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diff --git a/17348.txt b/17348.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..454410a --- /dev/null +++ b/17348.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2433 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 432, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 432 + Volume 17, New Series, April 10, 1852 + +Author: Various + +Editor: Robert Chambers and William Chambers + +Release Date: December 18, 2005 [EBook #17348] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH *** + + + + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. Shiffer 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. 432. NEW SERIES. SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1852. PRICE 1-1/2_d._ + + + + +THE MEDIAEVAL MANIA. + + +History is said to be a series of reactions. Society, like a pendulum, +first drives one way, and then swings back in the opposite direction. +At present, we may be said to be returning at full speed towards a +taste for everything old, neglected, and for ages despised. Science +and refinement have had their day, and now rude nature and the +elemental are to be in the ascendant. In our boyhood, we learned the +Roman alphabet; but youngsters now had need to add a knowledge of +black-letter, which is rapidly getting back into fashion. Perfection +is only to be found in the darkness and ignorance of the middle ages. + +It is proper, no doubt, to get rid of what is tame and spiritless in +art; and it must be owned that nearly everything that was done in +architecture and decoration during the Georgian era was detestable. +But it is one thing to reform, and another to revolutionise. Let us by +all means go to nature for instruction; but nature under the exercise +of cultivated feeling--selecting what tends to ennoble and refine, not +that which degrades and sends us back to forms and ideas totally out +of place in the nineteenth century, and which, for that very reason, +can have nothing but a temporary reign, to be followed in the +succeeding age by a violent reaction. + +On a former occasion, we drew attention to this tendency towards +mediaevalism as regards ornamental design, and took the Great +Exhibition to witness the fact. We have also pointed to that strange +phenomenon, the rise anew of monastic institutions among us, long +after their object is accomplished, giving a spectre-like expression +to an obsolete idea; we have exposed, likewise, the inclination of the +working-classes to trust to the protection, and, on every emergency, +claim as a matter of right the aid of the wealthy, thus wilfully and +deliberately returning to the condition of serfdom: we have now to +trace the mediaeval mania in a department where, notwithstanding all +this ominous conjunction of symptoms, its appearance is truly +surprising--in the department of high art in painting. + +Our readers need not fear that we are about to inflict on them a +scientific dissertation. All we wish to do, is to explain to them a +word, with the meaning of which many of them are very imperfectly +acquainted, and by the mere explanation, to enable them to determine +upon its claims to designate--not merely _a_ school, but _the_ school +of art, destined, if founded in truth and nature, to overturn every +other. This word--Pre-Raphaelitism--is taken from the name of one of +the Italian masters, and it is necessary, in order to understand the +question, to ascertain what were the circumstances and the genius that +have thus set him up as a landmark in the history of art. + +After the fall of the Western Empire, the fine arts were lost, and +their productions literally buried in the wreck. The minds of the +composite nations that arose in Europe had no guide. Men were left to +their own instincts, only faintly aided by the ruins and traditions of +degenerate Rome; and each series of countries had its own style of +art, framed or adopted by the genius of the people. During the middle +ages, the style most general in Northern Europe was the Gothic; and by +that term the whole system of art during the period is popularly known +in England. The state of painting, under the Gothic regime, may be +seen in the stained windows of the cathedrals; in which strong +outlines and bright colours are laid down without any reference to +chiaro-scuro, or the scientific arrangement of light and shadow. This +seems a natural stage in art-development, and at the same moment it +was seen in equal perfection in China and Europe. In the former +region, the people are now beginning to advance a step beyond, through +their imitation of English pictures; although, but a few years ago, +they burst into fits of laughter on seeing the shadow of the nose in a +portrait. In Europe, a gigantic and almost sudden stride was made, +towards the close of the fifteenth century, under an influence from +which the Chinese were debarred, and the nature of which we shall +presently explain. + +Let us first, however, just notice, that the charms of gaudy +inartistic colouring frequently exercise a powerful sway even over +minds familiar with better things; although that sway is always +indicative of the decay of intellectual or moral freshness. Thus, it +is remarked by an old Greek author (Dionysius of Halicarnassus), that +the perfection to which painting had been brought by Apelles, had +degenerated under Augustus; the painters being so much fascinated by +the new art of colouring, that they neglected design, and preferred +the brilliant or gaudy to the solid, and counterfeit to natural +beauty. What this 'perfection' of Apelles was, we cannot now tell; but +the probability is, that it existed only in design, and that the union +of this with artistic colouring was reserved for the modern masters. + +Before these masters appeared, and before the influence we are about +to refer to was felt in Europe, some efforts were made by unassisted +genius to rise beyond the conventionalities of the time; in the latter +half of the thirteenth century, Cimabue already surpassed his modern +Greek preceptors; and his disciple Giotto was considered so natural +and original, that his style could not be referred to any existing +school, but was called the _maniera di Giotto_. 'Instead of the harsh +outline,' says Vasari, 'circumscribing the whole figure, the glaring +eyes, the pointed hands and feet, and all the defects arising from a +total want of shadow, the figures of Giotto exhibit a better attitude; +the heads have an air of life and freedom, the drapery is more +natural, and there are even some attempts at fore-shortening the +limbs.' All this, however, although a decided improvement on mediaeval +art, was rude and imperfect--it was only the first faint dawn of a +better light. 'As yet,' to use the words of Roscoe, 'the characters +rarely excelled the daily prototypes of common life; and their forms, +although at times sufficiently accurate, were often vulgar and +heavy.... To everything great and elevated, the art was yet a +stranger: even the celebrated picture of Pollajuolo exhibits only a +group of half-naked and vulgar wretches, discharging their arrows at a +miserable fellow-creature, who, by changing places with one of his +murderers, might with equal propriety become a murderer himself.' + +But the time at length came when that stimulus was to be communicated +to taste which sent a thrill throughout the general heart of Europe. +The pictures of the old Greeks were lost for ever, dead and gone; but +their statues were only buried--buried alive--and now, at the command +of wealth and genius, they were dug out of their tomb of ages, and +came forth, unharmed, in their enchanted life and immortal beauty. +Yes, unharmed; for in the head, the torso, the limb, the hand, the +finger, the same principle of life existed as in the entire figure; +and, owing to the sublime law of proportion, which bound all together, +the minutest fragment indicated a perfect whole. The palace of Lorenzo +de Medici was the assembling-place, and the ideal beauty of the Greeks +found a new shrine in the groves of Florence. These became a true +academia, where genius studied and taught, and where the presiding +spirit of the place was Michael Angelo Buonarotti,[A] the +sculptor--painter--architect--poet, whose universal mind appeared to +fit him, not so much to shine in any one department--although shine he +did in all--as to give an impetus to the whole Revival. But Michael +Angelo, as a painter, excelled chiefly in design; while one who was +his contemporary, and being a few years later in the field, has been +supposed by some to be his imitator, was the painter _par excellence_ +of the new era--the first great painter of the moderns. This was +RAPHAEL. He was the pupil of Perugino; and while such, contented +himself with imitating, with the utmost fidelity, the works of that +artist; till at length emancipating himself from tutelage, he went for +inspiration to the cartoons of Michael Angelo, to the sculptures of +the Medici gardens, and to nature herself. Vasari makes Michael Angelo +the magnus Apollo of Raphael; but Quatremere de Quincy assigns to the +latter artist a holier worship. In a letter from him, which he quotes, +respecting his famous picture of the Galatea, Raphael says, that in +order to paint a beautiful woman, he must see many, but that, after +all, he must work upon a certain ideal image present in his mind. 'We +thus see,' says the French critic, 'that he really sought after the +beautiful which Nature presents to art, but which the imagination of +the artist alone can seize, and genius alone realise.' + +Raphael was the first of the moderns to idealise beauty, or, in other +words, to represent nature in the form she is striving, in her +infinite progression, to attain, but which as yet she only indicates +here and there in those hints and parts that prophetic genius combines +and moulds into a whole. He softened the harsh outlines, mellowed the +glaring colours, and harmonised the awkward proportions of mediaeval +art. With him, a new epoch commenced, adorned by many illustrious +names, from Julio Romano, the poet of painters, to Titian, who clipped +his pencil in the rainbow. The Lombard school of Titian was the third +of the three first great schools of the Revival, in which taste, +emancipated from the darkness of the middle ages, sought inspiration +in nature and the Greek sculptures. What would be thought if a school +were to arise three hundred years later, not merely discarding the +experience and teachings of the great masters, but claiming by its +very name to return into the gulf from which these had been +emancipated? This school of decline has, in fact, made its appearance +among the other symptoms of the mediaeval mania, and we now gravely +hang up in our exhibitions the productions of the _Pre_-Raphaelites! +The name at first provoked so much ridicule in England, that their +friends were at pains to inform the world, that it was assumed merely +for the purpose of intimating their entire separation from the +_schools_ of Raphael and his successors, and their exclusive devotion +to nature. The artists of Germany, however, with whom the mania +commenced, were less scrupulous.[1] They imitated, purposely, the +rudeness of the early painters, and even favourably distinguished the +juvenile works of Raphael when he was as yet the mere copyist of +Perugino. It is thus only the reformed schools the Pre-Raphaelists +avoid; for Mr Ruskin's notion, that there were no schools at all +before Raphael, is quite too wild for answer.