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diff --git a/old/13865-h.zip b/old/13865-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b34012c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13865-h.zip diff --git a/old/13865-h/13865-h.htm b/old/13865-h/13865-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c99f056 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13865-h/13865-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2949 @@ +<!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 name="generator" + content="HTML Tidy for Linux/x86 (vers 1st March 2004), see www.w3.org" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=us-ascii" /> + + <title>Chambers' Journal Vol. XVII. No. 418. January 3, + 1852</title> + <style type="text/css"> + /*<![CDATA[*/ + + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify;} + blockquote {text-align: justify; font-size: 0.9em;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} + pre {font-size: 0.7em;} + .returnTOC {text-align: right; font-size: 70%;} + 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 + {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.i20 {margin-left: 10em;} + // --> + /*]]>*/ + </style> +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal Vol. XVII. No. +418. New Series. January 3, 1852., by William and Robert Chambers + +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: Chambers's Edinburgh Journal Vol. XVII. No. 418. New Series. + January 3, 1852. + +Author: William and Robert Chambers + +Release Date: October 25, 2004 [EBook #13865] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL *** + + + + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Sandra Brown and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + + <h2>CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL</h2> + + <h3><a name="Contents" + id="Contents">CONTENTS</a></h3><a href="#article1">A CHILD'S + TOY</a><br /> + <a href="#article2">JAMES FENIMORE COOPER</a><br /> + <a href="#article3">WHY DOES THE PENDULUM SWING?</a><br /> + <a href="#article4">THE COUNTRY COUSIN</a><br /> + <a href="#article5">THE DROLLERIES OF FALSE POLITICAL + ECONOMY</a><br /> + <a href="#article6">FAMILY LIFE IN A NEGRO TOWN</a><br /> + <a href="#article7">THE COMMERCIAL PORTS OF ENGLAND</a><br /> + <a href="#article8">AN UNFORTUNATE MAN</a><br /> + <a href="#article9">SLOW BUT SURE</a><br /> + <a href="#article10">THE SEA-KINGS OF NANTUCKET</a><br /> + <a href="#article11">THE LINNÆA BOREALIS</a><br /> + <br /> + <br /> + + <hr class="full" /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page1" + id="page1"></a>[pg 1]</span> <img src="images/banner.png" + width="100%" + alt="Banner: Chambers' Edinburgh Journal" /> + + <h4>CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF + 'CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S + EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c.</h4> + <hr class="full" /> + + <table width="100%" + summary="Volume, Date and Price"> + <tr> + <td align="left"><b>No. 418. NEW + SERIES.</b></td> + + <td align="left"><b>SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 1852.</b></td> + + <td align="right"><b>PRICE 1½<i>d</i>.</b></td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr class="full" /> + + <h3><a name="article1" + id="article1">A CHILD'S TOY.</a></h3> + + <p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + + <p>The afternoon was drawing in towards evening; the air was + crisp and cool, and the wind near the earth, steady but gentle; + while above all was as calm as sleep, and the pale + clouds—just beginning in the west to be softly gilded by + the declining sun—hung light and motionless. The city, + although not distant, was no longer visible, being hidden by + one of the many hills which give such enchantment to the aspect + of <i>our</i> city. There was altogether something singularly + soothing in the scene—something that disposed not to + gravity, but to elevated thought. As we looked upwards, there + was some object that appeared to mingle with the clouds, to + form a part of their company, to linger, mute and motionless + like them, in that breathless blue, as if feeling the influence + of the hour. It was not a white-winged bird that had stolen + away to muse in the solitudes of air: it was nothing more than + a paper kite.</p> + + <p>On that paper kite we looked long and intently. It was the + moral of the picture; it appeared to gather in to itself the + sympathies of the whole beautiful world; and as it hung there, + herding with the things of heaven, our spirit seemed to ascend + and perch upon its pale bosom like a wearied dove. Presently we + knew the nature of the influence it exercised upon our + imagination; for a cord, not visible at first to the external + organs, though doubtless felt by the inner sense, connected it + with the earth of which we were a denizen. We knew not by what + hand the cord was held so steadily. Perhaps by some silent boy, + lying prone on the sward behind yonder plantation, gazing up + along the delicate ladder, and seeing unconsciously angels + ascending and descending. When we had looked our fill, we went + slowly and thoughtfully home along the deserted road, and + nestled as usual, like a moth, among our books. A dictionary + was lying near; and with a languid curiosity to know what was + said of the object that had interested us so much, we turned to + the word, and read the following definition: Kite—<i>a + child's toy</i>.</p> + + <p>What wonderful children there are in this world, to be sure! + Look at that American boy, with his kite on his shoulder, + walking in a field near Philadelphia. He is going to have a + fly; and it is famous weather for the sport, for it is in + June—June 1752. The kite is but a rough one, for Ben has + made it himself, out of a silk-handkerchief stretched over two + cross-sticks. Up it goes, however, bound direct for a + thunder-cloud passing overhead; and when it has arrived at the + object of its visit, the flier ties a key to the end of his + string, and then fastens it with some silk to a post. By and by + he sees some loose threads of the hempen-string bristle out and + stand up, as if they had been charged with electricity. He + instantly applies his knuckle to the key, and as he draws from + it the electrical spark, this strange little boy is struck + through the very heart with an agony of joy. His labouring + chest relieves itself with a deep sigh, and he feels that he + could be contented to die that moment. And indeed he was nearer + death than he supposed; for as the string was sprinkled with + rain, it became a better conductor, and gave out its + electricity more copiously; and if it had been wholly wet, the + experimenter might have been killed upon the spot. So much for + <i>this</i> child's toy. The splendid discovery it + made—of the identity of lightning and + electricity—was not allowed to rest by Ben Franklin. By + means of an insulated iron rod the new Prometheus drew down + fire from heaven, and experimented with it at leisure in his + own house. He then turned the miracle to a practical account, + constructing a pointed metallic rod to protect houses from + thunder. One end of this true magic wand is higher than the + building and the other end buried in the ground; and the + submissive lightning, instead of destroying life and property + in its gambols, darts direct along the conductor into the + earth. We may add that Ben was a humorous boy, and played at + various things as well as kite-flying. Hear this description of + his pranks at an intended pleasure-party on the banks of the + Skuylkill: 'Spirits at the same time are to be fired by a spark + sent from side to side through the river, without any other + conductor than water—an experiment which we have some + time since performed to the amazement of many. A turkey is to + be killed for dinner by the electrical shock; and roasted by + the electrical jack, before a fire kindled by the electric + bottle; when the healths of all the famous electricians in + England, Holland, France, and Germany, are to be drunk in + electrified bumpers, under the discharge of guns from the + electrical battery.'</p> + + <p>We now turn to a group of capital little fellows who did + something more than fly their kite. These were English + skippers, promoted somehow to the command of vessels before + they had arrived at years of discretion; and, chancing to meet + at the port of Alexandria in Egypt, they took it into their + heads—these naughty boys—that they would drink a + bowl of punch on the top of Pompey's Pillar. This pillar had + often served them for a signal at sea. It was composed of red + granite, beautifully polished, and standing 114 feet high, + overtopped the town. But how to get up? They sent for a kite, + to be sure; and the men, women, and children of Alexandria, + wondering what they were going to do with it, followed the toy + in crowds. The kite was flown over the Pillar, and with such + nicety, that when it fell on the other side the string lodged + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page2" + id="page2"></a>[pg 2]</span> upon the beautiful Corinthian + capital. By this means they were able to draw over the + Pillar a two-inch rope, by which one of the youngsters + 'swarmed' to the top. The rope was now in a very little + while converted into a sort of rude shroud, and the rest of + the party followed, and actually drank their punch on a spot + which, seen from the surface of the earth, did not appear to + be capable of holding more than one man.</p> + + <p>By means of this exploit it was ascertained that a statue + had once stood upon the column—and a statue of colossal + dimensions it must have been to be properly seen at such a + height. But for the rest—if we except the carving of + sundry initials on the top—the result was only the + knocking down of one of the volutes of the capital, for boys + are always doing mischief; and this was carried to England by + one of the skippers, in order to execute the commission of a + lady, who, with the true iconoclasm of her country, had asked + him to be so kind as to bring her a piece of Pompey's + Pillar.</p> + + <p>Little fellows, especially of the class of bricklayers, are + no great readers, otherwise we might suspect that the feat of + the skipper-boys had conveyed some inspiration to Steeple Jack. + Who is Steeple Jack? asks some innocent reader at the + Antipodes. He is a little spare creature who flies his kite + over steeples when there is anything to do to them, and lodging + a cord on the apex, contrives by its means to reach the top + without the trouble of scaffolding. No fragility, no + displacement of stones, no leaning from the perpendicular, + frightens Steeple Jack. He is as bold as his namesake + Jack-the-Giant-Killer, and does as wonderful things. At + Dunfermline, not long ago, when the top of the spire was in so + crazy a state that the people in the street gave it a wide + berth as they passed, he swung himself up without hesitation, + and set everything to rights. At the moment we write his cord + is seen stretched from the tall, slim, and elegant spire of the + Assembly Hall in Edinburgh, which is to receive through his + agency a lightning-conductor; and Jack only waits the + subsidence of a gale of wind to glide up that filmy rope like a + spider. He is altogether a strange boy, Steeple Jack. Nobody + knows where he roosts upon the earth, if he roosts anywhere at + all. The last time there was occasion for his services, this + advertisement appeared in the <i>Scotsman</i>: 'Steeple Jack is + wanted at such a place immediately'—and immediately + Steeple Jack became visible.</p> + + <p>In 1827 the child's toy was put to a very remarkable use by + one Master George Pocock. This clever little fellow observed + that his kite sometimes gave him a very strong pull, and it + occurred to him that if made large enough it might be able to + pull something else. In fact, he at length yoked a pair of + large kites to a carriage, and travelled in it from Bristol to + London, distancing in grand style every other conveyance on the + road. A twelve-foot kite, it appears, in a moderate breeze, has + a one-man power of draught, and when the wind is brisker, a + force equal to 200 lbs. The force in a rather high wind is as + the squares of the lengths; and two kites of fifteen and twelve + feet respectively, fastened one above the other, will draw a + carriage and four or five passengers at the rate of twenty + miles an hour. But George's invention went beyond the simple + idea. He had an extra line which enabled him to vary the angle + of the surface of his kites with the horizon, so as to make his + aërial horses go fast or slow as he chose; and side-lines + to vary the direction of the force, till it came almost to + right angles with the direction of the wind. His kites were + made of varnished linen, and might be folded up into small + compass. The same principle was successfully applied by a + nautical lad of the name of Dansey to the purpose of saving + vessels in a gale of wind on 'the dread lee-shore.' His kite + was of light canvas.</p> + + <p>In India, China, and the intermediate countries, the + aggregate population of which includes one-half of mankind, + kites are the favourite toy of both old and young boys, from + three years to threescore and ten. Sometimes they really + resemble the conventional dragon, from which, among Scotch + children, they derive their name; sometimes they are of a + diamond shape, and sometimes they are like a great spider with + a narrow waist. Our Old Indian is eloquent on kites, and the + glory of their colours, which, in the days of other years, made + her girlish heart leap, and her girlish eyes dazzle. The + kite-shop is like a tulip-bed, full of all sorts of gay and + gorgeous hues. The kites are made of Chinese paper, thin and + tough, and the ribs of finely-split bamboo. A wild species of + silkworm is pressed into the service, and set to spin + <i>nuck</i> for the strings—a kind of thread which, + although fine, is surprisingly strong. Its strength, however, + is wanted for aggression as well as endurance; and a mixture + composed of pounded glass and rice gluten is rubbed over it. + Having been dried in the sun, the prepared string is now wound + upon a handsome reel of split bamboo inserted in a long handle. + One of these reels, if of first-rate manufacture, costs a + shilling, although coarser ones are very cheap; and of the + nuck, about four annas, or sixpence worth, suffices for a + kite.</p> + + <p>In a Hindoo town the kite-flying usually takes place on some + common ground in the vicinity, and there may be seen the young + and old boys in eager groups, and all as much interested in the + sport as if their lives depended upon their success. And + sometimes, indeed, their fortunes do. Many a poor little fellow + bets sweetmeats upon his kite to the extent of his only anna in + the world; and many a rich baboo has more rupees at stake than + he can conveniently spare. But the exhilarating sport makes + everybody courageous; and the glowing colours of the kites + enable each to identify his own when in the air, and give him + in it, as it were, a more absolute property. Matches are soon + made. Up go the aërial combatants, and with straining eyes + and beating hearts their fate is watched from below. But their + masters are far from passive, for this is no game of chance, + depending upon the wind. Kite-flying is in these countries an + art and mystery; and some there be who would not disclose their + recipe for the nuck-ointment, if their own grandfathers should + go upon their knees to ask it.</p> + + <p>Sometimes an event occurs on the common. It is the ascent of + a pair of kites of a <i>distingué</i> air, and whose + grand and determined manner shews that the combat is to be + <i>à l'outrance,</i> and that a large stake of money + depends upon the result. The fliers are invisible. They are + probably on the flat roof of some neighbouring house; but the + kites are not the less interesting on account of their origin + being unknown. What a host of anxious faces are turned up to + the sky! Some take a liking to the red at first sight, while + others feel attracted by a mysterious sympathy to the green. + Bets are freely offered and accepted either in sweetmeats or + money; and the crowd, condensing, move to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page3" + id="page3"></a>[pg 3]</span> and fro in a huge wave, from + which their eager voices arise like the continuous roaring + of the sea. Higher and higher go the kites. Well done, Red! + he has shot above his antagonist, and seems meditating a + swoop; but the Green, serenely scornful, continues to soar, + and is soon uppermost. And thus they go—now up, now + down, relatively to each other, but always ascending higher + and higher, till the spectators almost fear that they will + vanish out of sight. But at length the Green, taking + advantage of a loftier position he has gained, makes a + sudden circuit, and by an adroit manoeuvre gets his silken + string over the silken string of the other, Here a shout of + triumph and a yell of terror break simultaneously from the + crowd; for this is the crisis of the fight. The victor gives + a fierce cut upon his adversary's line. The backers of the + latter fancy they hear it grate, and in an instant their + forebodings are realised; far the unfortunate Red is seen to + waver like a bird struck by a shot, and then, released from + the severed string, he descends in forlorn gyrations to the + earth.</p> + + <p>Now rush in the smaller boys to play their part, Their + object is that of the plunderers who traverse the field after a + battle, to rob the dying and the slain. Off run the little + Hindoos, like a company of imps from the nether regions, + tearing and fighting as they fly; and on reaching the fallen + kite, the object of their contention is torn to pieces in the + scuffle. Presently the victorious Green is seen descending, and + the gross excitement of the common pauses to watch his majestic + flight. He is of the largest size of Indian kites called + <i>ching</i>, and of the spider shape. Before being drawn in, + he hangs for an instant high up over the crowd. It is not, + however, to sing <i>Io Pæans</i> for his victory, but + apparently rather to mourn over the ruin he has made; for a + wailing music breathes from his wings as he passes. This is + caused by the action of the wind upon some finely-split bamboo + twigs arched over the kite without touching the paper, and + which thus become a true Æolian harp. Sometimes a kite of + this kind is sent up at night, bearing a small lighted lantern + of talc; and the sleepers awakened, called to their balconies + by the unearthly music, gaze after the familiar apparition not + without a poetical thrill.</p> + + <p>Upon the whole, it must be admitted, we think, that this is + a somewhat interesting child's toy. But has the kite a future? + Will its powers exhibit new developments, or has it already + reached its pride of place? If a twelve-foot kite has the force + of a man, would it take many more feet to lift a man into the + air? And supposing the man to be in a strong cage of network, + with bamboo ribs, and a seat of the same material, would he + have greater difficulty in governing his aërial coursers + by means of the Pocock cords, than if he were flashing along + the road from Bristol to London? Mind, we do not say that this + is possible: we merely ask for the sake of information; and if + any little boy will favour us with his opinion, we shall take + it very kind. Come and let us fancy that it <i>is</i> possible. + The traveller feels much more comfortable than in the car of a + balloon, for he knows he can go pretty nearly in what direction + he chooses, and that he can hasten or check the pace of his + horses, and bring them to a stand-still at pleasure. See him, + therefore, boldly careering through the air at the rate of any + number of miles the wind pleases. At a single bound he spans + yonder broad river, and then goes bowling over the plantation + beyond, just stirring the leaves as he passes; trees, water, + houses, men, and animals gliding away beneath his feet like a + dream. Now he stoops towards the earth, just to make the people + send up their voices that there may be some sound in the desert + air. Now he swings up again; now he leaps over that little + green hill; now he—Hold! hold, little boy!—that + will do: enough for a time of a Child's Toy.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3><a name="article2" + id="article2">JAMES FENIMORE COOPER.</a></h3> + + <p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i8">'. . . . Whose trained eye was keen,</p> + + <p>As eagle of the wilderness, to scan</p> + + <p>His path by mountain, lake, or deep ravine,</p> + + <p>Or ken far friendly huts on good savannas + green.'</p> + + <p class="i20">— CAMPBELL:<i>Gertrude of + Wyoming</i>.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>On the 14th of last September, America lost the greatest of + her novelists in the person of James Fenimore Cooper. He was + born on the 15th of that month, 1789; so that, had he lived but + a few hours longer, he would have completed his sixty-second + year. At the time of his birth, his father, Judge Cooper, + resided at Burlington, New Jersey, where the future + <i>littérateur</i> commenced his education, and in so + doing acquired a decided reputation for talent, which was not + tarnished during subsequent years of tutelage at Newhaven and + Yale College. At sixteen he exchanged the study of ancient + literature and the repose of academic life for the bustling + career of a 'middy' in the American navy; continuing for some + half-dozen years his connection with those ocean scenes which + he then learned to love so well and to describe so vividly. His + retirement into private life took place in 1811, soon after + which he married Miss de Lancey (whose brother is known to many + as one of the New York bishops), and settled at Cooper's Town, + his patrimonial estate. Ten years elapsed before his + <i>début</i> as an author. In 1821 he presented the + public with a novel bearing the perhaps apposite title of + <i>Precaution</i>—apposite, if the two <i>lustra</i> thus + elapsed were passed in preparation for that début, and + as being after all anonymously published. The subject was one + with which Cooper never shewed himself conversant—namely, + the household life of England. Like his latest works, + <i>Precaution</i> was a failure, and gave scanty indications of + that genius which was to find its true sphere and full scope in + the trackless prairies of his native land, and its path upon + the mountain-wave he had ridden in buoyant youth. But the same + year produced <i>The Spy</i>, still considered by many to be + his masterpiece, and from that production his fame was secure; + and not only America but British voices, exhorted Sir Walter to + look to his laurels. Certainly there was a little more reason + in calling Cooper the American Scott than in pronouncing + Klopstock the German Milton.</p> + + <p>The successful novelist visited Europe a few years after + this 'sign and seal' of his literary renown, and spent a + considerable period among the principalities and powers of + Old-World Christendom. In Paris and London especially he was + lionised to the top of his bent. Sir Walter met him in the + French metropolis in 1826; and in his diary of November 3, + after recording a morning visit to 'Cooper the American + novelist,' adds: 'this man, who has shewn so much genius, has a + good deal of the manners or want of manners peculiar to his + countrymen.' Three days later we find the following entry: + 'Cooper came to breakfast, but we were <i>obsédes + partout</i>. Such a number of Frenchmen bounced in + successively, and exploded—I mean discharged—their + compliments, that I could hardly find an opportunity to speak a + word or entertain Mr Cooper at all.'<a name="backnote1" + id="backnote1"></a><a href="#note1">1</a> The 'illustrious + stranger' appears to have spent about ten years in Europe, + for which he was, perhaps, in a literary point of view, none + the better; as—to use the words of a periodical of the + day—'he did not carry back the same fresh spirit that + he brought, something of which must be attributed, no doubt, + to the years which intervened; + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page4" + id="page4"></a>[pg 4]</span> but something, too, to his + abandonment of that mother-ground which to him, as to the + fabled Antaeus, was the source of strength.' The autumn of + his life glided quietly on amid the pleasures and pains of + literature; its sombre close being pleasantly illuminated by + the rays of spring-promise that radiated around the young + brow of his daughter, which the dying veteran might well + hope would be matured into 'glorious summer by the sun of' + time. <i>Valeat signum</i>!</p> + + <p>In calling Cooper the greatest of American novelists, we + have not incurred much risk of contradiction. Others may + rival—some surpass him—in this or that province of + the art of fiction; but as a master of the art in its broad + aspect, he is <i>facile princeps</i>. Brockden Brown treads a + circle of mysterious power but mean circumference: Washington + Irving is admirable at a sketch, one of the liveliest and most + graceful of essayists, and quite equal to the higher demands of + imaginative prose—witness his <i>Rip Van Winkle</i> and + <i>Sleepy Hollow</i>—but his forte is in miniature, and + the orthodox dimensions of three volumes post-octavo would suit + him almost as ill as would the Athenian vesture of Nick Bottom + the spruce proportions of royal Oberon: Haliburton is + inimitable in his own line of things; his measure of wit and + humour—qualities unknown, or nearly so, to + Cooper—is 'pressed down, and shaken together, and running + over;' but his 'mission' and Cooper's in the tale-telling art + are wide as the poles asunder: John Neale had once, + particularly by his own appraisement, a high repute as the + eccentric author of <i>Logan</i> and <i>Seventy-six</i>, but + the repute, like the <i>Seventy-six</i>, is quite in the + preterite tense now; and to review him and his works at this + time of day would be suspiciously like a <i>post-mortem</i> + examination, resulting possibly in a verdict of temporary + insanity—if not, indeed, of <i>felo de se</i>—so + wilful and wrongheaded were the vagaries of this 'rough, + egotistical Yankee,' as he has been called: Herman Melville is + replete with graphic power, and riots in the exuberance of a + fresh, racy style; but whether he can sustain the 'burden and + heat' of a well-equipped and full-grown novel as deftly as the + fragmentary autobiographies he loves to indite; remains to be + seen: Longfellow's celebrity in fiction is limited to + <i>Hyperion</i> and <i>Kavanagh</i>—clever, but slight + foundations for enduring popularity—as irregular (the + former at least) as Jean Paul's nondescript stories, without + the great German's tumultuous genius: Hawthorne is probably the + most noteworthy of the rising authors of America, and indeed + manifests a degree of psychological knowledge and far-sighted, + deep-searching observation of which there are few traces or + none in Cooper; but the real prowess of the author of <i>The + Scarlet Letter</i> is, we apprehend, still undeveloped, and the + harvest of his honours a thing of the future. All these + distinguished persons—not to dwell on the kindred names + of Bird, Kennedy, Ware, Paulding, Myers, Willis, Poe, Sedgwick, + &c.—must yield the palm to him who has attracted all + the peoples and tongues of Europe<a name="backnote2" + id="backnote2"></a><a href="#note2">2</a> to follow out the + destiny of a Spy on the neutral ground, of a Pilot on the + perilous coasts of a hostile race, of a Last of the Mohicans + disappearing before the onward tramp of the white man.</p> + + <p>As Rob Roy felt the pulses of life quickened when his foot + was on his native heath, so Cooper wrote with vigour and + <i>aplomb</i> only when his themes were the aboriginal forest + and the melancholy main. Pity that, having discovered the fount + of his strength—the Samson-lock by which alone he towered + above his fellows—he had not restrained himself, and + concentrated his efforts within the appointed sphere. He + repudiated the oracular counsel which his own consciousness + must have approved—<i>Hoc signo vinces</i>; and seemed to + assume that whatever province he invaded, the bulletin of the + campaign would be another <i>Veni, vidi, vici</i>. Few things + can be more unsatisfactory and insipid than his attempts in the + 'silver-fork school' of novel-writing—his dreary + commonplaces of fashionable life—his faded sermonisings + on domestic, and political, and social economy. Few things can + be more inspiriting, more energetic, more impressive, than his + pictures of</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>'A wet sheet and a flowing sea,</p> + + <p class="i2">A wind that follows fast,</p> + + <p>And fills the white and rustling sail,</p> + + <p class="i2">And bends the gallant mast;'</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>for we see in every stroke that the world of waters is his + home, and that to <i>his</i> ear there is music in the wild + piping of the wind, and that <i>his</i> eye beams afresh when + it descries tempest in the horned moon, and lightning in the + cloud. To him the ocean is indeed 'a glorious mirror,' where + the form of the Highest 'glasses itself in tempests;' dear to + him it is</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i20">————'in all + time,</p> + + <p>Calm or convulsed—in breeze, or gale, or + storm;</p> + + <p class="i8">. . . . Boundless, endless, and + sublime—</p> + + <p>The image of Eternity—the throne</p> + + <p>Of the Invisible.'</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Well might one who had lived six years on her swelling + bosom, combine with his love 'of the old sea some reverential + fear,' as Wordsworth has it. This compound feeling is highly + effective in his marine fictions, so instinct is it with the + reality of personal experience. Mr Griswold tells us that + Cooper informed him as follows of the origin of <i>The + Pilot</i>: 'Talking with the late Charles Wilkes of New York, a + man of taste and judgment, our author [Cooper] heard extolled + the universal knowledge of Scott, and the sea-portions of + <i>The Pirate</i> cited as a proof. He laughed at the idea, as + most seamen would, and the discussion ended by his promising to + write a sea-story which could be read by landsmen, while seamen + should feel its truth. <i>The Pilot</i> was the result of that + conversation.'<a name="backnote3" + id="backnote3"></a><a href="#note3">3</a> Of this tale Scott + says, in a letter to Miss Edgeworth: 'I have seen a new + work, <i>The Pilot</i>, by the author of <i>The Spy</i> and + <i>The Pioneers</i>. The hero is the celebrated Paul Jones, + whom I well remember advancing above the island of + Inchkeith, with three small vessels, to lay Leith under + contribution.... The novel is a very clever one, and the + sea-scenes and characters in particular are admirably drawn; + and I advise you to read it as soon as possible.' Still + higher panegyric would not have been misbestowed in this + instance, which illustrates Mr Prescott's remark, that + Cooper's descriptions of inanimate nature, no less than of + savage man, are alive with the breath of + poetry—'Witness his infinitely various pictures of the + ocean; or, still more, of the beautiful spirit that rides + upon its bosom, the gallant ship.' Though it is to <i>The + Pilot</i>, pre-eminently, and <i>The Waterwitch</i>, in + nearly an equal degree, that these remarks apply, there is + many a passage in Cooper's later novels—for example, + <i>The Two Admirals, Homeward Bound, Mark's Reef, Ashore and + Afloat</i>, and <i>The Sea-Lions</i>—in which we + recognise the same 'cunning' right hand which pencilled the + <i>Ariel</i>, and its crew, the moody, mysterious pilot, and + stalwart Long Tom Coffin.