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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/13359-0.txt b/13359-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c338c43 --- /dev/null +++ b/13359-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1439 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13359 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +Vol. 14, No. 391.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1829. [PRICE 2d. + + + + * * * * * + + + +[Illustration: GURNEY'S IMPROVED STEAM CARRIAGE.] + + + + +MR. GURNEY'S IMPROVED STEAM CARRIAGE. + + +Mr. Gurney, in perfecting this invention, has followed Dr. Franklin's +advice--to tire and begin again. It is now four years since he first +commenced his ingenious enterprise; and nearly two years since we +reported and illustrated the progress he had made. (_See_ MIRROR, vol. +x. page 393, or No. 287.) He began with a large boiler, but public +prejudice was too strong for it; and knowing people talked of high +pressure accidents; the steam, could not, of course, be altogether got +rid of, so to divide the danger, Mr. Gurney made his boiler in forty +welded iron pipes; still the steam ran in a main pipe beneath the +whole of the carriage, and the evil was but modified. At length the +inventer has detached the engine and boiler, or locomotive part of +the apparatus, which is now to be fastened to the carriage, and may +be considered as a STEAM-HORSE, with no more danger than we should +apprehend from a restive animal, in whose veins the steam or mettle +circulates with too high a pressure. Fair trials have been made of +the Improved Carriage on our common roads, the Premier has decided the +machine "to be of great national importance," from sundry experiments +witnessed by his grace, at Hounslow Barracks; and the coach is +announced "really to start next month (the 1st) in working--not +experimental journeys--for travellers between London and Bath."[1] +Crack upon crack will follow joke upon joke; the _Omnibus_, with its +phaeton-like coursers will be eclipsed; and a journey to Bath and the +Hot Wells by steam will soon be an everyday event. + +Descriptions of Mr. Gurney's carriage have been so often before the +public, that extended detail is unnecessary. Besides, all our liege +subscribers will turn to the account in our No. 287. The recent +improvements have been perspicuously stated by Mr. Herapath, of +Cranford, in a letter in the _Times_ newspaper, and we cannot do +better than adopt and abridge a portion of his communication. + +"The present differs from the earlier carriage, in several +improvements in the machinery, suggested by experiment; also in +having no propellers;[2] and in having only four wheels instead of +six; the apparatus for guiding being applied immediately to the two +fore-wheels, bearing a part of the weight, instead of two extra +leading wheels bearing little or none. No person can conceive the +absolute control this apparatus gives to the director of the carriage, +unless he has had the same opportunities of observing it which I +had in a ride with Mr. Gurney. Whilst the wheels obey the slightest +motions of the hand, a trifling pressure of the foot keeps them +inflexibly steady, however rough the ground. To the hind axle, which +is very strong, and bent into two cranks of nine inches radius, at +right angles to each other, is applied the propelling power by means +of pistons from two horizontal cylinders. By this contrivance, and a +peculiar mode of admitting the steam to the cylinders, Mr. Gurney has +very ingeniously avoided that cumbersome appendage to steam-engines, +the fly-wheel, and preserves uniformity of action by constantly having +one cylinder on full pressure, whilst the other is on the reduced +expansive. The dead points--that is, those in which a piston has no +effect from being in the same right line with its crank,--are also +cleared by the same means. For as the cranks are at right angles, when +one piston is at a dead point, the other has a position of maximum +effect, and is then urged by full steam power; but no sooner has the +former passed the dead point, than an expansion valve opens on it with +full steam, and closes on the latter. Firmly fixed to the extremities +of the axle, and at right angles to it, are the two 'carriers'--(two +strong irons extending each way to the felloes of the wheels.) These +irons may be bolted to the felloes of the wheels or not, or to the +felloes of one wheel only. Thus the power applied to the axle is +carried at once to the parts of the wheels of least stress--the +circumferences. By this artifice the wheels are required to be of no +greater strength and weight than ordinary carriage-wheels; and, like +them, they turn freely and independently on the axle; but one or +both may be secured as part and parcel of the axle, as circumstances +require. The carriage is consequently propelled by the friction or +hold which either or both hind-wheels, according as the power is +applied to them jointly or separately, have on the ground. Beneath +the hind part drop two irons, with flat feet, called 'shoe-drags.' A +well-contrived apparatus, with a spindle passing up through a hollow +cylinder, to which the guiding handle is affixed, enables the director +to force one or both drags tight on the road, so as to retard the +progress in a descent, or if he please, to raise the wheels off +the ground. The propulsive power of the wheels being by this means +destroyed, the carriage is arrested in a yard or two, though going at +the rate of eighteen or twenty miles an hour. On the right hand of the +director lies the handle of the throttle-valve, by which he has the +power of increasing or diminishing the supply of steam _ad libitum_, +and hence of retarding or accelerating the carriage's velocity. The +whole carriage and machinery weigh about 16 cwt., and with the full +complement of water and coke 20 or 22 cwt., of which, I am informed, +about 16 cwt. lie on the hind-wheels." + +Mr. H. then enumerates the principle of the improvements:--"That +troublesome appendage the fly-wheel, as I have observed, Mr. Gurney +has rendered unnecessary. The danger to be apprehended in going over +rough pitching, from too rapid a generation of steam, he avoids by a +curious application of springs; and should these be insufficient, one +or two safety valves afford the _ultimatum_ of security. He ensures +an easy descent down the steepest declivity by his 'shoe-drags,' and +the power of reversing the action of the engines. His hands direct, +and his foot literally pinches obedience to the course over the +roughest and most refractory ground. The dreadful consequences of +boiler-bursting are annihilated by a judicious application of tubular +boilers. Should, indeed, a tube burst, a hiss about equal to that of a +hot nail plunged into water, contains the sum total of alarm, while a +few strokes with a hammer will set all to rights again. Lastly, he has +so contrived his 'carriers,' that they shall act without confining the +wheels, by which means there is none of that sliding and consequent +cutting up of the road, which, in sharp turnings, would result from +inflexible constraint. + +"Hills and loose, slippery ground are well known to be the _res +adversæ_ of steam-carriages; on ordinary level roads they roll +along with rapid facility. In every ascent there are two additional +circumstances inimical to progressive motion. One is, that carriages +press less on the ground of a hill than on that of a plain, thus +giving the wheels a less forcible grasp or bite. But this may be +easily remedied in the structure of a carriage, and is not of very +material consequence in the steepest hills that we have. The other is +more serious. When a carriage ascends a hill, the weight or gravity of +the whole is decomposable into two--one perpendicular, and the other +parallel to the road. The former constitutes the pressure on the road, +the latter the additional work the engine has to perform. Universally +this is the same part of the whole carriage and its load together, +which the perpendicular ascent of the hill is of its length. With +these principles, if we knew the bite of the wheels on the road, +we could at once subject the powers of Mr. Gurney's carriage to +calculation. + +"Now, from one of the experiments made in the barrack-yard, at +Hounslow, I find we can approximate towards it. For instance, with one +wheel only fixed to the 'carriers,' the carriage drew itself and load +of water and coke (about 1 ton), with three men on it, and a wagon +behind of 16 cwt. containing 27 soldiers. This, at the rate of 1-1/2 +cwt. to a man, in round numbers is 4 tons. Estimating the force of +traction of spring carriages at a twelfth of the total weight, it +consequently gives a hold or bite on the road of 1-12 of 4 tons, or +6 2-3rds cwt. per wheel, or 13 1-3rd cwt. for the two wheels. This is +likewise the propelling force of the carriage. Supposing, therefore, +we were ascending a hill of 1 foot rise in 8, which I am assured +exceeds in steepness any hill we have, we should be able to draw a +load behind of 2 tons 2 cwt., or between 3 and 4 tons altogether.... + +"On a good level road I think it not improbable it might draw, instead +of 7 tons which our experiment would give, from 10 to 11, besides +its own weight, or 100 ordinary men, exclusive of 2 or 3 tons for +carriages; and up one of our steepest hills, 3 tons besides itself, or +25 men besides a ton for a carriage. This it would do at a rate of 8, +9, or 10 miles an hour. For it is a singular feature in this carriage, +and which was remarked by many at the time, that it maintained very +nearly the same speed with a wagon and 27 men, that it did with the +carriage and only 5 or 6 persons. But there is a fact connected with +this machine still more extraordinary. For instance, every additional +cwt. we shift on the hind or working wheels, will increase the power +of traction in our steepest hills upwards of 4 cwt., and on the +level road half a ton. Such, then, is the paradoxical nature of +steam-carriages, that the very circumstance which in animal exertion +would weaken and retard, will here multiply their strength and +accelerate. This, no doubt, Mr. Gurney's ingenuity will soon turn to +profitable account. + +"It has often been asserted that carriages of this sort could not +go above 6 or 7 miles an hour. I can see no reasonable objection +to 20. The following fact, decided before a large company in the +barrack-yard, will best speak for itself:--At eighteen minutes after +three I ascended the carriage with Mr. Gurney. After we had gone about +half way round, 'Now,' said Mr. Gurney, 'I will show you her speed.' +He did, and we completed seven turns round the outside of the road +by twenty-eight minutes after three. If, therefore, as I was there +assured, two and a half turns measured one mile, we went 2.8 miles +in ten minutes; that is, at the rate of 16.8, or nearly 17 miles per +hour. But as Mr. Gurney slackened its motion once or twice in the +course of trial, to speak to some one, and did not go at an equal rate +all the way round for fear of accident in the crowd, it is clear that +sometimes we must have proceeded at the rate of upwards of twenty +miles an hour." + +The Engraving will furnish the reader with a correct idea of such of +Mr. Gurney's improvements as are most interesting to the public. The +present arrangement is certainly very preferable to placing the boiler +and engine in immediate contact with the carriage, which is to convey +goods and passengers. Men of science are still much divided on the +practical economy of using steam instead of horses as a travelling +agent; but we hope, like all great contemporaries they may whet and +cultivate each other till the desired object is attained. One of them, +a writer in the _Atlas_, observes, that "if ultimately found capable +of being brought into public use, it would probably be most convenient +and desirable that several locomotive engines should be employed on +one line of road, in order that they might be exchanged at certain +stages for the purposes of examination, tightening of screws, and +other adjustments, which the jolting on passing over the road might +render necessary, and for the supply of fuel and water." + +An effectively-coloured lithographic of Mr. Gurney's carriage (by +Shoesmith) has recently appeared at the printsellers', which we take +this opportunity of recommending to the notice of collectors and +scrappers. + +[Footnote 1: "Literary Gazette," Sept. 19, 1829.] + +[Footnote 2: The propellers, I am informed, are not absolutely +discarded. They are now not fixed, but movable, and reserved for +extreme possible emergencies, or for certain military purposes.] + + * * * * * + + +PUNNING SATIRE ON AN INCONSTANT LOVER. + + You are as faithless as a _Carthaginian_, + To love at once, _Kate, Nell, Doll, Martha, Jenny, Anne._ + +SWIFT. + + * * * * * + + +BRIMHAM ROCKS[3] BY MOONLIGHT. + +(_FOR THE MIRROR._) + + + The sun hath set, but yet I linger still, + Gazing with rapture on the face of night; + And mountain wild, deep vale, and heathy hill, + Lay like a lovely vision, mellow, bright, + Bathed in the glory of the sunset light, + Whose changing hues in flick'ring radiance play, + Faint and yet fainter on the outstretch'd sight, + Until at length they wane and die away, + And all th' horizon round fades into twilight gray. + + But, slowly rising up the vaulted sky, + Forth comes the moon, night's joyous, sylvan queen, + With one lone, silent star, attendant by + Her side, all sparkling in its glorious sheen; + And, floating swan-like, stately, and serene, + A few light fleecy clouds, the drapery of heav'n, + Throw their pale shadows o'er this witching scene, + Deep'ning its mystic grandeur--and seem driven + Round these all shapeless piles like Time's wan spectres risen + + From out the tombs of ages. All around + Lies hushed and still, save with large, dusky wing + The bird of night makes its ill-omened sound; + Or moor-game, nestling 'neath th' flowery ling + Low chuckle to their mates--or startled, spring + Away on rustling pinions to the sky, + Wheel round and round in many an airy ring, + Then swooping downward to their covert hie, + And, lodged beneath the heath again securely lie. + + Ascend yon hoary rock's impending brow, + And on its windy summit take your stand-- + Lo! Wilsill's lovely vale extends below, + And long, long heathy moors on either hand + Stretch dark and misty--a bleak tract of land, + Whereon but seldom human footsteps come; + Save when with dog, obedient at command, + And gun, the sportsman quits his city home, + And brushing through the ling in quest of game doth roam. + + And lo! in wild confusion scattered round, + Huge, shapeless, naked, massy piles of stone + Rise, proudly towering o'er this barren ground, + Scowling in mutual hate--apart, alone, + Stern, desolate they stand--and seeming thrown + By some dire, dread convulsion of the earth + From her deep, silent caves, and hoary grown + With age and storms that Boreas issues forth + Replete with ire from his wild regions in the north. + + How beautiful! yet wildly beautiful, + As group on group comes glim'ring on the eye, + Making the heart, soul, mind, and spirit full + Of holy rapture and sweet imagery; + Till o'er the lip escapes th' unconscious sigh, + And heaves the breast with feeling, too too deep + For words t' express the awful sympathy, + That like a dream doth o'er the senses creep, + Chaining the gazer's eye--and yet he cannot weep. + + But stands entranced and rooted to the spot, + While grows the scene upon him vast, sublime, + Like some gigantic city's ruin, not + Inhabited by men, but Titans--Time + Here rests upon his scythe and fears to climb, + Spent by th' unceasing toil of ages past, + Musing he stands and listens to the chime + Of rock-born spirits howling in the blast, + While gloomily around night's sable shades are cast. + + Well deemed I ween the Druid sage of old + In making this his dwelling place on high; + Where all that's huge and great from Nature's mould, + Spoke this the temple of his deity; + Whose walls and roof were the o'erhanging sky, + His altar th' unhewn rock, all bleak and bare, + Where superstition with red, phrensied eye + And look all wild, poured forth her idol prayer, + As rose the dying wail,[4] and blazed the pile in air. + + Lost in the lapse of time, the Druid's lore + Hath ceased to echo these rude rocks among; + No altar new is stained with human gore; + No hoary bard now weaves the mystic song; + Nor thrust in wicker hurdles, throng on throng, + Whole multitudes are offered to appease + Some angry god, whose will and power of wrong + Vainly they thus essayed to soothe and please-- + Alas! that thoughts so gross man's noblest powers should seize. + + But, bowed beneath the cross, see! prostrate fall + The mummeries that long enthralled our isle; + So perish error! and wide over all + Let reason, truth, religion ever smile: + And let not man, vain, impious man defile + The spark heaven lighted in the human breast; + Let no enthusiastic rage, no sophist's wile + Lull the poor victim into careless rest, + Since the pure gospel page can teach him to be blest. + + Weak, trifling man, O! come and ponder here + Upon the nothingness of human things-- + How vain, how very vain doth then appear + The city's hum, the pomp and pride of kings; + All that from wealth, power, grandeur, beauty springs, + Alike must fade, die, perish, be forgot; + E'en he whose feeble hand now strikes the strings + Soon, soon within the silent grave must rot-- + Yet Nature's still the same, though we see, we hear her not. + +J. HORNER. + +_Wilsill, near Pateley Bridge, Sept. 1829._ + +[Footnote 3: Yorkshire. This wonderful assemblage lies scattered in +groups, covering a surface of nearly forty acres of heathy moor. +The numerous rocking-stones, rock-idols, altars, cannon rocks, &c. +evidently point out this spot as having been used by the Druids in +their horrid and mysterious ceremonies. The position of some of these +rocks is truly astonishing; one in particular resting upon a base of +a few inches, overhangs on all sides many feet; while others seem +suspended and balanced as if they hung in air.] + +[Footnote 4: Human sacrifices formed part of the religious rites of +the Druids.] + + * * * * * + + + +MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS. + + * * * * * + + +PLEDGING HEALTHS. + +The origin of the very common expression, to _pledge_ one drinking, +is curious: it is thus related by a very celebrated antiquarian of +the fifteenth century. "When the _Danes_ bore sway in this land, if +a native did drink, they would sometimes stab him with a dagger or +knife; hereupon people would not drink in company unless some one +present would be their _pledge_ or surety, that they should receive no +hurt, whilst they were in their draught; hence that usual phrase, I'll +_pledge you_, or be a pledge for you." Others affirm the true sense of +the word was, that if the party drank to, were not disposed to drink +himself, he would put another for _a pledge_ to do it for him, else +the party who began would take it ill. + +J.W. + + * * * * * + +RUSSIAN SUPERSTITION. + +The extreme superstition of the Greek church, the national one of +Russia, seems to exceed that of the Roman Catholic devotees, even in +Spain and Portugal. The following instance will show the absurdity of +it even among the higher classes:-- + +A Russian princess, some few years since, had always a large silver +crucifix following her in a separate carriage, and which was placed in +her chamber. When any thing fortunate happened to her in the course +of the day, and she was satisfied with all that had occurred, she +had lighted tapers placed around the crucifix, and said to it in a +familiar style, "See, now, as you have been very good to me to-day, +you shall be treated well; you shall have candles all night; I will +love you; I will pray to you." If on the contrary, any thing happened +to vex the lady, she had the candles put out, ordered her servants not +to pay any homage to the poor image, and loaded it herself with the +bitterest reproaches. + +INA. + + * * * * * + + +THE SELECTOR; + +AND LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS_. + + * * * * * + +LIBRARY OF ENTERTAINING KNOWLEDGE. + +_FRUITS_. + +This Part (5) completes the volume of "Vegetable Substances used in +the Arts and in Domestic Economy." The first portion--_Timber Trees_ +was noticed at some length in our last volume (page 309,) and received +our almost unqualified commendation, which we are induced to extend to +the Part now before us. Still, we do not recollect to have pointed +out to our readers that which appears to us the great recommendatory +feature of this series of works--we mean the arrangement of the +volumes--their subdivisions and exemplifications--and these evince a +master-hand in compilation. + +Every general reader must be aware that little novelty could be +expected in a brief History and Description of Timber Trees and +Fruits, and that the object of the Useful Knowledge Society was not +merely to furnish the public with new views, but to present in the +most attractive form the most entertaining facts of established +writers, and illustrate their views with the observations of +contemporary authors as well as their own personal acquaintance with +the subjects. In this manner, the Editor has taken "a general +and rapid view of fruits," and, considering the great hold their +description possesses on all readers, we are disposed to think almost +too rapid. We should have enjoyed a volume or two more than half a +volume of such reading as the present; but as we are not purchasers, +and are unacquainted with the number to which the Society propose +to extend their works, we ought not perhaps to raise this objection, +which, to say the truth, is a sort of negative commendation. Hitherto, +we have been accustomed to see compilations of pretensions similar +to the present, executed with little regard to neatness or unity, +or weight or consideration. Whole pages and long extracts have been +stripped and sliced off books, with little rule or arrangement, and +what is still worse, without any acknowledgment of the sources. +The last defect is certainly the greatest, since, in spite of +ill-arrangement, an intelligent inquirer may with much trouble, avail +himself of further reference to the authors quoted, and thus complete +in his own mind what the compiler had so indifferently begun. The work +before us is, however, altogether of a much higher order than general +compilations. The introductions and inferences are pointed and +judicious, and the facts themselves of the most interesting character, +are narrated in a condensed but perspicuous style; while the slightest +reference will prove that the best and latest authorities have +been appreciated. Thus, in the History and Description of Fruits, +the Transactions of the Horticultural Society are frequently and +pertinently quoted to establish disputed points, as well as the +journals of intelligent travellers and naturalists; with occasional +poetical embellishments, which lend a charm even to this attractive +species of reading. + +To quote the history of either Fruit entire, would not so well denote +the character of the work as would a few of the most striking passages +in the descriptions. In the introductory chapter we are pleased with +the following passage on _Monastic Gardens_. + +"The monks, after the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, +appear to have been the only gardeners. As early as 674, we have +a record, describing a pleasant and fruit-bearing close at Ely, +then cultivated by Brithnoth, the first Abbot of that place. The +ecclesiastics subsequently carried their cultivation of fruits as +tar as was compatible with the nature of the climate, and the +horticultural knowledge of the middle ages. Whoever has seen an old +abbey, where for generations destruction only has been at work, must +have almost invariably found it situated in one of the choicest spots, +both as to soil and aspect; and if the hand of injudicious improvement +has not swept it away, there is still the 'Abbey-garden.' Even though +it has been wholly neglected--though its walls be in ruins, covered +with stone-crop and wall-flower, and its area produce but the rankest +weeds--there are still the remains of the aged fruit trees--the +venerable pears, the delicate little apples, and the luscious black +cherries. The chestnuts and the walnuts may have yielded to the axe, +and the fig trees and vines died away;--but sometimes the mulberry is +left, and the strawberry and the raspberry struggle among the ruins. +There is a moral lesson in these memorials of the monastic ages. The +monks, with all their faults, were generally men of peace and study; +and these monuments show that they were improving the world, while the +warriors were spending their lives to spoil it. In many parts of Italy +and France, which had lain in desolation and ruin from the time of +the Goths, the monks restored the whole surface to fertility; and in +Scotland and Ireland there probably would not have been a fruit tree +till the sixteenth century, if it had not been for their peaceful +labours. It is generally supposed that the monastic orchards were in +their greatest perfection from the twelfth to the fifteenth century." + +Again, the + +_NATURALIZATION OF PLANTS._ + +"The large number of our native plants (for we call those native which +have adapted themselves to our climate) mark the gradual progress of +our civilization through the long period of two thousand years; whilst +the almost infinite diversity of exotics which a botanical garden +offers, attest the triumphs of that industry which has carried us +as merchants or as colonists over every region of the earth, and has +brought from every region whatever can administer to our comforts and +our luxuries,--to the tastes and the needful desires of the humblest +as well as the highest amongst us. To the same commerce we owe the +potato and the pine-apple; the China rose, whose flowers cluster round +the cottage-porch, and the Camellia which blooms in the conservatory. +The addition even of a flower, or an ornamental shrub, to those which +we already possess, is not to be regarded as a matter below the +care of industry and science. The more we extend our acquaintance +with the productions of nature, the more are our minds elevated by +contemplating the variety, as well as the exceeding beauty, of the +works of the Creator. The highest understanding does not stoop when +occupied in observing the brilliant colour of a blossom, or the +graceful form of a leaf. Hogarth, the great moral painter, a man in +all respects of real and original genius, writes thus to his friend +Ellis, a distinguished traveller and naturalist:--'As for your pretty +little seed-cups, or vases, they are a sweet confirmation of the +pleasure Nature seems to take in superadding an elegance of form to +most of her works, wherever you find them. How poor and bungling are +all the imitations of Art! When I have the pleasure of seeing you +next, we will sit down, _nay, kneel down if you will_, and admire +these things.' + + * * * * * + +"It is one of the proudest attributes of man, and one which is most +important for him to know, that he can improve every production +of nature, if he will but once make it his own by possession and +attachment. A conviction of this truth has rendered the cultivation of +fruits, in the more polished countries of Europe, as successful as we +now behold it." + +The work then divides into _Fruits of the Temperate Climates_, and +of _Tropical Climates_; the first are subdivided into Fleshy, Pulpy, +and Stone Fruits and Nuts, in preference to a strict geographical +arrangement. Under "the Apple" occur some very judicious observations +on + +_CIDER._ + +"The cider counties of England have always been considered as highly +interesting. They lie something in the form of a horse-shoe round +the Bristol Channel; and the best are, Worcester and Hereford, on +the north of the channel, and Somerset and Devon on the south. In +appearance, they have a considerable advantage over those counties +in which grain alone is cultivated. The blossoms cover an extensive +district with a profusion of flowers in the spring, and the fruit is +beautiful in autumn. Some of the orchards occupy a space of forty or +fifty acres; and the trees being at considerable intervals, the land +is also kept in tillage. A great deal of practical acquaintance with +the qualities of soil is required in the culture of apple and pear +trees; and his skill in the adaptation of trees to their situation +principally determines the success of the manufacturer of cider +and perry. The produce of the orchards is very fluctuating; and the +growers seldom expect an abundant crop more than once in three years. +The quantity of apples required to make a hogshead of cider is from +twenty-four to thirty bushels; and in a good year an acre of orchard +will produce somewhere about six hundred bushels, or from twenty to +twenty-five hogsheads. The cider harvest is in September. When the +season is favourable, the heaps of apples collected at the presses are +immense--consisting of hundreds of tons. If any of the vessels used in +the manufacture of cider are of lead, the beverage is not wholesome. +The price of a hogshead of cider generally varies from 2l. to 5l., +according to the season and quality; but cider of the finest growth +has sometimes been sold as high as 20l. by the hogshead, direct from +the press--a price equal to that of many of the fine wines of the +Rhine or the Garonne." + + * * * * * + +_OLD APPLE TREES._ + +"At Horton, in Buckinghamshire, where Milton spent some of his earlier +years, there is an apple tree still growing, of which the oldest +people remember to have heard it said that the poet was accustomed +to sit under it. And upon the low leads of the church at Romsey, in +Hampshire, there is an apple tree still bearing fruit, which is said +to be two hundred years old." + +The _Fig_ and the _Fine_ are equally interesting, and in connexion +with the latter we notice the editor's mention of the fine vineyard +at Arundel Castle. Aubrey describes a similar vineyard at Chart Park, +near Dorking, another seat of the Howards. "Here was a vineyard, +supposed to have been planted by the Hon. Charles Howard, who, it is +said, erected his residence, as it were, in the vineyard." Again, "the +vineyard flourished for some time, and tolerably good wine was made +from the produce; but after the death of the noble planter, in 1713, +it was much neglected, and nothing remained but the name. On taking +down the house, a stone resembling a millstone, was found, by which +the grapes were pressed."[5] We were on the spot at the time, and saw +the stone in question. Vines are still very abundant at Dorking, the +soil being very congenial to their growth. "Hence, almost every house +in this part has its vine; and some of the plants are very productive. +The cottages of the labouring poor are not without this ornament, and +the produce is usually sold by them to their wealthier neighbours, for +the manufacture of wine. The price per bushel is from 4s. to 16s.; +but the variableness of the season frequently disappoints them in the +crops, the produce of which is sometimes laid up as a setoff to the +rent."[6] + +We have heard too of attempts in England to train the vine on +the sides of hills, and a few years since an individual lost a +considerable sum of money in making the experiment in the Isle of +Wight. + +At page 257, observes the editor, + +_A VINEYARD_ + +"Associated as it is with all our ideas of beauty and plenty, is, +in general, a disappointing object. The hop plantations of our own +country are far more picturesque. In France, the vines are trained +upon poles, seldom more than three or four feet in height; and 'the +pole-clipt vineyard' of poetry is not the most inviting of real +objects. In Spain, poles for supporting vines are not used; but +cuttings are planted, which are not permitted to grow very high, but +gradually form thick and stout stocks. In Switzerland, and in the +German provinces, the vineyards are as formal as those of France. +But in Italy is found the true vine of poetry, 'surrounding the stone +cottage with its girdle, flinging its pliant and luxuriant branches +over the rustic veranda, or twining its long garland from tree to +tree.'[7] It was the luxuriance and the beauty of her vines and her +olives that tempted the rude people of the north to pour down upon her +fertile fields:-- + + 'The prostrate South to the destroyer yields + Her boasted titles and her golden fields; + With grim delight the brood of winter view + A brighter day, and heavens of azure hue. + Scent the new fragrance of the breathing rose. + And quaff the pendent vintage as it grows.'[8] + +"In Greece, too, as well as Italy, the shoots of the vines are +either trained upon trees, or supported, so as to display all their +luxuriance, upon a series of props. This was the custom of the ancient +vine-growers; and their descendants have preserved it in all its +picturesque originality.[9] The vine-dressers of Persia train their +vines to run up a wall, and curl over on the top. But the most +luxurious cultivation of the vine in hot countries is where it covers +the trellis-work which surrounds a well, inviting the owner and his +family to gather beneath its shade. 'The fruitful bough by well' is of +the highest antiquity." + +Passing over the Mulberry, Currant, Gooseberry, and the Strawberry, +the account of the Egg Plant is particularly attractive; and that of +the Olive is well-written, but too long for extract. + +Among the _Tropical Fruits_, the Orange and the Date are very +delightful; and equal in importance and interest are the Cocoa Nut +and Bread Fruit Tree. In short, it is impossible to open the volume +without being gratified with the richness and variety of its contents, +and the amiable feeling which pervades the inferences and incidental +observations of the writer. + +A word or two on the embellishments and we have done. These are +far behind the literary merits of the volume, and are discreditable +productions. Where so much is well done it were better to omit +engravings altogether than adopt such as these: "they imitate nature +so abominably." The group at page 223 is a fair specimen of the whole, +than which nothing can be more lifeless. After the excellent cuts of +Mr. London's Gardener's and Natural History Magazines, we turn away +from these with pain, and it must be equally vexatious to the editor +to see such accompaniments to his pages. + +[Footnote 5: Picturesque Promenade round Dorking. Second Edit. 12mo. +1823, p. 258, 259.] + +[Footnote 6: Ibid p. 143.] + +[Footnote 7: The Alpenstock, by C.J. Latrobe, 1829.] + +[Footnote 8: Gray's Alliance of Education and Government.] + +[Footnote 9: See the second Georgic of Virgil.] + + * * * * * + + +SHAKSPEARE'S BROOCH. + +[Illustration] + +(_TO THE EDITOR OF THE MIRROR._) + +Having frequently observed in your valuable publication the great +attention which you have paid to every thing relating to the "Immortal +Bard of Avon," I beg leave to transmit to you two drawings (the one +back, the other front) of a brooch or buckle, found near the residence +of the poet, at New Place, Stratford, among the rubbish brought out +from the spot where the house stood. This brooch is considered by the +most competent judges and antiquarians in and near Stratford, to have +been the personal property of Shakspeare. A. is the back; 1 and 2, +faint traces of the letters which were nearly obliterated, by the +person who found the relic, in scraping to ascertain whether the +metal was precious, the whole of it being covered with gangrene +or verdigris. 3 and 4 are the remains of the hinge to the pin. +Fortunately the W. at the corner was preserved. B. represents the +front of the brooch; 1, 3, and 5, are red stones in the top part +(similar in shape to a coronet) 2 and 4 are blue stones in the same; +the other stones in the bottom or heart are white, though varying +rather in hue, and all are set in silver. + +HJTHWC. + +N.B. The above is shown to the curious by the individual who found +it--a poor man named Smith, living in Sheep Street, Stratford. + + * * * * * + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS + + * * * * * + +The greater portion of the following Notes will, we are persuaded, be +new to all but the bibliomaniacs in theatrical lore. They occur in a +paper of 45 pages in the last Edinburgh Review, in which the writer +attributes the Decline of the Drama to a variety of causes--as +late hours, costly representations, high salaries, and excessive +taxation--some of which we have selected for extract. In our affection +for the Stage, we have paid some attention to its history, as well +as to its recent state, and readily do we subscribe to a few of the +Reviewer's opinions of the cause of its neglect. But to attribute this +falling off to "taxes innumerable" is rather too broad: perhaps the +highly-taxed wax lights around the box circles suggested this new +light. We need not go so far to detect the rottenness of the dramatic +state; still, as the question involves controversy at every point, +we had rather keep out of the fight, and leave our Reviewer without +further note or comment. + + +NOTES ON THE DRAMA. + +(_FROM THE EDINBURGH REVIEW, NO. 98._) + +_ORIGIN OF ADMISSION MONEY._ + +There were at Athens various funds, applicable to public purposes; one +of which, and among the most considerable, was appropriated for the +expensed of sacrifices, processions, festivals, spectacles, and of +the theatres. The citizens were admitted to the theatres for some time +gratis; but in consequence of the disturbances caused by multitudes +crowding to get seats, to introduce order, and as the phrase is, +to keep out improper persons, a small sum of money was afterwards +demanded for admission. That the poorer classes, however, might not +be deprived of their favourite gratification, they received from the +treasury, out of this fund, the price of a seat--and thus peace and +regularity were secured, and the fund still applied to its original +purpose. The money that was taken at the doors, having served as a +ticket, was expended, together with that which had not been used in +this manner, to maintain the edifice itself, and to pay the manifold +charges of the representation. + +"_DRAMATIC REPRESENTATIONS NATURAL TO MAN._" + +Travellers inform us, that savages, even in a very rude state, are +found to divert themselves by imitating some common event in life: but +it is not necessary to leave our own quiet homes to satisfy ourselves, +that dramatic representations are natural to man. All children +delight in mimicking action; many of their amusements consist in such +performances, and are in every sense _plays_. It is curious, indeed, +to observe at how early an age the young of the most imitative animal, +man, begin to copy the actions of others; how soon the infant displays +its intimate conviction of the great truth, that "all the world's a +Stage." The baby does not imitate those acts only, that are useful +and necessary to be learned; but it instinctively mocks useless and +unimportant actions and unmeaning sounds, for its amusement, and for +the mere pleasure of imitation, and is evidently much delighted +when it is successful. The diversions of children are very commonly +dramatic. When they are not occupied with their hoops, tops, and +balls, or engaged in some artificial game, they amuse themselves in +playing at soldiers, in being at school, or at church, in going to +market, in receiving company; and they imitate the various employments +of life with so much fidelity, that the theatrical critic, who +delights in chaste acting, will often find less to censure in his own +little servants in the nursery, than in his majesty's servants in a +theatre-royal. When they are somewhat older they dramatize the stories +they read; most boys have represented Robin Hood, or one of his +merry-men, and every one has enacted the part of Robinson Crusoe, +and his man Friday. We have heard of many extraordinary tastes and +antipathies; but we never knew an instance of a young person, who +was not delighted the first time he visited a theatre. The true +enjoyment of life consists in action; and happiness, according to +the peripatetic definition, is to be found in energy; it accords, +therefore, with the nature and etymology of the drama, which is, +in truth, not less natural than agreeable. Its grand divisions +correspond, moreover, with those of time; the contemplation of the +present is Comedy--mirth for the most part being connected with the +present only--and the past and the future are the dominions of the +Tragic muse. + +_GRECIAN THEATRES._ + +The climate of Athens being one of the finest and most agreeable in +the world, the Athenians passed the greatest part of their time in the +open air; and their theatres, like those in the rest of Greece and +in ancient Rome, had no other covering than the sky. Their structure +accordingly differed greatly from that of a modern playhouse, and the +representation in many respects was executed in a different manner. +But we will mention those peculiarities only which are necessary to +render our observations intelligible. + +The ancient theatres, in the first place, were on a much larger scale +than any that have been constructed in later days. It would have +been impossible, by reason of the magnitude of the edifice, and +consequently of the stage, to have changed the scenes in the same +manner as in our smaller buildings. The scene, as it was called, was +a permanent structure, and resembled the front of Somerset House, of +the Horse Guards, or the Tuileries, and was in the same style of +architecture as the rest of the spacious edifice. There were three +large gateways, through each of which a view of streets, or of woods, +or of whatever was suitable to the action represented, was displayed; +this painting was fixed upon a triangular frame, that turned on an +axis, like a swivel seal, or ring, so that any one of the three +sides might be presented to the spectators, and perhaps the two that +were turned away might be covered with other subjects, if it were +necessary. If parts of Regent Street, or of Whitehall, or the Mansion +House, and the Bank of England, were shown through the openings in +the fixed scene, it would be plain that the fable was intended to be +referred to London; and it would be removed to Edinburgh, or Paris, +if the more striking portions of those cities were thus exhibited. The +front of the scene was broken by columns, by bays and promontories in +the line of the building, which gave beauty and variety to the façade, +and aided the deception produced by the paintings that were seen +through the three openings. In the Roman Theatres there were commonly +two considerable projections, like large bow-windows, or bastions, +in the spaces between the apertures; this very uneven line afforded +assistance to the plot, in enabling different parties to be on the +stage at the same time, without seeing one another. The whole front of +the stage was called the scene, or covered building, to distinguish it +from the rest of the theatre, which was open to the air, except that +a covered portico frequently ran round the semicircular part of the +edifice at the back of the highest row of seats, which answered to +our galleries, and was occupied, like them, by the gods, who stood in +crowds upon the level floor of their celestial abodes. + +Immediately in front of the stage, as with us, was the orchestra; +but it was of much larger dimensions, not only positively, but +in proportion to the theatre. In our playhouses it is exclusively +inhabited by fiddles and their fiddlers; the ancients appropriated it +to more dignified purposes; for there stood the high altar of Bacchus, +richly ornamented and elevated, and around it moved the sacred Chorus +to solemn measures, in stately array and in magnificent vestments, +with crowns and incense, chanting at intervals their songs, and +occupied in their various rites, as we have before mentioned. It is +one of the many instances of uninterrupted traditions, that this part +of our theatres is still devoted to receive musicians, although, +in comparison with their predecessors, they are of an ignoble and +degenerate race. + +The use of masks was another remarkable peculiarity of the ancient +acting. It has been conjectured, that the tragic mask was invented +to conceal the face of the actor, which, in a small city like Athens, +must have been known to the greater part of the audience, as vulgar +in expression, and it sometimes would have brought to mind most +unseasonably the remembrance of a life and of habits, that would have +repelled all sympathy with the character which he was to personate. It +would not have been endured, that a player should perform the part of +a monarch in his ordinary dress, nor that of a hero with his own mean +physiognomy. It is probable, also, that the likeness of every hero of +tragedy was handed down in statues, medals, and paintings, or even in +a series of masks; and that the countenance of Theseus, or of Ajax, +was as well known to the spectators as the face of any of their +contemporaries. Whenever a living character was introduced by name, as +Cleon or Socrates, in the old comedy, we may suppose that the mask was +a striking, although not a flattering portrait. We cannot doubt, that +these masks were made with great care, and were skilfully painted, +and finished with the nicest accuracy; for every art was brought to +a focus in the Greek theatres. We must not imagine, like schoolboys, +that the tragedies of Sophocles were performed at Athens in such +rude masks as are exhibited in our music shops. We have some +representations of them in antique sculptures and paintings, with +features somewhat distorted, but of exquisite and inimitable beauty. + +_THE ROMAN STAGE._ + +The Drama of ancient Rome possesses little of originality or interest. +The word _Histrio_ is said to be of Etruscan origin; the Tuscans, +therefore, had their theatres; but little information can now be +gleaned respecting them. It was long before theatres were firmly and +permanently established in Rome; but the love of these diversions +gradually became too powerful for the censors, and the Romans grew, +at last, nearly as fond of them as the Greeks. The latter, as St. +Augustine informs us, did not consider the profession of a player as +dishonourable: "Ipsos scenicos non turpes judicaverunt, sed dignos +etiam præclaris honoribus habuerunt."