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diff --git a/12531-h/12531-h.htm b/12531-h/12531-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ec973b --- /dev/null +++ b/12531-h/12531-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2107 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 20, No. 581, Saturday, December 15, 1832, by Various</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;} + .poem p.i6 {margin-left: 3em;} + .poem p.i8 {margin-left: 4em;} + + .figure {padding: 1em; margin: 0; text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em; margin: auto;} + .figure img {border: none;} + .figure p + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + --> + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12531 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and +Instruction, Vol. 20, No. 581, Saturday, December 15, 1832, by Various</h1> +<br /> +<br /> +<center><b>E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, David Garcia,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</b></center> +<br /> +<br /> + <hr class="full" /> + <span class="pagenum"><a id="page401" name="page401"></a>[pg 401]</span> + + <h1>THE MIRROR<br /> + OF<br /> + LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1> + <hr class="full" /> + + <table width="100%" summary="Banner"> + <tr> + <td align="left"><b>VOL. XX, NO. 581.]</b></td> + <td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1832.</b></td> + <td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr class="full" /> + +<div class="figure" style="width: 100%;"> +<a href="images/581-1.png"><img width="100%" src="images/581-1.png" +alt="Chapel on the Bridge, Wakefield." /></a> +<center>CHAPEL ON THE BRIDGE, WAKEFIELD.</center> +</div> + + + + + +<h2> + CHAPEL ON THE BRIDGE, WAKEFIELD +</h2> + + + + +<p> +Chapels on bridges are not so unfrequent in architectural history as +the rarity of their remains would indicate. Among the early records +of bridge-building we read that "the Romans built many bridges in +the provinces; viz. in France, Spain, Germany, Britain, &c. some +of which had arches or towers on them."<a id="footnotetag1" name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a> Plutarch derives the word +<i>Pontifex</i>, (high priest,) from sacrifices made upon bridges, a +ceremony of the highest antiquity. The priests are said to have been +commissioned to keep the bridges in repair, as an indispensable part of +their office. This we may conclude to have given rise to the annexation +of chapels to almost all our bridges of note; and the offerings were +of course for repairs: so that priests are considered to have been the +olden surveyors of bridges, and chapels on them to have been displaced +by the more secular establishment of toll-houses.<a id="footnotetag2" name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +The bridge, upon which stands the above chapel, crosses the Calder, at +the south-east entrance into Wakefield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. +It was built in the reign of Edward III. and is a fine specimen of the +masonry of that age. In the centre projecting from the eastern side, and +resting partly on the sterlings, is the chapel, built in the richest +style of Gothic architecture. It is + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page402" name="page402"></a>[pg 402]</span> + +about ten yards in length, and about +eight in breadth. The east window, overhanging the river, is adorned +with various and beautiful tracery, and the parapets are perforated. +The windows on the north and south sides are equally rich. But the west +front facing the passage over the bridge, (as shown in the Engraving,) +exceeds all the rest in profusion of ornament; being divided by +buttresses into compartments, forming recesses, with lofty pediments +and pointed arches; whilst above is an entablature bearing five +basso-relievos, the whole being crowned with battlements. The +buttresses, finials, tracery, &c. form an assemblage of Gothic +embellishments, which, for richness and delicacy can scarcely be +equalled. This chapel was built by Edward IV. in memory of his father, +Richard, Duke of York, and those of his party who fell in the battle of +Wakefield.<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a> It appears, however, that a chapel had been built on this +bridge by Edward III., and dedicated to St. Mary; but it was undoubtedly +rebuilt and embellished by Edward IV. who, on this account, may be +regarded as the founder of the present structure. +</p> + +<p> +The beautiful embellishments have received considerable injury; and, +about twenty years since this superb relic of ecclesiastical +architecture was used as a warehouse. As architectural renovation is +becoming somewhat the taste of the day, it is to be hoped that the +restoration of the chapel at Wakefield will not be overlooked. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + THE BROTHER OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH. +</h3> + +<center> +(<i>To the Editor.</i>) +</center> + +<p> +As I was personally acquainted with Charles Goldsmith, the younger +brother of Oliver, the Poet, I am enabled to furnish a few particulars +in addition to those of <i>Philo</i>, contained in No. 573 of <i>The +Mirror</i>. Charles, on his coming to this country, from the West +Indies, had with him two daughters, and one son named Henry; all under +14 years of age. He purchased two houses in the Polygon, Somers Town, in +one of which he resided: here, the elder of his girls died; I attended +her funeral; she was buried in the churchyard of St. Pancras, near the +grave of Mary Wolstonecroft Godwin. Henry was my fellow pupil; but not +liking the profession of engraving, after a short trial, he returned to +the West Indies. At the peace of Amiens, Charles Goldsmith sold his +houses, and, with his wife and daughter, and a son born in England, +christened Oliver, he went to reside in France, where his daughter +married. In consequence of the orders of Buonaparte for detaining +British subjects, Charles again returned home by way of Holland, much +reduced in circumstances, and died, about 25 years since at humble +lodgings in Ossulston Street. Somers Town. After his death, his wife, +who was a native of the West Indies, and her son Oliver, returned +thither. Charles Goldsmith had in his possession a copy, from Sir Joshua +Reynolds's portrait of his brother; and I can vouch his resemblance to +the picture was most striking. Charles, like the poet, was a performer +on the German flute, and, to use his own words, found it in the hour +of adversity his best friend. He only once, I have heard him say, saw +Oliver in England, which was during his prosperity. +</p> + +<h4> +R. ROFFE. +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LATE COLONEL MOLESWORTH PHILLIPS. +</h3> + +<center> +(<i>From a Correspondent.</i>) +</center> + + +<p> +Colonel Phillips was the last surviving person who accompanied Captain +Cook in his last voyage of discovery to ascertain the practicability of +a passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, along the northern +coast of America. I was an inmate of his residence in Lambeth in the +summer of 1828, for some few weeks, and during that period received +many commissioned attentions, for he ever avoided meeting or seeing +strangers. He was invariably his own cook; slept but little, and seldom +retired regularly to bed, but rested on a sofa, or chairs, as accident +might dictate. His employment chiefly consisted in turning fanciful +devices at his lathe, but he seldom completed his designs: however, I saw +the model of a mausoleum dedicated to Napoleon, which evinced much taste +and ingenuity. His workshop at once intimated that its occupant was +not abundantly gifted with the organ of order. Plates, dishes, knives, +forks, candlesticks, coats, hats, books, and mathematical instruments, +lay in one confused mass, each enveloped with its portion of dust. +To attempt any thing like arrangement, was at once sacrilege in the +estimation of the Colonel. To summon his attendant he usually approached +the stairs, and rang a small hand bell, accompanying it with his +deep-toned voice with the words: "Ahoy! ahoy! all hands ahoy!" His +liquors, and tankards of ale he always drew up from the window of his +room, to avoid intrusion, and in returning the empty pewters he would +frequently take too sure an aim at the potboy's head. Then came a +concert of "curses" and every association but amity. The close of the +scene was generally modified with something in the shape of a shilling, +and the parties separated, mutually satisfied. Colonel Phillips, during +his residence in Ireland, was possessed of considerable property, but +from what circumstance he suffered a reverse of fortune I am not +informed; indeed, so unwilling was he to connect himself with bygone +days that it was +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page403" name="page403"></a>[pg 403]</span> +impossible to gather from him a clue to the active +services he had given to the world. +</p> + +<p> +Thus lived Colonel Molesworth Phillips, glorying in most of the +eccentricities of human nature. It is astonishing, considering the +active part he took in society, that he should, towards the close of +life, have secluded himself so entirely from the world, and those with +whom he must have from circumstances have been associated. Colonel +Phillips might probably have survived some years longer, had he not +fallen a victim to cholera. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +APOLOGUES.—(FROM THE GERMAN.) +</h3> + +<center> +THE VINE. +</center> + + +<p> +On the day of the Creation, the trees exultingly extolled themselves +one towards another, every one about itself. "The Lord, by whom I was +planted," said the lofty Cedar, "has united in me firmness, fragrance, +duration, and strength." "Jehovah's affection has rendered me blessed," +said the widely-spreading Palm-tree; "in me has He conjoined utility +and beauteousness." "Like a bridegroom among the youths," said the +Apple-tree, "I parade among the trees of Paradise." "Like the rose among +the thorns," said the Myrtle, "I stand among my sisterhood, the lowly +shrubs." So all extolled themselves, the Olive, the Fig, and the Pine. +The Vine alone was silent, and drooped to the ground. "To me," said he +to himself, "appears everything to be denied—trunk, branches, blossoms, +and fruit; but such as I am, I will yet hope and wait." He then sank +down, and his tendrils wept. He had not long waited and wept, before the +friendly man, the godhead of the earth, stepped up to him. He saw that a +feeble plant, the sport of the breezes, had sunk, and required help; he +compassionately raised him up, and twined the tender tree to his bower. +More gladly now the breezes played with his tendrils; the glow of the +sun penetrated their hard, greenish buds, preparing in them the sweet +juice, the drink for gods and men. Adorned with rich clusters, the Vine +soon bowed himself down to his master, and he tasted the enlivening +juice, and named him his friend. The proud trees now envied the feeble +shoot, for many of them already stood without fruit; but he was glad of +his slender form and of his steadfast hope. The juice, therefore, even +now gladdens the heart of man, and lifts upwards the courage of the +dejected, and refreshes the afflicted. Despair not, forsaken one, and +abide enduring. In the unsightly cane springs the sweetest juice, and +the feeble tendril brings forth inspiration and rapture. +</p> + + +<h3> + TEARS. +</h3> + + +<p> +As Hillel and his disciple Sadi wandered, on a moon and starlight night, +among the gardens of the Mount of Olives, "See," said Sadi, "the man +yonder, in the ray of the moon; what does he there?"—"It is Zadok," +answered Hillel, "he sits at the grave of his son and weeps."