</p> + + <p>Nor was he less at home in the backwoods and prairies of his + fatherland, than upon the broad seas which divide it from the + Old World. Tastes differ; and there are those—possibly + the majority of his readers—who prefer the Indian + associations of <i>The Last of the Mohicans, The Pioneers</i>, + &c. to the salt-water scenery of the other class of works. + For our part, we prefer his prairies to his savages, his + forests to his <span class="pagenum"><a name="page5" + id="page5"></a>[pg 5]</span> aborigines, his inanimate to + his living sketches of Indian story.[1] His wild men of the + woods are often too sentimental, too dreamy, too ideal. In + this respect Brockden Brown has the advantage of him; for, + as Mr Prescott has pointed out, Brown shews the rude and + uncouth lineaments of the Indian character, though he is + chargeable with withholding intimations of a more generous + nature. While Cooper discards all the coarser elements of + savage life, and idealises the portrait. The first of this + series of tales of</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>'Painted chiefs with pointed spears,'</p> + </div> + + <p>was <i>The Pioneers</i>—the materials for which, it + seems, were to a considerable extent derived from his father, + who had an interest in large tracts of land near the 'sources + of the Susquehanna,' where the scene is laid, and allied, + therefore, to Campbell's <i>Gertrude of Wyoming</i>. It was + speedily followed by <i>The Last of the Mohicans</i>—not + uncommonly pronounced his <i>chef d'oeuvre</i>—and <i>The + Prairie</i>; which, among numerous descriptions of absorbing + interest, pervaded throughout by a fine imaginative spirit, + contains one of thrilling power—where the squatter + discovers and avenges the murder of his son. <i>The Wept of + Wish-ton-Wish</i>—a strange story with a strange title, + and which forms (chronologically at least) the climax of + Cooper's fame—is justly admired by all who appreciate + 'minute painting,' and that pensive monotony which begets a + certain 'melancholy charm.' His skill in martial narrative was + favorably attested in <i>Lionel Lincoln</i>; in which he + describes with remarkable spirit and equal accuracy the battles + of Lexington and of Bunker's Hill. But to go through in detail + the <i>opera omnia</i> of our prolific author would involve us + in difficulties with editor and reader too serious to bear + anticipation. Passing over, therefore, such of his earlier + writings as are better known—like <i>The Red Rover, The + Waterwitch, The Pathfinder</i>, and <i>The + Deerslayer</i>—we proceed to notice briefly a select few + from the long series produced during the last ten years.</p> + + <p><i>The Two Admirals</i> is of unequal interest—the + twin heroes, Sir Gervaise Oakes and Bluewater, engrossing + whatever charm it possesses, and reacting disastrously on the + tedious scenes wherein they bear no part; but they certainly + <i>do</i> walk and talk like sound-hearted sons of Neptune, and + there is no resisting the spell of the battle and the breeze + which they encounter together, in the <i>Plantagenet</i> and + the <i>Cæsar</i>. <i>The Jack o' Lantern, or the + Privateer</i>, was put forth with an expression of the author's + conviction that his faculty in this class of fictions was + inexhaustible; to which, however, the critics demurred. One of + them observed that, following out the fantastical supposition + which ascribes especial virtues to certain numbers, or even + working out the analogy of the seventh wave, which sea-shore + gossips tell us is ampler and stronger than its predecessors, + the seventh sea-novel of Mr Cooper's ought to be the most + remarkable of the series for force, brilliancy, and movement. + But such symbolism was here found defective: the seventh wave + broke abruptly on the shore; the Jack o' Lantern's existence + has been brief and uncertain as that of the <i>ignis fatuus</i> + on the marsh. The story introduces Caraccioli and the + Neapolitan court, Nelson and Lady Hamilton; but without + striking points. There are some cleverly-drawn characters, + however: Clinch, the drunken but winning British tar; Raoul + Yvard, brilliant, handsome, and Parisian all over, philosophism + included; and Ithuel Bolt, a new (not improved) edition of Long + Tom. The plot is ingenious, though perhaps, constrained and + far-fetched; and its <i>dénouement</i> makes the reader + put down the third volume with increased respect for the + novelist's tact. <i>Wyandotte, or the Hutted Knoll</i> (1843), + is a quiet yet animated narrative, descriptive of a family of + British settlers and their fortunes in their wild Susquehanna + home. There is a pleasure, the author observes, in diving into + a virgin forest, and commencing the labours of civilisation, + that has no exact parallel in any other human occupation; and + some refracted share of this pleasure is secured by every + intelligent reader while engaged in perusing records so + faithful and characteristic as those embodied in this tale. + <i>Ravensnest</i>, with no lack of scenic embellishments, + introduces to us three of the author's happiest + characters—always excepting Leatherstocking and Long + Tom—namely, the two Littlepages, 'Captain Hugh' and his + 'Uncle Ro,' and Mistress Opportunity Newcome. The didactic + asperities in which he indulged naturally marred the fortune of + a book whose readers, whatever they might be, were pretty + safely 'booked' for a scolding. Otherwise, it gleamed with + scintillations, neither faint nor few, of the light of other + days. But it was evident that Mr Cooper was overwriting + himself. He seemed determined not to be outdone in fecundity by + the most prolific of his contemporaries—as though it were + a safe speculation or a healthy emulation to run against such + light horsemen and horsewomen as Mr James and M. Dumas, and + Mesdames Gore and Trollope. Hence he might have appropriately + echoed the complaint of the slave in Terence: 'Parum succedit + quod ago, at facio sedulò.'</p> + + <p>In 1847, he produced <i>Mark's Reef</i>, a story of the + Crusoe genus, but far behind; the desert island being created + 'positively for this occasion only,' and being swallowed up in + the sea again when it has served Mark Woolston and the + novelist's requirements. It is characterised, however, by much + glowing description—especially that relating to the + crater, with its noble peak, 'ever the same amid the changes of + time, and civilisation, and decay; naked, storm-beaten, and + familiar to the eye.' The following year he was ready with + <i>The Bee-Hunter</i>, wherein he sought to revive his pristine + successes among American solitudes and Red Indians. Again we + hear the palaver of the stately and sentimental Chippewas; and + again we watch, with sadly-relaxed attention, the dodging + extraordinary of Pale Faces and Red Men. Alas!</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>'Both of them speak of something that is + gone: . . .</p> + + <p>Whither is fled the visionary gleam?</p> + + <p>Where is it now, the glory and the dream?'</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>The Indians have become comparatively seedy and second-hand + individuals; the scenery, with occasional exceptions, looks + worn; the machinery creaks and betrays itself, no longer + possessing the <i>ars celare artem</i>. ''Tis true, 'tis pity; + pity 'tis, 'tis true.' One novelty, nevertheless, this tale can + boast, and that is the very able and interesting sketch of the + bee-hunter following his vocation in the 'oak-openings;' nor is + the portrait of Buzzing Ben himself an ordinary daub. In 1849 + appeared <i>The Sea-Lions</i>, a clever but often prolix work, + which ought to keep up its interest with the public, if only + for its elaborate painting of scenes to which the protracted + mystery of Sir John Franklin's expedition has imparted a + melancholy charm. The sufferings of sealers and grasping + adventurers among 'thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice' are + recounted with dramatic earnestness. <i>The Ways of the + Hour</i> was both 'nominally' and 'really' Cooper's last novel: + he announced it as such; and the announcement was not related + to that fallacious category to which belong the 'more last + nights' of popular tragedians, and the farewell prefaces of the + accomplished author of <i>Rienzi</i>. It was not the 'going, + going!' but the 'gone!' of the auctioneer. And critics + maliciously said: <i>Tant mieux</i>. In <i>The Ways of the + Hour</i> there was one vigorous portrait, Mary Monson, and + several 'moving accidents by flood and field:' but with these + positive qualities the reader had to accept an unlimited stock + of negatives.</p> + + <p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page6" + id="page6"></a>[pg 6]</span> Besides the works thus referred + to, Cooper wrote at short intervals a 'serried phalanx' of + others, from the ranks of which suffice it to name <i>The + Heidenmauer, The Bravo, The Manikins</i> (a weak and + injudicious tale, quite unworthy of his honourable + reputation), <i>The Headsman of Berne, Mercedes of Castille, + Satanstoe, Home as Found, Ashore and Afloat</i>. In + miscellaneous literature his writings include a <i>History + of the Navy of the United States, Lives of Distinguished + Naval Officers, Sketches of Switzerland, Gleanings in + Europe</i>, and <i>Notions of the Americans</i>.</p> + + <p>It is by his early tales of wilderness and ocean life that + he will survive. There his genius is fresh, vigorous, + natural—uncramped by restraints, undeformed by + excrescences, uninterrupted by crotchets, such as injured its + aftergrowth—the swaddling-clothes of its second + childhood. If we have spoken freely—we hope not + flippantly—of these feeblenesses, it is because the + renown of Cooper is too tenaciously and permanently rooted to + be 'radically' affected thereby, however they may diminish the + symmetry and dim the verdure of blossom and branch. His + magnificent panoramas of prairie solitude, his billowy expanses + of the 'many-voiced sea,' his artistically-grouped figures of + red-skins and trappers, sealers and squatters, are among the + things which Anglo-Saxon literature in either hemisphere will + not willingly let die. By these he is, and long will be, known + and read of all men. And if ever Mr Macaulay's New Zealander + should ponder over the ruins of Broadway, as well as of St + Paul's, he will probably carry in his pocket one of those + romances which tell how the Last of the Mohicans came to his + end, and which illustrate the closing destinies of tribes which + shall then have disappeared before the chill advance of the + Pale Face.</p> + + <h4>Notes:</h4> + + <div class="note"> + <a name="note1" + id="note1">1.</a> Lockhart's Life of Scott. + <a href="#backnote1">Back to text</a> + </div> + + <div class="note"> + <a name="note2" + id="note2">2.</a>And, in <i>one</i> instance at + least, of Asia also; for <i>The Spy</i> was translated + into Persian! <a href="#backnote2">Back to text</a> + </div> + + <div class="note"> + <a name="note3" + id="note3">3.</a> 'The Prose-Writers of America.' + <a href="#backnote3">Back to text</a> + </div> + <hr /> + + <h3><a name="article3" + id="article3">WHY DOES THE PENDULUM SWING?</a></h3> + + <p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + + <p>The attention of the visitor to the recent Exhibition in + Hyde Park was arrested, as he advanced westwards down the + central promenade of the building, by a large clock busily at + work marking off the seconds of passing time. That piece of + mechanism had a remarkably independent and honest look of its + own. The inmost recesses of its breast were freely bared to the + inspection of every passer-by. As if aware of the importance of + the work intrusted to its care, it went on telling, in the + midst of the ever-changing and bustling crowd, with a bold and + unhesitating click, the simple fact it knew; and that there + might be no mistake, it registered what it told in palpable + signs transmitted through the features of its own stolid face. + Mr Dent's great clock was by no means the least distinguished + object in the collection of the world's notabilities.</p> + + <p>But there was one thing which nearly concerned that + industrious and trusty monitor that he surely could not have + known, or his quiet countenance would have shewn traces of + perturbation. He was doing Exhibition work, but he was not + keeping Exhibition time. The wonderful building in which he had + taken up his temporary residence was, in fact, of too + cosmopolitan a nature to have a time of its own. Its entire + length measured off very nearly 1-42,000th part of the circle + of terrestrial latitude along which it stretched. The meridian + of the Liverpool Model was close upon thirty seconds of space + farther west than the meridian of the Greek Slave. Imagine the + surface of Hyde Park to have been marked off, before Messrs Fox + and Henderson's workmen commenced their labours, by lines + running north and south at the equal distance of a second of a + degree from each other, just as one sees the surface of large + maps traced by meridians, nearly thirty of those lines would + then have been covered in by the east and west span of the + crystal roof. Mr Dent's clock might have been set to the + precise time of the Greek Slave, and it would yet have been + nearly two seconds wrong by the time of the Liverpool Model. + The pendulum swinging so steadily within its case had a longer + and more stately stride than most of its congeners. It took a + second and a half of time to complete its step from side to + side. But notwithstanding this, if a string had been suddenly + stretched across in space above the east end of the building, + and left there in free suspension, independent of all + connection with the terrestrial surface, it would have taken + longer for the huge structure to be trailed beneath it by the + earth's rotation—swift as that rotation is—than it + did for the sober and leisurely mass of metal to finish its + beat from side to side.</p> + + <p>Our immediate business, however, at this present time is not + with the geographical relations of Mr Paxton's building, but + rather with that sober and leisurely-moving mass—the + pendulum. Even in the seventeenth century, old Graunt was + shocked when some irreverent babbler spoke of one of its + honourable race by the rude epithet of 'a swing-swang;' and he + penned an indignant protest on the subject to the Royal + Society. Since that time the pendulum has done much more to + merit the reverence of the world. Plain and simple as its + outward bearing is, it really holds a high and dignified + position in the annals of science.</p> + + <p>Instead, however, of touching upon its pedigree and + achievements, we proceed at once to speak of certain + interesting peculiarities that enter as an element into all + considerations in which it has concern. In the first place, + what is that characteristic motion which it so constantly + assumes—that restless swinging from side to side? Is it a + property inherent in its own nature, or is it a power + communicated to it from without? There is a train of wheelwork + enclosed with it in the case. Is that the source of its + vibratile mobility? Assuredly not. For if we arrest its motion + with our hand at the instant that its form hangs + perpendicularly suspended, that motion is not renewed although + the wheels remain in unaltered relation. Those mechanical + contrivances clearly do not comprise the secret of its + swinging. We must look elsewhere if we would ascertain the + fundamental cause.</p> + + <p>Has the reader ever looked at the plain white building, with + successive rows of little windows, which so often spans the + breadth of our smaller streams? If he has, the thought has at + once arisen that within those walls huge wheels and + heavy-revolving stones remorselessly tear and crush to powder + heaps upon heaps of yellow grain, with a power that is equal to + the combined effort of a whole troop of horses concentred in + the task. But we question very much whether he has as clearly + seen whence those clattering wheels derive their many + horse-power! If we were to ask him to tell us how they acquired + their rolling strength, he would most probably + answer—from the current of the stream. This reply would + amount to nothing in the matter of explanation; the force of + the current is as much a borrowed attribute as the force of the + wheelwork. The running water is no more an independent and + living agent than is the machinery which it turns. Beyond both + is the one grand determining influence—the attractive + energy inherent in the substance of the vast earth. This it is + which makes the water run; this it is which enables the running + water to move the wheelwork inserted into its channel. As the + magnet draws to itself the fragment of steel, the earth draws + to itself all ponderable matter; and whenever ponderable matter + is free to move, it rushes as far as it can go towards the + centre of the earth's substance, in obedience to the summons. + Mobile water runs down from a higher to a lower level because + the latter is nearer to the earth's centre than the former, and + as it falls it pushes before it such minor obstructions as are + unable to resist the influence of its weight. The float-boards + of the mill-wheel are of this nature; they are striving to + uphold the water <span class="pagenum"><a name="page7" + id="page7"></a>[pg 7]</span> by means of the rubbing and + friction of the apparatus that is mechanically connected + with the axle. But the resistance of the friction is less + than the strength with which the earth tugs at the water, + and therefore the wheel goes round and the water rushes + down. The force which really grinds the hard corn into flour + it terrestrial attraction! Gravitation of material substance + towards material substance, acting with an energy + proportioned to the relative masses and to the relative + distances of the elements concerned.</p> + + <p>Let us now suppose that the matter drawn towards the earth + is not free to move. Let us fancy, for instance, a drop of the + running water all at once stopped in its downward path by the + attachment of a string from above. The earth would then tug at + that string in its effort to get the drop of water, and would + consequently stretch it to a certain extent. The power that was + before expended in causing the drop to move, would be now + employed in striving to tear asunder the substance of the + string. A heavy body hanging by a cord from a fixed point is + then in this predicament. It is drawn towards the earth, but is + prevented from moving to it. It consequently finds a position + of rest in which it is placed as near to the source of + attraction as the suspending string allows; that is, it hangs + perpendicularly and immovably beneath it, stretching the string + by its tendency toward the ground.</p> + + <p>If, however, the suspended body be raised up from its + position of forced repose by any interference that draws it to + one side, the string being still kept on the stretch, it will + be observed that it has been made to move in a curved line away + from the earth's attracting mass, and that the pull of the + attraction is then to a certain extent taken off from the + string and transferred to the supporting hand; the force of the + attraction consequently becomes then sensible as the weight of + the body that is upheld. If in this state of affairs the + supporting hand is taken away, the body at once rushes down + sideways to the position it before occupied, with a pace + accelerating considerably as it goes; for the earth continues + to attract it during each instant of its descent. When it has + reached the second stage of its journey, it is moving with a + velocity that is caused by the addition of the attraction + exercised in that stage to the attraction that had been + exercised in the first stage; and so of the third, fourth, and + other successive stages. It must go quicker and quicker until + it comes to the place which was before its position of absolute + repose.</p> + + <p>But when it has at last arrived at this place, it cannot + rest there, for during its increasingly-rapid journey + downwards, it has been perseveringly acquiring a new force of + its own—an onward impulse that proves to be sufficient to + carry it forward and upward in spite of the earth's pressing + solicitation to it to stay. Moving bodies can no more stop of + their own accord than resting bodies can move of their own + accord. Both require that some extraneous force shall be + exerted upon them before the condition in which they are can be + changed.</p> + + <p>Now, in the case of the vibrating pendulum, it is the + downward pull of the earth's attraction that first causes the + stationary body to move, and as this commencing motion is + downwards, in the direction of the pull, it is also an + accelerating one. As soon, however, as this motion is changed + by the resistance of the string into an upward one, it becomes + a retarded one from the same cause. The body is now going + upwards, away from the earth, and the earth's attraction + therefore drags upon it and keeps it back instead of hastening + it. As it travels up in its curved path, more and more of its + weight is taken off the string, and thrown, so to speak, upon + the moving impulse. In the descending portion of the vibration + the weight of the body increases its movement; in the ascending + portion it diminishes its movement. At last the upward movement + becomes so slow, that the impulse of momentum is lost, and the + earth's attraction is again unopposed. The body then begins to + retrograde, acquires progressively increasing velocity as it + descends, overshoots the place of its original repose, and once + more commences the ascent on the opposite side.</p> + + <p>Whenever, then, a heavy body suspended by a flexible string + is drawn to one side, and dropped from the hand, a vibrating + pendulum is made, because weight and acquired impulse influence + it alternately with a sort of see-saw action, the power of the + one diminishing as the power of the other augments. Weight + pulls down—confers velocity and impulse during the + pulling—and then velocity carries up. As velocity carries + up, weight diminishes its impulse, and at last arrests it, and + then begins to pull down again. In the middle of the vibration + velocity is at its greatest, and weight at its least, as + regards their influence on the motion. At the extremes of the + vibration velocity is at its least, and weight at its greatest. + Now here it is the earth's attraction clearly that confers the + impulse of the downward movement, just as much as it is the + earth's attraction that causes the downward movement of running + water. Therefore the power which makes the pendulum swing is + the same with the power which grinds the corn in the + water-mill—the attraction of the earth's vast mass for + the mass of a smaller body placed near to its surface under + certain peculiar conditions of position.</p> + + <p>But there is a very startling reflection connected with this + consideration. How strange it is that the vast 'substantial + fabric' of the earth should, after all, present itself as one + grand source of motion in terrestrial things! Gravitation, + weight, the majestic influence that holds the stable pyramid + upon its base through centuries of time, condescending to turn + the restless wheels of man's machinery! When the expansive + burst of the vapour confined within the cylinder of the + condensing steam-engine thrusts upwards the piston-rod with its + mighty beams, it is simple weight—the weight of the + superincumbent transparent atmosphere—that crushes the + metal back with antagonistic force. When particles of water + have been sublimated into the air by the heating power of the + solar rays, it is simple weight—the weight of their own + aqueous substance—that brings them down again, and that + causes their falling currents to turn the countless mill-wheels + implanted in the direction of their descent. When isolated + tracts of the atmosphere have been rendered rare and light + under the concentrated warmth of the sun, it is simple + weight—the weight of colder and heavier portions of the + air—that makes winds rush into the spots where the + deficient downward pressure is, and that causes the sails of + innumerable windmills to whirl before the impulse of the + breeze.</p> + + <p>In the steam-engine we see the earth's gravitation and + artificial heat combining to effect sundry useful purposes, + requiring enormous expenditure of effort. In windmills and + watermills we see the earth's gravitation and natural or solar + heat working together to perform like service. In the pendulum, + the earth's gravitation acting alone as an enumerator of + passing moments; for the momentum conferred by motion is after + all but a secondary result, an offspring of the earth's + attraction. In the steady oscillations of this little + instrument no less a power is concerned than that grand + elementary force of nature, that is able to uphold the orbitual + movements of massive worlds. In the one case, the majestic + presence is revealed in its Atlantean task of establishing the + firm foundations of the universe; in the other, in its + Saturnian occupation of marking the lapse of time. In the + planetary movements, material attraction bends onward impulse + round into a circling curve; in the pendulum oscillations, + material attraction alternately causes and destroys onward + impulse. In the former it acts by a steady sweep; in the latter + by recurring broken starts. The + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page8" + id="page8"></a>[pg 8]</span> reason of the difference is + simply this: the planetary bodies are free to go as the two + powers, attraction and impulse, urge them. The weight of the + pendulum is prevented from doing so by the restraining power + of the string or rod, that holds it bound by a certain + invariable interval to a point of suspension placed farther + than the weight from the source of attraction. A pendulum, + in all its main features, is a terrestrial satellite in + bonds—unable to fall to the surface of the earth, and + unable to get away and circle round it, yet influenced by a + resistless tendency to do both. Its vibrations are its + useless struggles to free itself from the constraint of its + double chains.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3><a name="article4" + id="article4">THE COUNTRY COUSIN.</a></h3> + + <p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + + <p>The village of Westbourne was what Americans would call a + stylish place, though situated deep in the heart of Derbyshire. + Most of its houses had green palings and flowers in front; + there was a circulating library, a milliner's shop, and a + ladies' boarding-school, within its bounds; and from each + extremity of its larger and smaller street—for Westbourne + had only two—outlying cottages of various names dotted + the surrounding fields. The largest of these, and decidedly the + handsomest, belonged, as the door-plate set forth, to Mr Harry + Phipps Bunting. It had been called Bunting Cottage, ever since + the late possessor—after having made what his neighbours + esteemed a fortune, by himself keeping the circulating library, + and his spouse the boarding-school—built it by way of + consolation for the second year of his widowhood, and retired + there from business to hold high gentility in his latter days + with his only daughter and heiress, Miss Jenny. At least half + of Westbourne believed that in the said arrangements Mr Bunting + had his eye on a second and somewhat superior match: in short, + those good people averred that the handsome cottage was neither + more nor less than a substantial snare for Mrs Phipps, the + widow of a captain and second-cousin of a baronet, who, with a + small annuity and an only son, lived in the odour of great rank + and fashion in a neat brick-house at the other end of the + village.</p> + + <p>But if Mr Bunting had indeed indulged in speculations on the + widow's heart, they were cut short by a sudden summons to take + the journey on which his early partner had preceded him; and + Miss Jenny was left the undisputed heiress of all his gains and + gatherings, now amounting to a comfortable sum in a London + bank, besides the newly-built cottage. None of the village + remembered the time when Miss Jenny was young—not but + that there were older ladies in the community, and few who wore + their years so well—but a matronly staidnees and + industry, a solidity of manner and appearance, had grown so + early on the lady, that she had no youth, and scarcely any + childhood, in the recollection of her neighbours, and she was + now on the shady side of thirty.</p> + + <p>Miss Jenny might have had suitors, had her encouragement + been more liberal: where is the maiden of fortune who might + not? But she had no admirers, though there was not a more + popular woman in Westbourne. Time out of mind she was known to + have a good advice and a helping-hand for all who required + either. The help was always kindly given, and the advice + generally judicious: indeed, if Miss Jenny had a weakness, it + was the love of direction and counsel-giving; and by that + breach the strong citadel of her heart was won. There was no + house in Westbourne that gave her abilities half such scope as + that of Mrs Captain Phipps—so the lady continued to style + herself. Miss Jenny's father had advised there till he + departed; after which event, the widow and her son confided in + his heiress. Master Harry Phipps was not what would be called a + successful young man. He was not either wild or remarkably + stupid, as the world goes; his mother knew him to be a dear + domestic fellow, who would play the flute or dominos for weeks + of evenings in her back-parlour. He had taken one prize at + college and sundry at school; had the reputation of being + almost a beau, and, at least in Westbourne society, half a wit; + and was a tall, fair-faced, lathy young man, dressing well, and + looking rather genteel, in spite of an overgrown boyishness + which hung about him and kept the Master fastened to his name, + though he had left twenty-five behind him. Master Harry had + made attempts on law, physic, and divinity, without completing + the studies requisite for any of those learned professions; + somehow he had always got disgusted when just half-way, and at + the time of our tale, had a serious notion of civil + engineering. The fates, nevertheless, chalked out another line + for Master Harry Phipps. How it first came about the + keenest-eared gossips in Westbourne never knew, but the widow's + son was observed to become a frequent visitor at the cottage as + the days of Miss Jenny's mourning for her father expired. In + these expeditions he was occasionally supported by Mrs Captain + Phipps, who at length told her confidential friends, and they + informed the village, that her son was about to marry, and take + the name of Bunting. Some said that Miss Jenny insisted on the + latter step as a badge of her perpetual sovereignty; some that + it was a provision in her father's will, the old gentleman + having been heard to hope that none but Buntings would ever + inhabit the cottage; but while they disputed that point the + wedding came off with a liberal distribution of cards, cake, + and gloves, a breakfast, at which Mrs Captain Phipps presided, + and an excursion of three weeks to the Lakes; after which, Mr + and Mrs Phipps Bunting, having got a new door-plate, and an + additional crest on the spoons, settled down comfortably at + home, where our story found them.