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diff --git a/14022-0.txt b/14022-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4c937a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/14022-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1594 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14022 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 14022-h.htm or 14022-h.zip: + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/4/0/2/14022/14022-h/14022-h.htm) + or + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/4/0/2/14022/14022-h.zip) + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. 17, NO. 479.] SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 1831. [PRICE 2d. + + + + * * * * * + + + + +[Illustration: ANCIENT PALACE OF HOLYROOD, AT EDINBURGH.] + + + + +ANCIENT PALACE OF HOLYROOD, AT EDINBURGH. + + +Here is another of the resting-places of fallen royalty; and a happy +haven has it proved to many a crowned head; a retreat where the plain +reproof of flattery-- + + How can you say to me,--I am a king? + +would sound with melancholy sadness and truth. + +The reader of "the age and body of the time" need not be told that the +tenancy of Holyrood by the Ex-King of France has suggested its present +introduction, although the Engraving represents the Palace about the +year 1640. The structure, in connexion with the Chapel,[1] is thus +described in Chambers's _Picture of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 61. + +The Chapel and Palace of Holyrood are situated at the extremity of the +suburb called the Cannongate. The ordinary phrase "the Abbey," still +popularly applied to both buildings, indicates that the former is the +more ancient of the two. Like so many other religious establishments, +it owns David I. for its founder. Erected in the twelfth century, and +magnificently endowed by that monarch, it continued for about four +centuries to flourish as an abbey, and to be, at least during the +latter part of that time, the residence of the sovereign. In the year +1528, James V. added a palace to the conventual buildings. During the +subsequent reign of Mary, this was the principal seat of the court; and +so it continued in a great measure to be, till the departure of King +James VI. for England. Previously to this period, the Abbey and Palace +had suffered from fire, and they have since undergone such revolutions, +that, as in the celebrated case of Sir John Cutler's stockings, which, +in the course of darning, changed nearly their whole substance, it is +now scarcely possible to distinguish what is really ancient from the +modern additions. + +As they at present stand, the Palace is a handsome edifice, built in +the form of a quadrangle, with a front flanked by double towers, while +the Abbey is reduced from its originally extensive dimensions to the +mere ruin of the chapel, one corner of which adjoins to a posterior +angle of the Palace. Of the palatial structure, the north-west towers +alone are old. The walls were certainly erected in the time of James V. +They contain the apartments in which Queen Mary resided, and where her +minion, Rizzio, fell a sacrifice to the revenge of her brutal husband. +A certain portion of the furniture is of the time, and a still smaller +portion is said to be the handiwork of that princess. The remaining +parts of the structure were erected in the time of Charles II. and have +at no time been occupied by any royal personages, other than the Duke of +York, Prince Charles Stuart, the Duke of Cumberland, the King of France, +(in 1795-9,) and King George IV. in 1822. In the northern side of the +quadrangle is a gallery one hundred and fifty feet in length, filled +with the portraits of nearly as many imaginary Scottish kings. The south +side contains a suite of state apartments, fitted up for the use of the +last-mentioned monarch. These various departments of the Palace, as well +as the Chapel, are shown to strangers, for a gratuity, by the servants +of the Duke of Hamilton, who is hereditary keeper of the Palace. It may +be mentioned, before dismissing this subject, that the precincts of +these interesting edifices were formerly a sanctuary of criminals, and +can yet afford refuge to insolvent debtors. + +From the time of the departure of George the Fourth from Edinburgh, in +1822, Holyrood Palace remained without any distinguished inhabitant +until last year, when Charles the Tenth, and his suite, took up their +abode within its walls. In the same year too, died George IV. + + [1] A view of the Chapel, from the Diorama, in the Regent's Park, + with ample descriptive details, will be found in vol. v. of + _The Mirror._ + + + * * * * * + + +THE LAST SOUNDS OF BATTLE. + +(For the _Mirror_.) + + + Hark! on yonder blood-trod hill, + The sound of battle lingers still,-- + But faint it comes, for every blow + Is feebled with the touch of woe: + Their limbs are weary, and forget + They stand upon the battle plain,-- + But still their spirit flashes yet, + And dimly lights their souls again! + Like revellers, flush'd with dead'ning wine, + Measuring the dance with sluggish tread, + Their spirits for an instant shine, + Ashamed to show their pow'r hath fled. + Bat hark! e'en that faint sound hath died, + And sad and solemn up the vale + The silence steals, and far and wide + It tells of death the dreadful tale. + + +J.M.W. + + * * * * * + + + + +RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS. + + * * * * * + + +ANCIENT TOPOGRAPHY OF HOLBORN. + +(For the _Mirror_.) + + +The name of Holborn is derived from an ancient village, built upon the +bank of the rivulet, or _bourne_, of the same name.--Stowe says, +"_Oldborne_, or _Hilborne_, was the water, breaking out about +the place where now the Barres doe stand; and it ranne downe the whole +street to _Oldborne Bridge_, and into the river of the _Wels_, +or _Turne-mill Brooke_. This _Boorne_ was long since stopped +up at the head, and other places, where the same hath broken out; but +yet till this day, the said street is there called high, _Oldborne_ +hill, and both sides thereof, (together with all the grounds adjoining, +that lye betwixt it and the River of Thames,) remaine full of springs, +so that water is there found at hand, and hard to be stopped in every +house." + +"Oldborne Conduit, which stood by Oldborne Crosse, was first builded +1498. Thomasin, widow to John Percival, maior, gave to the second making +thereof twenty markes; Richard Shore, ten pounds; Thomas Knesworth, and +others also, did give towards it.--But of late, a new conduit was there +builded, in place of the old, namely, in the yeere 1577; by William +Lambe, sometime a gentleman of the chappell to King Henry the Eighth, +and afterwards a citizen and clothworker of London, which amounted to +the sum of 1,500_l_. + +"Scroops' Inne,[2] sometime Sergeant's Inne, was situate against the +church of St. Andrew, in Oldborne, in the city of London, with two +gardens. + +"On the High-streete of Oldborne (says Stowe) have ye many fair houses +builded, and lodgings for gentlemen, innes for travellers, and such +like, up almost (for it lacketh but little) to St. Giles's in the +Fields." + +Gerard, the famous herbalist, lived in Holborn, and had there a large +botanic garden. Holborn was then in the outskirts of the town on that +side. Richard the Third asked the Bishop of Ely to send for some of the +good strawberries which he heard the bishop had in his garden in +Holborn. + +"In 1417, Lower Holborn (says Brayley) one of the great inlets to the +city, was first paved, it being then described as a highway, so deep and +miry, that many perils and hazards were thereby occasioned; and the +King, at his own expense, is recorded to have employed two vessels, +each of twenty tons burthen, for bringing stones for that purpose. + +"In 1534 an act was passed for paving with stone the street between +Holborn Bridge and Holborn Bars, at the west end thereof, and also the +streets of Southwark; and every person was made liable to maintain the +pavement before his door, under the forfeiture of sixpence to the king +for every square yard." + +On the south side of Holborn Hill was St. Andrew's Church, of +considerable antiquity; but rebuilt in a plain, neat manner. Here was +buried Thomas Wriothesley, lord chancellor in the latter part of the +life of Henry the Eighth: a fiery zealot, who (says Pennant) not content +with seeing the amiable Anne Askew put to the torture, for no other +crime than difference of faith, flung off his gown, degraded the +chancellor into the bureau, and with his own hands gave force to the +rack. + +"Furnival's Inn was one of the hosteries belonging to Lincoln's Inn, in +old times the town abode of the Lords of Furnivals. + +"Thaive's Inn was another, old as the time of Edward the Third. It took +its name from John Tavye. + +"Staples Inn; so called from its having been a staple in which the +wool-merchants were used to assemble. + +"Barnard's Inn, originally Mackworth's Inn, having been given by the +executors of John Mackworth, dean of Lincoln, to