—"Cannot +he moderate his mourning?" said the youth, "for the people term him the +just and wise."—"Shall he therefore," answered Hillel, "not experience +pain?"—"But," asked Sadi, "what preference then has the wise man before +the fool?" Then answered the teacher, "See, the bitter tear of his eye +sinks to the earth, but his countenance is turned up to heaven." +</p> + +<h4> +W.G.C. +</h4> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + THE SKETCH-BOOK. +</h2> + + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + THE OLD SOLDIER. +</h3> + + +<p> +I have often occasion to pass through a village on the St. Alban's road, +at one end of which there is so tidy and convenient a public-house, that +I always give my horse his bait there, if I happen to be travelling in +my gig. I had frequently observed an old soldier, who having lost an +eye, a leg, and an arm in the service of his country, had pretty well +earned the privilege of idling away the rest of his life in a manner +particularly congenial with the habits of one of his calling. He would +sit on a bench, outside the door of this inn, with a pipe in his mouth, +and a can of beer by his side; and thus he would pass all the fine +months of the year. In winter, he merely changed his seat. He was +constant to his pipe and his can; he took both with him to the warm +chimney-corner: and thus he enjoyed his out-pension. During the hour of +baiting, I have often talked with this old man. He had served last in +the early part of the war on the Peninsula. He was loquacious enough on +other subjects; but if one questioned him concerning these last military +services, he became on the instant morose and uncommunicative, and one +could not but perceive, that the topic was disagreeable and painful +to him. +</p> + +<p> +What most interested me about this man was his love for young children. +He was generally surrounded by a parcel of curly-headed urchins; and +often have I seen the mistress of the little inn consign her infant to +the protection of his one arm, when, by an arrival, she has been called +upon to attend to the business of the house. The old fellow never +appeared so contented as when thus employed. His pipe was laid aside, +his beer forgotten, and he would only think of amusing and caressing his +charge, or of lulling it to sleep. The bigger children would cluster +round him, clamber over him, empty his pipe, upset his can, take all +sorts of liberties with him, yet never meet with a rebuke. At times, +however, he would appear lost in uneasy thought; gazing with earnestness +upon the features of the sleeping infant, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page404" name="page404"></a>[pg 404]</span> +while tears would course each other down his cheeks. +</p> + +<p> +As I drove one morning up to the door of the inn, and passed the bench +on which the old soldier was, as usual, sitting, with his little flock +of children playing round him, one of them, a very young one, suddenly +backed into the road, and in another moment more would have been +crushed: but the old man sprang forward; with a vigorous and wonderful +effort he seized the child with his only arm, and threw it several feet +out of the way of danger; he fell with the exertion, and was among my +horse's feet. In suddenly drawing up, I had unwittingly done my very +worst by the poor fellow; for I had caused the animal to trample upon +him a second time, and a wheel had likewise passed over his body. +</p> + +<p> +He was taken up insensible. We carried him to a bed, and after a little +time he recovered his recollection. But he was so severely injured, that +we feared every moment would be his last. +</p> + +<p> +The first words he uttered were, "The child! the child!" We assured him +that the child was safe; but he would not believe us, and it became +necessary to send into the village to search for the little creature, +who had been hurried home with the others upon the confusion that the +accident had occasioned. He continued to call for the child, and was in +the greatest distress of mind till we had found it, and had taken it to +him as he lay. His delight at seeing it alive and unhurt was intense; he +wept, he laughed, he hugged it to his bosom, and it was not till he grew +very faint and weary that he would suffer us to remove it. +</p> + +<p> +A surgeon arrived; and pronounced that the poor man was so much hurt, +inwardly as well as outwardly, that nothing could be done to save him; +and desired us merely to give him cordials or cooling drink, as he +should appear to wish for either. He lingered for a few days. +</p> + +<p> +I had been the cause, although innocently, of the poor fellow's death: +of course I took care that all was done that could alleviate his +sufferings; and, as long as he lasted, I went everyday to pass a few +hours by his bed-side. The rescued child, too, was brought to him each +day by his own desire. From the moment he had first ascertained that it +was unhurt, he had been calm and contented. He knew he was dying, but he +could part with life without regret; and the cloud which I had so often +observed upon his weather-beaten countenance before the accident never +after returned. +</p> + +<p> +The day before he died, as I was watching alone by his side, he asked me +for a cordial. Soon after he had swallowed it, he laid his hand upon my +arm, and said,—"Sir, if you will not think it too great a trouble to +listen to an old man's talk, I think it will ease my mind to say a few +words to you." +</p> + +<p> +He was of course encouraged to proceed. +</p> + +<p> +"I die contented," he continued; "happier than I have for some years +lived. I have had a load upon my heart, which is not quite removed, but +it is a great deal lightened. I have been the means, under Providence, +of saving a young child's life. If I have strength to tell you what I +wish, sir, you will understand the joy that blessed thought has brought +to my heart." +</p> + +<p> +I gave him another cordial, and he spoke as follows:— +</p> + +<p> +"It was in a stirring time of the Duke of Wellington's wars, after the +French had retreated through Portugal, and Badajos had fallen, and we +had driven them fairly over the Spanish frontier, the light division +was ordered on a few of their long leagues further, to occupy a line +of posts among the mountains which rise over the northern hanks of the +Guadiana. A few companies of our regiment advanced to occupy a village +which the French had just abandoned. +</p> + +<p> +"We had had a brisk march over a scorched and rugged country, which +had already been ransacked of all that could have supplied us with +fresh provisions; it was many days since we had heard the creak of a +commissary's wagon, and we had been on very short commons. There was no +reason to expect much in the village we were now ordered to. The French, +who had just marched out, would, of course, have helped themselves to +whatever was portable, and must have previously pretty well drained the +place. We made a search, however, judging that, possibly, something +might have been concealed from them by the peasants; and we actually +soon discovered several houses where skins of wine had been secreted. +A soldier, sir, I take it, after hot service or fatigue, seldom thinks +of much beyond the comfort of drinking to excess; and I freely own that +our small party soon caused a sad scene of confusion. +</p> + +<p> +"Every house and hovel was searched, and many a poor fellow, who had +contrived to hide his last skin of wine from his enemies, was obliged to +abandon it to his allies. You might see the poor natives on all sides +running away; some with a morsel of food, others with a skin of wine +in their arms, and followed by the menaces and staggering steps of the +weary and half-drunken soldiers. +</p> + +<p> +"'Vino! vino!' was the cry in every part of the village. An English +soldier, sir, may be for months together in a foreign land, and have a +pride in not knowing how to ask for anything hut liquor. I was no better +than the rest. +</p> + +<p> +"'Vino! quiero vino!' said I, to a poor half-starved and ragged native, +who was stealing off, and hiding something under his torn cloak;—'Vino! +you beggarly scoundrel! give me vino!' said I. +</p> + +<p> +"'Vino no tengo!' he cried, as he broke +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page405" name="page405"></a>[pg 405]</span> +from my grasp, and ran quickly and fearfully away. +</p> + +<p> +"I was not very drunk—I had not had above half my quantity—and I +pursued him up a street. But he was the fleeter; and I should have lost +him, had I not made a sudden turn, and come right upon him in a forsaken +alley, where I suppose the poor thing dwelt. I seized him by the collar. +He was small and spare, and he trembled under my gripe; but still he +held his own, and only wrapped his cloak the closer round his property. +</p> + +<p> +"'Vino! quiero vino!' said I again; 'give me vino!' +</p> + +<p> +"'Nada, nada tengo!' he repeated. +</p> + +<p> +"I had already drawn my bayonet.—I am ashamed, sir, to say, that we +used to do that to terrify the poor wretches, and make them the sooner +give us their liquor.—As I held him by the collar with one hand, I +pointed the bayonet at his breast with the other, and I again cried, +'Vino!' +</p> + +<p> +"'Vino no tengo—nino, nino es!'—and he spoke the words with such a +look of truth and earnestness, that, had I not fancied I could trace +through the folds of his cloak the very shape of a small wine skin, +I should have believed him. +</p> + +<p> +"'Lying rascal!' said I, 'so you won't give me the liquor? then the dry +earth shall drink it!' and I struck the point of my bayonet deep into +that which he was still hugging to his breast. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, sir! it was not wine that trickled down—it was blood, warm +blood!—and a piteous wail went like a chill across my heart!—The poor +Spaniard opened his cloak—he pointed to his wounded child—and his wild +eye asked me plainer than words could have done,—'Monster! are you +satisfied!' +</p> + +<p> +"I was sobered in a moment. I fell upon +my knees beside the infant, and I tried to +staunch the blood. Yes, the poor fellow understood +the truth: he saw, and he accepted +my anguish—and we joined our efforts to save +the little victim.—Oh! it was too late! +</p> + +<p> +"The little boy had fastened his small clammy hands round a finger of +each of us. He looked at us alternately; and seemed to ask, alike from +his father and his murderer, that help which it was beyond the power of +one of earth to give. The changes in the poor child's countenance showed +that it had few minutes to live. Sometimes it lay so still I thought the +last pang was over; when a slight convulsion would agitate its frame, +and a momentary pressure of its little hands, would give the gasping +father a short vain ray of hope. +</p> + +<p> +"You may believe, sir, that an old soldier, who has only been +able to keep his own life at the expense of an eye and two of his +limbs—who has lingered out many a weary day in a camp-hospital after a +hot engagement—must have learnt to look on death without any unnecessary +concern. I have sometimes wished for it myself; and often have felt +thankful when my poor, wounded comrades have been released by it from +pain. I have seen it, too, in other shapes. I have seen the death-blow +dealt, when its effects have been so instant, that the brave heart's +blood has been spilt, and the pulses have ceased to beat, while the +streak of life and health was still fresh upon the cheek—when a smile +has remained upon the lips of my brother-soldier, even after he had +fallen a corpse across my path. But, oh! sir, what is all this compared +with what I suffered as I watched life ebb slowly from the wound which +I had myself so wantonly inflicted in the breast of a helpless, innocent +child!