</p> + + <p>There they were duly visited and made due returns, even to + their uttermost acquaintance. Evening parties wore got up for + their benefit, as Westbourne gentility dictated. A few + responses were given at the cottage, and people learned to call + them the Buntings. When these occurrences and the talk + concerning them were fairly over, it was surprising how little + things had altered. Mrs Phipps Bunting superintended + everything, from the napery in the drawers to the bee-hives in + the garden, with so much of her old and independent activity, + that people caught themselves occasionally calling her Miss + Jenny. As for her lord, he was Master Harry still. Matrimony + made no change in him. On Sundays he dressed himself and went + to church with Mrs Phipps Bunting. On week-days, he said he + studied, paid little visits, took small excursions, and came + home to dinner. Even bachelors agreed that he lived under the + mildest form of gynecocracy. Mrs Captain Phipps gave him good + advices at the one end of the village, Mrs Phipps Bunting kept + him all right at the other; and between them an indescribable + amount of nobodyism grew and gathered around him.</p> + + <p>Mr Phipps Bunting—as the best bred of his neighbours + now endeavoured to call him—was doubtless not less + contented than most men in the married state. Miss + Jenny—that was—made a noble housekeeper, that was + natural to her; she was not given to storms nor temper, nor + fault-finding, nor what is called gaiety: they had kind country + neighbours; and Mrs Phipps Bunting sometimes spoke of her + mother's relatives, who were known to be fine people in + London.</p> + + <p>There was no appearance of change when the second of their + wedded years commenced; but one December morning an + extraordinary event occurred at the cottage, for Harry received + a letter. It came from Charles Lacy, an old college-friend, + whose achievements in the fast line had furnished him with many + a joke and tale. He had been till lately a briefless barrister, + but had just fallen heir to a neat property in an + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page9" + id="page9"></a>[pg 9]</span> adjoining county, bequeathed + him by a distant relative, his advent to which he intended + celebrating with a notable bachelors' party, and Harry's + presence was requested, together with that of many a college + comrade.</p> + + <p>'I think I'll go,' said Harry, in a hesitating tone, as the + note was read at the breakfast-table.</p> + + <p>'Of course you will, dear,' said Mrs Bunting. 'And now that + I think of it; something must be done with that parlour + chimney, it smokes so. Just send up the mason on your way to + the coach.'</p> + + <p>The vehicle thus mentioned was an old stager which passed + through Westbourne daily, carrying passengers to sundry of the + unrailwayed towns on its track; and within two hours from the + receipt of the invitation Mr Phipps Bunting, well wrapped up, + and better warned against taking cold, with his best things in + a carpet bag and his lady's commands delivered to the mason, + took possession of an inside seat on his way to Charles Lacy's + domicile.</p> + + <p>How the bachelors' party proceeded in that locality, and how + the failings of the parlour chimney were corrected at the + cottage, imaginative readers may suppose; but on the third day + after Harry's departure there arrived a note, stating that his + host had invited him to remain a fortnight that they were to + have shooting in the fine frosty weather he thought he might + stay. Mrs. Phipps Bunting sent her approbation by return of + post. There was a colony of rats to be expatriated, a clearing + out of the coal cellar to be achieved, and a bottling of cider + to get forward, under which considerations she concluded he was + better out of the way; but all these things were accomplished, + and more than the specified time elapsed, when another note + came to say that Lacy positively would not let Harry home + without seeing his uncle, the great barrister, who lived in the + nearest assize town; and the legal protector of Miss Jenny + 'thought he might go on that visit.'</p> + + <p>There was a graver and more lengthy reply to that + communication; but the fates forbade that Harry should read Mrs + Bunting's in time. Charles Lacy's housekeeper had a + standing-order to put all letters into a huge card-bracket, + which that young gentleman affirmed had been presented to him + by an heiress of L.20,000 in her own right; and Mrs Bunting's + epistle was placed in the receptacle—for before its + arrival Harry had, like an undutiful husband, started with + Charles for the house of his uncle. The old barrister, though + not one of the brightest, was among the successful of his + profession, and kept a hospitable, easy-going house, with a + maiden sister and two dashing nephews, in a comfortable English + country town, at one end of which was a railway station for the + coming and going of London trains. Our Harry had been always an + agreeable, commodious fellow. There were no angles on his + temper to come in contact with those of other people: rich + uncle, maiden aunt, and sporting nephews, all joined in + requesting his stay from week to week; while three successive + notes were in turn committed to the card-bracket on Charles + Lacy's mantelpiece.</p> + + <p>'Harry, my boy,' said that gay gentleman, as they stood + looking at a passing train, 'what do you say to a run for + London? I have another uncle there—a first-rate solicitor + in the firm of Grindley, Blackmore, & Co. Ours is a legal + family. Grindley and the old hen would be glad to see us; and + I'll introduce you to the Blackmores, a delightful mother and + four daughters; all charming girls with three thousand a piece. + I wish you could only hear Clementina Blackmore sing <i>Will + you still be true to me?</i> Harry, if ever I am so left to + myself as to think of marrying, that's the girl!'</p> + + <p>Let us now suppose that a quantity of additional pressing + took place—that the nephews offered to go along as + Christmas was coming—that Harry sent home another note to + say 'he thought he might go'—and that long before it + reached the cottage, he was installed at the house of Mr + Grindley in London, who, as his nephew promised, divided a + capital legal business with his partner Mr Blackmore.</p> + + <p>The proverb which says, 'Out of sight out of mind,' was by + this time in course of being fulfilled as regarded the good + woman at the cottage. In the revival of old associations his + college-friend partially forgot that Harry was a family man, + and the easy gentleman himself never thought of intruding the + circumstance on people's notice. To do him justice, he had a + remarkably single look; all his acquaintances called him Harry + Phipps. It was therefore no marvel that the unsuspecting + household of Blackmore received him as a bachelor.</p> + + <p>The papa of it was a hard-witted, busy lawyer; the mamma an + excessively fine lady; and the four daughters pretty, + accomplished, fashionable-looking girls, from + twenty-two—their mamma said seventeen—upwards, who + judiciously came out in different lines; for Miss Blackmore was + metaphysical, Miss Caroline sentimental, Miss Maria fast, and + Miss Clementina musical. Between the last mentioned and Charles + Lacy a strong and not discouraged flirtation was in progress, + which afforded Harry better than ordinary opportunities for + cultivating that domestic circle. It was not every day he would + have such a house to call at, and Harry did his best to be + popular. He hunted up high-life gossip for Mrs Blackmore; he + admired the solicitor's law-stories after dinner; he was the + humble servant of all the young ladies in turn, but his chief + devoirs were paid to the fast Maria. The reason was that the + fast Maria would have it so. She thought him, it is + true—as she said once to a confidential friend—a + sort of goosey-goosey-gander, but he polked capitally, was a + personable fellow—and Maria was a spinster. Christmas was + coming, and Harry stood high in favour with all the Blackmores. + The senior miss found out that he had a philosophic mind; Miss + Caroline said she knew there was a little romance about + him—he had been disappointed in first-love or something; + and Charles Lacy had an intuitive suspicion that the old people + would soon begin to inquire regarding his income and prospects. + The idea was excessively amusing, but yet somewhat alarming. He + thought Harry was carrying it on too far—he was. Hadn't + he better give Clementina a hint? But then Clementina would + think he ought to have done so long ago. Charles was puzzled, + and he did not like to be puzzled. He would have nothing more + to do with it. He would wash his hands of it. How was he + obliged to know that they were not aware of Harry's being tied + up? The whole thing was really uncomfortable, and he did not + like anything that was uncomfortable. He would take Harry to + task for his enormity, and then think no more about it. + Meditating thus, he entered Mrs Blackmore's drawing-room one + forenoon early enough to find mamma and the young ladies hard + at Berlin wool—they were finishing Christmas + presents—all but Maria, for whose amusement Harry was + turning over a volume of sporting prints at a little table by + themselves.</p> + + <p>'We are all industrious to-day,' said Mrs Blackmore, 'on + account of our country cousin—a dear odd creature. She + has sent us hampers and baskets full of everything nice, for I + don't know how long. The girls can scarcely remember when she + was here last, and it would be such a comfort to her to have + some of their work. Do, Maria, try and finish that purse.'</p> + + <p>Charles and Harry had heard of that 'dear odd country + cousin' ever since they first entered the house. The turkeys + and chickens she sent had been described in their hearing till + they thought they had eaten them. From the conversation of her + relatives Harry concluded her to be a spinster or widow of an + uninteresting age. However, the threatened arrival created a + new employment for him in the shape of holding purse-silk for + Miss Maria to wind; and owing perhaps to the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page10" + id="page10"></a>[pg 10]</span> quietness of this + employment—perhaps to its occupying so long a + time—the awkwardness of his position began to stare + him in the face. He began to think he was a bad + fellow—although it was all Charles's fault. He did not + know that Miss Maria thought him a goosey-goosey-gander, but + he began at last to hate her all the same—we are so + liable to hate those we are conscious of injuring! He became + in truth afraid of her—she haunted him. He knew he + ought to do something, but he did not know what to do. He + had all his life acted under advice, and he now felt as if + he had broken from his moorings, and was on the wide, wide + sea, drifting at the mercy of this calamity.</p> + + <p>At the moment we have arrived at, things had come to an + alarming climax. In reply to his bewildered look Charles had + turned away with severity—washing his hands of + it—to join Miss Clementina in the corner; and the rest of + the family, who seemed suddenly to find themselves <i>de + trop</i>, scattered away to other parts of the room. Now Miss + Maria was a fast girl, and Harry knew it. She looked wicked, as + if determined upon a <i>coup d'etat</i>; and he began to + perspire all over. The skein fared badly. At this moment some + slight diversion was made in his favour by a servant appearing + with a message regarding somebody in the back-parlour; + whereupon Mrs Blackmore went hastily down stairs; and Harry's + eyes followed her wistfully: he thought he should like to get + out.</p> + + <p>'Oh, girls,' said Caroline, returning in a few minutes, 'it + is poor cozy, and mamma is bringing her up for us all to + comfort her. She has lost I don't know how much money by the + failure of that horrid Skinner's bank; and what's worse, she + can't find her husband.'</p> + + <p>'He ought to be sent home wherever he is,' replied Maria; + 'I'm sure she was just too good to him. Oh, Mr Harry Phipps, + what a sad set you men are! I declare you are ravelling + again.'</p> + + <p>Harry, colouring to the roots of the hair, bent forward to + plead some unintelligible excuse; the fast Maria took hold of + his finger as if she was cross; and at that instant another + finger was pressed upon his shoulder, and looking up, he gazed + into the eyes of his wife!</p> + + <p>For some seconds Harry and his spouse looked at each other + as if unable to believe their eyes; but the lady's good sense + at last prevailed, and gulping down something which would have + come out with most women, she gently shook her husband's hand, + now liberated from the purse-silk, with 'Harry, love, I am so + glad to find you here. I was really afraid that worse had + happened than the failure of Skinner & Co.'</p> + + <p>Harry replied in rather an indistinct tone, though Charles + Lacy ever after vowed he did wonderfully, considering the looks + of Mrs Blackmore and her daughters. As for Maria she retired + from silk and all, without a word about deceivers, which was + also remarkable. Sense in the person of Mrs Bunting for once + appeared contagious. The Blackmores, one and all, tacitly + agreed that there had been no mistake whatever in the family, + beyond the droll particular of their not recognising in a + gentleman introduced to them as Mr Harry Phipps the husband of + a lady whom they had been accustomed to address as Mrs Bunting. + By the failure of Skinner & Co. poor Mrs Bunting had lost + everything but the cottage and furniture at Westbourne; a fact + which she learned only on her arrival in London to pay a + long-projected visit to her mother's relatives, the + Blackmores.</p> + + <p>The Buntings in due time went home. We have reason to + believe that there was never even a curtain-lecture delivered + on the subject of the purse-silk. When we last visited + Westbourne, Mrs Phipps Bunting was as active, as good-natured, + and as popular as ever; but people had forgotten to say Master + Harry, for Henry Phipps Bunting, Esquire, had been appointed + Her Majesty's stamp-distributer for the district. He was also + invested with a couple of agencies for certain absent + proprietors; but he never again 'thought he might go' on + sporting-excursions; and no family could have imagined him to + be a bachelor, for ever since he set fairly to work, a more + married-like man we never saw.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3><a name="article5" + id="article5">THE DROLLERIES OF FALSE POLITICAL + ECONOMY.</a></h3> + + <h4>WINES AND OTHER LIQUORS.</h4> + + <p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + + <p>The portion devoted to the subject of intoxicating liquors + would make a curious chapter in the history of legislation in + almost every European country. Here there is a double cause of + disturbance, since besides notions about the balance of trade + and the like, many well-meaning, though not always judicious, + attempts have been made to render such legislation conducive to + sobriety and morality. Thus among the Irish statutes one + stumbles on an act of Queen Elizabeth's reign 'Against making + of Aqua Vitæ.' It is justly described as 'a drink nothing + profitable to be daily drunken and used,' 'and thereby much + corn, grain, and other things are consumed, spent, and wasted + to the great hinderance, loss, and damages of the poor + inhabitants of this realm'—for which reason are passed + provisions, not to modify but entirely to suppress + it—with what effect we may easily know. But our object at + present is not with legislation for the suppression of + drunkenness, which always deserves favourable consideration, + but with the commercial regulations affecting liquors, and the + strange notions of political economy involved in them. The + subject is so ample that we are obliged to restrict our + illustrations almost entirely to one small + country—Scotland.</p> + + <p>It will rather surprise the reader perhaps to find that, for + the promotion of their economic ends, the laws seem to have + been directed more to the encouragement than the suppression of + drinking. The earliest interference with commerce in liquors + appearing among the Scottish acts of parliament is very + imperious and comprehensive, but not very explicable in its + objects. Statutes at that time were short, and it will cost the + reader little trouble to peruse that which was passed in the + year 1436, and the reign of James I., 'anent Flemish wines.' + 'It is statute and ordained that no man buy at Flemings of the + Dane in Scotland, any kind of wine, under the pain of escheat + (or forfeiture) thereof.' Doubtless parliament believed that it + had reasons for this enactment, but it would not be easy to + find out at the present day what they were. In 1503 a more + minute act was passed referrible to ale and other provisions. + It appoints magistrates of towns 'that they set and ordain a + certain price, goodness, and fineness, upon bread, ale, and all + other necessary things that is wrought and daily bought and + used by the king's lieges. And that they make certain purviews + and examinations to wait daily upon the keeping thereof. And + when any workman be's noted taking an exorbitant price for his + stuff, above the price, and over far disproportionate of the + stuff he buys, that he be punished by the said barons, + provosts, and bailies, &c.' A little later, in 1540, an act + was passed 'touching the exorbitant prices of wine, salt, and + timmer.' The provisions that follow are somewhat curious, and + rank among the most barefaced instances of a class legislating, + not only for its own interest, but its own enjoyment. In the + first place, the provosts and bailies—supposed to be + always excellent judges of good cheer—are to fix a low + and reasonable price at which the wines and other commodities + are obtainable. When this is fixed, it is appointed that 'na + man is to buy till the king's grace be first served. And His + Grace and officers being content + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page11" + id="page11"></a>[pg 11]</span> for so meikle (much) as will + please them to take to our sovereign's use entirely, that + noblemen of the realm, such as prelates, barons, and other + gentlemen of the same, be served at the same prices; and + thereafter all and sundry our sovereign lord's lieges be + served at the same prices.' Evidently it was cunningly + foreseen that but little wine would be imported at a + compulsory and necessarily an unremunerating price. Of such + as did come, and was thus sold cheap, the 'prelates, barons, + and other gentlemen' who sat in parliament, sagaciously + provided that they should have the preemption; and it is + pretty clear that the 'all and sundry' who were to come + after them would have little chance of obtaining any of the + cheap wine.</p> + + <p>Fifteen years afterwards, during the regency of Mary of + Lorraine, it was found that the act just cited was not + sufficiently stringent, and that some sterner provision must be + made to enable the aristocracy to get cheap wine. An act was + passed referring to the previous one, and stating that + 'nevertheless the noblemen—such as prelates, earls, + lords, barons, and other gentlemen—are not served + according to the said act, but are constrained to buy the same + from merchants at greater prices, contrary to the tenor of the + said acts.' Hence it is declared that whenever wines have + arrived in any town, and the prices have been fixed, the + magistrates 'shall incontinent pass to the market-cross of that + burgh, and there, by open proclamation, declare none of the + goods foresaid as they are made, and that none of the goods + foresaid be disposed of for the space of four days.' Thus were + measures taken to let the privileged persons have the benefit + of their preemption.</p> + + <p>That these acts, and the proclamations for enforcing them, + were not a dead letter is shewn by the criminal records. On the + 8th of March 1550, Robert Hathwy, John Sym, and James Lourie, + burgesses of Edinburgh, confess their guilt in transgressing a + regulation against purchasing Bordeaux wines dearer than L.22, + 10s. (Scots of course) per tun, and Rochelle wines dearer than + L.18 per tun. On the 4th of May 1555, George Hume and thirteen + other citizens of Leith were arraigned for retailing wines + above the proclaimed price—which for Bordeaux and Anjou + wine was 10d. per pint; and for Rochelle, Sherry, and something + called Cunezeoch—which may for all we know to the + contrary mean Cognac—8d. per pint.</p> + + <p>In Ireland the privilege of having their wine cheaper than + other people was given to the aristocracy with almost more + flagrant audacity. By the Irish statute of the 28th Elizabeth, + chap. 4, imposing customs-duties on wines, the lord-lieutenant + is not only authorised to take for his own consumption twenty + tuns, duty free, annually, but he is at the same time declared + to have 'full power to grant, limit, and appoint, unto every + peer of this realm, and to every of the Privy-Council in the + same, and the queen's learned counsel for the time being, at + his or their discretion from time to time, such portion and + quantity of wines, to be free and discharged of and from the + said customs and subsidy, as he shall think to be mete and + competent for every of them, after their degrees and callings + to have.'</p> + + <p>To return to Scotland. In the ensuing century we find the + legislature resorting to the homely liquor of the + working-classes. On the 23d December 1669, an act was passed + which begins in the following considerate and paternal + fashion:—</p> + + <p>'Our sovereign lord, considering that it is most agreeable + to reason and equity, and of universal concernment to all his + majesty's subjects, and especially to those of the meaner sort, + that a due proportion be observed betwixt the price of the boll + of beer and the pint and other measures of ale and + drinking-beer rented and sold within this kingdom, that thereby + the liberty taken by brewers and vintners, to exact exorbitant + prices for ale and drinking-beer at their pleasure, may be + restrained. Therefore his majesty, with advice and consent of + his estates of parliament, doth recommend to and authorise the + lords of his majesty's Privy-Council from time to time, after + consideration had of the ordinary rates of rough beer and + barley for the time, to regulate and set down the prices of ale + and drinking-beer rented and sold in the several shires and + burghs of the kingdom, as they shall think just and + reasonable.' The council were authorised to make their + regulations by acts and orders, 'and to inflict such censures, + pains, and penalties upon the contraveners of these acts and + orders as they shall think fit; and to do all other things + requisite for the execution of the same.'</p> + + <p>When the Scottish Privy-Council ceased to exist by the union + with England, there was some difficulty in knowing how this act + should be applied. The Court of Session, looking upon the + supply of ale as vital to the country, took on itself to + protect the public, just as a passenger sometimes undertakes + the management of a vessel which has lost its proper commander. + On the occasion of the malt-duty being extended to Scotland in + 1725, they thought a juncture had come when it was absolutely + necessary to interfere, as there was no saying how far the + brewers, let loose from the old regulations of the + Privy-Council, might abuse the public by charging an + extravagant price or selling a bad article. The Court of + Session is the supreme civil tribunal in Scotland. Its rules of + court for the regulation of judicial proceedings are called + 'acts of sederunt.' On this occasion it passed 'an act for + preventing the sale of bad ale.' The object was an excellent + one, but we are apt at the present day to consider that brewers + under the influence of competition can best save the public + from bad ale, and that judges are better employed when they + direct their attention to the protection of the public from bad + law. They enacted that the brewers should sell by wholesale at + a merk Scots per gallon, and that dealers should sell by retail + at 2d. per pint. They professed to make this regulation from + 'taking into consideration the frequent abuses in vending and + retailing bad twopenny ale; and that from the present duties + and burdens wherewith the brewers of ale in and about the city + of Edinburgh are charged, occasion may be taken by + ill-designing persons to impose on the lieges and undersell + fair dealers, unless the prices for brewers and retailers be + certain and fixed.'</p> + + <p>The brewers threatened to give up their business, and the + court found it necessary to take farther measures. Another act + of sederunt was passed. It is best, we think, where their + contents are so curious, to quote the documents themselves, + however stiff or formal they may seem, and the commencement of + the act follows:</p> + + <p>'Whereas, in the information and memorial this day offered + by his majesty's advocate to the Lords of Council and Session, + it is represented that the brewers within the city of Edinburgh + and liberties thereof, and others who have the privilege of + furnishing the said city with ale, have entered into a + resolution and confederacy that they will at once give over + brewing when the duties on malt granted to his majesty by act + of parliament are attempted to be recovered; that this + resolution and confederacy must bring much distress on the good + people of the said city through want of ale, and likewise by + want of bread, the preparing whereof depends upon yeast or + barm, and must produce tumults and confusions, to the overthrow + of all good government, and to the great loss and hurt of the + most innocent of his majesty's subjects, and is most dangerous + and highly criminal.'</p> + + <p>Thus, it being clearly shewn that the refusal of brewers to + brew ale at the price fixed by the judges of the Court of + Session must produce something like a French revolution, and be + followed by general anarchy, the court next proceeds to + declare—not in the best of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page12" + id="page12"></a>[pg 12]</span> composition—'that it is + illegal and inconsistent with the public welfare for common + brewers, or others whose employment is to provide necessary + sustenance for the people, all at once to quit and forbear + the exercise of their occupation, when they are in the sole + possession of the materials, houses, and instruments for to + carry on the trade, so that the people may be deprived of, + or much straitened in their meat or drink; and that so to do + in defiance and contempt of the laws is highly criminal and + severely punishable. And therefore the said Lords of Council + and Session, to prevent the mischiefs threatened to the city + and limits aforesaid, do hereby require and ordain all and + every brewer and brewers within the city of Edinburgh and + liberties thereof, and others who have the privilege of + furnishing the said city with ale, to continue and carry on + their trade of brewing for the service of the lieges.'</p> + + <p>It is astonishing to find that the brewers gave way. + Scotland was at that time much under government and + aristocratic influence; and very likely the poor men felt that + it would be better to lose a little money than to fight a + battle with the Court of Session, especially as the Lord + Advocate threatened to indict them for a conspiracy. That they + continued permanently to accept of the profits—or rather, + perhaps, losses—fixed by the Court of Session no one will + believe. They would in due time manage to get the usual profit + of capital and exertion from their operations, or else would + contrive to give up business.</p> + + <p>It is one of the consequences of adopting false and + artificial notions on political economy, that these drive the + most conscientious and virtuous men to the most mischievous and + violent extremities. Where things should be left to themselves + they believe interference to be right, and so believing, they + think it necessary to carry out their views at whatever cost. A + remarkable instance of this was shewn by the virtuous and + high-minded Duncan Forbes of Culloden. He thought the + introduction of foreign commodities ruinous to the country. He + considered that whatever was paid for them was so much lost to + his fellow-countrymen. On this principle he waged a determined + war against a foreign commodity coming into vogue in his latter + days, using all his endeavours to suppress its use, and + substitute for it a commodity of home-produce. Will the reader, + in the days of temperance societies, believe that the commodity + which he desired to suppress was <i>tea</i>, and that which he + wished to encourage was <i>beer</i>? Here are his own words in + a letter to a statesman of the time: 'The cause of the mischief + we complain of is evidently the excessive use of <i>tea</i>, + which is now become so common that the meanest families even of + labouring people, particularly in burghs, make their morning's + meal of it, and thereby wholly disuse the ale which heretofore + was their accustomed drink; and the same drug supplies all the + labouring women with their afternoon's entertainment, even to + the exclusion of the twopenny.' After so formidable a picture, + it is not unnatural to find him thus crying out against the + influence of Dutch enterprise, which was then spreading the + drink which cheers but not inebriates throughout Europe: 'They + run their low-priced tea into Scotland, and sold it very + cheap—a pound went from half a crown to three or four + shillings. The goodwife was fond of it because her betters made + use of tea; a pound of it would last her a month, which made + her breakfast very cheap, so she made no account of the sugar + which she took up only in ounces. In short, the itch spread; + the refuse of the vilest teas were run into this country from + Holland, sold and bought at the prices I have mentioned; and at + present there are very few cobblers in any of the burghs of + this country who do not sit down gravely with their wives and + families to tea.'<a name="backnote4" + id="backnote4"></a><a href="#note4">1</a>] What a frightful + picture! We may laugh at it, but it really was frightful to + one who sincerely believed that the money paid for tea was a + dead loss to the country, and who did not know that the tea + was paid for by the exportation of home-produce.</p> + + <h4>Notes</h4> + + <div class="note"> + <a name="note4" + id="note4">1.</a> Culloden Papers, 191. + <a href="#backnote4">Back to text</a> + </div> + <hr /> + + <h3><a name="article6" + id="article6">FAMILY LIFE IN A NEGRO TOWN.