the dean and chapter of +Lincoln, on condition that they should find a pious priest to perform +divine service in the cathedral of Lincoln--in which John Mackworth lies +interred. + +"Hatton Garden was the town house and gardens of the Lord Hatton, founded +by Sir Christopher Hatton, lord-keeper in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. +The place he built his house on was the orchard and garden belonging to +Ely House. + +"Brook House was the residence of Sir Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke. + +"Southampton Buildings, built on the site of Southampton House, the +mansion of the Wriothesleys, earls of Southampton. When Lord Russel +passed by this house, on his way to execution, he felt a momentary +bitterness of death, in recollecting the happy moments of the place. He +looked (says Pennant) towards Southampton House, the tear started into +his eye, but he instantly wiped it away. + +"Gray's Inn is a place of great antiquity: it was originally the +residence of the Lord Grays, from the year 1315, when John, the son of +Reginold de Grey, resided here, till the latter end of the reign of Henry +the Seventh, when it was sold, by Edmund Lord Grey, of Wilton, to Hugh +Dennys, Esq., by the name of Portpole; and in eight years afterwards it +was disposed of to the prior and convent of Shene, who again, disposed +of it to the students of the law; not but that they were seated here +much earlier, it appearing that they had leased a residence here from +the Lord Grays, as early as the reign of Edward the Third. Chancery Lane +gapes on the opposite side, to receive the numberless _malheureuses_ +who plunge unwarily on the rocks and shelves with which it abounds." + +P.T.W. + + [2] From Lord Scroops, of Bolton. + + + * * * * * + + +ANCIENT SLAVERY IN ENGLAND. + +(For the _Mirror_.) + + "O Freedom! first delight of human kind." + +DRYDEN. + + +Sharon Turner, in his interesting "History of the Anglo-Saxons," says, +"It was then (during the reign of Pope Gregory I.) the practice of +Europe to make use of slaves, and to buy and sell them; and this traffic +was carried on, even in the western capital of the Christian Church. +Passing through the market at Rome, the white skins, the flowing locks, +and beautiful countenances of some youths who were standing there for +sale, interested Gregory's sensibility. To his inquiries from what +country they had been brought, the answer was, from Britain, whose +inhabitants were all of that fair complexion. Were they Pagans or +Christians? was his next question: a proof not only of his ignorance of +the state of England, but also, that up to that time it had occupied no +part of his attention; but thus brought as it were to a personal +knowledge of it by these few representatives of its inhabitants, he +exclaimed, on hearing that they were still idolaters, with a deep sigh, +'What a pity that such a beauteous frontispiece should possess a mind so +void of internal grace.' The name of their nation being mentioned to be +Angles, his ear caught the verbal coincidence--the benevolent wish for +their improvement darted into his mind, and he expressed his own +feelings, and excited those of his auditors, by remarking--'It suits +them well: they have angel faces, and ought to be the co-heirs of the +angels in heaven.' + +"The different classes of society among the Anglo-Saxons were such as +belonged to birth, office, or property, and such as were occupied by +a freeman, a freedman, or one of the servile description. It is to be +lamented in the review of these different classes, that a large proportion +of the Anglo-Saxon population was in a state of abject slavery: they +were bought and sold with land, and were conveyed in the grants of it +promiscuously with the cattle and other property upon it; and in the +Anglo-Saxon wills, these wretched beings were given away precisely as +we now dispose of our plate, our furniture, or our money. At length the +custom of manumission, and the diffusion of Christianity, ameliorated +the condition of the Anglo-Saxon slaves. Sometimes individuals, from +benevolence, gave their slaves their freedom--sometimes piety procured +a manumission. But the most interesting kind of emancipation appears in +those writings which announce to us, that the slaves had purchased their +own liberty, or that of their family. The Anglo-Saxon laws recognised +the liberation of slaves, and placed them under legal protection. The +liberal feelings of our ancestors to their enslaved domestics are not +only evidenced in the frequent manumissions, but also in the generous +gifts which they appear to have made them. The grants of lands from +masters to their servants were very common; gilds, or social +confederations, were established. The tradesmen of the Anglo-Saxons +were, for the most part, men in a servile state; but, by degrees, the +manumission of slaves increased the number of the independent part of +the lower orders." + +When the statute 1st. Edward VI. c. 3. was made, which ordained, that +all idle vagabonds should be made _slaves_, and fed upon bread, +water or small drink, and refuse of meat; should wear a ring round their +necks, arms, or legs; and should be compelled, by beating, chaining, or +otherwise, to perform the work assigned them, were it ever so vile;--the +spirit of the nation could not brook this condition, even in the most +abandoned rogues; and therefore this statute was repealed in two years +afterwards, 3rd and 4th of Edward VI. c. 16. + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + +FINSBURY. + +(For the _Mirror_.) + + +Fitzstephen, in his Description of London, 1282, gives the following +account of skating in Moor, or Finsbury Fields, which may afford +amusement to the inquisitive reader:-- + +"When that vast lake which waters the walls of the city towards the north +is hard frozen, the youths, in great numbers, go to divert themselves on +the ice--some, taking a small run for an increment of velocity, place +their feet at a proper distance, and are carried sideways a great +way; others will make a large cake of ice, and seating one of their +companions upon it, they take hold of one's hands, and draw him along, +when it happens that moving swiftly on so slippery a plane, they all +fall headlong; others there are who are still more expert in these +amusements on the ice--they place certain bones (the leg-bones of +animals) under the soles of their feet, by tying them round their +ankles, and then taking a pole, shod with iron, with their hands they +push themselves forward by striking it against the ice, and are carried +on with a velocity equal to the flight of a bird, or a bolt discharged +from a cross-bow." + +This tract affords the earliest description of London; and Dr. Pegge, in +his preface to said Description, says, "I conceive we may challenge any +nation in Europe to produce an account of its capital, or any other of +its great cities, at so remote a period as the 12th century." + +J.R. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS. + + * * * * * + + +MOUNT ST. MICHAEL. + + +No. 65 of _Constable's Miscellany_, just published, consists of +_A Journal of a Residence in Normandy_, by J.A. St. John, Esq. This +volume falls in opportunely enough for the further description of Mount +St. Michael, engraved in No. 477 of _The Mirror_. + + +Breakfasting in haste, I procured a horse and a guide, and set out for +the mount, no less celebrated for its historical importance, than for +the peculiarity of its position. As soon as I had emerged from the +streets of Avranches, I saw before me a vast bay, now entirely deserted +by the tide, and consisting partly of sand, partly of slime, intersected +by the waters of several rivers, and covered, during spring tides, at +high water.--Two promontories, the one bluff and rocky, the other sandy +and low, project, one on either hand, into the sea; and in the open +space between these two points are two small islands, from around which +the sea ebbs at low water: one of them is a desert rock, called the +Tombelaine, and the other the Mont St. Michel.