—It was by mistake, by accident. Oh, yes! I know it, I know it +well; and day and night I have striven to forget that hour. But it is of +no use; the cruel recollection never leaves my mind—that piteous wail +is ever in my ears!—The father's agony will follow me to the +grave!"—<i>Legends of the Lib. at Lilies.</i> +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. +</h2> + + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + THE CITADEL OF ANTWERP. +</h3> + +<center> +(<i>From personal inspection, by a Contributor to the United Service +Journal.</i>) +</center> + + +<p> +This spot, on which the eye of all Europe is at present concentrated, +lies at the southern extremity of Antwerp, and forms one continued +line with its defences along the banks of the Scheldt. It is a regular +pentagon in shape, protected by bastions ranging at progressive +elevations, and connecting themselves with curtains of proportionate +height. In advance of these defences are a further series of spacious +bastions, immediately connected with the preceding, but of later +construction. The one were erected by Paciotti and Cerbolini, two +Italian engineers, by order of the tyrant Alba, 1568, and the others +according to Vauban's principles in 1701. Every side of this citadel is +equally formidable for its strength; that towards the town is furnished +with a raveline; and this is also the case with the front which faces +the river, and opens upon a paved line of road, from which all +communication with Antwerp itself has latterly been cut off. Two of +the sides of this fastness front towards the adjacent country, and are +likewise supplied with ravelines; the centre bastion in this direction +bears Paciotto's name, which has been denaturalized in that of Paniotto +in the French elevations. The defences of the town terminate in the +centre of the fifth side, which circumstance has left it unprovided with +a raveline. On the summit (or capital) of the two bastions on the land +side, two large lunettes have been thrown forward, one being called Fort +Kiel, from the adjacent suburb, and the other, which stands more away +from the town, Fort St. Laurent. Internally the citadel of Antwerp +contains +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page406" name="page406"></a>[pg 406]</span> +every provision for the safe housing of its defenders, and +possesses more than the requisite accommodation under ground for its +supplies. All the barracks, exposed to the enemy's fire, are so placed, +that the strength of the garrison may be readily collected at the point +endangered; the kind of defence to be brought into action is plain and +obvious; and the <i>matériel</i> for standing a siege has been as +liberally provided as the means of subsistence for preserving the +<i>morale</i> of the besieged from being deteriorated. The garrison +consists of picked troops, who place unlimited confidence in their +commandant. The citadel is encompassed by a ditch, which has eighteen +feet of water in every part of its circuit, and is protected by ramparts +of adequate elevation, and strength in proportion. With such elements of +defence as these its capture cannot be effected without a sacrifice of +human lives, which none but the flint-hearted can contemplate or foresee +without deprecation and horror. +</p> + +<p> +In the year 1792, when it was carried by the revolutionary forces +of France, they took the direction of the city walls as their line of +attack, and mounted the bastion which bears Paciotto's name; this, +at that time of day, formed indisputably the most advantageous point +of assault; but its increased strength in this quarter would, at the +present moment, render any attack an act of temerity. An esplanade +of the average width of four hundred paces, which was laid out as a +handsome promenade, before the bombardment in 1830, separates the +citadel from the town: but the effect of that bombardment has been to +throw a wide area of fifteen hundred paces open to the very marge of +the Scheldt; and to disconnect the fortress still more completely from +the inhabited portion of Antwerp. Lamentable as may be the prospect, +Antwerp, the mistress of the finest naval station and commercial port in +Europe, is doomed to destruction, if a single gun be directed against +its citadel. It is not possible for its commandant, as a soldier and +a subject, to avoid any and every means of annoying a besieger; and +amongst these, none so ready and effectual, present themselves, as that +of preventing the town from becoming the covert for an assailant. We have +witnessed the deplorable havoc which a few mortars brought upon it in +1830; but how frightful will be the issue when rockets and red-hot shot +come to be poured upon the devoted city. Nay, more,—by opening the +dykes along the Scheldt, a large portion of the western provinces of +Belgium is capable of being inundated; and if this fresh calamity ensue, +as a second resource on the part of the besieged, from the adoption +of which the recognised laws of warfare cannot absolve them, not only +Antwerp will have ceased to exist, but her citadel will rear its head, +a frowning islet, amidst a waste of waters. As to the blockade of the +Scheldt, it will be impotent with regard to distressing the citadel; for +the windings of that stream, as well as of the Maas, at their mouths, +preclude the possibility of effectually staying the Dutch from +communication with it. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + THE PLAINT OF CERTAIN CORAL BEADS. +</h3> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Spoiler of forbidden wealth,</p> +<p class="i2"> Guarded by the hoary waves!</p> + <p> When we mourn thy cruel stealth,</p> +<p class="i2"> Sorrowing for our quiet caves.</p> + <p> Doth it calm our wistful pining</p> + <p> That the chains we hate are shining?</p> +<p class="i2"> Boast we beauty's gauds to be?</p> + <p> Can the state such bondage shares,</p> + <p> Thoughtless liking, loveless cares,</p> + <p> Sudden angers, wilful airs,</p> +<p class="i2"> Sooth us like the mighty sea?</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> Though, in hours when suitors press</p> +<p class="i2"> Near the shrine of star-bright eyes,</p> + <p> Mysteries, some would die to guess,</p> +<p class="i2"> Our familiar touch descries;</p> + <p> When a startled throb or tremble,</p> + <p> Woman's craft would fain dissemble,</p> +<p class="i2"> Through our light embraces swells;—</p> + <p> Fruitless secrets—vainly taught,—</p> + <p> Bliss unheeded—trust unsought—</p> + <p> Can they quench the constant thought</p> +<p class="i2"> Of our dreamy ocean-cells?</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> Though the glowing bands we form,</p> +<p class="i2"> Oft by redder lips be pressed,</p> + <p> And a slumber, soft and warm,</p> +<p class="i2"> Fold us on a dove-like breast,—</p> + <p> Not to love, but love's bestowing</p> + <p> Gentle care and kiss are owing:—</p> +<p class="i2"> Is the passion changed or cloyed,</p> + <p> Doth the giver's light grow less?</p> + <p> Banished from the sweet recess,</p> + <p> Sportive pressure, fond caress,</p> +<p class="i2"> See our mimic worth destroyed!</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> Then in close and narrow keep,</p> +<p class="i2"> Pent, with scorned and faded toys,</p> + <p> Mourn we for the glassy deep,</p> +<p class="i2"> Sigh we for our early joys!</p> + <p> What has earth like ocean's treasures?</p> + <p> More than craving avarice measures,</p> +<p class="i2"> More than Fancy's dream enchants,</p> + <p> Deck the booming caves below,</p> + <p> Where green waters ever flow</p> + <p> Under groves of pearl, that grow</p> +<p class="i2"> In the mermaid's glimmering haunts.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> Under spar-enchased bowers,</p> +<p class="i2"> Bending on their twisted stems,</p> + <p> Glow the myriad ocean-flowers,</p> +<p class="i2"> Fadeless—rich as orient gems.</p> + <p> Hung with seaweed's tasselled fringes,</p> + <p> Dyed with all the rainbow's tinges,</p> +<p class="i2"> Rise the Triton's palace walls.</p> + <p> Pallid silver's wandering veins</p> + <p> Stream, like frostwork, o'er the stains;</p> + <p> Pavements thick, with golden grains,</p> +<p class="i2"> Twinkle through their crystal halls.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> And a music wild and low</p> +<p class="i2"> Ever, o'er the curved shells,</p> + <p> Wanders with a fitful flow</p> +<p class="i2"> As the billow sinks or swells.</p> + <p> Now, to faintest whispers hushing,</p> + <p> Now, in louder cadence gushing,</p> +<p class="i2"> Wakens from their pleasant sleep</p> + <p> All the tuneful Nereid-throng,</p> + <p> Till their notes of wreathed song</p> + <p> Float in magic streams along,</p> +<p class="i2"> Chanting joyaunce through the deep.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> Chance or change,—the clouds of time—</p> +<p class="i2"> Sorrow,—winter storm, or blight,</p> + <p> Comes not near our peaceful clime;</p> +<p class="i2"> Nor the strife of day with night.</p> +<div> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page407" name="page407"></a>[pg 407]</span> +</div> + <p> Death, who walks the earth in riot,</p> + <p> Stirs not our primeval quiet:</p> +<p class="i2"> Scarce his distant rage we know</p> + <p> From the dreary things of clay,</p> + <p> Slain, alas! in ocean's play,</p> + <p> Whom the sea-maids shroud and lay</p> +<p class="i2"> In the silent caves below.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> Fond! to deem we count it pride</p> +<p class="i2"> Thus to deck the fair of earth!</p> + <p> We, whose beauty-peopled tide</p> +<p class="i2"> Gave the foam-born goddess birth!</p> + <p> Her, whose glory's radiant fulness.</p> + <p> All too bright for mortal dulness,</p> +<p class="i2"> Sparkles in a lovelier star!</p> + <p> Are not Ocean's shady places</p> + <p> Rich in kindred forms and faces,</p> + <p> Choral bands of sister-Graces</p> +<p class="i2"> Circling Amphitrite's car?</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> Toiling o'er the shallow page,</p> +<p class="i2"> Vainly pedants seek the lore</p> + <p> Taught us by that prophet sage,</p> +<p class="i2"> Whom our azure Thetis bore.</p> + <p> Wiser Eld his solemn numbers,</p> + <p> Listening, stole from Ocean's slumbers,</p> +<p class="i2"> Signs of coming doom to learn.</p> + <p> Poor were all your labours reap,</p> + <p> To the gifted seers that keep</p> + <p> Mysteries of the ancient deep,</p> +<p class="i2"> Drawn from Nereus' sacred urn.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> Let us find our old retreat,</p> +<p class="i2"> Yield us to the kissing wave,</p> + <p> From the daylight's parching heat</p> +<p class="i2"> In its cool profound to lave.</p> + <p> If ye needs must rob for beauty,</p> + <p> Earth's abysses teem with booty.</p> +<p class="i2"> Gems, that love the blaze of day:—</p> + <p> We are tired of glittering shows,</p> +<p class="i2"> And the strife of man's display;</p> + <p> Let us sink to sweet repose</p> + <p> Where the lulling water flows;</p> +<p class="i2"> Give us to our native bay!</p> +</div></div> + + + +<center> +<i>Tait's Edinburgh Magazine.