--_De Civ. Dei_. The more prudish +Romans, however, were less tolerant; and we find in the Code various +constitutions levelled against actors, and one law especially, which +would not suit our senate, forbidding senators to marry actresses; but +this was afterwards relaxed by Justinian, who had broken it himself. +He permitted such marriages to take place on obtaining the consent +of the emperor, and afterwards without, so that the lady quitted the +stage, and changed her manner of life. The Romans, however, had at +least enough of kindly feeling towards a Comedian to pray for the +safety, or refection, of his soul after death; this is proved by a +pleasant epitaph on a player, which is published in the collection +of Gori:-- + + Pro jocis, quibus cunctos + oblectabat, + Si quid oblectamenti apud + vos est + Manes, insontem reficite + Animulam." + +_COSTUME._ + +It is probable that the imagination of the spectator could without +difficulty dispense with scenes, particularly if the surrounding +objects were somewhat removed from the ordinary aspect of every-day +things; if the performance were to take place, for example, in the +hall of a college, or in a church. + +The costume that prevails at present almost universally, is so +barbarous and mean, and it changes in so many minute particulars so +frequently, that it is impossible to conceive the hero of a tragedy +actually wearing such attire. A more picturesque dress seems therefore +to be indispensable; but the essentials of the costume of any time, +from which dramatic subjects could be taken, are by no means costly. +All that is absolutely necessary in vestments to content the fancy, +might be procured at a trifling expense, and the hero or heroine +might be supplied with the ordinary apparel of Greece, or Rome, or of +any other country, at a small price. We must carefully distinguish, +however, between the necessaries and the luxuries of deception; the +form, and sometimes the colour, demand a scrupulous accuracy; the +texture is always unimportant. We may comprehend, therefore, how the +old English theatre, notwithstanding the small outlay on decorations, +by a strict attention to essentials, possessed considerable +attractions; we may readily believe, that there were many companies +who were maintained by their trade; "that all those companies got +money and lived in reputation, especially those of the Blackfriars, +who were men of grave and sober behaviour." + +_THE OLD DRAMA._ + +Our literature is remarkably rich in old dramas; but they are of +little use to the present age. Fastidiousness and hypocrisy have grown +for many years, slowly but surely, and have at last arrived at such +a pitch, that there is hardly a line in the works of our old comic +writers, which is not reprobated as immoral, or at least vulgar. +The excessive squeamishness of taste of the present day is very +unfavourable to the genius of comedy, which demands a certain liberty +and a freedom from restraints. This morbid delicacy is a great +evil, for it renders the time of limitation in all comic writings +exceedingly short. The ephemeral duration of the fashion, which is +all the production of a man of wit can now enjoy, discourages authors. +There is no motive to bestow much care on such compositions, and they +fall below the ambition of men of real talents--for the best part of +the reward of literary labour consists in the lasting admiration of +posterity; and as some new fastidiousness will consign to oblivion, in +a short time, every comic production, it is plain that such a reward +cannot be reasonably anticipated. We are more completely, than any +other nation, the victims of fashion. Everything here must either be +in the last and newest fashion, or it must cease to be. The despotism +of fashion in dress, in furniture, and in the pattern of the edges of +plate, is perhaps inconvenient--it is, however, not very important; +but it is a cruel grievance that it should interfere with and +annihilate an entire department of our literature. + +_HOURS OF REPRESENTATION._ + +Dramatic representations were formerly given, not only in Greece and +Rome, but in England also, in the daytime, and in the open air. "The +Globe, Fortune, and Bull, were large houses, and partly open to the +weather, and there they always acted by daylight;" and plays were +first acted in Spain in the open courts of great houses, which were +sometimes covered, in whole or in part, with an awning to keep off the +sun. The word _sale_, which is used as a stage direction, meaning not +_exit_, but he enters, i.e. he comes out of the house into the open +air, is an evidence of the old practice. We are inclined to think +that the morning is more favourable to dramatic excellence than the +evening. The daylight accords with the truth and sobriety of nature, +and it is the season of cool judgment: the gilded, the painted, the +tawdry, the meretricious--spangles and tinsel, and tarnished and +glittering trumpery--demand the glare of candle-light and the shades +of night. It is certain, that the best pieces were written for the +day; and it is probable, that the best actors were those who performed +whilst the sun was above the horizon. The childish trash which now +occupies so large a portion of the public attention could not, it is +evident, keep possession of the stage, if it were to be presented, not +at ten o'clock at night, but twelve hours earlier. Much would need to +be changed in the dresses, scenery, and decorations, and in many other +respects, in the pieces, the solid merits of which would be able to +undergo the severe ordeal; and if we consider _what_ changes would be +required to adapt them to the altered hours, we shall find that they +will be all in favour of good taste, and on the side of nature and +simplicity. The day is a holy thing; Homer aptly calls it [Greek: +ieron aemar], and it still retains something of the sacred simplicity +of ancient times. It is, at all events, less sophisticated and +polluted than the modern night, a period which is not devoted to +wholesome sleep, but to various constraints and sufferings, called, +in bitter mockery, Pleasure. The late evening, being a modern +invention, is therefore devoted to fashion; to recur to the simple and +pure in theatricals, it would probably be necessary to effect an +escape from a period of time, which has never been employed in the +full integrity of tasteful elegance; and thus to break the spell, by +which the whole realm of fancy has long been bewitched. An absurd and +inconvenient practice, which is almost peculiar to this country, of +attending public places in that uncomfortable condition, which is +technically called being dressed, but which is in truth, especially in +females, being more or less naked and undressed, might more easily be +dispensed with by day, and on that account, and for many other reasons, +it would be less difficult to return home. + +_DECLINE OF THE DRAMA._ + +It is not unlikely that the drama would be more successful if it were +conducted more plainly, and in a less costly style. The perfection +of the machinery and scenery of the modern theatres, seems to be +unfavourable to the goodness of composition and acting; since the +accessaries are so excellent, the opinion is encouraged, that the +principals are less important, and may be neglected with impunity. +The effect of good scenery at the first glance is, no doubt, very +striking, but it soon passes away. If we saw a Garrick acting +Shakspeare in a large hall, without any scenes, we should cease in a +few minutes to be sensible of the want of them. We are almost disposed +to believe, that exactly in proportion as scenery has been improved, +good acting has declined. + +The present age is too much inclined to make human life, in every +department, resemble a great lottery, in which there are a very few +enormous prizes, and all the rest of the tickets are blanks. The +stage has not escaped the evil we complain of; on the contrary, it is +a striking instance of the mischief of this unequal partition. The +public are of opinion, that it is impossible to reward a small number +of actors too highly, and to pay the remainder at too low a rate; +to neglect the latter enough, or to be sufficiently attentive to the +former. On our stage, therefore, the inferior parts, and indeed all +but one or two, and especially in tragedies, where the inequality +is more intolerable, and more inexcusable, are sustained in a +very inadequate manner. In foreign theatres, on the contrary, and +especially in France, the whole performance is more equal, and +consequently more agreeable. There is perhaps less difference than is +commonly supposed between the best performers and those in the next +class. Whatever the difference be, it is an inconvenience and an +imperfection that ought to be palliated; but we aggravate it. The +first-rate actor always does his best, because the audience expect it, +and reward him with their applause; but no one cares for, or observes, +the performer of second-rate talents: whether he be perfect in his +part, and exert himself to the utmost, or be slovenly and negligent +throughout, he is unpraised and unblamed. The general effect, +therefore, of our tragedies, is very unsatisfactory; for that is far +greater, where all the characters are tolerably well supported, than +where there is one good actor, and all the other parts are inhumanly +murdered. This latter is too often the case on our stage for with +us art does little, nothing being taught systematically. The French +players, on the contrary, are thoroughly drilled, and well instructed, +in every requisite. + + * * * * * + + +BISHOPS' SLEEVES. + +To Joan it has been always conceded that she is as good as her lady +in the dark, but it is only of late years that Joan has presumed to +rival her mistress in the light. The high price of silks and satins +protected the mistress against this usurpation of her servant in the +broad day. Clad in these, she was safe, as in a coat of mail, from +the attack of the domestic aspirant, who was seldom able to obtain +possession of the outworks of fashion beyond an Irish poplin or a +Norwich crape. The silks and satins were a wall of separation, as +impenetrable as the lines of Torres Vedras, or the court hoop and +petticoat of a drawing-room in the reign of George III. The new +liberal commercial system has entirely changed the position of the +parties. The cheapness of French silks, and other articles of dress, +has placed female finery within the reach of even moderate wages, and +a kitchen-wench will not condescend to sweep the room in any thing +less than a robe of _Gros de Naples_ or _batiste_. Something must be +done on the part of the mistress to arrest the progress of invasion, +and assert the vested rights of the superior classes of female +society. Invention is the first quality of genius, and to woman it +is granted in a high degree. Thus gifted, the mistress, in a happy +moment, conceived the idea of bishops' sleeves, an article of dress +which precludes all hope or chance of imitation in the kitchen. A +muffled cat might as well attempt to catch mice, as a maid-servant to +go about the business of the house in bishops' sleeves. She could not +remove the tea-equipage from the table without the risk of sweeping +the china upon the floor; if she handed her master a plate, he must +submit to have his head wrapped up in her sleeve; and what a figure +must the cook present after preparing her soups and sauces! The female +servant thus accoutred might, indeed, perform the office of a flapper, +and disperse the flies; but although this was an office of importance +among the ancients, it is dispensed with at a modern table. With the +introduction of bishops' sleeves, the rivalry on the part of the maid +must cease, and the mistress remain in undisturbed possession of her +pre-eminence. Every friend of good order, every one who would retain +each individual female in her proper place in society, and prevent its +members from trespassing on each other, must, therefore, rejoice in +bishops' sleeves; and devoutly pray, that differing from every other +fashion that ever preceded it, the fashion of bishops' sleeves may +endure for ever.--New Monthly Magazine. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY + + * * * * * + + +_IRIS LUNARIS._ + +That rare and beautiful phenomenon the _Iris Lunaris_, or moonlight +rainbow, was observed by Mr. W. Colbourne, jun. and a friend of his, +from an eminence about a quarter of a mile from Sturminster, on the +evening of the 14th instant, about twenty minutes before nine o'clock, +in the north-west. Its northern limb first made its appearance; +but after a few minutes, the complete curvature was distinctly and +beautifully displayed. The altitude of its apex seemed to be nearly +forty degrees. Nothing could exceed the beauty of the appearance of +this arch of milky whiteness, contrasted as it was with the sable +rain fraught clouds which formed the background to this interesting +picture. It continued visible more than five minutes, and gradually +disappeared at the western limb. + +RURIS. + +_Sturminster_. + + +_WESTPHALIA HAMS_ + +Are prepared in November and March. The Germans place them in deep +tubs, which they cover with layers of salt and saltpetre, and with a +few laurel leaves. They are left four or five days in this state, and +are then completely covered with strong brine. At the end of three +weeks they are taken out, and left to soak for twelve hours in clear +well-water; they are then exposed, during three weeks, to a smoke +produced by the branches of juniper.--_From the French._ + + +_LONDON PORTER._ + +The bitter contained in porter, if taken wholly from hops, would +require an average quantity of ten or twelve pounds to the quarter +of malt, or about three pounds per barrel; so that if we consider the +fluctuation in the price of hops, we shall not be surprised at the +numerous substitutes, by which means the brewer can procure as much +bitter for sixpence as would otherwise cost him a pound. + +Quassia is, probably, the most harmless of all the illegal bitters. +The physicians prescribe the decoction to their patients to the extent +of a quarter of an ounce of the bark a day--as much as the brewer was +accustomed to put into nine gallons of his porter.--_Library of Useful +Knowledge_. + + +_BLACK GAME_ + +Have increased greatly in the southern counties of Scotland and north +of England within the last few years. It is a pretty general opinion, +though an erroneous one, that they drive away the red grouse; the +two species require very different kinds of cover, and will never +interfere.--_Note to White's Selborne, by Sir W. Jardine_. + + +_BIRDS OF PREY._ + +All birds of prey are capable of sustaining the want of food and water +for long periods, particularly the latter, but of which they also seem +remarkably fond, drinking frequently in a state of nature, and during +summer washing almost daily.--Ibid. + + +_EGYPT._ + +M. Champollion, in one of his recent letters, tells us that the whole +of the island of Elephantina would hardly make a park fit for a good +citizen of Paris, although certain modern chronologists would fain +make it into a kingdom, in order to dispose of the ancient Egyptian +dynasty of the Elephantines. + +In another letter dated March last, he says, "Our establishment is in +the Valley of Kings, which may truly be called the abode of death, as +not a blade of grass is to be found in it, nor any living creature, +except the jackall and hyæna, which the night before last devoured, at +the distance of 100 steps from our palace, the ass which had carried +my Barabra servant Mahomet, during the time that he was agreeably +passing the night of the Ramadan in our kitchen, which is in a royal +tomb, entirely dilapidated."--_Translated in the Literary Gazette_. + + +_BEET-ROOT SUGAR._ + +The Anti-Slavery Monthly Reporter for September, among the advantages +which will probably lead to the discontinuance of the cultivation of +sugar by slaves, enumerates the rapid extension of the manufacture of +beet-root sugar in France; a prelude, as the editor conceives, to its +introduction into this country, and especially into Ireland. + + +_DRY ROT._ + +The American Commodore Barron recommends pumping air from the holds of +vessels as a remedy against dry rot; the common mode of ventilation, +by forcing pure air, or dashing water into the hold, being found an +imperfect preservative. + + +_ALLOYED IRON PLATE._ + +Iron, coated with an alloy of tin and lead, so as to imitate tin +plate, and not to rust, is now manufactured to a considerable +extent in Paris; and its use for sugar-pans and boilers, and in the +construction of roofs and gutters is expected to be very considerable. + + +_INTERESTING QUESTION._ + +Whether in the sea there be depths where no creature is able to +live, or whether a boundary be assigned to organic life within those +depths, cannot be ascertained. It, however, clearly appears from +the observations made by Biot, and other naturalists, that fishes, +according to their different dispositions, live in different depths of +the ocean.--_From the German_. + + +_CATS._ + +In Kamtschatka, Greenland, Lapland, and Iceland, there are no cats, +nor does the lynx in Europe extend farther than Norway.--Ibid. + + +_VESSELS MADE OF THE PAPYRUS._ + +The last number of the _Magazine of Natural History_ contains an +article of great interest, on Vessels made of the Papyrus, illustrated +with cuts, from which it appears that vessels have from the earliest +times, been formed from the paper reed, and that they are at present +in use in Egypt and Abyssinia. The author is John Hogg, Esq. M.A. +F.L.S. &c. whose antiquarian attainments have greatly assisted him in +the elucidation of this very curious subject. + + +_REMAINS OF LA PEROUSE._[10] + +M. Derville, who commanded the Astrolabe, in the lute-voyage +undertaken to search for traces of the expedition of La Perouse, +considers the island, the summits of which were observed fifteen +leagues to windward, by the frigates La RĂ©cherche and L'Esperance, +which composed the expedition of Admiral D'Entrecasteaux, in 1793, and +to which the name of the Isle de la RĂ©cherche was then given, to be +the identical island, Vanikoro (or Vanicolo) on the shores of which +the remnants of La Perouse's vessel have been found. The geographical +position of latitude and longitude of the Isle of Vanikoro, agrees +exactly with that of the island to which the name of RĂ©cherche was +given by D'Entrecasteaux. That island was then confounded with the +number of other islands, which had been seen by the expedition, and +which it had been found impossible to examine in detail.--_Athenæum_. + + +_STUDY OF CHEMISTRY._ + +Numbers there are, far above the lower classes, who still consider the +elements of all things as consisting of earth, air, fire, and water; +an error which classical-learning, no less than the expressions of +common parlance, tends to perpetuate. Let us hope that the days are +at hand, if not already arrived, in which the acquirement of such +fundamental knowledge will be looked upon as at least equally +necessary with the study of languages, and the cultivation of taste +and imagination.--_Library of Useful Knowledge_. + +[Footnote 10: For a Report of this discovery, see MIRROR, vol. xiii p. +409.] + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + A snapper up of unconsidered trifles.--SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +ORIGIN OF THE WORD WORSTED. + +Worsted, in the county of Norfolk, though formerly a town of +considerable trade, and much celebrity, is now reduced to a village, +and the manufactures, which obtained a name from the place, are +removed to Norwich and its vicinity. + +Shakspeare has not been very courteous towards the _worsted gentry_; +had he lived in our times, they might have _worsted_ him for a libel: +he says in King Lear, "A base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three suited, +hundred pound, filthy, worsted stocking knave." + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + +I asked a poor man, how he did? He said, he was like a washball, +always in decay.--_Swift_. + + * * * * * + + +CAT-FANCIER. + +Lady Morgan gives the following anecdote in her _Book of the Boudoir_. +"The first day we had the honour of dining at the palace of the +Archbishop of Taranto, at Naples, he said to me, you must pardon my +passion for cats, (_la mia passione gattesca_) but I never exclude +them from my dining-room, and you will find they make excellent +company." Between the first and second course the door opened, and +several enormously large and beautiful Angola cats were introduced by +the names of Pantalone, Desdemona, Otello, &c. They took their places +on chairs near the table, and were as silent, as quiet, as motionless, +and as well behaved, as the most _bon ton_ table in London could +require. On the bishop requesting one of the chaplains to help +the Signora Desdemona, the butler stepped up to his lordship, and +observed, "My Lord, La Signora Desdemona will prefer waiting for the +roast." + + * * * * * + + +ANCIENT FAMILY. + +There was much sound truth in the speech of a country lad to an idler, +who boasted his ancient family: "_So much the worse for you_," said +the peasant, as we ploughmen say, "_the older the seed the worse the +crop_." + + * * * * * + +At North Ferryby, in Yorkshire, the following very instructive +lines, are inscribed on a handsome tablet to the memory of Sir T. +Etherington, an Alderman of Hull, and late a resident in the above +place:-- + +"Taught of God we should view losses, sickness, pain, and death, +but as the several trying stages by which a good man, like Joseph, +is conducted from a tent to a court; sin his disease, Christ his +physician, pain his medicine, the Bible his support, the grave his +rest, and death itself an angel expressly sent to relieve the worn out +labourer, or crown the faithful soldier!" + +Louis XIV. was presented with an epitaph by an indifferent poet, on +the celebrated Moliere. "I would to God," said he, "that Moliere had +brought me yours." + + * * * * * + + +ON MEMORY. + +What an unknown and unspeakable happiness would it be to a man of +judgment, and who is engaged in the pursuit of knowledge, if he had +but a power of stamping all his own best sentiments upon his memory in +some indelible characters; and if he could but imprint every valuable +paragraph and sentiment of the most excellent authors he has read, +upon his mind, with the same speed and facility with which he read +them?--_Watts_. + + * * * * * + +Upon a stone in St. Margaret's churchyard, at Lynn, in Norfolk, is the +following inscription to the memory of William Scrivenor, Cook to the +Corporation, who died in the year 1684:-- + + Alas! alas! _Will Scrivenor's_ dead, who by his art, + Could make death's skeleton edible in each part, + Mourn, squeamish stomachs, and ye curious palates, + You've lost your dainty dishes and your salades; + Mourn for yourselves, but not for him i'th' least + He's gone to taste of a more heav'nly feast. + +At Whitchingham Magna, in the same county, is the following epitaph to +Thomas Alleyne, gent. who died Feb. 3, 1650, and his two wives:-- + + Death here advantage hath of life I spye, + One husband with two wives at once may lye. + + * * * * * + +A recent American newspaper has the following notice to its +readers:--"The editor, printer, publisher, foreman, and oldest +apprentice (_two_ in all,) are confined by sickness, and the whole +establishment is left in the care of the _devil_." + + * * * * * + + +LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THE + +Following Novels is already Published: + + s. d. + Mackenzie's Man of Feeling 0 6 + Paul and Virginia 0 6 + The Castle of Otranto 0 6 + Almoran and Hamet 0 6 + Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia 0 6 + The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne 0 6 + Rasselas 0 8 + The Old English Baron 0 9 + Nature and Art 0 8 + Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield 0 10 + Sicilian Romance 1 0 + The Man of the World 1 0 + A Simple Story 1 4 + Joseph Andrews 1 6 + Humphry Clinker 1 8 + The Romance of the Forest 1 8 + The Italian 2 0 + Zeluco, by Dr. Moore 2 6 + Edward, by Dr. Moore 2 6 + Roderick Random 2 6 + The Mysteries of Udolpho 3 6 + Peregrine Pickle 4 6 + + * * * * * + +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD 143, Strand, (near Somerset +House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; +and by all Newsmen and Booksellers._ + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror Of Literature, Amusement, +And Instruction, No. 391, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13359 *** diff --git a/13359-h/13359-h.htm b/13359-h/13359-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6f77510 --- /dev/null +++ b/13359-h/13359-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2046 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> + + <title>The Mirror of Literature, Issue 391.</title> + <style type="text/css"> + /*<![CDATA[*/ + + <!-- + 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%;} + hr.short {text-align: center; width: 20%;} + html>body hr.short {margin-right: 40%; margin-left: 40%; width: 20%;} + + .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;} + .poem p.i10 {margin-left: 5em;} + + .figure, .figcenter, .figright, .figleft + {padding: 1em; margin: 0; text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em;} + .figure img, .figcenter img, .figright img, .figleft img + {border: none;} + .figure p, .figcenter p, .figright p, .figleft p + {margin: 0; text-indent: 1em;} + .figcenter {margin: auto;} + .figright {float: right;} + .figleft {float: left;} + + .inline {border: none; vertical-align: middle;} + + p.author {text-align: right;} + + .side { float:right; + font-size: 75%; + width: 25%; + padding-left:10px; + border-left: dashed thin; + margin-left: 10px; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-weight: bold; + font-style: italic;} + --> + /*]]>*/ + </style> +</head> + +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13359 ***</div> + + <hr class="full" /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page193" + id="page193"></a>[pg 193]</span> + + <h1>THE MIRROR<br /> + OF<br /> + LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1> + <hr class="full" /> + + <table width="100%" + summary="Volume, Number, and Date"> + <tr> + <th align="left">Vol. 14. No. 391.]</th> + + <th align="center">SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1829.</th> + + <th align="right">PRICE 2<i>d.</i></th> + </tr> + </table> + <hr class="full" /> + + <div class="figcenter" + style="width:100%;"> + <a href="images/193.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/193.png" + alt="GURNEY'S IMPROVED STEAM CARRIAGE." /></a>GURNEY'S + IMPROVED STEAM CARRIAGE. + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page194" + id="page194"></a>[pg 194]</span> + + <h2>MR. GURNEY'S IMPROVED STEAM CARRIAGE.</h2> + + <p>Mr. Gurney, in perfecting this invention, has followed Dr. + Franklin's advice—to tire and begin again. It is now four + years since he first commenced his ingenious enterprise; and + nearly two years since we reported and illustrated the progress + he had made. (<i>See</i> MIRROR, vol. x. page 393, or No. 287.) + He began with a large boiler, but public prejudice was too + strong for it; and knowing people talked of high pressure + accidents; the steam, could not, of course, be altogether got + rid of, so to divide the danger, Mr. Gurney made his boiler in + forty welded iron pipes; still the steam ran in a main pipe + beneath the whole of the carriage, and the evil was but + modified. At length the inventer has detached the engine and + boiler, or locomotive part of the apparatus, which is now to be + fastened to the carriage, and may be considered as a + STEAM-HORSE, with no more danger than we should apprehend from + a restive animal, in whose veins the steam or mettle circulates + with too high a pressure. Fair trials have been made of the + Improved Carriage on our common roads, the Premier has decided + the machine "to be of great national importance," from sundry + experiments witnessed by his grace, at Hounslow Barracks; and + the coach is announced "really to start next month (the 1st) in + working—not experimental journeys—for travellers + between London and Bath."<a id="footnotetag1" + name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a> + Crack upon crack will follow joke upon joke; the + <i>Omnibus</i>, with its phaeton-like coursers will be + eclipsed; and a journey to Bath and the Hot Wells by steam + will soon be an everyday event.</p> + + <p>Descriptions of Mr. Gurney's carriage have been so often + before the public, that extended detail is unnecessary. + Besides, all our liege subscribers will turn to the account in + our No. 287. The recent improvements have been perspicuously + stated by Mr. Herapath, of Cranford, in a letter in the + <i>Times</i> newspaper, and we cannot do better than adopt and + abridge a portion of his communication.</p> + + <p>"The present differs from the earlier carriage, in several + improvements in the machinery, suggested by experiment; also in + having no propellers;<a id="footnotetag2" + name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> + and in having only four wheels instead of six; the apparatus + for guiding being applied immediately to the two + fore-wheels, bearing a part of the weight, instead of two + extra leading wheels bearing little or none. No person can + conceive the absolute control this apparatus gives to the + director of the carriage, unless he has had the same + opportunities of observing it which I had in a ride with Mr. + Gurney. Whilst the wheels obey the slightest motions of the + hand, a trifling pressure of the foot keeps them inflexibly + steady, however rough the ground. To the hind axle, which is + very strong, and bent into two cranks of nine inches radius, + at right angles to each other, is applied the propelling + power by means of pistons from two horizontal cylinders. By + this contrivance, and a peculiar mode of admitting the steam + to the cylinders, Mr. Gurney has very ingeniously avoided + that cumbersome appendage to steam-engines, the fly-wheel, + and preserves uniformity of action by constantly having one + cylinder on full pressure, whilst the other is on the + reduced expansive. The dead points—that is, those in + which a piston has no effect from being in the same right + line with its crank,—are also cleared by the same + means. For as the cranks are at right angles, when one + piston is at a dead point, the other has a position of + maximum effect, and is then urged by full steam power; but + no sooner has the former passed the dead point, than an + expansion valve opens on it with full steam, and closes on + the latter. Firmly fixed to the extremities of the axle, and + at right angles to it, are the two 'carriers'—(two + strong irons extending each way to the felloes of the + wheels.) These irons may be bolted to the felloes of the + wheels or not, or to the felloes of one wheel only. Thus the + power applied to the axle is carried at once to the parts of + the wheels of least stress—the circumferences. By this + artifice the wheels are required to be of no greater + strength and weight than ordinary carriage-wheels; and, like + them, they turn freely and independently on the axle; but + one or both may be secured as part and parcel of the axle, + as circumstances require. The carriage is consequently + propelled by the friction or hold which either or both + hind-wheels, according as the power is applied to them + jointly or separately, have on the ground. Beneath the hind + part drop two irons, with flat feet, called 'shoe-drags.' A + well-contrived apparatus, with a spindle passing up through + a hollow cylinder, to which the guiding handle is affixed, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page195" + id="page195"></a>[pg 195]</span> enables the director to + force one or both drags tight on the road, so as to retard + the progress in a descent, or if he please, to raise the + wheels off the ground. The propulsive power of the wheels + being by this means destroyed, the carriage is arrested in a + yard or two, though going at the rate of eighteen or twenty + miles an hour. On the right hand of the director lies the + handle of the throttle-valve, by which he has the power of + increasing or diminishing the supply of steam <i>ad + libitum</i>, and hence of retarding or accelerating the + carriage's velocity. The whole carriage and machinery weigh + about 16 cwt., and with the full complement of water and + coke 20 or 22 cwt., of which, I am informed, about 16 cwt. + lie on the hind-wheels."</p> + + <p>Mr. H. then enumerates the principle of the + improvements:—"That troublesome appendage the fly-wheel, + as I have observed, Mr. Gurney has rendered unnecessary. The + danger to be apprehended in going over rough pitching, from too + rapid a generation of steam, he avoids by a curious application + of springs; and should these be insufficient, one or two safety + valves afford the <i>ultimatum</i> of security. He ensures an + easy descent down the steepest declivity by his 'shoe-drags,' + and the power of reversing the action of the engines. His hands + direct, and his foot literally pinches obedience to the course + over the roughest and most refractory ground. The dreadful + consequences of boiler-bursting are annihilated by a judicious + application of tubular boilers. Should, indeed, a tube burst, a + hiss about equal to that of a hot nail plunged into water, + contains the sum total of alarm, while a few strokes with a + hammer will set all to rights again. Lastly, he has so + contrived his 'carriers,' that they shall act without confining + the wheels, by which means there is none of that sliding and + consequent cutting up of the road, which, in sharp turnings, + would result from inflexible constraint.</p> + + <p>"Hills and loose, slippery ground are well known to be the + <i>res adversæ</i> of steam-carriages; on ordinary level roads + they roll along with rapid facility. In every ascent there are + two additional circumstances inimical to progressive motion. + One is, that carriages press less on the ground of a hill than + on that of a plain, thus giving the wheels a less forcible + grasp or bite. But this may be easily remedied in the structure + of a carriage, and is not of very material consequence in the + steepest hills that we have. The other is more serious. When a + carriage ascends a hill, the weight or gravity of the whole is + decomposable into two—one perpendicular, and the other + parallel to the road. The former constitutes the pressure on + the road, the latter the additional work the engine has to + perform. Universally this is the same part of the whole + carriage and its load together, which the perpendicular ascent + of the hill is of its length. With these principles, if we knew + the bite of the wheels on the road, we could at once subject + the powers of Mr. Gurney's carriage to calculation.</p> + + <p>"Now, from one of the experiments made in the barrack-yard, + at Hounslow, I find we can approximate towards it. For + instance, with one wheel only fixed to the 'carriers,' the + carriage drew itself and load of water and coke (about 1 ton), + with three men on it, and a wagon behind of 16 cwt. containing + 27 soldiers. This, at the rate of 1-1/2 cwt. to a man, in round + numbers is 4 tons. Estimating the force of traction of spring + carriages at a twelfth of the total weight, it consequently + gives a hold or bite on the road of 1-12 of 4 tons, or 6 2-3rds + cwt. per wheel, or 13 1-3rd cwt. for the two wheels. This is + likewise the propelling force of the carriage. Supposing, + therefore, we were ascending a hill of 1 foot rise in 8, which + I am assured exceeds in steepness any hill we have, we should + be able to draw a load behind of 2 tons 2 cwt., or between 3 + and 4 tons altogether....</p> + + <p>"On a good level road I think it not improbable it might + draw, instead of 7 tons which our experiment would give, from + 10 to 11, besides its own weight, or 100 ordinary men, + exclusive of 2 or 3 tons for carriages; and up one of our + steepest hills, 3 tons besides itself, or 25 men besides a ton + for a carriage. This it would do at a rate of 8, 9, or 10 miles + an hour. For it is a singular feature in this carriage, and + which was remarked by many at the time, that it maintained very + nearly the same speed with a wagon and 27 men, that it did with + the carriage and only 5 or 6 persons. But there is a fact + connected with this machine still more extraordinary. For + instance, every additional cwt. we shift on the hind or working + wheels, will increase the power of traction in our steepest + hills upwards of 4 cwt., and on the level road half a ton. + Such, then, is the paradoxical nature of steam-carriages, that + the very circumstance which in animal exertion would weaken and + retard, will here multiply their strength and accelerate. This, + no doubt, Mr. Gurney's ingenuity will soon turn to profitable + account.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page196" + id="page196"></a>[pg 196]</span> + + <p>"It has often been asserted that carriages of this sort + could not go above 6 or 7 miles an hour. I can see no + reasonable objection to 20. The following fact, decided before + a large company in the barrack-yard, will best speak for + itself:—At eighteen minutes after three I ascended the + carriage with Mr. Gurney. After we had gone about half way + round, 'Now,' said Mr. Gurney, 'I will show you her speed.' He + did, and we completed seven turns round the outside of the road + by twenty-eight minutes after three. If, therefore, as I was + there assured, two and a half turns measured one mile, we went + 2.8 miles in ten minutes; that is, at the rate of 16.8, or + nearly 17 miles per hour. But as Mr. Gurney slackened its + motion once or twice in the course of trial, to speak to some + one, and did not go at an equal rate all the way round for fear + of accident in the crowd, it is clear that sometimes we must + have proceeded at the rate of upwards of twenty miles an + hour."</p> + + <p>The Engraving will furnish the reader with a correct idea of + such of Mr. Gurney's improvements as are most interesting to + the public. The present arrangement is certainly very + preferable to placing the boiler and engine in immediate + contact with the carriage, which is to convey goods and + passengers. Men of science are still much divided on the + practical economy of using steam instead of horses as a + travelling agent; but we hope, like all great contemporaries + they may whet and cultivate each other till the desired object + is attained. One of them, a writer in the <i>Atlas</i>, + observes, that "if ultimately found capable of being brought + into public use, it would probably be most convenient and + desirable that several locomotive engines should be employed on + one line of road, in order that they might be exchanged at + certain stages for the purposes of examination, tightening of + screws, and other adjustments, which the jolting on passing + over the road might render necessary, and for the supply of + fuel and water."</p> + + <p>An effectively-coloured lithographic of Mr. Gurney's + carriage (by Shoesmith) has recently appeared at the + printsellers', which we take this opportunity of recommending + to the notice of collectors and scrappers.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3>PUNNING SATIRE ON AN INCONSTANT LOVER.</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>You are as faithless as a <i>Carthaginian</i>,</p> + + <p>To love at once, <i>Kate, Nell, Doll, Martha, Jenny, + Anne.</i></p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author">SWIFT.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3>BRIMHAM ROCKS<a id="footnotetag3" + name="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a> + BY MOONLIGHT.</h3> + + <h4>(<i>For the Mirror.</i>)</h4> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>The sun hath set, but yet I linger still,</p> + + <p>Gazing with rapture on the face of night;</p> + + <p>And mountain wild, deep vale, and heathy hill,</p> + + <p>Lay like a lovely vision, mellow, bright,</p> + + <p>Bathed in the glory of the sunset light,</p> + + <p>Whose changing hues in flick'ring radiance play,</p> + + <p>Faint and yet fainter on the outstretch'd sight,</p> + + <p>Until at length they wane and die away,</p> + + <p>And all th' horizon round fades into twilight + gray.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>But, slowly rising up the vaulted sky,</p> + + <p>Forth comes the moon, night's joyous, sylvan + queen,</p> + + <p>With one lone, silent star, attendant by</p> + + <p>Her side, all sparkling in its glorious sheen;</p> + + <p>And, floating swan-like, stately, and serene,</p> + + <p>A few light fleecy clouds, the drapery of + heav'n,</p> + + <p>Throw their pale shadows o'er this witching + scene,</p> + + <p>Deep'ning its mystic grandeur—and seem + driven</p> + + <p>Round these all shapeless piles like Time's wan + spectres risen</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>From out the tombs of ages. All around</p> + + <p>Lies hushed and still, save with large, dusky + wing</p> + + <p>The bird of night makes its ill-omened sound;</p> + + <p>Or moor-game, nestling 'neath th' flowery ling</p> + + <p>Low chuckle to their mates—or startled, + spring</p> + + <p>Away on rustling pinions to the sky,</p> + + <p>Wheel round and round in many an airy ring,</p> + + <p>Then swooping downward to their covert hie,</p> + + <p>And, lodged beneath the heath again securely + lie.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Ascend yon hoary rock's impending brow,</p> + + <p>And on its windy summit take your stand—</p> + + <p>Lo! Wilsill's lovely vale extends below,</p> + + <p>And long, long heathy moors on either hand</p> + + <p>Stretch dark and misty—a bleak tract of + land,</p> + + <p>Whereon but seldom human footsteps come;</p> + + <p>Save when with dog, obedient at command,</p> + + <p>And gun, the sportsman quits his city home,</p> + + <p>And brushing through the ling in quest of game doth + roam.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>And lo! in wild confusion scattered round,</p> + + <p>Huge, shapeless, naked, massy piles of stone</p> + + <p>Rise, proudly towering o'er this barren ground,</p> + + <p>Scowling in mutual hate—apart, alone,</p> + + <p>Stern, desolate they stand—and seeming + thrown</p> + + <p>By some dire, dread convulsion of the earth</p> + + <p>From her deep, silent caves, and hoary grown</p> + + <p>With age and storms that Boreas issues forth</p> + + <p>Replete with ire from his wild regions in the + north.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>How beautiful! yet wildly beautiful,</p> + + <p>As group on group comes glim'ring on the eye,</p> + + <p>Making the heart, soul, mind, and spirit full</p> + + <p>Of holy rapture and sweet + imagery;</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page197" + id="page197"></a>[pg 197]</span> + + <p>Till o'er the lip escapes th' unconscious sigh,</p> + + <p>And heaves the breast with feeling, too too deep</p> + + <p>For words t' express the awful sympathy,</p> + + <p>That like a dream doth o'er the senses creep,</p> + + <p>Chaining the gazer's eye—and yet he cannot + weep.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>But stands entranced and rooted to the spot,</p> + + <p>While grows the scene upon him vast, sublime,</p> + + <p>Like some gigantic city's ruin, not</p> + + <p>Inhabited by men, but Titans—Time</p> + + <p>Here rests upon his scythe and fears to climb,</p> + + <p>Spent by th' unceasing toil of ages past,</p> + + <p>Musing he stands and listens to the chime</p> + + <p>Of rock-born spirits howling in the blast,</p> + + <p>While gloomily around night's sable shades are + cast.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Well deemed I ween the Druid sage of old</p> + + <p>In making this his dwelling place on high;</p> + + <p>Where all that's huge and great from Nature's + mould,</p> + + <p>Spoke this the temple of his deity;</p> + + <p>Whose walls and roof were the o'erhanging sky,</p> + + <p>His altar th' unhewn rock, all bleak and bare,</p> + + <p>Where superstition with red, phrensied eye</p> + + <p>And look all wild, poured forth her idol prayer,</p> + + <p>As rose the dying wail,<a id="footnotetag4" + name="footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4"><sup>4</sup></a> + and blazed the pile in air.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Lost in the lapse of time, the Druid's lore</p> + + <p>Hath ceased to echo these rude rocks among;</p> + + <p>No altar new is stained with human gore;</p> + + <p>No hoary bard now weaves the mystic song;</p> + + <p>Nor thrust in wicker hurdles, throng on throng,</p> + + <p>Whole multitudes are offered to appease</p> + + <p>Some angry god, whose will and power of wrong</p> + + <p>Vainly they thus essayed to soothe and + please—</p> + + <p>Alas! that thoughts so gross man's noblest powers + should seize.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>But, bowed beneath the cross, see! prostrate + fall</p> + + <p>The mummeries that long enthralled our isle;</p> + + <p>So perish error! and wide over all</p> + + <p>Let reason, truth, religion ever smile:</p> + + <p>And let not man, vain, impious man defile</p> + + <p>The spark heaven lighted in the human breast;</p> + + <p>Let no enthusiastic rage, no sophist's wile</p> + + <p>Lull the poor victim into careless rest,</p> + + <p>Since the pure gospel page can teach him to be + blest.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Weak, trifling man, O! come and ponder here</p> + + <p>Upon the nothingness of human things—</p> + + <p>How vain, how very vain doth then appear</p> + + <p>The city's hum, the pomp and pride of kings;</p> + + <p>All that from wealth, power, grandeur, beauty + springs,</p> + + <p>Alike must fade, die, perish, be forgot;</p> + + <p>E'en he whose feeble hand now strikes the + strings</p> + + <p>Soon, soon within the silent grave must + rot—</p> + + <p>Yet Nature's still the same, though we see, we hear + her not.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author">J. HORNER.</p> + + <p><i>Wilsill, near Pateley Bridge, Sept. 1829.</i></p> + <hr /> + + <h2>MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS.</h2> + <hr class="short" /> + + <h3>PLEDGING HEALTHS.</h3> + + <p>The origin of the very common expression, to <i>pledge</i> + one drinking, is curious: it is thus related by a very + celebrated antiquarian of the fifteenth century. "When the + <i>Danes</i> bore sway in this land, if a native did drink, + they would sometimes stab him with a dagger or knife; hereupon + people would not drink in company unless some one present would + be their <i>pledge</i> or surety, that they should receive no + hurt, whilst they were in their draught; hence that usual + phrase, I'll <i>pledge you</i>, or be a pledge for you." Others + affirm the true sense of the word was, that if the party drank + to, were not disposed to drink himself, he would put another + for <i>a pledge</i> to do it for him, else the party who began + would take it ill.</p> + + <p class="author">J.W.</p> + <hr class="short" /> + + <h3>RUSSIAN SUPERSTITION.</h3> + + <p>The extreme superstition of the Greek church, the national + one of Russia, seems to exceed that of the Roman Catholic + devotees, even in Spain and Portugal. The following instance + will show the absurdity of it even among the higher + classes:—</p> + + <p>A Russian princess, some few years since, had always a large + silver crucifix following her in a separate carriage, and which + was placed in her chamber. When any thing fortunate happened to + her in the course of the day, and she was satisfied with all + that had occurred, she had lighted tapers placed around the + crucifix, and said to it in a familiar style, "See, now, as you + have been very good to me to-day, you shall be treated well; + you shall have candles all night; I will love you; I will pray + to you." If on the contrary, any thing happened to vex the + lady, she had the candles put out, ordered her servants not to + pay any homage to the poor image, and loaded it herself with + the bitterest reproaches.</p> + + <p class="author">INA.</p> + <hr /> + + <h2>THE SELECTOR;</h2> + + <h3>AND LITERARY NOTICES OF <i>NEW WORKS</i>.</h3> + <hr class="short" /> + + <h3>LIBRARY OF ENTERTAINING KNOWLEDGE.</h3> + + <h4><i>Fruits</i>.