[2] The name, however, is +of little consequence. The nature returned to is obviously, to any one +who has eyes in his head, the nature of the middle ages; and if our +readers will look again at the quotations we have made above--which +were not taken at random--they will find, in the words of Dionysius of +Halicarnassus, Vasari, and William Roscoe, a pretty accurate +description of the genius and manner of the Pre-Raphaelites. + +Nor could the fact be otherwise. We have noticed the identity of taste +between the Chinese and the unawakened Europeans, as pointing to a +natural stage in art-development; and if we allot to the new school a +position one degree higher than that of Cimabue and Giotto, it is all +that can be claimed by artists, who have even attempted to dismiss +from their minds a later and nobler experience. Their rule is--to have +no rule; to copy nature, just as she happens to be before them; to +select nothing, reject nothing, subordinate nothing, and thus to have +no composition and no chiaro-scuro. They recognise no inequality, no +relationship of objects: a pin in a lady's dress, and the nose on the +lady's face, are treated with the same even-handed justice. The +harmony of colours is a mere dream: let them only be as bright as a +stained-glass window, and all is well. + +At this moment, there are two specimens of Pre-Raphaelitism to be seen +at the Exhibition of the Scottish Academy in Edinburgh. They are both +distinguished, like the philosopher in Andersen's Drop of Ditchwater, +by having no name; but a quotation is appended to each of the numbers +in the catalogue, and is to be supposed to indicate, the subject. No. +9, in the Great Room, has this quatrain from Tennyson-- + + 'She only said: "My life is dreary-- + He cometh not!" she said; + She said: "I'm aweary, aweary-- + I would that I were dead."' + +In illustration of this awkwardly-constructed stanza, a female, +uncomely and ungraceful, is represented as standing in the attitude of +a yawn, not indicated by the gaping mouth, but by the contorted +person, and arms twisted behind the back. She is close to a +stained-glass window, whose gaudy colours are challenged by her own +bright blue dress, the object of the artist throughout appearing to be +violent opposition, not harmony. The picture, with its violent +dislocations, both of bones and impressions, conveys the idea of +anything but repose, although a mouse on the floor bids us notice, +that notwithstanding appearances, the ungainly lady stretches herself +in silence. There cannot well be anything more inelegant and untrue +than this piece; yet there is clever painting here and there; and some +of the accessories, if taken without reference to the design, in which +they are blots, are models of their kind. The thought belongs to the +middle ages; the mechanical touch to the post-Raphaelite era. + +The other picture, No. 93, in the same room, is larger and more +ambitious. It represents a carpenter's workshop, with a mechanic at +each end of the long bench; one of these, a half-starved, hideous +wretch, with hardly a trace of the human anatomy in his composition; +and the other, a respectable and rather sagacious-looking person, with +immeasurable legs. Behind the bench is a frightful old woman, of the +lowest class; and before it another, younger, but repulsively ugly and +vulgar, examining, in conjunction with the respectable workman--and +with her brow knotted in an awful congeries of wrinkles up to her +fiery hair--the hand of a little boy. This little boy, though plebeian +and red-haired, is not unpleasing: he has apparently cut his hand +while playing with some of the edge-tools lying about the shop; while +his brother, a better-figured as well as better-behaved boy, with a +hairy apron round him, is making himself useful in carrying a basin of +some dark-coloured stuff--probably carpenter's glue. But let us see +what the legend attached to the number says: 'And one shall say unto +him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those +with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.'--Zechariah, +xiii. 6. What does this mean? It means, innocent reader, that the +piece we have described in its principal features is the Holy Family +of the Pre-Raphaelites! This is their mode of going to nature, +selecting nothing but the mean and repulsive, and rejecting nothing +but poetical and religious feeling and common decency. + +But if the theory of the Pre-Raphaelites is just as regards painting, +it must be just as regards the other departments of taste. Suppose it +applied to musical composition. Let us throw overboard everything that +degrades music to a science, and 'go to nature,' as Mr Ruskin +counsels, 'rejecting nothing, selecting nothing, and scorning +nothing.' What would be the result? The result would be the torture of +everybody in the country who had the misfortune to possess a +cultivated ear. And yet the music of that time would not be absolutely +disagreeable in itself: it would merely involve the deprivation of +what had become a necessary to the taste; for nature would still +inspire simple sounds, connected more or less with the feelings. +Nature, in fact, proceeds in music upon laws that are merely +elaborated and carried out by science; while in painting, she offers +an endless variety of objects and effects, to be selected, grouped, +and made into a picture by the artist. We all feel this when gazing on +natural scenery. We are actuated by an unconscious eclecticism, and +make the composition for ourselves. To some natural scenes, no skill +could impart interest of any kind; others attain to a certain +character of the picturesque; while others, again, combine in +themselves all the elements of a good picture. But even with these +last, mere imitation will not do. Nature, as Hazlitt observes, 'has a +larger canvas than man'--a canvas immensely larger; and the artist, +since he cannot copy, must select. The same reasoning applies to +figure and group-painting, and its accessories. Nature rarely forms a +perfect group, because it is not her purpose to embody a single +expression. As for small accessorial objects, such as a pin or a leaf, +being painted with the same care and accuracy as principal objects, +this is a defect in drawing, that argues a singular want of +reflection. In nature, we see distinctly the figure and its more +prominent parts, but we see the minute accessorial parts so +indistinctly, that sometimes we can scarcely tell what they are. The +precise detailing of these objects, therefore, may have the truth of +fact, but it is destitute of the truth of nature. + +What would be the effect of the new system, if applied to romantic +fiction? But the question is unnecessary; for the new system ignores +romance, which is the truth of nature not of fact. A pre-Raphaelite +story, taken from real life, might be romantic in its incidents and +striking in its catastrophe; but it would want coherence in the +design, and therefore produce no sustained emotion; and its characters +being drawn, without selection, from vulgar prototypes, would excite +more disgust than interest. The drama?--but there the new theory of +art becomes too ridiculous: a tragedy on such a plan would be received +with alternate yawns of ennui and shouts of laughter. All these are +pertinent questions; for fine art, in literature, music, sculpture, +painting, architecture, forms a homogeneous circle under one law of +taste. + +It may be supposed that we are ascribing too much importance to the +department of the mediaeval mania under examination; but, for our part, +we 'scorn nothing' that presents a bar, however slight, to the +progress of civilisation and refinement. Pre-Raphaelitism is only one +form of a degradation of taste which appears to keep pace with the +utilities of the time, and we shall never be slow in lending our aid +to cleanse the temple of its desecrators. L.R. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] See the _Moyen Age_ of Du Sommirard. + +[2] _Pre-Raphaelitism._ By the author of _Modern Painters_. + + + + +A LEGEND OF AMEN-CORNER. + + +About the time that every prince in Europe was sending a special +embassy to London, to congratulate James I. on his book against +witchcraft, which none of them ever professed to have read, a strange +occurrence happened in an ancient house, situated in the Amen-Corner +of Paternoster Row. Like most of the houses of old London, its lower +half was brick, and its upper, English oak. It had been built in the +time of the first Tudor, but, being still a substantial tenement, was +purchased some ten years before the period of this narrative, by two +brothers named Christopher and Hubert, who carried on their business +there. They were of English blood, but had been born in Germany, their +grandfather having fled thither in Queen Mary's day under strong +suspicion of owning a Coverdale Bible; and in the good city of +Augsburg his son and grandsons had been brought up to his own craft, +then known as the singular art and mystery of printing. A separate and +a thinly-scattered guild was that of the printer in those days. Their +craft had nothing in common with the world's older arts, excepting +those of the scribe and the scholar. The entire book-trade, now +divided into so many branches, was in their hands--binder, engraver, +printer and publisher, being generally the same person; and this, +together with the laborious precision required in working the +primitive press, made them throughout Christendom a sort of caste who +acquired their trade by inheritance, and kept it as such. Two +generations of their family had transmitted the types to Christopher +and Hubert; but not to them alone. There had been an elder brother, +Gottleib, who printed with them at Augsburg. Their mother had died +early: the plague summoned their father when they were little more +than boys, and the man grieved sore to leave his sons so young, and an +edition of the Latin Fathers, which he had calculated on finishing in +five years with great praise and profit, just begun; but Gottleib +promised him that he would finish the work in his name, and take care +of his young brothers till they were old enough to be expert and +prudent printers; so the old man died in peace. + +Gottleib was the glory of his craft, and the praise of all Augsburg. +Throughout Germany there was not a more skilful printer, nor in the +city a more wise and virtuous youth. Old men asked his help in their +difficulties, the young chose him as umpire in their disputes. He was +charitable to the poor, a peacemaker among his neighbours, and a +faithful and kindly guardian to his young brothers. Carefully he +instructed them in all the mysteries of their art, though it +lengthened his own labour by many a toilsome hour. Patiently he bore +with the waywardness and inexperience of their youth. At hearth, and +board, and labour, Gottleib was their blithe companion; in hard work, +their help; in times of trouble, their comforter; and when disputes +came between them, he was the ready arbitrator, on whose justice both +could rely. At the church, they sat one on either side of him; on +festival and holiday, they walked out with each an arm of Gottleib, +and the burgomaster's son was not more confident in his father. Thus +they lived and laboured cheerfully together, in the old house their +father left them, for five years. The complete edition of the Latin +Fathers went forward, and the boys grew to man's estate, till Gottleib +was no longer the tallest of the three. Neighbours remarked, too, that +he looked no longer the strongest. His once ruddy cheek at times grew +pale and wan; still, there was no complaint of sickness in the house, +and the edition was completed. All men praised, and some printers +envied the work, though it was finished in the name of their dead +father. + +One evening, Gottleib rejoiced over it greatly, saying his promise was +fulfilled, and Christopher and Hubert were now as good printers as +himself: he bade them a kindly and glad good-night, and the young +brothers talked long together, for Gottleib slept alone; but in the +morning he did not come as usual to call them, and when they went to +wake him, their brother was kneeling at his bedside, with his hands +clasped as if in prayer--an earlier summons had reached him, and the +great soul was gone! + +Honour and profit followed the work they had printed with him. Their +craft grew proud of them, and friends began to say they might be +burgomasters in time; but the light of their days had gone down with +Gottleib. The old house had grown so dreary without him, that they +could not live in it. Every street and corner of the city brought +their loss to mind; and hearing that there was peace and room for +printers in their father's country, the young men sold their German +dwelling to a wealthy burgher, collected their money, chattels, and +types, and came with them to London. Paternoster Row was even in those +days the resort of traders in books; and happening to see the +antiquated house in Amen-Corner, the strangers thought it had a +pleasant likeness to their old home; so they purchased it at the +expense of nearly all they possessed, except their printing-press, +with which they established themselves there, determined never to +part, but live together in the country of their fathers. + +Hard by there lived a widow of German parentage, whose husband had +been a printer; but he and his seven children were all dead. Gunhilde, +for such was her name, was old, poor, and lonely, and she became their +housekeeper. Years of resolute toil and prudent frugality passed over +the brothers, till they were no longer strangers in old London, nor +inconsiderable among the inhabitants of the Row. Their press had done +its part in the work of the times. They had printed the 'Book of +Sports' and the 'Westminster Confession;' broadside ballads concerning +Robin Hood and Maid Marian; and heavy folios on Free-will and +Predestination. Christopher and Hubert had increased in substance also +to a degree never dreamed of in their German home. The dealers in +books began to talk of them as somewhat notable men; but cares and +causes of division had come with property and importance. In some +respects, the brothers were of the same temper: both were earnest, +brave, and high-spirited--strong to will, and steady to work. They had +been faithful friends and loving brethren through many a change and +trial; but there was a grievous fault in both. Each was given to exact +from the other's friendship, though in a different fashion; for +Christopher expected too much of inward affection, and Hubert had too +much respect to outward observances. Alike, on the ground of +resemblance and of difference, sprang up the roots of bitterness which +troubled their days. At first, their strangership, their strivings to +live and thrive in the English land, and, above all, the memory and +loving counsels of their lost Gottleib, had bound them heart and hand +together; but as the years of manhood hardened heart and mind, as +increasing gains brought leisure and anxious looks on life, +differences of opinion, of tastes, and of inclinations, gradually +crept in between them, and their elder brother waned away from their +remembrance, far off among the scenes and familiars of youth. + +Time brought further occasion of