</i> +</center> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + SHELLEY. +</h3> + +<p> +[We find the clever and curious sketches of Shelley, in the <i>New +Monthly Magazine</i>, concluded with the following interesting +anecdote.] +</p> + +<p> +That Shelley gave freely, when the needy scholar asked, or in silent, +hopeless poverty seemed to ask, his aid, will he demonstrated most +clearly by relating shortly one example of his generosity, where the +applicant had no pretensions to literary renown, and no claim whatever, +except perhaps honest penury. It is delightful to attempt to delineate +from various points of view a creature of infinite moral beauty,—but +one instance must suffice; an ample volume might be composed of such +tales, but one may be selected, because it contains a large admixture of +that ingredient which is essential to the conversion of alms-giving into +the genuine virtue of charity—self-denial. On returning to town after +the long vacation, at the end of October, I found Shelley at one of the +hotels in Covent Garden. Having some business in hand he was passing a +few days there alone. We had taken some mutton chops hastily at a dark +place in one of the minute courts of the city, at an early hour, and we +went forth to walk; for to walk at all times, and especially in the +evening, was his supreme delight. The aspect of the fields to the north +of Somers-Town, between that beggarly suburb and Kentish-Town, has been +totally changed of late. Although this district could never be accounted +pretty, nor deserving a high place even amongst suburban scenes, yet +the air, or often the wind, seemed pure and fresh to captives emerging +from the smoke of London; there were certain old elms, much very green +grass, quiet cattle feeding, and groups of noisy children playing with +something of the freedom of the village green. There was, oh, blessed +thing! an entire absence of carriages and of blood-horses; of the +dust and dress and affectation and fashion of the parks: there were, +moreover, old and quaint edifices and objects which gave character to +the scene. Whenever Shelley was imprisoned in London,—for to a poet a +close and crowded city must be a dreary gaol,—his steps would take that +direction, unless his residence was too remote, or he was accompanied by +one who chose to guide his walk. On this occasion I was led thither, +as indeed I had anticipated: the weather was fine, but the autumn was +already advanced; we had not sauntered long in these fields when the +dusky evening closed in, and the darkness gradually thickened. "How +black those trees are," said Shelley, stopping short, and pointing to +a row of elms; "it is so dark the trees might well be houses, and the +turf, pavement,—the eye would sustain no loss; it is useless therefore +to remain here, let us return." He proposed tea at his hotel, I +assented; and hastily buttoning his coat, he seized my arm, and set off +at his great pace, striding with bent knees over the fields and through +the narrow streets. We were crossing the New Road, when he said shortly, +"I must call for a moment, but it will not be out of the way at all," +and then dragged me suddenly towards the left. I inquired whither we +were bound, and, I believe, I suggested the postponement of the intended +call till the morrow. He answered, it was not at all out of our way. +I was hurried along rapidly towards the left; we soon fell into an +animated discussion respecting the nature of the virtue of the Romans, +which in some measure beguiled the weary way. Whilst he was talking with +much vehemence and a total disregard of the people who thronged the +streets, he suddenly wheeled about and pushed me through a narrow door; +to my infinite surprise I found myself in a pawnbroker's shop! It was +in the neighbourhood of Newgate Street; for he had no idea whatever in +practice either of time or space, nor did he in any degree regard method +in the conduct of business. There were several women in the shop in +brown and grey cloaks with squalling children: some of them were +attempting to persuade the children to be quiet, or at least, to scream +with +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page408" name="page408"></a>[pg 408]</span> +moderation; the others were enlarging upon and pointing out the +beauties of certain coarse and dirty sheets that lay before them to a +man on the other side of the counter. I bore this substitute for our +proposed tea some minutes with tolerable patience, but as the call did +not promise to terminate speedily, I said to Shelley, in a whisper, "Is +not this almost as bad as the Roman virtue?" Upon this he approached the +pawnbroker: it was long before he could obtain a hearing, and he did not +find civility. The man was unwilling to part with a valuable pledge so +soon, or perhaps he hoped to retain it eventually; or it might be, that +the obliquity of his nature disqualified him for respectful behaviour. +A pawnbroker is frequently an important witness in criminal proceedings: +it has happened to me, therefore, afterwards to see many specimens of +this kind of banker; they sometimes appeared not less respectable than +other tradesmen, and sometimes I have been forcibly reminded of the +first I ever met with, by an equally ill conditioned fellow. I was so +little pleased with the introduction, that I stood aloof in the shop, +and did not hear what passed between him and Shelley. On our way to +Covent-Garden, I expressed my surprise and dissatisfaction at our +strange visit, and I learned that when he came to London before, in +the course of the summer, some old man had related to him a tale of +distress,—of a calamity which could only be alleviated by the timely +application of ten pounds; five of them he drew at once from his +pocket, and to raise the other five he had pawned his beautiful solar +microscope! He related this act of beneficence simply and briefly, as if +it were a matter of course, and such indeed it was to him. I was ashamed +of my impatience, and we strode along in silence. +</p> + +<p> +It was past ten when we reached the hotel; some excellent tea and +a liberal supply of hot muffins in the coffee-room, now quiet and +solitary, were the more grateful after the wearisome delay and vast +deviation. Shelley often turned his head, and cast eager glances towards +the door; and whenever the waiter replenished our teapot, or approached +our box, he was interrogated whether any one had yet called. At last the +desired summons was brought: Shelley drew forth some bank notes, hurried +to the bar, and returned as hastily, bearing in triumph under his arm a +mahogany box, followed by the officious waiter, with whose assistance he +placed it upon the bench by his side. He viewed it often with evident +satisfaction, and sometimes patted it affectionately in the course of +calm conversation. The solar microscope was always a favourite plaything +or instrument of scientific inquiry; whenever he entered a house his +first care was to choose some window of a southern aspect, and, if +permission could be obtained by prayer or by purchase, strightway to +cut a hole through the shutter to receive it. His regard for his solar +microscope was as lasting as it was strong; for he retained it several +years after this adventure, and long after he had parted with all the +rest of his philosophical apparatus. +</p> + +<p> +Such is the story of the microscope, and no rightly judging person who +hears it will require the further accumulation of proofs of a benevolent +heart; nor can I, perhaps, better close these sketches than with that +impression of the pure and genial beauty of Shelley's nature which this +simple anecdote will bequeath. +</p> + +<p> +[In parting with this very ingenious series of papers, we beg to concur +in the well-expressed wish of the Editor of the <i>New Monthly Magazine</i>, +"that their author could be tempted to give the world a complete history +of one whose peculiar and subtle nature he so well comprehends."] +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + THE NATURALIST. +</h2> + + + +<hr /> + +<h3> +NEW SPECIES OF BAT.—(VESPERTILIO AUDUBONI.) +</h3> + +<center> +(<i>By Richard Harlan, M.D.</i>) +</center> + + +<p> +Of the numerous creatures which attract our admiration, or excite +our fears, the greater part display their appetites, or develope +their instincts, during the day time only; especially—with few +exceptions—all those remarkable for beauty of plumage, and vocal +melody. Predacious animals are chiefly distinguished for their nocturnal +habits; and ideas of rapine, terror and blood, are ever associated with +the tiger, the hyena, and the wolf. Among the feathered tribes, the +<i>owl</i> and the <i>bat</i>, also companions of darkness, are shunned +by many, as horrible objects, and full of ill-omen. Haunted castles, +ruined battlements, and noisome caverns, are the chosen abodes of these +noctural maurauders, and it is to such associations that these animals +are indebted for the unamiable character they have obtained. The +prejudices conceived against that portion of these animals, with which +we are familiar, are founded entirely upon these their habits; for small +quadrupeds, reptiles and fish, constitute the food of the first, whilst +insects and fruit suffice for the other. It is at the close of the +day, when the hum of nature is beginning to subside, that the patient +<i>bat</i> steals from his dark retreat, and spreads his leathery +wings in search of his food. +</p> + +<div class="figure" style="width: 100%;"> +<a href="images/581-2.png"><img width="100%" src="images/581-2.png" +alt="[Illustration" /></a> +</div> + + +<p> +The new species of this little flying quadruped, which we are now about +to notice, belongs to a very large and respectable family. In the days +of Linnaeus, they all—from their appearance at twilight—went by the +family name of <i>Vespertilio</i>. They further belong to the order +<i>Carnivora</i>, their teeth being constructed for masticating flesh; +though some—and in this they resemble ourselves—are +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page409" name="page409"></a>[pg 409]</span> +also fond of +fruit. In one important point, the whole race has a common character, in +their organ of flight. The bones of the fingers are extremely elongated, +and united by a membrane, which is continued down the side of the body; +and extending on the leg as far as the tarsus, also unites the legs and +tail. Agreeing so universally in this particular, they form a very +natural family, under the appropriate term. Cheiroptera, constructed +from two Greek words, signifying <i>hand and wing</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The vespertilio are again divided into GENERA and +<i>Species</i>,—divisions which are grounded on certain peculiarities +of dental structure, and various developements of the brachial, digital, +and interfemoral appendages, with other modifications of the organs of +progression. These genera include species which are discovered in every +habitable part of the globe, of various magnitudes, from the size of a +half grown cat, to that of a half grown mouse. +</p> + +<p> +Of this numerous family only three genera, of modern authors, inhabit +the United States, viz. RHINOPOMA, VESPERTILIO, and TAPHOZOUS. Seven +species, exclusive of the present, are all that have been hitherto +discovered in North America. +</p> + +<p> +We propose to dedicate this new species, to our valuable friend the +justly celebrated naturalist J.J. AUDUBON, as a small tribute of +respect to his eminent talents, and the highly important services he +has rendered science. The drawing which accompanies this paper, is +from his inimitable pencil. +</p> + +<p> +This species was first observed, during the summer of 1829, when an +individual female flew into the apartment of the late Dr. Hammersly, +then one of the resident physicians of the Pennsylvania hospital: on +the subsequent evening a male individual, of the same species, was +also taken in the same manner. In August 1830, a very fine specimen +was brought to the Academy of Natural Sciences, and Mr. Audubon informs +me that the species has very recently been observed in New York. +</p> + +<p> +The natural characters of the species are—General colour black, +sprinkled with gray above and beneath; ears black and naked; auriculum, +short and broad or obtusely triangular; interfemoral membrane, sparsely +hairy; last joint of the tail free: two incisors, with notched crowns, +on each side of the canine teeth of the upper jaw, with a broad +intervening space without teeth. +</p> + +<p> +The dimensions are.