</h4> + + <p>This Part (5) completes the volume of "Vegetable Substances + used in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page198" + id="page198"></a>[pg 198]</span> Arts and in Domestic + Economy." The first portion—<i>Timber Trees</i> was + noticed at some length in our last volume (page 309,) and + received our almost unqualified commendation, which we are + induced to extend to the Part now before us. Still, we do + not recollect to have pointed out to our readers that which + appears to us the great recommendatory feature of this + series of works—we mean the arrangement of the + volumes—their subdivisions and + exemplifications—and these evince a master-hand in + compilation.</p> + + <p>Every general reader must be aware that little novelty could + be expected in a brief History and Description of Timber Trees + and Fruits, and that the object of the Useful Knowledge Society + was not merely to furnish the public with new views, but to + present in the most attractive form the most entertaining facts + of established writers, and illustrate their views with the + observations of contemporary authors as well as their own + personal acquaintance with the subjects. In this manner, the + Editor has taken "a general and rapid view of fruits," and, + considering the great hold their description possesses on all + readers, we are disposed to think almost too rapid. We should + have enjoyed a volume or two more than half a volume of such + reading as the present; but as we are not purchasers, and are + unacquainted with the number to which the Society propose to + extend their works, we ought not perhaps to raise this + objection, which, to say the truth, is a sort of negative + commendation. Hitherto, we have been accustomed to see + compilations of pretensions similar to the present, executed + with little regard to neatness or unity, or weight or + consideration. Whole pages and long extracts have been stripped + and sliced off books, with little rule or arrangement, and what + is still worse, without any acknowledgment of the sources. The + last defect is certainly the greatest, since, in spite of + ill-arrangement, an intelligent inquirer may with much trouble, + avail himself of further reference to the authors quoted, and + thus complete in his own mind what the compiler had so + indifferently begun. The work before us is, however, altogether + of a much higher order than general compilations. The + introductions and inferences are pointed and judicious, and the + facts themselves of the most interesting character, are + narrated in a condensed but perspicuous style; while the + slightest reference will prove that the best and latest + authorities have been appreciated. Thus, in the History and + Description of Fruits, the Transactions of the Horticultural + Society are frequently and pertinently quoted to establish + disputed points, as well as the journals of intelligent + travellers and naturalists; with occasional poetical + embellishments, which lend a charm even to this attractive + species of reading.</p> + + <p>To quote the history of either Fruit entire, would not so + well denote the character of the work as would a few of the + most striking passages in the descriptions. In the introductory + chapter we are pleased with the following passage on + <i>Monastic Gardens</i>.</p> + + <p>"The monks, after the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to + Christianity, appear to have been the only gardeners. As early + as 674, we have a record, describing a pleasant and + fruit-bearing close at Ely, then cultivated by Brithnoth, the + first Abbot of that place. The ecclesiastics subsequently + carried their cultivation of fruits as tar as was compatible + with the nature of the climate, and the horticultural knowledge + of the middle ages. Whoever has seen an old abbey, where for + generations destruction only has been at work, must have almost + invariably found it situated in one of the choicest spots, both + as to soil and aspect; and if the hand of injudicious + improvement has not swept it away, there is still the + 'Abbey-garden.' Even though it has been wholly + neglected—though its walls be in ruins, covered with + stone-crop and wall-flower, and its area produce but the + rankest weeds—there are still the remains of the aged + fruit trees—the venerable pears, the delicate little + apples, and the luscious black cherries. The chestnuts and the + walnuts may have yielded to the axe, and the fig trees and + vines died away;—but sometimes the mulberry is left, and + the strawberry and the raspberry struggle among the ruins. + There is a moral lesson in these memorials of the monastic + ages. The monks, with all their faults, were generally men of + peace and study; and these monuments show that they were + improving the world, while the warriors were spending their + lives to spoil it. In many parts of Italy and France, which had + lain in desolation and ruin from the time of the Goths, the + monks restored the whole surface to fertility; and in Scotland + and Ireland there probably would not have been a fruit tree + till the sixteenth century, if it had not been for their + peaceful labours. It is generally supposed that the monastic + orchards were in their greatest perfection from the twelfth to + the fifteenth century."</p> + + <p>Again, the</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page199" + id="page199"></a>[pg 199]</span> + + <h4><i>Naturalization of Plants.</i></h4> + + <p>"The large number of our native plants (for we call those + native which have adapted themselves to our climate) mark the + gradual progress of our civilization through the long period of + two thousand years; whilst the almost infinite diversity of + exotics which a botanical garden offers, attest the triumphs of + that industry which has carried us as merchants or as colonists + over every region of the earth, and has brought from every + region whatever can administer to our comforts and our + luxuries,—to the tastes and the needful desires of the + humblest as well as the highest amongst us. To the same + commerce we owe the potato and the pine-apple; the China rose, + whose flowers cluster round the cottage-porch, and the Camellia + which blooms in the conservatory. The addition even of a + flower, or an ornamental shrub, to those which we already + possess, is not to be regarded as a matter below the care of + industry and science. The more we extend our acquaintance with + the productions of nature, the more are our minds elevated by + contemplating the variety, as well as the exceeding beauty, of + the works of the Creator. The highest understanding does not + stoop when occupied in observing the brilliant colour of a + blossom, or the graceful form of a leaf. Hogarth, the great + moral painter, a man in all respects of real and original + genius, writes thus to his friend Ellis, a distinguished + traveller and naturalist:—'As for your pretty little + seed-cups, or vases, they are a sweet confirmation of the + pleasure Nature seems to take in superadding an elegance of + form to most of her works, wherever you find them. How poor and + bungling are all the imitations of Art! When I have the + pleasure of seeing you next, we will sit down, <i>nay, kneel + down if you will</i>, and admire these things.'</p> + <hr class="short" /> + + <p>"It is one of the proudest attributes of man, and one which + is most important for him to know, that he can improve every + production of nature, if he will but once make it his own by + possession and attachment. A conviction of this truth has + rendered the cultivation of fruits, in the more polished + countries of Europe, as successful as we now behold it."</p> + + <p>The work then divides into <i>Fruits of the Temperate + Climates</i>, and of <i>Tropical Climates</i>; the first are + subdivided into Fleshy, Pulpy, and Stone Fruits and Nuts, in + preference to a strict geographical arrangement. Under "the + Apple" occur some very judicious observations on</p> + + <h4><i>Cider.</i></h4> + + <p>"The cider counties of England have always been considered + as highly interesting. They lie something in the form of a + horse-shoe round the Bristol Channel; and the best are, + Worcester and Hereford, on the north of the channel, and + Somerset and Devon on the south. In appearance, they have a + considerable advantage over those counties in which grain alone + is cultivated. The blossoms cover an extensive district with a + profusion of flowers in the spring, and the fruit is beautiful + in autumn. Some of the orchards occupy a space of forty or + fifty acres; and the trees being at considerable intervals, the + land is also kept in tillage. A great deal of practical + acquaintance with the qualities of soil is required in the + culture of apple and pear trees; and his skill in the + adaptation of trees to their situation principally determines + the success of the manufacturer of cider and perry. The produce + of the orchards is very fluctuating; and the growers seldom + expect an abundant crop more than once in three years. The + quantity of apples required to make a hogshead of cider is from + twenty-four to thirty bushels; and in a good year an acre of + orchard will produce somewhere about six hundred bushels, or + from twenty to twenty-five hogsheads. The cider harvest is in + September. When the season is favourable, the heaps of apples + collected at the presses are immense—consisting of + hundreds of tons. If any of the vessels used in the manufacture + of cider are of lead, the beverage is not wholesome. The price + of a hogshead of cider generally varies from 2<i>l.</i> to + 5<i>l.</i>, according to the season and quality; but cider of + the finest growth has sometimes been sold as high as + 20<i>l.</i> by the hogshead, direct from the press—a + price equal to that of many of the fine wines of the Rhine or + the Garonne."</p> + <hr /> + + <h4><i>Old Apple Trees.</i></h4> + + <p>"At Horton, in Buckinghamshire, where Milton spent some of + his earlier years, there is an apple tree still growing, of + which the oldest people remember to have heard it said that the + poet was accustomed to sit under it. And upon the low leads of + the church at Romsey, in Hampshire, there is an apple tree + still bearing fruit, which is said to be two hundred years + old."</p> + + <p>The <i>Fig</i> and the <i>Fine</i> are equally + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page200" + id="page200"></a>[pg 200]</span> interesting, and in + connexion with the latter we notice the editor's mention of + the fine vineyard at Arundel Castle. Aubrey describes a + similar vineyard at Chart Park, near Dorking, another seat + of the Howards. "Here was a vineyard, supposed to have been + planted by the Hon. Charles Howard, who, it is said, erected + his residence, as it were, in the vineyard." Again, "the + vineyard flourished for some time, and tolerably good wine + was made from the produce; but after the death of the noble + planter, in 1713, it was much neglected, and nothing + remained but the name. On taking down the house, a stone + resembling a millstone, was found, by which the grapes were + pressed."<a id="footnotetag5" + name="footnotetag5"></a><a href="#footnote5"><sup>5</sup></a> + We were on the spot at the time, and saw the stone in + question. Vines are still very abundant at Dorking, the soil + being very congenial to their growth. "Hence, almost every + house in this part has its vine; and some of the plants are + very productive. The cottages of the labouring poor are not + without this ornament, and the produce is usually sold by + them to their wealthier neighbours, for the manufacture of + wine. The price per bushel is from 4<i>s.</i> to + 16<i>s.</i>; but the variableness of the season frequently + disappoints them in the crops, the produce of which is + sometimes laid up as a setoff to the + rent."<a id="footnotetag6" + name="footnotetag6"></a><a href="#footnote6"><sup>6</sup></a></p> + + <p>We have heard too of attempts in England to train the vine + on the sides of hills, and a few years since an individual lost + a considerable sum of money in making the experiment in the + Isle of Wight.</p> + + <p>At page 257, observes the editor,</p> + + <h4><i>A Vineyard</i></h4> + + <p>"Associated as it is with all our ideas of beauty and + plenty, is, in general, a disappointing object. The hop + plantations of our own country are far more picturesque. In + France, the vines are trained upon poles, seldom more than + three or four feet in height; and 'the pole-clipt vineyard' of + poetry is not the most inviting of real objects. In Spain, + poles for supporting vines are not used; but cuttings are + planted, which are not permitted to grow very high, but + gradually form thick and stout stocks. In Switzerland, and in + the German provinces, the vineyards are as formal as those of + France. But in Italy is found the true vine of poetry, + 'surrounding the stone cottage with its girdle, flinging its + pliant and luxuriant branches over the rustic veranda, or + twining its long garland from tree to + tree.'<a id="footnotetag7" + name="footnotetag7"></a><a href="#footnote7"><sup>7</sup></a> + It was the luxuriance and the beauty of her vines and her + olives that tempted the rude people of the north to pour + down upon her fertile fields:—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>'The prostrate South to the destroyer yields</p> + + <p>Her boasted titles and her golden fields;</p> + + <p>With grim delight the brood of winter view</p> + + <p>A brighter day, and heavens of azure hue.</p> + + <p>Scent the new fragrance of the breathing rose.</p> + + <p>And quaff the pendent vintage as it + grows.'<a id="footnotetag8" + name="footnotetag8"></a><a href="#footnote8"><sup>8</sup></a></p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>"In Greece, too, as well as Italy, the shoots of the vines + are either trained upon trees, or supported, so as to display + all their luxuriance, upon a series of props. This was the + custom of the ancient vine-growers; and their descendants have + preserved it in all its picturesque + originality.<a id="footnotetag9" + name="footnotetag9"></a><a href="#footnote9"><sup>9</sup></a> + The vine-dressers of Persia train their vines to run up a + wall, and curl over on the top. But the most luxurious + cultivation of the vine in hot countries is where it covers + the trellis-work which surrounds a well, inviting the owner + and his family to gather beneath its shade. 'The fruitful + bough by well' is of the highest antiquity."</p> + + <p>Passing over the Mulberry, Currant, Gooseberry, and the + Strawberry, the account of the Egg Plant is particularly + attractive; and that of the Olive is well-written, but too long + for extract.</p> + + <p>Among the <i>Tropical Fruits</i>, the Orange and the Date + are very delightful; and equal in importance and interest are + the Cocoa Nut and Bread Fruit Tree. In short, it is impossible + to open the volume without being gratified with the richness + and variety of its contents, and the amiable feeling which + pervades the inferences and incidental observations of the + writer.</p> + + <p>A word or two on the embellishments and we have done. These + are far behind the literary merits of the volume, and are + discreditable productions. Where so much is well done it were + better to omit engravings altogether than adopt such as these: + "they imitate nature so abominably." The group at page 223 is a + fair specimen of the whole, than which nothing can be more + lifeless. After the excellent cuts of Mr. London's Gardener's + and Natural History Magazines, we turn away from these with + pain, and it must be equally vexatious to the editor to see + such accompaniments to his pages.</p> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page201" + id="page201"></a>[pg 201]</span> + + <h3>SHAKSPEARE'S BROOCH.</h3> + + <div class="figcenter" + style="width:70%;"> + <a href="images/201.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/201.png" + alt="" /></a> + </div> + + <h4>(<i>To the Editor of the Mirror.</i>)</h4> + + <p>Having frequently observed in your valuable publication the + great attention which you have paid to every thing relating to + the "Immortal Bard of Avon," I beg leave to transmit to you two + drawings (the one back, the other front) of a brooch or buckle, + found near the residence of the poet, at New Place, Stratford, + among the rubbish brought out from the spot where the house + stood. This brooch is considered by the most competent judges + and antiquarians in and near Stratford, to have been the + personal property of Shakspeare. A. is the back; 1 and 2, faint + traces of the letters which were nearly obliterated, by the + person who found the relic, in scraping to ascertain whether + the metal was precious, the whole of it being covered with + gangrene or verdigris. 3 and 4 are the remains of the hinge to + the pin. Fortunately the W. at the corner was preserved. B. + represents the front of the brooch; 1, 3, and 5, are red stones + in the top part (similar in shape to a coronet) 2 and 4 are + blue stones in the same; the other stones in the bottom or + heart are white, though varying rather in hue, and all are set + in silver.</p> + + <p class="author">HJTHWC.</p> + + <p>N.B. The above is shown to the curious by the individual who + found it—a poor man named Smith, living in Sheep Street, + Stratford.</p> + <hr /> + + <h2>SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS</h2> + <hr class="short" /> + + <p>The greater portion of the following Notes will, we are + persuaded, be new to all but the bibliomaniacs in theatrical + lore. They occur in a paper of 45 pages in the last Edinburgh + Review, in which the writer attributes the Decline of the Drama + to a variety of causes—as late hours, costly + representations, high salaries, and excessive + taxation—some of which we have selected for extract. In + our affection for the Stage, we have paid some attention to its + history, as well as to its recent state, and readily do we + subscribe to a few of the Reviewer's opinions of the cause of + its neglect. But to attribute this falling off to "taxes + innumerable" is rather too broad: perhaps the highly-taxed wax + lights around the box circles suggested this new light. We need + not go so far to detect the rottenness of the dramatic state; + still, as the question involves controversy at every point, we + had rather keep out of the fight, and leave our Reviewer + without further note or comment.</p> + + <h3>NOTES ON THE DRAMA.</h3> + + <h4>(<i>From the Edinburgh Review, No. 98.</i>)</h4> + + <h4><i>Origin of Admission Money.</i></h4> + + <p>There were at Athens various funds, applicable to public + purposes; one of which, and among the most considerable, was + appropriated for the expensed of sacrifices, processions, + festivals, spectacles, and of the theatres. The citizens were + admitted to the theatres for some time gratis; but in + consequence of the disturbances caused by multitudes crowding + to get seats, to introduce order, and as the phrase is, to keep + out improper persons, a small sum of money was afterwards + demanded for admission. That the poorer classes, however, might + not be deprived of their favourite gratification, they received + from the treasury, out of this fund, the price of a + seat—and thus peace and regularity were secured, and the + fund still applied to its original purpose. The money that was + taken at the doors, having served as a ticket, was expended, + together with that which had not been used in this manner, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page202" + id="page202"></a>[pg 202]</span> to maintain the edifice + itself, and to pay the manifold charges of the + representation.</p> + + <h4>"<i>Dramatic Representations natural to Man.</i>"</h4> + + <p>Travellers inform us, that savages, even in a very rude + state, are found to divert themselves by imitating some common + event in life: but it is not necessary to leave our own quiet + homes to satisfy ourselves, that dramatic representations are + natural to man. All children delight in mimicking action; many + of their amusements consist in such performances, and are in + every sense <i>plays</i>. It is curious, indeed, to observe at + how early an age the young of the most imitative animal, man, + begin to copy the actions of others; how soon the infant + displays its intimate conviction of the great truth, that "all + the world's a Stage." The baby does not imitate those acts + only, that are useful and necessary to be learned; but it + instinctively mocks useless and unimportant actions and + unmeaning sounds, for its amusement, and for the mere pleasure + of imitation, and is evidently much delighted when it is + successful. The diversions of children are very commonly + dramatic. When they are not occupied with their hoops, tops, + and balls, or engaged in some artificial game, they amuse + themselves in playing at soldiers, in being at school, or at + church, in going to market, in receiving company; and they + imitate the various employments of life with so much fidelity, + that the theatrical critic, who delights in chaste acting, will + often find less to censure in his own little servants in the + nursery, than in his majesty's servants in a theatre-royal. + When they are somewhat older they dramatize the stories they + read; most boys have represented Robin Hood, or one of his + merry-men, and every one has enacted the part of Robinson + Crusoe, and his man Friday. We have heard of many extraordinary + tastes and antipathies; but we never knew an instance of a + young person, who was not delighted the first time he visited a + theatre. The true enjoyment of life consists in action; and + happiness, according to the peripatetic definition, is to be + found in energy; it accords, therefore, with the nature and + etymology of the drama, which is, in truth, not less natural + than agreeable. Its grand divisions correspond, moreover, with + those of time; the contemplation of the present is + Comedy—mirth for the most part being connected with the + present only—and the past and the future are the + dominions of the Tragic muse.</p> + + <h4><i>Grecian Theatres.</i></h4> + + <p>The climate of Athens being one of the finest and most + agreeable in the world, the Athenians passed the greatest part + of their time in the open air; and their theatres, like those + in the rest of Greece and in ancient Rome, had no other + covering than the sky. Their structure accordingly differed + greatly from that of a modern playhouse, and the representation + in many respects was executed in a different manner. But we + will mention those peculiarities only which are necessary to + render our observations intelligible.</p> + + <p>The ancient theatres, in the first place, were on a much + larger scale than any that have been constructed in later days. + It would have been impossible, by reason of the magnitude of + the edifice, and consequently of the stage, to have changed the + scenes in the same manner as in our smaller buildings. The + scene, as it was called, was a permanent structure, and + resembled the front of Somerset House, of the Horse Guards, or + the Tuileries, and was in the same style of architecture as the + rest of the spacious edifice. There were three large gateways, + through each of which a view of streets, or of woods, or of + whatever was suitable to the action represented, was displayed; + this painting was fixed upon a triangular frame, that turned on + an axis, like a swivel seal, or ring, so that any one of the + three sides might be presented to the spectators, and perhaps + the two that were turned away might be covered with other + subjects, if it were necessary. If parts of Regent Street, or + of Whitehall, or the Mansion House, and the Bank of England, + were shown through the openings in the fixed scene, it would be + plain that the fable was intended to be referred to London; and + it would be removed to Edinburgh, or Paris, if the more + striking portions of those cities were thus exhibited. The + front of the scene was broken by columns, by bays and + promontories in the line of the building, which gave beauty and + variety to the façade, and aided the deception produced by the + paintings that were seen through the three openings. In the + Roman Theatres there were commonly two considerable + projections, like large bow-windows, or bastions, in the spaces + between the apertures; this very uneven line afforded + assistance to the plot, in enabling different parties to be on + the stage at the same time, without seeing one another. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page203" + id="page203"></a>[pg 203]</span> The whole front of the + stage was called the scene, or covered building, to + distinguish it from the rest of the theatre, which was open + to the air, except that a covered portico frequently ran + round the semicircular part of the edifice at the back of + the highest row of seats, which answered to our galleries, + and was occupied, like them, by the gods, who stood in + crowds upon the level floor of their celestial abodes.</p> + + <p>Immediately in front of the stage, as with us, was the + orchestra; but it was of much larger dimensions, not only + positively, but in proportion to the theatre. In our playhouses + it is exclusively inhabited by fiddles and their fiddlers; the + ancients appropriated it to more dignified purposes; for there + stood the high altar of Bacchus, richly ornamented and + elevated, and around it moved the sacred Chorus to solemn + measures, in stately array and in magnificent vestments, with + crowns and incense, chanting at intervals their songs, and + occupied in their various rites, as we have before mentioned. + It is one of the many instances of uninterrupted traditions, + that this part of our theatres is still devoted to receive + musicians, although, in comparison with their predecessors, + they are of an ignoble and degenerate race.</p> + + <p>The use of masks was another remarkable peculiarity of the + ancient acting. It has been conjectured, that the tragic mask + was invented to conceal the face of the actor, which, in a + small city like Athens, must have been known to the greater + part of the audience, as vulgar in expression, and it sometimes + would have brought to mind most unseasonably the remembrance of + a life and of habits, that would have repelled all sympathy + with the character which he was to personate. It would not have + been endured, that a player should perform the part of a + monarch in his ordinary dress, nor that of a hero with his own + mean physiognomy. It is probable, also, that the likeness of + every hero of tragedy was handed down in statues, medals, and + paintings, or even in a series of masks; and that the + countenance of Theseus, or of Ajax, was as well known to the + spectators as the face of any of their contemporaries. Whenever + a living character was introduced by name, as Cleon or + Socrates, in the old comedy, we may suppose that the mask was a + striking, although not a flattering portrait. We cannot doubt, + that these masks were made with great care, and were skilfully + painted, and finished with the nicest accuracy; for every art + was brought to a focus in the Greek theatres. We must not + imagine, like schoolboys, that the tragedies of Sophocles were + performed at Athens in such rude masks as are exhibited in our + music shops. We have some representations of them in antique + sculptures and paintings, with features somewhat distorted, but + of exquisite and inimitable beauty.</p> + + <h4><i>The Roman Stage.</i></h4> + + <p>The Drama of ancient Rome possesses little of originality or + interest. The word <i>Histrio</i> is said to be of Etruscan + origin; the Tuscans, therefore, had their theatres; but little + information can now be gleaned respecting them. It was long + before theatres were firmly and permanently established in + Rome; but the love of these diversions gradually became too + powerful for the censors, and the Romans grew, at last, nearly + as fond of them as the Greeks. The latter, as St. Augustine + informs us, did not consider the profession of a player as + dishonourable: "Ipsos scenicos non turpes judicaverunt, sed + dignos etiam præclaris honoribus habuerunt."—<i>De Civ. + Dei</i>. The more prudish Romans, however, were less tolerant; + and we find in the Code various constitutions levelled against + actors, and one law especially, which would not suit our + senate, forbidding senators to marry actresses; but this was + afterwards relaxed by Justinian, who had broken it himself. He + permitted such marriages to take place on obtaining the consent + of the emperor, and afterwards without, so that the lady + quitted the stage, and changed her manner of life. The Romans, + however, had at least enough of kindly feeling towards a + Comedian to pray for the safety, or refection, of his soul + after death; this is proved by a pleasant epitaph on a player, + which is published in the collection of Gori:—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Pro jocis, quibus cunctos</p> + + <p class="i4">oblectabat,</p> + + <p>Si quid oblectamenti apud</p> + + <p class="i4">vos est</p> + + <p>Manes, insontem reficite</p> + + <p class="i4">Animulam."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h4><i>Costume.</i></h4> + + <p>It is probable that the imagination of the spectator could + without difficulty dispense with scenes, particularly if the + surrounding objects were somewhat removed from the ordinary + aspect of every-day things; if the performance were to take + place, for example, in the hall of a college, or in a + church.</p> + + <p>The costume that prevails at present almost universally, is + so barbarous and mean, and it changes in so many minute + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page204" + id="page204"></a>[pg 204]</span> particulars so frequently, + that it is impossible to conceive the hero of a tragedy + actually wearing such attire. A more picturesque dress seems + therefore to be indispensable; but the essentials of the + costume of any time, from which dramatic subjects could be + taken, are by no means costly. All that is absolutely + necessary in vestments to content the fancy, might be + procured at a trifling expense, and the hero or heroine + might be supplied with the ordinary apparel of Greece, or + Rome, or of any other country, at a small price. We must + carefully distinguish, however, between the necessaries and + the luxuries of deception; the form, and sometimes the + colour, demand a scrupulous accuracy; the texture is always + unimportant. We may comprehend, therefore, how the old + English theatre, notwithstanding the small outlay on + decorations, by a strict attention to essentials, possessed + considerable attractions; we may readily believe, that there + were many companies who were maintained by their trade; + "that all those companies got money and lived in reputation, + especially those of the Blackfriars, who were men of grave + and sober behaviour."</p> + + <h4><i>The Old Drama.</i></h4> + + <p>Our literature is remarkably rich in old dramas; but they + are of little use to the present age. Fastidiousness and + hypocrisy have grown for many years, slowly but surely, and + have at last arrived at such a pitch, that there is hardly a + line in the works of our old comic writers, which is not + reprobated as immoral, or at least vulgar. The excessive + squeamishness of taste of the present day is very unfavourable + to the genius of comedy, which demands a certain liberty and a + freedom from restraints. This morbid delicacy is a great evil, + for it renders the time of limitation in all comic writings + exceedingly short. The ephemeral duration of the fashion, which + is all the production of a man of wit can now enjoy, + discourages authors. There is no motive to bestow much care on + such compositions, and they fall below the ambition of men of + real talents—for the best part of the reward of literary + labour consists in the lasting admiration of posterity; and as + some new fastidiousness will consign to oblivion, in a short + time, every comic production, it is plain that such a reward + cannot be reasonably anticipated. We are more completely, than + any other nation, the victims of fashion. Everything here must + either be in the last and newest fashion, or it must cease to + be. The despotism of fashion in dress, in furniture, and in the + pattern of the edges of plate, is perhaps inconvenient—it + is, however, not very important; but it is a cruel grievance + that it should interfere with and annihilate an entire + department of our literature.</p> + + <h4><i>Hours of Representation.</i></h4> + + <p>Dramatic representations were formerly given, not only in + Greece and Rome, but in England also, in the daytime, and in + the open air. "The Globe, Fortune, and Bull, were large houses, + and partly open to the weather, and there they always acted by + daylight;" and plays were first acted in Spain in the open + courts of great houses, which were sometimes covered, in whole + or in part, with an awning to keep off the sun. The word + <i>sale</i>, which is used as a stage direction, meaning not + <i>exit</i>, but he enters, <i>i.e.</i> he comes out of the + house into the open air, is an evidence of the old practice. We + are inclined to think that the morning is more favourable to + dramatic excellence than the evening. The daylight accords with + the truth and sobriety of nature, and it is the season of cool + judgment: the gilded, the painted, the tawdry, the + meretricious—spangles and tinsel, and tarnished and + glittering trumpery—demand the glare of candle-light and + the shades of night. It is certain, that the best pieces were + written for the day; and it is probable, that the best actors + were those who performed whilst the sun was above the horizon. + The childish trash which now occupies so large a portion of the + public attention could not, it is evident, keep possession of + the stage, if it were to be presented, not at ten o'clock at + night, but twelve hours earlier. Much would need to be changed + in the dresses, scenery, and decorations, and in many other + respects, in the pieces, the solid merits of which would be + able to undergo the severe ordeal; and if we consider + <i>what</i> changes would be required to adapt them to the + altered hours, we shall find that they will be all in favour of + good taste, and on the side of nature and simplicity. The day + is a holy thing; Homer aptly calls it [Greek: ieron + aemar]ιερον ημαρ, + and it still retains something of the sacred simplicity of + ancient times. It is, at all events, less sophisticated and + polluted than the modern night, a period which is not devoted + to wholesome sleep, but to various constraints and sufferings, + called, in bitter mockery, Pleasure. The late evening, being a + modern invention, is therefore devoted to fashion; to recur to + the simple and pure in theatricals, it would + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page205" + id="page205"></a>[pg 205]</span> probably be necessary to + effect an escape from a period of time, which has never been + employed in the full integrity of tasteful elegance; and + thus to break the spell, by which the whole realm of fancy + has long been bewitched. An absurd and inconvenient + practice, which is almost peculiar to this country, of + attending public places in that uncomfortable condition, + which is technically called being dressed, but which is in + truth, especially in females, being more or less naked and + undressed, might more easily be dispensed with by day, and + on that account, and for many other reasons, it would be + less difficult to return home.</p> + + <h4><i>Decline of the Drama.</i></h4> + + <p>It is not unlikely that the drama would be more successful + if it were conducted more plainly, and in a less costly style. + The perfection of the machinery and scenery of the modern + theatres, seems to be unfavourable to the goodness of + composition and acting; since the accessaries are so excellent, + the opinion is encouraged, that the principals are less + important, and may be neglected with impunity. The effect of + good scenery at the first glance is, no doubt, very striking, + but it soon passes away. If we saw a Garrick acting Shakspeare + in a large hall, without any scenes, we should cease in a few + minutes to be sensible of the want of them. We are almost + disposed to believe, that exactly in proportion as scenery has + been improved, good acting has declined.</p> + + <p>The present age is too much inclined to make human life, in + every department, resemble a great lottery, in which there are + a very few enormous prizes, and all the rest of the tickets are + blanks. The stage has not escaped the evil we complain of; on + the contrary, it is a striking instance of the mischief of this + unequal partition. The public are of opinion, that it is + impossible to reward a small number of actors too highly, and + to pay the remainder at too low a rate; to neglect the latter + enough, or to be sufficiently attentive to the former. On our + stage, therefore, the inferior parts, and indeed all but one or + two, and especially in tragedies, where the inequality is more + intolerable, and more inexcusable, are sustained in a very + inadequate manner. In foreign theatres, on the contrary, and + especially in France, the whole performance is more equal, and + consequently more agreeable. There is perhaps less difference + than is commonly supposed between the best performers and those + in the next class. Whatever the difference be, it is an + inconvenience and an imperfection that ought to be palliated; + but we aggravate it. The first-rate actor always does his best, + because the audience expect it, and reward him with their + applause; but no one cares for, or observes, the performer of + second-rate talents: whether he be perfect in his part, and + exert himself to the utmost, or be slovenly and negligent + throughout, he is unpraised and unblamed. The general effect, + therefore, of our tragedies, is very unsatisfactory; for that + is far greater, where all the characters are tolerably well + supported, than where there is one good actor, and all the + other parts are inhumanly murdered. This latter is too often + the case on our stage for with us art does little, nothing + being taught systematically. The French players, on the + contrary, are thoroughly drilled, and well instructed, in every + requisite.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3>BISHOPS' SLEEVES.</h3> + + <p>To Joan it has been always conceded that she is as good as + her lady in the dark, but it is only of late years that Joan + has presumed to rival her mistress in the light. The high price + of silks and satins protected the mistress against this + usurpation of her servant in the broad day. Clad in these, she + was safe, as in a coat of mail, from the attack of the domestic + aspirant, who was seldom able to obtain possession of the + outworks of fashion beyond an Irish poplin or a Norwich crape. + The silks and satins were a wall of separation, as impenetrable + as the lines of Torres Vedras, or the court hoop and petticoat + of a drawing-room in the reign of George III. The new liberal + commercial system has entirely changed the position of the + parties. The cheapness of French silks, and other articles of + dress, has placed female finery within the reach of even + moderate wages, and a kitchen-wench will not condescend to + sweep the room in any thing less than a robe of <i>Gros de + Naples</i> or <i>batiste</i>. Something must be done on the + part of the mistress to arrest the progress of invasion, and + assert the vested rights of the superior classes of female + society. Invention is the first quality of genius, and to woman + it is granted in a high degree. Thus gifted, the mistress, in a + happy moment, conceived the idea of bishops' sleeves, an + article of dress which precludes all hope or chance of + imitation in the kitchen. A muffled cat might as well attempt + to catch mice, as a maid-servant to go about the business of + the house in bishops' sleeves. She could not + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page206" + id="page206"></a>[pg 206]</span> remove the tea-equipage + from the table without the risk of sweeping the china upon + the floor; if she handed her master a plate, he must submit + to have his head wrapped up in her sleeve; and what a figure + must the cook present after preparing her soups and sauces! + The female servant thus accoutred might, indeed, perform the + office of a flapper, and disperse the flies; but although + this was an office of importance among the ancients, it is + dispensed with at a modern table. With the introduction of + bishops' sleeves, the rivalry on the part of the maid must + cease, and the mistress remain in undisturbed possession of + her pre-eminence. Every friend of good order, every one who + would retain each individual female in her proper place in + society, and prevent its members from trespassing on each + other, must, therefore, rejoice in bishops' sleeves; and + devoutly pray, that differing from every other fashion that + ever preceded it, the fashion of bishops' sleeves may endure + for ever.—<i>New Monthly Magazine</i>.</p> + <hr /> + + <h2>SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY</h2> + <hr class="short" /> + + <h4><i>Iris Lunaris.</i></h4> + + <p>That rare and beautiful phenomenon the <i>Iris Lunaris</i>, + or moonlight rainbow, was observed by Mr. W. Colbourne, jun. + and a friend of his, from an eminence about a quarter of a mile + from Sturminster, on the evening of the 14th instant, about + twenty minutes before nine o'clock, in the north-west. Its + northern limb first made its appearance; but after a few + minutes, the complete curvature was distinctly and beautifully + displayed. The altitude of its apex seemed to be nearly forty + degrees. Nothing could exceed the beauty of the appearance of + this arch of milky whiteness, contrasted as it was with the + sable rain fraught clouds which formed the background to this + interesting picture. It continued visible more than five + minutes, and gradually disappeared at the western limb.</p> + + <p class="author">RURIS.</p> + + <p><i>Sturminster</i>.</p> + + <h4><i>Westphalia Hams</i></h4> + + <p>Are prepared in November and March. The Germans place them + in deep tubs, which they cover with layers of salt and + saltpetre, and with a few laurel leaves. They are left four or + five days in this state, and are then completely covered with + strong brine. At the end of three weeks they are taken out, and + left to soak for twelve hours in clear well-water; they are + then exposed, during three weeks, to a smoke produced by the + branches of juniper.—<i>From the French.</i></p> + + <h4><i>London Porter.</i></h4> + + <p>The bitter contained in porter, if taken wholly from hops, + would require an average quantity of ten or twelve pounds to + the quarter of malt, or about three pounds per barrel; so that + if we consider the fluctuation in the price of hops, we shall + not be surprised at the numerous substitutes, by which means + the brewer can procure as much bitter for sixpence as would + otherwise cost him a pound.</p> + + <p>Quassia is, probably, the most harmless of all the illegal + bitters. The physicians prescribe the decoction to their + patients to the extent of a quarter of an ounce of the bark a + day—as much as the brewer was accustomed to put into nine + gallons of his porter.—<i>Library of Useful + Knowledge</i>.</p> + + <h4><i>Black Game</i></h4> + + <p>Have increased greatly in the southern counties of Scotland + and north of England within the last few years. It is a pretty + general opinion, though an erroneous one, that they drive away + the red grouse; the two species require very different kinds of + cover, and will never interfere.—<i>Note to White's + Selborne, by Sir W. Jardine</i>.</p> + + <h4><i>Birds of Prey.</i></h4> + + <p>All birds of prey are capable of sustaining the want of food + and water for long periods, particularly the latter, but of + which they also seem remarkably fond, drinking frequently in a + state of nature, and during summer washing almost + daily.—<i>Ibid.</i></p> + + <h4><i>Egypt.</i></h4> + + <p>M. Champollion, in one of his recent letters, tells us that + the whole of the island of Elephantina would hardly make a park + fit for a good citizen of Paris, although certain modern + chronologists would fain make it into a kingdom, in order to + dispose of the ancient Egyptian dynasty of the + Elephantines.</p> + + <p>In another letter dated March last, he says, "Our + establishment is in the Valley of Kings, which may truly be + called the abode of death, as not a blade of grass is to be + found in it, nor any living creature, except the jackall and + hyæna, which the night before last devoured, at the distance of + 100 steps from our palace, the ass which had carried my Barabra + servant Mahomet, during the time that he was agreeably passing + the night of the Ramadan in our kitchen, which + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page207" + id="page207"></a>[pg 207]</span> is in a royal tomb, + entirely dilapidated."—<i>Translated in the Literary + Gazette</i>.</p> + + <h4><i>Beet-Root Sugar.</i></h4> + + <p>The Anti-Slavery Monthly Reporter for September, among the + advantages which will probably lead to the discontinuance of + the cultivation of sugar by slaves, enumerates the rapid + extension of the manufacture of beet-root sugar in France; a + prelude, as the editor conceives, to its introduction into this + country, and especially into Ireland.</p> + + <h4><i>Dry Rot.</i></h4> + + <p>The American Commodore Barron recommends pumping air from + the holds of vessels as a remedy against dry rot; the common + mode of ventilation, by forcing pure air, or dashing water into + the hold, being found an imperfect preservative.</p> + + <h4><i>Alloyed Iron Plate.</i></h4> + + <p>Iron, coated with an alloy of tin and lead, so as to imitate + tin plate, and not to rust, is now manufactured to a + considerable extent in Paris; and its use for sugar-pans and + boilers, and in the construction of roofs and gutters is + expected to be very considerable.</p> + + <h4><i>Interesting Question.</i></h4> + + <p>Whether in the sea there be depths where no creature is able + to live, or whether a boundary be assigned to organic life + within those depths, cannot be ascertained. It, however, + clearly appears from the observations made by Biot, and other + naturalists, that fishes, according to their different + dispositions, live in different depths of the + ocean.—<i>From the German</i>.</p> + + <h4><i>Cats.</i></h4> + + <p>In Kamtschatka, Greenland, Lapland, and Iceland, there are + no cats, nor does the lynx in Europe extend farther than + Norway.—<i>Ibid.</i></p> + + <h4><i>Vessels made of the Papyrus.</i></h4> + + <p>The last number of the <i>Magazine of Natural History</i> + contains an article of great interest, on Vessels made of the + Papyrus, illustrated with cuts, from which it appears that + vessels have from the earliest times, been formed from the + paper reed, and that they are at present in use in Egypt and + Abyssinia. The author is John Hogg, Esq. M.A. F.L.S. &c. + whose antiquarian attainments have greatly assisted him in the + elucidation of this very curious subject.</p> + + <h4><i>Remains of La Perouse.