</a></h3> + + <p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + + <p>There is a large mass of mankind occupying an intermediate + position between the savage and the civilised nations of the + world. These have no literature of their own, yet they have + received some amount of knowledge by tradition or communication + with other people. They know little or nothing of science, yet + they are skilled in some of the useful arts of life. They have + no regular legislation nor codes of civil law, yet they have + forms of government and unwritten laws to which they + steadfastly adhere, and about which they can plead as + eloquently as a Chancery barrister or an advocate in the Courts + of Session. While they cultivate the ground, keep cattle, and + live upon the lawful products of the soil, they have none of + the culinary dainties of life; whilst they plant the + cotton-tree, and weave and dye cloth to make their garments, + their clothing is scant, and devoid of all excellence in the + manufacture. As far removed from the polite European on the one + hand, as from the savage Indian or the rude Hottentot on the + other, they may be rightly termed the semi-barbarous portion of + mankind. It is a curious question how they came to occupy this + middle state of civilisation, which they have retained for so + many centuries. We know that the wandering tribes of Asia, and + some of the kingdoms of that continent which partake of the + characteristics now described, in former ages enjoyed seasons + of national splendour and gleams of civilisation, the twilight + of which has not yet passed away; but we know nothing of the + history of Central Africa, a large part of which is composed of + semi-barbarous nations.</p> + + <p>We now specially refer to that portion of the African + continent which lies between the Great Desert and the Kong + Mountains, with a continuation toward Lake + Tchad—comprising a tract of country about 300 miles in + length and 2000 in breadth. South of this latitude the people + are more barbarous and cruel, and the deserts of the west are + inhabited by tribes more purely negro and ignorant. Moors, + Mandingoes, Foolahs, and Jaloofs, principally dwell in this + vast region of West-Central Africa. All these peoples are more + or less European in their form and countenance; the pure + negroes occasionally mixed with them being probably imported + slaves or their descendants. These nations differ from each + other in their languages, and in some of their customs and + manners; but there is a similarity in their mode of living, if + we except the Moors, which makes it as unnecessary as it would + be tedious to describe each of them separately. We wish to make + our readers acquainted with the forms and habits of + semi-barbarous life, whatever local name or geographical + appearance it may assume.</p> + + <p>The first and most important feature of observation is the + position of the female sex. This regulates the size of the + houses and the towns, the nature of agriculture, and the whole + social economy. In Africa the women are emphatically the + working-class of the community, and hold an intermediate + station between wife and slave, occupying the rank and + employments of both. A wife is usually bought for so many head + of cattle or such a number of slaves, and then becomes the + property of her husband. There is no limit to the number of + wives. Even the Mohammedan negroes do not conform to the Koran + in its restriction to the number of four. One chief boasted + that he had eighty wives; and upon the Englishman answering + that his countrymen thought one woman quite enough to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page13" + id="page13"></a>[pg 13]</span> manage, the African + flourished a whip, with which he said he kept them in order. + In some countries one of these wives is recognised as + head-wife, and enjoys certain prerogatives appertaining to + this place.</p> + + <p>Being desirous of obtaining an insight into the minutiae of + African life, we accepted the invitation of a negro who traded + on the Gambia to pay him a visit, and spend a day in his town, + especially as there would be a dance in the evening. We left + our vessel in the morning, and having rowed for some miles up a + tributary stream, landed in an open place. Here we met the + horses which Samba had sent for us, as the town lay at a + considerable distance. They were fine animals, of a small + breed, but very spirited, and apparently only half-trained. + Their accoutrements were in some respects novel; for the saddle + was an unwieldy article, with a high pommel in front, and an + elevation behind, so that we were fairly wedged in the seat, + and had many thumps before we learned to sit correctly in these + stocks. We therefore had no wish, as we had little opportunity, + of trying the speed of our beasts, the road lying through a + vast forest. The men who accompanied us were armed with + muskets, and kept a sharp look-out among the bushes, though + there was not much fear of being attacked in this place by wild + beasts in the day-time, as it was a frequented route and had + been often visited by the hunter. By and by we came, to a + stream, which was fordable in the dry season. Senegambia + abounds with rivers and creeks; indeed it seems to be one of + the best-watered regions of the earth, and has excellent means + of communication for trade. These waters are full of fish, + which form an important article of food for the people.</p> + + <p>After crossing the river, we saw the place of our + destination on a rising ground surrounded with fields. The town + was surrounded with a low mud-wall and stockade to keep off + wild beasts, and as a slight protection against roving + freebooters. Larger towns, especially those belonging to + warrior chiefs, have high mud-walls, sometimes with loopholes + and bastions, and are capable of standing a siege where the + enemy has neither cannon nor battering-rams. The gate was made + of planks shaped with the axe, for the natives have no saws. + The appearance of the place from a distance was very singular, + for it consisted of 400 or 500 huts, all built in the same + manner, with conical roofs thatched with grass. No chimneys, + spires, nor windows relieved the monotony of the scene. Upon + entering, we threaded our way through narrow passages, between + high fences, as through the mazes of a labyrinth, where we + might have wandered all day without finding an exit. At last + our guides brought us to a wicket-door, through which we + passed, and found ourselves in Samba's enclosure. He welcomed + us with great cordiality, and led us towards his dwelling + through a group of inquisitive women and children. It was a + circular hut, rather larger than the others, and constructed + with a little more care. The wall was composed of large lumps + of clay in square blocks, laid upon each other while still wet; + these speedily dry and harden in the sun, forming a substantial + support, of about four feet high, for the roof. The roof is a + conical frame of bamboo-cane thatched with long grass, having + long eaves to protect the walls from the deluging rains of + Africa. The most substantial of these dwellings are liable to + be undermined by wet, if the ground be level, or to be + penetrated by rain, if the roof be not kept in good repair; in + which case the sides can no longer support its weight. For + this, reason, deserted towns soon become heaps of mud ruins, + and finally a mound of clay.</p> + + <p>The interior of Samba's dwelling was as simple as the + outside. On one side was a platform or hurdle of cane, raised + about two feet from the ground upon stakes. This served for a + bedstead, and the bedding was composed of a simple skin or mat. + Being rich, Samba had other mats for himself and his friends to + sit upon, and two or three low stools. His gun, spear, leathern + bottle, and other accoutrements, lay in a convenient place: and + we observed a couple of boxes, one of which contained clothes, + and the other a heterogeneous mass of trifling valuables + received from Europeans. Of course such boxes and their + contents are not of frequent occurrence in these lowly + dwellings. Near this hut was another small one which served for + a kitchen: it contained some earthen pots, wooden bowls, and + calabashes, with iron pots and neat baskets as articles of + distinction. Here was also the large pestle and mortar, the use + of which will be presently described.</p> + + <p>Samba was dressed in the usual garb of a negro gentleman. He + wore large cotton drawers, which reached half-way down the leg, + and a loose smock with wide sleeves. On his feet were sandals, + fastened with leathern straps over his toes, the legs being + bare. His head was covered with a white cap encircled with a + Paisley shawl—which I had formerly given him—and + which was worn in the manner of a turban. Two large + <i>greegrees</i> or amulets—being leathern purses, + containing some holy words or sacred scraps—depended from + his neck by silken cords. This costume was pleasing, and set + off his manly form to advantage. One of his wives immediately + presented us with a calabash of sour milk, and some cakes of + rice of pounded nuts and honey. The Africans have in general + only two meals a day; but some, who can afford it, take lunch + about two o'clock. Strict Mohammedans profess not to drink + intoxicating liquors; but looser religionists cannot resist the + temptation of rum, of which the pagan negroes drink to excess. + Samba brought out a bottle of this liquor, and presented it + with evident glee, himself doing justice to its contents.</p> + + <p>We then proceeded to view the rest of the premises. Samba + had six wives, each of whom had a separate hut. Their dwellings + resembled that of their lord, but were of smaller size, and the + doors were very low, so as to require considerable stooping to + enter. These apertures for admitting light, air, and human + beings, and for letting out the smoke, always look towards the + west, for the easterly wind brings clouds of sand; and if the + tornadoes which blow from the same quarter are allowed an inlet + to a hut, they speedily make an outlet for themselves by + whirling the roof into the air. The women were dressed in their + best style on the occasion of our visit. One cloth, or + <i>pang</i>, was fastened round their waist, and hung down to + the ankles: another was thrown loosely over the bosom and + shoulders. Their hair was plaited with ribbons, and decorated + with beads, coral, and pieces of gold. Their legs were bare; + but they had neat sandals on their feet. They were loaded with + necklaces, bracelets, armlets, and anklets, composed of coral, + amber, and fine glass-beads, interspersed with beads of gold + and silver. These are their wealth and their pride. Some had + little children, whose only covering was strings of beads round + the waist, neck, ankles, and wrists: an elder girl of about ten + years had a small cloth about her loins. We saw no furniture in + their huts except a few bowls and calabashes, a rude distaff + for spinning cotton, and the usual bed-hurdle covered with + mats. The ladies were very garrulous and inquisitive, narrowly + inspecting our skin and dress, and asking many questions about + European females. They wondered how a rich man could do with + only one wife, but thought monogamy was a good thing for the + women. These mothers never carry their children in their arms, + but infants are borne in a <i>pang</i> upon the back.</p> + + <p>Another hut served for Samba's store, where he kept his + merchandise; another was occupied by some female slaves, and + another by male slaves. These poor creatures wore only a cloth + round their loins, hanging as far as the knees; the females had + each a necklace of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page14" + id="page14"></a>[pg 14]</span> common beads given by their + mistresses. At night they lie down upon a mat or skin, and + light a fire in the middle of the hut. This serves both for + warmth and to keep away noxious insects. Their furniture + consisted of working instruments—hoes, calabashes, + rush-baskets, and the redoubtable <i>paloon</i>. The + last-mentioned instrument is a large wooden mortar made by + the Loubles, a wandering class of Foolahs, one of the most + stunted and ugly of African races, and quite different from + the pastoral and warrior tribes. These roving gipsies work + in wood, and may be called the coopers of Africa. When they + find a convenient spot of ground furnished with the proper + kind of trees, they immediately proceed to cut them down: + the branches are formed into temporary huts, and the trunks + are made into canoes, bowls, pestles and mortars, and other + wooden utensils. Their chief implements are an axe and a + knife, which they use with great dexterity.</p> + + <p>The freemen are very indolent, and, with the exception of + the Foolahs, seldom engage in any useful work. The time not + occupied in hunting, fishing, travelling, or public business, + is usually spent in indolent smoking, gossipping, or revelling. + The male slaves are employed in felling timber, weaving, + drawing water, collecting grass for horses, and helping the + women in the fields; but as all this, excepting the first, can + be done by females, the slaveholders do not care to keep many + male slaves. Women generally attend to field-work. Before the + rains set in, they make holes in the ground with a hoe, and, + after dropping in seeds, cover in the earth with their feet. In + case of rice, the surface of the ground is turned up with a + narrow spade. After the rains the grain is ripe, and the tops + are cut off. When the natives have not separate store-huts of + their own, they keep their corn in large rush-baskets raised + upon stakes outside the village; and these stores are not + violated by their fellow-townsmen. The grain is beaten or + trodden out of the husks, and then winnowed in the wind. The + women pound it into meal or flour with a pestle nearly five + feet long, the ordinary mortar containing about two gallons. + This is a most laborious process, and occupies many hours of + the day or night.</p> + + <p>After gratifying, if not satisfying, the curiosity of + Samba's wives, we thought it right that a return should be made + by their explaining to us their mode of dressing food, + especially the celebrated <i>kooskoos</i>. This was cheerfully + done, the more so as we presented them with small articles of + tinselled finery. The flour is moistened with water, then + shaken and stirred in a calabash until it forms into small hard + granules like peppercorns, which will keep good for a long time + if preserved in a dry place. The poorer class wet this prepared + grain with hot water until it swells like rice; others steam it + in an earthen pot with holes, which is placed above another + containing flesh and water, so that the flavour of the meat + makes the kooskoos savoury. We saw a dish of this kind in + preparation for our dinner, along with other stews of a + daintier kind, made of rice boiled with milk and dried fish, or + with butter and meat, not forgetting vegetables and condiments. + Some, of these stews, when well prepared, are not to be + despised.</p> + + <p>After inspecting the kitchen and its contents, our host + conducted us to the <i>bentang</i> or <i>palaver</i> house, + which answers the purpose of a town-hall and assembly-room. It + is a large building, without side-walls, being a roof supported + upon strong posts, and having a bank of mud to form a seat or + lounging-bench. It is generally erected under the shade of a + large tabba-tree, which is the pride of the town. Here all + public business is transacted, trials are conducted, strangers + are received, and hither the idle resort for the news of the + day. As Africans are interminable speakers, they make excellent + lawyers, and know how to spin out a case or involve it in a + labyrinth of figures of speech. Mungo Park, who frequently + heard these special pleaders, says that in the forensic + qualifications of procrastination and cavil, and the arts of + confounding and perplexing a cause, they are not easily + surpassed by the ablest pleaders in Europe. The following may + serve as an example of their talent:—An ass had got loose + and broken into a field of corn, much of which it destroyed. + The proprietor of the corn caught the beast in his field, and + immediately cut its throat. The owner of the ass then brought + an action to recover damages for the loss of the ass, on which + he set a high value. The other acknowledged having killed it, + but pleaded as a set-off that the value of the corn destroyed + was quite equal to that of the beast which he had killed. The + law recognised the validity of both claims—that the ass + should be paid for, and so should the corn; for the proprietor + had no right to kill the beast, and it had no right to damage + the field. The glorious uncertainty was therefore displayed in + ascertaining the relative value of each; and the learned + gentlemen managed so to puzzle the cause, that after a hearing + of three days the court broke up without coming to any + decision, and the cause was adjourned for a future hearing.</p> + + <p>Another <i>palaver</i> which lasted four days was on the + following occasion:—A slave-merchant had married a woman + of Tambacunda, by whom he had two children. He subsequently + absented himself for eight years without giving any account of + himself to his deserted wife, who, seeing no prospect of his + return, at the end of three years married another man, to whom + she likewise bore two children. The <i>slatee</i> now returned + and claimed his wife; but the second husband refused to + surrender her, insisting that, by the usage of Africa, when a + man has been three years absent from his wife without giving + notice of his being alive, the woman is at liberty to marry + again. This, however, proved a puzzling question, and all the + circumstances on both sides had to be investigated. At last it + was determined that the differing claims were so nicely + balanced that the court could not pronounce on the side of + either, but allowed the woman to make her choice of the + husbands. She took time to consider; and it is said that, + having ascertained that her first husband, though older than + the second, was much richer, she allowed her first love to + carry the day.</p> + + <p>These lawsuits afford much amusement to the freemen of + African towns, who have little employment, and to whom time + seems to be a matter of no importance. Whether a journey + occupies a week, a month, or a year, is of little moment, + provided they can obtain victuals and find amusement in the + place they visit. African labourers are quite surprised at the + bustle and impatience of Englishmen; and when urged to make + haste in finishing a job, will innocently exclaim—'No + hurry, master: there be plenty of time: to-morrow, comes after + to-day.'</p> + + <p>We went to see the blacksmith and saddler of the town. These + are the only professional persons, and they are held in high + esteem. The blacksmith is a worker in all kinds of metal, and + combines the avocations of goldsmith, silversmith, jeweller, + nailer, and gunsmith. In the interior, he also manufactures + native iron by smelting the stone in furnaces with charcoal, + which process converts it at once into steel: but as this + operation is rudely performed, it is attended with a great + waste of metal, which is also very hard and difficult to be + worked; so that English iron is used when it can be obtained, + and bars of iron form a considerable article of commerce. The + blacksmith's utensils consist of a hammer, anvil, forceps, and + a pair of double bellows made of two goat-skins. When we saw + him he and his slaves were making stirrups, but the operation + was very tedious.</p> + + <p>The saddler tans and dresses leather, and can make a very + beautiful and soft material by repeatedly rubbing and beating + the hides. The thick skins are converted into sandals; those of + sheep and goats are dyed and made + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page15" + id="page15"></a>[pg 15]</span> into sheaths of various + kinds, purses for greegrees, covers for quivers and saddles, + and a variety of ornaments, which are neatly sewn, as all + negro lads can use the needle. These arts, with those of + weaving, working in rushes, soap-making, and a rude pottery, + constitute the native crafts. The Africans evidently + understand the principles of many useful arts, and evince + considerable ingenuity in the execution, considering the + rudeness of their instruments, their want of capital, and + the total absence of hired labour.</p> + + <p>Suspended on a tree near the entrance of the town we saw the + strange dress of bark called Mumbo Jumbo. This is a device used + by the men to keep their wives in awe when the husband's + authority is not sufficient to prevent family feuds and + maintain proper subordination. It may be called the pillory of + Africa, and is thus employed: Mumbo Jumbo announces his + approach by loud cries in the woods, and at night enters the + town and proceeds to the bentang, where all the inhabitants are + obliged to assemble. The ceremony begins with songs and dances, + which last till midnight, by which time Mumbo Jumbo has fixed + upon his unfortunate victim. She is immediately seized, + stripped, tied to a post, and scourged with Mumbo's rod, amid + the shouts and derision of the whole assembly. No wonder that + Mumbo Jumbo is held in great awe by the women!</p> + + <p>When we had finished our walks about town, the day was far + spent, and the setting sun bade us hasten to our lodging; for + here there is no twilight, so that in a few minutes after the + orb of day has disappeared night supervenes, and the moon rules + the heavens. The few cattle which belonged to the inhabitants + were brought into a pen at the town-wall, where they are + watched at night by armed men. We found a fire of blazing wood + in Samba's hut, and sat down on mats to gossip and smoke till + dinner should be served. The ladies brought in the kooskoos, + and other viands already described, in wooden bowls, and laid + them on the floor; they then retired, as they never eat with + the men. Each guest is expected to help himself with his + fingers, and Samba hoped to play us a little trick in return + for one played upon himself. When he visited us on board ship + we provided only knives and forks, which all were expected to + use. Poor Samba could hardly get a mouthful, and was the + laughing-stock of the company, till in mercy a spoon was + brought to him. He now ordered the stews to be made thin, and + the meat to be cut up in small morsels, hoping to see us very + awkward in using our fingers; when suddenly we produced pocket + spoons and knives, which turned the joke against him and his + negro friends, for the food was too watery for themselves to + manage well with their hands.</p> + + <p>After our repast we went out to see the dancing. This + favourite amusement of the Africans takes place in the open air + when the weather is fine; in wet weather it is held in the + bentang, and when it is dark large fires are kindled to give + light to the performers. They have two or three musical + instruments, the chief of which is a drum. When this is beat, + all the young folks become animated, and dance to the sound, + clapping their hands, and performing a number of evolutions, + some of which are not the most seemly. They keep up this + exercise through a great part of the night; so that we left + them in the midst of their sport, and retired to rest. Our + preparations for sleep were soon made, by simply lying down + upon the mats placed upon the hurdle. The negroes are very + susceptible of cold, and complain of it when we are panting + with heat; but the fire in their huts keeps up the desired + temperature. They sleep very soundly, and cannot be easily + aroused till after sun-rise. In the morning we made a slight + repast of gruel, to which a kind of hasty-pudding with + shea-butter was added for our peculiar gratification. This + butter is made of the fruit of the shea-tree, which is not + unlike a Spanish olive, and has a kernel from which the butter + is extracted by boiling. It is in great repute, having a richer + taste than the butter of milk, and keeping for a long time + without salt, which is very expensive in Africa. After + breakfast we took leave of our kind host and his family, and + returned in the same way we came.</p> + + <p>The foregoing description of semi-barbarous life may seem to + portray it in some attractive colours, so that indolent and + licentious persons might ask: Is it not preferable to our + sophisticated state of society? We are not judges of other + people's taste, but we can see in it nothing desirable. Its + evils are numerous and very great. It is a dearth or death of + the soul, and of all that which truly constitutes man an + intelligent being, aiming at mental progress. Again, it is + intimately connected with a state of slavery, with the + degradation of females, and with polygamy—three great + moral evils, the sources of endless rapine, injustice, and + misery. Famine also frequently prevails, and is a dreadful + scourge, even compelling mothers to sell some of their children + that they may save the rest. For in such an uncertain state of + society, no one cares to lay up for the future, as his hordes + would only incur the greater risk of being pillaged and + destroyed.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3><a name="article7" + id="article7">THE COMMERCIAL PORTS OF ENGLAND.</a></h3> + + <p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + + <p>A return has just been made, by order of parliament, which + shews that Liverpool is now the greatest port in the British + Empire in the value of its exports and the extent of its + foreign commerce. Being the first port in the British Empire, + it is the first port in the world. New York is the only place + out of Great Britain which can at all compare with the extent + of its commerce. New York is the Liverpool of America, as + Liverpool is the New York of Europe. The trade of those two + ports is reciprocal. The raw produce of America, shipped in New + York, forms the mass of the imports of Liverpool; the + manufactures of England, shipped at Liverpool, form the mass of + the imports of New York. The two ports are, together, the gates + or doors of entry between the Old World and the New. On + examining the return just made, it appears that the value of + the exports of Liverpool in the year 1850 amounted to nearly + L.35,000,000 sterling (L.34,891,847), or considerably more than + one-half of the total value of the exports of the three + kingdoms for that year. This wonderful export-trade of + Liverpool is partly the result of the great mineral riches of + Lancashire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and the West + Riding of Yorkshire; partly of the matchless ingenuity and + untiring industry of the population of those counties; partly + of a multitude of canals and railways, spreading from Liverpool + to all parts of England and the richest parts of Wales; partly + to Liverpool being the commercial centre of the three kingdoms; + and partly to the fact that very nearly L.12,000,000 have been + expended in Liverpool, and more than L.12,000,000 in the river + Mersey, in converting a stormy estuary and an unsafe anchorage + into the most perfect port ever formed by the skill of man. On + comparing the respective amounts of the tonnage of Liverpool + and London, it appears at first impossible to account for the + fact that the shipping of Liverpool is rather less than that of + London, while its export-trade is much more than twice as + great. The explanation of this fact is, that the vessels + employed in carrying the million or million and a half of tons + of coal used in London, appear in the London return; while the + canal and river flats, to say nothing of the railway trains, + employed in carrying the million and a quarter of tons of coal + used or employed in Liverpool, do not. State the case fairly, + and the maritime superiority of Liverpool will be found to be + as decided as is its commercial. We ought also to add, that + while the Custom-house returns for 1850 give Liverpool only + 3,262,253 tons of shipping, the payment of rates to the + Liverpool Dock Estate in the twelve months ending June 25, + 1851, gives 3,737,666 tons, or nearly + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page16" + id="page16"></a>[pg 16]</span> 500,000 tons more. Comparing + the rate of increase of the exports of Liverpool with that + of other ports, it appears that Liverpool is not only the + first port in the kingdom, but that it is becoming more + decidedly the first every year. During the last five years + the increase of the exports of Liverpool has been from + 26,000,000 to nearly 35,000,000, while that of London has + been from little less than 11,000,000 to rather more than + 14,000,000. The exports of Hull—which is undoubtedly + the third port of the kingdom—though still very large, + have rather declined, having been L.10,875,870 in 1846, and + not more than L.10,366,610 in 1850. The exports of Glasgow, + now the fourth port of the empire, shew a fair increase, + from L.3,024,343 to L.3,768,646. No other port now sends out + exports of the value of L.2,000,000 a year, though + Southampton comes near to L.2,000,000, and Cork passes + L.1,000,000.—<i>Liverpool Times</i>.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3><a name="article8" + id="article8">AN UNFORTUNATE MAN.</a></h3> + + <p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + + <p>I am fallen into the hands of publicans and sequestrators, + and they have taken all from me. What now? Let me look about + me. They have left me sun and moon, fire and water, a loving + wife, and many friends to pity me, and some to relieve me; and + I can still discourse; and, unless I list, they have not taken + away my merry countenance and my cheerful spirits, and a good + conscience; they have still left me the providence of God, and + all the promises of the gospel, and my religion, and my hope of + heaven, and my charity to them too. And still I sleep, and + digest, and eat, and drink; I read and meditate; I can walk in + my neighbour's pleasant fields, and see the varieties of + natural beauty, and delight in all that in which God + delights—that is, in virtue and wisdom, in the whole + creation, and in God himself.—<i>Jeremy Taylor</i>.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3><a name="article9" + id="article9">SLOW BUT SURE.</a></h3> + + <p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + + <p>Some years ago a man was apprehended in Hampshire, charged + with a capital offence—sheep-stealing, I believe. After + being examined before a justice of the peace, he was committed + to the county jail at Winchester for trial at the ensuing + assizes. The evidence against the man was too strong to admit + of any doubt of his guilt; he was consequently convicted, and + sentence of death—rigidly enforced for this crime at the + period alluded to—pronounced. Months and years passed + away, but no warrant for his execution arrived. In the interval + a marked improvement in the man's conduct and bearing became + apparent. His natural abilities were good, his temper mild, and + his general desire to please attracted the attention and + engaged the confidence of the governor of the prison, who at + length employed him as a domestic servant; and such was his + reliance on his integrity that he even employed him in + executing commissions, not only in the city, but to places at a + great distance from it. After a considerable lapse of time, + however, the awful instrument, which had been inadvertently + concealed among other papers, was discovered, and at once + forwarded to the high-sheriff, and by the proper authority to + the unfortunate delinquent himself. My purpose is brief + relation only; suffice it to say, the unhappy man is stated + under these affecting circumstances to have suffered the last + penalty of the law.—<i>Notes and Queries</i>.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3><a name="article10" + id="article10">THE SEA-KINGS OF NANTUCKET.