—Total length 3 inches 7 tenths; tail 1.7; length of +ear 0.5. breadth of ear 0.4; length of leg 1.7; spread of wings 10.7. +inhabit Pennsylvania and New York, and probably the southern +states.—<i>Cab. of Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad.</i> (Abridged from +Featherstonhaugh's <i>Monthly American Journal of Geology and Natural +Science.</i>) +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + FINE ARTS. +</h2> + + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + MOSAIC PAVEMENT. +</h3> + + +<p> +The chief object of curiosity at Palestrina, (ancient Praeneste,) is +the castle or palace of the prince, in the highest part of the city, to +which there is an ascent by an excellent coach-road to the right, by +the Capucin Convent, without entering the narrow street. Before it is a +level space of considerable length; which formed the highest platform of +the Temple of Fortune. Two flights of steps lead to an amphitheatre, or +semicular staircase, in excellent preservation, which is the same that +led to the sanctuary of the temple, on the foundation of which the +palace is built: in the middle of the semicircle is a well; each step +is about a foot and a half high, like the ancient steps of the capitol +which led to the church of Ara Coeli, at Rome. Another short flight +conducts to the hall of entrance, where there is a double staircase, and +a recess closed by iron grates, which contains the celebrated antique +pavement, of which Pliny speaks in the following +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page410" name="page410"></a>[pg 410]</span> +terms, "The fine mosaic +of small stones, placed by Sylla as a pavement in the Temple of Fortune +at Praeneste, was the first thing of the kind seen in Italy." There does +not seem to be the smallest room to doubt of this being the genuine +mosaic he mentions; it is in excellent preservation, and appears to be +about twenty feet by sixteen. It was found in the same cellar of the +seminary, where is still the altar of Fortune, and may be considered as +one of the most interesting relics of antiquity. Towards the upper part +of it are mountains, with negro savages hunting wild beasts; animals of +different sorts, with their names in Greek written below them, such +as the rhinoceros, crocodile, and lynx. Lower down are seen houses of +various forms, temples, vessels of different constructions, particularly +a galley of 32 oars, manned with armed blacks, and commanded by a white +man; a tent with soldiers, a palm tree, flowers, a collation in an +arbour, an altar of Anubis; in short, almost every circumstance +imaginable in life. The scene apparently lies in Egypt. The figures are +well drawn, the light and shadows happily disposed, and the colouring +harmonious. The stones which compose this very curious pavement are +remarkably small which renders the effect peculiarly pleasing, from +the neatness of its appearance. +</p> + +<h4> +W.G.C. +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + PANORAMA OF STIRLING. +</h3> + + +<p> +Stirling, or Strivelin, and its storied environs have furnished Mr. +Burford with a new Panorama, of more than usual interest in its details. +The town is fraught with historical association, and the surrounding +country is of picturesque and poetical character. A Scottish poet +describes its attractions in these enthusiastic lines: +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> O! grander far than Windsor's brow!</p> + <p> And sweeter to the vale below!</p> + <p> Whar Forth's unrivalled windings flow</p> +<p class="i8"> Through varied grain,</p> + <p> Brightening, I ween wi' glittering glow,</p> +<p class="i8"> Strevlina's plain!</p> + <p> There, raptured trace, (enthroned on hie)</p> + <p> The landscape stretching on the ee,</p> + <p> Frae Grampian hills down to the sea—</p> +<p class="i8"> A dazzling view—</p> + <p> Corn, meadow, mansion, water, tree,</p> +<p class="i8"> In varying hue.</p> + <p> There, seated, mark, wi' ardour keen,</p> + <p> The Skellock bright 'mang corn sae green,</p> + <p> The purple pea, and speckled bean,</p> +<p class="i8"> A fragrant store—</p> + <p> And vessels sailing, morn and een,</p> +<p class="i8"> To Stirling's shore.</p> + <p> And Shaw park, gilt wi' e'ening's ray:</p> + <p> And Embro castle, distant grey;</p> + <p> Wi' Alva screened near Aichil brae,</p> +<p class="i8"> 'Mang grove and bower!</p> + <p> And rich Clackmannan rising gay</p> +<p class="i8"> Wi' woods and tower.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<center> +<i>Hector Macneill.</i> +</center> + + +<p> +Stirling is seated on the river Forth, upon a precipitous basaltic +rock, about one hundred feet from the level of the plain. Upon the rock +stands the Castle, from the outer court of which the present Panorama +was sketched. The town, in external appearance, bears a miniature +resemblance to Edinburgh, being situate like the old town of that +city, on the sloping ridge of a rock, running from east to west, the +precipitous end of which is occupied by the Castle. But, of the town +itself, little is seen in the Panorama. The view, as we have stated, is +from the Castle, and is generally allowed to be one of the finest in +Scotland. Its scenery has many sublime and picturesque features, and +has moreover been the site of some of the most stirring incidents in +Scottish history; no less than twelve fields of battle, including three +important ones fought by the first and second Edwards, being distinctly +visible. Beginning with the Castle, we find, from its situation +commanding the passes and fords between the north and south of Scotland, +it was in early times styled the Key, as Dumbarton was the Lock, to the +Highlands. Its first fortification is referred to the time of Agricola; +the Picts had a strong fortress here, which was totally destroyed in the +ninth century by the Scots, under Kenneth II. Stirling formed part of +the ransom of his brother and successor, who had been taken prisoner by +the Northumbrians; they rebuilt the Castle, but subsequently restored +the place to the Scots. In the twelfth century, it was considered one of +the strongest forts in Scotland. It was often visited by the Scottish +monarchs, but it did not become a royal residence until the accession of +the Stuarts. Here was born James II., and in an apartment now forming +part of the deputy-governor's lodging, this king perpetrated the murder +of Earl Douglas. James III. made it his chief residence, erected the +parliament-house, and a richly-endowed chapel, since destroyed. James V. +was crowned here, and erected the palace. Mary was crowned here, as +was James VI. when thirteenth months old; he was educated here by the +celebrated Buchanan. During the regency of Mary of Lorraine, a strong +battery was erected here; and in the reign of Queen Anne, the +fortifications were strengthened and enlarged. In 1806, the rocky ground +in front was converted into an esplanade; since which the towers have +been repaired and castellated, it being one of the Scottish forts, +which, by the articles of the Union, are always to be kept in repair. +It mounts about 36 guns; but if regularly invested in modern warfare, it +could not hold out many hours. To enumerate its sieges, dismantlings, +and repairs would occupy too much space. Among the most memorable of its +stormy annals, is its siege by Edward II. in 1301, for three months, +when it was battered with stones of two hundred pounds weight each, +thrown by engines, in the formation of which was used all the lead +from the monastery of St. Andrew's. It +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page411" name="page411"></a>[pg 411]</span> +was last besieged in 1746 by the +Highlanders under Prince Charles. The chief parts of the building seen +in the Panorama are the additions by Queen Anne, the parliament-house, +(though not the unsightly, modern roof,) and the palace, a stately +and curious structure of hewn stone, and embellished with grotesque +sculpture. The latter building forms a quadrangle, the central court of +which is called the lion's den, from the king's lions being formerly +kept there. The whole is now used as barracks. From the Castle, looking +over the town, towards the east, is a vast plain, nearly 40 miles +in extent, called the Carse of Stirling, through which the Firth in +meandering, forms a number of peninsulas, in places approximating so +closely as to have an isthmus of only a few yards, the effect of which +in the picture, reminded us of the contrived intricacies of a child's +puzzle; in this direction is seen Alla, or Alloa, a thriving seaport +town, with a Gothic church, and celebrated for its excellent ale; +Clackmannan, a miserable town, where in a tower lived King Robert Bruce, +and where an old Jacobite lady knighted Burns with a sword which +belonged to Bruce, observing that she had a better right to do so than +<i>some folk</i>; Falkirk, known for its <i>trysts</i>, or markets, +where the country-people point out a battle-field, and a stream called +the Red Burn, from its running with blood on the day of the conflict; +Bruce lived near this spot, the view from which he said was not +surpassed by any he had seen in his travels: next lies the Firth of +Forth, and the country as far as Edinburgh and the Pentland Hills. +Towards the south stands the ancient village of St. Ninian's, and +Bannockburn, the battleground of the most celebrated and important +contest that ever took place between English and Scots; the Torwood, +where till lately stood a tree said to have sheltered Wallace; and the +Carron, bounded by the green hills of Campsie. Towards the west are the +plains of Menteith, a district, says Chambers, distinguished almost +above all the rest of Scotland, for the singular series of beautiful +and romantic scenes which it presents to the view of the traveller, and +bounded by the majestic Grampians. On the north are the famous ruins +of Cambuskenneth, and the precipitous Abbey Craig, beyond which lies +the richly-cultivated vale of Devon; the moor on which the battle of +Dumblain was fought; and Ochill Hills, clothed with blooming heath, and +overtopped by the summits of Perthshire. Such is the artist's outline of +the prospect: our task shall be to select a few of its most entertaining +details. +</p> + +<p> +To return to the Panoramic arrangement: next the castle is Gowlan Hill, +the ordinary place of execution in times of wicked bloodshed, and thus +apostrophized by Douglas, in the <i>Lady of the Lake</i>: +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> And thou O sad and fatal mound!</p> + <p> That oft hast heard the death-axe sound,</p> + <p> As on the noblest of the land,</p> + <p> Fell the stern headsman's bloody hand.