discord: the house of an English +bookseller at the foot of the Row had grown more attractive than his +own to Hubert, because of a certain Mistress Margaret who lived there +with her father. The bookseller was old, narrow-minded, and stiff for +presbytery; he approved of no people but Englishmen, and had a special +prejudice against German Lutherans. His daughter believed firmly in +his wisdom, and had been from infancy the old man's darling. She was +fair, good, and clever; but the girl had a wayward pride, and a wit +that was too ready for her judgment. Nevertheless, Hubert had found +favour in her eyes as well as in those of her father, perhaps because +he endeavoured earnestly to win it; while Christopher was composing +tender verses, addressed to a young and very pious Catholic widow in +the neighbourhood, who held fast her then persecuted faith. + +The bookseller hesitated on giving his daughter to a Lutheran, and the +widow remained undecided; but under their influence, Christopher and +Hubert learned to contemn each other's choice, and dispute over creeds +which neither acknowledged. Thus the controversies of the age, with +all their bigotry and uncharitableness, found entrance to their home. +Christopher lost no opportunity of throwing scorn on the Puritans, on +account of the bookseller; and Hubert never spared to testify against +Popish errors, by way of reflection on the widow. The loving +brotherhood, which had been to them a rampart against the world's sins +and follies, was broken down, and all manner of petty jealousies, +vanities, and mistakes, flowed in to swell the flood of strife. There +had been fierce debates and bitter words between them, wrath that +overcame the friendship of years, hard misjudging of each other's +motives, and mighty magnifying of small offences. One evening they sat +in sullen pride and anger by the fire. It was the same hearth at which +for ten years they had met when the work of the day was done. Their +early difficulties in the great, strange city had been debated there. +The gains of their prosperous days had been reckoned, their risks and +speculations discussed, but now their seats were pushed to the most +distant corners, and between them stood a table covered with papers +and account-books; for they had at last determined to divide their +possessions to the uttermost farthing, and part company for ever. With +merchant-like exactness, every tittle was reckoned up and shared. The +old house was to be sold to a Jew for a sum already agreed on, and one +item only remained which they could not divide, an heirloom's value +being fixed upon it. That was the Coverdale Bible with which their +grandfather had fled to Germany. + +Neither would consent to take the book, or receive anything in its +stead, for a savage pride was in their hearts; and there lay the large +worn folio, with its brazen clasps, between them. The day's work had +been hard, for though comparatively rich, Christopher and Hubert were +laborious men from habit, and the elder at length leaned his head on +the table to rest a moment, and think what could be done. Hubert also +leaned his brow on his hand, and it might be the sight of that old +volume, in spite of themselves, brought faraway memories crowding back +on both. They thought of the German city where they had been born; of +their long-dead father; and, last of all, of Gottleib. They knew the +grass was long upon his German grave; but suddenly, as wild and vague +regrets for all that had come and gone began to rise upon them, the +door of their room was opened, and there entered a stranger of most +noble presence and aspect, who, without a word, drew back the table +and seated himself between them. + +The brothers were astonished; but when he said in their own German +tongue: 'Friends, why do you muse so silently?' his voice sounded in +their ears like the church-bells of Augsburg. + +'We have cause for silence and musing, friend,' said Christopher. + +'And what is your business with us?' demanded the fiery Hubert. + +'I have come,' said the stranger, 'to shew you a rare and curious +sight which lies in your very neighbourhood, though you never saw it, +not having yet reached the ground from which it is rightly seen.' + +'We have no time for sights at this late hour,' cried Hubert. + +'Our accounts and goods occupy us now, but we will go to-morrow,' said +Christopher. + +'Nay, friends,' said the stranger, taking a hand of each, 'it were +well that you should see it soon. All who earnestly look upon that +sight, are somewhat instructed to their private benefit; and it may be +that you also will learn something touching the use of these,' he +added, pointing to the open account-books and the clasped Bible. + +Christopher and Hubert felt persuaded to accompany him: he led them, +it seemed but a few steps from their own door, through a dark and +narrow lane, in which the busy men had never been; but there streets +and houses abruptly terminated, and they stood by the side of a broad +and thronged highway. A road like that the brothers had never seen in +all their journeys. It ran due east and west, from the rising to the +setting sun; but far to the eastward, a mist, like the smoke of +congregated houses, shut out the view; and on the west, a fog more +dense than that of autumn or mid-winter closed the prospect. The space +between was thronged with travellers, who emerged from the eastern +mist, and were manifestly going to the other. + +A light shone on them, but it was gray and uncertain, like that of +twilight. Sometimes the sun, sometimes the stars shone through, and +strange clouds and meteors passed across the sky. + +'What way is this,' thought the brothers, 'which lies so near our own +dwelling, and yet has neither night nor day?' But as their eyes grew +accustomed to the light, they perceived that the travellers on that +road were of all ages--man, woman, and child. Yet each journeyed in a +track cut for himself in the soil, from which it appeared none could +stray. Some of these tracks were wide, and others narrow; some had +numerous windings, and some were but slightly curved; many were rough +and stony, others of the bare earth, with brambles growing thick at +their edges; and some were half covered with grass and wild-flowers. +Christopher and Hubert, however, observed that none of them were +perfectly smooth or straight; that dust and rubbish were plentiful in +them all; and that every track on that highway crossed some other. The +travellers, too, differed wonderfully in their manner of journeying. +Some moved like mourners at a funeral; some like runners to a goal. +There were those who went steadily forward, with the pace of soldiers +on a march; others, who seemed in great fear, looking perpetually +behind or before them; and very few who walked at their ease. + +As the brothers marvelled at this diversity, they discovered that +there was none of all the travellers without a burden, and in that +matter there appeared no less variety. Bundles of every shape and size +were on their shoulders: some looked huge, and were tied up in +sackcloth; others were covered with rich cloth, and bound with silken +cords. Some bore theirs concealed under long mantles; but Christopher +thought it was mostly weights of iron or lead they carried. Further +particulars astonished the brothers still more. The greater part +appeared to have a strange propensity for increasing the difficulties +of their way, by walking in whatever manner was least practicable. +Many augmented the burdens, under which they already staggered, with +dust and rubbish, which they collected from all sides; and far more +were endeavouring to pile up the scattered stones and thorns on their +equally burdened neighbours. All this time, the air was filled with a +clamour of complaints, generally referring to their tracks and +burdens; and Christopher and Hubert remarked with amazement, that it +was by no means those who had the roughest track, or the heaviest bale +to carry, that travelled most laboriously, or seemed least content +with the journey. + +No traveller, indeed, appeared satisfied, and whenever their tracks +crossed, the unruly creatures were sure to jostle each other; but let +the accident happen as it would, every man laid the blame loudly on +his neighbour. They had also innumerable disputes concerning the +clouds and meteors of the sky; regarding the dust under their feet; +and more especially touching some glimpses of an azure heaven, which +they caught at times through the western mist. On that subject, the +fierceness of their debates was marvellous, and the clamour +occasionally became deafening; but the brothers observed that the +noisiest traveller generally came quietly out of the one mist, and +disappeared with as little tumult in the other. + +'What think ye of these people?' said the stranger, when Christopher +and Hubert had gazed and wondered long. + +'They are mad!' said Christopher, 'to give and take such trouble for +no end.' + +'What grievous disturbance they make about so short a journey!' cried +Hubert. 'Good stranger, tell us of what Bedlam are they?' + +'They belong to all the madhouses of the world,' said the stranger. + +'But why are they here?--where are they going?--and what lies beyond +these mists?' cried the brothers in a breath. + +'Dear brothers, who were so true and loving of old,' said the +stranger, 'concerning this matter, believe that you will learn +hereafter; for the present, know that this which ye have seen is the +great and busy road of life; but strive to become more wise and +prudent travellers, and see that ye fall not out by the way.' + +As he ceased, a gleam of sunshine broke through the twilight, and fell +full upon him. In its brightness, the noble aspect did not alter, but +grew more familiar to their eyes; and Christopher and Hubert knew at +the same moment that he was none other than their brother Gottleib. +Both sprang to embrace him, but the way, the travellers, and Gottleib, +vanished from them. They looked into each other's faces by the early +sunlight which streamed through the closed shutters of their room, and +gleamed on the brazen clasps of the Coverdale Bible, still lying +between them on the table where they had fallen asleep. + +Such is the account of the affair given by themselves; although more, +it is believed, to suit the taste and belief of the time they lived +in than their own. The two brothers had passed many hours silent and +in the dark; and it is not unreasonable to suppose that the visionary +world, into which they had unconsciously slipped, presented to both +such phenomena--founded on the meditations and recollections in which +both had been immersed--as were easily rendered in the exoteric types +of romance. The brothers talked long over the vision, and could +scarcely satisfy even themselves that it was indeed a dream; but they +agreed on its use of wisdom and warning, and disputed no more. The old +house was not sold, nor the types divided. It is even affirmed that +the bookseller's daughter and the Catholic widow lived there as right +friendly sisters-in-law; and after many a broadside and folio page, +the press they had worked for so many years at length struck off the +tale we have just related--the German brothers supposing that some +honest men in England might profit, as they had done, by a look upon +Life's Highway. + + + + +DUST-SHOWERS AND RED-RAIN. + + +Recent scientific investigations in Europe and America have thrown +some interesting light on the nature of these very curious phenomena. +The results arrived at may be brought familiarly before our readers. + +Mr Charles Darwin, in the narrative of his voyage in the _Beagle_, +states that while he was at St Jago, one of the Cape de Verd islands, +in January 1832: 'The atmosphere was generally very hazy; this appears +chiefly due to an impalpable dust, which is constantly falling, even +on vessels far out at sea. The dust,' he goes on to say, 'is of a +brown colour, and under the blow-pipe, easily fuses into a black +enamel. It is produced, as I believe, from the wear and tear of +volcanic rocks, and must come from the coast of Africa.' The same +opinion was held by scientific men generally, as well of the dust met +with in the North Atlantic, as of that which sometimes falls on the +islands and shores of the Mediterranean: Africa was supposed to be the +original source of the air-borne particles. Some of the dust, however, +having been sent to Ehrenberg of Berlin, that celebrated _savant_, +after a microscopical examination, laid an account of his inquiry +before the Akademie der Wissenschaften, in May 1844, in which he +shewed that the dust, so far from being inorganic, contained numerous +specimens of a species of flint-shelled animalcules, or infusoria, +known as polygastrica, and minute portions of terrestrial plants. The +investigation led him to certain conclusions: '1. That meteoric +dust-rain is of terrestrial origin. 2. That the same is not a rain of +volcanic ashes. 3. That it is necessarily a dust carried up to a great +height by a strong current of air or whirlwind from a dried-up +swamp-region. 