[3] The space thus covered +and deserted alternately by the sea is about eight square leagues, and +is here called the Grève. + +The Mont St. Michel, which is about the same height as the Great Pyramid +of Egypt, and now stood, as that does, upon a vast plain of sand, which +is here, however, skirted in its whole length by the sea, has a very +striking and extraordinary aspect. It appeared, as the water was so +close behind it, to rise out of the sea, upon the intense and dazzling +blue of which its grey rocks and towers were relieved in a sharp and +startling manner; and, as I descended lower and lower on the hill-side, +and drew near the beach, its pinnacles seemed to increase in height, and +the picturesque effect was improved. + +At length I emerged from the shady road upon the naked beach, and saw +the ferry-boat and the Charon that were to convey me and my charger over +the first river. My Avranches guide here quitted me; but I had been told +that the ferryman himself usually supplied his place in piloting +strangers across the quicksands, which, owing to the shifting of the +course of the rivers, are in constant change, and of the most dangerous +character. Horses and their riders, venturing to select their own path +over the sands, have been swallowed up together, and vessels, stranded +here in a tempest, have in a short time sunk and disappeared entirely. +The depth of what may perhaps be termed the unsolid soil, is hitherto +unknown, though various attempts have been made to ascertain it. In one +instance, a small mast, forty feet high, was fixed up in the sands, with +a piece of granite of considerable weight upon the top of it; but mast, +granite, and all, rapidly disappeared, leaving no trace behind. It is +across several leagues of a beach of this nature that one has to +approach the Mont St. Michel. + +The scene which now presented itself was singular and beautiful. On the +right the land, running out boldly into the sea, offered, with its rich +verdure, a striking contrast to the pale yellow sands beneath. In front, +the sea, blue, calm, waveless, and studded in the distance with a few +white sails, glittering in the sun, ran in a straight line along the +yellow plain, which was, moreover, intersected in various directions by +numerous small rivers, whose shining waters looked like molten silver. +To add to the effect of the landscape, silence the most absolute brooded +over it, except when the scream of a seamew, wheeling about drowsily in +the sunny air, broke upon the ear. The mount itself, with its ancient +monastic towers, rearing their grey pinnacles towards heaven, in the +midst of stillness and solitude, appeared to be formed by nature to be +the abode of peace, and a soft and religious melancholy. + +For some time I rode on musing, gazing delightedly at the scene, and +recalling to mind the historical events which had taken place on those +shores, and rendered them famous. The cannon of England had thundered on +every side, and her banners had waved triumphantly from the towers +before me. My reflections, however, were soon called off from these +towering topics, being interrupted by the loud laugh of a party of +soldiers and wagoners, who were regaling themselves with fresh air at +the gate of the fortress. + +Dismounting here, I entered the small town which clusters round the foot +of the mount within the wall; and whatever romance might have taken +lodging in my imagination, was quickly put to flight by the stink, and +filth, and misery, which forced themselves upon my attention. I never +beheld a more odious den. Leaving my horse and guide at a cabaret, I +ascended the only street in the place, which winding about the foot of +the mountain, leads directly to the castle. Toiling up this abominable +street, and several long and very steep flights of steps, I at length +reached the door, where, having rung, and waited for some time, I was +admitted by a saucy gendarme, who demanded my business and my passport +in the most insolent tone imaginable. I delivered up my passport; and +while the rascal went to show it to the man in office--governor, +sub-governor, or some creature of that sort--had to stand in the dismal +passage, among a score or two of soldiers. In general, however, French +soldiers are remarkably polite, and these, with the exception of the +above individual, were so also. Even he, when he returned, had changed +his tone; for, having learned from his superior that I was an +Englishman, he came, with cap in hand, to conduct me round the building. + +The first apartment, after the chapel, which is small, and by no means +striking, into which I was led, was the ancient refectory, where there +were some hundreds of criminals, condemned for several years to close +imprisonment, or the galleys, weaving calico. I never in my life saw so +many demoniacal faces together. + +The apartment in which these miscreants were assembled, was a hall about +one hundred feet long, by thirty-five or forty in breadth, and was adorned +with two rows of massy, antique pillars, resembling those which we find +in Gothic churches. From hence we proceeded to the subterranean chapel, +where are seen those prodigious columns upon which the weight of the +whole building reposes. The scanty light, which glimmers among these +enormous shafts, is just sufficient to discover their magnitude to the +eye, and to enable one to find his way among them. Having crossed this +chapel, we entered the quadrangular court, around which the cloisters, +supported by small, graceful pillars, of the most delicate workmanship, +extend. Here the monks used to walk in bad weather, contriving the next +day's dinner, or imagining excuses for detaining some of the many pretty +female pilgrims who resorted, under various pretences, to this celebrated +monastery. At present, it affords shelter to the veterans and gendarmes +who keep guard over the prisoners below. + +From various portions of the monastery, we obtain admirable views of sea +and shore; but the most superb coup-d'oeil is from a tall slender tower, +which shoots up above almost every other portion of the building. Hence +are seen the hills and coasts of Brittany, the sea, the sandy plain +stretching inland, with the rivers meandering through it, and the long +sweep of shore which encompasses the Grève, with Avranches, and its +groves and gardens, in the back ground. Close at hand, and almost +beneath one's feet, as it were, is the barren rock called the +Tombelaine, which, though somewhat larger than the Mont St. Michel, is +not inhabited. Even this rock, however, was formerly fortified by the +English; and several remains of the old towers are still found among the +thorns and briers with which it is at present overrun. Several fanciful +derivations of the word Tombelaine are given by antiquaries, some +imagining it to have been formed of the words _Tumba Beleni_, or +_Tumba Helenae_; and in support of the latter etymology, the +following legend is told:--Helen, daughter of Hoël, King of Brittany, +was taken away, by fraud or violence, from her father's court, by a +certain Spaniard, who, having conducted her to this island, and +compelled her to submit to his desires, seems to have deserted her +there. The princess, overwhelmed with misfortune, pined away and died, +and was buried by her nurse, who had accompanied her from Brittany. + +At the Mont St. Michel was preserved, until lately, the enormous wooden +cage in which state prisoners were sometimes confined under the old +regime. + +The most unfortunate of the poor wretches who inhabited this cage was +Dubourg, a Dutch editor of a newspaper. This man having, in the exercise +of his duty, written something which offended the majesty of Louis XIV., +or some one of his mistresses, was marked out by the magnanimous monarch +for vengeance; and the means which, according to tradition, he employed +to effect his purpose, was every way worthy of the royal miscreant. A +villain was sent from Avranches to Holland, a neutral state, with +instructions to worm himself into the friendship and confidence of +Dubourg, and, in an unguarded moment, to lead him into the French +territories, where a party of soldiers was kept perpetually in readiness +to kidnap him and carry him off. For two years this modern Judas is said +to have carried on the intrigue, at the end of which period he prevailed +upon Dubourg to accompany him on a visit into France, when the soldiers +seized upon their victim, and hurried him off to the Mont St. Michel. + +Confinement and solitude do not always kill. The Dutchman, accustomed, +perhaps, to a life of indolence, existed twenty years in his cage, never +enjoying the satisfaction of beholding "the human face divine," or of +hearing the human voice, except when the individual entered who was +charged with the duty of bringing him his provisions and cleaning his +cell. Some faint rays of light, just such as enable cats and owls to +mouse, found their way into the dungeon; and, by their aid, Dubourg, +whom accident or the humanity of his keeper had put in possession of an +old nail, and who inherited the passion of his countrymen for flowers, +contrived to sculpture roses and other flowers upon the beams of his +cage. Continual inaction, however, though it could not destroy life, +brought on the gout, which rendered the poor wretch incapable of moving +himself about from one side of the cage to the other; and he observed to +his keeper, that the greatest misery he endured was inflicted by the +rats, which came in droves, and gnawed away at his gouty legs, without +his being able to move out of their reach or frighten them away. + +Having examined the principal objects of curiosity at the mount, and +learning that the tide was rising rapidly on the Grève, I descended from +the fortress, and mounting my horse, set out on my return to Avranches. + +My guide informed me that I had staid somewhat too long, and in fact, +the sea, flowing and foaming furiously over the vast plain of sand, +quickly surrounded the