</a></h3> + + <p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p>Let America add Mexico to Texas, and pile Cuba + upon Canada; let the English overswarm all India, and hang out + their blazing banner from the sun; two-thirds of this + terraqueous globe are the Nantucketer's. For the sea is + his—he owns it as emperors own empires, other seamen + having but a right to pass through it. Merchant-ships are but + extension bridges; armed ones but floating forts; even pirates + and privateers, though following the sea as highwaymen the + road, they but plunder other ships, other fragments of the land + like themselves, without seeking to draw their living from the + bottomless sea itself. The Nantucketer, he alone resides and + riots on the sea; he alone, in Bible language, goes down to it + in ships; to and fro ploughing it as his own special + plantation. <i>There</i> is his home; <i>there</i> lies his + business; which a Noah's flood would scarcely interrupt, though + it overwhelmed all the millions in China. He lives on the sea + as prairie cocks in the prairie; he hides among the waves; he + climbs them as chamois hunters climb the Alps. For years he + knows not the land; so that when he comes to it at last, it + smells like another world, more strangely than the moon would + to an earthsman. With the landless gull, that at sunset folds + her wings and is rocked to sleep between billows, so at + nightfall the Nantucketer, out of sight of land, furls his + sails, and lays him to his rest, while under his very pillow + rush herds of walruses and whales.—<i>Herman Melville's + The Whale</i>. + <hr /> + + <h3><a name="article11" + id="article11">THE LINNÆA BOREALIS.</a></h3> + + <p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + + <blockquote> + <p>'Linné selected a tiny wild-flower that he + discovered, of exquisite beauty and delicious odour, to + bear his name—one that refuses to exchange the silent + glen and melancholy wood for the more gay parterres of + horticulture.'—<i>Rambles in Sweden and Gottland, by + Sylvanus</i>.</p> + </blockquote> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>'Tis a child of the old green woodlands,</p> + + <p class="i2">Where the song of the free wild bird,</p> + + <p>And swaying of boughs in the summer breeze,</p> + + <p class="i2">Are the only voices heard.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>In the richest moss of the lonely dells</p> + + <p class="i2">Are its rosy petals found,</p> + + <p>With the clear blue skies above it spread,</p> + + <p class="i2">And the lordly trees around.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>In those still, untrodden solitudes</p> + + <p class="i2">Its lovely days are passed;</p> + + <p>And the sunny turf is its fragrant bier</p> + + <p class="i2">When it gently dies at last.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>But if from its own sweet dwelling-place</p> + + <p class="i2">By a careless hand 'tis torn,</p> + + <p>And to hot and dusty city streets</p> + + <p class="i2">In its drooping beauty borne,</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Its graceful head is with sorrow bowed,</p> + + <p class="i2">And it quickly pines and fades;</p> + + <p>Till the fragile bloom is for ever fled</p> + + <p class="i2">That gladdened the forest glades.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>It will not dwell 'neath a palace dome,</p> + + <p class="i2">With rare exotic flowers,</p> + + <p>Whose perfumed splendour gaily gleams</p> + + <p class="i2">In radiant festal hours:</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>It loves not the Parian marble vase,</p> + + <p class="i2">On the terrace fair and wide;</p> + + <p>Or the bright and sheltered garden bowers</p> + + <p class="i2">Smiling in gorgeous pride.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>But it mourns for the far-off dingles,</p> + + <p class="i2">For their fresh and joyous air,</p> + + <p>For the dewy sighs and sunny beams</p> + + <p class="i2">That lingered o'er it there.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>O lonely and lovely forest-flower!</p> + + <p class="i2">A holy lot is thine,</p> + + <p>Amid nature's deepest solitudes,</p> + + <p class="i2">With radiance meek to shine.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Bright blossom of the shady woods!</p> + + <p class="i2">Live on in your cool retreat,</p> + + <p>Unharmed by the touch of human hand,</p> + + <p class="i2">Or the tread of careless feet;</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>With the rich green fern around your home,</p> + + <p class="i2">The birds' glad song above,</p> + + <p>And the solemn stars in the still night-time</p> + + <p class="i2">Looking down with eyes of love!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i20">LUCINDA ELLIOTT.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr class="full" /> + + <p>Printed and Published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, High Street, + Edinburgh. Also sold by W.S. ORR, Amen Corner, London; D.N. + CHAMBERS, 55 West Nile Street, Glasgow; and J. M'GLASHAN, 50 + Upper Sackville Street, Dublin.—Advertisements for + Monthly Parts are requested to be sent to MAXWELL & Co., 31 + Nicholas Lane, Lombard Street, London, to whom all applications + respecting their insertion must be made.</p> + <hr class="full" /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal Vol. +XVII. No. 418. New Series. 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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. + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** + + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/old/13865-h/images/banner.png b/old/13865-h/images/banner.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd11d1b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13865-h/images/banner.png diff --git a/old/13865.txt b/old/13865.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a1a3219 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13865.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2393 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal Vol. XVII. No. +418. New Series. January 3, 1852., by William and Robert Chambers + +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: Chambers's Edinburgh Journal Vol. XVII. No. 418. New Series. + January 3, 1852. + +Author: William and Robert Chambers + +Release Date: October 25, 2004 [EBook #13865] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL *** + + + + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Sandra Brown and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + CHAMBERS EDINBURGH JOURNAL + + + CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S + INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c. + + + No. 418. NEW SERIES. SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 1852. PRICE 1-1/2_d_. + + + + +A CHILD'S TOY. + + +The afternoon was drawing in towards evening; the air was crisp and +cool, and the wind near the earth, steady but gentle; while above all +was as calm as sleep, and the pale clouds--just beginning in the west to +be softly gilded by the declining sun--hung light and motionless. The +city, although not distant, was no longer visible, being hidden by one +of the many hills which give such enchantment to the aspect of _our_ +city. There was altogether something singularly soothing in the +scene--something that disposed not to gravity, but to elevated thought. +As we looked upwards, there was some object that appeared to mingle with +the clouds, to form a part of their company, to linger, mute and +motionless like them, in that breathless blue, as if feeling the +influence of the hour. It was not a white-winged bird that had stolen +away to muse in the solitudes of air: it was nothing more than a paper +kite. + +On that paper kite we looked long and intently. It was the moral of the +picture; it appeared to gather in to itself the sympathies of the whole +beautiful world; and as it hung there, herding with the things of +heaven, our spirit seemed to ascend and perch upon its pale bosom like a +wearied dove. Presently we knew the nature of the influence it exercised +upon our imagination; for a cord, not visible at first to the external +organs, though doubtless felt by the inner sense, connected it with the +earth of which we were a denizen. We knew not by what hand the cord was +held so steadily. Perhaps by some silent boy, lying prone on the sward +behind yonder plantation, gazing up along the delicate ladder, and +seeing unconsciously angels ascending and descending. When we had looked +our fill, we went slowly and thoughtfully home along the deserted road, +and nestled as usual, like a moth, among our books. A dictionary was +lying near; and with a languid curiosity to know what was said of the +object that had interested us so much, we turned to the word, and read +the following definition: Kite--_a child's toy_. + +What wonderful children there are in this world, to be sure! Look at +that American boy, with his kite on his shoulder, walking in a field +near Philadelphia. He is going to have a fly; and it is famous weather +for the sport, for it is in June--June 1752. The kite is but a rough +one, for Ben has made it himself, out of a silk-handkerchief stretched +over two cross-sticks. Up it goes, however, bound direct for a +thunder-cloud passing overhead; and when it has arrived at the object of +its visit, the flier ties a key to the end of his string, and then +fastens it with some silk to a post. By and by he sees some loose +threads of the hempen-string bristle out and stand up, as if they had +been charged with electricity. He instantly applies his knuckle to the +key, and as he draws from it the electrical spark, this strange little +boy is struck through the very heart with an agony of joy. His labouring +chest relieves itself with a deep sigh, and he feels that he could be +contented to die that moment. And indeed he was nearer death than he +supposed; for as the string was sprinkled with rain, it became a better +conductor, and gave out its electricity more copiously; and if it had +been wholly wet, the experimenter might have been killed upon the spot. +So much for _this_ child's toy. The splendid discovery it made--of the +identity of lightning and electricity--was not allowed to rest by Ben +Franklin. By means of an insulated iron rod the new Prometheus drew down +fire from heaven, and experimented with it at leisure in his own house. +He then turned the miracle to a practical account, constructing a +pointed metallic rod to protect houses from thunder. One end of this +true magic wand is higher than the building and the other end buried in +the ground; and the submissive lightning, instead of destroying life and +property in its gambols, darts direct along the conductor into the +earth. We may add that Ben was a humorous boy, and played at various +things as well as kite-flying. Hear this description of his pranks at an +intended pleasure-party on the banks of the Skuylkill: 'Spirits at the +same time are to be fired by a spark sent from side to side through the +river, without any other conductor than water--an experiment which we +have some time since performed to the amazement of many. A turkey is to +be killed for dinner by the electrical shock; and roasted by the +electrical jack, before a fire kindled by the electric bottle; when the +healths of all the famous electricians in England, Holland, France, and +Germany, are to be drunk in electrified bumpers, under the discharge of +guns from the electrical battery.' + +We now turn to a group of capital little fellows who did something more +than fly their kite. These were English skippers, promoted somehow to +the command of vessels before they had arrived at years of discretion; +and, chancing to meet at the port of Alexandria in Egypt, they took it +into their heads--these naughty boys--that they would drink a bowl of +punch on the top of Pompey's Pillar. This pillar had often served them +for a signal at sea. It was composed of red granite, beautifully +polished, and standing 114 feet high, overtopped the town. But how to +get up? They sent for a kite, to be sure; and the men, women, and +children of Alexandria, wondering what they were going to do with it, +followed the toy in crowds. The kite was flown over the Pillar, and with +such nicety, that when it fell on the other side the string lodged upon +the beautiful Corinthian capital. By this means they were able to draw +over the Pillar a two-inch rope, by which one of the youngsters +'swarmed' to the top. The rope was now in a very little while converted +into a sort of rude shroud, and the rest of the party followed, and +actually drank their punch on a spot which, seen from the surface of the +earth, did not appear to be capable of holding more than one man. + +By means of this exploit it was ascertained that a statue had once stood +upon the column--and a statue of colossal dimensions it must have been +to be properly seen at such a height. But for the rest--if we except the +carving of sundry initials on the top--the result was only the knocking +down of one of the volutes of the capital, for boys are always doing +mischief; and this was carried to England by one of the skippers, in +order to execute the commission of a lady, who, with the true iconoclasm +of her country, had asked him to be so kind as to bring her a piece of +Pompey's Pillar. + +Little fellows, especially of the class of bricklayers, are no great +readers, otherwise we might suspect that the feat of the skipper-boys +had conveyed some inspiration to Steeple Jack. Who is Steeple Jack? asks +some innocent reader at the Antipodes. He is a little spare creature who +flies his kite over steeples when there is anything to do to them, and +lodging a cord on the apex, contrives by its means to reach the top +without the trouble of scaffolding. No fragility, no displacement of +stones, no leaning from the perpendicular, frightens Steeple Jack. He is +as bold as his namesake Jack-the-Giant-Killer, and does as wonderful +things. At Dunfermline, not long ago, when the top of the spire was in +so crazy a state that the people in the street gave it a wide berth as +they passed, he swung himself up without hesitation, and set everything +to rights. At the moment we write his cord is seen stretched from the +tall, slim, and elegant spire of the Assembly Hall in Edinburgh, which +is to receive through his agency a lightning-conductor; and Jack only +waits the subsidence of a gale of wind to glide up that filmy rope like +a spider. He is altogether a strange boy, Steeple Jack. Nobody knows +where he roosts upon the earth, if he roosts anywhere at all. The last +time there was occasion for his services, this advertisement appeared in +the _Scotsman_: 'Steeple Jack is wanted at such a place immediately'--and +immediately Steeple Jack became visible. + +In 1827 the child's toy was put to a very remarkable use by one Master +George Pocock. This clever little fellow observed that his kite +sometimes gave him a very strong pull, and it occurred to him that if +made large enough it might be able to pull something else. In fact, he +at length yoked a pair of large kites to a carriage, and travelled in it +from Bristol to London, distancing in grand style every other conveyance +on the road. A twelve-foot kite, it appears, in a moderate breeze, has a +one-man power of draught, and when the wind is brisker, a force equal to +200 lbs. The force in a rather high wind is as the squares of the +lengths; and two kites of fifteen and twelve feet respectively, fastened +one above the other, will draw a carriage and four or five passengers at +the rate of twenty miles an hour. But George's invention went beyond the +simple idea. He had an extra line which enabled him to vary the angle of +the surface of his kites with the horizon, so as to make his aërial +horses go fast or slow as he chose; and side-lines to vary the direction +of the force, till it came almost to right angles with the direction of +the wind. His kites were made of varnished linen, and might be folded up +into small compass. The same principle was successfully applied by a +nautical lad of the name of Dansey to the purpose of saving vessels in a +gale of wind on 'the dread lee-shore.' His kite was of light canvas. + +In India, China, and the intermediate countries, the aggregate +population of which includes one-half of mankind, kites are the +favourite toy of both old and young boys, from three years to threescore +and ten. Sometimes they really resemble the conventional dragon, from +which, among Scotch children, they derive their name; sometimes they are +of a diamond shape, and sometimes they are like a great spider with a +narrow waist. Our Old Indian is eloquent on kites, and the glory of +their colours, which, in the days of other years, made her girlish heart +leap, and her girlish eyes dazzle. The kite-shop is like a tulip-bed, +full of all sorts of gay and gorgeous hues. The kites are made of +Chinese paper, thin and tough, and the ribs of finely-split bamboo. A +wild species of silkworm is pressed into the service, and set to spin +_nuck_ for the strings--a kind of thread which, although fine, is +surprisingly strong. Its strength, however, is wanted for aggression as +well as endurance; and a mixture composed of pounded glass and rice +gluten is rubbed over it. Having been dried in the sun, the prepared +string is now wound upon a handsome reel of split bamboo inserted in a +long handle. One of these reels, if of first-rate manufacture, costs a +shilling, although coarser ones are very cheap; and of the nuck, about +four annas, or sixpence worth, suffices for a kite. + +In a Hindoo town the kite-flying usually takes place on some common +ground in the vicinity, and there may be seen the young and old boys in +eager groups, and all as much interested in the sport as if their lives +depended upon their success. And sometimes, indeed, their fortunes do. +Many a poor little fellow bets sweetmeats upon his kite to the extent of +his only anna in the world; and many a rich baboo has more rupees at +stake than he can conveniently spare. But the exhilarating sport makes +everybody courageous; and the glowing colours of the kites enable each +to identify his own when in the air, and give him in it, as it were, a +more absolute property. Matches are soon made. Up go the aërial +combatants, and with straining eyes and beating hearts their fate is +watched from below. But their masters are far from passive, for this is +no game of chance, depending upon the wind. Kite-flying is in these +countries an art and mystery; and some there be who would not disclose +their recipe for the nuck-ointment, if their own grandfathers should go +upon their knees to ask it. + +Sometimes an event occurs on the common. It is the ascent of a pair of +kites of a _distingué_ air, and whose grand and determined manner shews +that the combat is to be _à l'outrance,_ and that a large stake of money +depends upon the result. The fliers are invisible. They are probably on +the flat roof of some neighbouring house; but the kites are not the less +interesting on account of their origin being unknown. What a host of +anxious faces are turned up to the sky! Some take a liking to the red at +first sight, while others feel attracted by a mysterious sympathy to the +green. Bets are freely offered and accepted either in sweetmeats or +money; and the crowd, condensing, move to and fro in a huge wave, from +which their eager voices arise like the continuous roaring of the sea. +Higher and higher go the kites. Well done, Red! he has shot above his +antagonist, and seems meditating a swoop; but the Green, serenely +scornful, continues to soar, and is soon uppermost. And thus they +go--now up, now down, relatively to each other, but always ascending +higher and higher, till the spectators almost fear that they will vanish +out of sight. But at length the Green, taking advantage of a loftier +position he has gained, makes a sudden circuit, and by an adroit +manoeuvre gets his silken string over the silken string of the other, +Here a shout of triumph and a yell of terror break simultaneously from +the crowd; for this is the crisis of the fight. The victor gives a +fierce cut upon his adversary's line. The backers of the latter fancy +they hear it grate, and in an instant their forebodings are realised; +far the unfortunate Red is seen to waver like a bird struck by a shot, +and then, released from the severed string, he descends in forlorn +gyrations to the earth. + +Now rush in the smaller boys to play their part, Their object is that of +the plunderers who traverse the field after a battle, to rob the dying +and the slain. Off run the little Hindoos, like a company of imps from +the nether regions, tearing and fighting as they fly; and on reaching +the fallen kite, the object of their contention is torn to pieces in the +scuffle. Presently the victorious Green is seen descending, and the gross +excitement of the common pauses to watch his majestic flight. He is of +the largest size of Indian kites called _ching_, and of the spider +shape. Before being drawn in, he hangs for an instant high up over the +crowd. It is not, however, to sing _Io Pĉans_ for his victory, but +apparently rather to mourn over the ruin he has made; for a wailing +music breathes from his wings as he passes. This is caused by the action +of the wind upon some finely-split bamboo twigs arched over the kite +without touching the paper, and which thus become a true Ĉolian harp. +Sometimes a kite of this kind is sent up at night, bearing a small +lighted lantern of talc; and the sleepers awakened, called to their +balconies by the unearthly music, gaze after the familiar apparition not +without a poetical thrill. + +Upon the whole, it must be admitted, we think, that this is a somewhat +interesting child's toy. But has the kite a future? Will its powers +exhibit new developments, or has it already reached its pride of place? +If a twelve-foot kite has the force of a man, would it take many more +feet to lift a man into the air? And supposing the man to be in a strong +cage of network, with bamboo ribs, and a seat of the same material, +would he have greater difficulty in governing his aërial coursers by +means of the Pocock cords, than if he were flashing along the road from +Bristol to London? Mind, we do not say that this is possible: we merely +ask for the sake of information; and if any little boy will favour us +with his opinion, we shall take it very kind. Come and let us fancy that +it _is_ possible. The traveller feels much more comfortable than in the +car of a balloon, for he knows he can go pretty nearly in what direction +he chooses, and that he can hasten or check the pace of his horses, and +bring them to a stand-still at pleasure. See him, therefore, boldly +careering through the air at the rate of any number of miles the wind +pleases. At a single bound he spans yonder broad river, and then goes +bowling over the plantation beyond, just stirring the leaves as he +passes; trees, water, houses, men, and animals gliding away beneath his +feet like a dream. Now he stoops towards the earth, just to make the +people send up their voices that there may be some sound in the desert +air. Now he swings up again; now he leaps over that little green hill; +now he--Hold! hold, little boy!--that will do: enough for a time of a +Child's Toy. + + + + +JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. + + + '.... Whose trained eye was keen, +As eagle of the wilderness, to scan +His path by mountain, lake, or deep ravine, +Or ken far friendly huts on good savannas green.' + --CAMPBELL: _Gertrude of Wyoming_. + +On the 14th of last September, America lost the greatest of +her novelists in the person of James Fenimore Cooper. He was born on the +15th of that month, 1789; so that, had he lived but a few hours longer, +he would have completed his sixty-second year. At the time of his birth, +his father, Judge Cooper, resided at Burlington, New Jersey, where the +future _littérateur_ commenced his education, and in so doing acquired a +decided reputation for talent, which was not tarnished during subsequent +years of tutelage at Newhaven and Yale College. At sixteen he exchanged +the study of ancient literature and the repose of academic life for the +bustling career of a 'middy' in the American navy; continuing for some +half-dozen years his connection with those ocean scenes which he then +learned to love so well and to describe so vividly. His retirement into +private life took place in 1811, soon after which he married Miss de +Lancey (whose brother is known to many as one of the New York bishops), +and settled at Cooper's Town, his patrimonial estate. Ten years elapsed +before his _début_ as an author. In 1821 he presented the public with a +novel bearing the perhaps apposite title of _Precaution_--apposite, if +the two _lustra_ thus elapsed were passed in preparation for that début, +and as being after all anonymously published. The subject was one with +which Cooper never shewed himself conversant--namely, the household life +of England. Like his latest works, _Precaution_ was a failure, and gave +scanty indications of that genius which was to find its true sphere and +full scope in the trackless prairies of his native land, and its path +upon the mountain-wave he had ridden in buoyant youth. But the same year +produced _The Spy_, still considered by many to be his masterpiece, and +from that production his fame was secure; and not only America but +British voices, exhorted Sir Walter to look to his laurels. Certainly +there was a little more reason in calling Cooper the American Scott than +in pronouncing Klopstock the German Milton. + +The successful novelist visited Europe a few years after this 'sign and +seal' of his literary renown, and spent a considerable period among the +principalities and powers of Old-World Christendom. In Paris and London +especially he was lionised to the top of his bent. Sir Walter met him in +the French metropolis in 1826; and in his diary of November 3, after +recording a morning visit to 'Cooper the American novelist,' adds: 'this +man, who has shewn so much genius, has a good deal of the manners or +want of manners peculiar to his countrymen.' Three days later we find +the following entry: 'Cooper came to breakfast, but we were _obsédes +partout_. Such a number of Frenchmen bounced in successively, and +exploded--I mean discharged--their compliments, that I could hardly find +an opportunity to speak a word or entertain Mr Cooper at all.'[Footnote: +Lockhart's Life of Scott.] The 'illustrious stranger' appears to have +spent about ten years in Europe, for which he was, perhaps, in a +literary point of view, none the better; as--to use the words of a +periodical of the day--'he did not carry back the same fresh spirit that +he brought, something of which must be attributed, no doubt, to the +years which intervened; but something, too, to his abandonment of that +mother-ground which to him, as to the fabled Antaeus, was the source of +strength.' The autumn of his life glided quietly on amid the pleasures +and pains of literature; its sombre close being pleasantly illuminated +by the rays of spring-promise that radiated around the young brow of his +daughter, which the dying veteran might well hope would be matured into +'glorious summer by the sun of' time. _Valeat signum_! + +In calling Cooper the greatest of American novelists, we have not +incurred much risk of contradiction. Others may rival--some surpass +him--in this or that province of the art of fiction; but as a master of +the art in its broad aspect, he is _facile princeps_. Brockden Brown +treads a circle of mysterious power but mean circumference: Washington +Irving is admirable at a sketch, one of the liveliest and most graceful +of essayists, and quite equal to the higher demands of imaginative +prose--witness his _Rip Van Winkle_ and _Sleepy Hollow_--but his forte +is in miniature, and the orthodox dimensions of three volumes +post-octavo would suit him almost as ill as would the Athenian vesture +of Nick Bottom the spruce proportions of royal Oberon: Haliburton is +inimitable in his own line of things; his measure of wit and +humour--qualities unknown, or nearly so, to Cooper--is 'pressed down, +and shaken together, and running over;' but his 'mission' and Cooper's +in the tale-telling art are wide as the poles asunder: John Neale had +once, particularly by his own appraisement, a high repute as the +eccentric author of _Logan_ and _Seventy-six_, but the repute, like the +_Seventy-six_, is quite in the preterite tense now; and to review him +and his works at this time of day would be suspiciously like a +_post-mortem_ examination, resulting possibly in a verdict of temporary +insanity--if not, indeed, of _felo de se_--so wilful and wrongheaded +were the vagaries of this 'rough, egotistical Yankee,' as he has been +called: Herman Melville is replete with graphic power, and riots in the +exuberance of a fresh, racy style; but whether he can sustain the +'burden and heat' of a well-equipped and full-grown novel as deftly as +the fragmentary autobiographies he loves to indite; remains to be seen: +Longfellow's celebrity in fiction is limited to _Hyperion_ and +_Kavanagh_--clever, but slight foundations for enduring popularity--as +irregular (the former at least) as Jean Paul's nondescript stories, +without the great German's tumultuous genius: Hawthorne is probably the +most noteworthy of the rising authors of America, and indeed manifests a +degree of psychological knowledge and far-sighted, deep-searching +observation of which there are few traces or none in Cooper; but the +real prowess of the author of _The Scarlet Letter_ is, we apprehend, +still undeveloped, and the harvest of his honours a thing of the future. +All these distinguished persons--not to dwell on the kindred names of +Bird, Kennedy, Ware, Paulding, Myers, Willis, Poe, Sedgwick, &c.--must +yield the palm to him who has attracted all the peoples and tongues of +Europe[Footnote: And, in _one_ instance at least, of Asia also; for _The +Spy_ was translated into Persian!] to follow out the destiny of a Spy on +the neutral ground, of a Pilot on the perilous coasts of a hostile race, +of a Last of the Mohicans disappearing before the onward tramp of the +white man. + +As Rob Roy felt the pulses of life quickened when his foot was on his +native heath, so Cooper wrote with vigour and _aplomb_ only when his +themes were the aboriginal forest and the melancholy main. Pity that, +having discovered the fount of his strength--the Samson-lock by which +alone he towered above his fellows--he had not restrained himself, and +concentrated his efforts within the appointed sphere. He repudiated the +oracular counsel which his own consciousness must have approved--_Hoc +signo vinces_; and seemed to assume that whatever province he invaded, +the bulletin of the campaign would be another _Veni, vidi, vici_. Few +things can be more unsatisfactory and insipid than his attempts in the +'silver-fork school' of novel-writing--his dreary commonplaces of +fashionable life--his faded sermonisings on domestic, and political, and +social economy. Few things can be more inspiriting, more energetic, more +impressive, than his pictures of + + 'A wet sheet and a flowing sea, + A wind that follows fast, + And fills the white and rustling sail, + And bends the gallant mast;' + +for we see in every stroke that the world of waters is his home, and +that to _his_ ear there is music in the wild piping of the wind, and +that _his_ eye beams afresh when it descries tempest in the horned moon, +and lightning in the cloud. To him the ocean is indeed 'a glorious +mirror,' where the form of the Highest 'glasses itself in tempests;' +dear to him it is + + ------'in all time, + Calm or convulsed--in breeze, or gale, or storm; + ....Boundless, endless, and sublime-- + The image of Eternity--the throne + Of the Invisible.' + +Well might one who had lived six years on her swelling bosom, combine +with his love 'of the old sea some reverential fear,' as Wordsworth has +it. This compound feeling is highly effective in his marine fictions, so +instinct is it with the reality of personal experience. Mr Griswold +tells us that Cooper informed him as follows of the origin of _The +Pilot_: 'Talking with the late Charles Wilkes of New York, a man of +taste and judgment, our author [Cooper] heard extolled the universal +knowledge of Scott, and the sea-portions of _The Pirate_ cited as a +proof. He laughed at the idea, as most seamen would, and the discussion +ended by his promising to write a sea-story which could be read by +landsmen, while seamen should feel its truth. _The Pilot_ was the result +of that conversation.'