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +The hill has, however, less terrible association; it being after called +Hurly Hacket, from James V. and his nobles there playing at that game, +which consisted in sliding down the steep banks on an inverted cutty +stool. This was, at least, more rational than cutting off heads. Next is +Abbey Craig, a rock upon which Wallace defeated the English; Dollava, a +village on a gloomy rock, almost insulated by two streams, whose Celtic +names signify the glens of care and the burns of sorrow; Tillabody, the +birthplace and property of Sir Ralph Abercrombie; the crumbling walls +and bell tower of Cambuskenneth Abbey, wherein several parliaments were +held, and at whose high altar the clergy and nobles swore fealty to +Robert and David Bruce; Edinburgh, with its castle, thirty-eight miles +from Stirling, whence it is discernable in clear weather; the Carron +Iron-works; and the Carron, of more classic celebrity in Ossian, and the +battles of the Romans and the Scots and Picts; the dome-shaped hill of +Tinto, in Lanarkshire, 60 miles from Stirling, and 2,336 feet in height; +Arthur's Hill, a circular mound of earth, surrounded by seats of turf +in the royal gardens, sometimes called the king's knot, where the court +held fêtes, and where James used to amuse himself with the pastime +called the Knights of the Round Table; Ben Lomond, 3,240 feet above the +lake, which is 32 feet above the level of the sea; Ben Venue, and Ben +Ledy, or the hill of God, in Perthshire, 3,009 feet in height, so called +from the inhabitants of the surrounding villages, in former times, +meeting on its summit at the summer solstice, three days and nights for +the purpose of devotion. These three mountains, with their vicinities +are enshrined in Sir Walter Scott's <i>Lady of the Lake</i>; and the +village of Balquidder, at the foot of Ben Ledy, is the burial place of +Rob Roy. We have just described the circle: over the garden wall of +the Castle, at a considerable distance, is the well-wooded estate and +mansion of Craig Forth, said to have once belonged to a blacksmith of +Stirling: this man having placed the iron bars (which still remain to +the windows of the palace), and done other work for James VI. when that +monarch came to the throne of England, made a demand of one thousand +pounds Scots,—but by some error, the accounts being paid in Stirling +money, he with it purchased the estate and built the house of Craig +Forth. Next, to the right is Blair Drummond, formerly the residence of +the accomplished Lord Kaimes; and beyond are the celebrated ruins of +Donne Castle; not the least interesting incident of its annals was the +imprisonment there in 1745, of John Home, (the author of Douglas,) +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page412" name="page412"></a>[pg 412]</span> +who has left a narrative of his clambering escape over the high walls. +</p> + +<p> +It is time to speak of the Panorama as a work of art; for hitherto we +have rather considered its intellectual interest. The Castle and Palace +we take to be finely painted, with admirable picturesque effect: the +huge gateway, flanked with two towers, the battlemented walls, and +battery, are in fine bold relief, as is the clinging vegetation about +the building; nor must we omit the grotesque figures or corbelled +pedestals, and the identical window bars, the work of the wily Scot +of Craig Forth; the latter especially, are clever. A portion of the +esplanade otherwise devoid of interest, is peopled with a meeting of the +Highland Society celebrating the feats of the ancient Caledonians, the +object of the Society being to preserve their language, costume, music, +gymnastic sports, and martial games. This introduction happily fills up +what would otherwise have been the only void in the scene, so thickly +is it studed and storied with objects and recollections. Altogether, we +have rarely seen a topographical panorama of such diversified character: +it has reminiscences of history and poetry to lead us through the +retrospect of chivalrous ages, princely contests for crowns that rarely +sat lightly on their wearers, and the last flickering hopes of defeated +ambition and ill-starred fortune. Yet, how powerfully, not to say +painfully, are these pages in the chronicles of human actions, when +contrasted with the broad volume of nature, as spread before us in this +picture. Alas! what is the majesty of the mightiest of the kings that +dwelt in its palace in comparison with the sublimities of Tinto, Ben +Lomond, Venue, or Ledy; or what the peace of their halls amidst the +smiling expanse of the Carse of Stirling in all its quiet luxuriance. +They and their houses have become dust or crumbling ruin, and death has +with a little pin bored through their castle walls—while Nature has +been flourishing from year to year, and reading man an epitome of +existence in the succession of her changes. +</p> + +<p> +It has been stated that Mr. Burford, the successful painter of Stirling, +is engaged on a Panorama of the Falls of Niagara. All admirers of this +style of painting must be anxious for his success. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + SIR WALTER SCOTT. +</h3> + + +<p> +Mr. Parker has issued in addition to the Medal already noticed in +our pages, a <i>Medallion</i> of the lamented Poet and Novelist, from +Chantrey's bust. It is, we think, the obverse of the Medal, with bronzed +circular frame work bearing the motto suggested by Sir Walter. Though +handsome, it is an economical memorial of one whose amiable talents must +endear him to every fireside in the kingdom. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + NEW BOOKS. +</h2> + + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + POMPEII. +</h3> + + +<p> +[The second and concluding volume of the descriptive history of +Pompeii, in the <i>Library of Entertaining Knowledge</i>, is still more +attractive than its predecessor. It contains the very domestic economy +of the ancient inhabitants—chapters on domestic architecture, paintings +and mosaics, streets and fountains, private houses, villas, and tombs; +and, moreover, on the art of baking, and the forms of domestic utensils. +We are, therefore, led through hall, parlour, bath, kitchen, and shop, +with amusing minuteness; and, in the account of furniture and domestic +implements, it is curious to observe, how far we are indebted to the +ancients for the forms of similar contrivances now in use. One of the +best passages in this portion of the work is the following, on the] +</p> + +<center> +<i>Lamps and Candelabra.</i> +</center> + +<p> +No articles of ancient manufacture are more common than lamps. They are +found in every variety of form and size, in clay and in metal, from the +most cheap to the most costly description. We have the testimony of +the celebrated antiquary Winkelmann to the interest of this subject: +"I place among the most curious utensils, found at Herculaneum, the +lamps, in which the ancients sought to display elegance, and even +magnificence. Lamps of every sort will be found in the museum at +Portici, both in clay and bronze, but especially the latter; and as +the ornaments of the ancients have generally some reference to some +particular things, we often meet with rather remarkable subjects." +A considerable number of these articles will be found in the British +Museum, but they are chiefly of the commoner sort. All the works, +however, descriptive of Herculaneum and Pompeii, present us with +specimens of the richer and more remarkable class, which attract +admiration both by the beauty of the workmanship, and the whimsical +variety of their designs. We may enumerate a few which occur in a work +now before us, "Antiquités d'Herculanum," in which we find a Silenus, +with the usual peculiarities of figure ascribed to the jolly god rather +exaggerated, and an owl sitting upon his head between two huge horns, +which support stands for lamps. Another represents a flower-stalk, +growing out of a circular plinth, with snail-shells hanging from it by +small chains, which held the oil and wick. The trunk of a tree, with +lamps suspended between the branches. Another, a naked boy, beautifully +wrought, with a lamp hanging from one hand, and an instrument for +trimming it from the other, the lamp itself representing a theatrical +mask. Beside him is a twisted column, surmounted by the head of a Faun, +or Bacchanal, which has a lid in its crown, and seems +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page413" name="page413"></a>[pg 413]</span> +intended as a +reservoir of oil. The boy and pillar are both placed on a square +plateau, raised upon lions' claws. But, beautiful as those lamps are, +the light which they gave must have been weak and unsteady, and little +superior to that of common street-lamps, with which indeed they are +identical in principle. The wick was merely a few twisted threads, drawn +through a hole in the upper surface of the oil-vessel; and there was no +glass to steady the light, and prevent its varying with every breeze +that blew. +</p> + +<p> +Still, though the Romans had not advanced so far in art as to apply +glass-chimneys and hollow circular wicks to their lamps, they had +experienced the inconvenience of going home at night through a city +ill-paved, ill-watched, and ill-lighted, and, accordingly, soon invented +lanterns to meet the want. These we learn from Martial, who has several +epigrams upon this subject, were made of horn or bladder;—no mention, +we believe, occurs, of glass being thus employed. The rich were preceded +by a slave bearing their lantern. This, Cicero mentions, as being the +habit of Catiline upon his midnight expeditions; and when M. Antony was +accused of a disgraceful intrigue, his lantern-bearer was tortured, to +extort a confession whither he had conducted his master.<a id="footnotetag4" name="footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4"><sup>4</sup></a> One of these +machines, of considerable ingenuity and beauty of workmanship, was found +in Herculaneum in 1760, and another, almost exactly the same, at +Pompeii, a few years after. +</p> + +<p> +One of the most elegant articles of furniture in ancient use was the +candelabrum, by which we mean those tall and slender stands which served +to support a lamp, but were independent of and unconnected with it. +These, in their original and simple form, were probably mere reeds, or +straight sticks, fixed upon a foot by peasants, to raise their light +to a convenient height; at least, such a theory of their origin is +agreeable to what we are told of the rustic manners of the early Romans, +and it is in some degree countenanced by the fashion in which many of +the ancient candelabra are made. Sometimes the stem is represented as +throwing out buds; sometimes it is a stick, the side branches of which +have been roughly lopped, leaving projections where they grew; sometimes +it is in the likeness of a reed or cane, the stalk being divided into +joints. Most of those which have been found in the buried cities are of +bronze; some few of iron. In their general plan and appearance there +is a great resemblance, though the details of the ornaments admit of +infinite variety. All stand on three feet, usually griffins', or lions' +claws, which support a light shaft, plain or fluted according to the +fancy of the maker. The whole supports either a plinth large enough for +a lamp to stand on, or a socket to receive a wax-candle, which the +Romans used sometimes instead of oil in lighting their rooms. Some of +them have a sliding shaft, like that of a music-stand, by which the +light might be raised or lowered at pleasure. +</p> + +<p> +We may here say a few words on the art of inlaying one metal with +another, in which, as in all ornamental branches of the working of +metals, the ancient Italians possessed great skill. In the time of +Seneca, ornaments of silver were seldom seen, unless their price was +enhanced by being inlaid with solid gold. The art of uniting one metal +to another was called by the general term <i>ferruminare</i>. Inlaid +work was of two sorts; in the one, the inlaid work projected above the +surface, and was called <i>emblemata</i>, as the art itself was called, +from the Greek, <i>embletice</i>. It is inferred, from the inspection of +numerous embossed vases in the Neapolitan Museum, that this embossed +work was formed, either by plating with a thin leaf of metal figures +already raised upon the surface of the article, or by letting the solid +figures into the substance of the vessel, and finishing them with +delicate tools after they were attached. In the second sort, the inlaid +work was even with the surface, and was called <i>crusta</i>, and the +art was called, from the Greek, <i>empaestice</i>. This is the same as +the damask work so fashionable in the armour of the fifteenth and +sixteenth centuries, which is often seen beautifully inlaid with gold. +It was executed by engraving the pattern upon the surface of the metal, +and filling up the lines with fine plates of a different metal; the two +were then united with the assistance of heat, and the whole burnished. +Pliny has preserved a receipt for solder, which probably was used in +these works. It is called santerna; and the principal ingredients are +borax, nitre, and copperas, pounded, with a small quantity of gold and +silver, in a copper mortar. +</p> + +<p> +[The volume is enriched with four steel-plate engravings, and 154 cuts, +of clever execution.] +</p> + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + THE WONDERS OF THE LANE. +</h3> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Strong climber of the mountain's side,</p> +<p class="i2"> Though thou the vale disdain,</p> + <p> Yet walk with me where hawthorns hide</p> +<p class="i2"> The wonders of the lane.