mount, and was at our heels in a twinkling. +However, the guide sprang off with that long trot peculiar to fishermen, +and was followed with great good will by the beast which had been so +obstinate in the morning. We were joined in our retreat by a party of +sportsmen, who appeared to have been shooting gulls upon the sands; but +they could not keep up with the young fisherman, who stepped out like a +Newmarket racer, and in a short time landed me safe at the Point of +Pontorson, near the village of Courtils, where he resided. + +By the way, we have just received Mr. St. John's _Anatomy of +Society_, which we hope to notice in our next or subsequent number. + + [3] Why is the _a_ omitted? + + + * * * * * + + +THE MONUMENT. + +Once the object of general praise, from its loftiness and beauty, and +till now the subject of censure, even among Protestants, from that +inscription of which the Papists always complained, was the offspring of +this period, and realized one of those decorations which Wren had +lavished upon his air-drawn Babylon. This lofty column was ordered by +the Commons, in commemoration of the extinction of the great fire and +the rebuilding of the city: it stands on the site of the old church of +St. Margaret, and within a hundred feet of the spot where the +conflagration began. It is of the Doric order, and rises from the +pavement to the height of two hundred and two feet, containing within +its shaft a spiral stair of black marble of three hundred and forty-five +steps. The plinth is twenty-one feet square, and ornamented with +sculpture by Cibber, representing the flames subsiding on the appearance +of King Charles;--beneath his horse's feet a figure, meant to personify +religious malice, crawls out vomiting fire, and above is that +unjustifiable legend which called forth the indignant lines of Pope-- + + "Where London's column pointing to the skies, + Like a tall bully, lifts his head and lies."[4] + + +The shaft, deeply fluted, measures fifteen feet diameter at the base, +and diminishing according to the proportion of its order, terminates +in a capital, crowned with a balcony, from the centre of which rises a +circular pedestal, bearing a flaming urn of gilt bronze. The various +notions of the architect concerning a suitable termination, are worth +relating:--"I cannot," said he, "but commend a large statue as carrying +much dignity with it, and that which would be more valuable in the eyes +of foreigners and strangers. It hath been proposed to cast such a one in +brass of twelve feet high for a thousand pounds. I hope we may find +those who will cast a figure for that money of fifteen feet high, which +will suit the greatness of the pillar, and is, as I take it, the largest +at this day extant. And this would undoubtedly be the noblest finishing +that can be found answerable to so goodly a work in all men's +judgments." The King preferred a large ball of metal gilt. A phoenix was +introduced in the wooden model of the pillar, but afterwards rejected by +the architect himself, "because it would be costly, not easily +understood at that height, and worse understood at a distance; and +lastly, dangerous by reason of the sail the spread wings would carry in +the wind." A statue of Charles, fifteen feet high, on a pedestal of two +hundred, would have looked small and mean; the King resisted the +compliment. This work, begun in 1671, was not completed till 1677; stone +was scarce, and the restoration of London and its Cathedral swallowed up +the produce of the quarries. "It was at first used," says Elmes, "by the +members of the Royal Society, for astronomical experiments, but was +abandoned on account of its vibrations being too great for the nicety +required in their observations. This occasioned a report that it was +unsafe; but its scientific construction may bid defiance to the attacks +of all but earthquakes for centuries." + +_Life of Wren.--Family Library._ + + [4] The original inscription, ascribing to the Roman Catholics the + fire which consumed the city, obliterated during the reign of + James II. and restored with much pomp on the coming of King + William, is now ordered, I hear, to be erased by the Common + Council. Fiction is truth and truth is fiction as party prevails. + + + * * * * * + + +G. MORLAND. + + +H. Morland, wine merchant, brother of the painter, says, "that his +brother died while his servant was holding a glass of gin (his favourite +liquor) over his shoulder. And he was so prodigal at times that he had +not enough to buy ultra-marine with, although a few hours before he had +invited a great number of his associates to a general debauch." + +GEO. ST. CLAIR. + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: COWLEY'S HOUSE, AT CHERTSEY.] + + + + +COWLEY'S HOUSE, AT CHERTSEY. + + +Cowley retired to these premises at Chertsey, in Surrey, a few years +before his death, which took place here in 1667, in his 49th year. The +premises are called the Porch House, and were for many years occupied by +the late Richard Clark, Esq., Chamberlain of London, who died a short +time since. Mr. Clark, in honour of the Poet, took much pains to preserve +the premises in their original state, kept an original portrait of Cowley, +and had affixed a tablet in front, containing Cowley's Latin Epitaph on +himself. In the year 1793, it was supposed that the ruinous state of the +house rendered it impossible to support the building, but it was found +practicable to preserve the greater part of it, to which some rooms have +been added. Mr. Clark also placed a tablet in front of the building where +the porch stood, with the following inscription:--"The _Porch_ of +this House, which projected ten feet into the highway, was, in the year +1792, removed for the safety and accommodation of the public. + + "Here the last accents flowed from Cowley's tongue." + + +We received the substance of this information from the venerable Mr. +Clark himself, in the year 1822, about which time there appeared, in +the _Monthly Magazine_, a view of the original premises, from a +drawing by the late Mr. Samuel Ireland. The above view was taken by +a Correspondent, in the summer of 1828, and represents the original +portion of the mansion. Cowley's study is here pointed out, being a +closet in the back part of the house, towards the garden. + +How delightfully must COWLEY have passed his latter days in the rural +seclusion of Chertsey! How he must have loved that earthly paradise--his +garden--who could write thus for his epitaph: + + From life's superfluous cares enlarg'd, + His debt of human toil discharg'd, + Here COWLEY lies, beneath this shed, + To ev'ry worldly interest _dead_; + With decent poverty content; + His hours of ease not idly spent; + To fortune's goods a foe profess'd, + And, hating wealth, by all caress'd + 'Tis sure he's _dead_; for, lo! how small + A spot of earth is now his all! + O! wish that earth may lightly lay, + And ev'ry care be far away! + Bring flow'rs, the short-liv'd roses bring, + To _life deceased_ fit offering! + And sweets around the poet strow, + Whilst yet with life his ashes glow. + + +Again: + + Sweet shades, adieu! here let my dust remain, + Covered with flowers, and free from noise and pain; + Let evergreens the turfy tomb adorn, + And roseate dews (the glory of the morn) + My carpet deck; then let my soul possess + The happier scenes of an eternal bliss. + + +Then, too, the delightful chapter _Of Gardens_ which he addressed +to the virtuous John Evelyn. + +We quote these few illustrations of Cowley's character from Mr. Felton's +very interesting volume "on the Portraits of English Authors on +Gardening."--By the way, at page 100, in a Note, Mr. Felton makes a +flattering reference to one of our earliest works, which we are happy to +learn has not escaped his observation. + + * * * * * + + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + * * * * * + + +ORIGIN OF PAUL "PRY." + +(By the Author.) + + +The idea of the character of Paul Pry was suggested by the following +anecdote, related to me several years ago, by a beloved friend:--An idle +old lady, living in a narrow street, had passed so much of her time in +watching the affairs of her neighbours, that she, at length, acquired +the power of distinguishing the sound of every knocker within hearing. +It happened that she fell ill, and was, for several days, confined to +her bed. Unable to observe in person what was going on without, she +stationed her maid at the window, as a substitute for the performance +of that duty. But Betty soon grew weary of the occupation: she became +careless in her reports--impatient and tetchy when reprimanded for her +negligence. + +"Betty, what _are_ you thinking about? don't you hear a double +knock at No. 9? Who is it?" + +"The first-floor lodger, Ma'am." + +"Betty! Betty!--I declare I must give you warning. Why don't you tell me +what that knock is at No. 54!" + +"Why, Lord! Ma'am, it is only the baker, with pies." + +"_Pies_, Betty! what _can_ they want with pies at 54?