4. That the dust neither demonstrably nor necessarily +comes from Africa, notwithstanding that the wind may blow from thence +as the nearest land when the dust falls, because there are in it no +forms whatsoever exclusively native to Africa.' These were remarkable +facts, but warranted by the evidence: one, if not more, of the +animalcules was proved to be peculiar to America, and that country was +naturally inferred to be the quarter from which they had been derived. + +The inquiry once begun was followed up; other specimens of dust were +submitted to the same critical test, and found generally to contain a +much greater number and variety of infusoria than the first--mostly +fresh-water forms, but with a few of marine origin; whence the +conclusion, that they had been brought from a coast-region; and +especially remarkable was the fact, that among all the forms there was +not one peculiar to the African continent. One example was known to +belong to the Isle of France, the others were chiefly South American. +After an examination of six specimens, obtained at different +intervals, Ehrenberg discovered that they contained four organisms in +common. 'I now consider myself,' he observes, 'justified in the +conclusion, that all the Atlantic dust may come only from one and the +same source, notwithstanding its extent and annual amount. The +constant yellow and reddish colour of the dust, produced by +ferruginous matter, its falling with the trade-winds and not with the +harmattan, increase the interest of the phenomena.' + +It had always been supposed, that the dust which traversed the +Mediterranean was borne from the Great Sahara; but in a quantity +collected on board the ship _Revenge_, at Malta, an infusoria peculiar +to Chili was met with, which, with other characteristics, proved the +dust to be the same as that observed on the Atlantic. Their colour, +too, was identical; while the Sahara is a 'dazzling white sand:' hence +the dust brought across the Mediterranean by the sirocco was not +peculiar to Africa. The conclusion here arrived at was still further +verified by another sirocco-storm in May 1846, which extended to +Genoa, and bore with it a dust that 'covered the roofs of the city in +great abundance.' This, as was clearly ascertained, contained +formations identical with those which had been collected off the Cape +de Verd; and it was shewn that the dust-showers of the Atlantic, and +those of Malta and Genoa, were 'always of a yellow ochre-like +colour--not gray, like those of the kamsin, in North Africa.' The +peculiar colour of the dust was found to be caused by iron-oxide; and +from one-sixth to one-third of the whole proved to consist 'of +determinable organic parts.' In the following year, 1847, Ehrenberg +had another opportunity of testing his conclusions, in specimens of +dust which had fallen in Italy and Sicily in 1802 and 1813; the same +result came out on examination; 'several species peculiar to South +America, and none peculiar to Africa.' + +Thus, omitting the two last-mentioned instances, there had been five +marked falls of dust between 1830 and 1846; how many others passed +without notice, it would now be impossible to ascertain. The showers +sometimes occur at a distance of 800 miles from the coast of Africa, +and this region lies between the parallels of 17 and 25 degrees north +latitude, and whence, as we have seen, they extend to the northern +shores of the Mediterranean. In the dust collected from these various +falls, there have been found altogether nineteen species of infusoria; +of which eight were polythalamia, seven polygastrica, and two +phytolitharia, these chiefly constituting the flint-earth portion of +the dust. The iron was composed of the gaillonilla, and 'the carbonic +chalk earth corresponded tolerably well to the smaller number of +polythalamia.' The uniform character of the specimens obtained at +intervals over so long a course of years is especially remarkable. + +To turn, now, for a few moments to the second phenomenon indicated in +our title. In October 1846, a fearful and furious hurricane visited +Lyon and the district between that city and Grenoble, during which +occurred a fall of blood-rain. A number of drops were caught and +preserved, and when the moisture had evaporated, there was seen the +same kind of dust--of yellowish-brown or red colour--as that which had +fallen in a dry state on the occasions already referred to. The +strictest pains were taken to ascertain that it was not the common +dust swept from roads during a gale of wind; and when placed under the +microscope, it exhibited a greater proportion of fresh-water and +marine formations than the former instances. Phytolitharia were +numerous, as also 'neatly-lobed vegetable scales;' which, as Ehrenberg +observes, is sufficient to disprove the assertion, that the substance +is formed in the atmosphere itself, and is not of European origin. For +the first time, a living organism was met with--the '_Eunotia +amphyoxis_, with its ovaries green, and therefore capable of life.' +Here was a solution of the mystery: the dust, mingling with the drops +of water falling from the clouds, produced the red rain. Its +appearance is that of reddened water, and it cannot be called +blood-like without exaggeration. + +Again, in March 1847, a coloured snow fell in the Tyrol, presenting a +most singular appearance, and, when dried, leaving behind a +brick-coloured dust. Most of the organised forms therein contained +were European and American, with a few African; and again the +microscope shewed it to be similar to the dust before examined, +leaving no room to suppose it of local origin. 'The predominating +forms, numerically, of one kind of dust, are also the predominating +forms in all the rest,' as Ehrenberg observes; and says further: +'Impossible as it is to conceive of all the storms now compared from +1830 to 1847, as having a continuous genetic connection, it is equally +impossible also to imagine the masses of dust transported by them, +with such a degree of similarity, _not to have a genetic +connection_.... The great geographic extent of the phenomenon of a +reddish dust nearly filling the atmosphere, and itself filled with +organisms so similar, many of which are characteristic of South +America, not only admits of, but demands a more earnest attention to +the probable cyclical relations in the upper and lower atmosphere, +whereby very great masses of fixed terrestrial matter, earths and +metals, and especially flint-earths, chalk, iron, and coal, apparently +heterogeneous, and yet related by certain peculiarities, are held +swimming in the atmosphere, now like clouds thinly spread by +whirlwinds or electricity over a broad space, and now condensed, and, +like the dust of the fir-blossoms, falling in showers in every +direction.' + +Ehrenberg, then, states his views as to the cause of the phenomenon. +'Although far from attaching undue weight to a hypothesis, I cannot +but consider it a matter of duty to seek for a connection in the +facts, and feel myself constrained--on account of the above-mentioned +particulars, and in so far as they justify a conclusion--to suppose an +atmospheric current, connecting America and Africa with the region of +the trade-winds, and sometimes, particularly about the 15th and 16th +of May, turning towards Europe, and bringing with it this very +peculiar, and apparently not African dust, in countless measure. If +instead of attacking hypothesis by hypothesis, we strive with united +effort to multiply scientific observations, we may then hope for a +progressive explanation of these mysterious relations, so especially +worthy of study.' + +Some progress has already been made by a transatlantic investigator in +the explanation so much desired by the distinguished naturalist. +Lieutenant Maury, of Washington--an outline of whose views regarding +the winds was given in No. 412 of this Journal--finds in Ehrenberg's +researches a beautiful and interesting confirmation of his own theory; +namely, that the trade-winds of either hemisphere cross the belt of +equatorial calms. Observations at the Peak of Teneriffe have proved +that, while the trade-wind is sweeping along the surface of the ocean +in one direction, a current in the higher regions of the atmosphere is +blowing in the reverse direction. According to Lieutenant Maury, a +perpetual upper current prevails from South America to North Africa, +the volume being equal to that which flows southward by the north-east +trade-wind. This wind, it should be remembered, does not touch the +African continent, but the limits of its northern border are variable; +whence the fact, that the falls of dust vary between 17 and 25 degrees +of north latitude, as before stated. As the belt of calms shifts its +position, so will there be a variation in the locality of the +descending atmospheric current. + +The dust-showers take place most frequently in spring and autumn; that +is, 'after the equinoxes, but at intervals varying from thirty to +fifty days;' the cause being, that the equatorial calms, at the time +of the vernal equinox, extend to four degrees on either side the +equator; and as the rainy season then prevails between those limits, +no dust can consequently be taken up in those latitudes. But the same +period is the dry season in the valley of the lower Orinoco, and the +surface of that extensive region is in a favourable condition to give +off dust; and at the time of the autumnal equinox, another part of the +great Amazonian basin is parched with drought, on which Lieutenant +Maury observes: 'May not, therefore, the whirlwinds which accompany +the vernal equinox sweep over the lifeless plains of the lower +Orinoco, take up the "rain-dust," which descends in the northern +hemisphere in April and May--and may it not be the atmospherical +disturbances which accompany the autumnal equinox, that take up the +microscopic organisms from the upper Orinoco and the great Amazonian +basin for the showers of October?' Humboldt gives a striking picture +of the region in question, and, if the phrase may be permitted, of its +dust-producing capabilities; so that the origin of this light powder, +as regards one locality, may be said to be placed beyond a doubt. + +As yet, the reason why the dust falls, as it were, concretely, and not +generally diffused through the atmosphere, is not known; it is one of +the obscure points waiting further investigation. Why it should travel +so far to fall in a particular spot is, in the present state of our +knowledge, not easy to explain. The coarsest dust is generally the +first to fall; and it seems clear, that the descent occurs when and +where the conditions are favourable. Lieutenant Maury considers, 'that +certain electrical conditions are necessary to a shower of dust as +well as to a thunder-storm;' and that, in the periodical intervals, we +may get a clue to the rate of motion of the upper aerial currents, +which appear to be 'remarkable for their general regularity, their +general direction, and sharpness of limits.' + +It is scarcely possible not to feel that the investigations here +briefly sketched, possess unusual interest. As Ehrenberg says, the +subject is one 'of vast, manifold, and rapidly-increasing importance, +and is but the beginning of a future great department of knowledge.' +Now that it has been published in a connected form, and the attention +of scientific observers directed to it, we may hope soon to hear of +corroborative evidence from all parts of the world. We may mention, as +bearing on the question, that sand-showers are not unfrequent in +China. Dr M'Gowan of Ningpo, in a communication to the Asiatic Society +of Bengal, states, that at the beginning of 1851, three showers +occurred within five weeks; the last, which commenced on the 26th +March, and continued four days, being the heaviest. The wind during +the time varied from north-east to north-west, the breeze interrupted +by occasional calms. No rain had fallen for six weeks; and though, as +the doctor observes, 'neither cloud, fog, nor mist obscured the +heavens, yet the sun and moon were scarcely visible; the orb of day +appeared as if viewed through a smoked glass, the whole sky presenting +a uniform rusty hue. At times, this sameness was disturbed, exhibiting +between the spectator and the sun the appearance of a water-spout, +owing to the gyratory motions of the impalpable mineral. The sand +penetrated the most secluded apartments; furniture wiped in the +morning, would be so covered with it in the afternoon, that one could +write on it legibly. In the streets, it was annoying--entering the +eyes, nostrils, and mouth, and grating under the teeth. My ophthalmic +patients generally suffered a relapse, and an unusual number of new +cases soon after presented themselves. Were such heavy sand-storms of +frequent occurrence, diseases of the visual organs would prevail to a +destructive extent.' + +These showers sometimes spread over several provinces at once, and far +out to sea. The Chinese call them yellow-sand. Their source is the +great desert of Gobi, or Sand-Ocean, more than 2000 miles long, and +from 300 to 400 broad, in the interior of Asia. Dr M'Gowan states, +that the fall amounted to ten grains per square foot, but without +specifying whether this quantity includes the whole duration of the +shower. During calms, it remains suspended. The dust thus raised from +the Mongolian steppes gives the peculiar tinge to the Yellow Sea. + +Notwithstanding the annoyance of these dust-showers, they have a +valuable compensation. The Chinese, whose closeness of observation in +agricultural matters is well known, assert that they are always +followed by a fruitful season--not, it is true, as cause, but as +effect. The explanation is, that the soil