</i><a id="footnotetag10" + name="footnotetag10"></a><a href="#footnote10"><sup>10</sup></a></h4> + + <p>M. Derville, who commanded the Astrolabe, in the lute-voyage + undertaken to search for traces of the expedition of La + Perouse, considers the island, the summits of which were + observed fifteen leagues to windward, by the frigates La + RĂ©cherche and L'Esperance, which composed the expedition of + Admiral D'Entrecasteaux, in 1793, and to which the name of the + Isle de la RĂ©cherche was then given, to be the identical + island, Vanikoro (or Vanicolo) on the shores of which the + remnants of La Perouse's vessel have been found. The + geographical position of latitude and longitude of the Isle of + Vanikoro, agrees exactly with that of the island to which the + name of RĂ©cherche was given by D'Entrecasteaux. That island was + then confounded with the number of other islands, which had + been seen by the expedition, and which it had been found + impossible to examine in detail.—<i>Athenæum</i>.</p> + + <h4><i>Study of Chemistry.</i></h4> + + <p>Numbers there are, far above the lower classes, who still + consider the elements of all things as consisting of earth, + air, fire, and water; an error which classical-learning, no + less than the expressions of common parlance, tends to + perpetuate. Let us hope that the days are at hand, if not + already arrived, in which the acquirement of such fundamental + knowledge will be looked upon as at least equally necessary + with the study of languages, and the cultivation of taste and + imagination.—<i>Library of Useful Knowledge</i>.</p> + <hr /> + + <h2>THE GATHERER.</h2> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>A snapper up of unconsidered + trifles.—SHAKSPEARE.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr class="short" /> + + <h3>ORIGIN OF THE WORD WORSTED.</h3> + + <p>Worsted, in the county of Norfolk, though formerly a town of + considerable trade, and much celebrity, is now reduced to a + village, and the manufactures, which obtained a name from the + place, are removed to Norwich and its vicinity.</p> + + <p>Shakspeare has not been very courteous towards the + <i>worsted gentry</i>; had he lived in our times, they might + have <i>worsted</i> him for a libel: he says in King Lear, "A + base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three suited, hundred pound, + filthy, worsted stocking knave."</p> + + <p class="author">P.T.W.</p> + <hr /> + + <p>I asked a poor man, how he did? He said, he was like a + washball, always in decay.—<i>Swift</i>.</p> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page208" + id="page208"></a>[pg 208]</span> + + <h3>CAT-FANCIER.</h3> + + <p>Lady Morgan gives the following anecdote in her <i>Book of + the Boudoir</i>. "The first day we had the honour of dining at + the palace of the Archbishop of Taranto, at Naples, he said to + me, you must pardon my passion for cats, (<i>la mia passione + gattesca</i>) but I never exclude them from my dining-room, and + you will find they make excellent company." Between the first + and second course the door opened, and several enormously large + and beautiful Angola cats were introduced by the names of + Pantalone, Desdemona, Otello, &c. They took their places on + chairs near the table, and were as silent, as quiet, as + motionless, and as well behaved, as the most <i>bon ton</i> + table in London could require. On the bishop requesting one of + the chaplains to help the Signora Desdemona, the butler stepped + up to his lordship, and observed, "My Lord, La Signora + Desdemona will prefer waiting for the roast."</p> + <hr /> + + <h3>ANCIENT FAMILY.</h3> + + <p>There was much sound truth in the speech of a country lad to + an idler, who boasted his ancient family: "<i>So much the worse + for you</i>," said the peasant, as we ploughmen say, "<i>the + older the seed the worse the crop</i>."</p> + <hr /> + + <p>At North Ferryby, in Yorkshire, the following very + instructive lines, are inscribed on a handsome tablet to the + memory of Sir T. Etherington, an Alderman of Hull, and late a + resident in the above place:—</p> + + <p>"Taught of God we should view losses, sickness, pain, and + death, but as the several trying stages by which a good man, + like Joseph, is conducted from a tent to a court; sin his + disease, Christ his physician, pain his medicine, the Bible his + support, the grave his rest, and death itself an angel + expressly sent to relieve the worn out labourer, or crown the + faithful soldier!"</p> + + <p>Louis XIV. was presented with an epitaph by an indifferent + poet, on the celebrated Moliere. "I would to God," said he, + "that Moliere had brought me yours."</p> + <hr /> + + <h3>ON MEMORY.</h3> + + <p>What an unknown and unspeakable happiness would it be to a + man of judgment, and who is engaged in the pursuit of + knowledge, if he had but a power of stamping all his own best + sentiments upon his memory in some indelible characters; and if + he could but imprint every valuable paragraph and sentiment of + the most excellent authors he has read, upon his mind, with the + same speed and facility with which he read + them?—<i>Watts</i>.</p> + <hr /> + + <p>Upon a stone in St. Margaret's churchyard, at Lynn, in + Norfolk, is the following inscription to the memory of William + Scrivenor, Cook to the Corporation, who died in the year + 1684:—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Alas! alas! <i>Will Scrivenor's</i> dead, who by his + art,</p> + + <p>Could make death's skeleton edible in each part,</p> + + <p>Mourn, squeamish stomachs, and ye curious + palates,</p> + + <p>You've lost your dainty dishes and your salades;</p> + + <p>Mourn for yourselves, but not for him i'th' + least</p> + + <p>He's gone to taste of a more heav'nly feast.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>At Whitchingham Magna, in the same county, is the following + epitaph to Thomas Alleyne, gent. who died Feb. 3, 1650, and his + two wives:—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Death here advantage hath of life I spye,</p> + + <p>One husband with two wives at once may lye.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr /> + + <p>A recent American newspaper has the following notice to its + readers:—"The editor, printer, publisher, foreman, and + oldest apprentice (<i>two</i> in all,) are confined by + sickness, and the whole establishment is left in the care of + the <i>devil</i>."</p> + <hr /> + + <table summary="Limbird's Editions" + align="center"> + <caption> + LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THE<br /> + <i>Following Novels is already Published:</i> + </caption> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td align="right"><i>s.</i></td> + + <td align="right"><i>d.</i></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Mackenzie's Man of Feeling</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Paul and Virginia</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>The Castle of Otranto</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Almoran and Hamet</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Rasselas</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + + <td align="right">8</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>The Old English Baron</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + + <td align="right">9</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Nature and Art</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + + <td align="right">8</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + + <td align="right">10</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Sicilian Romance</td> + + <td align="right">1</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>The Man of the World</td> + + <td align="right">1</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>A Simple Story</td> + + <td align="right">1</td> + + <td align="right">4</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Joseph Andrews</td> + + <td align="right">1</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Humphry Clinker</td> + + <td align="right">1</td> + + <td align="right">8</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>The Romance of the Forest</td> + + <td align="right">1</td> + + <td align="right">8</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>The Italian</td> + + <td align="right">2</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Zeluco, by Dr. Moore</td> + + <td align="right">2</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Edward, by Dr. Moore</td> + + <td align="right">2</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Roderick Random</td> + + <td align="right">2</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>The Mysteries of Udolpho</td> + + <td align="right">3</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Peregrine Pickle</td> + + <td align="right">4</td> + + <td align="right">6</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>"Literary Gazette," Sept. 19, 1829.</p> + </blockquote> + + <blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote2" + name="footnote2"></a><b>Footnote 2:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag2">(return)</a> + + <p>The propellers, I am informed, are not absolutely + discarded. They are now not fixed, but movable, and + reserved for extreme possible emergencies, or for certain + military purposes.</p> + </blockquote> + + <blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote3" + name="footnote3"></a><b>Footnote 3:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag3">(return)</a> + + <p>Yorkshire. This wonderful assemblage lies scattered in + groups, covering a surface of nearly forty acres of heathy + moor. The numerous rocking-stones, rock-idols, altars, + cannon rocks, &c. evidently point out this spot as + having been used by the Druids in their horrid and + mysterious ceremonies. The position of some of these rocks + is truly astonishing; one in particular resting upon a base + of a few inches, overhangs on all sides many feet; while + others seem suspended and balanced as if they hung in + air.</p> + </blockquote> + + <blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote4" + name="footnote4"></a><b>Footnote 4:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag4">(return)</a> + + <p>Human sacrifices formed part of the religious rites of + the Druids.</p> + </blockquote> + + <blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote5" + name="footnote5"></a><b>Footnote 5:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag5">(return)</a> + + <p>Picturesque Promenade round Dorking. Second Edit. 12mo. + 1823, p. 258, 259.</p> + </blockquote> + + <blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote6" + name="footnote6"></a><b>Footnote 6:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag6">(return)</a> + + <p>Ibid p. 143.</p> + </blockquote> + + <blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote7" + name="footnote7"></a><b>Footnote 7:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag7">(return)</a> + + <p>The Alpenstock, by C.J. Latrobe, 1829.</p> + </blockquote> + + <blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote8" + name="footnote8"></a><b>Footnote 8:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag8">(return)</a> + + <p>Gray's Alliance of Education and Government.</p> + </blockquote> + + <blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote9" + name="footnote9"></a><b>Footnote 9:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag9">(return)</a> + + <p>See the second Georgic of Virgil.</p> + </blockquote> + + <blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote10" + name="footnote10"></a><b>Footnote 10:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag10">(return)</a> + + <p>For a Report of this discovery, see MIRROR, vol. xiii p. + 409.</p> + </blockquote> + <hr class="full" /> + + <p><i>Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD 143, Strand, (near + Somerset House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New + Market, Leipsic; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers.</i></p> + <hr class="full" /> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13359 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/13359-h/images/193.png b/13359-h/images/193.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..84ddb00 --- /dev/null +++ b/13359-h/images/193.png diff --git a/13359-h/images/201.png b/13359-h/images/201.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e352779 --- /dev/null +++ b/13359-h/images/201.png diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c69f14b --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #13359 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13359) diff --git a/old/13359-8.txt b/old/13359-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4353c95 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13359-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1829 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror Of Literature, Amusement, And +Instruction, No. 391, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mirror Of Literature, Amusement, And Instruction, No. 391 + Vol. 14, No. 391, Saturday, September 26, 1829 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: September 3, 2004 [EBook #13359] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, William Flis, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +Vol. 14, No. 391.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1829. [PRICE 2d. + + + + * * * * * + + + +[Illustration: GURNEY'S IMPROVED STEAM CARRIAGE.] + + + + +MR. GURNEY'S IMPROVED STEAM CARRIAGE. + + +Mr. Gurney, in perfecting this invention, has followed Dr. Franklin's +advice--to tire and begin again. It is now four years since he first +commenced his ingenious enterprise; and nearly two years since we +reported and illustrated the progress he had made. (_See_ MIRROR, vol. +x. page 393, or No. 287.) He began with a large boiler, but public +prejudice was too strong for it; and knowing people talked of high +pressure accidents; the steam, could not, of course, be altogether got +rid of, so to divide the danger, Mr. Gurney made his boiler in forty +welded iron pipes; still the steam ran in a main pipe beneath the +whole of the carriage, and the evil was but modified. At length the +inventer has detached the engine and boiler, or locomotive part of +the apparatus, which is now to be fastened to the carriage, and may +be considered as a STEAM-HORSE, with no more danger than we should +apprehend from a restive animal, in whose veins the steam or mettle +circulates with too high a pressure. Fair trials have been made of +the Improved Carriage on our common roads, the Premier has decided the +machine "to be of great national importance," from sundry experiments +witnessed by his grace, at Hounslow Barracks; and the coach is +announced "really to start next month (the 1st) in working--not +experimental journeys--for travellers between London and Bath."[1] +Crack upon crack will follow joke upon joke; the _Omnibus_, with its +phaeton-like coursers will be eclipsed; and a journey to Bath and the +Hot Wells by steam will soon be an everyday event. + +Descriptions of Mr. Gurney's carriage have been so often before the +public, that extended detail is unnecessary. Besides, all our liege +subscribers will turn to the account in our No. 287. The recent +improvements have been perspicuously stated by Mr. Herapath, of +Cranford, in a letter in the _Times_ newspaper, and we cannot do +better than adopt and abridge a portion of his communication. + +"The present differs from the earlier carriage, in several +improvements in the machinery, suggested by experiment; also in +having no propellers;[2] and in having only four wheels instead of +six; the apparatus for guiding being applied immediately to the two +fore-wheels, bearing a part of the weight, instead of two extra +leading wheels bearing little or none. No person can conceive the +absolute control this apparatus gives to the director of the carriage, +unless he has had the same opportunities of observing it which I +had in a ride with Mr. Gurney. Whilst the wheels obey the slightest +motions of the hand, a trifling pressure of the foot keeps them +inflexibly steady, however rough the ground. To the hind axle, which +is very strong, and bent into two cranks of nine inches radius, at +right angles to each other, is applied the propelling power by means +of pistons from two horizontal cylinders. By this contrivance, and a +peculiar mode of admitting the steam to the cylinders, Mr. Gurney has +very ingeniously avoided that cumbersome appendage to steam-engines, +the fly-wheel, and preserves uniformity of action by constantly having +one cylinder on full pressure, whilst the other is on the reduced +expansive. The dead points--that is, those in which a piston has no +effect from being in the same right line with its crank,--are also +cleared by the same means. For as the cranks are at right angles, when +one piston is at a dead point, the other has a position of maximum +effect, and is then urged by full steam power; but no sooner has the +former passed the dead point, than an expansion valve opens on it with +full steam, and closes on the latter. Firmly fixed to the extremities +of the axle, and at right angles to it, are the two 'carriers'--(two +strong irons extending each way to the felloes of the wheels.) These +irons may be bolted to the felloes of the wheels or not, or to the +felloes of one wheel only. Thus the power applied to the axle is +carried at once to the parts of the wheels of least stress--the +circumferences. By this artifice the wheels are required to be of no +greater strength and weight than ordinary carriage-wheels; and, like +them, they turn freely and independently on the axle; but one or +both may be secured as part and parcel of the axle, as circumstances +require. The carriage is consequently propelled by the friction or +hold which either or both hind-wheels, according as the power is +applied to them jointly or separately, have on the ground. Beneath +the hind part drop two irons, with flat feet, called 'shoe-drags.' A +well-contrived apparatus, with a spindle passing up through a hollow +cylinder, to which the guiding handle is affixed, enables the director +to force one or both drags tight on the road, so as to retard the +progress in a descent, or if he please, to raise the wheels off +the ground. The propulsive power of the wheels being by this means +destroyed, the carriage is arrested in a yard or two, though going at +the rate of eighteen or twenty miles an hour. On the right hand of the +director lies the handle of the throttle-valve, by which he has the +power of increasing or diminishing the supply of steam _ad libitum_, +and hence of retarding or accelerating the carriage's velocity. The +whole carriage and machinery weigh about 16 cwt., and with the full +complement of water and coke 20 or 22 cwt., of which, I am informed, +about 16 cwt. lie on the hind-wheels." + +Mr. H. then enumerates the principle of the improvements:--"That +troublesome appendage the fly-wheel, as I have observed, Mr. Gurney +has rendered unnecessary. The danger to be apprehended in going over +rough pitching, from too rapid a generation of steam, he avoids by a +curious application of springs; and should these be insufficient, one +or two safety valves afford the _ultimatum_ of security. He ensures +an easy descent down the steepest declivity by his 'shoe-drags,' and +the power of reversing the action of the engines. His hands direct, +and his foot literally pinches obedience to the course over the +roughest and most refractory ground. The dreadful consequences of +boiler-bursting are annihilated by a judicious application of tubular +boilers. Should, indeed, a tube burst, a hiss about equal to that of a +hot nail plunged into water, contains the sum total of alarm, while a +few strokes with a hammer will set all to rights again. Lastly, he has +so contrived his 'carriers,' that they shall act without confining the +wheels, by which means there is none of that sliding and consequent +cutting up of the road, which, in sharp turnings, would result from +inflexible constraint. + +"Hills and loose, slippery ground are well known to be the _res +adversć_ of steam-carriages; on ordinary level roads they roll +along with rapid facility. In every ascent there are two additional +circumstances inimical to progressive motion. One is, that carriages +press less on the ground of a hill than on that of a plain, thus +giving the wheels a less forcible grasp or bite. But this may be +easily remedied in the structure of a carriage, and is not of very +material consequence in the steepest hills that we have. The other is +more serious. When a carriage ascends a hill, the weight or gravity of +the whole is decomposable into two--one perpendicular, and the other +parallel to the road. The former constitutes the pressure on the road, +the latter the additional work the engine has to perform. Universally +this is the same part of the whole carriage and its load together, +which the perpendicular ascent of the hill is of its length. With +these principles, if we knew the bite of the wheels on the road, +we could at once subject the powers of Mr. Gurney's carriage to +calculation. + +"Now, from one of the experiments made in the barrack-yard, at +Hounslow, I find we can approximate towards it. For instance, with one +wheel only fixed to the 'carriers,' the carriage drew itself and load +of water and coke (about 1 ton), with three men on it, and a wagon +behind of 16 cwt. containing 27 soldiers. This, at the rate of 1-1/2 +cwt. to a man, in round numbers is 4 tons. Estimating the force of +traction of spring carriages at a twelfth of the total weight, it +consequently gives a hold or bite on the road of 1-12 of 4 tons, or +6 2-3rds cwt. per wheel, or 13 1-3rd cwt. for the two wheels. This is +likewise the propelling force of the carriage. Supposing, therefore, +we were ascending a hill of 1 foot rise in 8, which I am assured +exceeds in steepness any hill we have, we should be able to draw a +load behind of 2 tons 2 cwt., or between 3 and 4 tons altogether.... + +"On a good level road I think it not improbable it might draw, instead +of 7 tons which our experiment would give, from 10 to 11, besides +its own weight, or 100 ordinary men, exclusive of 2 or 3 tons for +carriages; and up one of our steepest hills, 3 tons besides itself, or +25 men besides a ton for a carriage. This it would do at a rate of 8, +9, or 10 miles an hour. For it is a singular feature in this carriage, +and which was remarked by many at the time, that it maintained very +nearly the same speed with a wagon and 27 men, that it did with the +carriage and only 5 or 6 persons. But there is a fact connected with +this machine still more extraordinary. For instance, every additional +cwt. we shift on the hind or working wheels, will increase the power +of traction in our steepest hills upwards of 4 cwt., and on the +level road half a ton. Such, then, is the paradoxical nature of +steam-carriages, that the very circumstance which in animal exertion +would weaken and retard, will here multiply their strength and +accelerate. This, no doubt, Mr. Gurney's ingenuity will soon turn to +profitable account. + +"It has often been asserted that carriages of this sort could not +go above 6 or 7 miles an hour. I can see no reasonable objection +to 20. The following fact, decided before a large company in the +barrack-yard, will best speak for itself:--At eighteen minutes after +three I ascended the carriage with Mr. Gurney. After we had gone about +half way round, 'Now,' said Mr. Gurney, 'I will show you her speed.' +He did, and we completed seven turns round the outside of the road +by twenty-eight minutes after three. If, therefore, as I was there +assured, two and a half turns measured one mile, we went 2.8 miles +in ten minutes; that is, at the rate of 16.8, or nearly 17 miles per +hour. But as Mr. Gurney slackened its motion once or twice in the +course of trial, to speak to some one, and did not go at an equal rate +all the way round for fear of accident in the crowd, it is clear that +sometimes we must have proceeded at the rate of upwards of twenty +miles an hour." + +The Engraving will furnish the reader with a correct idea of such of +Mr. Gurney's improvements as are most interesting to the public. The +present arrangement is certainly very preferable to placing the boiler +and engine in immediate contact with the carriage, which is to convey +goods and passengers. Men of science are still much divided on the +practical economy of using steam instead of horses as a travelling +agent; but we hope, like all great contemporaries they may whet and +cultivate each other till the desired object is attained. One of them, +a writer in the _Atlas_, observes, that "if ultimately found capable +of being brought into public use, it would probably be most convenient +and desirable that several locomotive engines should be employed on +one line of road, in order that they might be exchanged at certain +stages for the purposes of examination, tightening of screws, and +other adjustments, which the jolting on passing over the road might +render necessary, and for the supply of fuel and water." + +An effectively-coloured lithographic of Mr. Gurney's carriage (by +Shoesmith) has recently appeared at the printsellers', which we take +this opportunity of recommending to the notice of collectors and +scrappers. + +[Footnote 1: "Literary Gazette," Sept. 19, 1829.] + +[Footnote 2: The propellers, I am informed, are not absolutely +discarded. They are now not fixed, but movable, and reserved for +extreme possible emergencies, or for certain military purposes.] + + * * * * * + + +PUNNING SATIRE ON AN INCONSTANT LOVER. + + You are as faithless as a _Carthaginian_, + To love at once, _Kate, Nell, Doll, Martha, Jenny, Anne._ + +SWIFT. + + * * * * * + + +BRIMHAM ROCKS[3] BY MOONLIGHT. + +(_FOR THE MIRROR._) + + + The sun hath set, but yet I linger still, + Gazing with rapture on the face of night; + And mountain wild, deep vale, and heathy hill, + Lay like a lovely vision, mellow, bright, + Bathed in the glory of the sunset light, + Whose changing hues in flick'ring radiance play, + Faint and yet fainter on the outstretch'd sight, + Until at length they wane and die away, + And all th' horizon round fades into twilight gray. + + But, slowly rising up the vaulted sky, + Forth comes the moon, night's joyous, sylvan queen, + With one lone, silent star, attendant by + Her side, all sparkling in its glorious sheen; + And, floating swan-like, stately, and serene, + A few light fleecy clouds, the drapery of heav'n, + Throw their pale shadows o'er this witching scene, + Deep'ning its mystic grandeur--and seem driven + Round these all shapeless piles like Time's wan spectres risen + + From out the tombs of ages. All around + Lies hushed and still, save with large, dusky wing + The bird of night makes its ill-omened sound; + Or moor-game, nestling 'neath th' flowery ling + Low chuckle to their mates--or startled, spring + Away on rustling pinions to the sky, + Wheel round and round in many an airy ring, + Then swooping downward to their covert hie, + And, lodged beneath the heath again securely lie. + + Ascend yon hoary rock's impending brow, + And on its windy summit take your stand-- + Lo! Wilsill's lovely vale extends below, + And long, long heathy moors on either hand + Stretch dark and misty--a bleak tract of land, + Whereon but seldom human footsteps come; + Save when with dog, obedient at command, + And gun, the sportsman quits his city home, + And brushing through the ling in quest of game doth roam. + + And lo! in wild confusion scattered round, + Huge, shapeless, naked, massy piles of stone + Rise, proudly towering o'er this barren ground, + Scowling in mutual hate--apart, alone, + Stern, desolate they stand--and seeming thrown + By some dire, dread convulsion of the earth + From her deep, silent caves, and hoary grown + With age and storms that Boreas issues forth + Replete with ire from his wild regions in the north. + + How beautiful! yet wildly beautiful, + As group on group comes glim'ring on the eye, + Making the heart, soul, mind, and spirit full + Of holy rapture and sweet imagery; + Till o'er the lip escapes th' unconscious sigh, + And heaves the breast with feeling, too too deep + For words t' express the awful sympathy, + That like a dream doth o'er the senses creep, + Chaining the gazer's eye--and yet he cannot weep. + + But stands entranced and rooted to the spot, + While grows the scene upon him vast, sublime, + Like some gigantic city's ruin, not + Inhabited by men, but Titans--Time + Here rests upon his scythe and fears to climb, + Spent by th' unceasing toil of ages past, + Musing he stands and listens to the chime + Of rock-born spirits howling in the blast, + While gloomily around night's sable shades are cast. + + Well deemed I ween the Druid sage of old + In making this his dwelling place on high; + Where all that's huge and great from Nature's mould, + Spoke this the temple of his deity; + Whose walls and roof were the o'erhanging sky, + His altar th' unhewn rock, all bleak and bare, + Where superstition with red, phrensied eye + And look all wild, poured forth her idol prayer, + As rose the dying wail,[4] and blazed the pile in air. + + Lost in the lapse of time, the Druid's lore + Hath ceased to echo these rude rocks among; + No altar new is stained with human gore; + No hoary bard now weaves the mystic song; + Nor thrust in wicker hurdles, throng on throng, + Whole multitudes are offered to appease + Some angry god, whose will and power of wrong + Vainly they thus essayed to soothe and please-- + Alas! that thoughts so gross man's noblest powers should seize. + + But, bowed beneath the cross, see! prostrate fall + The mummeries that long enthralled our isle; + So perish error! and wide over all + Let reason, truth, religion ever smile: + And let not man, vain, impious man defile + The spark heaven lighted in the human breast; + Let no enthusiastic rage, no sophist's wile + Lull the poor victim into careless rest, + Since the pure gospel page can teach him to be blest. + + Weak, trifling man, O! come and ponder here + Upon the nothingness of human things-- + How vain, how very vain doth then appear + The city's hum, the pomp and pride of kings; + All that from wealth, power, grandeur, beauty springs, + Alike must fade, die, perish, be forgot; + E'en he whose feeble hand now strikes the strings + Soon, soon within the silent grave must rot-- + Yet Nature's still the same, though we see, we hear her not. + +J. HORNER. + +_Wilsill, near Pateley Bridge, Sept. 1829._ + +[Footnote 3: Yorkshire. This wonderful assemblage lies scattered in +groups, covering a surface of nearly forty acres of heathy moor. +The numerous rocking-stones, rock-idols, altars, cannon rocks, &c. +evidently point out this spot as having been used by the Druids in +their horrid and mysterious ceremonies. The position of some of these +rocks is truly astonishing; one in particular resting upon a base of +a few inches, overhangs on all sides many feet; while others seem +suspended and balanced as if they hung in air.] + +[Footnote 4: Human sacrifices formed part of the religious rites of +the Druids.] + + * * * * * + + + +MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS. + + * * * * * + + +PLEDGING HEALTHS. + +The origin of the very common expression, to _pledge_ one drinking, +is curious: it is thus related by a very celebrated antiquarian of +the fifteenth century. "When the _Danes_ bore sway in this land, if +a native did drink, they would sometimes stab him with a dagger or +knife; hereupon people would not drink in company unless some one +present would be their _pledge_ or surety, that they should receive no +hurt, whilst they were in their draught; hence that usual phrase, I'll +_pledge you_, or be a pledge for you." Others affirm the true sense of +the word was, that if the party drank to, were not disposed to drink +himself, he would put another for _a pledge_ to do it for him, else +the party who began would take it ill. + +J.W. + + * * * * * + +RUSSIAN SUPERSTITION. + +The extreme superstition of the Greek church, the national one of +Russia, seems to exceed that of the Roman Catholic devotees, even in +Spain and Portugal. The following instance will show the absurdity of +it even among the higher classes:-- + +A Russian princess, some few years since, had always a large silver +crucifix following her in a separate carriage, and which was placed in +her chamber. When any thing fortunate happened to her in the course +of the day, and she was satisfied with all that had occurred, she +had lighted tapers placed around the crucifix, and said to it in a +familiar style, "See, now, as you have been very good to me to-day, +you shall be treated well; you shall have candles all night; I will +love you; I will pray to you." If on the contrary, any thing happened +to vex the lady, she had the candles put out, ordered her servants not +to pay any homage to the poor image, and loaded it herself with the +bitterest reproaches. + +INA. + + * * * * * + + +THE SELECTOR; + +AND LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS_. + + * * * * * + +LIBRARY OF ENTERTAINING KNOWLEDGE. + +_FRUITS_. + +This Part (5) completes the volume of "Vegetable Substances used in +the Arts and in Domestic Economy." The first portion--_Timber Trees_ +was noticed at some length in our last volume (page 309,) and received +our almost unqualified commendation, which we are induced to extend to +the Part now before us. Still, we do not recollect to have pointed +out to our readers that which appears to us the great recommendatory +feature of this series of works--we mean the arrangement of the +volumes--their subdivisions and exemplifications--and these evince a +master-hand in compilation. + +Every general reader must be aware that little novelty could be +expected in a brief History and Description of Timber Trees and +Fruits, and that the object of the Useful Knowledge Society was not +merely to furnish the public with new views, but to present in the +most attractive form the most entertaining facts of established +writers, and illustrate their views with the observations of +contemporary authors as well as their own personal acquaintance with +the subjects. In this manner, the Editor has taken "a general +and rapid view of fruits," and, considering the great hold their +description possesses on all readers, we are disposed to think almost +too rapid. We should have enjoyed a volume or two more than half a +volume of such reading as the present; but as we are not purchasers, +and are unacquainted with the number to which the Society propose +to extend their works, we ought not perhaps to raise this objection, +which, to say the truth, is a sort of negative commendation. Hitherto, +we have been accustomed to see compilations of pretensions similar +to the present, executed with little regard to neatness or unity, +or weight or consideration. Whole pages and long extracts have been +stripped and sliced off books, with little rule or arrangement, and +what is still worse, without any acknowledgment of the sources. +The last defect is certainly the greatest, since, in spite of +ill-arrangement, an intelligent inquirer may with much trouble, avail +himself of further reference to the authors quoted, and thus complete +in his own mind what the compiler had so indifferently begun. The work +before us is, however, altogether of a much higher order than general +compilations. The introductions and inferences are pointed and +judicious, and the facts themselves of the most interesting character, +are narrated in a condensed but perspicuous style; while the slightest +reference will prove that the best and latest authorities have +been appreciated. Thus, in the History and Description of Fruits, +the Transactions of the Horticultural Society are frequently and +pertinently quoted to establish disputed points, as well as the +journals of intelligent travellers and naturalists; with occasional +poetical embellishments, which lend a charm even to this attractive +species of reading. + +To quote the history of either Fruit entire, would not so well denote +the character of the work as would a few of the most striking passages +in the descriptions. In the introductory chapter we are pleased with +the following passage on _Monastic Gardens_. + +"The monks, after the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, +appear to have been the only gardeners. As early as 674, we have +a record, describing a pleasant and fruit-bearing close at Ely, +then cultivated by Brithnoth, the first Abbot of that place. The +ecclesiastics subsequently carried their cultivation of fruits as +tar as was compatible with the nature of the climate, and the +horticultural knowledge of the middle ages. Whoever has seen an old +abbey, where for generations destruction only has been at work, must +have almost invariably found it situated in one of the choicest spots, +both as to soil and aspect; and if the hand of injudicious improvement +has not swept it away, there is still the 'Abbey-garden.' Even though +it has been wholly neglected--though its walls be in ruins, covered +with stone-crop and wall-flower, and its area produce but the rankest +weeds--there are still the remains of the aged fruit trees--the +venerable pears, the delicate little apples, and the luscious black +cherries. The chestnuts and the walnuts may have yielded to the axe, +and the fig trees and vines died away;--but sometimes the mulberry is +left, and the strawberry and the raspberry struggle among the ruins. +There is a moral lesson in these memorials of the monastic ages. The +monks, with all their faults, were generally men of peace and study; +and these monuments show that they were improving the world, while the +warriors were spending their lives to spoil it. In many parts of Italy +and France, which had lain in desolation and ruin from the time of +the Goths, the monks restored the whole surface to fertility; and in +Scotland and Ireland there probably would not have been a fruit tree +till the sixteenth century, if it had not been for their peaceful +labours. It is generally supposed that the monastic orchards were in +their greatest perfection from the twelfth to the fifteenth century." + +Again, the + +_NATURALIZATION OF PLANTS._ + +"The large number of our native plants (for we call those native which +have adapted themselves to our climate) mark the gradual progress of +our civilization through the long period of two thousand years; whilst +the almost infinite diversity of exotics which a botanical garden +offers, attest the triumphs of that industry which has carried us +as merchants or as colonists over every region of the earth, and has +brought from every region whatever can administer to our comforts and +our luxuries,--to the tastes and the needful desires of the humblest +as well as the highest amongst us. To the same commerce we owe the +potato and the pine-apple; the China rose, whose flowers cluster round +the cottage-porch, and the Camellia which blooms in the conservatory. +The addition even of a flower, or an ornamental shrub, to those which +we already possess, is not to be regarded as a matter below the +care of industry and science. The more we extend our acquaintance +with the productions of nature, the more are our minds elevated by +contemplating the variety, as well as the exceeding beauty, of the +works of the Creator. The highest understanding does not stoop when +occupied in observing the brilliant colour of a blossom, or the +graceful form of a leaf. Hogarth, the great moral painter, a man in +all respects of real and original genius, writes thus to his friend +Ellis, a distinguished traveller and naturalist:--'As for your pretty +little seed-cups, or vases, they are a sweet confirmation of the +pleasure Nature seems to take in superadding an elegance of form to +most of her works, wherever you find them. How poor and bungling are +all the imitations of Art! When I have the pleasure of seeing you +next, we will sit down, _nay, kneel down if you will_, and admire +these things.' + + * * * * * + +"It is one of the proudest attributes of man, and one which is most +important for him to know, that he can improve every production +of nature, if he will but once make it his own by possession and +attachment. A conviction of this truth has rendered the cultivation of +fruits, in the more polished countries of Europe, as successful as we +now behold it." + +The work then divides into _Fruits of the Temperate Climates_, and +of _Tropical Climates_; the first are subdivided into Fleshy, Pulpy, +and Stone Fruits and Nuts, in preference to a strict geographical +arrangement. Under "the Apple" occur some very judicious observations +on + +_CIDER._ + +"The cider counties of England have always been considered as highly +interesting. They lie something in the form of a horse-shoe round +the Bristol Channel; and the best are, Worcester and Hereford, on +the north of the channel, and Somerset and Devon on the south. In +appearance, they have a considerable advantage over those counties +in which grain alone is cultivated. The blossoms cover an extensive +district with a profusion of flowers in the spring, and the fruit is +beautiful in autumn. Some of the orchards occupy a space of forty or +fifty acres; and the trees being at considerable intervals, the land +is also kept in tillage. A great deal of practical acquaintance with +the qualities of soil is required in the culture of apple and pear +trees; and his skill in the adaptation of trees to their situation +principally determines the success of the manufacturer of cider +and perry. The produce of the orchards is very fluctuating; and the +growers seldom expect an abundant crop more than once in three years. +The quantity of apples required to make a hogshead of cider is from +twenty-four to thirty bushels; and in a good year an acre of orchard +will produce somewhere about six hundred bushels, or from twenty to +twenty-five hogsheads. The cider harvest is in September. When the +season is favourable, the heaps of apples collected at the presses are +immense--consisting of hundreds of tons. If any of the vessels used in +the manufacture of cider are of lead, the beverage is not wholesome. +The price of a hogshead of cider generally varies from 2l. to 5l., +according to the season and quality; but cider of the finest growth +has sometimes been sold as high as 20l. by the hogshead, direct from +the press--a price equal to that of many of the fine wines of the +Rhine or the Garonne." + + * * * * * + +_OLD APPLE TREES._ + +"At Horton, in Buckinghamshire, where Milton spent some of his earlier +years, there is an apple tree still growing, of which the oldest +people remember to have heard it said that the poet was accustomed +to sit under it. And upon the low leads of the church at Romsey, in +Hampshire, there is an apple tree still bearing fruit, which is said +to be two hundred years old." + +The _Fig_ and the _Fine_ are equally interesting, and in connexion +with the latter we notice the editor's mention of the fine vineyard +at Arundel Castle. Aubrey describes a similar vineyard at Chart Park, +near Dorking, another seat of the Howards. "Here was a vineyard, +supposed to have been planted by the Hon. Charles Howard, who, it is +said, erected his residence, as it were, in the vineyard." Again, "the +vineyard flourished for some time, and tolerably good wine was made +from the produce; but after the death of the noble planter, in 1713, +it was much neglected, and nothing remained but the name. On taking +down the house, a stone resembling a millstone, was found, by which +the grapes were pressed."[5] We were on the spot at the time, and saw +the stone in question. Vines are still very abundant at Dorking, the +soil being very congenial to their growth. "Hence, almost every house +in this part has its vine; and some of the plants are very productive. +The cottages of the labouring poor are not without this ornament, and +the produce is usually sold by them to their wealthier neighbours, for +the manufacture of wine. The price per bushel is from 4s. to 16s.; +but the variableness of the season frequently disappoints them in the +crops, the produce of which is sometimes laid up as a setoff to the +rent."[6] + +We have heard too of attempts in England to train the vine on +the sides of hills, and a few years since an individual lost a +considerable sum of money in making the experiment in the Isle of +Wight. + +At page 257, observes the editor, + +_A VINEYARD_ + +"Associated as it is with all our ideas of beauty and plenty, is, +in general, a disappointing object. The hop plantations of our own +country are far more picturesque. In France, the vines are trained +upon poles, seldom more than three or four feet in height; and 'the +pole-clipt vineyard' of poetry is not the most inviting of real +objects. In Spain, poles for supporting vines are not used; but +cuttings are planted, which are not permitted to grow very high, but +gradually form thick and stout stocks. In Switzerland, and in the +German provinces, the vineyards are as formal as those of France. +But in Italy is found the true vine of poetry, 'surrounding the stone +cottage with its girdle, flinging its pliant and luxuriant branches +over the rustic veranda, or twining its long garland from tree to +tree.'[7] It was the luxuriance and the beauty of her vines and her +olives that tempted the rude people of the north to pour down upon her +fertile fields:-- + + 'The prostrate South to the destroyer yields + Her boasted titles and her golden fields; + With grim delight the brood of winter view + A brighter day, and heavens of azure hue. + Scent the new fragrance of the breathing rose. + And quaff the pendent vintage as it grows.'[8] + +"In Greece, too, as well as Italy, the shoots of the vines are +either trained upon trees, or supported, so as to display all their +luxuriance, upon a series of props. This was the custom of the ancient +vine-growers; and their descendants have preserved it in all its +picturesque originality.[9] The vine-dressers of Persia train their +vines to run up a wall, and curl over on the top. But the most +luxurious cultivation of the vine in hot countries is where it covers +the trellis-work which surrounds a well, inviting the owner and his +family to gather beneath its shade. 'The fruitful bough by well' is of +the highest antiquity." + +Passing over the Mulberry, Currant, Gooseberry, and the Strawberry, +the account of the Egg Plant is particularly attractive; and that of +the Olive is well-written, but too long for extract. + +Among the _Tropical Fruits_, the Orange and the Date are very +delightful; and equal in importance and interest are the Cocoa Nut +and Bread Fruit Tree. In short, it is impossible to open the volume +without being gratified with the richness and variety of its contents, +and the amiable feeling which pervades the inferences and incidental +observations of the writer. + +A word or two on the embellishments and we have done. These are +far behind the literary merits of the volume, and are discreditable +productions. Where so much is well done it were better to omit +engravings altogether than adopt such as these: "they imitate nature +so abominably." The group at page 223 is a fair specimen of the whole, +than which nothing can be more lifeless. After the excellent cuts of +Mr. London's Gardener's and Natural History Magazines, we turn away +from these with pain, and it must be equally vexatious to the editor +to see such accompaniments to his pages. + +[Footnote 5: Picturesque Promenade round Dorking. Second Edit. 12mo. +1823, p. 258, 259.] + +[Footnote 6: Ibid p. 143.] + +[Footnote 7: The Alpenstock, by C.J. Latrobe, 1829.] + +[Footnote 8: Gray's Alliance of Education and Government.] + +[Footnote 9: See the second Georgic of Virgil.] + + * * * * * + + +SHAKSPEARE'S BROOCH. + +[Illustration] + +(_TO THE EDITOR OF THE MIRROR._) + +Having frequently observed in your valuable publication the great +attention which you have paid to every thing relating to the "Immortal +Bard of Avon," I beg leave to transmit to you two drawings (the one +back, the other front) of a brooch or buckle, found near the residence +of the poet, at New Place, Stratford, among the rubbish brought out +from the spot where the house stood. This brooch is considered by the +most competent judges and antiquarians in and near Stratford, to have +been the personal property of Shakspeare. A. is the back; 1 and 2, +faint traces of the letters which were nearly obliterated, by the +person who found the relic, in scraping to ascertain whether the +metal was precious, the whole of it being covered with gangrene +or verdigris. 