbrance of all the condensing +apparatus and of the large supply of cold water necessary for the +reduction of steam to the liquid form; for instead of being so +reduced, the steam is in this case simply allowed to escape into the +atmosphere. The operation, therefore, of high-pressure engines will be +readily understood. The boiler producing steam of a very powerful +pressure, is placed in communication with a cylinder furnished in the +usual manner with a piston; the steam is allowed to act upon one side +of the piston so as to impel it from the one end of the cylinder to +the other. When it has arrived there, the communication with the +boiler is reversed, and the steam is introduced on the other side of +the piston, while the steam which has just urged the piston forwards +is permitted to escape into the atmosphere. It is evident that the +only +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page317" id="page317"></a>[pg 317]</span> +resistance to the motion of the piston here is the pressure of +that portion of steam which does not escape into the air; which +pressure will be equal to that of the air itself, inasmuch as the +steam will continue to escape from the cylinder as long as its elastic +force exceeds that of the atmosphere. In this manner the alternate +motion of the piston in the cylinder will be continued; the efficient +force which urges it being estimated by the excess of the actual +pressure of the steam from the boiler above the atmospheric pressure. +The superior simplicity and lightness of the high-pressure engine must +now be apparent, and these qualities recommend it strongly for all +purposes in which the engine itself must be moved from place to place. +</p> + +<p> +The steam-engine therefore consists of two distinct parts,—the +boiler, which is at once the generator and magazine of steam, and the +cylinder with its piston, which is the instrument by which this power +is brought into operation and rendered effective. The amount of the +load or resistance which such a machine is capable of moving, depends +upon the intensity or pressure of the steam produced by the boiler, +and on the magnitude of the surface of the piston in the cylinder, +upon which that steam acts. The rate or velocity of the motion +depends, not on the power or pressure of the steam, but on the rate at +which the boiler is capable of generating it. Every stroke of the +piston consumes a cylinder full of steam; and of course the rate of +the motion depends upon the number of cylinders of steam which the +boiler is capable of generating in a given time. These are two points +which it is essential should be distinctly understood, in order to +comprehend the relative merits of the boilers used in travelling +steam-engines. +</p> + +<p> +The motion which is primarily produced in a steam engine is a +reciprocating or alternate motion of the piston from end to end of the +cylinder; but the motion which is necessary to be produced for the +purposes to which the engine is applied, is rarely or never of this +nature. This primary motion, therefore, is almost always modified by +some machinery interposed between the piston and the object to be +moved. The motion most generally required is one of rotation, and this +is accomplished by connecting the extremity of the piston-rod with a +contrivance constructed on the revolving axle, called a <i>crank</i>. This +contrivance does not differ in principle from the common winch, or +from the key which winds a clock. The motion of the piston-rod +backwards and forwards turns such a winch. At each termination of the +stroke, the piston, from the peculiar position of the crank, loses all +power over it. To remedy this two cylinders and pistons are generally +used, which act upon two cranks placed on the axle at right angles to +each other; so that at the moment when one of the pistons is at the +extremity of its stroke, and loses its power upon one crank, the other +piston is at the middle of its stroke, and in full operation on the +other crank. By these means an unremitting force is kept in action. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Edinburgh Review.</i> +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +SONG. +</h3> + +<h4> +BY ROBERT GILFILLAN, AUTHOR OF "ORIGINAL SONGS." +</h4> + + +<p> +Tune.—"<i>Gin a body meet a body.</i>" +</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Bonnie lassie, fairest lassie,</p> + <p class="i2">Dear art thou to me;</p> + <p>Let me think, my bonnie lassie,</p> + <p class="i2">I am lov'd by thee!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>I speak na of thy ringlets bright,</p> + <p class="i2">Nor of thy witching 'ee;</p> + <p>But this I'll tell thy bonnie sel',</p> + <p class="i2">That dear art thou to me!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>O! beauty it is rare, lassie,</p> + <p class="i2">And beauty it is thine,</p> + <p>Yet my love is no for beauty's sake,</p> + <p class="i2">'Tis just I wish thee mine!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Thy smile might match an angel's smile,</p> + <p class="i2">Gif such, save thee, there be;</p> + <p>Yet though thy charms my bosom warms,</p> + <p class="i2">I'll tell na them to thee!