of the provinces most +subject to the visitation, being of a compact character, is loosened +and lightened by the sand borne on the wind from the Tatarian plains, +and at the same time, the lighter fertilising matters carried away by +the great rivers are replaced; and thus, that which at first sight +appears an unmitigated evil, becomes the cause of good harvests, for +they invariably follow a fall of sand. + + + + +THE CITY INQUEST FOR THE POOR. + + +I keep a shop in the City, and open it every morning as Bow Church +bells are ringing out eight o'clock. I pay a very heavy rent, as well +as Queen's taxes and poor's-rates; and I could do neither, to say +nothing of maintaining my family, if I did not mind my business, and +work hard. But by the help of constant attention and industry, I am +happy to say, I am able to make my shop keep me and my family too, +which it does comfortably, and lifts me, in some sort, above the +world, and enables me to bear the character, which I should always +like to retain, of a respectable man. + +We dwellers in London City proper are supposed to entertain a very +high regard for respectability, and so we do; and I am going now to +detail the operations of what, I suppose, must be called an +institution altogether peculiar to the City, of which the world out of +the City knows very little, and which has been in being I don't know +how many centuries--before there were any poor-laws, or any 'good +Queen Bess;' and which must have been a respectable affair--if I am +any judge of what that means--from the very first, whenever that was. +It is a good thing to relieve necessity in any shape, and a better +thing to help it to help itself; but to dispense charity without doing +a mischief in some way or other, either by rewarding imposture, +encouraging idleness, or repressing the springs of self-reliance or +self-exertion, is about the hardest business I have ever had to do +with, and I have had some knotty affairs to get through in my time. +Now, the various wards of the City do every year, I think, manage this +difficult matter very carefully and efficiently, though not without a +good deal of trouble; and as I think their mode of doing it sets a +good example, I have made up my mind to let the public know something +about the Inquest for the Poor, which comes off in December every +year. I believe it will be a novelty to most people out of the City +limits, and to not a few within them as well. What I know about it, I +have derived from experience: that, indeed, is all I have to relate; +and when I have told my tale, the reader will be as wise as I am, in +this respect at least. + +About the middle of last December, I received a citation to attend a +wardmote, to be held in the schoolroom of my parish. I was in +expectation of this summons, as, the parishioners being called upon in +rotation, I knew that my turn would come on upon this occasion. The +number of tradesmen, who must be all of respectable character, +summoned to the first meeting, is always greater than the number +required to serve on the inquest, because many find it very +inconvenient, and others find it impossible, to give their services. +Valid excuses are admitted in plea against the performance of the +duty; but a frivolous excuse is not allowed; and a tradesman, whose +turn it is to serve, if he can prefer no good reason for not serving, +must serve or pay the fine. Six guineas is the heavy penalty inflicted +upon a recusant who declines service altogether. This preliminary +meeting is called merely to insure a sufficient company to be in +attendance in the vestry of ---- Church, at the general wardmote held +on St Thomas's Day. + +After an early breakfast on the morning of the day above named, I +repaired to the vestry, which was very fully attended, and where, in +the course of the forenoon, the common-councilmen for the ward were +elected for the ensuing year, and, their election settled, were all +duly admonished respecting their duties by the chairman. Then, from +the number of respectable tradesmen in attendance, myself and eleven +others were elected to prosecute the inquest for that year on behalf +of the poor; and we in our turn were admonished by the same authority, +that we were not to compass any treason, nor to conspire against Her +Majesty the Queen--than which, I am very sure, nothing could have been +further from our thoughts. The inquest being thus incorporated, we +proceeded to elect a foreman and a treasurer, and to decree fines for +non-attendance. The fines were appropriated to the payment of +expenses, no part of the money collected being available for any other +purpose than that of charity. The collection commenced by a +contribution from each member of the inquest, each giving liberally, +and setting a generous example. All these necessary preliminaries +being settled, every man of us got into a handsome cloak, trimmed with +fur, hired for the occasion, at a cost of five shillings per head, +and, with the beadle of the ward blazing in scarlet and gold, pacing +majestically beneath a three-cornered hat, and pushing a ponderous +gold mace in advance, we were marched off to Guildhall, to pass muster +before Gog and Magog, and to be presented to his worship the lord +mayor. His lordship, who was surrounded by a staff of officials in +gorgeous liveries, was very glad to see us: indeed he told us so--said +that he was extremely gratified at receiving so highly respectable a +company, and expressed more than once his satisfaction at finding that +we were so ready to act in the cause of charity as to sacrifice our +valuable time, and unite together for the succour of the distressed. +He addressed us, in fact, for nearly a minute and a half; after which, +as time was pressing, and others were waiting to be presented, we were +signaled forward to a side-door, and made a very sudden exit into the +street, whence we marched back to the vestry to disrobe, with the +exception of some few of our number, who knowing that the business of +the charity was done for the day, abandoned their cloaks to the care +of the owner, who contrives generally to be in attendance at this +critical moment, and proceeded to look after their own private +affairs. We all met, however, in the evening, and partook of a +substantial dinner, to which, according to a custom which has +prevailed from time immemorial, the church-wardens of the parish and +the foreman and treasurer of the inquest of the preceding year were +invited. The dinner went off, as a dinner should do, with perfect +harmony and good-feeling; and some very excellent speeches were made +on the subject of the inquest--its undeniable efficacy and utility, +and its great antiquity. We broke up at a sober hour, each member +being charged to present himself at the vestry at nine in the morning +on that day week, under the penalty of half-a-guinea. + +It would have suited my interests very well, when the day came round, +to have forfeited my half-guinea, and have attended exclusively to my +own business; but judging it more to my credit to go through with the +work I had undertaken, I was at my post, together with several of my +colleagues, before the hour had struck. Some of our members did not +come at all the first day, but sent their half-guineas; others, having +to come in from the suburbs before omnibus-time, arrived too late, and +were fined in smaller sums for the breach of punctuality. Our party +being at length complete, to the number of ten, we indue our cloaks, +and, pioneered by the ward-beadle with his ponderous mace, we sally +forth to feel the charitable pulse of several parishes. Ten good men +and true, swathed to the chin in voluminous folds of broad-cloth +fringed with fur, and headed by the ample proportions of the +mace-bearer in scarlet and cloth of gold; our apparition, and our +mission too, were plainly a mystery to the major part of the +population, who, seeing us but once a year, and then but momentarily, +as the procession emerges suddenly from one door to plunge into +another, do not very well know what to make of it. 'Is that there a +buryin' or a marryin'?' 'What's that lot o' fellows after?' 'What's up +now, Jem?'--such are a few of the inquiries which from time to time +testified the astonishment of the uninitiated; to all of which our +imperturbable leader opposed a face as impenetrable as that of the +sphinx of the desert. We should have been sadly at a loss, by the way, +without him. He knew every soul in the whole ward who would come down +to the extent of a sixpence for the sake of the poor; and he led his +small phalanx boldly to the charge through all impediments. Under his +guidance, we did what certainly we should never have attempted without +it. We stormed the stout citadels of the merchants, and carried their +strongholds up as high as the third and fourth floors, and captured +many a poor man's dinner from the very jaws of the cash-box. We dived +into cellars, and crouched and crept into subterranean dens. We +threaded muddy lanes, and wandered among bewildering wharfs, and +mounted lofts and sheds, and squeezed ourselves into all sorts of +out-of-the-way slums. We climbed ladders leading up into creaking +timber galleries, and got into regions of old planks and cobwebs, dim +with dust and odorous with ancient smells. We assailed the scholar at +his studies, and the craftsman at his labour, and from all and each we +met with a courteous reception, and gathered the sinews of +benevolence. The dispositions of men vary in few things more than in +their several modes of conferring a favour. Some of our most liberal +donors thoughtfully sent their bank-notes to the vestry, to save us +the trouble of waiting upon them; others, on the contrary, levied the +full value of their gifts, by keeping us wearily waiting before we got +them. A barber, whom we found at his block busily weaving a wig, and +whose diminutive crib would not contain half our company, apologised +because it was not in his power to do much for us, and then +diffidently tendered a guinea. A portly dealer in feminine luxuries +talked largely of the claims of our indigent brethren, and the sacred +obligations of charity, and wound up his sonorous homily with the +climax of half-a-crown. We found one burly gentleman, buried up to the +elbows in red-tape and legal documents, who professed a perfect +horror, a rooted antipathy, to the poor in every shape, and who had a +decided conviction that poverty was a nuisance which ought to be put +down. When he had said all this, and a great deal more, he very +consistently lent a hand towards abating the nuisance, by presenting +us with a contribution of double his usual annual subscription. When +we had got out of earshot, our experienced chaperon remarked to me: +'When I hered him agoin' on so, I knowed he was agoin' to come down +'ansome. He's a wery nice genelman, what enjoys a grumble, and don't +mind paying for it!' + +Our domiciliary visits occupied between three and four days, and the +rain fell in torrents during the whole time. We were wet through in +spite of the cloaks we wore, but canvassed the whole district +successfully notwithstanding, and probably collected every shilling +that was to be got. Our guide had so often felt the pulse of the whole +ward in this way, that he never suffered us to waste our time or our +demands upon those whom he knew to be impracticable; and thus we got +through the business much more quickly, as well as more prosperously, +than we could possibly have done had we been left to our own +resources. The result of our united labours was a purse of nearly +L.200; and now came the more pleasant part of our duty--the +distribution of alms, at a season when poverty is most severely felt, +to the most deserving of the most needy. + +The distribution took place a few days after the collection was +finished. In the interim, blank tickets had been distributed to such +of the donors as chose to receive them, upon which they inscribed the +names of the poor persons whom they recommended for relief. The vestry +where we were elected was the scene of the distribution. The body of +the church was allotted for the accommodation of the poor +ticket-holders, who formed a numerous and very motley crowd, and who +were called in to receive their dole in rotation, by the ward-beadle, +from a list which he had prepared. I suspect, however, that the system +of rotation was not very rigidly observed, inasmuch as half-a-dozen +women, with squalling children in their arms, were among the very +first who were called in and dealt with, by which means something like +peace and quietness were obtained while the claims of the crowd of the +remaining applicants were severally considered. What followed was a +very different affair from that which transpires weekly at the parish +pay-table. I have been church-warden, overseer, and guardian of +various parishes in my time, and I have seen the poor in all +conditions and under all circumstances, and I thought I knew them well +enough; but I derived a new lesson now, and learned that it is +possible for humanity to undergo the direst misfortunes without losing +heart and hope--to drain the cup of misery to the dregs without +becoming utterly selfish--and to be long immersed in the lowest depths +of necessity, and yet be human still. I shall describe one or two of +these hapless claimants upon the benevolence of their wealthy +fellow-citizens, premising that a few of them