--they +had pies yesterday!" + +Of this very point I have availed myself. Let me add that Paul Pry +was never intended as the _representative of any one individual_, but +a class. Like the melancholy of Jaques, he is "compounded of many +_Simples_;" and I _could_ mention five or six who were unconscious +contributors to the character.--That it should have been so often, +though erroneously, supposed to have been drawn after some particular +person, is, perhaps, complimentary to the general truth of the +delineation. + +With respect to the play, generally, I may say that it is original: it +is original in structure, plot, character, and dialogue--such as they +are. The only imitation I am aware of is to be found in part of the +business in which Mrs. Subtle is engaged: whilst writing those scenes +I had strongly in my recollection _Le Vieux Celibataire_. But even +the little I have adopted is considerably altered and modified by the +necessity of adapting it to the exigencies of a different plot.--_New +Monthly Magazine_. + + * * * * * + + +MAUREEN. + + + The cottage is here as of old I remember, + The pathway is worn as it always hath been; + On the turf-piled hearth there still lives a bright ember;-- + But where is Maureen? + + The same pleasant prospect still lieth before me, + The river--the mountain--the valley of green, + And Heaven itself (a bright blessing!) is o'er me;-- + But where is Maureen? + + Lost! Lost!--Like a dream that hath come and departed, + (Ah, why are the loved and the lost ever seen!) + She has fallen--hath flown, with a lover false-hearted;-- + So, mourn for Maureen. + + And she who so loved her is slain--(the poor mother!) + Struck dead in a day by a shadow unseen, + And the home we once loved is the home of another, + And lost is Maureen. + + Sweet Shannon, a moment by thee let me ponder, + A moment look back at the things that have been, + Then, away to the world where the ruin'd ones wander, + To seek for Maureen. + + Pale peasant--perhaps, 'neath the frown of high Heaven, + She roams the dark deserts of sorrow unseen, + Unpitied--unknown; but I--_I_ shall know even + The _ghost_ of Maureen. + + +_New Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +THE BURIAL IN THE DESERT. + +BY MRS HEMANS. + + + How weeps yon gallant Band + O'er him their valour could not save! + For the bayonet is red with gore, + And he, the beautiful and brave, + Now sleeps in Egypt's sand.--WILSON. + + + In the shadow of the Pyramid + Our brother's grave we made, + When the battle-day was done, + And the Desert's parting sun + A field of death survey'd. + + The blood-red sky above us + Was darkening into night, + And the Arab watching silently + Our sad and hurried rite. + + The voice of Egypt's river + Came hollow and profound, + And one lone palm-tree, where we stood, + Rock'd with a shivery sound: + + While the shadow of the Pyramid + Hung o'er the grave we made, + When the battle-day was done, + And the Desert's parting sun + A field of death survey'd. + + The fathers of our brother + Were borne to knightly tombs, + With torch-light and with anthem-note, + And many waving plumes: + + But he, the last and noblest + Of that high Norman race, + With a few brief words of soldier-love + Was gather'd to his place; + + In the shadow of the Pyramid, + Where his youthful form we laid, + When the battle-day was done, + And the Desert's parting sun + A field of death survey'd. + + But let him, let him slumber + By the old Egyptian wave! + It is well with those who bear their fame + Unsullied to the grave! + + When brightest names are breathed on, + When loftiest fall so fast, + We would not call our brother back + On dark days to be cast, + + From the shadow of the Pyramid, + Where his noble heart we laid, + When the battle-day was done, + And the Desert's parting sun + A field of death survey'd. + + +_Blackwood's Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +THE SNOW-WHITE VIRGIN. + +(Continued from page 125.) + + +Her life seemed to be the same in sleep. Often at midnight, by the light +of the moon shining in upon her little bed beside theirs, her parents +leant over her face, diviner in dreams, and wept as she wept, her lips +all the while murmuring, in broken sentences of prayer, the name of Him +who died for us all. But plenteous as were his penitential +tears--penitential, in the holy humbleness of her stainless spirit, over +thoughts that had never left a dimming breath on its purity, yet that +seemed, in those strange visitings, to be haunting her as the shadows of +sins--soon were they all dried up in the lustre of her returning smiles! +Waking, her voice in the kirk was the sweetest among many sweet, as all +the young singers, and she the youngest far, sat together by themselves, +and within the congregational music of the psalm, uplifted a silvery +strain that sounded like the very spirit of the whole, even like angelic +harmony blent with a mortal song. But sleeping, still more sweetly sang +the "Holy Child;" and then, too, in some diviner inspiration than ever +was granted to it while awake, her soul composed its own hymns, and set +the simple scriptural words to its own mysterious music--the tunes she +loved best gliding into one another, without once ever marring the +melody, with pathetic touches interposed never heard before, and never +more, to be renewed! For each dream had its own breathing, and +many-visioned did then seem to be the sinless creature's sleep! + +The love that was borne for her, all over the hill-region and beyond its +circling clouds, was almost such as mortal creatures might be thought to +feel for some existence that had visibly come from heaven! Yet all who +looked on her saw that she, like themselves, was mortal; and many an eye +was wet, the heart wist not why, to hear such wisdom falling from her +lips; for dimly did it prognosticate, that as short as bright would be +her walk from the cradle to the grave. And thus for the "Holy Child" was +their love elevated by awe, and saddened by pity--and as by herself she +passed pensively by their dwellings, the same eyes that smiled on her +presence, on her disappearance wept! + +Not in vain for others--and for herself, oh! what great gain!--for these +few years on earth, did that pure spirit ponder on the word of God! +Other children became pious from their delight in her piety---for she +was simple as the simplest among them all, and walked with them hand in +hand, nor spurned companionship with any one that was good. But all grew +good by being with her---and parents had but to whisper her name--and in +a moment the passionate sob was hushed---the lowering brow lighted--and +the household in peace. Older hearts owned the power of the piety, so +far surpassing their thoughts; and time-hardened sinners, it is said, +when looking and listening to the "Holy Child," knew the errors of their +ways, and returned to the right path, as at a voice from heaven. + +Bright was her seventh summer--the brightest, so the aged said, that had +ever, in man's memory, shone over Scotland. One long, still, sunny, blue +day followed another; and in the rainless weather, though the dews kept +green the hills, the song of the streams was low. But paler and paler, +in sunlight and moonlight, became the sweet face that had been always +pale; and the voice that had been always something mournful, breathed +lower and sadder still from the too perfect whiteness of her breast. No +need--no fear---to tell her thai she was about to die! Sweet whispers +had sung it to her in her sleep, and waking she knew it in the look of +the piteous skies. But she spoke not to her parents of death more than +she had often done--and never of her own. Only she seemed to love them +with a more exceeding love--and was readier, even sometimes when no one +was speaking, with a few drops of tears. Sometimes she disappeared--nor, +when sought for, was found in the woods about the hut. And one day that +mystery was cleared; for a shepherd saw her sitting by herself on a +grassy mound in a nook of the small, solitary kirkyard, miles off among +the hills, so lost in reading the Bible, that shadow or sound of his +feet awoke her not; and, ignorant of his presence, she knelt down and +prayed--for awhile weeping bitterly--but soon comforted by a heavenly +calm--that her sins might be forgiven her! + +One Sabbath evening, soon after, as she was sitting beside her parents, +at the door of their hut, looking first for a long while on their faces, +and then for a long while on the sky, though it was not yet the stated +hour of worship, she suddenly knelt down, and leaning on their knees, +with hands clasped more fervently than her wont, she broke forth into +tremulous singing of that hymn, which from her lips they now never heard +without unendurable tears. + + "The hour of my departure's come, + I hear the voice that calls me home; + At last, O Lord! let trouble cease, + And let thy servant die in peace." + + +They carried her fainting to her little bed, and uttered not a word to +one another till she revived. The shock was sudden, but not unexpected, +and they knew now that