3 and 4 are the remains of the hinge to the pin. +Fortunately the W. at the corner was preserved. B. represents the +front of the brooch; 1, 3, and 5, are red stones in the top part +(similar in shape to a coronet) 2 and 4 are blue stones in the same; +the other stones in the bottom or heart are white, though varying +rather in hue, and all are set in silver. + +HJTHWC. + +N.B. The above is shown to the curious by the individual who found +it--a poor man named Smith, living in Sheep Street, Stratford. + + * * * * * + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS + + * * * * * + +The greater portion of the following Notes will, we are persuaded, be +new to all but the bibliomaniacs in theatrical lore. They occur in a +paper of 45 pages in the last Edinburgh Review, in which the writer +attributes the Decline of the Drama to a variety of causes--as +late hours, costly representations, high salaries, and excessive +taxation--some of which we have selected for extract. In our affection +for the Stage, we have paid some attention to its history, as well +as to its recent state, and readily do we subscribe to a few of the +Reviewer's opinions of the cause of its neglect. But to attribute this +falling off to "taxes innumerable" is rather too broad: perhaps the +highly-taxed wax lights around the box circles suggested this new +light. We need not go so far to detect the rottenness of the dramatic +state; still, as the question involves controversy at every point, +we had rather keep out of the fight, and leave our Reviewer without +further note or comment. + + +NOTES ON THE DRAMA. + +(_FROM THE EDINBURGH REVIEW, NO. 98._) + +_ORIGIN OF ADMISSION MONEY._ + +There were at Athens various funds, applicable to public purposes; one +of which, and among the most considerable, was appropriated for the +expensed of sacrifices, processions, festivals, spectacles, and of +the theatres. The citizens were admitted to the theatres for some time +gratis; but in consequence of the disturbances caused by multitudes +crowding to get seats, to introduce order, and as the phrase is, +to keep out improper persons, a small sum of money was afterwards +demanded for admission. That the poorer classes, however, might not +be deprived of their favourite gratification, they received from the +treasury, out of this fund, the price of a seat--and thus peace and +regularity were secured, and the fund still applied to its original +purpose. The money that was taken at the doors, having served as a +ticket, was expended, together with that which had not been used in +this manner, to maintain the edifice itself, and to pay the manifold +charges of the representation. + +"_DRAMATIC REPRESENTATIONS NATURAL TO MAN._" + +Travellers inform us, that savages, even in a very rude state, are +found to divert themselves by imitating some common event in life: but +it is not necessary to leave our own quiet homes to satisfy ourselves, +that dramatic representations are natural to man. All children +delight in mimicking action; many of their amusements consist in such +performances, and are in every sense _plays_. It is curious, indeed, +to observe at how early an age the young of the most imitative animal, +man, begin to copy the actions of others; how soon the infant displays +its intimate conviction of the great truth, that "all the world's a +Stage." The baby does not imitate those acts only, that are useful +and necessary to be learned; but it instinctively mocks useless and +unimportant actions and unmeaning sounds, for its amusement, and for +the mere pleasure of imitation, and is evidently much delighted +when it is successful. The diversions of children are very commonly +dramatic. When they are not occupied with their hoops, tops, and +balls, or engaged in some artificial game, they amuse themselves in +playing at soldiers, in being at school, or at church, in going to +market, in receiving company; and they imitate the various employments +of life with so much fidelity, that the theatrical critic, who +delights in chaste acting, will often find less to censure in his own +little servants in the nursery, than in his majesty's servants in a +theatre-royal. When they are somewhat older they dramatize the stories +they read; most boys have represented Robin Hood, or one of his +merry-men, and every one has enacted the part of Robinson Crusoe, +and his man Friday. We have heard of many extraordinary tastes and +antipathies; but we never knew an instance of a young person, who +was not delighted the first time he visited a theatre. The true +enjoyment of life consists in action; and happiness, according to +the peripatetic definition, is to be found in energy; it accords, +therefore, with the nature and etymology of the drama, which is, +in truth, not less natural than agreeable. Its grand divisions +correspond, moreover, with those of time; the contemplation of the +present is Comedy--mirth for the most part being connected with the +present only--and the past and the future are the dominions of the +Tragic muse. + +_GRECIAN THEATRES._ + +The climate of Athens being one of the finest and most agreeable in +the world, the Athenians passed the greatest part of their time in the +open air; and their theatres, like those in the rest of Greece and +in ancient Rome, had no other covering than the sky. Their structure +accordingly differed greatly from that of a modern playhouse, and the +representation in many respects was executed in a different manner. +But we will mention those peculiarities only which are necessary to +render our observations intelligible. + +The ancient theatres, in the first place, were on a much larger scale +than any that have been constructed in later days. It would have +been impossible, by reason of the magnitude of the edifice, and +consequently of the stage, to have changed the scenes in the same +manner as in our smaller buildings. The scene, as it was called, was +a permanent structure, and resembled the front of Somerset House, of +the Horse Guards, or the Tuileries, and was in the same style of +architecture as the rest of the spacious edifice. There were three +large gateways, through each of which a view of streets, or of woods, +or of whatever was suitable to the action represented, was displayed; +this painting was fixed upon a triangular frame, that turned on an +axis, like a swivel seal, or ring, so that any one of the three +sides might be presented to the spectators, and perhaps the two that +were turned away might be covered with other subjects, if it were +necessary. If parts of Regent Street, or of Whitehall, or the Mansion +House, and the Bank of England, were shown through the openings in +the fixed scene, it would be plain that the fable was intended to be +referred to London; and it would be removed to Edinburgh, or Paris, +if the more striking portions of those cities were thus exhibited. The +front of the scene was broken by columns, by bays and promontories in +the line of the building, which gave beauty and variety to the façade, +and aided the deception produced by the paintings that were seen +through the three openings. In the Roman Theatres there were commonly +two considerable projections, like large bow-windows, or bastions, +in the spaces between the apertures; this very uneven line afforded +assistance to the plot, in enabling different parties to be on the +stage at the same time, without seeing one another. The whole front of +the stage was called the scene, or covered building, to distinguish it +from the rest of the theatre, which was open to the air, except that +a covered portico frequently ran round the semicircular part of the +edifice at the back of the highest row of seats, which answered to +our galleries, and was occupied, like them, by the gods, who stood in +crowds upon the level floor of their celestial abodes. + +Immediately in front of the stage, as with us, was the orchestra; +but it was of much larger dimensions, not only positively, but +in proportion to the theatre. In our playhouses it is exclusively +inhabited by fiddles and their fiddlers; the ancients appropriated it +to more dignified purposes; for there stood the high altar of Bacchus, +richly ornamented and elevated, and around it moved the sacred Chorus +to solemn measures, in stately array and in magnificent vestments, +with crowns and incense, chanting at intervals their songs, and +occupied in their various rites, as we have before mentioned. It is +one of the many instances of uninterrupted traditions, that this part +of our theatres is still devoted to receive musicians, although, +in comparison with their predecessors, they are of an ignoble and +degenerate race. + +The use of masks was another remarkable peculiarity of the ancient +acting. It has been conjectured, that the tragic mask was invented +to conceal the face of the actor, which, in a small city like Athens, +must have been known to the greater part of the audience, as vulgar +in expression, and it sometimes would have brought to mind most +unseasonably the remembrance of a life and of habits, that would have +repelled all sympathy with the character which he was to personate. It +would not have been endured, that a player should perform the part of +a monarch in his ordinary dress, nor that of a hero with his own mean +physiognomy. It is probable, also, that the likeness of every hero of +tragedy was handed down in statues, medals, and paintings, or even in +a series of masks; and that the countenance of Theseus, or of Ajax, +was as well known to the spectators as the face of any of their +contemporaries. Whenever a living character was introduced by name, as +Cleon or Socrates, in the old comedy, we may suppose that the mask was +a striking, although not a flattering portrait. We cannot doubt, that +these masks were made with great care, and were skilfully painted, +and finished with the nicest accuracy; for every art was brought to +a focus in the Greek theatres. We must not imagine, like schoolboys, +that the tragedies of Sophocles were performed at Athens in such +rude masks as are exhibited in our music shops. We have some +representations of them in antique sculptures and paintings, with +features somewhat distorted, but of exquisite and inimitable beauty. + +_THE ROMAN STAGE._ + +The Drama of ancient Rome possesses little of originality or interest. +The word _Histrio_ is said to be of Etruscan origin; the Tuscans, +therefore, had their theatres; but little information can now be +gleaned respecting them. It was long before theatres were firmly and +permanently established in Rome; but the love of these diversions +gradually became too powerful for the censors, and the Romans grew, +at last, nearly as fond of them as the Greeks. The latter, as St. +Augustine informs us, did not consider the profession of a player as +dishonourable: "Ipsos scenicos non turpes judicaverunt, sed dignos +etiam prćclaris honoribus habuerunt."--_De Civ. Dei_. The more prudish +Romans, however, were less tolerant; and we find in the Code various +constitutions levelled against actors, and one law especially, which +would not suit our senate, forbidding senators to marry actresses; but +this was afterwards relaxed by Justinian, who had broken it himself. +He permitted such marriages to take place on obtaining the consent +of the emperor, and afterwards without, so that the lady quitted the +stage, and changed her manner of life. The Romans, however, had at +least enough of kindly feeling towards a Comedian to pray for the +safety, or refection, of his soul after death; this is proved by a +pleasant epitaph on a player, which is published in the collection +of Gori:-- + + Pro jocis, quibus cunctos + oblectabat, + Si quid oblectamenti apud + vos est + Manes, insontem reficite + Animulam." + +_COSTUME._ + +It is probable that the imagination of the spectator could without +difficulty dispense with scenes, particularly if the surrounding +objects were somewhat removed from the ordinary aspect of every-day +things; if the performance were to take place, for example, in the +hall of a college, or in a church. + +The costume that prevails at present almost universally, is so +barbarous and mean, and it changes in so many minute particulars so +frequently, that it is impossible to conceive the hero of a tragedy +actually wearing such attire. A more picturesque dress seems therefore +to be indispensable; but the essentials of the costume of any time, +from which dramatic subjects could be taken, are by no means costly. +All that is absolutely necessary in vestments to content the fancy, +might be procured at a trifling expense, and the hero or heroine +might be supplied with the ordinary apparel of Greece, or Rome, or of +any other country, at a small price. We must carefully distinguish, +however, between the necessaries and the luxuries of deception; the +form, and sometimes the colour, demand a scrupulous accuracy; the +texture is always unimportant. We may comprehend, therefore, how the +old English theatre, notwithstanding the small outlay on decorations, +by a strict attention to essentials, possessed considerable +attractions; we may readily believe, that there were many companies +who were maintained by their trade; "that all those companies got +money and lived in reputation, especially those of the Blackfriars, +who were men of grave and sober behaviour." + +_THE OLD DRAMA._ + +Our literature is remarkably rich in old dramas; but they are of +little use to the present age. Fastidiousness and hypocrisy have grown +for many years, slowly but surely, and have at last arrived at such +a pitch, that there is hardly a line in the works of our old comic +writers, which is not reprobated as immoral, or at least vulgar. +The excessive squeamishness of taste of the present day is very +unfavourable to the genius of comedy, which demands a certain liberty +and a freedom from restraints. This morbid delicacy is a great +evil, for it renders the time of limitation in all comic writings +exceedingly short. The ephemeral duration of the fashion, which is +all the production of a man of wit can now enjoy, discourages authors. +There is no motive to bestow much care on such compositions, and they +fall below the ambition of men of real talents--for the best part of +the reward of literary labour consists in the lasting admiration of +posterity; and as some new fastidiousness will consign to oblivion, in +a short time, every comic production, it is plain that such a reward +cannot be reasonably anticipated. We are more completely, than any +other nation, the victims of fashion. Everything here must either be +in the last and newest fashion, or it must cease to be. The despotism +of fashion in dress, in furniture, and in the pattern of the edges of +plate, is perhaps inconvenient--it is, however, not very important; +but it is a cruel grievance that it should interfere with and +annihilate an entire department of our literature. + +_HOURS OF REPRESENTATION._ + +Dramatic representations were formerly given, not only in Greece and +Rome, but in England also, in the daytime, and in the open air. "The +Globe, Fortune, and Bull, were large houses, and partly open to the +weather, and there they always acted by daylight;" and plays were +first acted in Spain in the open courts of great houses, which were +sometimes covered, in whole or in part, with an awning to keep off the +sun. The word _sale_, which is used as a stage direction, meaning not +_exit_, but he enters, i.e. he comes out of the house into the open +air, is an evidence of the old practice. We are inclined to think +that the morning is more favourable to dramatic excellence than the +evening. The daylight accords with the truth and sobriety of nature, +and it is the season of cool judgment: the gilded, the painted, the +tawdry, the meretricious--spangles and tinsel, and tarnished and +glittering trumpery--demand the glare of candle-light and the shades +of night. It is certain, that the best pieces were written for the +day; and it is probable, that the best actors were those who performed +whilst the sun was above the horizon. The childish trash which now +occupies so large a portion of the public attention could not, it is +evident, keep possession of the stage, if it were to be presented, not +at ten o'clock at night, but twelve hours earlier. Much would need to +be changed in the dresses, scenery, and decorations, and in many other +respects, in the pieces, the solid merits of which would be able to +undergo the severe ordeal; and if we consider _what_ changes would be +required to adapt them to the altered hours, we shall find that they +will be all in favour of good taste, and on the side of nature and +simplicity. The day is a holy thing; Homer aptly calls it [Greek: +ieron aemar], and it still retains something of the sacred simplicity +of ancient times. It is, at all events, less sophisticated and +polluted than the modern night, a period which is not devoted to +wholesome sleep, but to various constraints and sufferings, called, +in bitter mockery, Pleasure. The late evening, being a modern +invention, is therefore devoted to fashion; to recur to the simple and +pure in theatricals, it would probably be necessary to effect an +escape from a period of time, which has never been employed in the +full integrity of tasteful elegance; and thus to break the spell, by +which the whole realm of fancy has long been bewitched. An absurd and +inconvenient practice, which is almost peculiar to this country, of +attending public places in that uncomfortable condition, which is +technically called being dressed, but which is in truth, especially in +females, being more or less naked and undressed, might more easily be +dispensed with by day, and on that account, and for many other reasons, +it would be less difficult to return home. + +_DECLINE OF THE DRAMA._ + +It is not unlikely that the drama would be more successful if it were +conducted more plainly, and in a less costly style. The perfection +of the machinery and scenery of the modern theatres, seems to be +unfavourable to the goodness of composition and acting; since the +accessaries are so excellent, the opinion is encouraged, that the +principals are less important, and may be neglected with impunity. +The effect of good scenery at the first glance is, no doubt, very +striking, but it soon passes away. If we saw a Garrick acting +Shakspeare in a large hall, without any scenes, we should cease in a +few minutes to be sensible of the want of them. We are almost disposed +to believe, that exactly in proportion as scenery has been improved, +good acting has declined. + +The present age is too much inclined to make human life, in every +department, resemble a great lottery, in which there are a very few +enormous prizes, and all the rest of the tickets are blanks. The +stage has not escaped the evil we complain of; on the contrary, it is +a striking instance of the mischief of this unequal partition. The +public are of opinion, that it is impossible to reward a small number +of actors too highly, and to pay the remainder at too low a rate; +to neglect the latter enough, or to be sufficiently attentive to the +former. On our stage, therefore, the inferior parts, and indeed all +but one or two, and especially in tragedies, where the inequality +is more intolerable, and more inexcusable, are sustained in a +very inadequate manner. In foreign theatres, on the contrary, and +especially in France, the whole performance is more equal, and +consequently more agreeable. There is perhaps less difference than is +commonly supposed between the best performers and those in the next +class. Whatever the difference be, it is an inconvenience and an +imperfection that ought to be palliated; but we aggravate it. The +first-rate actor always does his best, because the audience expect it, +and reward him with their applause; but no one cares for, or observes, +the performer of second-rate talents: whether he be perfect in his +part, and exert himself to the utmost, or be slovenly and negligent +throughout, he is unpraised and unblamed. The general effect, +therefore, of our tragedies, is very unsatisfactory; for that is far +greater, where all the characters are tolerably well supported, than +where there is one good actor, and all the other parts are inhumanly +murdered. This latter is too often the case on our stage for with +us art does little, nothing being taught systematically. The French +players, on the contrary, are thoroughly drilled, and well instructed, +in every requisite. + + * * * * * + + +BISHOPS' SLEEVES. + +To Joan it has been always conceded that she is as good as her lady +in the dark, but it is only of late years that Joan has presumed to +rival her mistress in the light. The high price of silks and satins +protected the mistress against this usurpation of her servant in the +broad day. Clad in these, she was safe, as in a coat of mail, from +the attack of the domestic aspirant, who was seldom able to obtain +possession of the outworks of fashion beyond an Irish poplin or a +Norwich crape. The silks and satins were a wall of separation, as +impenetrable as the lines of Torres Vedras, or the court hoop and +petticoat of a drawing-room in the reign of George III. The new +liberal commercial system has entirely changed the position of the +parties. The cheapness of French silks, and other articles of dress, +has placed female finery within the reach of even moderate wages, and +a kitchen-wench will not condescend to sweep the room in any thing +less than a robe of _Gros de Naples_ or _batiste_. Something must be +done on the part of the mistress to arrest the progress of invasion, +and assert the vested rights of the superior classes of female +society. Invention is the first quality of genius, and to woman it +is granted in a high degree. Thus gifted, the mistress, in a happy +moment, conceived the idea of bishops' sleeves, an article of dress +which precludes all hope or chance of imitation in the kitchen. A +muffled cat might as well attempt to catch mice, as a maid-servant to +go about the business of the house in bishops' sleeves. She could not +remove the tea-equipage from the table without the risk of sweeping +the china upon the floor; if she handed her master a plate, he must +submit to have his head wrapped up in her sleeve; and what a figure +must the cook present after preparing her soups and sauces! The female +servant thus accoutred might, indeed, perform the office of a flapper, +and disperse the flies; but although this was an office of importance +among the ancients, it is dispensed with at a modern table. With the +introduction of bishops' sleeves, the rivalry on the part of the maid +must cease, and the mistress remain in undisturbed possession of her +pre-eminence. Every friend of good order, every one who would retain +each individual female in her proper place in society, and prevent its +members from trespassing on each other, must, therefore, rejoice in +bishops' sleeves; and devoutly pray, that differing from every other +fashion that ever preceded it, the fashion of bishops' sleeves may +endure for ever.--New Monthly Magazine. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY + + * * * * * + + +_IRIS LUNARIS._ + +That rare and beautiful phenomenon the _Iris Lunaris_, or moonlight +rainbow, was observed by Mr. W. Colbourne, jun. and a friend of his, +from an eminence about a quarter of a mile from Sturminster, on the +evening of the 14th instant, about twenty minutes before nine o'clock, +in the north-west. Its northern limb first made its appearance; +but after a few minutes, the complete curvature was distinctly and +beautifully displayed. The altitude of its apex seemed to be nearly +forty degrees. Nothing could exceed the beauty of the appearance of +this arch of milky whiteness, contrasted as it was with the sable +rain fraught clouds which formed the background to this interesting +picture. It continued visible more than five minutes, and gradually +disappeared at the western limb. + +RURIS. + +_Sturminster_. + + +_WESTPHALIA HAMS_ + +Are prepared in November and March. The Germans place them in deep +tubs, which they cover with layers of salt and saltpetre, and with a +few laurel leaves. They are left four or five days in this state, and +are then completely covered with strong brine. At the end of three +weeks they are taken out, and left to soak for twelve hours in clear +well-water; they are then exposed, during three weeks, to a smoke +produced by the branches of juniper.--_From the French._ + + +_LONDON PORTER._ + +The bitter contained in porter, if taken wholly from hops, would +require an average quantity of ten or twelve pounds to the quarter +of malt, or about three pounds per barrel; so that if we consider the +fluctuation in the price of hops, we shall not be surprised at the +numerous substitutes, by which means the brewer can procure as much +bitter for sixpence as would otherwise cost him a pound. + +Quassia is, probably, the most harmless of all the illegal bitters. +The physicians prescribe the decoction to their patients to the extent +of a quarter of an ounce of the bark a day--as much as the brewer was +accustomed to put into nine gallons of his porter.--_Library of Useful +Knowledge_. + + +_BLACK GAME_ + +Have increased greatly in the southern counties of Scotland and north +of England within the last few years. It is a pretty general opinion, +though an erroneous one, that they drive away the red grouse; the +two species require very different kinds of cover, and will never +interfere.--_Note to White's Selborne, by Sir W. Jardine_. + + +_BIRDS OF PREY._ + +All birds of prey are capable of sustaining the want of food and water +for long periods, particularly the latter, but of which they also seem +remarkably fond, drinking frequently in a state of nature, and during +summer washing almost daily.--Ibid. + + +_EGYPT._ + +M. Champollion, in one of his recent letters, tells us that the whole +of the island of Elephantina would hardly make a park fit for a good +citizen of Paris, although certain modern chronologists would fain +make it into a kingdom, in order to dispose of the ancient Egyptian +dynasty of the Elephantines. + +In another letter dated March last, he says, "Our establishment is in +the Valley of Kings, which may truly be called the abode of death, as +not a blade of grass is to be found in it, nor any living creature, +except the jackall and hyćna, which the night before last devoured, at +the distance of 100 steps from our palace, the ass which had carried +my Barabra servant Mahomet, during the time that he was agreeably +passing the night of the Ramadan in our kitchen, which is in a royal +tomb, entirely dilapidated."--_Translated in the Literary Gazette_. + + +_BEET-ROOT SUGAR._ + +The Anti-Slavery Monthly Reporter for September, among the advantages +which will probably lead to the discontinuance of the cultivation of +sugar by slaves, enumerates the rapid extension of the manufacture of +beet-root sugar in France; a prelude, as the editor conceives, to its +introduction into this country, and especially into Ireland. + + +_DRY ROT._ + +The American Commodore Barron recommends pumping air from the holds of +vessels as a remedy against dry rot; the common mode of ventilation, +by forcing pure air, or dashing water into the hold, being found an +imperfect preservative. + + +_ALLOYED IRON PLATE._ + +Iron, coated with an alloy of tin and lead, so as to imitate tin +plate, and not to rust, is now manufactured to a considerable +extent in Paris; and its use for sugar-pans and boilers, and in the +construction of roofs and gutters is expected to be very considerable. + + +_INTERESTING QUESTION._ + +Whether in the sea there be depths where no creature is able to +live, or whether a boundary be assigned to organic life within those +depths, cannot be ascertained. It, however, clearly appears from +the observations made by Biot, and other naturalists, that fishes, +according to their different dispositions, live in different depths of +the ocean.--_From the German_. + + +_CATS._ + +In Kamtschatka, Greenland, Lapland, and Iceland, there are no cats, +nor does the lynx in Europe extend farther than Norway.--Ibid. + + +_VESSELS MADE OF THE PAPYRUS._ + +The last number of the _Magazine of Natural History_ contains an +article of great interest, on Vessels made of the Papyrus, illustrated +with cuts, from which it appears that vessels have from the earliest +times, been formed from the paper reed, and that they are at present +in use in Egypt and Abyssinia. The author is John Hogg, Esq. M.A. +F.L.S. &c. whose antiquarian attainments have greatly assisted him in +the elucidation of this very curious subject. + + +_REMAINS OF LA PEROUSE._[10] + +M. Derville, who commanded the Astrolabe, in the lute-voyage +undertaken to search for traces of the expedition of La Perouse, +considers the island, the summits of which were observed fifteen +leagues to windward, by the frigates La Récherche and L'Esperance, +which composed the expedition of Admiral D'Entrecasteaux, in 1793, and +to which the name of the Isle de la Récherche was then given, to be +the identical island, Vanikoro (or Vanicolo) on the shores of which +the remnants of La Perouse's vessel have been found. The geographical +position of latitude and longitude of the Isle of Vanikoro, agrees +exactly with that of the island to which the name of Récherche was +given by D'Entrecasteaux. That island was then confounded with the +number of other islands, which had been seen by the expedition, and +which it had been found impossible to examine in detail.--_Athenćum_. + + +_STUDY OF CHEMISTRY._ + +Numbers there are, far above the lower classes, who still consider the +elements of all things as consisting of earth, air, fire, and water; +an error which classical-learning, no less than the expressions of +common parlance, tends to perpetuate. Let us hope that the days are +at hand, if not already arrived, in which the acquirement of such +fundamental knowledge will be looked upon as at least equally +necessary with the study of languages, and the cultivation of taste +and imagination.--_Library of Useful Knowledge_. + +[Footnote 10: For a Report of this discovery, see MIRROR, vol. xiii p. +409.] + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + A snapper up of unconsidered trifles.--SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +ORIGIN OF THE WORD WORSTED. + +Worsted, in the county of Norfolk, though formerly a town of +considerable trade, and much celebrity, is now reduced to a village, +and the manufactures, which obtained a name from the place, are +removed to Norwich and its vicinity. + +Shakspeare has not been very courteous towards the _worsted gentry_; +had he lived in our times, they might have _worsted_ him for a libel: +he says in King Lear, "A base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three suited, +hundred pound, filthy, worsted stocking knave." + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + +I asked a poor man, how he did? He said, he was like a washball, +always in decay.--_Swift_. + + * * * * * + + +CAT-FANCIER. + +Lady Morgan gives the following anecdote in her _Book of the Boudoir_. +"The first day we had the honour of dining at the palace of the +Archbishop of Taranto, at Naples, he said to me, you must pardon my +passion for cats, (_la mia passione gattesca_) but I never exclude +them from my dining-room, and you will find they make excellent +company." Between the first and second course the door opened, and +several enormously large and beautiful Angola cats were introduced by +the names of Pantalone, Desdemona, Otello, &c. They took their places +on chairs near the table, and were as silent, as quiet, as motionless, +and as well behaved, as the most _bon ton_ table in London could +require. On the bishop requesting one of the chaplains to help +the Signora Desdemona, the butler stepped up to his lordship, and +observed, "My Lord, La Signora Desdemona will prefer waiting for the +roast." + + * * * * * + + +ANCIENT FAMILY. + +There was much sound truth in the speech of a country lad to an idler, +who boasted his ancient family: "_So much the worse for you_," said +the peasant, as we ploughmen say, "_the older the seed the worse the +crop_." + + * * * * * + +At North Ferryby, in Yorkshire, the following very instructive +lines, are inscribed on a handsome tablet to the memory of Sir T. +Etherington, an Alderman of Hull, and late a resident in the above +place:-- + +"Taught of God we should view losses, sickness, pain, and death, +but as the several trying stages by which a good man, like Joseph, +is conducted from a tent to a court; sin his disease, Christ his +physician, pain his medicine, the Bible his support, the grave his +rest, and death itself an angel expressly sent to relieve the worn out +labourer, or crown the faithful soldier!" + +Louis XIV. was presented with an epitaph by an indifferent poet, on +the celebrated Moliere. "I would to God," said he, "that Moliere had +brought me yours." + + * * * * * + + +ON MEMORY. + +What an unknown and unspeakable happiness would it be to a man of +judgment, and who is engaged in the pursuit of knowledge, if he had +but a power of stamping all his own best sentiments upon his memory in +some indelible characters; and if he could but imprint every valuable +paragraph and sentiment of the most excellent authors he has read, +upon his mind, with the same speed and facility with which he read +them?--_Watts_. + + * * * * * + +Upon a stone in St. Margaret's churchyard, at Lynn, in Norfolk, is the +following inscription to the memory of William Scrivenor, Cook to the +Corporation, who died in the year 1684:-- + + Alas! alas! _Will Scrivenor's_ dead, who by his art, + Could make death's skeleton edible in each part, + Mourn, squeamish stomachs, and ye curious palates, + You've lost your dainty dishes and your salades; + Mourn for yourselves, but not for him i'th' least + He's gone to taste of a more heav'nly feast. + +At Whitchingham Magna, in the same county, is the following epitaph to +Thomas Alleyne, gent. who died Feb. 3, 1650, and his two wives:-- + + Death here advantage hath of life I spye, + One husband with two wives at once may lye. + + * * * * * + +A recent American newspaper has the following notice to its +readers:--"The editor, printer, publisher, foreman, and oldest +apprentice (_two_ in all,) are confined by sickness, and the whole +establishment is left in the care of the _devil_." + + * * * * * + + +LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THE + +Following Novels is already Published: + + s. d. + Mackenzie's Man of Feeling 0 6 + Paul and Virginia 0 6 + The Castle of Otranto 0 6 + Almoran and Hamet 0 6 + Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia 0 6 + The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne 0 6 + Rasselas 0 8 + The Old English Baron 0 9 + Nature and Art 0 8 + Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield 0 10 + Sicilian Romance 1 0 + The Man of the World 1 0 + A Simple Story 1 4 + Joseph Andrews 1 6 + Humphry Clinker 1 8 + The Romance of the Forest 1 8 + The Italian 2 0 + Zeluco, by Dr. Moore 2 6 + Edward, by Dr. Moore 2 6 + Roderick Random 2 6 + The Mysteries of Udolpho 3 6 + Peregrine Pickle 4 6 + + * * * * * + +_Printed and Published by J. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mirror Of Literature, Amusement, And Instruction, No. 391 + Vol. 14, No. 391, Saturday, September 26, 1829 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: September 3, 2004 [EBook #13359] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, William Flis, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + + <hr class="full" /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page193" + id="page193"></a>[pg 193]</span> + + <h1>THE MIRROR<br /> + OF<br /> + LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1> + <hr class="full" /> + + <table width="100%" + summary="Volume, Number, and Date"> + <tr> + <th align="left">Vol. 14. No. 391.]</th> + + <th align="center">SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1829.</th> + + <th align="right">PRICE 2<i>d.</i></th> + </tr> + </table> + <hr class="full" /> + + <div class="figcenter" + style="width:100%;"> + <a href="images/193.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/193.png" + alt="GURNEY'S IMPROVED STEAM CARRIAGE." /></a>GURNEY'S + IMPROVED STEAM CARRIAGE. + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page194" + id="page194"></a>[pg 194]</span> + + <h2>MR. GURNEY'S IMPROVED STEAM CARRIAGE.</h2> + + <p>Mr. Gurney, in perfecting this invention, has followed Dr. + Franklin's advice—to tire and begin again. It is now four + years since he first commenced his ingenious enterprise; and + nearly two years since we reported and illustrated the progress + he had made. (<i>See</i> MIRROR, vol. x. page 393, or No. 287.) + He began with a large boiler, but public prejudice was too + strong for it; and knowing people talked of high pressure + accidents; the steam, could not, of course, be altogether got + rid of, so to divide the danger, Mr. Gurney made his boiler in + forty welded iron pipes; still the steam ran in a main pipe + beneath the whole of the carriage, and the evil was but + modified. At length the inventer has detached the engine and + boiler, or locomotive part of the apparatus, which is now to be + fastened to the carriage, and may be considered as a + STEAM-HORSE, with no more danger than we should apprehend from + a restive animal, in whose veins the steam or mettle circulates + with too high a pressure. Fair trials have been made of the + Improved Carriage on our common roads, the Premier has decided + the machine "to be of great national importance," from sundry + experiments witnessed by his grace, at Hounslow Barracks; and + the coach is announced "really to start next month (the 1st) in + working—not experimental journeys—for travellers + between London and Bath."<a id="footnotetag1" + name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a> + Crack upon crack will follow joke upon joke; the + <i>Omnibus</i>, with its phaeton-like coursers will be + eclipsed; and a journey to Bath and the Hot Wells by steam + will soon be an everyday event.</p> + + <p>Descriptions of Mr. Gurney's carriage have been so often + before the public, that extended detail is unnecessary. + Besides, all our liege subscribers will turn to the account in + our No. 287. The recent improvements have been perspicuously + stated by Mr. Herapath, of Cranford, in a letter in the + <i>Times</i> newspaper, and we cannot do better than adopt and + abridge a portion of his communication.</p> + + <p>"The present differs from the earlier carriage, in several + improvements in the machinery, suggested by experiment; also in + having no propellers;<a id="footnotetag2" + name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> + and in having only four wheels instead of six; the apparatus + for guiding being applied immediately to the two + fore-wheels, bearing a part of the weight, instead of two + extra leading wheels bearing little or none. No person can + conceive the absolute control this apparatus gives to the + director of the carriage, unless he has had the same + opportunities of observing it which I had in a ride with Mr. + Gurney. Whilst the wheels obey the slightest motions of the + hand, a trifling pressure of the foot keeps them inflexibly + steady, however rough the ground. To the hind axle, which is + very strong, and bent into two cranks of nine inches radius, + at right angles to each other, is applied the propelling + power by means of pistons from two horizontal cylinders. By + this contrivance, and a peculiar mode of admitting the steam + to the cylinders, Mr. Gurney has very ingeniously avoided + that cumbersome appendage to steam-engines, the fly-wheel, + and preserves uniformity of action by constantly having one + cylinder on full pressure, whilst the other is on the + reduced expansive. The dead points—that is, those in + which a piston has no effect from being in the same right + line with its crank,—are also cleared by the same + means. For as the cranks are at right angles, when one + piston is at a dead point, the other has a position of + maximum effect, and is then urged by full steam power; but + no sooner has the former passed the dead point, than an + expansion valve opens on it with full steam, and closes on + the latter. Firmly fixed to the extremities of the axle, and + at right angles to it, are the two 'carriers'—(two + strong irons extending each way to the felloes of the + wheels.) These irons may be bolted to the felloes of the + wheels or not, or to the felloes of one wheel only. Thus the + power applied to the axle is carried at once to the parts of + the wheels of least stress—the circumferences. By this + artifice the wheels are required to be of no greater + strength and weight than ordinary carriage-wheels; and, like + them, they turn freely and independently on the axle; but + one or both may be secured as part and parcel of the axle, + as circumstances require. The carriage is consequently + propelled by the friction or hold which either or both + hind-wheels, according as the power is applied to them + jointly or separately, have on the ground. Beneath the hind + part drop two irons, with flat feet, called 'shoe-drags.' A + well-contrived apparatus, with a spindle passing up through + a hollow cylinder, to which the guiding handle is affixed, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page195" + id="page195"></a>[pg 195]</span> enables the director to + force one or both drags tight on the road, so as to retard + the progress in a descent, or if he please, to raise the + wheels off the ground. The propulsive power of the wheels + being by this means destroyed, the carriage is arrested in a + yard or two, though going at the rate of eighteen or twenty + miles an hour. On the right hand of the director lies the + handle of the throttle-valve, by which he has the power of + increasing or diminishing the supply of steam <i>ad + libitum</i>, and hence of retarding or accelerating the + carriage's velocity. The whole carriage and machinery weigh + about 16 cwt., and with the full complement of water and + coke 20 or 22 cwt., of which, I am informed, about 16 cwt. + lie on the hind-wheels."</p> + + <p>Mr. H. then enumerates the principle of the + improvements:—"That troublesome appendage the fly-wheel, + as I have observed, Mr. Gurney has rendered unnecessary. The + danger to be apprehended in going over rough pitching, from too + rapid a generation of steam, he avoids by a curious application + of springs; and should these be insufficient, one or two safety + valves afford the <i>ultimatum</i> of security. He ensures an + easy descent down the steepest declivity by his 'shoe-drags,' + and the power of reversing the action of the engines. His hands + direct, and his foot literally pinches obedience to the course + over the roughest and most refractory ground. The dreadful + consequences of boiler-bursting are annihilated by a judicious + application of tubular boilers. Should, indeed, a tube burst, a + hiss about equal to that of a hot nail plunged into water, + contains the sum total of alarm, while a few strokes with a + hammer will set all to rights again. Lastly, he has so + contrived his 'carriers,' that they shall act without confining + the wheels, by which means there is none of that sliding and + consequent cutting up of the road, which, in sharp turnings, + would result from inflexible constraint.</p> + + <p>"Hills and loose, slippery ground are well known to be the + <i>res adversć</i> of steam-carriages; on ordinary level roads + they roll along with rapid facility. In every ascent there are + two additional circumstances inimical to progressive motion. + One is, that carriages press less on the ground of a hill than + on that of a plain, thus giving the wheels a less forcible + grasp or bite. But this may be easily remedied in the structure + of a carriage, and is not of very material consequence in the + steepest hills that we have. The other is more serious. When a + carriage ascends a hill, the weight or gravity of the whole is + decomposable into two—one perpendicular, and the other + parallel to the road. The former constitutes the pressure on + the road, the latter the additional work the engine has to + perform. Universally this is the same part of the whole + carriage and its load together, which the perpendicular ascent + of the hill is of its length. With these principles, if we knew + the bite of the wheels on the road, we could at once subject + the powers of Mr. Gurney's carriage to calculation.</p> + + <p>"Now, from one of the experiments made in the barrack-yard, + at Hounslow, I find we can approximate towards it. For + instance, with one wheel only fixed to the 'carriers,' the + carriage drew itself and load of water and coke (about 1 ton), + with three men on it, and a wagon behind of 16 cwt. containing + 27 soldiers. This, at the rate of 1-1/2 cwt. to a man, in round + numbers is 4 tons. Estimating the force of traction of spring + carriages at a twelfth of the total weight, it consequently + gives a hold or bite on the road of 1-12 of 4 tons, or 6 2-3rds + cwt. per wheel, or 13 1-3rd cwt. for the two wheels. This is + likewise the propelling force of the carriage. Supposing, + therefore, we were ascending a hill of 1 foot rise in 8, which + I am assured exceeds in steepness any hill we have, we should + be able to draw a load behind of 2 tons 2 cwt., or between 3 + and 4 tons altogether....</p> + + <p>"On a good level road I think it not improbable it might + draw, instead of 7 tons which our experiment would give, from + 10 to 11, besides its own weight, or 100 ordinary men, + exclusive of 2 or 3 tons for carriages; and up one of our + steepest hills, 3 tons besides itself, or 25 men besides a ton + for a carriage. This it would do at a rate of 8, 9, or 10 miles + an hour. For it is a singular feature in this carriage, and + which was remarked by many at the time, that it maintained very + nearly the same speed with a wagon and 27 men, that it did with + the carriage and only 5 or 6 persons. But there is a fact + connected with this machine still more extraordinary. For + instance, every additional cwt. we shift on the hind or working + wheels, will increase the power of traction in our steepest + hills upwards of 4 cwt., and on the level road half a ton. + Such, then, is the paradoxical nature of steam-carriages, that + the very circumstance which in animal exertion would weaken and + retard, will here multiply their strength and accelerate. This, + no doubt, Mr. Gurney's ingenuity will soon turn to profitable + account.