only are the recipients +of parish pay. They see no disgrace, perhaps, in participating in a +voluntary alms, because it is voluntary, and, as such, cannot be +regarded as the peculiar property of that numerous class who assert +and maintain a life-interest in compulsory funds legally levied for +their support. + +One of the first who seemed to attract general sympathy was an old, +old man, trembling on the very verge of the grave, who had outlived +almost every faculty of mind and body. He could walk only by instinct, +advancing his foot mechanically, to save himself from falling, when +he was pushed gently forwards. When standing, he could not seat +himself--and when sitting, he could not get up without help. In +whatever posture he was placed, there he remained. Altogether +insensible to question and remark, he looked wildly round upon us, and +smiled, and winked with both eyes. These were his sole remaining +capabilities--to wink, and to look agreeable. He had been recommended +as an object worthy of charity by a liberal donor, and he was brought +in person to justify the recommendation. He was clean, and neat, and +tidily dressed, but evidently in a state of perfect unconsciousness of +everything around him. He had lived once, but it was in times long +past and gone: you might guess him to be what age you chose, but you +could hardly think him older than he was; time, who had stolen his +faculties, had forgotten to wreck the casket that contained them: the +spirit of life had left its tenement, and by some strange mistake, the +animated machine had gone on without it. My neighbour, the watchmaker, +compared him to a clock with the striking-train run down, and the +works rusty beyond repair. He could not thank us for the alms we gave +him, but he did all he could--he winked, and smiled, and tried to make +a bow, but failed in the attempt, and resigned himself cheerfully to +the care of his friends, who carried him off. + +Another quiet applicant was a lady, whose natural-born gentility +poverty might obscure but could not conceal. Years of want and +struggling deprivation had dimmed her charms; but they had neither +bowed nor bent her stately form, nor quenched the inherent virtue of +self-respect, nor deprived her of the correct and appropriate diction, +and the winning and courteous expression which once graced a +drawing-room. She was introduced to us by the beadle as Lady W----; +and although draped in very humble and well-worn apparel, she looked +what she was--a gentlewoman in every sense of the word; though beyond +an empty title, she possessed hardly anything in the world. She +answered our inquiries with a natural courtesy, which at least some of +us felt to be a condescension. 'Gentlemen,' she said, 'it is true, as +your attendant states, that I am a lady. In my youth, I married a +titled man. I make no boast of that--it was, indeed, my misfortune. I +was brought up and educated to occupy a station inferior to few: I +filled that station for many years; it is not for me to say how +appropriately; and though calamity has overtaken me now, and I have +been familiar with necessity for so long a time, yet I feel that I am +a lady still. I may be reproached with poverty, and that I can bear; +but I trust I shall never be justly reproached with having fallen to +the level of my circumstances. I am grateful to you for the assistance +you so kindly render me; and I can express that sentiment, and feel it +deeply, too, without humiliation, because the aid you supply is as +voluntary on your part as its acceptance is necessary on mine.' When +our foreman had instinctively wrapped the donation awarded to her in a +quarter sheet of letter-paper, and presented her with it, she bent +with a dignified obeisance, and silently withdrew. + +A third applicant, worthy of a passing notice, was a lady of a very +different stamp. Who or what she had been in former years, I could not +ascertain, but she appeared before us in the character of a +middle-aged mince-pie monomaniac, and jam-tart amateur. The poor +harmless creature was clad in the veriest shreds of dusky feminine +attire, which barely shielded her limbs from the inclemency of the +weather. She had a notion that she, too, was a lady, and that, being a +lady, she was bound to live by the consumption of pastry, and nothing +else. We were admonished by our custodian that whatever amount we +awarded her, whether it were much or little, would be forthwith +consigned to the confectioner, in exchange for mince-pies and tarts of +the very best quality; and I regret to say, that this announcement had +the effect of reducing considerably the sum she derived from the +charity of the ward, and effectually preventing the consummation of +any very formidable debauch with her favourite viands. But the poor +simpleton was as merry as she was innocent and harmless; and all +unsuspicious of the latent grudge which had lessened her gratuity, +tripped hastily off, to enjoy at least one delicious repast. + +After we had sat some hours, a very distressing case was brought +forward. A poor woman, the wife of a working-man, and the mother of a +young family, had been deserted by her husband, who had left her, +besides her own children, the charge of his bedridden parents. Under +this accumulation of burdens, she had been heroically struggling for +some months, in the vain attempt, by her single energies, to ward off +the approach of want, and to act at the same time the part of nurse to +the old couple. She had succeeded in a great measure, and modestly +sought but a little help to enable her to persevere in her arduous +undertaking. + +Then came an old man, verging on fourscore, the very _beau ideal_ of +the merchant's serving-man of the last century. He had once been +comparatively prosperous, but, judging from his cheerful face, perhaps +hardly ever happier than he was now. For fifty years of his life, he +had been _custos_ and confidential house keeper to a well-known firm, +which, after four or five generations of unvarying prosperity, had +sunk in the panic of 1846 into the gulf of bankruptcy. In the general +wreck that followed, old Benjamin was forgotten, or remembered only +with a pang of unavailing regret. He found a refuge, however, in some +small garret, where he contrives to preserve his cheerfulness and his +pigtail, the only outward and visible sign of his former +respectability, and where he acts as master of the ceremonies to a +clique of ancient ladies, his fellow-lodgers, to whom he is at once +the guardian and the beau of the fourth floor. When he had received +his own little modicum of benevolence, he pleaded hard for the +immediate settlement of the claim of one of his fair _coterie_, a +widow of fourscore and five; and finding that his request could not be +complied with, but that she must be left till her turn came, he +retired to a corner of the room, and waited a full hour and more, +until her business was settled, when he bowed ceremoniously, till his +pigtail pointed to the zenith, and tendering his arm, escorted her +home with all the vivacity and politeness of the days of hoops and +high-heeled shoes. I have scarcely yet found out the reason why it was +that the spectacle of this happy, kind old soul, made me feel a +little, only a little, ashamed of myself. + +This cosy old couple had hardly tripped out of sight, when our prosy +synod was honoured by the advent of a real and extraordinary +phenomenon. This was nothing less than a half-crazy poetess, who +prided herself on speaking in rhyme--and such rhyme, amusing from its +very badness. On she was going at a great rate, when she was called to +order in a manner which admitted of no demur. + +'Mrs Margaret Maggs!' roared the beadle; and the tenth Muse, brought +to a sudden stand-still, ceased her oracular utterances, and, grasping +her modicum of shining silver, vanished from the presence. + +The distribution lasted the whole of the day; and it was a weary day +for some of the poor applicants, whose turn came last, and who almost +fainted for want of refreshment. But all who deserved it, went home +effectually relieved and gladdened; and many who did not, got a lesson +upon the occasion, and learned that Charity is not always as blind as +she is supposed to be. The whole of the money collected is not +distributed at once. About a third part of the amount is reserved +until the approach of the next ensuing winter, when a second +distribution takes place, generally to the same applicants. + +I have heard it insinuated before now, that City functionaries of all +sorts are prone to take too good care of themselves, whenever they +meet to consider the wants of the poor. I may perhaps be allowed to +say, that when we have a feast, we pay for it; and that not one +farthing of any collection made in the City for the poor was ever, to +my knowledge, appropriated to any other purpose. As a respectable man, +I, for one, would never countenance any intromission of that kind. + + + + +OCCASIONAL NOTES. + + +LONDON CAB REFORM. + +If John Bull were not, with all his grumbling, one of the most patient +animals in existence, he could never have endured so long the cabs +which he has to employ for the conveyance of his person through the +streets of his metropolis. They are very poorly furnished and nasty, +far below similar conveyances in any continental city with which we +are acquainted. Greater fault still is to be found with the drivers, a +large proportion of whom are so prone to overreach, that it is hardly +possible to settle for their fares without a squabble. Our experience +leads us to say, that at an average a stranger pays 30 per cent. above +the proper sum, besides having his temper in almost every instance +ruffled to some extent by the sense of having no adequate protection +from the rudeness of this class of men. For a lady, there seems to be +no chance of escape but by the alternative of some enormous +overcharge. Altogether, this department of public economy in London is +in a most unsatisfactory state. Most people avoid using these street +vehicles whenever they can, and this is especially true of strangers. +We can state as a fact, that a provincial gentleman of our +acquaintance is accustomed to take the inconvenience of the cab-system +into account in deliberating whether he shall have a month of London +life or not. It is one of the repelling considerations, to a degree +that the Londoners themselves are not aware of. + +In an age of such exquisite contrivance and precision in mechanical +and commercial matters, it might have been anticipated that the bad +system of London cabs could not long survive. All dishonest businesses +write their own doom. Those only thrive which sincerely seek the good +of the public. Accordingly, it is not surprising, at a time when +one-and-a-half per cent. is a fact in banking, to find two large and +powerful companies getting up to supersede the bad, old, dear, +cheating cabs with a new and civilised set. It is proposed by one of +these bodies to 'provide for the public a superior class of carriages, +horses, and drivers, at reduced and definite fares; to afford the +utmost possible security for property, and especially prompt and easy +redress of complaints.' With better vehicles at three-fourths of the +present charges--namely, 6d. a mile--and these to be settled for in a +manner which will preclude disputes, this company deserves, and will +be sure to obtain, the public patronage. One good feature of the +proposed arrangements will, we think, be highly satisfactory: the +company will form a sufficient magistracy in itself to give quick and +easy redress in the case of any wrong. But, indeed, from the +precautions taken as to the employment of drivers, and the hold which +the company will have over them, through the medium of guarantee and +their own deposits in a benefit-fund, it seems to us that the good +conduct of the men towards their 'fares' must be effectually secured. +The other company proposes to have two classes of vehicles--one at 8d. +and the other at 4d. a mile; and it contemplates the use of a +mechanism for indicating the distance passed over. We most earnestly +hope that both companies will succeed in establishing themselves and +carrying an improvement so important to the public into effect. + + +COLONIAL PENNY-POSTAGE. + +'I shall write to every one in turn, but it is expensive sending to +many at once,' says one of the poor needlewomen, whom Mr Sydney +Herbert's Female Emigration Fund has enabled to obtain a comfortable +home at Adelaide. Well might she complain of the expense. When at +home, she could send a letter to the most distant corner of the United +Kingdom for a penny. In Australia, she finds that the cost of sending +a letter to her mother in London is a shilling. It is strange that the +colonists do not make an outcry about so extravagant a charge. Of all +the anomalies in English legislation, our colonial postage-system is +certainly one of the most glaring; and yet, in the midst of so much +effort for emigration and colonisation, hardly any one seems to be +aware of it. The people of England, Ireland, and Scotland have, for +the last twelve years, enjoyed the incalculable benefits of +Penny-Postage, but they have never thought of extending its blessings +to their fellow-countrymen, scattered abroad among our various +colonies over the whole surface of the globe. + +Under the old dear system, the cost of sending a letter home from