</p> + <p> High o'er the rushy springs of Don</p> +<p class="i2"> The stormy gloom is rolled;</p> + <p> The moorland hath not yet put on</p> +<p class="i2"> His purple, green, and gold.</p> + <p> But here the titling<a id="footnotetag5" name="footnotetag5"></a><a href="#footnote5"><sup>5</sup></a> spreads his wing,</p> +<p class="i2"> Where dewy daisies gleam;</p> + <p> And here the sunflower<a id="footnotetag6" name="footnotetag6"></a><a href="#footnote6"><sup>6</sup></a> of the spring</p> +<p class="i2"> Burns bright in morning's beam.</p> + <p> To mountain winds the famish'd fox</p> +<p class="i2"> Complains that Sol is slow,</p> + <p> O'er headlong steeps and gushing rocks</p> +<p class="i2"> His royal robe to throw.</p> + <p> But here the lizard seeks the sun</p> +<p class="i2"> Here coils, in light, the snake;</p> + <p> And here the fire-tuft<a id="footnotetag7" name="footnotetag7"></a><a href="#footnote7"><sup>7</sup></a> hath begun</p> +<p class="i2"> Its beauteous nest to make.</p> +<div> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page414" name="page414"></a>[pg 414]</span> +</div> + <p> Oh! then, while hums the earliest bee</p> +<p class="i2"> Where verdure fires the plain,</p> + <p> Walk thou with me, and stoop to see</p> +<p class="i2"> The glories of the lane!</p> + <p> For, oh! I love these banks of rock,</p> +<p class="i2"> This roof of sky and tree,</p> + <p> These tufts, where sleeps the gloaming clock,</p> +<p class="i2"> And wakes the earliest bee!</p> + <p> As spirits from eternal day</p> +<p class="i2"> Look down on earth, secure,</p> + <p> Look here, and wonder, and survey</p> +<p class="i2"> A world in miniature:</p> + <p> A world not scorned by Him who made</p> +<p class="i2"> E'en weakness by his might;</p> + <p> But solemn in his depth of shade,</p> +<p class="i2"> And splendid in his light.</p> + <p> Light!—not alone on clouds afar,</p> +<p class="i2"> O'er storm-loved mountains spread,</p> + <p> Or widely teaching sun and star,</p> +<p class="i2"> Thy glorious thoughts are read;</p> + <p> Oh, no I thou art a wondrous book</p> +<p class="i2"> To sky, and sea, and land—</p> + <p> A page on which the angels look—</p> +<p class="i2"> Which insects understand!</p> + <p> And here, O light! minutely fair,</p> +<p class="i2"> Divinely plain and clear,</p> + <p> Like splinters of a crystal hair,</p> +<p class="i2"> Thy bright small hand is here!</p> + <p> Yon drop-fed lake, six inches wide</p> +<p class="i2"> Is Huron, girt with wood;</p> + <p> This driplet feeds Missouri's tide—</p> +<p class="i2"> And that Niagara's flood.</p> + <p> What tidings from the Andes brings</p> +<p class="i2"> Yon line of liquid light,</p> + <p> That down from heaven in madness flings</p> +<p class="i2"> The blind foam of its might?</p> + <p> Do I not hear his thunder roll—</p> +<p class="i2"> The roar that ne'er is still?</p> + <p> 'Tis mute as death!—but in my soul</p> +<p class="i2"> It roars, and ever will.</p> + <p> What forests tall of tiniest moss</p> + <p> Clothe every little stone!—</p> + <p> What pigmy oaks their foliage toss</p> +<p class="i2"> O'er pigmy valleys lone!</p> + <p> With shade o'er shade, from ledge to ledge,</p> +<p class="i2"> Ambitious of the sky,</p> + <p> They feather o'er the steepest edge</p> +<p class="i2"> Of mountains mushroom-high.</p> + <p> Oh, God of marvels! who can tell</p> +<p class="i2"> What myriad living things</p> + <p> On these gray stones unseen may dwell!</p> +<p class="i2"> What nations, with their kings!</p> + <p> I feel no shock, I hear no groan,</p> +<p class="i2"> While fate, perchance, o'erwhelms</p> + <p> Empires on this subverted stone—</p> +<p class="i2"> A hundred ruined realms!</p> + <p> Lo! in that dot, some mite, like me,</p> +<p class="i2"> Impelled by woe or whim,</p> + <p> May crawl, some atom's cliffs to see—</p> +<p class="i2"> A tiny world to him!</p> + <p> Lo! while he pauses, and admires</p> +<p class="i2"> The works of nature's might,</p> + <p> Spurned by my foot, his world expires,</p> +<p class="i2"> And all to him is night!</p> + <p> Oh, God of terrors! what are we?—</p> +<p class="i2"> Poor insects sparked with thought!</p> + <p> Thy whisper, Lord, a word from thee,</p> +<p class="i2"> Could smite us into naught!</p> + <p> But should'st thou wreck our father-land,</p> +<p class="i2"> And mix it with the deep,</p> + <p> Safe in the hollow of thy hand</p> +<p class="i2"> Thy little one will sleep.</p> +</div></div> + + +<center> +<i>Amulet.</i> +</center> + + + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS. +</h2> + + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + POVERTY. +</h3> + + +<p> +Owen Feltham says—"The poverty of a poor man is the least part of his +misery. In all the storms of fortune, he is the first that must stand +the shock of extremity. Poor men are perpetual sentinels, watching in +the depth of night against the incessant assaults of want; while the +rich lie strowd in secure reposes, and compassed with a large abundance. +If the land be ruffetted with a bloodless famine, are not the poor the +first that sacrifice their lives to hunger? If war thunders in the +trembling country's lap, are not the poor those that are exposed to the +enemy's sword and outrage? If the plague, like a loaded sponge, flies, +sprinkling poison through a populous kingdom, the poor are the fruit +that are shaken from the burdened tree; while the rich, furnished with +the helps of fortune, have means to wind out themselves, and turn these +sad indurances on the poor, that cannot avoid them. Like salt-marshes, +that lie low, they are sure, whenever the sea of this world rages, to be +first under, and embarrened with a fretting care. Who like the poor are +harrowed with oppression, ever subject to the imperious taxes, and the +gripes of mightiness? Continual care checks the spirit; continual labour +checks the body; and continual insultation both. He is like one rolled +in a vessel full of pikes—which way soever he turns, he something finds +that pricks him. Yet, besides all these, there is another transcendent +misery—and this is, that maketh men contemptible. As if the poor man +were but fortune's dwarf, made lower than the rest of men, to be laughed +at. The philosopher (though he were the same mind and the same man), in +his squalid rags, could not find admission, when better robes procured +both an open door and reverence. Though outward things can add nothing +to our essential worth, yet, when we are judged on, by the help of +others' outward senses, they much conduce to our value or disesteem. +A diamond set in brass would be taken for a crystal, though it be not +so; whereas a crystal set in gold will by many be thought a diamond. +A poor man wise shall be thought a fool, though he have nothing to +condemn him but his being poor. Poverty is a gulf, wherein all good +parts are swallowed;—it is a reproach, which clouds the lustre of the +purest virtue. Certainly, extreme poverty is worse than abundance. We +may be good in plenty, if we will; in biting penury we cannot, though we +would. In one, the danger is casual; in the other, it is necessitating. +The best is that which partakes of both, and consists of neither. +He that hath too little wants feathers to fly withal; he that hath too +much, is but cumbered with too large a tail. If a flood of wealth could +profit us, it would be good to swim in such a sea; but it can neither +lengthen our lives, nor inrich us after the end. There is not in the +world such another object of pity as the pinched state; which no man +being secured from, I wonder at the tyrant's braves and contempt. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page415" name="page415"></a>[pg 415]</span> +Questionless, I will rather with charity help him that is miserable, as +I may be, than despise him that is poor, as I would not be. They have +flinty and steeled hearts that can add calamities to him that is already +but one entire mass." +</p> + +<h4> +W.G.C. +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + ACCOUNT OF THE IRISH MANTLE. +</h3> + + +<p> +Edmund Spencer (the English poet) in his <i>View of the State of +Ireland</i>, says—"First the outlaw, being for his many crimes and +villanies banished from the towns and houses of honest men, and +wandering in waste places, far from danger of law, maketh his +<i>mantle</i> his house, and under it covereth himself from the wrath of +heaven, from the offence of the earth, and from the sight of men. When +it raineth, it is his pent-house; when it bloweth, it is his tent; when +it freezeth, it is his tabernacle. In summer he can wear it loose; in +winter he can wrap it close; at all times he can use it—never heavy, +never cumbersome. Likewise for a rebel it is as serviceable; for in his +warre that he maketh, (if at least it deserve the name of warre), when +he still flyeth from his foe, and lurketh in the thick woods and strait +passages, waiting for advantages, it is his bed, yea, and almost his +household stuff; for the wood is his house against all weathers, and his +mantle is his couch to sleep in. Therein he wrappeth himselfe round, and +coucheth himself strongly against the gnats, which in that country doe +more annoye the naked rebells, whilst they keepe the woods, and doe more +sharply wound them than all their enemies' swords, or spears, which can +seldome come nigh them; yea, and oftentimes their mantle serveth them, +when they are neare driven, being wrapped about their left arme, instead +of a target, for it is hard to cut through with a sword; besides, it is +light to bear, light to throw away, and being (as they commonly are) +naked, it is to them all in all. Lastly, for a thiefe it is so handsome, +as it may seem it was first invented for him; for under it he may +cleanly convey any fit pillage that cometh handsomely in his way, and +when he goeth abroad in the night free-booting, it is his best and +surest friend; for lying, as they often doe, two or three nights +together abroad, to watch for their booty, with that they can prettily +shroud themselves under a bush, or bankside, till they may conveniently +do their errand; and when all is over, he can, in his mantle, passe +through any town or company, being close hooded over his head, as he +useth, from knowledge of any to whom he is endangered. Besides this, +he, or any man els that is disposed to mischiefe or villany, may under +his mantle goe privily armed, without suspicion of any, carry his +head-piece, his skean, or pistol, if he please, to be always in +readinesse." +</p> + +<p> +Spencer traces these mantles from the Scythians. He says—"The Irish +have from the Scythians <i>mantles</i> and long <i>glibs</i>, which is a +thick curled bush of hair, hanging down over their eyes, and monstrously +disguising theme." +</p> + +<p> +This curious <i>View of the State of Ireland</i> remained in manuscript +till it was printed, in 1633, by Sir James Ware, denominated "the Camden +of Ireland." +</p> + +<h4> +P.T.W. +</h4> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + DOMESTIC HINTS. +</h2> + + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + CONSUMPTION OF FISH. +</h3> + + +<p> +There is but little fish consumed in the interior of Great Britain; and +even in most seaport towns the consumption is not very great. In London, +indeed, immense quantities of fish are annually made use of; and there +can be little doubt that the consumption would be much greater, were it +not for the abuses in the trade, which render the supply comparatively +scarce, and, in most instances, exceedingly dear. All fish brought to +London is sold in Billingsgate market; and, in consequence of this +restriction, the salesmen of that market have succeeded in establishing +what is really equivalent to a monopoly, and are in a great measure +enabled to regulate both the supply and the price.