[Footnote: 'The Prose-Writers of America.'] Of +this tale Scott says, in a letter to Miss Edgeworth: 'I have seen a new +work, _The Pilot_, by the author of _The Spy_ and _The Pioneers_. The +hero is the celebrated Paul Jones, whom I well remember advancing above +the island of Inchkeith, with three small vessels, to lay Leith under +contribution.... The novel is a very clever one, and the sea-scenes and +characters in particular are admirably drawn; and I advise you to read +it as soon as possible.' Still higher panegyric would not have been +misbestowed in this instance, which illustrates Mr Prescott's remark, +that Cooper's descriptions of inanimate nature, no less than of savage +man, are alive with the breath of poetry--'Witness his infinitely +various pictures of the ocean; or, still more, of the beautiful spirit +that rides upon its bosom, the gallant ship.' Though it is to _The +Pilot_, pre-eminently, and _The Waterwitch_, in nearly an equal degree, +that these remarks apply, there is many a passage in Cooper's later +novels--for example, _The Two Admirals, Homeward Bound, Mark's Reef, +Ashore and Afloat_, and _The Sea-Lions_--in which we recognise the same +'cunning' right hand which pencilled the _Ariel_, and its crew, the +moody, mysterious pilot, and stalwart Long Tom Coffin. + +Nor was he less at home in the backwoods and prairies of his fatherland, +than upon the broad seas which divide it from the Old World. Tastes +differ; and there are those--possibly the majority of his readers--who +prefer the Indian associations of _The Last of the Mohicans, The +Pioneers_, &c. to the salt-water scenery of the other class of works. +For our part, we prefer his prairies to his savages, his forests to his +aborigines, his inanimate to his living sketches of Indian story. His +wild men of the woods are often too sentimental, too dreamy, too ideal. +In this respect Brockden Brown has the advantage of him; for, as Mr +Prescott has pointed out, Brown shews the rude and uncouth lineaments of +the Indian character, though he is chargeable with withholding +intimations of a more generous nature. While Cooper discards all the +coarser elements of savage life, and idealises the portrait. The first +of this series of tales of + + 'Painted chiefs with pointed spears,' + +was _The Pioneers_--the materials for which, it seems, were to a +considerable extent derived from his father, who had an interest in +large tracts of land near the 'sources of the Susquehanna,' where the +scene is laid, and allied, therefore, to Campbell's _Gertrude of +Wyoming_. It was speedily followed by _The Last of the Mohicans_--not +uncommonly pronounced his _chef d'oeuvre_--and _The Prairie_; which, +among numerous descriptions of absorbing interest, pervaded throughout +by a fine imaginative spirit, contains one of thrilling power--where +the squatter discovers and avenges the murder of his son. _The Wept of +Wish-ton-Wish_--a strange story with a strange title, and which forms +(chronologically at least) the climax of Cooper's fame--is justly +admired by all who appreciate 'minute painting,' and that pensive +monotony which begets a certain 'melancholy charm.' His skill in martial +narrative was favorably attested in _Lionel Lincoln_; in which he +describes with remarkable spirit and equal accuracy the battles of +Lexington and of Bunker's Hill. But to go through in detail the _opera +omnia_ of our prolific author would involve us in difficulties with +editor and reader too serious to bear anticipation. Passing over, +therefore, such of his earlier writings as are better known--like _The +Red Rover, The Waterwitch, The Pathfinder_, and _The Deerslayer_--we +proceed to notice briefly a select few from the long series produced +during the last ten years. + +_The Two Admirals_ is of unequal interest--the twin heroes, Sir Gervaise +Oakes and Bluewater, engrossing whatever charm it possesses, and +reacting disastrously on the tedious scenes wherein they bear no part; +but they certainly _do_ walk and talk like sound-hearted sons of +Neptune, and there is no resisting the spell of the battle and the +breeze which they encounter together, in the _Plantagenet_ and the +_Cĉsar_. _The Jack o' Lantern, or the Privateer_, was put forth with an +expression of the author's conviction that his faculty in this class of +fictions was inexhaustible; to which, however, the critics demurred. One +of them observed that, following out the fantastical supposition which +ascribes especial virtues to certain numbers, or even working out the +analogy of the seventh wave, which sea-shore gossips tell us is ampler +and stronger than its predecessors, the seventh sea-novel of Mr Cooper's +ought to be the most remarkable of the series for force, brilliancy, and +movement. But such symbolism was here found defective: the seventh wave +broke abruptly on the shore; the Jack o' Lantern's existence has been +brief and uncertain as that of the _ignis fatuus_ on the marsh. The +story introduces Caraccioli and the Neapolitan court, Nelson and Lady +Hamilton; but without striking points. There are some cleverly-drawn +characters, however: Clinch, the drunken but winning British tar; Raoul +Yvard, brilliant, handsome, and Parisian all over, philosophism +included; and Ithuel Bolt, a new (not improved) edition of Long Tom. The +plot is ingenious, though perhaps, constrained and far-fetched; and its +_dénouement_ makes the reader put down the third volume with increased +respect for the novelist's tact. _Wyandotte, or the Hutted Knoll_ +(1843), is a quiet yet animated narrative, descriptive of a family of +British settlers and their fortunes in their wild Susquehanna home. +There is a pleasure, the author observes, in diving into a virgin +forest, and commencing the labours of civilisation, that has no exact +parallel in any other human occupation; and some refracted share of this +pleasure is secured by every intelligent reader while engaged in +perusing records so faithful and characteristic as those embodied in +this tale. _Ravensnest_, with no lack of scenic embellishments, +introduces to us three of the author's happiest characters--always +excepting Leatherstocking and Long Tom--namely, the two Littlepages, +'Captain Hugh' and his 'Uncle Ro,' and Mistress Opportunity Newcome. The +didactic asperities in which he indulged naturally marred the fortune of +a book whose readers, whatever they might be, were pretty safely +'booked' for a scolding. Otherwise, it gleamed with scintillations, +neither faint nor few, of the light of other days. But it was evident +that Mr Cooper was overwriting himself. He seemed determined not to be +outdone in fecundity by the most prolific of his contemporaries--as +though it were a safe speculation or a healthy emulation to run against +such light horsemen and horsewomen as Mr James and M. Dumas, and +Mesdames Gore and Trollope. Hence he might have appropriately echoed the +complaint of the slave in Terence: + + 'Parum succedit quod ago, at facio sedulò.' + +In 1847, he produced _Mark's Reef_, a story of the Crusoe genus, but far +behind; the desert island being created 'positively for this occasion +only,' and being swallowed up in the sea again when it has served Mark +Woolston and the novelist's requirements. It is characterised, however, +by much glowing description--especially that relating to the crater, +with its noble peak, 'ever the same amid the changes of time, and +civilisation, and decay; naked, storm-beaten, and familiar to the eye.' +The following year he was ready with _The Bee-Hunter_, wherein he sought +to revive his pristine successes among American solitudes and Red +Indians. Again we hear the palaver of the stately and sentimental +Chippewas; and again we watch, with sadly-relaxed attention, the dodging +extraordinary of Pale Faces and Red Men. Alas! + + 'Both of them speak of something that is gone:... + Whither is fled the visionary gleam? + Where is it now, the glory and the dream?' + +The Indians have become comparatively seedy and second-hand individuals; +the scenery, with occasional exceptions, looks worn; the machinery +creaks and betrays itself, no longer possessing the _ars celare artem_. +''Tis true, 'tis pity; pity 'tis, 'tis true.' One novelty, nevertheless, +this tale can boast, and that is the very able and interesting sketch of +the bee-hunter following his vocation in the 'oak-openings;' nor is the +portrait of Buzzing Ben himself an ordinary daub. In 1849 appeared _The +Sea-Lions_, a clever but often prolix work, which ought to keep up its +interest with the public, if only for its elaborate painting of scenes +to which the protracted mystery of Sir John Franklin's expedition has +imparted a melancholy charm. The sufferings of sealers and grasping +adventurers among 'thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice' are recounted +with dramatic earnestness. _The Ways of the Hour_ was both 'nominally' +and 'really' Cooper's last novel: he announced it as such; and the +announcement was not related to that fallacious category to which belong +the 'more last nights' of popular tragedians, and the farewell prefaces +of the accomplished author of _Rienzi_. It was not the 'going, going!' +but the 'gone!' of the auctioneer. And critics maliciously said: _Tant +mieux_. In _The Ways of the Hour_ there was one vigorous portrait, Mary +Monson, and several 'moving accidents by flood and field:' but with +these positive qualities the reader had to accept an unlimited stock of +negatives. Besides the works thus referred to, Cooper wrote at short +intervals a 'serried phalanx' of others, from the ranks of which suffice +it to name _The Heidenmauer, The Bravo, The Manikins_ (a weak and +injudicious tale, quite unworthy of his honourable reputation), _The +Headsman of Berne, Mercedes of Castille, Satanstoe, Home as Found, +Ashore and Afloat_. In miscellaneous literature his writings include a +_History of the Navy of the United States, Lives of Distinguished Naval +Officers, Sketches of Switzerland, Gleanings in Europe_, and _Notions of +the Americans_. + +It is by his early tales of wilderness and ocean life that he will +survive. There his genius is fresh, vigorous, natural--uncramped by +restraints, undeformed by excrescences, uninterrupted by crotchets, such +as injured its aftergrowth--the swaddling-clothes of its second +childhood. If we have spoken freely--we hope not flippantly--of these +feeblenesses, it is because the renown of Cooper is too tenaciously and +permanently rooted to be 'radically' affected thereby, however they may +diminish the symmetry and dim the verdure of blossom and branch. His +magnificent panoramas of prairie solitude, his billowy expanses of the +'many-voiced sea,' his artistically-grouped figures of red-skins and +trappers, sealers and squatters, are among the things which Anglo-Saxon +literature in either hemisphere will not willingly let die. By these he +is, and long will be, known and read of all men. And if ever Mr +Macaulay's New Zealander should ponder over the ruins of Broadway, as +well as of St Paul's, he will probably carry in his pocket one of those +romances which tell how the Last of the Mohicans came to his end, and +which illustrate the closing destinies of tribes which shall then have +disappeared before the chill advance of the Pale Face. + + + + +WHY DOES THE PENDULUM SWING? + + +The attention of the visitor to the recent Exhibition in Hyde Park was +arrested, as he advanced westwards down the central promenade of the +building, by a large clock busily at work marking off the seconds of +passing time. That piece of mechanism had a remarkably independent and +honest look of its own. The inmost recesses of its breast were freely +bared to the inspection of every passer-by. As if aware of the +importance of the work intrusted to its care, it went on telling, in the +midst of the ever-changing and bustling crowd, with a bold and +unhesitating click, the simple fact it knew; and that there might be no +mistake, it registered what it told in palpable signs transmitted +through the features of its own stolid face. Mr Dent's great clock was +by no means the least distinguished object in the collection of the +world's notabilities. + +But there was one thing which nearly concerned that industrious and +trusty monitor that he surely could not have known, or his quiet +countenance would have shewn traces of perturbation. He was doing +Exhibition work, but he was not keeping Exhibition time. The wonderful +building in which he had taken up his temporary residence was, in fact, +of too cosmopolitan a nature to have a time of its own. Its entire +length measured off very nearly 1-42,000th part of the circle of +terrestrial latitude along which it stretched. The meridian of the +Liverpool Model was close upon thirty seconds of space farther west than +the meridian of the Greek Slave. Imagine the surface of Hyde Park to +have been marked off, before Messrs Fox and Henderson's workmen +commenced their labours, by lines running north and south at the equal +distance of a second of a degree from each other, just as one sees the +surface of large maps traced by meridians, nearly thirty of those lines +would then have been covered in by the east and west span of the crystal +roof. Mr Dent's clock might have been set to the precise time of the +Greek Slave, and it would yet have been nearly two seconds wrong by the +time of the Liverpool Model. The pendulum swinging so steadily within +its case had a longer and more stately stride than most of its +congeners. It took a second and a half of time to complete its step from +side to side. But notwithstanding this, if a string had been suddenly +stretched across in space above the east end of the building, and left +there in free suspension, independent of all connection with the +terrestrial surface, it would have taken longer for the huge structure +to be trailed beneath it by the earth's rotation--swift as that rotation +is--than it did for the sober and leisurely mass of metal to finish its +beat from side to side. + +Our immediate business, however, at this present time is not with the +geographical relations of Mr Paxton's building, but rather with that +sober and leisurely-moving mass--the pendulum. Even in the seventeenth +century, old Graunt was shocked when some irreverent babbler spoke of +one of its honourable race by the rude epithet of 'a swing-swang;' and +he penned an indignant protest on the subject to the Royal Society. +Since that time the pendulum has done much more to merit the reverence +of the world. Plain and simple as its outward bearing is, it really +holds a high and dignified position in the annals of science. + +Instead, however, of touching upon its pedigree and achievements, we +proceed at once to speak of certain interesting peculiarities that enter +as an element into all considerations in which it has concern. In the +first place, what is that characteristic motion which it so constantly +assumes--that restless swinging from side to side? Is it a property +inherent in its own nature, or is it a power communicated to it from +without? There is a train of wheelwork enclosed with it in the case. Is +that the source of its vibratile mobility? Assuredly not. For if we +arrest its motion with our hand at the instant that its form hangs +perpendicularly suspended, that motion is not renewed although the +wheels remain in unaltered relation. Those mechanical contrivances +clearly do not comprise the secret of its swinging. We must look +elsewhere if we would ascertain the fundamental cause. + +Has the reader ever looked at the plain white building, with successive +rows of little windows, which so often spans the breadth of our smaller +streams? If he has, the thought has at once arisen that within those +walls huge wheels and heavy-revolving stones remorselessly tear and +crush to powder heaps upon heaps of yellow grain, with a power that is +equal to the combined effort of a whole troop of horses concentred in +the task. But we question very much whether he has as clearly seen +whence those clattering wheels derive their many horse-power! If we were +to ask him to tell us how they acquired their rolling strength, he would +most probably answer--from the current of the stream. This reply would +amount to nothing in the matter of explanation; the force of the current +is as much a borrowed attribute as the force of the wheelwork. The +running water is no more an independent and living agent than is the +machinery which it turns. Beyond both is the one grand determining +influence--the attractive energy inherent in the substance of the vast +earth. This it is which makes the water run; this it is which enables +the running water to move the wheelwork inserted into its channel. As +the magnet draws to itself the fragment of steel, the earth draws to +itself all ponderable matter; and whenever ponderable matter is free to +move, it rushes as far as it can go towards the centre of the earth's +substance, in obedience to the summons. Mobile water runs down from a +higher to a lower level because the latter is nearer to the earth's +centre than the former, and as it falls it pushes before it such minor +obstructions as are unable to resist the influence of its weight. The +float-boards of the mill-wheel are of this nature; they are striving to +uphold the water by means of the rubbing and friction of the apparatus +that is mechanically connected with the axle. But the resistance of the +friction is less than the strength with which the earth tugs at the +water, and therefore the wheel goes round and the water rushes down. The +force which really grinds the hard corn into flour it terrestrial +attraction! Gravitation of material substance towards material +substance, acting with an energy proportioned to the relative masses +and to the relative distances of the elements concerned. + +Let us now suppose that the matter drawn towards the earth is not free +to move. Let us fancy, for instance, a drop of the running water all at +once stopped in its downward path by the attachment of a string from +above. The earth would then tug at that string in its effort to get the +drop of water, and would consequently stretch it to a certain extent. +The power that was before expended in causing the drop to move, would be +now employed in striving to tear asunder the substance of the string. A +heavy body hanging by a cord from a fixed point is then in this +predicament. It is drawn towards the earth, but is prevented from moving +to it. It consequently finds a position of rest in which it is placed as +near to the source of attraction as the suspending string allows; that +is, it hangs perpendicularly and immovably beneath it, stretching the +string by its tendency toward the ground. + +If, however, the suspended body be raised up from its position of forced +repose by any interference that draws it to one side, the string being +still kept on the stretch, it will be observed that it has been made to +move in a curved line away from the earth's attracting mass, and that +the pull of the attraction is then to a certain extent taken off from +the string and transferred to the supporting hand; the force of the +attraction consequently becomes then sensible as the weight of the body +that is upheld. If in this state of affairs the supporting hand is taken +away, the body at once rushes down sideways to the position it before +occupied, with a pace accelerating considerably as it goes; for the +earth continues to attract it during each instant of its descent. When +it has reached the second stage of its journey, it is moving with a +velocity that is caused by the addition of the attraction exercised in +that stage to the attraction that had been exercised in the first stage; +and so of the third, fourth, and other successive stages. It must go +quicker and quicker until it comes to the place which was before its +position of absolute repose. + +But when it has at last arrived at this place, it cannot rest there, for +during its increasingly-rapid journey downwards, it has been +perseveringly acquiring a new force of its own--an onward impulse that +proves to be sufficient to carry it forward and upward in spite of the +earth's pressing solicitation to it to stay. Moving bodies can no more +stop of their own accord than resting bodies can move of their own +accord. Both require that some extraneous force shall be exerted upon +them before the condition in which they are can be changed. + +Now, in the case of the vibrating pendulum, it is the downward pull of +the earth's attraction that first causes the stationary body to move, +and as this commencing motion is downwards, in the direction of the +pull, it is also an accelerating one. As soon, however, as this motion +is changed by the resistance of the string into an upward one, it +becomes a retarded one from the same cause. The body is now going +upwards, away from the earth, and the earth's attraction therefore drags +upon it and keeps it back instead of hastening it. As it travels up in +its curved path, more and more of its weight is taken off the string, +and thrown, so to speak, upon the moving impulse. In the descending +portion of the vibration the weight of the body increases its movement; +in the ascending portion it diminishes its movement. At last the upward +movement becomes so slow, that the impulse of momentum is lost, and the +earth's attraction is again unopposed. The body then begins to +retrograde, acquires progressively increasing velocity as it descends, +overshoots the place of its original repose, and once more commences the +ascent on the opposite side. + +Whenever, then, a heavy body suspended by a flexible string is drawn to +one side, and dropped from the hand, a vibrating pendulum is made, +because weight and acquired impulse influence it alternately with a sort +of see-saw action, the power of the one diminishing as the power of the +other augments. Weight pulls down--confers velocity and impulse during +the pulling--and then velocity carries up. As velocity carries up, +weight diminishes its impulse, and at last arrests it, and then begins +to pull down again. In the middle of the vibration velocity is at its +greatest, and weight at its least, as regards their influence on the +motion. At the extremes of the vibration velocity is at its least, and +weight at its greatest. Now here it is the earth's attraction clearly +that confers the impulse of the downward movement, just as much as it is +the earth's attraction that causes the downward movement of running +water. Therefore the power which makes the pendulum swing is the same +with the power which grinds the corn in the water-mill--the attraction +of the earth's vast mass for the mass of a smaller body placed near to +its surface under certain peculiar conditions of position. + +But there is a very startling reflection connected with this +consideration. How strange it is that the vast 'substantial fabric' of +the earth should, after all, present itself as one grand source of +motion in terrestrial things! Gravitation, weight, the majestic +influence that holds the stable pyramid upon its base through centuries +of time, condescending to turn the restless wheels of man's machinery! +When the expansive burst of the vapour confined within the cylinder of +the condensing steam-engine thrusts upwards the piston-rod with its +mighty beams, it is simple weight--the weight of the superincumbent +transparent atmosphere--that crushes the metal back with antagonistic +force. When particles of water have been sublimated into the air by the +heating power of the solar rays, it is simple weight--the weight of +their own aqueous substance--that brings them down again, and that +causes their falling currents to turn the countless mill-wheels +implanted in the direction of their descent. When isolated tracts of the +atmosphere have been rendered rare and light under the concentrated +warmth of the sun, it is simple weight--the weight of colder and heavier +portions of the air--that makes winds rush into the spots where the +deficient downward pressure is, and that causes the sails of innumerable +windmills to whirl before the impulse of the breeze. + +In the steam-engine we see the earth's gravitation and artificial heat +combining to effect sundry useful purposes, requiring enormous +expenditure of effort. In windmills and watermills we see the earth's +gravitation and natural or solar heat working together to perform like +service. In the pendulum, the earth's gravitation acting alone as an +enumerator of passing moments; for the momentum conferred by motion is +after all but a secondary result, an offspring of the earth's +attraction. In the steady oscillations of this little instrument no less +a power is concerned than that grand elementary force of nature, that is +able to uphold the orbitual movements of massive worlds. In the one +case, the majestic presence is revealed in its Atlantean task of +establishing the firm foundations of the universe; in the other, in its +Saturnian occupation of marking the lapse of time. In the planetary +movements, material attraction bends onward impulse round into a +circling curve; in the pendulum oscillations, material attraction +alternately causes and destroys onward impulse. In the former it acts by +a steady sweep; in the latter by recurring broken starts. The reason of +the difference is simply this: the planetary bodies are free to go as +the two powers, attraction and impulse, urge them. The weight of the +pendulum is prevented from doing so by the restraining power of the +string or rod, that holds it bound by a certain invariable interval to a +point of suspension placed farther than the weight from the source of +attraction. A pendulum, in all its main features, is a terrestrial +satellite in bonds--unable to fall to the surface of the earth, and +unable to get away and circle round it, yet influenced by a resistless +tendency to do both. Its vibrations are its useless struggles to free +itself from the constraint of its double chains. + + + + +THE COUNTRY COUSIN. + + +The village of Westbourne was what Americans would call a stylish place, +though situated deep in the heart of Derbyshire. Most of its houses had +green palings and flowers in front; there was a circulating library, a +milliner's shop, and a ladies' boarding-school, within its bounds; and +from each extremity of its larger and smaller street--for Westbourne had +only two--outlying cottages of various names dotted the surrounding +fields. The largest of these, and decidedly the handsomest, belonged, as +the door-plate set forth, to Mr Harry Phipps Bunting. It had been called +Bunting Cottage, ever since the late possessor--after having made what +his neighbours esteemed a fortune, by himself keeping the circulating +library, and his spouse the boarding-school--built it by way of +consolation for the second year of his widowhood, and retired there from +business to hold high gentility in his latter days with his only +daughter and heiress, Miss Jenny. At least half of Westbourne believed +that in the said arrangements Mr Bunting had his eye on a second and +somewhat superior match: in short, those good people averred that the +handsome cottage was neither more nor less than a substantial snare for +Mrs Phipps, the widow of a captain and second-cousin of a baronet, who, +with a small annuity and an only son, lived in the odour of great rank +and fashion in a neat brick-house at the other end of the village. + +But if Mr Bunting had indeed indulged in speculations on the widow's +heart, they were cut short by a sudden summons to take the journey on +which his early partner had preceded him; and Miss Jenny was left the +undisputed heiress of all his gains and gatherings, now amounting to a +comfortable sum in a London bank, besides the newly-built cottage. None +of the village remembered the time when Miss Jenny was young--not but +that there were older ladies in the community, and few who wore their +years so well--but a matronly staidnees and industry, a solidity of +manner and appearance, had grown so early on the lady, that she had no +youth, and scarcely any childhood, in the recollection of her +neighbours, and she was now on the shady side of thirty. + +Miss Jenny might have had suitors, had her encouragement been more +liberal: where is the maiden of fortune who might not? But she had no +admirers, though there was not a more popular woman in Westbourne. Time +out of mind she was known to have a good advice and a helping-hand for +all who required either. The help was always kindly given, and the +advice generally judicious: indeed, if Miss Jenny had a weakness, it was +the love of direction and counsel-giving; and by that breach the strong +citadel of her heart was won. There was no house in Westbourne that gave +her abilities half such scope as that of Mrs Captain Phipps--so the lady +continued to style herself. Miss Jenny's father had advised there till +he departed; after which event, the widow and her son confided in his +heiress. Master Harry Phipps was not what would be called a successful +young man. He was not either wild or remarkably stupid, as the world +goes; his mother knew him to be a dear domestic fellow, who would play +the flute or dominos for weeks of evenings in her back-parlour. He had +taken one prize at college and sundry at school; had the reputation of +being almost a beau, and, at least in Westbourne society, half a wit; +and was a tall, fair-faced, lathy young man, dressing well, and looking +rather genteel, in spite of an overgrown boyishness which hung about him +and kept the Master fastened to his name, though he had left twenty-five +behind him. Master Harry had made attempts on law, physic, and divinity, +without completing the studies requisite for any of those learned +professions; somehow he had always got disgusted when just half-way, and +at the time of our tale, had a serious notion of civil engineering. The +fates, nevertheless, chalked out another line for Master Harry Phipps. +How it first came about the keenest-eared gossips in Westbourne never +knew, but the widow's son was observed to become a frequent visitor at +the cottage as the days of Miss Jenny's mourning for her father expired. +In these expeditions he was occasionally supported by Mrs Captain +Phipps, who at length told her confidential friends, and they informed +the village, that her son was about to marry, and take the name of +Bunting. Some said that Miss Jenny insisted on the latter step as a +badge of her perpetual sovereignty; some that it was a provision in her +father's will, the old gentleman having been heard to hope that none but +Buntings would ever inhabit the cottage; but while they disputed that +point the wedding came off with a liberal distribution of cards, cake, +and gloves, a breakfast, at which Mrs Captain Phipps presided, and an +excursion of three weeks to the Lakes; after which, Mr and Mrs Phipps +Bunting, having got a new door-plate, and an additional crest on the +spoons, settled down comfortably at home, where our story found them. + +There they were duly visited and made due returns, even to their +uttermost acquaintance. Evening parties wore got up for their benefit, +as Westbourne gentility dictated. A few responses were given at the +cottage, and people learned to call them the Buntings. When these +occurrences and the talk concerning them were fairly over, it was +surprising how little things had altered. Mrs Phipps Bunting +superintended everything, from the napery in the drawers to the +bee-hives in the garden, with so much of her old and independent +activity, that people caught themselves occasionally calling her Miss +Jenny. As for her lord, he was Master Harry still. Matrimony made no +change in him. On Sundays he dressed himself and went to church with Mrs +Phipps Bunting. On week-days, he said he studied, paid little visits, +took small excursions, and came home to dinner. Even bachelors agreed +that he lived under the mildest form of gynecocracy. Mrs Captain Phipps +gave him good advices at the one end of the village, Mrs Phipps Bunting +kept him all right at the other; and between them an indescribable +amount of nobodyism grew and gathered around him. + +Mr Phipps Bunting--as the best bred of his neighbours now endeavoured to +call him--was doubtless not less contented than most men in the married +state. Miss Jenny--that was--made a noble housekeeper, that was natural +to her; she was not given to storms nor temper, nor fault-finding, nor +what is called gaiety: they had kind country neighbours; and Mrs Phipps +Bunting sometimes spoke of her mother's relatives, who were known to be +fine people in London. + +There was no appearance of change when the second of their wedded years +commenced; but one December morning an extraordinary event occurred at +the cottage, for Harry received a letter. It came from Charles Lacy, an +old college-friend, whose achievements in the fast line had furnished +him with many a joke and tale. He had been till lately a briefless +barrister, but had just fallen heir to a neat property in an adjoining +county, bequeathed him by a distant relative, his advent to which he +intended celebrating with a notable bachelors' party, and Harry's +presence was requested, together with that of many a college comrade. + +'I think I'll go,' said Harry, in a hesitating tone, as the note was +read at the breakfast-table. + +'Of course you will, dear,' said Mrs Bunting. 