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page196" + id="page196"></a>[pg 196]</span> + + <p>"It has often been asserted that carriages of this sort + could not go above 6 or 7 miles an hour. I can see no + reasonable objection to 20. The following fact, decided before + a large company in the barrack-yard, will best speak for + itself:—At eighteen minutes after three I ascended the + carriage with Mr. Gurney. After we had gone about half way + round, 'Now,' said Mr. Gurney, 'I will show you her speed.' He + did, and we completed seven turns round the outside of the road + by twenty-eight minutes after three. If, therefore, as I was + there assured, two and a half turns measured one mile, we went + 2.8 miles in ten minutes; that is, at the rate of 16.8, or + nearly 17 miles per hour. But as Mr. Gurney slackened its + motion once or twice in the course of trial, to speak to some + one, and did not go at an equal rate all the way round for fear + of accident in the crowd, it is clear that sometimes we must + have proceeded at the rate of upwards of twenty miles an + hour."</p> + + <p>The Engraving will furnish the reader with a correct idea of + such of Mr. Gurney's improvements as are most interesting to + the public. The present arrangement is certainly very + preferable to placing the boiler and engine in immediate + contact with the carriage, which is to convey goods and + passengers. Men of science are still much divided on the + practical economy of using steam instead of horses as a + travelling agent; but we hope, like all great contemporaries + they may whet and cultivate each other till the desired object + is attained. One of them, a writer in the <i>Atlas</i>, + observes, that "if ultimately found capable of being brought + into public use, it would probably be most convenient and + desirable that several locomotive engines should be employed on + one line of road, in order that they might be exchanged at + certain stages for the purposes of examination, tightening of + screws, and other adjustments, which the jolting on passing + over the road might render necessary, and for the supply of + fuel and water."</p> + + <p>An effectively-coloured lithographic of Mr. Gurney's + carriage (by Shoesmith) has recently appeared at the + printsellers', which we take this opportunity of recommending + to the notice of collectors and scrappers.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3>PUNNING SATIRE ON AN INCONSTANT LOVER.</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>You are as faithless as a <i>Carthaginian</i>,</p> + + <p>To love at once, <i>Kate, Nell, Doll, Martha, Jenny, + Anne.</i></p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author">SWIFT.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3>BRIMHAM ROCKS<a id="footnotetag3" + name="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a> + BY MOONLIGHT.</h3> + + <h4>(<i>For the Mirror.</i>)</h4> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>The sun hath set, but yet I linger still,</p> + + <p>Gazing with rapture on the face of night;</p> + + <p>And mountain wild, deep vale, and heathy hill,</p> + + <p>Lay like a lovely vision, mellow, bright,</p> + + <p>Bathed in the glory of the sunset light,</p> + + <p>Whose changing hues in flick'ring radiance play,</p> + + <p>Faint and yet fainter on the outstretch'd sight,</p> + + <p>Until at length they wane and die away,</p> + + <p>And all th' horizon round fades into twilight + gray.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>But, slowly rising up the vaulted sky,</p> + + <p>Forth comes the moon, night's joyous, sylvan + queen,</p> + + <p>With one lone, silent star, attendant by</p> + + <p>Her side, all sparkling in its glorious sheen;</p> + + <p>And, floating swan-like, stately, and serene,</p> + + <p>A few light fleecy clouds, the drapery of + heav'n,</p> + + <p>Throw their pale shadows o'er this witching + scene,</p> + + <p>Deep'ning its mystic grandeur—and seem + driven</p> + + <p>Round these all shapeless piles like Time's wan + spectres risen</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>From out the tombs of ages. All around</p> + + <p>Lies hushed and still, save with large, dusky + wing</p> + + <p>The bird of night makes its ill-omened sound;</p> + + <p>Or moor-game, nestling 'neath th' flowery ling</p> + + <p>Low chuckle to their mates—or startled, + spring</p> + + <p>Away on rustling pinions to the sky,</p> + + <p>Wheel round and round in many an airy ring,</p> + + <p>Then swooping downward to their covert hie,</p> + + <p>And, lodged beneath the heath again securely + lie.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Ascend yon hoary rock's impending brow,</p> + + <p>And on its windy summit take your stand—</p> + + <p>Lo! Wilsill's lovely vale extends below,</p> + + <p>And long, long heathy moors on either hand</p> + + <p>Stretch dark and misty—a bleak tract of + land,</p> + + <p>Whereon but seldom human footsteps come;</p> + + <p>Save when with dog, obedient at command,</p> + + <p>And gun, the sportsman quits his city home,</p> + + <p>And brushing through the ling in quest of game doth + roam.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>And lo! in wild confusion scattered round,</p> + + <p>Huge, shapeless, naked, massy piles of stone</p> + + <p>Rise, proudly towering o'er this barren ground,</p> + + <p>Scowling in mutual hate—apart, alone,</p> + + <p>Stern, desolate they stand—and seeming + thrown</p> + + <p>By some dire, dread convulsion of the earth</p> + + <p>From her deep, silent caves, and hoary grown</p> + + <p>With age and storms that Boreas issues forth</p> + + <p>Replete with ire from his wild regions in the + north.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>How beautiful! yet wildly beautiful,</p> + + <p>As group on group comes glim'ring on the eye,</p> + + <p>Making the heart, soul, mind, and spirit full</p> + + <p>Of holy rapture and sweet + imagery;</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page197" + id="page197"></a>[pg 197]</span> + + <p>Till o'er the lip escapes th' unconscious sigh,</p> + + <p>And heaves the breast with feeling, too too deep</p> + + <p>For words t' express the awful sympathy,</p> + + <p>That like a dream doth o'er the senses creep,</p> + + <p>Chaining the gazer's eye—and yet he cannot + weep.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>But stands entranced and rooted to the spot,</p> + + <p>While grows the scene upon him vast, sublime,</p> + + <p>Like some gigantic city's ruin, not</p> + + <p>Inhabited by men, but Titans—Time</p> + + <p>Here rests upon his scythe and fears to climb,</p> + + <p>Spent by th' unceasing toil of ages past,</p> + + <p>Musing he stands and listens to the chime</p> + + <p>Of rock-born spirits howling in the blast,</p> + + <p>While gloomily around night's sable shades are + cast.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Well deemed I ween the Druid sage of old</p> + + <p>In making this his dwelling place on high;</p> + + <p>Where all that's huge and great from Nature's + mould,</p> + + <p>Spoke this the temple of his deity;</p> + + <p>Whose walls and roof were the o'erhanging sky,</p> + + <p>His altar th' unhewn rock, all bleak and bare,</p> + + <p>Where superstition with red, phrensied eye</p> + + <p>And look all wild, poured forth her idol prayer,</p> + + <p>As rose the dying wail,<a id="footnotetag4" + name="footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4"><sup>4</sup></a> + and blazed the pile in air.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Lost in the lapse of time, the Druid's lore</p> + + <p>Hath ceased to echo these rude rocks among;</p> + + <p>No altar new is stained with human gore;</p> + + <p>No hoary bard now weaves the mystic song;</p> + + <p>Nor thrust in wicker hurdles, throng on throng,</p> + + <p>Whole multitudes are offered to appease</p> + + <p>Some angry god, whose will and power of wrong</p> + + <p>Vainly they thus essayed to soothe and + please—</p> + + <p>Alas! that thoughts so gross man's noblest powers + should seize.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>But, bowed beneath the cross, see! prostrate + fall</p> + + <p>The mummeries that long enthralled our isle;</p> + + <p>So perish error! and wide over all</p> + + <p>Let reason, truth, religion ever smile:</p> + + <p>And let not man, vain, impious man defile</p> + + <p>The spark heaven lighted in the human breast;</p> + + <p>Let no enthusiastic rage, no sophist's wile</p> + + <p>Lull the poor victim into careless rest,</p> + + <p>Since the pure gospel page can teach him to be + blest.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Weak, trifling man, O! come and ponder here</p> + + <p>Upon the nothingness of human things—</p> + + <p>How vain, how very vain doth then appear</p> + + <p>The city's hum, the pomp and pride of kings;</p> + + <p>All that from wealth, power, grandeur, beauty + springs,</p> + + <p>Alike must fade, die, perish, be forgot;</p> + + <p>E'en he whose feeble hand now strikes the + strings</p> + + <p>Soon, soon within the silent grave must + rot—</p> + + <p>Yet Nature's still the same, though we see, we hear + her not.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author">J. HORNER.</p> + + <p><i>Wilsill, near Pateley Bridge, Sept. 1829.</i></p> + <hr /> + + <h2>MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS.</h2> + <hr class="short" /> + + <h3>PLEDGING HEALTHS.</h3> + + <p>The origin of the very common expression, to <i>pledge</i> + one drinking, is curious: it is thus related by a very + celebrated antiquarian of the fifteenth century. "When the + <i>Danes</i> bore sway in this land, if a native did drink, + they would sometimes stab him with a dagger or knife; hereupon + people would not drink in company unless some one present would + be their <i>pledge</i> or surety, that they should receive no + hurt, whilst they were in their draught; hence that usual + phrase, I'll <i>pledge you</i>, or be a pledge for you." Others + affirm the true sense of the word was, that if the party drank + to, were not disposed to drink himself, he would put another + for <i>a pledge</i> to do it for him, else the party who began + would take it ill.</p> + + <p class="author">J.W.</p> + <hr class="short" /> + + <h3>RUSSIAN SUPERSTITION.</h3> + + <p>The extreme superstition of the Greek church, the national + one of Russia, seems to exceed that of the Roman Catholic + devotees, even in Spain and Portugal. The following instance + will show the absurdity of it even among the higher + classes:—</p> + + <p>A Russian princess, some few years since, had always a large + silver crucifix following her in a separate carriage, and which + was placed in her chamber. When any thing fortunate happened to + her in the course of the day, and she was satisfied with all + that had occurred, she had lighted tapers placed around the + crucifix, and said to it in a familiar style, "See, now, as you + have been very good to me to-day, you shall be treated well; + you shall have candles all night; I will love you; I will pray + to you." If on the contrary, any thing happened to vex the + lady, she had the candles put out, ordered her servants not to + pay any homage to the poor image, and loaded it herself with + the bitterest reproaches.</p> + + <p class="author">INA.</p> + <hr /> + + <h2>THE SELECTOR;</h2> + + <h3>AND LITERARY NOTICES OF <i>NEW WORKS</i>.</h3> + <hr class="short" /> + + <h3>LIBRARY OF ENTERTAINING KNOWLEDGE.</h3> + + <h4><i>Fruits</i>.</h4> + + <p>This Part (5) completes the volume of "Vegetable Substances + used in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page198" + id="page198"></a>[pg 198]</span> Arts and in Domestic + Economy." The first portion—<i>Timber Trees</i> was + noticed at some length in our last volume (page 309,) and + received our almost unqualified commendation, which we are + induced to extend to the Part now before us. Still, we do + not recollect to have pointed out to our readers that which + appears to us the great recommendatory feature of this + series of works—we mean the arrangement of the + volumes—their subdivisions and + exemplifications—and these evince a master-hand in + compilation.</p> + + <p>Every general reader must be aware that little novelty could + be expected in a brief History and Description of Timber Trees + and Fruits, and that the object of the Useful Knowledge Society + was not merely to furnish the public with new views, but to + present in the most attractive form the most entertaining facts + of established writers, and illustrate their views with the + observations of contemporary authors as well as their own + personal acquaintance with the subjects. In this manner, the + Editor has taken "a general and rapid view of fruits," and, + considering the great hold their description possesses on all + readers, we are disposed to think almost too rapid. We should + have enjoyed a volume or two more than half a volume of such + reading as the present; but as we are not purchasers, and are + unacquainted with the number to which the Society propose to + extend their works, we ought not perhaps to raise this + objection, which, to say the truth, is a sort of negative + commendation. Hitherto, we have been accustomed to see + compilations of pretensions similar to the present, executed + with little regard to neatness or unity, or weight or + consideration. Whole pages and long extracts have been stripped + and sliced off books, with little rule or arrangement, and what + is still worse, without any acknowledgment of the sources. The + last defect is certainly the greatest, since, in spite of + ill-arrangement, an intelligent inquirer may with much trouble, + avail himself of further reference to the authors quoted, and + thus complete in his own mind what the compiler had so + indifferently begun. The work before us is, however, altogether + of a much higher order than general compilations. The + introductions and inferences are pointed and judicious, and the + facts themselves of the most interesting character, are + narrated in a condensed but perspicuous style; while the + slightest reference will prove that the best and latest + authorities have been appreciated. Thus, in the History and + Description of Fruits, the Transactions of the Horticultural + Society are frequently and pertinently quoted to establish + disputed points, as well as the journals of intelligent + travellers and naturalists; with occasional poetical + embellishments, which lend a charm even to this attractive + species of reading.</p> + + <p>To quote the history of either Fruit entire, would not so + well denote the character of the work as would a few of the + most striking passages in the descriptions. In the introductory + chapter we are pleased with the following passage on + <i>Monastic Gardens</i>.</p> + + <p>"The monks, after the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to + Christianity, appear to have been the only gardeners. As early + as 674, we have a record, describing a pleasant and + fruit-bearing close at Ely, then cultivated by Brithnoth, the + first Abbot of that place. The ecclesiastics subsequently + carried their cultivation of fruits as tar as was compatible + with the nature of the climate, and the horticultural knowledge + of the middle ages. Whoever has seen an old abbey, where for + generations destruction only has been at work, must have almost + invariably found it situated in one of the choicest spots, both + as to soil and aspect; and if the hand of injudicious + improvement has not swept it away, there is still the + 'Abbey-garden.' Even though it has been wholly + neglected—though its walls be in ruins, covered with + stone-crop and wall-flower, and its area produce but the + rankest weeds—there are still the remains of the aged + fruit trees—the venerable pears, the delicate little + apples, and the luscious black cherries. The chestnuts and the + walnuts may have yielded to the axe, and the fig trees and + vines died away;—but sometimes the mulberry is left, and + the strawberry and the raspberry struggle among the ruins. + There is a moral lesson in these memorials of the monastic + ages. The monks, with all their faults, were generally men of + peace and study; and these monuments show that they were + improving the world, while the warriors were spending their + lives to spoil it. In many parts of Italy and France, which had + lain in desolation and ruin from the time of the Goths, the + monks restored the whole surface to fertility; and in Scotland + and Ireland there probably would not have been a fruit tree + till the sixteenth century, if it had not been for their + peaceful labours. It is generally supposed that the monastic + orchards were in their greatest perfection from the twelfth to + the fifteenth century."</p> + + <p>Again, the</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page199" + id="page199"></a>[pg 199]</span> + + <h4><i>Naturalization of Plants.</i></h4> + + <p>"The large number of our native plants (for we call those + native which have adapted themselves to our climate) mark the + gradual progress of our civilization through the long period of + two thousand years; whilst the almost infinite diversity of + exotics which a botanical garden offers, attest the triumphs of + that industry which has carried us as merchants or as colonists + over every region of the earth, and has brought from every + region whatever can administer to our comforts and our + luxuries,—to the tastes and the needful desires of the + humblest as well as the highest amongst us. To the same + commerce we owe the potato and the pine-apple; the China rose, + whose flowers cluster round the cottage-porch, and the Camellia + which blooms in the conservatory. The addition even of a + flower, or an ornamental shrub, to those which we already + possess, is not to be regarded as a matter below the care of + industry and science. The more we extend our acquaintance with + the productions of nature, the more are our minds elevated by + contemplating the variety, as well as the exceeding beauty, of + the works of the Creator. The highest understanding does not + stoop when occupied in observing the brilliant colour of a + blossom, or the graceful form of a leaf. Hogarth, the great + moral painter, a man in all respects of real and original + genius, writes thus to his friend Ellis, a distinguished + traveller and naturalist:—'As for your pretty little + seed-cups, or vases, they are a sweet confirmation of the + pleasure Nature seems to take in superadding an elegance of + form to most of her works, wherever you find them. How poor and + bungling are all the imitations of Art! When I have the + pleasure of seeing you next, we will sit down, <i>nay, kneel + down if you will</i>, and admire these things.'</p> + <hr class="short" /> + + <p>"It is one of the proudest attributes of man, and one which + is most important for him to know, that he can improve every + production of nature, if he will but once make it his own by + possession and attachment. A conviction of this truth has + rendered the cultivation of fruits, in the more polished + countries of Europe, as successful as we now behold it."</p> + + <p>The work then divides into <i>Fruits of the Temperate + Climates</i>, and of <i>Tropical Climates</i>; the first are + subdivided into Fleshy, Pulpy, and Stone Fruits and Nuts, in + preference to a strict geographical arrangement. Under "the + Apple" occur some very judicious observations on</p> + + <h4><i>Cider.</i></h4> + + <p>"The cider counties of England have always been considered + as highly interesting. They lie something in the form of a + horse-shoe round the Bristol Channel; and the best are, + Worcester and Hereford, on the north of the channel, and + Somerset and Devon on the south. In appearance, they have a + considerable advantage over those counties in which grain alone + is cultivated. The blossoms cover an extensive district with a + profusion of flowers in the spring, and the fruit is beautiful + in autumn. Some of the orchards occupy a space of forty or + fifty acres; and the trees being at considerable intervals, the + land is also kept in tillage. A great deal of practical + acquaintance with the qualities of soil is required in the + culture of apple and pear trees; and his skill in the + adaptation of trees to their situation principally determines + the success of the manufacturer of cider and perry. The produce + of the orchards is very fluctuating; and the growers seldom + expect an abundant crop more than once in three years. The + quantity of apples required to make a hogshead of cider is from + twenty-four to thirty bushels; and in a good year an acre of + orchard will produce somewhere about six hundred bushels, or + from twenty to twenty-five hogsheads. The cider harvest is in + September. When the season is favourable, the heaps of apples + collected at the presses are immense—consisting of + hundreds of tons. If any of the vessels used in the manufacture + of cider are of lead, the beverage is not wholesome. The price + of a hogshead of cider generally varies from 2<i>l.</i> to + 5<i>l.</i>, according to the season and quality; but cider of + the finest growth has sometimes been sold as high as + 20<i>l.</i> by the hogshead, direct from the press—a + price equal to that of many of the fine wines of the Rhine or + the Garonne."</p> + <hr /> + + <h4><i>Old Apple Trees.</i></h4> + + <p>"At Horton, in Buckinghamshire, where Milton spent some of + his earlier years, there is an apple tree still growing, of + which the oldest people remember to have heard it said that the + poet was accustomed to sit under it. And upon the low leads of + the church at Romsey, in Hampshire, there is an apple tree + still bearing fruit, which is said to be two hundred years + old."</p> + + <p>The <i>Fig</i> and the <i>Fine</i> are equally + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page200" + id="page200"></a>[pg 200]</span> interesting, and in + connexion with the latter we notice the editor's mention of + the fine vineyard at Arundel Castle. Aubrey describes a + similar vineyard at Chart Park, near Dorking, another seat + of the Howards. "Here was a vineyard, supposed to have been + planted by the Hon. Charles Howard, who, it is said, erected + his residence, as it were, in the vineyard." Again, "the + vineyard flourished for some time, and tolerably good wine + was made from the produce; but after the death of the noble + planter, in 1713, it was much neglected, and nothing + remained but the name. On taking down the house, a stone + resembling a millstone, was found, by which the grapes were + pressed."<a id="footnotetag5" + name="footnotetag5"></a><a href="#footnote5"><sup>5</sup></a> + We were on the spot at the time, and saw the stone in + question. Vines are still very abundant at Dorking, the soil + being very congenial to their growth. "Hence, almost every + house in this part has its vine; and some of the plants are + very productive. The cottages of the labouring poor are not + without this ornament, and the produce is usually sold by + them to their wealthier neighbours, for the manufacture of + wine. The price per bushel is from 4<i>s.</i> to + 16<i>s.</i>; but the variableness of the season frequently + disappoints them in the crops, the produce of which is + sometimes laid up as a setoff to the + rent."<a id="footnotetag6" + name="footnotetag6"></a><a href="#footnote6"><sup>6</sup></a></p> + + <p>We have heard too of attempts in England to train the vine + on the sides of hills, and a few years since an individual lost + a considerable sum of money in making the experiment in the + Isle of Wight.</p> + + <p>At page 257, observes the editor,</p> + + <h4><i>A Vineyard</i></h4> + + <p>"Associated as it is with all our ideas of beauty and + plenty, is, in general, a disappointing object. The hop + plantations of our own country are far more picturesque. In + France, the vines are trained upon poles, seldom more than + three or four feet in height; and 'the pole-clipt vineyard' of + poetry is not the most inviting of real objects. In Spain, + poles for supporting vines are not used; but cuttings are + planted, which are not permitted to grow very high, but + gradually form thick and stout stocks. In Switzerland, and in + the German provinces, the vineyards are as formal as those of + France. But in Italy is found the true vine of poetry, + 'surrounding the stone cottage with its girdle, flinging its + pliant and luxuriant branches over the rustic veranda, or + twining its long garland from tree to + tree.'<a id="footnotetag7" + name="footnotetag7"></a><a href="#footnote7"><sup>7</sup></a> + It was the luxuriance and the beauty of her vines and her + olives that tempted the rude people of the north to pour + down upon her fertile fields:—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>'The prostrate South to the destroyer yields</p> + + <p>Her boasted titles and her golden fields;</p> + + <p>With grim delight the brood of winter view</p> + + <p>A brighter day, and heavens of azure hue.</p> + + <p>Scent the new fragrance of the breathing rose.</p> + + <p>And quaff the pendent vintage as it + grows.'<a id="footnotetag8" + name="footnotetag8"></a><a href="#footnote8"><sup>8</sup></a></p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>"In Greece, too, as well as Italy, the shoots of the vines + are either trained upon trees, or supported, so as to display + all their luxuriance, upon a series of props. This was the + custom of the ancient vine-growers; and their descendants have + preserved it in all its picturesque + originality.<a id="footnotetag9" + name="footnotetag9"></a><a href="#footnote9"><sup>9</sup></a> + The vine-dressers of Persia train their vines to run up a + wall, and curl over on the top. But the most luxurious + cultivation of the vine in hot countries is where it covers + the trellis-work which surrounds a well, inviting the owner + and his family to gather beneath its shade. 'The fruitful + bough by well' is of the highest antiquity."</p> + + <p>Passing over the Mulberry, Currant, Gooseberry, and the + Strawberry, the account of the Egg Plant is particularly + attractive; and that of the Olive is well-written, but too long + for extract.</p> + + <p>Among the <i>Tropical Fruits</i>, the Orange and the Date + are very delightful; and equal in importance and interest are + the Cocoa Nut and Bread Fruit Tree. In short, it is impossible + to open the volume without being gratified with the richness + and variety of its contents, and the amiable feeling which + pervades the inferences and incidental observations of the + writer.</p> + + <p>A word or two on the embellishments and we have done. These + are far behind the literary merits of the volume, and are + discreditable productions. Where so much is well done it were + better to omit engravings altogether than adopt such as these: + "they imitate nature so abominably." The group at page 223 is a + fair specimen of the whole, than which nothing can be more + lifeless. After the excellent cuts of Mr. London's Gardener's + and Natural History Magazines, we turn away from these with + pain, and it must be equally vexatious to the editor to see + such accompaniments to his pages.</p> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page201" + id="page201"></a>[pg 201]</span> + + <h3>SHAKSPEARE'S BROOCH.</h3> + + <div class="figcenter" + style="width:70%;"> + <a href="images/201.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/201.png" + alt="" /></a> + </div> + + <h4>(<i>To the Editor of the Mirror.</i>)</h4> + + <p>Having frequently observed in your valuable publication the + great attention which you have paid to every thing relating to + the "Immortal Bard of Avon," I beg leave to transmit to you two + drawings (the one back, the other front) of a brooch or buckle, + found near the residence of the poet, at New Place, Stratford, + among the rubbish brought out from the spot where the house + stood. This brooch is considered by the most competent judges + and antiquarians in and near Stratford, to have been the + personal property of Shakspeare. A. is the back; 1 and 2, faint + traces of the letters which were nearly obliterated, by the + person who found the relic, in scraping to ascertain whether + the metal was precious, the whole of it being covered with + gangrene or verdigris. 3 and 4 are the remains of the hinge to + the pin. Fortunately the W. at the corner was preserved. B. + represents the front of the brooch; 1, 3, and 5, are red stones + in the top part (similar in shape to a coronet) 2 and 4 are + blue stones in the same; the other stones in the bottom or + heart are white, though varying rather in hue, and all are set + in silver.</p> + + <p class="author">HJTHWC.</p> + + <p>N.B. The above is shown to the curious by the individual who + found it—a poor man named Smith, living in Sheep Street, + Stratford.</p> + <hr /> + + <h2>SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS</h2> + <hr class="short" /> + + <p>The greater portion of the following Notes will, we are + persuaded, be new to all but the bibliomaniacs in theatrical + lore. They occur in a paper of 45 pages in the last Edinburgh + Review, in which the writer attributes the Decline of the Drama + to a variety of causes—as late hours, costly + representations, high salaries, and excessive + taxation—some of which we have selected for extract. In + our affection for the Stage, we have paid some attention to its + history, as well as to its recent state, and readily do we + subscribe to a few of the Reviewer's opinions of the cause of + its neglect. But to attribute this falling off to "taxes + innumerable" is rather too broad: perhaps the highly-taxed wax + lights around the box circles suggested this new light. We need + not go so far to detect the rottenness of the dramatic state; + still, as the question involves controversy at every point, we + had rather keep out of the fight, and leave our Reviewer + without further note or comment.</p> + + <h3>NOTES ON THE DRAMA.</h3> + + <h4>(<i>From the Edinburgh Review, No. 98.</i>)</h4> + + <h4><i>Origin of Admission Money.</i></h4> + + <p>There were at Athens various funds, applicable to public + purposes; one of which, and among the most considerable, was + appropriated for the expensed of sacrifices, processions, + festivals, spectacles, and of the theatres. The citizens were + admitted to the theatres for some time gratis; but in + consequence of the disturbances caused by multitudes crowding + to get seats, to introduce order, and as the phrase is, to keep + out improper persons, a small sum of money was afterwards + demanded for admission. That the poorer classes, however, might + not be deprived of their favourite gratification, they received + from the treasury, out of this fund, the price of a + seat—and thus peace and regularity were secured, and the + fund still applied to its original purpose. The money that was + taken at the doors, having served as a ticket, was expended, + together with that which had not been used in this manner, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page202" + id="page202"></a>[pg 202]</span> to maintain the edifice + itself, and to pay the manifold charges of the + representation.</p> + + <h4>"<i>Dramatic Representations natural to Man.</i>"</h4> + + <p>Travellers inform us, that savages, even in a very rude + state, are found to divert themselves by imitating some common + event in life: but it is not necessary to leave our own quiet + homes to satisfy ourselves, that dramatic representations are + natural to man. All children delight in mimicking action; many + of their amusements consist in such performances, and are in + every sense <i>plays</i>. It is curious, indeed, to observe at + how early an age the young of the most imitative animal, man, + begin to copy the actions of others; how soon the infant + displays its intimate conviction of the great truth, that "all + the world's a Stage." The baby does not imitate those acts + only, that are useful and necessary to be learned; but it + instinctively mocks useless and unimportant actions and + unmeaning sounds, for its amusement, and for the mere pleasure + of imitation, and is evidently much delighted when it is + successful. The diversions of children are very commonly + dramatic. When they are not occupied with their hoops, tops, + and balls, or engaged in some artificial game, they amuse + themselves in playing at soldiers, in being at school, or at + church, in going to market, in receiving company; and they + imitate the various employments of life with so much fidelity, + that the theatrical critic, who delights in chaste acting, will + often find less to censure in his own little servants in the + nursery, than in his majesty's servants in a theatre-royal. + When they are somewhat older they dramatize the stories they + read; most boys have represented Robin Hood, or one of his + merry-men, and every one has enacted the part of Robinson + Crusoe, and his man Friday. We have heard of many extraordinary + tastes and antipathies; but we never knew an instance of a + young person, who was not delighted the first time he visited a + theatre. The true enjoyment of life consists in action; and + happiness, according to the peripatetic definition, is to be + found in energy; it accords, therefore, with the nature and + etymology of the drama, which is, in truth, not less natural + than agreeable. Its grand divisions correspond, moreover, with + those of time; the contemplation of the present is + Comedy—mirth for the most part being connected with the + present only—and the past and the future are the + dominions of the Tragic muse.</p> + + <h4><i>Grecian Theatres.</i></h4> + + <p>The climate of Athens being one of the finest and most + agreeable in the world, the Athenians passed the greatest part + of their time in the open air; and their theatres, like those + in the rest of Greece and in ancient Rome, had no other + covering than the sky. Their structure accordingly differed + greatly from that of a modern playhouse, and the representation + in many respects was executed in a different manner. But we + will mention those peculiarities only which are necessary to + render our observations intelligible.</p> + + <p>The ancient theatres, in the first place, were on a much + larger scale than any that have been constructed in later days. + It would have been impossible, by reason of the magnitude of + the edifice, and consequently of the stage, to have changed the + scenes in the same manner as in our smaller buildings. The + scene, as it was called, was a permanent structure, and + resembled the front of Somerset House, of the Horse Guards, or + the Tuileries, and was in the same style of architecture as the + rest of the spacious edifice. There were three large gateways, + through each of which a view of streets, or of woods, or of + whatever was suitable to the action represented, was displayed; + this painting was fixed upon a triangular frame, that turned on + an axis, like a swivel seal, or ring, so that any one of the + three sides might be presented to the spectators, and perhaps + the two that were turned away might be covered with other + subjects, if it were necessary. If parts of Regent Street, or + of Whitehall, or the Mansion House, and the Bank of England, + were shown through the openings in the fixed scene, it would be + plain that the fable was intended to be referred to London; and + it would be removed to Edinburgh, or Paris, if the more + striking portions of those cities were thus exhibited. The + front of the scene was broken by columns, by bays and + promontories in the line of the building, which gave beauty and + variety to the façade, and aided the deception produced by the + paintings that were seen through the three openings. In the + Roman Theatres there were commonly two considerable + projections, like large bow-windows, or bastions, in the spaces + between the apertures; this very uneven line afforded + assistance to the plot, in enabling different parties to be on + the stage at the same time, without seeing one another. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page203" + id="page203"></a>[pg 203]</span> The whole front of the + stage was called the scene, or covered building, to + distinguish it from the rest of the theatre, which was open + to the air, except that a covered portico frequently ran + round the semicircular part of the edifice at the back of + the highest row of seats, which answered to our galleries, + and was occupied, like them, by the gods, who stood in + crowds upon the level floor of their celestial abodes.</p> + + <p>Immediately in front of the stage, as with us, was the + orchestra; but it was of much larger dimensions, not only + positively, but in proportion to the theatre. In our playhouses + it is exclusively inhabited by fiddles and their fiddlers; the + ancients appropriated it to more dignified purposes; for there + stood the high altar of Bacchus, richly ornamented and + elevated, and around it moved the sacred Chorus to solemn + measures, in stately array and in magnificent vestments, with + crowns and incense, chanting at intervals their songs, and + occupied in their various rites, as we have before mentioned. + It is one of the many instances of uninterrupted traditions, + that this part of our theatres is still devoted to receive + musicians, although, in comparison with their predecessors, + they are of an ignoble and degenerate race.</p> + + <p>The use of masks was another remarkable peculiarity of the + ancient acting. It has been conjectured, that the tragic mask + was invented to conceal the face of the actor, which, in a + small city like Athens, must have been known to the greater + part of the audience, as vulgar in expression, and it sometimes + would have brought to mind most unseasonably the remembrance of + a life and of habits, that would have repelled all sympathy + with the character which he was to personate. It would not have + been endured, that a player should perform the part of a + monarch in his ordinary dress, nor that of a hero with his own + mean physiognomy. It is probable, also, that the likeness of + every hero of tragedy was handed down in statues, medals, and + paintings, or even in a series of masks; and that the + countenance of Theseus, or of Ajax, was as well known to the + spectators as the face of any of their contemporaries. Whenever + a living character was introduced by name, as Cleon or + Socrates, in the old comedy, we may suppose that the mask was a + striking, although not a flattering portrait. We cannot doubt, + that these masks were made with great care, and were skilfully + painted, and finished with the nicest accuracy; for every art + was brought to a focus in the Greek theatres. We must not + imagine, like schoolboys, that the tragedies of Sophocles were + performed at Athens in such rude masks as are exhibited in our + music shops. We have some representations of them in antique + sculptures and paintings, with features somewhat distorted, but + of exquisite and inimitable beauty.</p> + + <h4><i>The Roman Stage.</i></h4> + + <p>The Drama of ancient Rome possesses little of originality or + interest. The word <i>Histrio</i> is said to be of Etruscan + origin; the Tuscans, therefore, had their theatres; but little + information can now be gleaned respecting them. It was long + before theatres were firmly and permanently established in + Rome; but the love of these diversions gradually became too + powerful for the censors, and the Romans grew, at last, nearly + as fond of them as the Greeks. The latter, as St. Augustine + informs us, did not consider the profession of a player as + dishonourable: "Ipsos scenicos non turpes judicaverunt, sed + dignos etiam prćclaris honoribus habuerunt."—<i>De Civ. + Dei</i>. The more prudish Romans, however, were less tolerant; + and we find in the Code various constitutions levelled against + actors, and one law especially, which would not suit our + senate, forbidding senators to marry actresses; but this was + afterwards relaxed by Justinian, who had broken it himself. He + permitted such marriages to take place on obtaining the consent + of the emperor, and afterwards without, so that the lady + quitted the stage, and changed her manner of life. The Romans, + however, had at least enough of kindly feeling towards a + Comedian to pray for the safety, or refection, of his soul + after death; this is proved by a pleasant epitaph on a player, + which is published in the collection of Gori:—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Pro jocis, quibus cunctos</p> + + <p class="i4">oblectabat,</p> + + <p>Si quid oblectamenti apud</p> + + <p class="i4">vos est</p> + + <p>Manes, insontem reficite</p> + + <p class="i4">Animulam."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h4><i>Costume.</i></h4> + + <p>It is probable that the imagination of the spectator could + without difficulty dispense with scenes, particularly if the + surrounding objects were somewhat removed from the ordinary + aspect of every-day things; if the performance were to take + place, for example, in the hall of a college, or in a + church.</p> + + <p>The costume that prevails at present almost universally, is + so barbarous and mean, and it changes in so many minute + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page204" + id="page204"></a>[pg 204]</span> particulars so frequently, + that it is impossible to conceive the hero of a tragedy + actually wearing such attire. A more picturesque dress seems + therefore to be indispensable; but the essentials of the + costume of any time, from which dramatic subjects could be + taken, are by no means costly. All that is absolutely + necessary in vestments to content the fancy, might be + procured at a trifling expense, and the hero or heroine + might be supplied with the ordinary apparel of Greece, or + Rome, or of any other country, at a small price. We must + carefully distinguish, however, between the necessaries and + the luxuries of deception; the form, and sometimes the + colour, demand a scrupulous accuracy; the texture is always + unimportant. We may comprehend, therefore, how the old + English theatre, notwithstanding the small outlay on + decorations, by a strict attention to essentials, possessed + considerable attractions; we may readily believe, that there + were many companies who were maintained by their trade; + "that all those companies got money and lived in reputation, + especially those of the Blackfriars, who were men of grave + and sober behaviour."</p> + + <h4><i>The Old Drama.</i></h4> + + <p>Our literature is remarkably rich in old dramas; but they + are of little use to the present age. Fastidiousness and + hypocrisy have grown for many years, slowly but surely, and + have at last arrived at such a pitch, that there is hardly a + line in the works of our old comic writers, which is not + reprobated as immoral, or at least vulgar. The excessive + squeamishness of taste of the present day is very unfavourable + to the genius of comedy, which demands a certain liberty and a + freedom from restraints. This morbid delicacy is a great evil, + for it renders the time of limitation in all comic writings + exceedingly short. The ephemeral duration of the fashion, which + is all the production of a man of wit can now enjoy, + discourages authors. There is no motive to bestow much care on + such compositions, and they fall below the ambition of men of + real talents—for the best part of the reward of literary + labour consists in the lasting admiration of posterity; and as + some new fastidiousness will consign to oblivion, in a short + time, every comic production, it is plain that such a reward + cannot be reasonably anticipated. We are more completely, than + any other nation, the victims of fashion. Everything here must + either be in the last and newest fashion, or it must cease to + be. The despotism of fashion in dress, in furniture, and in the + pattern of the edges of plate, is perhaps inconvenient—it + is, however, not very important; but it is a cruel grievance + that it should interfere with and annihilate an entire + department of our literature.</p> + + <h4><i>Hours of Representation.</i></h4> + + <p>Dramatic representations were formerly given, not only in + Greece and Rome, but in England also, in the daytime, and in + the open air. "The Globe, Fortune, and Bull, were large houses, + and partly open to the weather, and there they always acted by + daylight;" and plays were first acted in Spain in the open + courts of great houses, which were sometimes covered, in whole + or in part, with an awning to keep off the sun. The word + <i>sale</i>, which is used as a stage direction, meaning not + <i>exit</i>, but he enters, <i>i.e.</i> he comes out of the + house into the open air, is an evidence of the old practice. We + are inclined to think that the morning is more favourable to + dramatic excellence than the evening. The daylight accords with + the truth and sobriety of nature, and it is the season of cool + judgment: the gilded, the painted, the tawdry, the + meretricious—spangles and tinsel, and tarnished and + glittering trumpery—demand the glare of candle-light and + the shades of night. It is certain, that the best pieces were + written for the day; and it is probable, that the best actors + were those who performed whilst the sun was above the horizon. + The childish trash which now occupies so large a portion of the + public attention could not, it is evident, keep possession of + the stage, if it were to be presented, not at ten o'clock at + night, but twelve hours earlier. Much would need to be changed + in the dresses, scenery, and decorations, and in many other + respects, in the pieces, the solid merits of which would be + able to undergo the severe ordeal; and if we consider + <i>what</i> changes would be required to adapt them to the + altered hours, we shall find that they will be all in favour of + good taste, and on the side of nature and simplicity. The day + is a holy thing; Homer aptly calls it [Greek: ieron + aemar]ιερον ημαρ, + and it still retains something of the sacred simplicity of + ancient times. It is, at all events, less sophisticated and + polluted than the modern night, a period which is not devoted + to wholesome sleep, but to various constraints and sufferings, + called, in bitter mockery, Pleasure. The late evening, being a + modern invention, is therefore devoted to fashion; to recur to + the simple and pure in theatricals, it would + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page205" + id="page205"></a>[pg 205]</span> probably be necessary to + effect an escape from a period of time, which has never been + employed in the full integrity of tasteful elegance; and + thus to break the spell, by which the whole realm of fancy + has long been bewitched. An absurd and inconvenient + practice, which is almost peculiar to this country, of + attending public places in that uncomfortable condition, + which is technically called being dressed, but which is in + truth, especially in females, being more or less naked and + undressed, might more easily be dispensed with by day, and + on that account, and for many other reasons, it would be + less difficult to return home.</p> + + <h4><i>Decline of the Drama.</i></h4> + + <p>It is not unlikely that the drama would be more successful + if it were conducted more plainly, and in a less costly style. + The perfection of the machinery and scenery of the modern + theatres, seems to be unfavourable to the goodness of + composition and acting; since the accessaries are so excellent, + the opinion is encouraged, that the principals are less + important, and may be neglected with impunity. The effect of + good scenery at the first glance is, no doubt, very striking, + but it soon passes away. If we saw a Garrick acting Shakspeare + in a large hall, without any scenes, we should cease in a few + minutes to be sensible of the want of them. We are almost + disposed to believe, that exactly in proportion as scenery has + been improved, good acting has declined.