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Thy sunny face has nature's grace,</p> + <p class="i2">Thy form is winsome fair;</p> + <p>But when for long thou'st heard that sang,</p> + <p class="i2">O! wherefore hear it mair?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Thy voice, soft as the hymn of morn,</p> + <p class="i2">Or evening's melodie,</p> + <p>May still excel, as a' can tell,</p> + <p class="i2">Then wherefore hear't frae me?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Bonnie lassie, fairest lassie,</p> + <p class="i2">Think na't strange o' me,</p> + <p>That when thy beauty's praised by a',</p> + <p class="i2">Thou get'st nae praise frae me?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>For wha wad praise what none can praise?</p> + <p class="i2">Yet, lassie, list to me;</p> + <p>Gie me thy love, and in return</p> + <p class="i2">I'll sing thy charms to thee!</p> + </div> +</div> + +<p> +<i>Metropolitan.</i> +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + +<h2> +ANECDOTE GALLERY. +</h2> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +RECORDS. BY THE AUTHOR OF "MONSIEUR TONSON." +</h3> + + +<p> +<i>An Odd Angler</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Birch was very fond of angling, and devoted much time to that +amusement. In order to deceive the fish, he had a dress constructed, +which, when he put it on, made him appear like an old tree. His arms +he conceived would appear like branches, and the line like a long +spray. In this sylvan attire he used to take root by the side of a +favourite stream, and imagined that his motions might seem to the fish +to be the effect of the wind.—He pursued this amusement for some +years in the same habit, till he was ridiculed out of it by his +friends. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Jack Spencer</i>. +</p> + +<p> +It is said that he once contrived to collect a party of hunch-backed +men to dine with him, some of whom indignantly quitted the table. +Another whimsical party which he assembled at his house consisted +merely of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page318" id="page318"></a>[pg 318]</span> +a number of persons all of whom stuttered; but this meeting +at first threatened serious consequences, for each supposed he was +mocked by the other, and it was with great difficulty that their host +restored peace, by acknowledging the ludicrous purpose of his +invitation. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Dr. Johnson.</i> +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Johnson was long a bigoted Jacobite. When he was walking with some +friends in Kensington Gardens, one of them observed that it was a fine +place. "Phoo," said Johnson, "nothing can be fine that belongs to a +usurper." Dr. Monsey assured me, that once in company, when the +conversation was on the age of King George the Third, he heard him +say, "What does it signify when such an animal was born, or whether he +ever existed?" Yet he afterwards said, in his account of his interview +with His Majesty, that it was not for him "to bandy compliments with +<i>his sovereign</i>." +</p> + +<p> +<i>Cards.</i> +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Murphy told me also, that he was once present at Tom's +Coffee-house, in Russell Street Covent Garden, which was only open to +subscribers, when Colley Cibber was engaged at whist, and an old +General was his partner. As the cards were dealt to him, he took up +every one in turn, and expressed his disappointment at every +indifferent one. In the progress of the game he did not follow suit, +and his partner said, "What! have you not a spade, Mr. Cibber?" The +latter, looking at his cards, answered, "Oh, yes, a thousand;" which +drew a very peevish comment from the General. On which Cibber, who was +shockingly addicted to swearing, replied, "Don't be angry, for ---- I +can play ten times worse if I like." +</p> + +<p> +<i>All on one Side.</i> +</p> + +<p> +Major Grose told me that when he was quartered in Dublin, he ordered +an Irish sergeant to exercise the men in shooting at a mark. The +sergeant had placed a pole for them to take aim, stationing a certain +number on one side, and an equal number on the other, in direct +opposition. The Major happened to reach the spot just as they were +going to fire, stopped them, and expressed his surprise that the +sergeant should have placed them in so dangerous a position, as they +must necessarily wound, if not kill each other. "Kill each other!" +said the sergeant, "why, they are all our own men." As the men so +contentedly remained in the dangerous position, it may be inferred +that they were as wise as the sergeant. This story illustrates that of +Lord Thomond's cooks, which when the keeper let loose, were fighting +each other,—much to his surprise he said, as they belonged to one +person, and were "<i>all on the same side</i>." +</p> + +<p> +<i>Vails to Servants.