any +of the colonies was not felt so much as it is now. The emigrant, +before he left home, had always been accustomed to pay from 9d. to 1s. +2d. for letters from distant parts of the United Kingdom, and he could +not complain at finding the postage from Canada or Australia to the +mother-country only a little dearer. But the case has been entirely +changed since Rowland Hill's plan came into operation. What seemed a +moderate rate before that great improvement took place, is now an +exorbitant charge, which no working-man will pay very frequently. In +this, as in most other affairs, it is not the actual but the +comparative cost of the article which makes it seem dear. To a person +who has recently left his native land, and who is probably still +suffering from homesickness, a letter from any beloved friend or +relative is worth far more than many shillings; indeed, the value +cannot be estimated in sterling coin. But, unfortunately, the first +mode in which the emigrant discovers that the social luxury of +correspondence has advanced 1100 per cent. in price, is not in the +tempting shape of a letter from home. He must first write to his +friends before he can expect them to write to him, and that is a task +which nine persons out of ten, on the most charitable calculation, are +very strongly tempted to procrastinate, from day to day, even without +any pecuniary obstacle. But how much stronger the temptation to put +off the writing of 'that letter' from day to day for weeks, and at +last for months, when the poor emigrant, still struggling with +difficulties, finds that, instead of only a penny for each letter, he +must now pay a shilling? What wonder though many thousands, who have +left friends and relatives behind them, all anxiously on the outlook +for some tidings of their welfare, should defer the task of writing +home for a month or two, finding it so dear; and, having got over the +first few months, gradually become careless, and never write home at +all? There are few people who have not known many instances of this +kind; and we have little doubt that it is owing mainly to this cause +that they have given up all correspondence with the old country. + +It is strange that Mr Sydney Herbert, Mrs Chisholm, and the rest of +those honourable men and women who have taken so much pains to promote +emigration, should not have seen the importance of obtaining colonial +postage reform. Mr Gibbon Wakefield, in his _England and America_, +published nearly twenty years ago, lays much stress upon the impulse +which healthy emigration to our colonies would derive from any measure +which should enable the poorer class of emigrants to write home more +frequently. As a proof of this, he remarks, that the great emigration +from England which had recently taken place--an increase of about 200 +per cent. over former years--had been mainly caused by the publication +of letters from poor emigrants to their friends at home. With a view +to encourage such correspondence, he suggests that, for some years +after their arrival in a colony, poor emigrants should be allowed the +privilege of sending their letters free of postage. Thanks to Rowland +Hill, we have learned that letters can be carried at so very small a +cost, that even the poor can afford to pay the sum charged by the +post-office authorities in this country; and it requires little more +than a stroke of the colonial secretary's pen to extend the same +invaluable privilege to the thousands of emigrants who leave this +country every month for some one or other of our numerous colonies. +What Mr Gibbon Wakefield says of the free-postage plan of that time, +would apply with nearly equal force to the proposed Colonial +Penny-Postage:--'In this way, not only would the necessary evil of +going to a colony be diminished--that is, the emigrants would depart +with the pleasant assurance of being able to communicate with their +friends at home--but the poorer classes in the mother-country would +always hear the truth as to the prospects of emigrants; and not only +the truth, but truth in which they would not suspect any falsehood.' +He goes on to say, that the statements published about that time, by +an emigration-board sitting in Downing Street, shewing what high wages +were obtainable in the colonies, 'though perfectly true, have not been +received with implicit faith by the harassed, and therefore suspicious +class to whom they were addressed; nor would any statements made by +the government ever obtain so much credit as letters from the +emigrants themselves.' All who have ever paid any attention to the +subject of emigration, and who have mixed familiarly among the poorer +classes, will agree with Mr Wakefield. All the government returns that +ever were made, backed by ever so many extracts from colonial +newspapers, about the high rate of wages, and the cheapness of +provisions, will not make half the impression upon a poor man which a +single letter from an emigrant brother, a son, or a trustworthy +friend, will produce. + +We should be glad to see the country rouse itself on this important +question, regarding which numerous meetings have already been held. + + + + +SURVEYING VOYAGE OF THE RATTLESNAKE. + + +Since war went out of fashion, many officers of the British navy have +been employed in exploring seas, and surveying coasts, in different +parts of the world, for the laudable purpose of facilitating +navigation; and there would be little harm in supposing, that there +might be as much glory in verifying the position and extent of a shoal +or sunken rock, as in capturing an enemy's frigate. At all events, +these surveying voyages furnish useful occupation, not unattended with +danger; and they involve the necessity for a good deal of hard work, +of a dry and technical character, three years being the time usually +allotted to a cruise. Australia, owing to the dangerous character of +its northern and eastern shores, has been the scene of numerous +surveys, among the latest of which was that by Captain Blackwood in +the _Fly_. One important result of this survey was the finding of a +passage through the great Barrier Reef for vessels navigating Torres +Strait; but as more than one passage was considered essential to the +safety of a route so much frequented, the _Rattlesnake_ was +commissioned, in September 1846, for a further survey, to be carried +on in what is called the Coral Sea, having New Guinea, the Louisiade +Archipelago, and the continent of Australia, as its boundaries.[3] + +After some months spent in preliminary examination of different parts +of the Australian shores and seas, the _Rattlesnake_ sailed from +Sydney, at the end of April 1848, for the main object of her cruise. +She had the _Bramble_, a small schooner, as tender, and was +accompanied by the _Tam o' Shanter_, a vessel chartered for the +conveyance of Mr Kennedy's expedition, which was to land at Rockingham +Bay, 1200 miles to the northward, 'and explore the country to the +eastward of the dividing range, running along the north-east coast of +Australia, at a variable distance from the shore, and terminating at +Cape York.' Having assisted in landing this party, and arranged to +meet them at the head of Princess Charlotte's Bay, on their toilsome, +and, as it proved, disastrous overland journey, the ships pursued +their route, and soon commenced a series of triangulations, which were +continued without a break for more than 600 miles. The _Bramble_ +waited ten days at the appointed rendezvous without seeing anything of +the overland expedition, which, as it afterwards appeared, did not +reach the same latitude until two months later, and then at a +considerable distance from the coast. + +In October, the vessels were at Cape York, waiting for Mr Kennedy, and +receiving supplies from a storeship despatched from Sydney, and +letters from the 'post-office' on Booby Island. In his capacity as +naturalist and ethnologist, Mr Macgillivray made frequent excursions, +collecting plants and animals, and words for a vocabulary. The natives +are described as inordinately fond of smoking whenever they can get +_choka_, as they call tobacco. 'The pipe--which is a piece of bamboo +as thick as the arm, and two or three feet long--is first filled with +tobacco-smoke, and then handed round the company, seated on the ground +in a ring; each takes a long inhalation, and passes the pipe to his +neighbour, slowly allowing the smoke to exhale. On several occasions +at Cape York,' continues the author, 'I have seen a native so affected +by a single inhalation, as to be rendered nearly senseless, with the +perspiration bursting out at every pore, and require a draught of +water to restore him; and although myself a smoker, yet, on the only +occasion when I tried this mode of using tobacco, the sensations of +nausea and faintness were produced.' There is something new in the +idea of taking whiffs of ready-made smoke, which might perhaps be +turned to account by enterprising purveyors of social enjoyments on +this side of the world. + +After the abortive attempt to establish the colony of 'North +Australia' at Port Curtis, at a cost of L.15,000, and the abandonment +of Port Essington, it is not uninteresting to learn that Cape York +presents many natural capabilities for a settlement. There is a good +harbour, safe anchorage, abundance of fresh water all the year round, +and a moderate extent of cultivable land, all of which will help to +constitute it a desirable coaling station for the contemplated line of +steamers from Sydney to Singapore and India. The Port-Essington +experiment was so complete a failure, that after trying for eleven +years, the colonists were 'not even able to keep themselves in fresh +vegetables.' Fortunately, but little encouragement was ever offered to +permanent settlers, or the disappointments caused by an unproductive +soil and unhealthy climate would have been greatly multiplied. A +singular example of the _lex talionis_ occurred among the natives at +this place. One of them having been severely wounded in punishment for +an offence, the penalty was considered too severe, and 'it was finally +determined that, upon Munjerrijo's recovery, the two natives who had +wounded him should offer their heads to him to be struck with a +club--the usual way, it would appear, of settling such matters.' + +Here we find, too, another of those instances of intelligence in a +native, the more extraordinary when contrasted with the low mental +condition of the aborigines in general. Sir Thomas Mitchell, and other +Australian travellers, have spoken of their acutely-endowed guides in +terms almost of affection; and Mr Macgillivray relates that, during +his stay at Port Essington, a native named Neinmal became greatly +attached to him. 'One day,' he continues, 'while detained by rainy +weather at my camp, I was busy in skinning a fish; Neinmal watched me +attentively for some time, and then withdrew, but returned in half an +hour afterwards with the skin of another fish in his hand, prepared by +himself, and so well done, too, that it was added to the collection. +He went with us to Singapore, Java, and Sydney, and, from his great +good-humour, became a favourite with all on board--picking up the +English language with facility, and readily conforming himself to our +customs and the discipline of the ship. He was very cleanly in his +personal habits, and paid much attention to his dress, which was +always kept neat and tidy. I was often much amused and surprised by +the oddity and justness of his remarks upon the many strange sights +which a voyage of this kind brought before him.' The _Nemesis_ steamer +underweigh puzzled him at first; he then thought it was 'all same big +cart, only got him shingles (wooden roofing-tiles, so called) on +wheels!' Neinmal spoke of his countrymen as 'big fools,' and held +white men in such estimation, that he volunteered for a voyage to +England; but having been prevented, returned to Port Essington, where +he learned to read and write. His superiority rendered him obnoxious +to the older members of his family; and one day, while on a visit to +his tribe, 'he was roused from sleep to find himself surrounded by a +host of savages thirsting for his blood. They told him to rise, but he +merely raised himself upon his elbow, and said: "If you want to kill +me, do so where I am; I won't get up. Give me a spear and club, and +I'll fight you all one by one!" He had scarcely spoken, when he was +speared from behind; spear after spear followed, and as he lay +writhing on the ground, his savage murderers literally dashed him to +pieces with their clubs.' + +In June 1849, the _Rattlesnake_ and _Bramble_ were at work in the +Louisiade Archipelago, finding out the safest channels and anchorages +among its numerous rocks, shoals, and reefs. The natives of some of +the islands had never seen Europeans before, yet seemed little +inclined to acknowledge the superiority of their visitors. They +manifested but little alarm on witnessing the effects of firearms; and +on one occasion attacked two of the ship's boats with a courage and +self-reliance extraordinary under the circumstances. In general +characteristics, they resemble the Torres Strait islanders: some of +them friz their hair up into a mop two feet in diameter, wear a comb +nearly a yard long, and bunches of dogs' teeth hanging behind, by way +of ornament, and take no little pride in adorning their persons with +paint and