the hand of death was upon her, although her eyes +soon became brighter and brighter, they thought, than they had ever been +before. But forehead, cheeks, lips, neck, and breast, were, all as +white, and, to the quivering hands that touched them, almost as cold, as +snow. Ineffable was the bliss in those radiant eyes; but the breath of +words was frozen, and that hymn was almost her last farewell. Some few +words she spake, and named the hour and day she wished to be buried. +Her lips could then just faintly return the kiss, and no more--a film +came over the now dim blue of her eyes--the father listened for her +breath--and then the mother took his place, and leaned her ear to the +unbreathing mouth, long deluding herself with its lifelike smile; but +a sudden darkness in the room, and a sudden stillness--most dreadful +both--convinced their unbelieving hearts at last--that it was death! + +All the parish, it may be said, attended her funeral--for none staid +away from the kirk that Sabbath--though many a voice was unable to join +in the psalm. The little grave was soon filled up, and you hardly knew +that the turf had been disturbed beneath which she lay. The afternoon +service consisted but of a prayer--for he who ministered, had loved her +with love unspeakable--and, though an old grey-haired man, all the time +he prayed he wept. In the sobbing kirk her parents were sitting, but no +one looked at them--and when the congregation rose to go, there they +remained sitting--and an hour afterwards, came out again into the open +air--and parting with their pastor at the gate, walked away to their +hut, overshadowed with the blessing of a thousand prayers! + +And did her parents, soon after she was buried, die of broken hearts, +or pine away disconsolately to their graves?--Think not that they, who +were Christians indeed, could be guilty of such ingratitude. "The Lord +giveth, and the Lord taketh away--blessed be the name of the Lord!" were +the first words they had spoken by that bedside; during many, many long +years of weal or woe, duly every morning and night, these same blessed +words did they utter when on their knees together in prayer--and many +a thousand times besides, when they were apart, she in her silent hut, +and he on the hill--neither of them unhappy in their solitude, though +never again, perhaps, was his countenance so cheerful as of yore--and +though often suddenly amidst mirth or sunshine, her eyes were seen +to overflow! Happy had they been--as we mortal beings ever can be +happy--during many pleasant years of wedded life before she had been +born. And happy were they--on to the verge of old age--after she had +here ceased to be! Their Bible had indeed been an idle book--the Bible +that belonged to "the Holy Child,"--and idle all their kirk-goings with +"the Holy Child," through the Sabbath-calm--had those intermediate seven +years not left a power of bliss behind them triumphant over death and +the grave! + +_Blackwood's Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + * * * * * + + +FAMILIAR LAW. + + +We cordially add our note of commendation to those already bestowed +on a little Manual, entitled "Plain Advice to Landlords and Tenants, +Lodging-house Keepers, and Lodgers; with a comprehensive Summary of the +Law of Distress," &c. It is likewise pleasant to see "third edition" in +its title-page. Accompanying we have "A Familiar Summary of the Laws +respecting Masters and Servants," &c. + +On looking into these little books we find much of the _plain +sense_ of law. There is no mystification by technicalities, but all +the information is practical, all ready to hand, we mean mouth; so that, +as Mrs. Fixture says in the farce of _A Roland for an Oliver_--"If +there be such a thing as la' in the land," you may "ha' it." Joking +apart, they are sensible books, and of good authority. + +Suppose we throw ourselves back in our chair, and for a minute or two +think of the good which the spread of common sense by such means as the +above must produce among men: how much bile and bickering they may keep +down, which in nine law-suits out of ten arise from want of "a proper +understanding." The reader may say that in recommending those +fire-and-water folks, landlords and tenants, and masters and servants, +and those half-agreeable persons, lodging-house keepers and lodgers--to +purchase such books, we advise every man to act with an attorney at his +elbow. We can but reply with Swift:-- + + "The only fault is with mankind." + + + * * * * * + + +CRUELTY TO ANIMALS. + +A very laudable work appears quarterly, entitled "The Voice of Humanity: +for the communication and discussion of all subjects relative to the +conduct of man towards the inferior animal creation." The number (3) +before us, contains a paper on the Abolition of Slaughter-houses, and +the substitution of Abattoirs, a point to which we adverted and +illustrated in vol. xi. of the _Mirror_. The Amended Act to prevent +the cruel and improper treatment of cattle, follows; and among the other +articles is a Table of the Prosecutions of the Society against Cruelty +to Animals, from November 1830, to January 1831, drawn up by our +occasional correspondent, the benevolent Mr. Lewis Gompertz. + + * * * * * + + +THE MUSE IN LIVERY. + +We have been somewhat amused with the piquancy and humour of the +following introduction of a Notice of a volume of Poems, "by John Jones, +an old servant," which has just appeared under the editorship of Mr. +Southey and the _Quarterly Review_:-- + +Shakspeare has said, "What's in a name?--a rose, by any other name, +would smell as sweet!" But here we have a convincing proof of the +necessity of attending strictly to names, as the commonest regard to the +fitting attributes of a "John Jones," would have kept the victim of such +an appellation quite clear of poetry. It is next to impossible that a +John Jones should be a poet;--and some kind friend should have broken +the truth to the butler, before he endeavoured to share unpolished glory +with uneducated bards. + +An inspired serving-man, in a livery of industry, turned up with +morality, is a species of bard which we never expected to find in the +service of the Muses, or bringing a written character from his last +place, and vaunting of his readiness and ability to write epics and +wait at table. The work we should have looked to meet with, emanating +from the butler's pantry, was a miscellaneous volume full of religious +scraps, essays on dress, receipts for boot-tops, wise cooking +cogitations, remedies for bugs, cures for ropy beer, hints for blacking, +ingredients for punch, thoughts on tapping ale, early rising and killing +fleas. The mischief of the wide dissemination of education is now +becoming apparent, for, poor as authors confessedly are, they have +generally been gentlemen, even in rags--learned men of some degree, +though with exposed elbows--folk only a little lower than the angels! +But never until the schoolmaster was so abundantly abroad, distributing +his spelling-soup to the poor, did we ever hear of a butler writing +poetry, and committing it to the press. The order of things is becoming +reversed. The garret is beginning to lose its literary celebrity, and +the kitchen is taking the matter up. A floor near the sky in Grub-street +is no pen-spot now; but down fifty fathoms deep in Portland Place, or +Portman Square, or some far-retired old country house, you shall find +the author: his red cuffs turned up over his light blue jacket sleeves, +the pen in his hand, and his inspired eye looking out upon the area. +There doth he correct the brain-work which is to carry his name up above +the earth, and keep it there, bright as cleaned plate. In the +housekeeper's room, inspiration gives a double knock at his heart. An +author in a pantry certainly writes under great disadvantages, for it +cannot be said that he is there writing for his _bread_. In such a +place, the loaf is in his eye--the larder is so near, he may almost dip +his pen into it by mistake--and positive beef gleams through the veil of +the safe, softened to his eye, yet still solider than beef of the +imagination. In truth, a man has much to overcome in preparing food for +the mind, in the very thick of food for the body;--for a good authority +(no less a man than Mr. Bayes) has strenuously advised that the belly +should be empty when the brain is to be unloaded. How can a gentleman's +gentleman, with a _corpus_ that banishes his backbone nearly four +feet from the table at which he sits, betake himself to his cogitations +over a tankard of October, and expect to beat your true thin +garret-haunting devil, with an inside like a pea-shooter, who can +scarcely be said to be one remove from the ethereal, and who writes from +that best of inspirations--an empty pantry? We shall presently see +whether an author from below is better than one from above--whether it +will be more eligible that the Muses should have several more stories +to descend, when their nine ladyships are invoked so to do--and that the +pen should be taken out of the scraggy hand of a gentleman in rags, and +be placed in the plump gripe of a gentleman in tags. + +Before we proceed to give an account of the book before us, we must yet +take leave to indulge in a few reflections on the effect of this mental +explosion in the noddles of John and James and Richard, upon reviewers, +publishers, and the world in general. This change of lodging in the +author will turn many things topsy-turvy, and conjure the spirit out of +much long-established facetiousness. Pictures of poets in garrets will +soon not be understood; bathos will be at a premium! the bard will be +known, not by the brownness of his beaver, but by the gold band that +encircles it. The historian shall go about in black plush breeches; and +the great inspired writers of the age "have a livery more guarded than +their fellows." Authors shall soon be, indeed, even more easily known by +their dress. How often, too, shall we see Mr. Murray or Mr. Colburn +descending "with the nine" to the hireling scribe, who is correcting the +press and locking up the tea-spoons, against his coming; or they may +have occasionally to wait below, while their authors are _waiting_ +above. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green (almost a batch of he-muses +in themselves), will get a new cookery-book, _well done_, from a +genuine cook,[5] who divides his time between the spit and the pen; and +the firm need not, therefore, set Mrs. Rundell's temper upon the +_simmer_, as they are said to have done in days past. Reviewers +too!---will they ever dine together anon?--surely not. Authors are known +to be in the malicious habit of speaking ill of their friends and judges +behind their backs; and at dinner-time they will soon have every +opportunity of so doing. How unpleasant to call for beer from the poet +you have just set in a foam; or to ask for the carving-knife from the +man you have so lately _cut up_! _We_ reviewers shall then never +be able to shoot our severity, without the usual coalman's memento of +"take care below!" One advantage, however, from the new system must be +conceded, and that is, that when an author waits in a great man's hall, +or stands at his door, he will be pretty sure of being paid for it; which, +in the case of your dangling garreteers, has never hitherto happened. +Crabbe's story of "The Patron" will become obsolete. High Life will, +indeed, be below stairs! + +There is a lively spirit of banter in these observations, which is +extremely amusing. They are from the _Athenaeum_ of last week, +which, by the way, has more of the intellectual gladiatorship in its +columns than any of its critical contemporaries. + + [5] There is a cookery-book, by "a Lady," and a cookery-book by a + Physician; but Mrs. Rundell and Dr. Kitchiner will soon be warned + off the gridiron by the erudite genuine practical cook, who has + a right to the _kitchen stuff_ of literature. Mrs. R. must show + herself to be what she professes, and take "her chops out of the + frying-pan;" and the "good doctor" must "put his tongue into plenty + of cold water" to cool its boiling, broiling ardour. + + + * * * * * + + +STEAM. + +A Mr. Josph Hardaker has sung the praises of this gigantic power in +thirty-five stanzas, entitled "the Aeropteron; or, Steam Carriage." If +his lines run not as glibly as a Liverpool prize engine, they will +afford twenty minutes pleasant reading, and are an illustration of the +high and low pressure precocity of the march of mechanism. + + * * * * * + + +TIME'S TELESCOPE FOR 1831 + +Has appeared in somewhat better style than its predecessors. The paper +is of better quality, the print is in better taste, and there are a few +delicate copper-plate engravings. The old plan or chronological +arrangement is, however, nearly worn threadbare, and to supply this +defect there are in the present volume many specimens of contemporary +literature. Few of them, however, are first-rate. The most original +portion consists of the Astronomical Occurrences, which extend to 150 +pages. + + * * * * * + + +POPULAR CHEMISTRY. + +Such is the title of the fifth part or portion of _Knowledge for the +People: or, the Plain Why and Because:_ containing Attraction or +Affinity--Crystallization--Heat--Electricity--Light and +Flame--Combustion--Charcoal--Gunpowder and Volcanic Fire. We quote a few +articles from most of the heads:-- + +Why is the science of chemistry so named? + +Because of its origin from the Arabic, in which language it signifies +"the knowledge of the composition of bodies." + +The following definitions of chemistry have been given by some of our +best writers:-- + +"Chemistry is the study of the effects of heat and mixture, with the +view of discovering their general and subordinate laws, and of improving +the useful arts."--Dr. Black. + +"Chemistry is that science which examines the constituent parts of +bodies, with reference to their nature, proportions, and method of +combination."--Bergman. + +"Chemistry is that science which treats of those events or changes, in +natural bodies, which are not accompanied by sensible motions."--Dr. +Thompson. + +"Chemistry is a science by which we become acquainted with the intimate +and reciprocal action of all the bodies in nature upon each +other."--Fourcroy. + +The four preceding definitions are quoted by Mr. Parkes, in his +_Chemical Catechism_. + +Dr. Johnson (from Arbuthnot) defines "chymistry" as "philosophy by +fire." + +Mr. Brande says, "It is the object of chemistry to investigate all +changes in the constitution of matter, whether effected by heat, +mixture, or other means."--_Manual_, 3rd edit. 1830. + +Dr. Ure says, "Chemistry may be defined the science which investigates +the composition of material substances, and the permanent changes of +constitution which their mutual actions produce."--_Dictionary_, +edit. 1830. + +Sir Humphry Davy, in his posthumous work,[6] says, "There is nothing +more difficult than a good definition of chemistry; for it is scarcely +possible to express, in a few words, the abstracted view of an infinite +variety of facts. Dr. Black has defined chemistry to be that science +which treats of the changes produced in bodies by motions of their +ultimate particles or atoms; but this definition is hypothetical; for +the ultimate particles or atoms are mere creations of the imagination. I +will give you a definition which will have the merit of novelty, and +which is probably general in its application. _Chemistry relates to +those operations by which the intimate nature, of bodies is changed, or +by which they acquire new properties._ This definition will not only +apply to the effects of mixture, but to the phenomena of electricity, +and, in short, to all the changes which do not merely depend upon the +motion or division of masses of matter." + +Cuvier, in one of a series of lectures, delivered at Paris, in the +spring of last year, says, "the name chemistry, itself, comes from the +word _chim_, which was the ancient name of Egypt;" and he states +that minerals were known to the Egyptians "not only by their external +characters, but also by what we at the present day call their _chemical +characters_." He also adds, that what was afterwards called the Egyptian +science, the Hermetic art, the art of transmuting metals, was a mere +reverie of the middle ages, utterly unknown to antiquity. "The pretended +books of Hermes are evidently supposititious, and were written by the +Greeks of the lower Empire." + + +Crystallization. + +Why are the crystals collected in camphor bottles in druggists' windows +always most copious upon the surface exposed to the light? + +Because the presence of light considerably influences the process of +crystallization. Again, if we place a solution of nitre in a room which +has the light admitted only through a small hole in the window-shutter, +crystals will form most abundantly upon the side of the basin exposed to +the aperture through which the light enters, and often the whole mass of +crystals will turn towards it.