</i> +</p> + +<p> +It is said that this practice prevailed to such a degree, even at the +house of the great Lord Chesterfield, that when he invited Voltaire a +second time to his table, the French wit in his answer declined the +invitation, alleging that "his lordship's <i>ordinary</i> was <i>too dear</i>." +</p> + +<p> +Another evil practice of servants to the higher orders, at that time, +was carried to such a height that it wrought its own cure. It was +usual at the old Italian Opera-house to allot a gallery to the +footmen, that when their masters or mistresses had appointed the time +to leave the theatre, their servants might be ready to attend. But +these <i>livery-men</i> took it into their heads to become critics upon the +performances, and delivered their comments in so tumultuous a manner, +that the managers found it absolutely necessary to close the gallery +against them, and to assign it to those only who paid for admission. +</p> + +<p> +Just before the abolition of this <i>party-coloured</i> tribunal, a wag who +was fond of music, but who had more wit than money, appeared at the +gallery door, when the porter demanded the name of his master. The wag +boldly answered, "I am the Lord Jehovah's servant," and was admitted, +one of the door-keepers saying to the other, "I never heard of that +man's master before, but suppose it is some scurvy Scotch lord or +other." +</p> + +<p> +<i>New Reading.</i> +</p> + +<p> +Mr. John Kemble used to relate many whimsical anecdotes of provincial +actors whom he knew in the early part of his life. He said that an +actor who was to perform the character of <i>Kent</i> in the play of "King +Lear," had dressed himself like a doctor, with a large grizzle wig, +having a walking-stick, which he held up to his nose, and a box under +his arm. Being asked why he dressed the Earl of Kent in that manner, +he said, "People mistake the character; he was not an earl, but a +doctor. Does not Kent say, when the king draws his sword on him for +speaking in favour of Cordelia, 'Do kill thy <i>physician</i>, Lear;' and +when the king tells him to take his 'hated trunk from his dominions,' +and Kent says, 'Now to new climes my old trunk I'll bear,' what could +he mean but his <i>medicine chest</i>, to practise in another country?" +</p> + +<p> +<i>Absence.</i> +</p> + +<p> +The first Lord Lyttleton was very absent in company, and when he fell +into a river, by the oversetting of a boat, at Hagley, it was said of +him that he had "sunk twice before he recollected he could swim." Mr. +Jerningham told me, that dining one day with his lordship, the earl +pointed to a particular dish, and asked to be helped of it, calling +it, however, by a name very different from what the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page319" id="page319"></a>[pg 319]</span> +dish contained. A +gentleman was going to tell him of his mistake. "Never mind," +whispered another of the party; "help him to what he asked for, and he +will suppose it is what he wanted." +</p> + +<p> +Arthur Murphy, whose mind was chiefly occupied by dramatic subjects, +after he became a barrister, dining one Sunday at the chaplain's +table, St. James's Palace, being too early, strolled into the Chapel +Royal during the service, and desiring a seat, he thus addressed one +of the attendants on the pews, "Here, <i>boxkeeper</i>, open this <i>box</i>." +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + +<h2> +MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. +</h2> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +CURIOUS LAWS RELATING TO CAPS. +</h3> + + +<p> +In England, in the year 1571, it was enacted, "that every person above +seven years of age should wear on Sundays and holidays a cap of wool, +knit-made, thickened and dressed in England, by some of the trade of +cappers, under the forfeiture of three farthings for every day's +neglect, excepting maids, ladies, and gentlewomen, and every lord +knight, and gentleman, of twenty marks of land, and their heirs, and +such as have borne office of worship in any city, town, or place, and +the wardens of the London Companies." +</p> + +<p> +In France, those who had been bankrupts were obliged ever after to +wear a green cap, to prevent people from being imposed on in any +future commerce. By several arrets, in 1584, 1622, 1628, and 1688, it +was decreed, that if they were at any time found without their green +cap, their protection should be null, and their creditors empowered to +cast them into prison; but this practice is not now continued. +</p> + +<p> +Among the formation of the different domestic trades of the metropolis +into fraternities, or companies, were the <i>Capellarii</i>, or Cappers. +Respecting these, Hugh Fitz-Otonis, the city <i>custos</i>, in the 54th of +Henry III., made certain ordinances, in the presence of the aldermen, +as that none "should make a cap but of good white or grey wool, or +black; that none dye a cap made of white or grey wool into black, they +being apt, so dyed, to lose their colour through the rain," &c. +</p> + +<p> +P.T.W. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +WRESTLING. +</h3> + + +<p> +At Hornchurch, in Essex, there is a singular custom on Christmas Day +of wrestling for a boar's head, which is provided by the occupier of +Hornchurch Hall. This custom is said to have originated in some +charter, with which a correspondent, (H.B.A.,) is totally +unacquainted. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS +</h3> + + +<p> +Mr. Turner has collected (<i>Hist. Eng.</i>) many curious facts relative to +the condition of the Jews, especially in England. Others may be found +dispersed in Velly's <i>History of France</i>; and many in the Spanish +writers, Mariana and Zurita. The following are from Vaissette's +<i>History of Languedoc</i>:—It was the custom at Toulouse to give a blow +on the face to a Jew every Easter;—this was commuted, in the twelfth +century, for a tribute. At Beziers another usage prevailed—that of +attacking the Jews' houses with stones, from Palm Sunday to Easter. No +other weapon was to be used; but it generally produced bloodshed. The +populace were regularly instigated to the assault by a sermon from the +bishop. At length, a prelate, wiser than the rest, abolished this +ancient practice, but not without receiving a good sum from the Jews. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + +<h2> +THE GATHERER. +</h2> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Crusades.</i>—Mr. Hallam, in his excellent <i>History of the Middle +Ages</i>, (vol. iii. p. 359), gives the following view of these +misconceived glories of history:—"The crusades may be considered as +martial pilgrimages on an enormous scale; and their influence upon +general morality seems to have been altogether pernicious. Those who +served under the cross would not indeed have lived very virtuously at +home; but the confidence in their own merits, which the principle of +such expeditions inspired, must have aggravated the ferocity and +dissoluteness of their ancient habits. Several historians attest the +depravation of morals which existed both among the crusaders, and in +the states formed out of their conquests." +</p> + +<p> +<i>Slave Trade in England.</i>—In England it was very common, even after +the conquest, to export slaves to Ireland; till, in the reign of Henry +II., the Irish came to a non-importation agreement, which put a stop +to the practice. William of Malmesbury accuses the Anglo-Saxon +nobility of selling their female servants as slaves to foreigners. In +the canons of a council at London, in 1102, we read—"Let no one from +henceforth presume to carry on that wicked traffic, by which men of +England have hitherto been sold like brute animals." And Giraldus +Cambrensis says that the English, before the conquest, were generally +in the habit of selling their children and other relations, to be +slaves in Ireland, without having even the pretext of distress or +famine, till the Irish, in a national synod, agreed to emancipate all +the English slaves in the kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Opulent English Merchants.</i>—Some idea of the ancient commercial +wealth of Great Britain may be gathered from a glance at the rapid +increase of English trade from +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page320" id="page320"></a>[pg 320]</span> +about the middle of the fourteenth +century. Thus, in 1363, Ricard, who had been lord mayor, some years +before, entertained Edward III. and the Black Prince, the Kings of +France, Scotland, and Cyprus, with many of the nobility, at his own +house in the Vintry, and presented them with handsome gifts. This +eclipses the costliest entertainments of our times, at the public +expense. Philpot, another eminent citizen in Richard II.'s time, when +the trade of England was considerably annoyed by privateers, hired one +thousand armed men, and dispatched them to sea, where they took +fifteen Spanish vessels with their prizes. We find Richard obtaining a +great deal from private merchants and trading towns. In 1379, he got +5,000<i>l.</i> from London, 1,000 marks from Bristol, and in proportion +from smaller places. In 1386 London gave 4,000<i>l.</i> more, and 10,000 +marks in 1397. The latter sum was obtained also for the coronation of +Henry VI. Nor were the contributions of individuals contemptible, +considering the high value of money. Hinde, a citizen of London, lent +to Henry IV. 2,000<i>l.</i> in 1407, and Whittington one half of that sum. +The merchants of the staple advanced 4,000<i>l.</i> at the same time. Our +commerce continued to be regularly and rapidly progressive during the +fifteenth century. The famous Canynges, of Bristol, under Henry VI. +and Edward IV. had ships of 900 tons burden. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Gold-beating.</i>—Reaumur asserts, that in an experiment he made, one +grain of gold was extended to rather more than forty-two square inches +of leaf-gold; and that an ounce of gold, which in the form of a cube, +is not half an inch either high, broad, or long, is beat under the +hammer into a surface of 150 square feet. The process is as +follows:—The gold is melted in a crucible, and taken to the +flattening mills, where it is rolled out till it becomes of the +consistence of tin; it is then cut into small square pieces, and each +piece is laid between a leaf of skin (known by the name of +goldbeaters-skin); two parchment bands are then passed over the whole, +and each band is reversed; it is then hammered out to the size of the +skin, taken out, cut and hammered over again, and so on till it is +sufficiently thin; when it is placed in books, the leaves of which are +rubbed with red ochre, to prevent the gold adhering to them. There are +gold leaves not thicker, in some parts, than the three hundred and +sixty thousandth part of an inch. BURTON. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Ancient Pitch-in-the Hole.</i>—A soldier was brought to Alexander to +exhibit a trick which he had acquired, of pitching a pea into a +distant hole, which just fitted it;—when the reward which the great +conqueror bestowed upon the soldier for his useless application of +time was a peck of peas. P.T.W. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Pekin.</i>—Balducci Pegalotti, a Florentine writer upon commerce, about +the year 1340, describes Pekin (under the name of Cambalu) the capital +city of China, as being one hundred miles in circumference. He also +states the journey from the Genoese territories to Pekin as of rather +more than eight months, going and returning; and he assures us it was +perfectly secure, not only for caravans, but for a single traveller, +with a couple of interpreters and a servant. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Mercers and Drapers.</i>—Among the trading companies into which the +middling ranks were distributed on the continent, in the twelfth +century, those concerned in silk and woollens were most numerous and +honourable. None were admitted to the rank of burgesses in the towns +of Aragon who used any manual trade, with the exception of dealers in +fine cloths. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Usury.</i>—The interest of money was exceedingly high throughout the +middle ages. At Verona, in 1228, it was fixed by law at 12-1/2 per +cent.; at Modena, in 1270, it seems to have been as high as 20. The +republic of Genoa, towards the end of the fourteenth century, when +Italy had grown wealthy, paid only from 7 to 10 per cent. to her +creditors. But in France and England the rate was far more oppressive. +An ordinance of Philip the Fair, in 1311, allows 20 per cent. after +the first year of the loan. Under Henry III., according to Matthew +Paris, the debtor paid 10 per cent. every two months; but this is +absolutely incredible as a general practice. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Worsted.</i>—Blomefield, the historian of Norfolk, thinks that a colony +of Flemings settled, as early as the reign of Henry II., at Worsted—a +village in that county—and immortalized its name by their +manufacture. It soon reached Norwich, though not conspicuous till the +reign of Edward I. +</p> + +<p> +<i>The Lord's Prayer in Arawaak.</i><a id="footnotetag21" name="footnotetag21"></a><a href="#footnote21"><sup>21</sup></a> +—Kururumanny—haamary caleery +oboraady—bachooty deweet bossa—baynse parocan, bayin so +pareeka—yahaboo ororoo adiako—meherachehbeyn dacotooniah—Ebehey +nebehedow wakayany odomay—Mayera toonebah dayensey—Boboro +talidey.—<i>Hedouainey.</i>—<i>Jour. Geog. Soc.</i> +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p> +*** Our Correspondent E. has been misinformed. The translation of the +Letter of Lord Byron, inserted in our Number 575, as the first, will +be found in Moore's Life of Byron, vol. vi. p. 147, new edit.—but +without the subscription of "Peer of England." +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a> <b>Footnote 1</b>: <a href="#footnotetag1">(return)</a> +<p> + Gentleman's Mag. vol. vii. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a> <b>Footnote 2</b>: <a href="#footnotetag2">(return)</a> +<p> + Postman, No. 441. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a> <b>Footnote 3</b>: <a href="#footnotetag3">(return)</a> +<p> + Postmaster, No. 449. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote4" name="footnote4"></a> <b>Footnote 4</b>: <a href="#footnotetag4">(return)</a> +<p> + Nestesuranoi. Mottley. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote5" name="footnote5"></a> <b>Footnote 5</b>: <a href="#footnotetag5">(return)</a> +<p> + Author of "Wonders of the little World." +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote6" name="footnote6"></a> <b>Footnote 6</b>: <a href="#footnotetag6">(return)</a> +<p> + Master of University College. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote7" name="footnote7"></a> <b>Footnote 7</b>: <a href="#footnotetag7">(return)</a> +<p> + There are among our countrymen those who are scarcely + outdone by the Tzar of Russia and his companions. At the + same place, and probably at the same house, long known as + <i>Moon's</i>, two noble dukes, the one dead, the other yet + living, stopped, as they intended, for a moment, while + sitting in their carriages, to eat a mutton chop, which + they found so good that they each of them devoured + <i>eighteen</i>, and drank five bottles of claret. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote8" name="footnote8"></a> <b>Footnote 8</b>: <a href="#footnotetag8">(return)</a> +<p> + It is presumed some notorious place of ill fame. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote9" name="footnote9"></a> <b>Footnote 9</b>: <a href="#footnotetag9">(return)</a> +<p> + Ballard's Collection. Bodleian. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote10" name="footnote10"></a> <b>Footnote 10</b>: <a href="#footnotetag10">(return)</a> +<p> + Lord Dartmouth.—Note in Burnet's History of his own + Times. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote11" name="footnote11"></a> <b>Footnote 11</b>: <a href="#footnotetag11">(return)</a> +<p> + Ballard's Collection. Bodleian. With plain downright + simplicity and free from all ostentation Peter carried + this valuable ruby to the king in his waistcoat pocket, + and presented it wrapped up in a piece of brown paper. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote12" name="footnote12"></a> <b>Footnote 12</b>: <a href="#footnotetag12">(return)</a> +<p> + No. 442. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote13" name="footnote13"></a> <b>Footnote 13</b>: <a href="#footnotetag13">(return)</a> +<p> + Mr. James Sibbon, who was a journeyman shipwright in + Deptford yard when the Tzar was there; he died in 1769, + aged 105 years.—<i>Annual Register</i> for 1769. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote14" name="footnote14"></a> <b>Footnote 14</b>: <a href="#footnotetag14">(return)</a> +<p> + Postman, No. 136. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote15" name="footnote15"></a> <b>Footnote 15</b>: <a href="#footnotetag15">(return)</a> +<p> + We are aware that the destruction or total extinction of + any of the species of animals of contemporaneous creation + with man, is a point of much controversy among + philosophers. The best reply to this doubt is the + repeated discovery of the fossil remains of animals + entirely different from the existing species; proving + their extinction to form a part of the scheme of creative + wisdom. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote16" name="footnote16"></a> <b>Footnote 16</b>: <a href="#footnotetag16">(return)</a> +<p> + Vol. i. p. 442. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote17" name="footnote17"></a> <b>Footnote 17</b>: <a href="#footnotetag17">(return)</a> +<p> + Voyage de François Leguat, Gentilhomme, Bressan, 1708. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote18" name="footnote18"></a> <b>Footnote 18</b>: <a href="#footnotetag18">(return)</a> +<p> + The precise spot is controverted, as will be seen in an + extract from the ingenious work on Scriptural + Antiquities, quoted in vol. xix. of <i>the Mirror</i>, p. 382; + where are notices of the mountain by Morier and Sir + Robert Ker Porter. The latter describes Ararat as + divided, by a chasm of about seven miles wide, into two + distinct peaks, and is of opinion that the ark finally + rested in this chasm. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote19" name="footnote19"></a> <b>Footnote 19</b>: <a href="#footnotetag19">(return)</a> +<p> + Edin. New Phil. Journ. By Professor Jameson. No. 23, p. + 156.—Note to a paper by Humboldt, on the Mountain Chains + and Volcanoes of Central Asia. Ararat is referred to in + Genesis, viii. 4. Its distance and bearing from + Jerusalem, 650, N.E.b.N.; Lat. North, 39.40. Long. East, + 43.50. Country, Erivan; Province, Mahou.—<i>From the + General Index to the Biblical Family Cabinet Atlas.</i> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote20" name="footnote20"></a> <b>Footnote 20</b>: <a href="#footnotetag20">(return)</a> +<p> + This peculiar effect of the setting sun on snow-covered + mountains has been observed by other travellers in other + regions. In Switzerland the phenomenon is by no means + rare. +</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"And sun-set into rose hues sees them wrought."</p> + </div> +</div> + +<p> + <i>Byron.</i> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote21" name="footnote21"></a> <b>Footnote 21</b>: <a href="#footnotetag21">(return)</a> +<p> + An Indian nation, settled in British Guiana. +</p> +</blockquote> + + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p> +<i>Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset +House,) London; sold by G.G. BENNIS, 55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, +Paris; CHARLES FUGEL, Francfort; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers.</i> +</p> +<hr class="full" /> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11888 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/11888-h/images/575-1.png b/11888-h/images/575-1.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4bd0991 --- /dev/null +++ b/11888-h/images/575-1.png diff --git a/11888-h/images/575-2.png b/11888-h/images/575-2.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..54564e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/11888-h/images/575-2.png diff --git a/11888-h/images/575-3.png b/11888-h/images/575-3.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dce91a2 --- /dev/null +++ b/11888-h/images/575-3.png |