</p> + + <p>The present age is too much inclined to make human life, in + every department, resemble a great lottery, in which there are + a very few enormous prizes, and all the rest of the tickets are + blanks. The stage has not escaped the evil we complain of; on + the contrary, it is a striking instance of the mischief of this + unequal partition. The public are of opinion, that it is + impossible to reward a small number of actors too highly, and + to pay the remainder at too low a rate; to neglect the latter + enough, or to be sufficiently attentive to the former. On our + stage, therefore, the inferior parts, and indeed all but one or + two, and especially in tragedies, where the inequality is more + intolerable, and more inexcusable, are sustained in a very + inadequate manner. In foreign theatres, on the contrary, and + especially in France, the whole performance is more equal, and + consequently more agreeable. There is perhaps less difference + than is commonly supposed between the best performers and those + in the next class. Whatever the difference be, it is an + inconvenience and an imperfection that ought to be palliated; + but we aggravate it. The first-rate actor always does his best, + because the audience expect it, and reward him with their + applause; but no one cares for, or observes, the performer of + second-rate talents: whether he be perfect in his part, and + exert himself to the utmost, or be slovenly and negligent + throughout, he is unpraised and unblamed. The general effect, + therefore, of our tragedies, is very unsatisfactory; for that + is far greater, where all the characters are tolerably well + supported, than where there is one good actor, and all the + other parts are inhumanly murdered. This latter is too often + the case on our stage for with us art does little, nothing + being taught systematically. The French players, on the + contrary, are thoroughly drilled, and well instructed, in every + requisite.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3>BISHOPS' SLEEVES.</h3> + + <p>To Joan it has been always conceded that she is as good as + her lady in the dark, but it is only of late years that Joan + has presumed to rival her mistress in the light. The high price + of silks and satins protected the mistress against this + usurpation of her servant in the broad day. Clad in these, she + was safe, as in a coat of mail, from the attack of the domestic + aspirant, who was seldom able to obtain possession of the + outworks of fashion beyond an Irish poplin or a Norwich crape. + The silks and satins were a wall of separation, as impenetrable + as the lines of Torres Vedras, or the court hoop and petticoat + of a drawing-room in the reign of George III. The new liberal + commercial system has entirely changed the position of the + parties. The cheapness of French silks, and other articles of + dress, has placed female finery within the reach of even + moderate wages, and a kitchen-wench will not condescend to + sweep the room in any thing less than a robe of <i>Gros de + Naples</i> or <i>batiste</i>. Something must be done on the + part of the mistress to arrest the progress of invasion, and + assert the vested rights of the superior classes of female + society. Invention is the first quality of genius, and to woman + it is granted in a high degree. Thus gifted, the mistress, in a + happy moment, conceived the idea of bishops' sleeves, an + article of dress which precludes all hope or chance of + imitation in the kitchen. A muffled cat might as well attempt + to catch mice, as a maid-servant to go about the business of + the house in bishops' sleeves. She could not + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page206" + id="page206"></a>[pg 206]</span> remove the tea-equipage + from the table without the risk of sweeping the china upon + the floor; if she handed her master a plate, he must submit + to have his head wrapped up in her sleeve; and what a figure + must the cook present after preparing her soups and sauces! + The female servant thus accoutred might, indeed, perform the + office of a flapper, and disperse the flies; but although + this was an office of importance among the ancients, it is + dispensed with at a modern table. With the introduction of + bishops' sleeves, the rivalry on the part of the maid must + cease, and the mistress remain in undisturbed possession of + her pre-eminence. Every friend of good order, every one who + would retain each individual female in her proper place in + society, and prevent its members from trespassing on each + other, must, therefore, rejoice in bishops' sleeves; and + devoutly pray, that differing from every other fashion that + ever preceded it, the fashion of bishops' sleeves may endure + for ever.—<i>New Monthly Magazine</i>.</p> + <hr /> + + <h2>SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY</h2> + <hr class="short" /> + + <h4><i>Iris Lunaris.</i></h4> + + <p>That rare and beautiful phenomenon the <i>Iris Lunaris</i>, + or moonlight rainbow, was observed by Mr. W. Colbourne, jun. + and a friend of his, from an eminence about a quarter of a mile + from Sturminster, on the evening of the 14th instant, about + twenty minutes before nine o'clock, in the north-west. Its + northern limb first made its appearance; but after a few + minutes, the complete curvature was distinctly and beautifully + displayed. The altitude of its apex seemed to be nearly forty + degrees. Nothing could exceed the beauty of the appearance of + this arch of milky whiteness, contrasted as it was with the + sable rain fraught clouds which formed the background to this + interesting picture. It continued visible more than five + minutes, and gradually disappeared at the western limb.</p> + + <p class="author">RURIS.</p> + + <p><i>Sturminster</i>.</p> + + <h4><i>Westphalia Hams</i></h4> + + <p>Are prepared in November and March. The Germans place them + in deep tubs, which they cover with layers of salt and + saltpetre, and with a few laurel leaves. They are left four or + five days in this state, and are then completely covered with + strong brine. At the end of three weeks they are taken out, and + left to soak for twelve hours in clear well-water; they are + then exposed, during three weeks, to a smoke produced by the + branches of juniper.—<i>From the French.</i></p> + + <h4><i>London Porter.</i></h4> + + <p>The bitter contained in porter, if taken wholly from hops, + would require an average quantity of ten or twelve pounds to + the quarter of malt, or about three pounds per barrel; so that + if we consider the fluctuation in the price of hops, we shall + not be surprised at the numerous substitutes, by which means + the brewer can procure as much bitter for sixpence as would + otherwise cost him a pound.</p> + + <p>Quassia is, probably, the most harmless of all the illegal + bitters. The physicians prescribe the decoction to their + patients to the extent of a quarter of an ounce of the bark a + day—as much as the brewer was accustomed to put into nine + gallons of his porter.—<i>Library of Useful + Knowledge</i>.</p> + + <h4><i>Black Game</i></h4> + + <p>Have increased greatly in the southern counties of Scotland + and north of England within the last few years. It is a pretty + general opinion, though an erroneous one, that they drive away + the red grouse; the two species require very different kinds of + cover, and will never interfere.—<i>Note to White's + Selborne, by Sir W. Jardine</i>.</p> + + <h4><i>Birds of Prey.</i></h4> + + <p>All birds of prey are capable of sustaining the want of food + and water for long periods, particularly the latter, but of + which they also seem remarkably fond, drinking frequently in a + state of nature, and during summer washing almost + daily.—<i>Ibid.</i></p> + + <h4><i>Egypt.</i></h4> + + <p>M. Champollion, in one of his recent letters, tells us that + the whole of the island of Elephantina would hardly make a park + fit for a good citizen of Paris, although certain modern + chronologists would fain make it into a kingdom, in order to + dispose of the ancient Egyptian dynasty of the + Elephantines.</p> + + <p>In another letter dated March last, he says, "Our + establishment is in the Valley of Kings, which may truly be + called the abode of death, as not a blade of grass is to be + found in it, nor any living creature, except the jackall and + hyćna, which the night before last devoured, at the distance of + 100 steps from our palace, the ass which had carried my Barabra + servant Mahomet, during the time that he was agreeably passing + the night of the Ramadan in our kitchen, which + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page207" + id="page207"></a>[pg 207]</span> is in a royal tomb, + entirely dilapidated."—<i>Translated in the Literary + Gazette</i>.</p> + + <h4><i>Beet-Root Sugar.</i></h4> + + <p>The Anti-Slavery Monthly Reporter for September, among the + advantages which will probably lead to the discontinuance of + the cultivation of sugar by slaves, enumerates the rapid + extension of the manufacture of beet-root sugar in France; a + prelude, as the editor conceives, to its introduction into this + country, and especially into Ireland.</p> + + <h4><i>Dry Rot.</i></h4> + + <p>The American Commodore Barron recommends pumping air from + the holds of vessels as a remedy against dry rot; the common + mode of ventilation, by forcing pure air, or dashing water into + the hold, being found an imperfect preservative.</p> + + <h4><i>Alloyed Iron Plate.</i></h4> + + <p>Iron, coated with an alloy of tin and lead, so as to imitate + tin plate, and not to rust, is now manufactured to a + considerable extent in Paris; and its use for sugar-pans and + boilers, and in the construction of roofs and gutters is + expected to be very considerable.</p> + + <h4><i>Interesting Question.</i></h4> + + <p>Whether in the sea there be depths where no creature is able + to live, or whether a boundary be assigned to organic life + within those depths, cannot be ascertained. It, however, + clearly appears from the observations made by Biot, and other + naturalists, that fishes, according to their different + dispositions, live in different depths of the + ocean.—<i>From the German</i>.</p> + + <h4><i>Cats.</i></h4> + + <p>In Kamtschatka, Greenland, Lapland, and Iceland, there are + no cats, nor does the lynx in Europe extend farther than + Norway.—<i>Ibid.</i></p> + + <h4><i>Vessels made of the Papyrus.</i></h4> + + <p>The last number of the <i>Magazine of Natural History</i> + contains an article of great interest, on Vessels made of the + Papyrus, illustrated with cuts, from which it appears that + vessels have from the earliest times, been formed from the + paper reed, and that they are at present in use in Egypt and + Abyssinia. The author is John Hogg, Esq. M.A. F.L.S. &c. + whose antiquarian attainments have greatly assisted him in the + elucidation of this very curious subject.</p> + + <h4><i>Remains of La Perouse.</i><a id="footnotetag10" + name="footnotetag10"></a><a href="#footnote10"><sup>10</sup></a></h4> + + <p>M. Derville, who commanded the Astrolabe, in the lute-voyage + undertaken to search for traces of the expedition of La + Perouse, considers the island, the summits of which were + observed fifteen leagues to windward, by the frigates La + Récherche and L'Esperance, which composed the expedition of + Admiral D'Entrecasteaux, in 1793, and to which the name of the + Isle de la Récherche was then given, to be the identical + island, Vanikoro (or Vanicolo) on the shores of which the + remnants of La Perouse's vessel have been found. The + geographical position of latitude and longitude of the Isle of + Vanikoro, agrees exactly with that of the island to which the + name of Récherche was given by D'Entrecasteaux. That island was + then confounded with the number of other islands, which had + been seen by the expedition, and which it had been found + impossible to examine in detail.—<i>Athenćum</i>.</p> + + <h4><i>Study of Chemistry.</i></h4> + + <p>Numbers there are, far above the lower classes, who still + consider the elements of all things as consisting of earth, + air, fire, and water; an error which classical-learning, no + less than the expressions of common parlance, tends to + perpetuate. Let us hope that the days are at hand, if not + already arrived, in which the acquirement of such fundamental + knowledge will be looked upon as at least equally necessary + with the study of languages, and the cultivation of taste and + imagination.—<i>Library of Useful Knowledge</i>.</p> + <hr /> + + <h2>THE GATHERER.</h2> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>A snapper up of unconsidered + trifles.—SHAKSPEARE.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr class="short" /> + + <h3>ORIGIN OF THE WORD WORSTED.</h3> + + <p>Worsted, in the county of Norfolk, though formerly a town of + considerable trade, and much celebrity, is now reduced to a + village, and the manufactures, which obtained a name from the + place, are removed to Norwich and its vicinity.</p> + + <p>Shakspeare has not been very courteous towards the + <i>worsted gentry</i>; had he lived in our times, they might + have <i>worsted</i> him for a libel: he says in King Lear, "A + base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three suited, hundred pound, + filthy, worsted stocking knave."</p> + + <p class="author">P.T.W.</p> + <hr /> + + <p>I asked a poor man, how he did? He said, he was like a + washball, always in decay.—<i>Swift</i>.</p> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page208" + id="page208"></a>[pg 208]</span> + + <h3>CAT-FANCIER.</h3> + + <p>Lady Morgan gives the following anecdote in her <i>Book of + the Boudoir</i>. "The first day we had the honour of dining at + the palace of the Archbishop of Taranto, at Naples, he said to + me, you must pardon my passion for cats, (<i>la mia passione + gattesca</i>) but I never exclude them from my dining-room, and + you will find they make excellent company." Between the first + and second course the door opened, and several enormously large + and beautiful Angola cats were introduced by the names of + Pantalone, Desdemona, Otello, &c. They took their places on + chairs near the table, and were as silent, as quiet, as + motionless, and as well behaved, as the most <i>bon ton</i> + table in London could require. On the bishop requesting one of + the chaplains to help the Signora Desdemona, the butler stepped + up to his lordship, and observed, "My Lord, La Signora + Desdemona will prefer waiting for the roast."</p> + <hr /> + + <h3>ANCIENT FAMILY.</h3> + + <p>There was much sound truth in the speech of a country lad to + an idler, who boasted his ancient family: "<i>So much the worse + for you</i>," said the peasant, as we ploughmen say, "<i>the + older the seed the worse the crop</i>."</p> + <hr /> + + <p>At North Ferryby, in Yorkshire, the following very + instructive lines, are inscribed on a handsome tablet to the + memory of Sir T. Etherington, an Alderman of Hull, and late a + resident in the above place:—</p> + + <p>"Taught of God we should view losses, sickness, pain, and + death, but as the several trying stages by which a good man, + like Joseph, is conducted from a tent to a court; sin his + disease, Christ his physician, pain his medicine, the Bible his + support, the grave his rest, and death itself an angel + expressly sent to relieve the worn out labourer, or crown the + faithful soldier!"</p> + + <p>Louis XIV. was presented with an epitaph by an indifferent + poet, on the celebrated Moliere. "I would to God," said he, + "that Moliere had brought me yours."</p> + <hr /> + + <h3>ON MEMORY.</h3> + + <p>What an unknown and unspeakable happiness would it be to a + man of judgment, and who is engaged in the pursuit of + knowledge, if he had but a power of stamping all his own best + sentiments upon his memory in some indelible characters; and if + he could but imprint every valuable paragraph and sentiment of + the most excellent authors he has read, upon his mind, with the + same speed and facility with which he read + them?—<i>Watts</i>.</p> + <hr /> + + <p>Upon a stone in St. Margaret's churchyard, at Lynn, in + Norfolk, is the following inscription to the memory of William + Scrivenor, Cook to the Corporation, who died in the year + 1684:—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Alas! alas! <i>Will Scrivenor's</i> dead, who by his + art,</p> + + <p>Could make death's skeleton edible in each part,</p> + + <p>Mourn, squeamish stomachs, and ye curious + palates,</p> + + <p>You've lost your dainty dishes and your salades;</p> + + <p>Mourn for yourselves, but not for him i'th' + least</p> + + <p>He's gone to taste of a more heav'nly feast.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>At Whitchingham Magna, in the same county, is the following + epitaph to Thomas Alleyne, gent. who died Feb. 3, 1650, and his + two wives:—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Death here advantage hath of life I spye,</p> + + <p>One husband with two wives at once may lye.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr /> + + <p>A recent American newspaper has the following notice to its + readers:—"The editor, printer, publisher, foreman, and + oldest apprentice (<i>two</i> in all,) are confined by + sickness, and the whole establishment is left in the care of + the <i>devil</i>."</p> + <hr /> + + <table summary="Limbird's Editions" + align="center"> + <caption> + LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THE<br /> + <i>Following Novels is already Published:</i> + </caption> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td align="right"><i>s.</i></td> + + <td align="right"><i>d.</i></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Mackenzie's Man of Feeling</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Paul and Virginia</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>The Castle of Otranto</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Almoran and Hamet</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Rasselas</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + + <td align="right">8</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>The Old English Baron</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + + <td align="right">9</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Nature and Art</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + + <td align="right">8</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + + <td align="right">10</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Sicilian Romance</td> + + <td align="right">1</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>The Man of the World</td> + + <td align="right">1</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>A Simple Story</td> + + <td align="right">1</td> + + <td align="right">4</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Joseph Andrews</td> + + <td align="right">1</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Humphry Clinker</td> + + <td align="right">1</td> + + <td align="right">8</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>The Romance of the Forest</td> + + <td align="right">1</td> + + <td align="right">8</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>The Italian</td> + + <td align="right">2</td> + + <td align="right">0</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Zeluco, by Dr. Moore</td> + + <td align="right">2</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Edward, by Dr. Moore</td> + + <td align="right">2</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Roderick Random</td> + + <td align="right">2</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>The Mysteries of Udolpho</td> + + <td align="right">3</td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Peregrine Pickle</td> + + <td align="right">4</td> + + <td align="right">6</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>"Literary Gazette," Sept. 19, 1829.</p> + </blockquote> + + <blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote2" + name="footnote2"></a><b>Footnote 2:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag2">(return)</a> + + <p>The propellers, I am informed, are not absolutely + discarded. They are now not fixed, but movable, and + reserved for extreme possible emergencies, or for certain + military purposes.</p> + </blockquote> + + <blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote3" + name="footnote3"></a><b>Footnote 3:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag3">(return)</a> + + <p>Yorkshire. This wonderful assemblage lies scattered in + groups, covering a surface of nearly forty acres of heathy + moor. The numerous rocking-stones, rock-idols, altars, + cannon rocks, &c. evidently point out this spot as + having been used by the Druids in their horrid and + mysterious ceremonies. The position of some of these rocks + is truly astonishing; one in particular resting upon a base + of a few inches, overhangs on all sides many feet; while + others seem suspended and balanced as if they hung in + air.</p> + </blockquote> + + <blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote4" + name="footnote4"></a><b>Footnote 4:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag4">(return)</a> + + <p>Human sacrifices formed part of the religious rites of + the Druids.</p> + </blockquote> + + <blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote5" + name="footnote5"></a><b>Footnote 5:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag5">(return)</a> + + <p>Picturesque Promenade round Dorking. Second Edit. 12mo. + 1823, p. 258, 259.</p> + </blockquote> + + <blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote6" + name="footnote6"></a><b>Footnote 6:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag6">(return)</a> + + <p>Ibid p. 143.</p> + </blockquote> + + <blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote7" + name="footnote7"></a><b>Footnote 7:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag7">(return)</a> + + <p>The Alpenstock, by C.J. Latrobe, 1829.</p> + </blockquote> + + <blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote8" + name="footnote8"></a><b>Footnote 8:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag8">(return)</a> + + <p>Gray's Alliance of Education and Government.</p> + </blockquote> + + <blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote9" + name="footnote9"></a><b>Footnote 9:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag9">(return)</a> + + <p>See the second Georgic of Virgil.</p> + </blockquote> + + <blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote10" + name="footnote10"></a><b>Footnote 10:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag10">(return)</a> + + <p>For a Report of this discovery, see MIRROR, vol. xiii p. + 409.</p> + </blockquote> + <hr class="full" /> + + <p><i>Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD 143, Strand, (near + Somerset House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New + Market, Leipsic; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers.</i></p> + <hr class="full" /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror Of Literature, Amusement, +And Instruction, No. 391, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, *** + +***** This file should be named 13359-h.htm or 13359-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/3/5/13359/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, William Flis, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/old/13359-h/images/193.png b/old/13359-h/images/193.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..84ddb00 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13359-h/images/193.png diff --git a/old/13359-h/images/201.png b/old/13359-h/images/201.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e352779 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13359-h/images/201.png diff --git a/old/13359.txt b/old/13359.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0903d33 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13359.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1829 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror Of Literature, Amusement, And +Instruction, No. 391, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mirror Of Literature, Amusement, And Instruction, No. 391 + Vol. 14, No. 391, Saturday, September 26, 1829 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: September 3, 2004 [EBook #13359] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, William Flis, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +Vol. 14, No. 391.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1829. [PRICE 2d. + + + + * * * * * + + + +[Illustration: GURNEY'S IMPROVED STEAM CARRIAGE.] + + + + +MR. GURNEY'S IMPROVED STEAM CARRIAGE. + + +Mr. Gurney, in perfecting this invention, has followed Dr. Franklin's +advice--to tire and begin again. It is now four years since he first +commenced his ingenious enterprise; and nearly two years since we +reported and illustrated the progress he had made. (_See_ MIRROR, vol. +x. page 393, or No. 287.) He began with a large boiler, but public +prejudice was too strong for it; and knowing people talked of high +pressure accidents; the steam, could not, of course, be altogether got +rid of, so to divide the danger, Mr. Gurney made his boiler in forty +welded iron pipes; still the steam ran in a main pipe beneath the +whole of the carriage, and the evil was but modified. At length the +inventer has detached the engine and boiler, or locomotive part of +the apparatus, which is now to be fastened to the carriage, and may +be considered as a STEAM-HORSE, with no more danger than we should +apprehend from a restive animal, in whose veins the steam or mettle +circulates with too high a pressure. Fair trials have been made of +the Improved Carriage on our common roads, the Premier has decided the +machine "to be of great national importance," from sundry experiments +witnessed by his grace, at Hounslow Barracks; and the coach is +announced "really to start next month (the 1st) in working--not +experimental journeys--for travellers between London and Bath."[1] +Crack upon crack will follow joke upon joke; the _Omnibus_, with its +phaeton-like coursers will be eclipsed; and a journey to Bath and the +Hot Wells by steam will soon be an everyday event. + +Descriptions of Mr. Gurney's carriage have been so often before the +public, that extended detail is unnecessary. Besides, all our liege +subscribers will turn to the account in our No. 287. The recent +improvements have been perspicuously stated by Mr. Herapath, of +Cranford, in a letter in the _Times_ newspaper, and we cannot do +better than adopt and abridge a portion of his communication. + +"The present differs from the earlier carriage, in several +improvements in the machinery, suggested by experiment; also in +having no propellers;[2] and in having only four wheels instead of +six; the apparatus for guiding being applied immediately to the two +fore-wheels, bearing a part of the weight, instead of two extra +leading wheels bearing little or none. No person can conceive the +absolute control this apparatus gives to the director of the carriage, +unless he has had the same opportunities of observing it which I +had in a ride with Mr. Gurney. Whilst the wheels obey the slightest +motions of the hand, a trifling pressure of the foot keeps them +inflexibly steady, however rough the ground. To the hind axle, which +is very strong, and bent into two cranks of nine inches radius, at +right angles to each other, is applied the propelling power by means +of pistons from two horizontal cylinders. By this contrivance, and a +peculiar mode of admitting the steam to the cylinders, Mr. Gurney has +very ingeniously avoided that cumbersome appendage to steam-engines, +the fly-wheel, and preserves uniformity of action by constantly having +one cylinder on full pressure, whilst the other is on the reduced +expansive. The dead points--that is, those in which a piston has no +effect from being in the same right line with its crank,--are also +cleared by the same means. For as the cranks are at right angles, when +one piston is at a dead point, the other has a position of maximum +effect, and is then urged by full steam power; but no sooner has the +former passed the dead point, than an expansion valve opens on it with +full steam, and closes on the latter. Firmly fixed to the extremities +of the axle, and at right angles to it, are the two 'carriers'--(two +strong irons extending each way to the felloes of the wheels.) These +irons may be bolted to the felloes of the wheels or not, or to the +felloes of one wheel only. Thus the power applied to the axle is +carried at once to the parts of the wheels of least stress--the +circumferences. By this artifice the wheels are required to be of no +greater strength and weight than ordinary carriage-wheels; and, like +them, they turn freely and independently on the axle; but one or +both may be secured as part and parcel of the axle, as circumstances +require. The carriage is consequently propelled by the friction or +hold which either or both hind-wheels, according as the power is +applied to them jointly or separately, have on the ground. Beneath +the hind part drop two irons, with flat feet, called 'shoe-drags.' A +well-contrived apparatus, with a spindle passing up through a hollow +cylinder, to which the guiding handle is affixed, enables the director +to force one or both drags tight on the road, so as to retard the +progress in a descent, or if he please, to raise the wheels off +the ground. The propulsive power of the wheels being by this means +destroyed, the carriage is arrested in a yard or two, though going at +the rate of eighteen or twenty miles an hour. On the right hand of the +director lies the handle of the throttle-valve, by which he has the +power of increasing or diminishing the supply of steam _ad libitum_, +and hence of retarding or accelerating the carriage's velocity. The +whole carriage and machinery weigh about 16 cwt., and with the full +complement of water and coke 20 or 22 cwt., of which, I am informed, +about 16 cwt. lie on the hind-wheels." + +Mr. H. then enumerates the principle of the improvements:--"That +troublesome appendage the fly-wheel, as I have observed, Mr. Gurney +has rendered unnecessary. The danger to be apprehended in going over +rough pitching, from too rapid a generation of steam, he avoids by a +curious application of springs; and should these be insufficient, one +or two safety valves afford the _ultimatum_ of security. He ensures +an easy descent down the steepest declivity by his 'shoe-drags,' and +the power of reversing the action of the engines. His hands direct, +and his foot literally pinches obedience to the course over the +roughest and most refractory ground. The dreadful consequences of +boiler-bursting are annihilated by a judicious application of tubular +boilers. Should, indeed, a tube burst, a hiss about equal to that of a +hot nail plunged into water, contains the sum total of alarm, while a +few strokes with a hammer will set all to rights again. Lastly, he has +so contrived his 'carriers,' that they shall act without confining the +wheels, by which means there is none of that sliding and consequent +cutting up of the road, which, in sharp turnings, would result from +inflexible constraint. + +"Hills and loose, slippery ground are well known to be the _res +adversae_ of steam-carriages; on ordinary level roads they roll +along with rapid facility. In every ascent there are two additional +circumstances inimical to progressive motion. One is, that carriages +press less on the ground of a hill than on that of a plain, thus +giving the wheels a less forcible grasp or bite. But this may be +easily remedied in the structure of a carriage, and is not of very +material consequence in the steepest hills that we have. The other is +more serious. When a carriage ascends a hill, the weight or gravity of +the whole is decomposable into two--one perpendicular, and the other +parallel to the road. The former constitutes the pressure on the road, +the latter the additional work the engine has to perform. Universally +this is the same part of the whole carriage and its load together, +which the perpendicular ascent of the hill is of its length. With +these principles, if we knew the bite of the wheels on the road, +we could at once subject the powers of Mr. Gurney's carriage to +calculation. + +"Now, from one of the experiments made in the barrack-yard, at +Hounslow, I find we can approximate towards it. For instance, with one +wheel only fixed to the 'carriers,' the carriage drew itself and load +of water and coke (about 1 ton), with three men on it, and a wagon +behind of 16 cwt. containing 27 soldiers. This, at the rate of 1-1/2 +cwt. to a man, in round numbers is 4 tons. Estimating the force of +traction of spring carriages at a twelfth of the total weight, it +consequently gives a hold or bite on the road of 1-12 of 4 tons, or +6 2-3rds cwt. per wheel, or 13 1-3rd cwt. for the two wheels. This is +likewise the propelling force of the carriage. Supposing, therefore, +we were ascending a hill of 1 foot rise in 8, which I am assured +exceeds in steepness any hill we have, we should be able to draw a +load behind of 2 tons 2 cwt., or between 3 and 4 tons altogether.... + +"On a good level road I think it not improbable it might draw, instead +of 7 tons which our experiment would give, from 10 to 11, besides +its own weight, or 100 ordinary men, exclusive of 2 or 3 tons for +carriages; and up one of our steepest hills, 3 tons besides itself, or +25 men besides a ton for a carriage. This it would do at a rate of 8, +9, or 10 miles an hour. For it is a singular feature in this carriage, +and which was remarked by many at the time, that it maintained very +nearly the same speed with a wagon and 27 men, that it did with the +carriage and only 5 or 6 persons. But there is a fact connected with +this machine still more extraordinary. For instance, every additional +cwt. we shift on the hind or working wheels, will increase the power +of traction in our steepest hills upwards of 4 cwt., and on the +level road half a ton. Such, then, is the paradoxical nature of +steam-carriages, that the very circumstance which in animal exertion +would weaken and retard, will here multiply their strength and +accelerate. This, no doubt, Mr. Gurney's ingenuity will soon turn to +profitable account. + +"It has often been asserted that carriages of this sort could not +go above 6 or 7 miles an hour. I can see no reasonable objection +to 20. The following fact, decided before a large company in the +barrack-yard, will best speak for itself:--At eighteen minutes after +three I ascended the carriage with Mr. Gurney. After we had gone about +half way round, 'Now,' said Mr. Gurney, 'I will show you her speed.' +He did, and we completed seven turns round the outside of the road +by twenty-eight minutes after three. If, therefore, as I was there +assured, two and a half turns measured one mile, we went 2.8 miles +in ten minutes; that is, at the rate of 16.8, or nearly 17 miles per +hour. But as Mr. Gurney slackened its motion once or twice in the +course of trial, to speak to some one, and did not go at an equal rate +all the way round for fear of accident in the crowd, it is clear that +sometimes we must have proceeded at the rate of upwards of twenty +miles an hour." + +The Engraving will furnish the reader with a correct idea of such of +Mr. Gurney's improvements as are most interesting to the public. The +present arrangement is certainly very preferable to placing the boiler +and engine in immediate contact with the carriage, which is to convey +goods and passengers. Men of science are still much divided on the +practical economy of using steam instead of horses as a travelling +agent; but we hope, like all great contemporaries they may whet and +cultivate each other till the desired object is attained. One of them, +a writer in the _Atlas_, observes, that "if ultimately found capable +of being brought into public use, it would probably be most convenient +and desirable that several locomotive engines should be employed on +one line of road, in order that they might be exchanged at certain +stages for the purposes of examination, tightening of screws, and +other adjustments, which the jolting on passing over the road might +render necessary, and for the supply of fuel and water." + +An effectively-coloured lithographic of Mr. Gurney's carriage (by +Shoesmith) has recently appeared at the printsellers', which we take +this opportunity of recommending to the notice of collectors and +scrappers. + +[Footnote 1: "Literary Gazette," Sept. 19, 1829.] + +[Footnote 2: The propellers, I am informed, are not absolutely +discarded. They are now not fixed, but movable, and reserved for +extreme possible emergencies, or for certain military purposes.] + + * * * * * + + +PUNNING SATIRE ON AN INCONSTANT LOVER. + + You are as faithless as a _Carthaginian_, + To love at once, _Kate, Nell, Doll, Martha, Jenny, Anne._ + +SWIFT. + + * * * * * + + +BRIMHAM ROCKS[3] BY MOONLIGHT. + +(_FOR THE MIRROR._) + + + The sun hath set, but yet I linger still, + Gazing with rapture on the face of night; + And mountain wild, deep vale, and heathy hill, + Lay like a lovely vision, mellow, bright, + Bathed in the glory of the sunset light, + Whose changing hues in flick'ring radiance play, + Faint and yet fainter on the outstretch'd sight, + Until at length they wane and die away, + And all th' horizon round fades into twilight gray. + + But, slowly rising up the vaulted sky, + Forth comes the moon, night's joyous, sylvan queen, + With one lone, silent star, attendant by + Her side, all sparkling in its glorious sheen; + And, floating swan-like, stately, and serene, + A few light fleecy clouds, the drapery of heav'n, + Throw their pale shadows o'er this witching scene, + Deep'ning its mystic grandeur--and seem driven + Round these all shapeless piles like Time's wan spectres risen + + From out the tombs of ages. All around + Lies hushed and still, save with large, dusky wing + The bird of night makes its ill-omened sound; + Or moor-game, nestling 'neath th' flowery ling + Low chuckle to their mates--or startled, spring + Away on rustling pinions to the sky, + Wheel round and round in many an airy ring, + Then swooping downward to their covert hie, + And, lodged beneath the heath again securely lie. + + Ascend yon hoary rock's impending brow, + And on its windy summit take your stand-- + Lo! Wilsill's lovely vale extends below, + And long, long heathy moors on either hand + Stretch dark and misty--a bleak tract of land, + Whereon but seldom human footsteps come; + Save when with dog, obedient at command, + And gun, the sportsman quits his city home, + And brushing through the ling in quest of game doth roam. + + And lo! in wild confusion scattered round, + Huge, shapeless, naked, massy piles of stone + Rise, proudly towering o'er this barren ground, + Scowling in mutual hate--apart, alone, + Stern, desolate they stand--and seeming thrown + By some dire, dread convulsion of the earth + From her deep, silent caves, and hoary grown + With age and storms that Boreas issues forth + Replete with ire from his wild regions in the north. + + How beautiful! yet wildly beautiful, + As group on group comes glim'ring on the eye, + Making the heart, soul, mind, and spirit full + Of holy rapture and sweet imagery; + Till o'er the lip escapes th' unconscious sigh, + And heaves the breast with feeling, too too deep + For words t' express the awful sympathy, + That like a dream doth o'er the senses creep, + Chaining the gazer's eye--and yet he cannot weep. + + But stands entranced and rooted to the spot, + While grows the scene upon him vast, sublime, + Like some gigantic city's ruin, not + Inhabited by men, but Titans--Time + Here rests upon his scythe and fears to climb, + Spent by th' unceasing toil of ages past, + Musing he stands and listens to the chime + Of rock-born spirits howling in the blast, + While gloomily around night's sable shades are cast. + + Well deemed I ween the Druid sage of old + In making this his dwelling place on high; + Where all that's huge and great from Nature's mould, + Spoke this the temple of his deity; + Whose walls and roof were the o'erhanging sky, + His altar th' unhewn rock, all bleak and bare, + Where superstition with red, phrensied eye + And look all wild, poured forth her idol prayer, + As rose the dying wail,[4] and blazed the pile in air. + + Lost in the lapse of time, the Druid's lore + Hath ceased to echo these rude rocks among; + No altar new is stained with human gore; + No hoary bard now weaves the mystic song; + Nor thrust in wicker hurdles, throng on throng, + Whole multitudes are offered to appease + Some angry god, whose will and power of wrong + Vainly they thus essayed to soothe and please-- + Alas! that thoughts so gross man's noblest powers should seize. + + But, bowed beneath the cross, see! prostrate fall + The mummeries that long enthralled our isle; + So perish error! and wide over all + Let reason, truth, religion ever smile: + And let not man, vain, impious man defile + The spark heaven lighted in the human breast; + Let no enthusiastic rage, no sophist's wile + Lull the poor victim into careless rest, + Since the pure gospel page can teach him to be blest. + + Weak, trifling man, O! come and ponder here + Upon the nothingness of human things-- + How vain, how very vain doth then appear + The city's hum, the pomp and pride of kings; + All that from wealth, power, grandeur, beauty springs, + Alike must fade, die, perish, be forgot; + E'en he whose feeble hand now strikes the strings + Soon, soon within the silent grave must rot-- + Yet Nature's still the same, though we see, we hear her not. + +J. HORNER. + +_Wilsill, near Pateley Bridge, Sept. 1829._ + +[Footnote 3: Yorkshire. This wonderful assemblage lies scattered in +groups, covering a surface of nearly forty acres of heathy moor. +The numerous rocking-stones, rock-idols, altars, cannon rocks, &c. +evidently point out this spot as having been used by the Druids in +their horrid and mysterious ceremonies. The position of some of these +rocks is truly astonishing; one in particular resting upon a base of +a few inches, overhangs on all sides many feet; while others seem +suspended and balanced as if they hung in air.] + +[Footnote 4: Human sacrifices formed part of the religious rites of +the Druids.] + + * * * * * + + + +MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS. + + * * * * * + + +PLEDGING HEALTHS. + +The origin of the very common expression, to _pledge_ one drinking, +is curious: it is thus related by a very celebrated antiquarian of +the fifteenth century. "When the _Danes_ bore sway in this land, if +a native did drink, they would sometimes stab him with a dagger or +knife; hereupon people would not drink in company unless some one +present would be their _pledge_ or surety, that they should receive no +hurt, whilst they were in their draught; hence that usual phrase, I'll +_pledge you_, or be a pledge for you." Others affirm the true sense of +the word was, that if the party drank to, were not disposed to drink +himself, he would put another for _a pledge_ to do it for him, else +the party who began would take it ill. + +J.W. + + * * * * * + +RUSSIAN SUPERSTITION. + +The extreme superstition of the Greek church, the national one of +Russia, seems to exceed that of the Roman Catholic devotees, even in +Spain and Portugal. The following instance will show the absurdity of +it even among the higher classes:-- + +A Russian princess, some few years since, had always a large silver +crucifix following her in a separate carriage, and which was placed in +her chamber. When any thing fortunate happened to her in the course +of the day, and she was satisfied with all that had occurred, she +had lighted tapers placed around the crucifix, and said to it in a +familiar style, "See, now, as you have been very good to me to-day, +you shall be treated well; you shall have candles all night; I will +love you; I will pray to you." If on the contrary, any thing happened +to vex the lady, she had the candles put out, ordered her servants not +to pay any homage to the poor image, and loaded it herself with the +bitterest reproaches. + +INA. + + * * * * * + + +THE SELECTOR; + +AND LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS_. + + * * * * * + +LIBRARY OF ENTERTAINING KNOWLEDGE. + +_FRUITS_. + +This Part (5) completes the volume of "Vegetable Substances used in +the Arts and in Domestic Economy." The first portion--_Timber Trees_ +was noticed at some length in our last volume (page 309,) and received +our almost unqualified commendation, which we are induced to extend to +the Part now before us. Still, we do not recollect to have pointed +out to our readers that which appears to us the great recommendatory +feature of this series of works--we mean the arrangement of the +volumes--their subdivisions and exemplifications--and these evince a +master-hand in compilation. + +Every general reader must be aware that little novelty could be +expected in a brief History and Description of Timber Trees and +Fruits, and that the object of the Useful Knowledge Society was not +merely to furnish the public with new views, but to present in the +most attractive form the most entertaining facts of established +writers, and illustrate their views with the observations of +contemporary authors as well as their own personal acquaintance with +the subjects. In this manner, the Editor has taken "a general +and rapid view of fruits," and, considering the great hold their +description possesses on all readers, we are disposed to think almost +too rapid. We should have enjoyed a volume or two more than half a +volume of such reading as the present; but as we are not purchasers, +and are unacquainted with the number to which the Society propose +to extend their works, we ought not perhaps to raise this objection, +which, to say the truth, is a sort of negative commendation. Hitherto, +we have been accustomed to see compilations of pretensions similar +to the present, executed with little regard to neatness or unity, +or weight or consideration. Whole pages and long extracts have been +stripped and sliced off books, with little rule or arrangement, and +what is still worse, without any acknowledgment of the sources. +The last defect is certainly the greatest, since, in spite of +ill-arrangement, an intelligent inquirer may with much trouble, avail +himself of further reference to the authors quoted, and thus complete +in his own mind what the compiler had so indifferently begun. The work +before us is, however, altogether of a much higher order than general +compilations. The introductions and inferences are pointed and +judicious, and the facts themselves of the most interesting character, +are narrated in a condensed but perspicuous style; while the slightest +reference will prove that the best and latest authorities have +been appreciated. Thus, in the History and Description of Fruits, +the Transactions of the Horticultural Society are frequently and +pertinently quoted to establish disputed points, as well as the +journals of intelligent travellers and naturalists; with occasional +poetical embellishments, which lend a charm even to this attractive +species of reading. + +To quote the history of either Fruit entire, would not so well denote +the character of the work as would a few of the most striking passages +in the descriptions. In the introductory chapter we are pleased with +the following