'And now that I think of +it; something must be done with that parlour chimney, it smokes so. Just +send up the mason on your way to the coach.' + +The vehicle thus mentioned was an old stager which passed through +Westbourne daily, carrying passengers to sundry of the unrailwayed towns +on its track; and within two hours from the receipt of the invitation Mr +Phipps Bunting, well wrapped up, and better warned against taking cold, +with his best things in a carpet bag and his lady's commands delivered +to the mason, took possession of an inside seat on his way to Charles +Lacy's domicile. + +How the bachelors' party proceeded in that locality, and how the +failings of the parlour chimney were corrected at the cottage, +imaginative readers may suppose; but on the third day after Harry's +departure there arrived a note, stating that his host had invited him to +remain a fortnight that they were to have shooting in the fine frosty +weather he thought he might stay. Mrs. Phipps Bunting sent her +approbation by return of post. There was a colony of rats to be +expatriated, a clearing out of the coal cellar to be achieved, and a +bottling of cider to get forward, under which considerations she +concluded he was better out of the way; but all these things were +accomplished, and more than the specified time elapsed, when another +note came to say that Lacy positively would not let Harry home without +seeing his uncle, the great barrister, who lived in the nearest assize +town; and the legal protector of Miss Jenny 'thought he might go on that +visit.' + +There was a graver and more lengthy reply to that communication; but the +fates forbade that Harry should read Mrs Bunting's in time. Charles +Lacy's housekeeper had a standing-order to put all letters into a huge +card-bracket, which that young gentleman affirmed had been presented to +him by an heiress of L.20,000 in her own right; and Mrs Bunting's +epistle was placed in the receptacle--for before its arrival Harry had, +like an undutiful husband, started with Charles for the house of his +uncle. The old barrister, though not one of the brightest, was among the +successful of his profession, and kept a hospitable, easy-going house, +with a maiden sister and two dashing nephews, in a comfortable English +country town, at one end of which was a railway station for the coming +and going of London trains. Our Harry had been always an agreeable, +commodious fellow. There were no angles on his temper to come in contact +with those of other people: rich uncle, maiden aunt, and sporting +nephews, all joined in requesting his stay from week to week; while +three successive notes were in turn committed to the card-bracket on +Charles Lacy's mantelpiece. + +'Harry, my boy,' said that gay gentleman, as they stood looking at a +passing train, 'what do you say to a run for London? I have another +uncle there--a first-rate solicitor in the firm of Grindley, Blackmore, +& Co. Ours is a legal family. Grindley and the old hen would be glad to +see us; and I'll introduce you to the Blackmores, a delightful mother +and four daughters; all charming girls with three thousand a piece. I +wish you could only hear Clementina Blackmore sing _Will you still be +true to me?_ Harry, if ever I am so left to myself as to think of +marrying, that's the girl!' + +Let us now suppose that a quantity of additional pressing took +place--that the nephews offered to go along as Christmas was +coming--that Harry sent home another note to say 'he thought he might +go'--and that long before it reached the cottage, he was installed at +the house of Mr Grindley in London, who, as his nephew promised, divided +a capital legal business with his partner Mr Blackmore. + +The proverb which says, 'Out of sight out of mind,' was by this time in +course of being fulfilled as regarded the good woman at the cottage. In +the revival of old associations his college-friend partially forgot that +Harry was a family man, and the easy gentleman himself never thought of +intruding the circumstance on people's notice. To do him justice, he had +a remarkably single look; all his acquaintances called him Harry Phipps. +It was therefore no marvel that the unsuspecting household of Blackmore +received him as a bachelor. + +The papa of it was a hard-witted, busy lawyer; the mamma an excessively +fine lady; and the four daughters pretty, accomplished, +fashionable-looking girls, from twenty-two--their mamma said +seventeen--upwards, who judiciously came out in different lines; for +Miss Blackmore was metaphysical, Miss Caroline sentimental, Miss Maria +fast, and Miss Clementina musical. Between the last mentioned and +Charles Lacy a strong and not discouraged flirtation was in progress, +which afforded Harry better than ordinary opportunities for cultivating +that domestic circle. It was not every day he would have such a house to +call at, and Harry did his best to be popular. He hunted up high-life +gossip for Mrs Blackmore; he admired the solicitor's law-stories after +dinner; he was the humble servant of all the young ladies in turn, but +his chief devoirs were paid to the fast Maria. The reason was that the +fast Maria would have it so. She thought him, it is true--as she said +once to a confidential friend--a sort of goosey-goosey-gander, but he +polked capitally, was a personable fellow--and Maria was a spinster. +Christmas was coming, and Harry stood high in favour with all the +Blackmores. The senior miss found out that he had a philosophic mind; +Miss Caroline said she knew there was a little romance about him--he had +been disappointed in first-love or something; and Charles Lacy had an +intuitive suspicion that the old people would soon begin to inquire +regarding his income and prospects. The idea was excessively amusing, +but yet somewhat alarming. He thought Harry was carrying it on too +far--he was. Hadn't he better give Clementina a hint? But then +Clementina would think he ought to have done so long ago. Charles was +puzzled, and he did not like to be puzzled. He would have nothing more +to do with it. He would wash his hands of it. How was he obliged to know +that they were not aware of Harry's being tied up? The whole thing was +really uncomfortable, and he did not like anything that was +uncomfortable. He would take Harry to task for his enormity, and then +think no more about it. Meditating thus, he entered Mrs Blackmore's +drawing-room one forenoon early enough to find mamma and the young +ladies hard at Berlin wool--they were finishing Christmas presents--all +but Maria, for whose amusement Harry was turning over a volume of +sporting prints at a little table by themselves. + +'We are all industrious to-day,' said Mrs Blackmore, 'on account of our +country cousin--a dear odd creature. She has sent us hampers and baskets +full of everything nice, for I don't know how long. The girls can +scarcely remember when she was here last, and it would be such a comfort +to her to have some of their work. Do, Maria, try and finish that +purse.' + +Charles and Harry had heard of that 'dear odd country cousin' ever since +they first entered the house. The turkeys and chickens she sent had been +described in their hearing till they thought they had eaten them. From +the conversation of her relatives Harry concluded her to be a spinster +or widow of an uninteresting age. However, the threatened arrival +created a new employment for him in the shape of holding purse-silk for +Miss Maria to wind; and owing perhaps to the quietness of this +employment--perhaps to its occupying so long a time--the awkwardness of +his position began to stare him in the face. He began to think he was a +bad fellow--although it was all Charles's fault. He did not know that +Miss Maria thought him a goosey-goosey-gander, but he began at last to +hate her all the same--we are so liable to hate those we are conscious +of injuring! He became in truth afraid of her--she haunted him. He knew +he ought to do something, but he did not know what to do. He had all his +life acted under advice, and he now felt as if he had broken from his +moorings, and was on the wide, wide sea, drifting at the mercy of this +calamity. + +At the moment we have arrived at, things had come to an alarming climax. +In reply to his bewildered look Charles had turned away with +severity--washing his hands of it--to join Miss Clementina in the +corner; and the rest of the family, who seemed suddenly to find +themselves _de trop_, scattered away to other parts of the room. Now +Miss Maria was a fast girl, and Harry knew it. She looked wicked, as if +determined upon a _coup d'etat_; and he began to perspire all over. The +skein fared badly. At this moment some slight diversion was made in his +favour by a servant appearing with a message regarding somebody in the +back-parlour; whereupon Mrs Blackmore went hastily down stairs; and +Harry's eyes followed her wistfully: he thought he should like to get +out. + +'Oh, girls,' said Caroline, returning in a few minutes, 'it is poor +cozy, and mamma is bringing her up for us all to comfort her. She has +lost I don't know how much money by the failure of that horrid Skinner's +bank; and what's worse, she can't find her husband.' + +'He ought to be sent home wherever he is,' replied Maria; 'I'm sure she +was just too good to him. Oh, Mr Harry Phipps, what a sad set you men +are! I declare you are ravelling again.' + +Harry, colouring to the roots of the hair, bent forward to plead some +unintelligible excuse; the fast Maria took hold of his finger as if she +was cross; and at that instant another finger was pressed upon his +shoulder, and looking up, he gazed into the eyes of his wife! + +For some seconds Harry and his spouse looked at each other as if unable +to believe their eyes; but the lady's good sense at last prevailed, and +gulping down something which would have come out with most women, she +gently shook her husband's hand, now liberated from the purse-silk, with +'Harry, love, I am so glad to find you here. I was really afraid that +worse had happened than the failure of Skinner & Co.' + +Harry replied in rather an indistinct tone, though Charles Lacy ever +after vowed he did wonderfully, considering the looks of Mrs Blackmore +and her daughters. As for Maria she retired from silk and all, without a +word about deceivers, which was also remarkable. Sense in the person of +Mrs Bunting for once appeared contagious. The Blackmores, one and all, +tacitly agreed that there had been no mistake whatever in the family, +beyond the droll particular of their not recognising in a gentleman +introduced to them as Mr Harry Phipps the husband of a lady whom they +had been accustomed to address as Mrs Bunting. By the failure of Skinner +& Co. poor Mrs Bunting had lost everything but the cottage and furniture +at Westbourne; a fact which she learned only on her arrival in London to +pay a long-projected visit to her mother's relatives, the Blackmores. + +The Buntings in due time went home. We have reason to believe that there +was never even a curtain-lecture delivered on the subject of the +purse-silk. When we last visited Westbourne, Mrs Phipps Bunting was as +active, as good-natured, and as popular as ever; but people had +forgotten to say Master Harry, for Henry Phipps Bunting, Esquire, had +been appointed Her Majesty's stamp-distributer for the district. He was +also invested with a couple of agencies for certain absent proprietors; +but he never again 'thought he might go' on sporting-excursions; and no +family could have imagined him to be a bachelor, for ever since he set +fairly to work, a more married-like man we never saw. + + + + +THE DROLLERIES OF FALSE POLITICAL ECONOMY. + +WINES AND OTHER LIQUORS. + + +The portion devoted to the subject of intoxicating liquors would make a +curious chapter in the history of legislation in almost every European +country. Here there is a double cause of disturbance, since besides +notions about the balance of trade and the like, many well-meaning, +though not always judicious, attempts have been made to render such +legislation conducive to sobriety and morality. Thus among the Irish +statutes one stumbles on an act of Queen Elizabeth's reign 'Against +making of Aqua Vitĉ.' It is justly described as 'a drink nothing +profitable to be daily drunken and used,' 'and thereby much corn, grain, +and other things are consumed, spent, and wasted to the great +hinderance, loss, and damages of the poor inhabitants of this +realm'--for which reason are passed provisions, not to modify but +entirely to suppress it--with what effect we may easily know. But our +object at present is not with legislation for the suppression of +drunkenness, which always deserves favourable consideration, but with +the commercial regulations affecting liquors, and the strange notions of +political economy involved in them. The subject is so ample that we are +obliged to restrict our illustrations almost entirely to one small +country--Scotland. + +It will rather surprise the reader perhaps to find that, for the +promotion of their economic ends, the laws seem to have been directed +more to the encouragement than the suppression of drinking. The earliest +interference with commerce in liquors appearing among the Scottish acts +of parliament is very imperious and comprehensive, but not very +explicable in its objects. Statutes at that time were short, and it will +cost the reader little trouble to peruse that which was passed in the +year 1436, and the reign of James I., 'anent Flemish wines.' 'It is +statute and ordained that no man buy at Flemings of the Dane in +Scotland, any kind of wine, under the pain of escheat (or forfeiture) +thereof.' Doubtless parliament believed that it had reasons for this +enactment, but it would not be easy to find out at the present day what +they were. In 1503 a more minute act was passed referrible to ale and +other provisions. It appoints magistrates of towns 'that they set and +ordain a certain price, goodness, and fineness, upon bread, ale, and all +other necessary things that is wrought and daily bought and used by the +king's lieges. And that they make certain purviews and examinations to +wait daily upon the keeping thereof. And when any workman be's noted +taking an exorbitant price for his stuff, above the price, and over far +disproportionate of the stuff he buys, that he be punished by the said +barons, provosts, and bailies, &c.' A little later, in 1540, an act was +passed 'touching the exorbitant prices of wine, salt, and timmer.' The +provisions that follow are somewhat curious, and rank among the most +barefaced instances of a class legislating, not only for its own +interest, but its own enjoyment. In the first place, the provosts and +bailies--supposed to be always excellent judges of good cheer--are to +fix a low and reasonable price at which the wines and other commodities +are obtainable. When this is fixed, it is appointed that 'na man is to +buy till the king's grace be first served. And His Grace and officers +being content for so meikle (much) as will please them to take to our +sovereign's use entirely, that noblemen of the realm, such as prelates, +barons, and other gentlemen of the same, be served at the same prices; +and thereafter all and sundry our sovereign lord's lieges be served at +the same prices.' Evidently it was cunningly foreseen that but little +wine would be imported at a compulsory and necessarily an unremunerating +price. Of such as did come, and was thus sold cheap, the 'prelates, +barons, and other gentlemen' who sat in parliament, sagaciously provided +that they should have the preemption; and it is pretty clear that the +'all and sundry' who were to come after them would have little chance of +obtaining any of the cheap wine. + +Fifteen years afterwards, during the regency of Mary of Lorraine, it was +found that the act just cited was not sufficiently stringent, and that +some sterner provision must be made to enable the aristocracy to get +cheap wine. An act was passed referring to the previous one, and stating +that 'nevertheless the noblemen--such as prelates, earls, lords, barons, +and other gentlemen--are not served according to the said act, but are +constrained to buy the same from merchants at greater prices, contrary +to the tenor of the said acts.' Hence it is declared that whenever wines +have arrived in any town, and the prices have been fixed, the +magistrates 'shall incontinent pass to the market-cross of that burgh, +and there, by open proclamation, declare none of the goods foresaid as +they are made, and that none of the goods foresaid be disposed of for +the space of four days.' Thus were measures taken to let the privileged +persons have the benefit of their preemption. + +That these acts, and the proclamations for enforcing them, were not a +dead letter is shewn by the criminal records. On the 8th of March 1550, +Robert Hathwy, John Sym, and James Lourie, burgesses of Edinburgh, +confess their guilt in transgressing a regulation against purchasing +Bordeaux wines dearer than L.22, 10s. (Scots of course) per tun, and +Rochelle wines dearer than L.18 per tun. On the 4th of May 1555, George +Hume and thirteen other citizens of Leith were arraigned for retailing +wines above the proclaimed price--which for Bordeaux and Anjou wine was +10d. per pint; and for Rochelle, Sherry, and something called +Cunezeoch--which may for all we know to the contrary mean Cognac--8d. +per pint. + +In Ireland the privilege of having their wine cheaper than other people +was given to the aristocracy with almost more flagrant audacity. By the +Irish statute of the 28th Elizabeth, chap. 4, imposing customs-duties on +wines, the lord-lieutenant is not only authorised to take for his own +consumption twenty tuns, duty free, annually, but he is at the same time +declared to have 'full power to grant, limit, and appoint, unto every +peer of this realm, and to every of the Privy-Council in the same, and +the queen's learned counsel for the time being, at his or their +discretion from time to time, such portion and quantity of wines, to be +free and discharged of and from the said customs and subsidy, as he +shall think to be mete and competent for every of them, after their +degrees and callings to have.' + +To return to Scotland. In the ensuing century we find the legislature +resorting to the homely liquor of the working-classes. On the 23d +December 1669, an act was passed which begins in the following +considerate and paternal fashion:-- + +'Our sovereign lord, considering that it is most agreeable to reason and +equity, and of universal concernment to all his majesty's subjects, and +especially to those of the meaner sort, that a due proportion be +observed betwixt the price of the boll of beer and the pint and other +measures of ale and drinking-beer rented and sold within this kingdom, +that thereby the liberty taken by brewers and vintners, to exact +exorbitant prices for ale and drinking-beer at their pleasure, may be +restrained. Therefore his majesty, with advice and consent of his +estates of parliament, doth recommend to and authorise the lords of his +majesty's Privy-Council from time to time, after consideration had of +the ordinary rates of rough beer and barley for the time, to regulate +and set down the prices of ale and drinking-beer rented and sold in the +several shires and burghs of the kingdom, as they shall think just and +reasonable.' The council were authorised to make their regulations by +acts and orders, 'and to inflict such censures, pains, and penalties +upon the contraveners of these acts and orders as they shall think fit; +and to do all other things requisite for the execution of the same.' + +When the Scottish Privy-Council ceased to exist by the union with +England, there was some difficulty in knowing how this act should be +applied. The Court of Session, looking upon the supply of ale as vital +to the country, took on itself to protect the public, just as a +passenger sometimes undertakes the management of a vessel which has lost +its proper commander. On the occasion of the malt-duty being extended to +Scotland in 1725, they thought a juncture had come when it was +absolutely necessary to interfere, as there was no saying how far the +brewers, let loose from the old regulations of the Privy-Council, might +abuse the public by charging an extravagant price or selling a bad +article. The Court of Session is the supreme civil tribunal in Scotland. +Its rules of court for the regulation of judicial proceedings are called +'acts of sederunt.' On this occasion it passed 'an act for preventing +the sale of bad ale.' The object was an excellent one, but we are apt at +the present day to consider that brewers under the influence of +competition can best save the public from bad ale, and that judges are +better employed when they direct their attention to the protection of +the public from bad law. They enacted that the brewers should sell by +wholesale at a merk Scots per gallon, and that dealers should sell by +retail at 2d. per pint. They professed to make this regulation from +'taking into consideration the frequent abuses in vending and retailing +bad twopenny ale; and that from the present duties and burdens wherewith +the brewers of ale in and about the city of Edinburgh are charged, +occasion may be taken by ill-designing persons to impose on the lieges +and undersell fair dealers, unless the prices for brewers and retailers +be certain and fixed.' + +The brewers threatened to give up their business, and the court found it +necessary to take farther measures. Another act of sederunt was passed. +It is best, we think, where their contents are so curious, to quote the +documents themselves, however stiff or formal they may seem, and the +commencement of the act follows: + +'Whereas, in the information and memorial this day offered by his +majesty's advocate to the Lords of Council and Session, it is +represented that the brewers within the city of Edinburgh and liberties +thereof, and others who have the privilege of furnishing the said city +with ale, have entered into a resolution and confederacy that they will +at once give over brewing when the duties on malt granted to his majesty +by act of parliament are attempted to be recovered; that this resolution +and confederacy must bring much distress on the good people of the said +city through want of ale, and likewise by want of bread, the preparing +whereof depends upon yeast or barm, and must produce tumults and +confusions, to the overthrow of all good government, and to the great +loss and hurt of the most innocent of his majesty's subjects, and is +most dangerous and highly criminal.' + +Thus, it being clearly shewn that the refusal of brewers to brew ale at +the price fixed by the judges of the Court of Session must produce +something like a French revolution, and be followed by general anarchy, +the court next proceeds to declare--not in the best of +composition--'that it is illegal and inconsistent with the public +welfare for common brewers, or others whose employment is to provide +necessary sustenance for the people, all at once to quit and forbear the +exercise of their occupation, when they are in the sole possession of +the materials, houses, and instruments for to carry on the trade, so +that the people may be deprived of, or much straitened in their meat or +drink; and that so to do in defiance and contempt of the laws is highly +criminal and severely punishable. And therefore the said Lords of +Council and Session, to prevent the mischiefs threatened to the city and +limits aforesaid, do hereby require and ordain all and every brewer and +brewers within the city of Edinburgh and liberties thereof, and others +who have the privilege of furnishing the said city with ale, to continue +and carry on their trade of brewing for the service of the lieges.' + +It is astonishing to find that the brewers gave way. Scotland was at +that time much under government and aristocratic influence; and very +likely the poor men felt that it would be better to lose a little money +than to fight a battle with the Court of Session, especially as the Lord +Advocate threatened to indict them for a conspiracy. That they continued +permanently to accept of the profits--or rather, perhaps, losses--fixed +by the Court of Session no one will believe. They would in due time +manage to get the usual profit of capital and exertion from their +operations, or else would contrive to give up business. + +It is one of the consequences of adopting false and artificial notions +on political economy, that these drive the most conscientious and +virtuous men to the most mischievous and violent extremities. Where +things should be left to themselves they believe interference to be +right, and so believing, they think it necessary to carry out their +views at whatever cost. A remarkable instance of this was shewn by the +virtuous and high-minded Duncan Forbes of Culloden. He thought the +introduction of foreign commodities ruinous to the country. He +considered that whatever was paid for them was so much lost to his +fellow-countrymen. On this principle he waged a determined war against a +foreign commodity coming into vogue in his latter days, using all his +endeavours to suppress its use, and substitute for it a commodity of +home-produce. Will the reader, in the days of temperance societies, +believe that the commodity which he desired to suppress was _tea_, and +that which he wished to encourage was _beer_? Here are his own words in +a letter to a statesman of the time: 'The cause of the mischief we +complain of is evidently the excessive use of _tea_, which is now become +so common that the meanest families even of labouring people, +particularly in burghs, make their morning's meal of it, and thereby +wholly disuse the ale which heretofore was their accustomed drink; and +the same drug supplies all the labouring women with their afternoon's +entertainment, even to the exclusion of the twopenny.' After so +formidable a picture, it is not unnatural to find him thus crying out +against the influence of Dutch enterprise, which was then spreading the +drink which cheers but not inebriates throughout Europe: 'They run their +low-priced tea into Scotland, and sold it very cheap--a pound went from +half a crown to three or four shillings. The goodwife was fond of it +because her betters made use of tea; a pound of it would last her a +month, which made her breakfast very cheap, so she made no account of +the sugar which she took up only in ounces. In short, the itch spread; +the refuse of the vilest teas were run into this country from Holland, +sold and bought at the prices I have mentioned; and at present there are +very few cobblers in any of the burghs of this country who do not sit +down gravely with their wives and families to tea.'