--Brande. + +Why is sugar-candy crystallized on strings, and verdigris on sticks? + +Because crystallization is accelerated by introducing into the solution +a nucleus, or solid body, (like the string or stick) upon which the +process begins. + +The ornamental alum baskets, whose manufacture was once so favourite a +pursuit of lady-chemistry, were made upon this principle; the forms of +the baskets being determined by wire framework, to which the crystals +readily adhere. + +Why is sugar-candy sometimes in large and regular crystals? + +Because the concentrated syrup has been kept for several days and nights +_undisturbed_, in a very high temperature; for, if perfect rest and +a temperature of from 120° to 190° be not afforded, regular crystals of +candy will not be obtained. + +The manufacture of barley-sugar is a familiar example of +crystallization. The syrup is evaporated over a slow heat, till it has +acquired the proper consistence, when it is poured on metal to cool, and +when nearly so, cut into lengths with shears, then twisted, and again +left to harden. + +Heat. + +Why does hay, if stacked when damp, take fire? + +Because the moisture elevates the temperature sufficiently to produce +putrefaction, and the ensuing chemical action causes sufficient heat to +continue the process; the quantity of matter being also great, the heat +is proportional. + +Why is the air warm in misty or rainy weather? + +Because of the liberation of the latent heat from the precipitated +vapour. + +Why is heated air thinner or lighter than cold air? + +Because it is a property of heat to expand all bodies; or rather we +should say, that we call air hot or cold, according as it naturally is +more or less expanded. + +Why is a tremulous motion observable over chimney-pots, and slated roofs +which have been heated by the sun? + +Because the warm air rises, and its refracting power being less than +that of the colder air, the currents are rendered visible by the +distortion of objects viewed through them. + +Within doors, a similar example occurs above the foot-lights of the +stage of a theatre; the flame of a candle, or the smoke of a lamp. + +Why are the gas chandeliers in our theatres placed under a large funnel? + +Because the funnel, by passing through the roof into the outer air, +operates as a very powerful ventilator, the heat and smoke passing off +with a large proportion of the air of the house. + +The ventilation of rooms and buildings can only be perfectly effected, +by suffering the heated and foul air to pass off through apertures in +the ceiling, while fresh air, of any desired temperature, is admitted +from below.--Brande. + +Why do heated sea-sand and soda form glass? + +Because, by heating the mixture, the cohesion of the particles of each +substance to those of its own kind is so diminished, that the mutual +attractions of the two substances come into play, melt together, and +unite chemically into the beautiful compound called glass. + +Why is sand used in glass? + +Because it serves for stone; it being said, that all white transparent +stones which will not burn to lime are fit to make glass. + + +Electricity. + +Why is an arrangement of several Leyden jars called an electrical +battery? + +Because by a communication existing between all their interior coatings, +their exterior being also united, they may be charged and discharged as +one jar. + +The discharge of the battery is attended by a considerable report, and if +it be passed through small animals, it instantly kills them; if through +fine metallic wires, they are ignited, melted, and burned; and gunpowder, +cotton sprinkled with powdered resin, and a variety of other combustibles, +may be inflamed by the same means. + +Why is the fireside an unsafe place in a thunder-storm? + +Because the carbonaceous matter, or soot, with which the chimney is +lined, acts as a conductor for the lightning. + +Why is the middle of an apartment the safest place during a +thunder-storm? + +Because, should a flash of lightning strike a building, or enter at any +of the windows, it will take its direction along the walls, without +injuring the centre of the room. + + +Combustion. + +Why does amàdou, or German tinder, readily inflame from flint and steel, +or from the sudden condensation of air? + +Because it consists of a vegetable substance found on old trees, boiled +in water to extract its soluble parts, then dried and beat with a +mallet, to loosen its texture; and lastly, impregnated with a solution +of nitre.---Ure. + +Why is a piece of paper lighted, by holding it in the air which rushes +out of a common lamp-glass? + +Because of the high temperature of the current of air above the flame, +the condensation of which is by the chimney of the glass. + + +We do not quote these specimens in the precise order in which they occur +in the work, or to show the consecutive or connected interest of the +several articles. In many cases we select them for their brevity and +point of illustration. + + [6] Consolations in Travel; or, the Last Days of a Philosopher. 1830. + + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GATHERER. + + + A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. + SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +SHIP-BUILDING. + +To give an idea of the enormous quantity of timber necessary to +construct a ship of war, we may observe that 2,000 tons, or 3,000 loads, +are computed to be required for a seventy-four. Now, reckoning fifty +oaks to the acre, of 100 years' standing, and the quantity in each tree +to be a load and a half, it would require forty acres of oak forest to +build one seventy-four; and the quantity increases in a great ratio, for +the largest class of line of battle ships. The average duration of these +vast machines, when employed, is computed to be fourteen years. It is +supposed, that all the full grown oaks now in Scotland would not build +two ships of the line. + +_Quarterly Journal of Agriculture_. + + * * * * * + + +THE SHOWER BATH. + + + Quoth Dermot, (a lodger of Mrs. O'Flynn's), + "How queerly my shower bath feels! + It shocks like a posse of needles and pins, + Or a shoal of electrical eels." + + Quoth Murphy, "then mend it, and I'll tell you how, + Its all your own fault, my good fellow; + I used to be bothered as you are, but now + I'm wiser--I take my umbrella." + + +X.Y.Z. + + * * * * * + + +THE TOWER OF LONDON. + +Some of the following inscriptions are to be found in the "Beauchamp +Tower." + +In the third recess on the left hand is "T.C. I leve in hope, and I gave +q credit to mi frinde, in time did stande me most in hande, so wolde I +never doe againe, excepte I hade him suer in bande, and to al men wishe +I so, unles ye sussteine the leike lose as I do. + + "Unhappie is that mane whose actes doth procuer, + The miseri of this house imprison to induer. + + "1576, Thomas Clark." + + +Just opposite the same is + + "Hit is the poynt of a wyse man to try and then truste, + For Hapy is he who fyndeth one that is juste. + + "T. Clarke." + +In the same part of the room between the two last recesses is this, in +old English: + + "Ano. Dni ... Mens. As. + 1568 J.H.S. 23 + + "No hope is hard or vayne + That happ doth ous attayne." + + +And on the wall on the top of the Beauchamp Tower, are the following +lines on a Goldfinch:-- + + "Where Raleigh pined within a prison's gloom, + I chearful sung, nor murmur'd at my doom, + Where heroes bold and patriots firm could dwell, + A Goldfinch in Content his note might swell; + But death more gentle than the law's decree, + Hath paid my ransom from captivity. + + "Buried June 23rd, 1794, by a fellow-prisoner + in the Tower of London." + + * * * * * + + +LORD THURLOW. + +One day, when Lord Thurlow was very busy at his house in Great +Ormondstreet, a poor curate applied to him for a living then vacant, +"Don't trouble me," said the chancellor, turning from him with a +frowning brow; "don't you see I am busy, and can't listen to you?" The +poor curate lifted up his eyes, and with dejection said, "he had no Lord +to recommend him but the Lord of Hosts!" "The Lord of Hosts," replied +the chancellor, "The Lord of Hosts! I believe I have had recommendations +from most lords, but do not recollect one from him before, and so do you +hear, young man, you shall have the living;" and accordingly presented +him with the same. + + * * * * * + + +THE EAST INDIA COMPANY. + +The East India Company was established 1600, their stock then consisting +of £72,000, when they fitted out four ships, and meeting with success, +they have continued ever since; in 1683, India Stock sold from 360 to +500 per cent. A new company was established in 1698; re-established, and +the two united, 1700, agreed to give government £400,000. per annum, for +four years, on condition they might continue unmolested, 1769. In 1773, +in great confusion, and applied to parliament for assistance; judges +sent from England by government, faithfully to administer the laws there +to the company's servants, 1774, April 2nd. + +T. GILL. + + * * * * * + + +A country paper says, "The Corporation are about to build two free +schools, one of which is finished." + + * * * * * + + +ANNUAL OF SCIENCE. + + +Early in March will be published, price 5s. + +ARCANA of SCIENCE, and ANNUAL REGISTER of the USEFUL ARTS for 1831. + +Comprising POPULAR INVENTIONS, IMPROVEMENTS, and DISCOVERIES Abridged +from the Transactions of Public Societies and Scientific Journals of the +past year. With several Engravings. + +"One of the best and cheapest books of the day."--_Mag. Nat. Hist._ + +"An annual register of new inventions and improvements, in a popular +form like this, cannot fail to be useful."--_Lit. Gaz._ + +Printing for JOHN LIMBIRD, 143, Strand;--of whom may be had the Volumes +for the three preceding years. + + * * * * * + +Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset +House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; G.G. +BENNIS, 55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; and by all Newsmen and +Booksellers. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14022 *** |