—<i>Macculloch.</i> +</p> + +<p> +This inconsiderable consumption of fish will be a matter of surprise, +when we see that the supply of fish in the seas round Britain is most +abundant, or rather quite inexhaustible. "The coasts of Great Britain," +says Sir John Boroughs, "doe yield such a continued harvest of gain and +benefit to all those that with diligence doe labour in the same, that no +time or season of the yeare passeth away without some apparent meanes +of profitable employment, especially to such as apply themselves to +fishing; which, from the beginning of the year unto the latter end, +continueth upon some part or other of our coastes; and there in such +infinite shoals and multitudes of fishes are offered to the takers as +may justly cause admiration, not only to strangers, but to those that +daily are employed amongst them."—"That this harvest," says Mr. Barrow, +"ripe for gathering at all seasons of the year,—without the labour of +tillage—without expense of seed or manure—without the payment of rent +or taxes—is inexhaustible, the extraordinary fecundity of the most +valuable kinds of fish would alone afford abundant proof. To enumerate +the thousands, and even millions of eggs which are impregnated in the +herring, the cod, the ling, and, indeed, in almost the whole of the +esculent fish, would give but an inadequate idea of the prodigious +multitudes in which they flock to our shores. The shoals themselves +must be seen, in order to convey to the mind any just notice of their +aggregate mass." Mr. Macculloch, however, observes, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page416" name="page416"></a>[pg 416]</span> +that "notwithstanding +this immense abundance of fish, and notwithstanding the bounties that +have been given by the legislature to the individuals engaged in the +fishery, it has not been profitable to those by whom it has been carried +on, nor has it made that progress which might have been expected." +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + NANKEEN. +</h3> + + +<p> +Nankeen, or Nanking, takes its name from Nanking in China, where the +reddish-yellow thread of which the stuff is made was originally spun. +In England, we erroneously apply the term Nankeen to one colour; though, +in the East Indies, vast quantities of white, pink, and yellow nankeens +are made. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + WHITE PEPPER. +</h3> + + +<p> +The relative value of black and white pepper is but imperfectly +understood. The former is decidedly the best. It grows in long, small +clusters of from 20 to 50 grains. When ripe, it is of a bright red +colour. After being gathered, it is spread on mats in the sun, when it +loses its red colour, and becomes black and shrivelled as we see it. +White pepper is of two sorts, common and genuine. The former is made by +blanching the grains of the common black pepper, by steeping them for a +while in water, and then gently rubbing them, so as to remove the dark +outer coat. It is milder than the other, and much prized by the Chinese, +but very little is imported into England. <i>Genuine</i> white pepper is +merely the blighted or imperfect grains picked from among the heaps of +black pepper. It is, of course, very inferior. +</p> + +<p> +From the Singapore Chronicle we learn, that the average annual quantity +of pepper obtained from different countries is 46,066,666 lbs, +avoirdupois. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + THE GATHERER. +</h2> + + + +<hr /> + + +<p> +<i>How to acquire Knowledge.</i>—Edmund Stone, the celebrated +mathematician, was a native of Scotland, and the son of the Duke of +Argyle's gardener. Before he attained the age of eighteen years, he +had acquired a knowledge of geometry, &c., without a master. When he +was asked by the Duke of Argyle how he had gained this knowledge, he +replied, "I first learned to read; and the masons being at work on your +house, I saw that the architect used a rule and compasses, and that he +made calculations. Upon inquiring into the uses of these things, I was +informed there was a science named arithmetic. I purchased a book of +arithmetic, and I learned it. I was told there was another science +called geometry, and I learned that also. Finding that there were good +books on these two sciences in Latin, I bought a dictionary, and learned +Latin. I also understood there were good books of the same kind in +French, and I learned French. This, my lord, is what I have done; and +it seems to me that we may learn anything when we know the twenty-four +letters of the alphabet." The Duke, pleased with this simple answer, +drew Stone out of obscurity, and provided for him an employment which +allowed of his favourite pursuit. +</p> + +<h4> +P.T.W. +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<p> +<i>Duelling.</i>—The students of the Berlin University lately +introduced a new mode of duelling. In order that chances might be equal +on both sides, the combatants went to the bed of a man attacked with +cholera, and kissed him. Neither of the parties having experienced the +least symptom of the epidemic during the next twenty-four hours, the +seconds declared that the two adversaries had satisfied the laws of +honour, and the affair was consequently settled.—SWAINE. (We take this +piece of irony to be well applied.) +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Popes.</i>—His Highness Leo. XII., the present Pope's predecessor, +was, according to the visual mode of reckoning, the two hundred and +fifty-second since Peter the Apostle. Of these 208 were natives of +Italy, 14 were Frenchmen, 11 Greeks, 8 Syrians and Dalmatians, 5 +Germans, 3 Spaniards, 2 North Africans, and 1 Englishman. +</p> + +<h4> +W.G.C. +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<p> +In the churchyard of Arthuret, a village in Cumberland, are interred, +the remains of poor Archy Armstrong, jester or fool to Charles I.; and +by an accident suitable to his profession, the day of his funeral was +the first of April. +</p> + +<h4> +SWAINE. +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<p> +<i>Imperial Extravagance.</i>—Asses' milk is said to be a great +beautifier and preserver of the skin. Poppaea, wife of the Emperor Nero, +used it for that purpose, having four or five hundred asses constantly +in her retinue, to furnish her every morning with a fresh bath. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<center> +<b>ANNUALS FOR 1833.</b> +<br /> +With the present Number, a SUPPLEMENT, +<br /> +CONTAINING THE +<br /> +<b>Spirit of the Annuals for 1833:</b> +<br /> +With a large Engraving, and Three Comic Cuts. +</center> + + + +<table summary="supplement contents"> +<tr><td>St. Goar </td><td><i>Picturesque Annual.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>The Enchantress </td><td><i>Book of Beauty.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>The Flybekins </td><td><i>Comic Offering.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>What's in a Name? </td><td><i>Ditto ditto.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>Song, by Miss Mitford </td><td><i>Ditto ditto.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>History of the Holy Cross, by Lord Mahon </td><td><i>Amulet.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>Trials of Grace Huntley, by Mrs. S.C. Hall </td><td><i>Ditto.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>The Armada </td><td><i>Friendship's Offering.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>The Tornado </td><td><i>Ditto ditto.</i></td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a> +<b>Footnote 1</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag1">(return)</a> +<p> +Britton, Arch. Dict. art. Bridge. On the decline of the Roman +Empire, travelling became dangerous, and robberies and murders +were frequently committed. To check this system, and protect +travellers, several religious persons associated in fraternities, +and formed an order called the "Brothers of the Bridge." Their +object was to build bridges, establish ferries, and receive and +protect travellers in hospitals, raised near the passes over +rivers. In like manner we account for the erection of many +bridges in England. According to Stow, the monks of St. Mary +Overie's were the first builders of London Bridge: and Peter of +Colechurch, who founded the first <i>stone</i> bridge, also built +a chapel on the eastern central pier, in which the architect was +afterwards interred: his remains, as we first communicated to the +public, were found as aforesaid during the recent removal of the +old bridge; and "the lower jaw and three other bones of Peter of +Colechurch" were sold by auction a few days since. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a> +<b>Footnote 2</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag2">(return)</a> +<p> +At the old bridge at Droitwich, the high road passed through the +midst of the chapel, the reading-desk and pulpit being on one +side, and the congregation on the other. Other public buildings +were not uncommon on bridges. In 1553 an alderman of Stamford +built the Town Hall upon the bridge there; and on an old bridge +at Bradford, Wills, there is a sort of dungeon, or prison raised +on one of the piers. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a> +<b>Footnote 3</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag3">(return)</a> + <p>Camden. Tindal's Notes on Rapin.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote4" name="footnote4"></a> +<b>Footnote 4</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag4">(return)</a> + <p> Val. Max. vi. 8.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote5" name="footnote5"></a> +<b>Footnote 5</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag5">(return)</a> + <p>The hedge-sparrow.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote6" name="footnote6"></a> +<b>Footnote 6</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag6">(return)</a> + <p>The dandelion.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote7" name="footnote7"></a> +<b>Footnote 7</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag7">(return)</a> +<p> + The golden-crested wren. +</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 JUGEL, Francfort; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers.</i> +</p> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12531 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/12531-h/images/581-1.png b/12531-h/images/581-1.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6e02e85 --- /dev/null +++ b/12531-h/images/581-1.png diff --git a/12531-h/images/581-2.png b/12531-h/images/581-2.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..362254d --- /dev/null +++ b/12531-h/images/581-2.png |