passage on _Monastic Gardens_. + +"The monks, after the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, +appear to have been the only gardeners. As early as 674, we have +a record, describing a pleasant and fruit-bearing close at Ely, +then cultivated by Brithnoth, the first Abbot of that place. The +ecclesiastics subsequently carried their cultivation of fruits as +tar as was compatible with the nature of the climate, and the +horticultural knowledge of the middle ages. Whoever has seen an old +abbey, where for generations destruction only has been at work, must +have almost invariably found it situated in one of the choicest spots, +both as to soil and aspect; and if the hand of injudicious improvement +has not swept it away, there is still the 'Abbey-garden.' Even though +it has been wholly neglected--though its walls be in ruins, covered +with stone-crop and wall-flower, and its area produce but the rankest +weeds--there are still the remains of the aged fruit trees--the +venerable pears, the delicate little apples, and the luscious black +cherries. The chestnuts and the walnuts may have yielded to the axe, +and the fig trees and vines died away;--but sometimes the mulberry is +left, and the strawberry and the raspberry struggle among the ruins. +There is a moral lesson in these memorials of the monastic ages. The +monks, with all their faults, were generally men of peace and study; +and these monuments show that they were improving the world, while the +warriors were spending their lives to spoil it. In many parts of Italy +and France, which had lain in desolation and ruin from the time of +the Goths, the monks restored the whole surface to fertility; and in +Scotland and Ireland there probably would not have been a fruit tree +till the sixteenth century, if it had not been for their peaceful +labours. It is generally supposed that the monastic orchards were in +their greatest perfection from the twelfth to the fifteenth century." + +Again, the + +_NATURALIZATION OF PLANTS._ + +"The large number of our native plants (for we call those native which +have adapted themselves to our climate) mark the gradual progress of +our civilization through the long period of two thousand years; whilst +the almost infinite diversity of exotics which a botanical garden +offers, attest the triumphs of that industry which has carried us +as merchants or as colonists over every region of the earth, and has +brought from every region whatever can administer to our comforts and +our luxuries,--to the tastes and the needful desires of the humblest +as well as the highest amongst us. To the same commerce we owe the +potato and the pine-apple; the China rose, whose flowers cluster round +the cottage-porch, and the Camellia which blooms in the conservatory. +The addition even of a flower, or an ornamental shrub, to those which +we already possess, is not to be regarded as a matter below the +care of industry and science. The more we extend our acquaintance +with the productions of nature, the more are our minds elevated by +contemplating the variety, as well as the exceeding beauty, of the +works of the Creator. The highest understanding does not stoop when +occupied in observing the brilliant colour of a blossom, or the +graceful form of a leaf. Hogarth, the great moral painter, a man in +all respects of real and original genius, writes thus to his friend +Ellis, a distinguished traveller and naturalist:--'As for your pretty +little seed-cups, or vases, they are a sweet confirmation of the +pleasure Nature seems to take in superadding an elegance of form to +most of her works, wherever you find them. How poor and bungling are +all the imitations of Art! When I have the pleasure of seeing you +next, we will sit down, _nay, kneel down if you will_, and admire +these things.' + + * * * * * + +"It is one of the proudest attributes of man, and one which is most +important for him to know, that he can improve every production +of nature, if he will but once make it his own by possession and +attachment. A conviction of this truth has rendered the cultivation of +fruits, in the more polished countries of Europe, as successful as we +now behold it." + +The work then divides into _Fruits of the Temperate Climates_, and +of _Tropical Climates_; the first are subdivided into Fleshy, Pulpy, +and Stone Fruits and Nuts, in preference to a strict geographical +arrangement. Under "the Apple" occur some very judicious observations +on + +_CIDER._ + +"The cider counties of England have always been considered as highly +interesting. They lie something in the form of a horse-shoe round +the Bristol Channel; and the best are, Worcester and Hereford, on +the north of the channel, and Somerset and Devon on the south. In +appearance, they have a considerable advantage over those counties +in which grain alone is cultivated. The blossoms cover an extensive +district with a profusion of flowers in the spring, and the fruit is +beautiful in autumn. Some of the orchards occupy a space of forty or +fifty acres; and the trees being at considerable intervals, the land +is also kept in tillage. A great deal of practical acquaintance with +the qualities of soil is required in the culture of apple and pear +trees; and his skill in the adaptation of trees to their situation +principally determines the success of the manufacturer of cider +and perry. The produce of the orchards is very fluctuating; and the +growers seldom expect an abundant crop more than once in three years. +The quantity of apples required to make a hogshead of cider is from +twenty-four to thirty bushels; and in a good year an acre of orchard +will produce somewhere about six hundred bushels, or from twenty to +twenty-five hogsheads. The cider harvest is in September. When the +season is favourable, the heaps of apples collected at the presses are +immense--consisting of hundreds of tons. If any of the vessels used in +the manufacture of cider are of lead, the beverage is not wholesome. +The price of a hogshead of cider generally varies from 2l. to 5l., +according to the season and quality; but cider of the finest growth +has sometimes been sold as high as 20l. by the hogshead, direct from +the press--a price equal to that of many of the fine wines of the +Rhine or the Garonne." + + * * * * * + +_OLD APPLE TREES._ + +"At Horton, in Buckinghamshire, where Milton spent some of his earlier +years, there is an apple tree still growing, of which the oldest +people remember to have heard it said that the poet was accustomed +to sit under it. And upon the low leads of the church at Romsey, in +Hampshire, there is an apple tree still bearing fruit, which is said +to be two hundred years old." + +The _Fig_ and the _Fine_ are equally interesting, and in connexion +with the latter we notice the editor's mention of the fine vineyard +at Arundel Castle. Aubrey describes a similar vineyard at Chart Park, +near Dorking, another seat of the Howards. "Here was a vineyard, +supposed to have been planted by the Hon. Charles Howard, who, it is +said, erected his residence, as it were, in the vineyard." Again, "the +vineyard flourished for some time, and tolerably good wine was made +from the produce; but after the death of the noble planter, in 1713, +it was much neglected, and nothing remained but the name. On taking +down the house, a stone resembling a millstone, was found, by which +the grapes were pressed."[5] We were on the spot at the time, and saw +the stone in question. Vines are still very abundant at Dorking, the +soil being very congenial to their growth. "Hence, almost every house +in this part has its vine; and some of the plants are very productive. +The cottages of the labouring poor are not without this ornament, and +the produce is usually sold by them to their wealthier neighbours, for +the manufacture of wine. The price per bushel is from 4s. to 16s.; +but the variableness of the season frequently disappoints them in the +crops, the produce of which is sometimes laid up as a setoff to the +rent."[6] + +We have heard too of attempts in England to train the vine on +the sides of hills, and a few years since an individual lost a +considerable sum of money in making the experiment in the Isle of +Wight. + +At page 257, observes the editor, + +_A VINEYARD_ + +"Associated as it is with all our ideas of beauty and plenty, is, +in general, a disappointing object. The hop plantations of our own +country are far more picturesque. In France, the vines are trained +upon poles, seldom more than three or four feet in height; and 'the +pole-clipt vineyard' of poetry is not the most inviting of real +objects. In Spain, poles for supporting vines are not used; but +cuttings are planted, which are not permitted to grow very high, but +gradually form thick and stout stocks. In Switzerland, and in the +German provinces, the vineyards are as formal as those of France. +But in Italy is found the true vine of poetry, 'surrounding the stone +cottage with its girdle, flinging its pliant and luxuriant branches +over the rustic veranda, or twining its long garland from tree to +tree.'[7] It was the luxuriance and the beauty of her vines and her +olives that tempted the rude people of the north to pour down upon her +fertile fields:-- + + 'The prostrate South to the destroyer yields + Her boasted titles and her golden fields; + With grim delight the brood of winter view + A brighter day, and heavens of azure hue. + Scent the new fragrance of the breathing rose. + And quaff the pendent vintage as it grows.'[8] + +"In Greece, too, as well as Italy, the shoots of the vines are +either trained upon trees, or supported, so as to display all their +luxuriance, upon a series of props. This was the custom of the ancient +vine-growers; and their descendants have preserved it in all its +picturesque originality.[9] The vine-dressers of Persia train their +vines to run up a wall, and curl over on the top. But the most +luxurious cultivation of the vine in hot countries is where it covers +the trellis-work which surrounds a well, inviting the owner and his +family to gather beneath its shade. 'The fruitful bough by well' is of +the highest antiquity." + +Passing over the Mulberry, Currant, Gooseberry, and the Strawberry, +the account of the Egg Plant is particularly attractive; and that of +the Olive is well-written, but too long for extract. + +Among the _Tropical Fruits_, the Orange and the Date are very +delightful; and equal in importance and interest are the Cocoa Nut +and Bread Fruit Tree. In short, it is impossible to open the volume +without being gratified with the richness and variety of its contents, +and the amiable feeling which pervades the inferences and incidental +observations of the writer. + +A word or two on the embellishments and we have done. These are +far behind the literary merits of the volume, and are discreditable +productions. Where so much is well done it were better to omit +engravings altogether than adopt such as these: "they imitate nature +so abominably." The group at page 223 is a fair specimen of the whole, +than which nothing can be more lifeless. After the excellent cuts of +Mr. London's Gardener's and Natural History Magazines, we turn away +from these with pain, and it must be equally vexatious to the editor +to see such accompaniments to his pages. + +[Footnote 5: Picturesque Promenade round Dorking. Second Edit. 12mo. +1823, p. 258, 259.] + +[Footnote 6: Ibid p. 143.] + +[Footnote 7: The Alpenstock, by C.J. Latrobe, 1829.] + +[Footnote 8: Gray's Alliance of Education and Government.] + +[Footnote 9: See the second Georgic of Virgil.] + + * * * * * + + +SHAKSPEARE'S BROOCH. + +[Illustration] + +(_TO THE EDITOR OF THE MIRROR._) + +Having frequently observed in your valuable publication the great +attention which you have paid to every thing relating to the "Immortal +Bard of Avon," I beg leave to transmit to you two drawings (the one +back, the other front) of a brooch or buckle, found near the residence +of the poet, at New Place, Stratford, among the rubbish brought out +from the spot where the house stood. This brooch is considered by the +most competent judges and antiquarians in and near Stratford, to have +been the personal property of Shakspeare. A. is the back; 1 and 2, +faint traces of the letters which were nearly obliterated, by the +person who found the relic, in scraping to ascertain whether the +metal was precious, the whole of it being covered with gangrene +or verdigris. 3 and 4 are the remains of the hinge to the pin. +Fortunately the W. at the corner was preserved. B. represents the +front of the brooch; 1, 3, and 5, are red stones in the top part +(similar in shape to a coronet) 2 and 4 are blue stones in the same; +the other stones in the bottom or heart are white, though varying +rather in hue, and all are set in silver. + +HJTHWC. + +N.B. The above is shown to the curious by the individual who found +it--a poor man named Smith, living in Sheep Street, Stratford. + + * * * * * + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS + + * * * * * + +The greater portion of the following Notes will, we are persuaded, be +new to all but the bibliomaniacs in theatrical lore. They occur in a +paper of 45 pages in the last Edinburgh Review, in which the writer +attributes the Decline of the Drama to a variety of causes--as +late hours, costly representations, high salaries, and excessive +taxation--some of which we have selected for extract. In our affection +for the Stage, we have paid some attention to its history, as well +as to its recent state, and readily do we subscribe to a few of the +Reviewer's opinions of the cause of its neglect. But to attribute this +falling off to "taxes innumerable" is rather too broad: perhaps the +highly-taxed wax lights around the box circles suggested this new +light. We need not go so far to detect the rottenness of the dramatic +state; still, as the question involves controversy at every point, +we had rather keep out of the fight, and leave our Reviewer without +further note or comment. + + +NOTES ON THE DRAMA. + +(_FROM THE EDINBURGH REVIEW, NO. 98._) + +_ORIGIN OF ADMISSION MONEY._ + +There were at Athens various funds, applicable to public purposes; one +of which, and among the most considerable, was appropriated for the +expensed of sacrifices, processions, festivals, spectacles, and of +the theatres. The citizens were admitted to the theatres for some time +gratis; but in consequence of the disturbances caused by multitudes +crowding to get seats, to introduce order, and as the phrase is, +to keep out improper persons, a small sum of money was afterwards +demanded for admission. That the poorer classes, however, might not +be deprived of their favourite gratification, they received from the +treasury, out of this fund, the price of a seat--and thus peace and +regularity were secured, and the fund still applied to its original +purpose. The money that was taken at the doors, having served as a +ticket, was expended, together with that which had not been used in +this manner, to maintain the edifice itself, and to pay the manifold +charges of the representation. + +"_DRAMATIC REPRESENTATIONS NATURAL TO MAN._" + +Travellers inform us, that savages, even in a very rude state, are +found to divert themselves by imitating some common event in life: but +it is not necessary to leave our own quiet homes to satisfy ourselves, +that dramatic representations are natural to man. All children +delight in mimicking action; many of their amusements consist in such +performances, and are in every sense _plays_. It is curious, indeed, +to observe at how early an age the young of the most imitative animal, +man, begin to copy the actions of others; how soon the infant displays +its intimate conviction of the great truth, that "all the world's a +Stage." The baby does not imitate those acts only, that are useful +and necessary to be learned; but it instinctively mocks useless and +unimportant actions and unmeaning sounds, for its amusement, and for +the mere pleasure of imitation, and is evidently much delighted +when it is successful. The diversions of children are very commonly +dramatic. When they are not occupied with their hoops, tops, and +balls, or engaged in some artificial game, they amuse themselves in +playing at soldiers, in being at school, or at church, in going to +market, in receiving company; and they imitate the various employments +of life with so much fidelity, that the theatrical critic, who +delights in chaste acting, will often find less to censure in his own +little servants in the nursery, than in his majesty's servants in a +theatre-royal. When they are somewhat older they dramatize the stories +they read; most boys have represented Robin Hood, or one of his +merry-men, and every one has enacted the part of Robinson Crusoe, +and his man Friday. We have heard of many extraordinary tastes and +antipathies; but we never knew an instance of a young person, who +was not delighted the first time he visited a theatre. The true +enjoyment of life consists in action; and happiness, according to +the peripatetic definition, is to be found in energy; it accords, +therefore, with the nature and etymology of the drama, which is, +in truth, not less natural than agreeable. Its grand divisions +correspond, moreover, with those of time; the contemplation of the +present is Comedy--mirth for the most part being connected with the +present only--and the past and the future are the dominions of the +Tragic muse. + +_GRECIAN THEATRES._ + +The climate of Athens being one of the finest and most agreeable in +the world, the Athenians passed the greatest part of their time in the +open air; and their theatres, like those in the rest of Greece and +in ancient Rome, had no other covering than the sky. Their structure +accordingly differed greatly from that of a modern playhouse, and the +representation in many respects was executed in a different manner. +But we will mention those peculiarities only which are necessary to +render our observations intelligible. + +The ancient theatres, in the first place, were on a much larger scale +than any that have been constructed in later days. It would have +been impossible, by reason of the magnitude of the edifice, and +consequently of the stage, to have changed the scenes in the same +manner as in our smaller buildings. The scene, as it was called, was +a permanent structure, and resembled the front of Somerset House, of +the Horse Guards, or the Tuileries, and was in the same style of +architecture as the rest of the spacious edifice. There were three +large gateways, through each of which a view of streets, or of woods, +or of whatever was suitable to the action represented, was displayed; +this painting was fixed upon a triangular frame, that turned on an +axis, like a swivel seal, or ring, so that any one of the three +sides might be presented to the spectators, and perhaps the two that +were turned away might be covered with other subjects, if it were +necessary. If parts of Regent Street, or of Whitehall, or the Mansion +House, and the Bank of England, were shown through the openings in +the fixed scene, it would be plain that the fable was intended to be +referred to London; and it would be removed to Edinburgh, or Paris, +if the more striking portions of those cities were thus exhibited. The +front of the scene was broken by columns, by bays and promontories in +the line of the building, which gave beauty and variety to the facade, +and aided the deception produced by the paintings that were seen +through the three openings. In the Roman Theatres there were commonly +two considerable projections, like large bow-windows, or bastions, +in the spaces between the apertures; this very uneven line afforded +assistance to the plot, in enabling different parties to be on the +stage at the same time, without seeing one another. The whole front of +the stage was called the scene, or covered building, to distinguish it +from the rest of the theatre, which was open to the air, except that +a covered portico frequently ran round the semicircular part of the +edifice at the back of the highest row of seats, which answered to +our galleries, and was occupied, like them, by the gods, who stood in +crowds upon the level floor of their celestial abodes. + +Immediately in front of the stage, as with us, was the orchestra; +but it was of much larger dimensions, not only positively, but +in proportion to the theatre. In our playhouses it is exclusively +inhabited by fiddles and their fiddlers; the ancients appropriated it +to more dignified purposes; for there stood the high altar of Bacchus, +richly ornamented and elevated, and around it moved the sacred Chorus +to solemn measures, in stately array and in magnificent vestments, +with crowns and incense, chanting at intervals their songs, and +occupied in their various rites, as we have before mentioned. It is +one of the many instances of uninterrupted traditions, that this part +of our theatres is still devoted to receive musicians, although, +in comparison with their predecessors, they are of an ignoble and +degenerate race. + +The use of masks was another remarkable peculiarity of the ancient +acting. It has been conjectured, that the tragic mask was invented +to conceal the face of the actor, which, in a small city like Athens, +must have been known to the greater part of the audience, as vulgar +in expression, and it sometimes would have brought to mind most +unseasonably the remembrance of a life and of habits, that would have +repelled all sympathy with the character which he was to personate. It +would not have been endured, that a player should perform the part of +a monarch in his ordinary dress, nor that of a hero with his own mean +physiognomy. It is probable, also, that the likeness of every hero of +tragedy was handed down in statues, medals, and paintings, or even in +a series of masks; and that the countenance of Theseus, or of Ajax, +was as well known to the spectators as the face of any of their +contemporaries. Whenever a living character was introduced by name, as +Cleon or Socrates, in the old comedy, we may suppose that the mask was +a striking, although not a flattering portrait. We cannot doubt, that +these masks were made with great care, and were skilfully painted, +and finished with the nicest accuracy; for every art was brought to +a focus in the Greek theatres. We must not imagine, like schoolboys, +that the tragedies of Sophocles were performed at Athens in such +rude masks as are exhibited in our music shops. We have some +representations of them in antique sculptures and paintings, with +features somewhat distorted, but of exquisite and inimitable beauty. + +_THE ROMAN STAGE._ + +The Drama of ancient Rome possesses little of originality or interest. +The word _Histrio_ is said to be of Etruscan origin; the Tuscans, +therefore, had their theatres; but little information can now be +gleaned respecting them. It was long before theatres were firmly and +permanently established in Rome; but the love of these diversions +gradually became too powerful for the censors, and the Romans grew, +at last, nearly as fond of them as the Greeks. The latter, as St. +Augustine informs us, did not consider the profession of a player as +dishonourable: "Ipsos scenicos non turpes judicaverunt, sed dignos +etiam praeclaris honoribus habuerunt."--_De Civ. Dei_. The more prudish +Romans, however, were less tolerant; and we find in the Code various +constitutions levelled against actors, and one law especially, which +would not suit our senate, forbidding senators to marry actresses; but +this was afterwards relaxed by Justinian, who had broken it himself. +He permitted such marriages to take place on obtaining the consent +of the emperor, and afterwards without, so that the lady quitted the +stage, and changed her manner of life. The Romans, however, had at +least enough of kindly feeling towards a Comedian to pray for the +safety, or refection, of his soul after death; this is proved by a +pleasant epitaph on a player, which is published in the collection +of Gori:-- + + Pro jocis, quibus cunctos + oblectabat, + Si quid oblectamenti apud + vos est + Manes, insontem reficite + Animulam." + +_COSTUME._ + +It is probable that the imagination of the spectator could without +difficulty dispense with scenes, particularly if the surrounding +objects were somewhat removed from the ordinary aspect of every-day +things; if the performance were to take place, for example, in the +hall of a college, or in a church. + +The costume that prevails at present almost universally, is so +barbarous and mean, and it changes in so many minute particulars so +frequently, that it is impossible to conceive the hero of a tragedy +actually wearing such attire. A more picturesque dress seems therefore +to be indispensable; but the essentials of the costume of any time, +from which dramatic subjects could be taken, are by no means costly. +All that is absolutely necessary in vestments to content the fancy, +might be procured at a trifling expense, and the hero or heroine +might be supplied with the ordinary apparel of Greece, or Rome, or of +any other country, at a small price. We must carefully distinguish, +however, between the necessaries and the luxuries of deception; the +form, and sometimes the colour, demand a scrupulous accuracy; the +texture is always unimportant. We may comprehend, therefore, how the +old English theatre, notwithstanding the small outlay on decorations, +by a strict attention to essentials, possessed considerable +attractions; we may readily believe, that there were many companies +who were maintained by their trade; "that all those companies got +money and lived in reputation, especially those of the Blackfriars, +who were men of grave and sober behaviour." + +_THE OLD DRAMA._ + +Our literature is remarkably rich in old dramas; but they are of +little use to the present age. Fastidiousness and hypocrisy have grown +for many years, slowly but surely, and have at last arrived at such +a pitch, that there is hardly a line in the works of our old comic +writers, which is not reprobated as immoral, or at least vulgar. +The excessive squeamishness of taste of the present day is very +unfavourable to the genius of comedy, which demands a certain liberty +and a freedom from restraints. This morbid delicacy is a great +evil, for it renders the time of limitation in all comic writings +exceedingly short. The ephemeral duration of the fashion, which is +all the production of a man of wit can now enjoy, discourages authors. +There is no motive to bestow much care on such compositions, and they +fall below the ambition of men of real talents--for the best part of +the reward of literary labour consists in the lasting admiration of +posterity; and as some new fastidiousness will consign to oblivion, in +a short time, every comic production, it is plain that such a reward +cannot be reasonably anticipated. We are more completely, than any +other nation, the victims of fashion. Everything here must either be +in the last and newest fashion, or it must cease to be. The despotism +of fashion in dress, in furniture, and in the pattern of the edges of +plate, is perhaps inconvenient--it is, however, not very important; +but it is a cruel grievance that it should interfere with and +annihilate an entire department of our literature. + +_HOURS OF REPRESENTATION._ + +Dramatic representations were formerly given, not only in Greece and +Rome, but in England also, in the daytime, and in the open air. "The +Globe, Fortune, and Bull, were large houses, and partly open to the +weather, and there they always acted by daylight;" and plays were +first acted in Spain in the open courts of great houses, which were +sometimes covered, in whole or in part, with an awning to keep off the +sun. The word _sale_, which is used as a stage direction, meaning not +_exit_, but he enters, i.e. he comes out of the house into the open +air, is an evidence of the old practice. We are inclined to think +that the morning is more favourable to dramatic excellence than the +evening. The daylight accords with the truth and sobriety of nature, +and it is the season of cool judgment: the gilded, the painted, the +tawdry, the meretricious--spangles and tinsel, and tarnished and +glittering trumpery--demand the glare of candle-light and the shades +of night. It is certain, that the best pieces were written for the +day; and it is probable, that the best actors were those who performed +whilst the sun was above the horizon. The childish trash which now +occupies so large a portion of the public attention could not, it is +evident, keep possession of the stage, if it were to be presented, not +at ten o'clock at night, but twelve hours earlier. Much would need to +be changed in the dresses, scenery, and decorations, and in many other +respects, in the pieces, the solid merits of which would be able to +undergo the severe ordeal; and if we consider _what_ changes would be +required to adapt them to the altered hours, we shall find that they +will be all in favour of good taste, and on the side of nature and +simplicity. The day is a holy thing; Homer aptly calls it [Greek: +ieron aemar], and it still retains something of the sacred simplicity +of ancient times. It is, at all events, less sophisticated and +polluted than the modern night, a period which is not devoted to +wholesome sleep, but to various constraints and sufferings, called, +in bitter mockery, Pleasure. The late evening, being a modern +invention, is therefore devoted to fashion; to recur to the simple and +pure in theatricals, it would probably be necessary to effect an +escape from a period of time, which has never been employed in the +full integrity of tasteful elegance; and thus to break the spell, by +which the whole realm of fancy has long been bewitched. An absurd and +inconvenient practice, which is almost peculiar to this country, of +attending public places in that uncomfortable condition, which is +technically called being dressed, but which is in truth, especially in +females, being more or less naked and undressed, might more easily be +dispensed with by day, and on that account, and for many other reasons, +it would be less difficult to return home. + +_DECLINE OF THE DRAMA._ + +It is not unlikely that the drama would be more successful if it were +conducted more plainly, and in a less costly style. The perfection +of the machinery and scenery of the modern theatres, seems to be +unfavourable to the goodness of composition and acting; since the +accessaries are so excellent, the opinion is encouraged, that the +principals are less important, and may be neglected with impunity. +The effect of good scenery at the first glance is, no doubt, very +striking, but it soon passes away. If we saw a Garrick acting +Shakspeare in a large hall, without any scenes, we should cease in a +few minutes to be sensible of the want of them. We are almost disposed +to believe, that exactly in proportion as scenery has been improved, +good acting has declined. + +The present age is too much inclined to make human life, in every +department, resemble a great lottery, in which there are a very few +enormous prizes, and all the rest of the tickets are blanks. The +stage has not escaped the evil we complain of; on the contrary, it is +a striking instance of the mischief of this unequal partition. The +public are of opinion, that it is impossible to reward a small number +of actors too highly, and to pay the remainder at too low a rate; +to neglect the latter enough, or to be sufficiently attentive to the +former. On our stage, therefore, the inferior parts, and indeed all +but one or two, and especially in tragedies, where the inequality +is more intolerable, and more inexcusable, are sustained in a +very inadequate manner. In foreign theatres, on the contrary, and +especially in France, the whole performance is more equal, and +consequently more agreeable. There is perhaps less difference than is +commonly supposed between the best performers and those in the next +class. Whatever the difference be, it is an inconvenience and an +imperfection that ought to be palliated; but we aggravate it. The +first-rate actor always does his best, because the audience expect it, +and reward him with their applause; but no one cares for, or observes, +the performer of second-rate talents: whether he be perfect in his +part, and exert himself to the utmost, or be slovenly and negligent +throughout, he is unpraised and unblamed. The general effect, +therefore, of our tragedies, is very unsatisfactory; for that is far +greater, where all the characters are tolerably well supported, than +where there is one good actor, and all the other parts are inhumanly +murdered. This latter is too often the case on our stage for with +us art does little, nothing being taught systematically. The French +players, on the contrary, are thoroughly drilled, and well instructed, +in every requisite. + + * * * * * + + +BISHOPS' SLEEVES. + +To Joan it has been always conceded that she is as good as her lady +in the dark, but it is only of late years that Joan has presumed to +rival her mistress in the light. The high price of silks and satins +protected the mistress against this usurpation of her servant in the +broad day. Clad in these, she was safe, as in a coat of mail, from +the attack of the domestic aspirant, who was seldom able to obtain +possession of the outworks of fashion beyond an Irish poplin or a +Norwich crape. The silks and satins were a wall of separation, as +impenetrable as the lines of Torres Vedras, or the court hoop and +petticoat of a drawing-room in the reign of George III. The new +liberal commercial system has entirely changed the position of the +parties. The cheapness of French silks, and other articles of dress, +has placed female finery within the reach of even moderate wages, and +a kitchen-wench will not condescend to sweep the room in any thing +less than a robe of _Gros de Naples_ or _batiste_. Something must be +done on the part of the mistress to arrest the progress of invasion, +and assert the vested rights of the superior classes of female +society. Invention is the first quality of genius, and to woman it +is granted in a high degree. Thus gifted, the mistress, in a happy +moment, conceived the idea of bishops' sleeves, an article of dress +which precludes all hope or chance of imitation in the kitchen. A +muffled cat might as well attempt to catch mice, as a maid-servant to +go about the business of the house in bishops' sleeves. She could not +remove the tea-equipage from the table without the risk of sweeping +the china upon the floor; if she handed her master a plate, he must +submit to have his head wrapped up in her sleeve; and what a figure +must the cook present after preparing her soups and sauces! The female +servant thus accoutred might, indeed, perform the office of a flapper, +and disperse the flies; but although this was an office of importance +among the ancients, it is dispensed with at a modern table. With the +introduction of bishops' sleeves, the rivalry on the part of the maid +must cease, and the mistress remain in undisturbed possession of her +pre-eminence. Every friend of good order, every one who would retain +each individual female in her proper place in society, and prevent its +members from trespassing on each other, must, therefore, rejoice in +bishops' sleeves; and devoutly pray, that differing from every other +fashion that ever preceded it, the fashion of bishops' sleeves may +endure for ever.--New Monthly Magazine. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY + + * * * * * + + +_IRIS LUNARIS._ + +That rare and beautiful phenomenon the _Iris Lunaris_, or moonlight +rainbow, was observed by Mr. W. Colbourne, jun. and a friend of his, +from an eminence about a quarter of a mile from Sturminster, on the +evening of the 14th instant, about twenty minutes before nine o'clock, +in the north-west. Its northern limb first made its appearance; +but after a few minutes, the complete curvature was distinctly and +beautifully displayed. The altitude of its apex seemed to be nearly +forty degrees. Nothing could exceed the beauty of the appearance of +this arch of milky whiteness, contrasted as it was with the sable +rain fraught clouds which formed the background to this interesting +picture. It continued visible more than five minutes, and gradually +disappeared at the western limb. + +RURIS. + +_Sturminster_. + + +_WESTPHALIA HAMS_ + +Are prepared in November and March. The Germans place them in deep +tubs, which they cover with layers of salt and saltpetre, and with a +few laurel leaves. They are left four or five days in this state, and +are then completely covered with strong brine. At the end of three +weeks they are taken out, and left to soak for twelve hours in clear +well-water; they are then exposed, during three weeks, to a smoke +produced by the branches of juniper.--_From the French._ + + +_LONDON PORTER._ + +The bitter contained in porter, if taken wholly from hops, would +require an average quantity of ten or twelve pounds to the quarter +of malt, or about three pounds per barrel; so that if we consider the +fluctuation in the price of hops, we shall not be surprised at the +numerous substitutes, by which means the brewer can procure as much +bitter for sixpence as would otherwise cost him a pound. + +Quassia is, probably, the most harmless of all the illegal bitters. +The physicians prescribe the decoction to their patients to the extent +of a quarter of an ounce of the bark a day--as much as the brewer was +accustomed to put into nine gallons of his porter.--_Library of Useful +Knowledge_. + + +_BLACK GAME_ + +Have increased greatly in the southern counties of Scotland and north +of England within the last few years. It is a pretty general opinion, +though an erroneous one, that they drive away the red grouse; the +two species require very different kinds of cover, and will never +interfere.--_Note to White's Selborne, by Sir W. Jardine_. + + +_BIRDS OF PREY._ + +All birds of prey are capable of sustaining the want of food and water +for long periods, particularly the latter, but of which they also seem +remarkably fond, drinking frequently in a state of nature, and during +summer washing almost daily.--Ibid. + + +_EGYPT._ + +M. Champollion, in one of his recent letters, tells us that the whole +of the island of Elephantina would hardly make a park fit for a good +citizen of Paris, although certain modern chronologists would fain +make it into a kingdom, in order to dispose of the ancient Egyptian +dynasty of the Elephantines. + +In another letter dated March last, he says, "Our establishment is in +the Valley of Kings, which may truly be called the abode of death, as +not a blade of grass is to be found in it, nor any living creature, +except the jackall and hyaena, which the night before last devoured, at +the distance of 100 steps from our palace, the ass which had carried +my Barabra servant Mahomet, during the time that he was agreeably +passing the night of the Ramadan in our kitchen, which is in a royal +tomb, entirely dilapidated."--_Translated in the Literary Gazette_. + + +_BEET-ROOT SUGAR._ + +The Anti-Slavery Monthly Reporter for September, among the advantages +which will probably lead to the discontinuance of the cultivation of +sugar by slaves, enumerates the rapid extension of the manufacture of +beet-root sugar in France; a prelude, as the editor conceives, to its +introduction into this country, and especially into Ireland. + + +_DRY ROT._ + +The American Commodore Barron recommends pumping air from the holds of +vessels as a remedy against dry rot; the common mode of ventilation, +by forcing pure air, or dashing water into the hold, being found an +imperfect preservative. + + +_ALLOYED IRON PLATE._ + +Iron, coated with an alloy of tin and lead, so as to imitate tin +plate, and not to rust, is now manufactured to a considerable +extent in Paris; and its use for sugar-pans and boilers, and in the +construction of roofs and gutters is expected to be very considerable. + + +_INTERESTING QUESTION._ + +Whether in the sea there be depths where no creature is able to +live, or whether a boundary be assigned to organic life within those +depths, cannot be ascertained. It, however, clearly appears from +the observations made by Biot, and other naturalists, that fishes, +according to their different dispositions, live in different depths of +the ocean.--_From the German_. + + +_CATS._ + +In Kamtschatka, Greenland, Lapland, and Iceland, there are no cats, +nor does the lynx in Europe extend farther than Norway.--Ibid. + + +_VESSELS MADE OF THE PAPYRUS._ + +The last number of the _Magazine of Natural History_ contains an +article of great interest, on Vessels made of the Papyrus, illustrated +with cuts, from which it appears that vessels have from the earliest +times, been formed from the paper reed, and that they are at present +in use in Egypt and Abyssinia. The author is John Hogg, Esq. M.A. +F.L.S. &c. whose antiquarian attainments have greatly assisted him in +the elucidation of this very curious subject. + + +_REMAINS OF LA PEROUSE._[10] + +M. Derville, who commanded the Astrolabe, in the lute-voyage +undertaken to search for traces of the expedition of La Perouse, +considers the island, the summits of which were observed fifteen +leagues to windward, by the frigates La Recherche and L'Esperance, +which composed the expedition of Admiral D'Entrecasteaux, in 1793, and +to which the name of the Isle de la Recherche was then given, to be +the identical island, Vanikoro (or Vanicolo) on the shores of which +the remnants of La Perouse's vessel have been found. The geographical +position of latitude and longitude of the Isle of Vanikoro, agrees +exactly with that of the island to which the name of Recherche was +given by D'Entrecasteaux. That island was then confounded with the +number of other islands, which had been seen by the expedition, and +which it had been found impossible to examine in detail.--_Athenaeum_. + + +_STUDY OF CHEMISTRY._ + +Numbers there are, far above the lower classes, who still consider the +elements of all things as consisting of earth, air, fire, and water; +an error which classical-learning, no less than the expressions of +common parlance, tends to perpetuate. Let us hope that the days are +at hand, if not already arrived, in which the acquirement of such +fundamental knowledge will be looked upon as at least equally +necessary with the study of languages, and the cultivation of taste +and imagination.--_Library of Useful Knowledge_. + +[Footnote 10: For a Report of this discovery, see MIRROR, vol. xiii p. +409.] + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + A snapper up of unconsidered trifles.--SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +ORIGIN OF THE WORD WORSTED. + +Worsted, in the county of Norfolk, though formerly a town of +considerable trade, and much celebrity, is now reduced to a village, +and the manufactures, which obtained a name from the place, are +removed to Norwich and its vicinity. + +Shakspeare has not been very courteous towards the _worsted gentry_; +had he lived in our times, they might have _worsted_ him for a libel: +he says in King Lear, "A base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three suited, +hundred pound, filthy, worsted stocking knave." + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + +I asked a poor man, how he did? He said, he was like a washball, +always in decay.--_Swift_. + + * * * * * + + +CAT-FANCIER. + +Lady Morgan gives the following anecdote in her _Book of the Boudoir_. +"The first day we had the honour of dining at the palace of the +Archbishop of Taranto, at Naples, he said to me, you must pardon my +passion for cats, (_la mia passione gattesca_) but I never exclude +them from my dining-room, and you will find they make excellent +company." Between the first and second course the door opened, and +several enormously large and beautiful Angola cats were introduced by +the names of Pantalone, Desdemona, Otello, &c. They took their places +on chairs near the table, and were as silent, as quiet, as motionless, +and as well behaved, as the most _bon ton_ table in London could +require. On the bishop requesting one of the chaplains to help +the Signora Desdemona, the butler stepped up to his lordship, and +observed, "My Lord, La Signora Desdemona will prefer waiting for the +roast." + + * * * * * + + +ANCIENT FAMILY. + +There was much sound truth in the speech of a country lad to an idler, +who boasted his ancient family: "_So much the worse for you_," said +the peasant, as we ploughmen say, "_the older the seed the worse the +crop_." + + * * * * * + +At North Ferryby, in Yorkshire, the following very instructive +lines, are inscribed on a handsome tablet to the memory of Sir T. +Etherington, an Alderman of Hull, and late a resident in the above +place:-- + +"Taught of God we should view losses, sickness, pain, and death, +but as the several trying stages by which a good man, like Joseph, +is conducted from a tent to a court; sin his disease, Christ his +physician, pain his medicine, the Bible his support, the grave his +rest, and death itself an angel expressly sent to relieve the worn out +labourer, or crown the faithful soldier!" + +Louis XIV. was presented with an epitaph by an indifferent poet, on +the celebrated Moliere. "I would to God," said he, "that Moliere had +brought me yours." + + * * * * * + + +ON MEMORY. + +What an unknown and unspeakable happiness would it be to a man of +judgment, and who is engaged in the pursuit of knowledge, if he had +but a power of stamping all his own best sentiments upon his memory in +some indelible characters; and if he could but imprint every valuable +paragraph and sentiment of the most excellent authors he has read, +upon his mind, with the same speed and facility with which he read +them?--_Watts_. + + * * * * * + +Upon a stone in St. Margaret's churchyard, at Lynn, in Norfolk, is the +following inscription to the memory of William Scrivenor, Cook to the +Corporation, who died in the year 1684:-- + + Alas! alas! _Will Scrivenor's_ dead, who by his art, + Could make death's skeleton edible in each part, + Mourn, squeamish stomachs, and ye curious palates, + You've lost your dainty dishes and your salades; + Mourn for yourselves, but not for him i'th' least + He's gone to taste of a more heav'nly feast. + +At Whitchingham Magna, in the same county, is the following epitaph to +Thomas Alleyne, gent. who died Feb. 3, 1650, and his two wives:-- + + Death here advantage hath of life I spye, + One husband with two wives at once may lye. + + * * * * * + +A recent American newspaper has the following notice to its +readers:--"The editor, printer, publisher, foreman, and oldest +apprentice (_two_ in all,) are confined by sickness, and the whole +establishment is left in the care of the _devil_." + + * * * * * + + +LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THE + +Following Novels is already Published: + + s. d. + Mackenzie's Man of Feeling 0 6 + Paul and Virginia 0 6 + The Castle of Otranto 0 6 + Almoran and Hamet 0 6 + Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia 0 6 + The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne 0 6 + Rasselas 0 8 + The Old English Baron 0 9 + Nature and Art 0 8 + Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield 0 10 + Sicilian Romance 1 0 + The Man of the World 1 0 + A Simple Story 1 4 + Joseph Andrews 1 6 + Humphry Clinker 1 8 + The Romance of the Forest 1 8 + The Italian 2 0 + Zeluco, by Dr. Moore 2 6 + Edward, by Dr. Moore 2 6 + Roderick Random 2 6 + The Mysteries of Udolpho 3 6 + Peregrine Pickle 4 6 + + * * * * * + +_Printed and Published by J. 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