[Footnote: Culloden +Papers, 191.] What a frightful picture! We may laugh at it, but it +really was frightful to one who sincerely believed that the money paid +for tea was a dead loss to the country, and who did not know that the +tea was paid for by the exportation of home-produce. + + + + +FAMILY LIFE IN A NEGRO TOWN. + + +There is a large mass of mankind occupying an intermediate position +between the savage and the civilised nations of the world. These have no +literature of their own, yet they have received some amount of knowledge +by tradition or communication with other people. They know little or +nothing of science, yet they are skilled in some of the useful arts of +life. They have no regular legislation nor codes of civil law, yet they +have forms of government and unwritten laws to which they steadfastly +adhere, and about which they can plead as eloquently as a Chancery +barrister or an advocate in the Courts of Session. While they cultivate +the ground, keep cattle, and live upon the lawful products of the soil, +they have none of the culinary dainties of life; whilst they plant the +cotton-tree, and weave and dye cloth to make their garments, their +clothing is scant, and devoid of all excellence in the manufacture. As +far removed from the polite European on the one hand, as from the savage +Indian or the rude Hottentot on the other, they may be rightly termed +the semi-barbarous portion of mankind. It is a curious question how they +came to occupy this middle state of civilisation, which they have +retained for so many centuries. We know that the wandering tribes of +Asia, and some of the kingdoms of that continent which partake of the +characteristics now described, in former ages enjoyed seasons of +national splendour and gleams of civilisation, the twilight of which has +not yet passed away; but we know nothing of the history of Central +Africa, a large part of which is composed of semi-barbarous nations. + +We now specially refer to that portion of the African continent which +lies between the Great Desert and the Kong Mountains, with a +continuation toward Lake Tchad--comprising a tract of country about 300 +miles in length and 2000 in breadth. South of this latitude the people +are more barbarous and cruel, and the deserts of the west are inhabited +by tribes more purely negro and ignorant. Moors, Mandingoes, Foolahs, +and Jaloofs, principally dwell in this vast region of West-Central +Africa. All these peoples are more or less European in their form and +countenance; the pure negroes occasionally mixed with them being +probably imported slaves or their descendants. These nations differ from +each other in their languages, and in some of their customs and manners; +but there is a similarity in their mode of living, if we except the +Moors, which makes it as unnecessary as it would be tedious to describe +each of them separately. We wish to make our readers acquainted with the +forms and habits of semi-barbarous life, whatever local name or +geographical appearance it may assume. + +The first and most important feature of observation is the position of +the female sex. This regulates the size of the houses and the towns, the +nature of agriculture, and the whole social economy. In Africa the women +are emphatically the working-class of the community, and hold an +intermediate station between wife and slave, occupying the rank and +employments of both. A wife is usually bought for so many head of cattle +or such a number of slaves, and then becomes the property of her +husband. There is no limit to the number of wives. Even the Mohammedan +negroes do not conform to the Koran in its restriction to the number of +four. One chief boasted that he had eighty wives; and upon the +Englishman answering that his countrymen thought one woman quite enough +to manage, the African flourished a whip, with which he said he kept +them in order. In some countries one of these wives is recognised as +head-wife, and enjoys certain prerogatives appertaining to this place. + +Being desirous of obtaining an insight into the minutiae of African +life, we accepted the invitation of a negro who traded on the Gambia to +pay him a visit, and spend a day in his town, especially as there would +be a dance in the evening. We left our vessel in the morning, and having +rowed for some miles up a tributary stream, landed in an open place. +Here we met the horses which Samba had sent for us, as the town lay at a +considerable distance. They were fine animals, of a small breed, but +very spirited, and apparently only half-trained. Their accoutrements +were in some respects novel; for the saddle was an unwieldy article, +with a high pommel in front, and an elevation behind, so that we were +fairly wedged in the seat, and had many thumps before we learned to sit +correctly in these stocks. We therefore had no wish, as we had little +opportunity, of trying the speed of our beasts, the road lying through a +vast forest. The men who accompanied us were armed with muskets, and +kept a sharp look-out among the bushes, though there was not much fear +of being attacked in this place by wild beasts in the day-time, as it +was a frequented route and had been often visited by the hunter. By and +by we came, to a stream, which was fordable in the dry season. +Senegambia abounds with rivers and creeks; indeed it seems to be one of +the best-watered regions of the earth, and has excellent means of +communication for trade. These waters are full of fish, which form an +important article of food for the people. + +After crossing the river, we saw the place of our destination on a +rising ground surrounded with fields. The town was surrounded with a low +mud-wall and stockade to keep off wild beasts, and as a slight +protection against roving freebooters. Larger towns, especially those +belonging to warrior chiefs, have high mud-walls, sometimes with +loopholes and bastions, and are capable of standing a siege where the +enemy has neither cannon nor battering-rams. The gate was made of planks +shaped with the axe, for the natives have no saws. The appearance of the +place from a distance was very singular, for it consisted of 400 or 500 +huts, all built in the same manner, with conical roofs thatched with +grass. No chimneys, spires, nor windows relieved the monotony of the +scene. Upon entering, we threaded our way through narrow passages, +between high fences, as through the mazes of a labyrinth, where we might +have wandered all day without finding an exit. At last our guides +brought us to a wicket-door, through which we passed, and found +ourselves in Samba's enclosure. He welcomed us with great cordiality, +and led us towards his dwelling through a group of inquisitive women and +children. It was a circular hut, rather larger than the others, and +constructed with a little more care. The wall was composed of large +lumps of clay in square blocks, laid upon each other while still wet; +these speedily dry and harden in the sun, forming a substantial support, +of about four feet high, for the roof. The roof is a conical frame of +bamboo-cane thatched with long grass, having long eaves to protect the +walls from the deluging rains of Africa. The most substantial of these +dwellings are liable to be undermined by wet, if the ground be level, or +to be penetrated by rain, if the roof be not kept in good repair; in +which case the sides can no longer support its weight. For this, reason, +deserted towns soon become heaps of mud ruins, and finally a mound of +clay. + +The interior of Samba's dwelling was as simple as the outside. On one +side was a platform or hurdle of cane, raised about two feet from the +ground upon stakes. This served for a bedstead, and the bedding was +composed of a simple skin or mat. Being rich, Samba had other mats for +himself and his friends to sit upon, and two or three low stools. His +gun, spear, leathern bottle, and other accoutrements, lay in a +convenient place: and we observed a couple of boxes, one of which +contained clothes, and the other a heterogeneous mass of trifling +valuables received from Europeans. Of course such boxes and their +contents are not of frequent occurrence in these lowly dwellings. Near +this hut was another small one which served for a kitchen: it contained +some earthen pots, wooden bowls, and calabashes, with iron pots and neat +baskets as articles of distinction. Here was also the large pestle and +mortar, the use of which will be presently described. + +Samba was dressed in the usual garb of a negro gentleman. He wore large +cotton drawers, which reached half-way down the leg, and a loose smock +with wide sleeves. On his feet were sandals, fastened with leathern +straps over his toes, the legs being bare. His head was covered with a +white cap encircled with a Paisley shawl--which I had formerly given +him--and which was worn in the manner of a turban. Two large _greegrees_ +or amulets--being leathern purses, containing some holy words or sacred +scraps--depended from his neck by silken cords. This costume was +pleasing, and set off his manly form to advantage. One of his wives +immediately presented us with a calabash of sour milk, and some cakes of +rice of pounded nuts and honey. The Africans have in general only two +meals a day; but some, who can afford it, take lunch about two o'clock. +Strict Mohammedans profess not to drink intoxicating liquors; but looser +religionists cannot resist the temptation of rum, of which the pagan +negroes drink to excess. Samba brought out a bottle of this liquor, and +presented it with evident glee, himself doing justice to its contents. + +We then proceeded to view the rest of the premises. Samba had six wives, +each of whom had a separate hut. Their dwellings resembled that of their +lord, but were of smaller size, and the doors were very low, so as to +require considerable stooping to enter. These apertures for admitting +light, air, and human beings, and for letting out the smoke, always look +towards the west, for the easterly wind brings clouds of sand; and if +the tornadoes which blow from the same quarter are allowed an inlet to a +hut, they speedily make an outlet for themselves by whirling the roof +into the air. The women were dressed in their best style on the occasion +of our visit. One cloth, or _pang_, was fastened round their waist, and +hung down to the ankles: another was thrown loosely over the bosom and +shoulders. Their hair was plaited with ribbons, and decorated with +beads, coral, and pieces of gold. Their legs were bare; but they had +neat sandals on their feet. They were loaded with necklaces, bracelets, +armlets, and anklets, composed of coral, amber, and fine glass-beads, +interspersed with beads of gold and silver. These are their wealth and +their pride. Some had little children, whose only covering was strings +of beads round the waist, neck, ankles, and wrists: an elder girl of +about ten years had a small cloth about her loins. We saw no furniture +in their huts except a few bowls and calabashes, a rude distaff for +spinning cotton, and the usual bed-hurdle covered with mats. The ladies +were very garrulous and inquisitive, narrowly inspecting our skin and +dress, and asking many questions about European females. They wondered +how a rich man could do with only one wife, but thought monogamy was a +good thing for the women. These mothers never carry their children in +their arms, but infants are borne in a _pang_ upon the back. + +Another hut served for Samba's store, where he kept his merchandise; +another was occupied by some female slaves, and another by male slaves. +These poor creatures wore only a cloth round their loins, hanging as far +as the knees; the females had each a necklace of common beads given by +their mistresses. At night they lie down upon a mat or skin, and light a +fire in the middle of the hut. This serves both for warmth and to keep +away noxious insects. Their furniture consisted of working +instruments--hoes, calabashes, rush-baskets, and the redoubtable +_paloon_. The last-mentioned instrument is a large wooden mortar made by +the Loubles, a wandering class of Foolahs, one of the most stunted and +ugly of African races, and quite different from the pastoral and warrior +tribes. These roving gipsies work in wood, and may be called the coopers +of Africa. When they find a convenient spot of ground furnished with the +proper kind of trees, they immediately proceed to cut them down: the +branches are formed into temporary huts, and the trunks are made into +canoes, bowls, pestles and mortars, and other wooden utensils. Their +chief implements are an axe and a knife, which they use with great +dexterity. + +The freemen are very indolent, and, with the exception of the Foolahs, +seldom engage in any useful work. The time not occupied in hunting, +fishing, travelling, or public business, is usually spent in indolent +smoking, gossipping, or revelling. The male slaves are employed in +felling timber, weaving, drawing water, collecting grass for horses, and +helping the women in the fields; but as all this, excepting the first, +can be done by females, the slaveholders do not care to keep many male +slaves. Women generally attend to field-work. Before the rains set in, +they make holes in the ground with a hoe, and, after dropping in seeds, +cover in the earth with their feet. In case of rice, the surface of the +ground is turned up with a narrow spade. After the rains the grain is +ripe, and the tops are cut off. When the natives have not separate +store-huts of their own, they keep their corn in large rush-baskets +raised upon stakes outside the village; and these stores are not +violated by their fellow-townsmen. The grain is beaten or trodden out of +the husks, and then winnowed in the wind. The women pound it into meal +or flour with a pestle nearly five feet long, the ordinary mortar +containing about two gallons. This is a most laborious process, and +occupies many hours of the day or night. + +After gratifying, if not satisfying, the curiosity of Samba's wives, we +thought it right that a return should be made by their explaining to us +their mode of dressing food, especially the celebrated _kooskoos_. This +was cheerfully done, the more so as we presented them with small +articles of tinselled finery. The flour is moistened with water, then +shaken and stirred in a calabash until it forms into small hard granules +like peppercorns, which will keep good for a long time if preserved in a +dry place. The poorer class wet this prepared grain with hot water until +it swells like rice; others steam it in an earthen pot with holes, which +is placed above another containing flesh and water, so that the flavour +of the meat makes the kooskoos savoury. We saw a dish of this kind in +preparation for our dinner, along with other stews of a daintier kind, +made of rice boiled with milk and dried fish, or with butter and meat, +not forgetting vegetables and condiments. Some, of these stews, when +well prepared, are not to be despised. + +After inspecting the kitchen and its contents, our host conducted us to +the _bentang_ or _palaver_ house, which answers the purpose of a +town-hall and assembly-room. It is a large building, without side-walls, +being a roof supported upon strong posts, and having a bank of mud to +form a seat or lounging-bench. It is generally erected under the shade +of a large tabba-tree, which is the pride of the town. Here all public +business is transacted, trials are conducted, strangers are received, +and hither the idle resort for the news of the day. As Africans are +interminable speakers, they make excellent lawyers, and know how to spin +out a case or involve it in a labyrinth of figures of speech. Mungo +Park, who frequently heard these special pleaders, says that in the +forensic qualifications of procrastination and cavil, and the arts of +confounding and perplexing a cause, they are not easily surpassed by the +ablest pleaders in Europe. The following may serve as an example of +their talent:--An ass had got loose and broken into a field of corn, +much of which it destroyed. The proprietor of the corn caught the beast +in his field, and immediately cut its throat. The owner of the ass then +brought an action to recover damages for the loss of the ass, on which +he set a high value. The other acknowledged having killed it, but +pleaded as a set-off that the value of the corn destroyed was quite +equal to that of the beast which he had killed. The law recognised the +validity of both claims--that the ass should be paid for, and so should +the corn; for the proprietor had no right to kill the beast, and it had +no right to damage the field. The glorious uncertainty was therefore +displayed in ascertaining the relative value of each; and the learned +gentlemen managed so to puzzle the cause, that after a hearing of three +days the court broke up without coming to any decision, and the cause +was adjourned for a future hearing. + +Another _palaver_ which lasted four days was on the following +occasion:--A slave-merchant had married a woman of Tambacunda, by whom +he had two children. He subsequently absented himself for eight years +without giving any account of himself to his deserted wife, who, seeing +no prospect of his return, at the end of three years married another +man, to whom she likewise bore two children. The _slatee_ now returned +and claimed his wife; but the second husband refused to surrender her, +insisting that, by the usage of Africa, when a man has been three years +absent from his wife without giving notice of his being alive, the woman +is at liberty to marry again. This, however, proved a puzzling question, +and all the circumstances on both sides had to be investigated. At last +it was determined that the differing claims were so nicely balanced that +the court could not pronounce on the side of either, but allowed the +woman to make her choice of the husbands. She took time to consider; and +it is said that, having ascertained that her first husband, though older +than the second, was much richer, she allowed her first love to carry +the day. + +These lawsuits afford much amusement to the freemen of African towns, +who have little employment, and to whom time seems to be a matter of no +importance. Whether a journey occupies a week, a month, or a year, is of +little moment, provided they can obtain victuals and find amusement in +the place they visit. African labourers are quite surprised at the +bustle and impatience of Englishmen; and when urged to make haste in +finishing a job, will innocently exclaim--'No hurry, master: there be +plenty of time: to-morrow, comes after to-day.' + +We went to see the blacksmith and saddler of the town. These are the +only professional persons, and they are held in high esteem. The +blacksmith is a worker in all kinds of metal, and combines the +avocations of goldsmith, silversmith, jeweller, nailer, and gunsmith. In +the interior, he also manufactures native iron by smelting the stone in +furnaces with charcoal, which process converts it at once into steel: +but as this operation is rudely performed, it is attended with a great +waste of metal, which is also very hard and difficult to be worked; so +that English iron is used when it can be obtained, and bars of iron form +a considerable article of commerce. The blacksmith's utensils consist of +a hammer, anvil, forceps, and a pair of double bellows made of two +goat-skins. When we saw him he and his slaves were making stirrups, but +the operation was very tedious. + +The saddler tans and dresses leather, and can make a very beautiful and +soft material by repeatedly rubbing and beating the hides. The thick +skins are converted into sandals; those of sheep and goats are dyed and +made into sheaths of various kinds, purses for greegrees, covers for +quivers and saddles, and a variety of ornaments, which are neatly sewn, +as all negro lads can use the needle. These arts, with those of weaving, +working in rushes, soap-making, and a rude pottery, constitute the +native crafts. The Africans evidently understand the principles of many +useful arts, and evince considerable ingenuity in the execution, +considering the rudeness of their instruments, their want of capital, +and the total absence of hired labour. + +Suspended on a tree near the entrance of the town we saw the strange +dress of bark called Mumbo Jumbo. This is a device used by the men to +keep their wives in awe when the husband's authority is not sufficient +to prevent family feuds and maintain proper subordination. It may be +called the pillory of Africa, and is thus employed: Mumbo Jumbo +announces his approach by loud cries in the woods, and at night enters +the town and proceeds to the bentang, where all the inhabitants are +obliged to assemble. The ceremony begins with songs and dances, which +last till midnight, by which time Mumbo Jumbo has fixed upon his +unfortunate victim. She is immediately seized, stripped, tied to a post, +and scourged with Mumbo's rod, amid the shouts and derision of the whole +assembly. No wonder that Mumbo Jumbo is held in great awe by the women! + +When we had finished our walks about town, the day was far spent, and +the setting sun bade us hasten to our lodging; for here there is no +twilight, so that in a few minutes after the orb of day has disappeared +night supervenes, and the moon rules the heavens. The few cattle which +belonged to the inhabitants were brought into a pen at the town-wall, +where they are watched at night by armed men. We found a fire of blazing +wood in Samba's hut, and sat down on mats to gossip and smoke till +dinner should be served. The ladies brought in the kooskoos, and other +viands already described, in wooden bowls, and laid them on the floor; +they then retired, as they never eat with the men. Each guest is +expected to help himself with his fingers, and Samba hoped to play us a +little trick in return for one played upon himself. When he visited us +on board ship we provided only knives and forks, which all were expected +to use. Poor Samba could hardly get a mouthful, and was the +laughing-stock of the company, till in mercy a spoon was brought to him. +He now ordered the stews to be made thin, and the meat to be cut up in +small morsels, hoping to see us very awkward in using our fingers; when +suddenly we produced pocket spoons and knives, which turned the joke +against him and his negro friends, for the food was too watery for +themselves to manage well with their hands. + +After our repast we went out to see the dancing. This favourite +amusement of the Africans takes place in the open air when the weather +is fine; in wet weather it is held in the bentang, and when it is dark +large fires are kindled to give light to the performers. They have two +or three musical instruments, the chief of which is a drum. When this is +beat, all the young folks become animated, and dance to the sound, +clapping their hands, and performing a number of evolutions, some of +which are not the most seemly. They keep up this exercise through a +great part of the night; so that we left them in the midst of their +sport, and retired to rest. Our preparations for sleep were soon made, +by simply lying down upon the mats placed upon the hurdle. The negroes +are very susceptible of cold, and complain of it when we are panting +with heat; but the fire in their huts keeps up the desired temperature. +They sleep very soundly, and cannot be easily aroused till after +sun-rise. In the morning we made a slight repast of gruel, to which a +kind of hasty-pudding with shea-butter was added for our peculiar +gratification. This butter is made of the fruit of the shea-tree, which +is not unlike a Spanish olive, and has a kernel from which the butter is +extracted by boiling. It is in great repute, having a richer taste than +the butter of milk, and keeping for a long time without salt, which is +very expensive in Africa. After breakfast we took leave of our kind host +and his family, and returned in the same way we came. + +The foregoing description of semi-barbarous life may seem to portray it +in some attractive colours, so that indolent and licentious persons +might ask: Is it not preferable to our sophisticated state of society? +We are not judges of other people's taste, but we can see in it nothing +desirable. Its evils are numerous and very great. It is a dearth or +death of the soul, and of all that which truly constitutes man an +intelligent being, aiming at mental progress. Again, it is intimately +connected with a state of slavery, with the degradation of females, and +with polygamy--three great moral evils, the sources of endless rapine, +injustice, and misery. Famine also frequently prevails, and is a +dreadful scourge, even compelling mothers to sell some of their children +that they may save the rest. For in such an uncertain state of society, +no one cares to lay up for the future, as his hordes would only incur +the greater risk of being pillaged and destroyed. + + + + +THE COMMERCIAL PORTS OF ENGLAND. + + +A return has just been made, by order of parliament, which shews that +Liverpool is now the greatest port in the British Empire in the value of +its exports and the extent of its foreign commerce. Being the first port +in the British Empire, it is the first port in the world. New York is +the only place out of Great Britain which can at all compare with the +extent of its commerce. New York is the Liverpool of America, as +Liverpool is the New York of Europe. The trade of those two ports is +reciprocal. The raw produce of America, shipped in New York, forms the +mass of the imports of Liverpool; the manufactures of England, shipped +at Liverpool, form the mass of the imports of New York. The two ports +are, together, the gates or doors of entry between the Old World and the +New. On examining the return just made, it appears that the value of the +exports of Liverpool in the year 1850 amounted to nearly L.35,000,000 +sterling (L.34,891,847), or considerably more than one-half of the total +value of the exports of the three kingdoms for that year. This wonderful +export-trade of Liverpool is partly the result of the great mineral +riches of Lancashire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and the +West Riding of Yorkshire; partly of the matchless ingenuity and untiring +industry of the population of those counties; partly of a multitude of +canals and railways, spreading from Liverpool to all parts of England +and the richest parts of Wales; partly to Liverpool being the commercial +centre of the three kingdoms; and partly to the fact that very nearly +L.12,000,000 have been expended in Liverpool, and more than L.12,000,000 +in the river Mersey, in converting a stormy estuary and an unsafe +anchorage into the most perfect port ever formed by the skill of man. On +comparing the respective amounts of the tonnage of Liverpool and London, +it appears at first impossible to account for the fact that the shipping +of Liverpool is rather less than that of London, while its export-trade +is much more than twice as great. The explanation of this fact is, that +the vessels employed in carrying the million or million and a half of +tons of coal used in London, appear in the London return; while the +canal and river flats, to say nothing of the railway trains, employed in +carrying the million and a quarter of tons of coal used or employed in +Liverpool, do not. State the case fairly, and the maritime superiority +of Liverpool will be found to be as decided as is its commercial. We +ought also to add, that while the Custom-house returns for 1850 give +Liverpool only 3,262,253 tons of shipping, the payment of rates to the +Liverpool Dock Estate in the twelve months ending June 25, 1851, gives +3,737,666 tons, or nearly 500,000 tons more. Comparing the rate of +increase of the exports of Liverpool with that of other ports, it +appears that Liverpool is not only the first port in the kingdom, but +that it is becoming more decidedly the first every year. During the last +five years the increase of the exports of Liverpool has been from +26,000,000 to nearly 35,000,000, while that of London has been from +little less than 11,000,000 to rather more than 14,000,000. The exports +of Hull--which is undoubtedly the third port of the kingdom--though +still very large, have rather declined, having been L.10,875,870 in +1846, and not more than L.10,366,610 in 1850. The exports of Glasgow, +now the fourth port of the empire, shew a fair increase, from +L.3,024,343 to L.3,768,646. No other port now sends out exports of the +value of L.2,000,000 a year, though Southampton comes near to +L.2,000,000, and Cork passes L.1,000,000.--_Liverpool Times_. + + + + +AN UNFORTUNATE MAN. + + +I am fallen into the hands of publicans and sequestrators, and they have +taken all from me. What now? Let me look about me. They have left me sun +and moon, fire and water, a loving wife, and many friends to pity me, +and some to relieve me; and I can still discourse; and, unless I list, +they have not taken away my merry countenance and my cheerful spirits, +and a good conscience; they have still left me the providence of God, +and all the promises of the gospel, and my religion, and my hope of +heaven, and my charity to them too. And still I sleep, and digest, and +eat, and drink; I read and meditate; I can walk in my neighbour's +pleasant fields, and see the varieties of natural beauty, and delight in +all that in which God delights--that is, in virtue and wisdom, in the +whole creation, and in God himself.--_Jeremy Taylor_. + + + + +SLOW BUT SURE. + + +Some years ago a man was apprehended in Hampshire, charged with a +capital offence--sheep-stealing, I believe. After being examined before +a justice of the peace, he was committed to the county jail at +Winchester for trial at the ensuing assizes. The evidence against the +man was too strong to admit of any doubt of his guilt; he was +consequently convicted, and sentence of death--rigidly enforced for this +crime at the period alluded to--pronounced. Months and years passed +away, but no warrant for his execution arrived. In the interval a marked +improvement in the man's conduct and bearing became apparent. His +natural abilities were good, his temper mild, and his general desire to +please attracted the attention and engaged the confidence of the +governor of the prison, who at length employed him as a domestic +servant; and such was his reliance on his integrity that he even +employed him in executing commissions, not only in the city, but to +places at a great distance from it. After a considerable lapse of time, +however, the awful instrument, which had been inadvertently concealed +among other papers, was discovered, and at once forwarded to the +high-sheriff, and by the proper authority to the unfortunate delinquent +himself. My purpose is brief relation only; suffice it to say, the +unhappy man is stated under these affecting circumstances to have +suffered the last penalty of the law.--_Notes and Queries_. + + + + +THE SEA-KINGS OF NANTUCKET. + + +Let America add Mexico to Texas, and pile Cuba upon Canada; let the +English overswarm all India, and hang out their blazing banner from the +sun; two-thirds of this terraqueous globe are the Nantucketer's. For the +sea is his--he owns it as emperors own empires, other seamen having but +a right to pass through it. Merchant-ships are but extension bridges; +armed ones but floating forts; even pirates and privateers, though +following the sea as highwaymen the road, they but plunder other ships, +other fragments of the land like themselves, without seeking to draw +their living from the bottomless sea itself. The Nantucketer, he alone +resides and riots on the sea; he alone, in Bible language, goes down to +it in ships; to and fro ploughing it as his own special plantation. +_There_ is his home; _there_ lies his business; which a Noah's flood +would scarcely interrupt, though it overwhelmed all the millions in +China. He lives on the sea as prairie cocks in the prairie; he hides +among the waves; he climbs them as chamois hunters climb the Alps. For +years he knows not the land; so that when he comes to it at last, it +smells like another world, more strangely than the moon would to an +earthsman. With the landless gull, that at sunset folds her wings and is +rocked to sleep between billows, so at nightfall the Nantucketer, out of +sight of land, furls his sails, and lays him to his rest, while under +his very pillow rush herds of walruses and whales.--_Herman Melville's +The Whale_. + + + + +THE LINNĈA BOREALIS. + + +'Linné selected a tiny wild-flower that he discovered, of exquisite +beauty and delicious odour, to bear his name--one that refuses to +exchange the silent glen and melancholy wood for the more gay parterres +of horticulture.'--_Rambles in Sweden and Gottland, by Sylvanus_. + + 'Tis a child of the old green woodlands, + Where the song of the free wild bird, + And swaying of boughs in the summer breeze, + Are the only voices heard. + + In the richest moss of the lonely dells + Are its rosy petals found, + With the clear blue skies above it spread, + And the lordly trees around. + + In those still, untrodden solitudes + Its lovely days are passed; + And the sunny turf is its fragrant bier + When it gently dies at last. + + But if from its own sweet dwelling-place + By a careless hand 'tis torn, + And to hot and dusty city streets + In its drooping beauty borne, + + Its graceful head is with sorrow bowed, + And it quickly pines and fades; + Till the fragile bloom is for ever fled + That gladdened the forest glades. + + It will not dwell 'neath a palace dome, + With rare exotic flowers, + Whose perfumed splendour gaily gleams + In radiant festal hours: + + It loves not the Parian marble vase, + On the terrace fair and wide; + Or the bright and sheltered garden bowers + Smiling in gorgeous pride. + + But it mourns for the far-off dingles, + For their fresh and joyous air, + For the dewy sighs and sunny beams + That lingered o'er it there. + + O lonely and lovely forest-flower! + A holy lot is thine, + Amid nature's deepest solitudes, + With radiance meek to shine. + + Bright blossom of the shady woods! + Live on in your cool retreat, + Unharmed by the touch of human hand, + Or the tread of careless feet; + + With the rich green fern around your home, + The birds' glad song above, + And the solemn stars in the still night-time + Looking down with eyes of love! + + LUCINDA ELLIOTT. + + * * * * * + +Printed and Published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, High Street, Edinburgh. +Also sold by W.S. ORR, Amen Corner, London; D.N. CHAMBERS, 55 West Nile +Street, Glasgow; and J. M'GLASHAN, 50 Upper Sackville Street, +Dublin.--Advertisements for Monthly Parts are requested to be sent to +MAXWELL & Co., 31 Nicholas Lane, Lombard Street, London, to whom all +applications respecting their insertion must be made. + + + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal Vol. +XVII. No. 418. New Series. 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