tattoo-marks, and flowers and plants of strong odour. +Bracelets of various kinds are a favourite decoration, and among these +the most curious 'is that made of a human lower jaw, with one or more +collar-bones closing the upper side, crossing from one angle to the +other. Whether these are the jaws of former friends or enemies,' says +Mr Macgillivray, 'we had no means of ascertaining; no great value +appeared to be attached to them; and it was observed, as a curious +circumstance, that none of these jaws had the teeth discoloured by the +practice of betel-chewing.' + +A supply of yams being wanted, the cutter was sent one day at the +beginning of July to open a trade, if possible, with the natives of +Brierly Island, on which occasion 'Mr Brady took charge of the +bartering, and drawing a number of lines upon the sandy beach, +explained that when each was covered with a yam, he would give an axe +in return. At first, some little difficulty occurred, as the yams were +brought down very slowly--two or three at a time; but at length the +first batch was completed, and the axe handed over. The man who got it +had been trembling with anxiety for some time back, holding Mr Brady +by the arm, and watching the promised axe with eager eye. When he +obtained possession of it, he became quite wild with joy, laughing and +screaming, and flourishing the axe over his head. After this +commencement, the bartering went on briskly, amidst a great deal of +uproar--the men passing between the village and the beach at full +speed, with basketfuls of yams, and too intent on getting the _kiram +kelumai_ (iron axes) to think of anything else.' In this way, 368 +pounds of yams were collected, at a cost of about a half-penny per +pound. + +Among contrivances for procuring food, the natives of some of the +islands train the sucking-fish (_Echeneis remora_) for the chase in +the water, as dogs are trained to hunt on land. A line is made fast to +the creature's tail; it is then started in pursuit of prey, and as +soon as it has attached itself to a turtle, or any other 'game,' the +line is hauled in, and the prize secured. While the _Rattlesnake_ lay +at anchor, a number of sucking-fishes took up their quarters under her +bottom, and whenever the sailors dropped a bait overboard, it was +always seized by one of the _remorae_, greatly to the annoyance of the +anglers on deck. 'Being quite a nuisance,' writes Mr Macgillivray, +'and useless as food, Jack often treated them as he would a shark, by +"spritsail-yarding," or some still less refined mode of torture. One +day, some of us, while walking the poop, had our attention directed to +a sucking-fish, about two and a half feet in length, which had been +made fast by the tail to a billet of wood, by a fathom or so of +spun-yarn, and turned adrift. An immense striped shark, apparently +about fourteen feet in length, which had been cruising about the ship +all the morning, sailed slowly up, and turning slightly on one side, +attempted to seize the seemingly helpless fish; but the sucker, with +great dexterity, made himself fast in a moment to the shark's back. +Off darted the monster at full speed--the sucker holding on as fast as +a limpet to a rock, and the billet towing astern. He then rolled over +and over, tumbling about, when, wearied with his efforts, he lay quiet +for a little. Seeing the float, the shark got it into his mouth, and +disengaging the sucker by a tug on the line, made a bolt at the fish; +but his puny antagonist was again too quick, and fixing himself close +behind the dorsal fin, defied the efforts of the shark to disengage +him, although he rolled over and over, lashing the water with his tail +until it foamed all round.' After such a spirited combat, it is +somewhat tantalising to read, that the final result could not clearly +be made out; it is scarcely possible, however, not to wish success to +the remora. + +On the 18th August, a party landed on the coast of New Guinea, and +paid a friendly visit to some of the Papuans who had been off to the +ship, and found them less fierce and distrustful than those of the +islands. Some of them thought the muskets were water-vessels, and +others were afraid of a knife: it was too sharp. They are excellent +mimics; and one of them imitated the English drummer so cleverly on an +old tin-can, as to excite roars of laughter among all who witnessed +the performance. Some of their dances are extraordinary, more +resembling a fencing-match than movements of the light fantastic toe; +and the following description of a dance after nightfall is +curious:--'On seeing a number of lights along the beach, we at first +thought they proceeded from a fishing-party, but on looking through a +night-glass, the group was seen to consist of above a dozen people, +each carrying a blazing torch, and going through the movements of a +dance. At one time, they extended rapidly into line; at another, +closed, dividing into two parties, advancing and retreating, crossing +and recrossing, and mixing up with each other. This continued for half +an hour; and having apparently been got up for our amusement, a rocket +was sent up for theirs, and a blue-light burned; but the dancing had +ceased, and the lights disappeared.' + +On the 1st October, the _Rattlesnake_ was again at Cape York. About +the middle of the month, an incident occurred which relieved the +dulness of a period of inactivity--the discovery and rescue of a white +woman, who had been for some time a prisoner among the natives. We +shall abridge Mr Macgillivray's narrative of her story. Her name is +Barbara Thomson; she was born at Aberdeen, and emigrated to New South +Wales with her parents. About four and a half years prior to the +event, she had accompanied her husband in a small cutter, to try to +save some part of the cargo of a whaler that had been wrecked on the +Bampton shoal. The pilot missed his route, two of the crew were +drowned by accident, another was left on a desert island, and at last +the little vessel, caught by a gale in Torres Strait, struck upon a +reef on Prince of Wales Island. The only two men left on board were +drowned in attempting to swim to shore; but the woman was saved by a +party of natives, one of whom, Boroto by name, forced her to live with +him as his wife, in which position she for a time was exposed to much +cruelty, owing to the jealousy of the women of the tribe. She +eventually was saved from persecution by a singular belief prevalent +among the natives--that white people are the ghosts of departed +aborigines--one of the principal among the blacks having persuaded +himself that he had found in her his long-lost daughter, after whom +Barbara was named Giom. The head-quarters of the tribe were on an +island, and the captive frequently saw vessels pass on their way to +Torres Strait, but without any opportunity of making her case known. +She had heard of the first arrival of the _Rattlesnake_ and tender at +Cape York; and on the last visit, had induced the blacks to escort her +to within a short distance of the anchorage, they believing that she +only wished to shake hands with her countrymen, and would soon return, +laden with knives, axes, and tobacco. Although lame, she hurried on, +fearing that her conductors might change their mind, and made towards +some of the ship's company, who were on shore shooting. Except a +fringe of leaves, she was quite naked, and her appearance was so dirty +and miserable, that they took her for a _gin_, or native woman, and +paid no attention to her, when she called out: 'I am a white woman; +why do you leave me?' She was immediately taken on board the ship, and +but just in time to escape from a small party of the tribe, who had +followed to detain her. + +Mr Macgillivray continues: 'Upon being asked by Captain Stanley, +whether she really preferred remaining with us to accompanying the +natives back to their island, as she would be allowed her free choice +in the matter, she was so much agitated as to find difficulty in +expressing her thankfulness, making use of scraps of English +alternately with the Kowrarega language, and then, suddenly awakening +to the recollection that she was not understood, the poor creature +blushed all over, and with downcast eyes beat her forehead with her +hand, as if to assist in collecting her scattered thoughts. At length, +after a pause, she found words to say: "Sir, I am a Christian, and +would rather go back to my own friends." At the same tune, it was +remarked by every one that she had not lost the feelings of womanly +modesty; even after having lived so long among naked blacks, she +seemed acutely to feel the singularity of her position, dressed only +in a couple of shirts, in the midst of a crowd of her own countrymen.' + +In accordance with her wish, Mrs Thomson was kept on board, and had a +cabin given up to her own use; good living and medical attendance soon +cured the soreness of her tanned and blistered skin, and the +ophthalmia, which had deprived her of the sight of one eye. The black +Boroto grew desperate when he found that she would not return to him, +and threatened to cut off her head to satisfy his vengeance--a +catastrophe which the rescued woman avoided by not going on shore; and +she was eventually handed over, in good condition, to her parents on +the return of the vessel to Sydney, at the beginning of 1850. + +Shortly afterwards, to the great sorrow of all on board, Captain +Stanley died, at the early age of thirty-eight. He had brought his +scientific labours to a successful close, and might have looked +forward to a brief period of honourable repose; but the fatigue and +anxiety of a laborious survey in a hot climate, and the news of the +decease of his father, the late Bishop of Norwich, depressed him +beyond the power of recovery. This was not the only melancholy +incident connected with the _Rattlesnake's_ voyage. Mr Kennedy's +expedition had proved a most disastrous failure. The party, as we have +seen, had landed in Rockingham Bay, and commenced their journey +northwards, with a well-appointed caravan of carts, horses, and men, +all in high spirits. But more than a month elapsed before they could +extricate themselves from the swamps and scrub which cover that part +of the country; and at the beginning of November, five months later, +they had not advanced more than 400 miles in a direct line: nineteen +of the horses were dead, and the stock of provisions nearly exhausted. +Mr Kennedy then determined on pushing forwards, with a light party, +for Cape York, 150 miles distant, whence relief was to be sent to the +eight individuals who were left behind, nearly worn out with fatigue +and exhaustion. This party consisted of the leader; Jackey Jackey, a +faithful and intelligent native; and three of the strongest of the +men. One of the latter accidentally shot himself, and the other two +became so weak, that they also were left at an encampment, with as +large a supply of provisions as could be spared. After incredible +hardships, Mr Kennedy and his companion reached Escape River, twenty +miles from Cape York, where they were attacked by a party of natives, +while entangled in a scrub, and the gallant leader of the expedition +fell a victim to their ferocity. Three spears had entered his body, +and Jackey Jackey, in simple but touching words, describes his last +moments. 'Mr Kennedy,' he asked, after having carried the wounded man +out of sight of the natives, 'are you going to leave me?' 'Yes, my +boy, I am going to leave you,' was the reply of the dying man. 'I am +very bad, Jackey. You take the books, Jackey, to the captain; but not +the big ones: the governor will give anything for them.' 'I then tied +up the papers. He then said: "Jackey, give me paper, and I will +write." I gave him paper and pencil, and he tried to write; and he +then fell back and died, and I caught him as he fell back, and held +him, and I then turned round myself, and cried. I was crying a good +while, until I got well; that was about an hour, and then I buried +him, I dug up the ground with a tomahawk, and covered him over with +logs, then grass, and my shirt and trousers. That night I left him, +near dark.' + +Jackey contrived to evade the pursuers, and a week afterwards got on +board the schooner, which was lying in Port Albany, Cape York, waiting +the arrival of Mr Kennedy's expedition. On learning the fatal result, +the captain sailed, in the hope of saving the men who had been left +behind. Of the two who had belonged to the advanced party, nothing was +discovered except some articles of clothing, and it was believed they +had perished. Of the eight first left near Weymouth Bay, two were +still alive, but in the last stage of exhaustion, having endured +privations and hardships almost without a parallel. + +The brig _Freak_ was subsequently despatched from Sydney, for the +purpose of securing any papers or documents, or the mortal remains of +any of the unfortunate expedition. Jackey Jackey was on board, and by +means of his remarkable sagacity, led the way to the respective camps. +The bones of two of the men were found; also some of Mr Kennedy's +instruments, portions of his clothing, and his manuscript journal, +which had been hidden in the hollow of a tree; but after a minute +search for the place where his body had been buried, it could not be +discovered. + +We might extend this painful narrative did our space permit; but we +must now close, with a recommendation of the book under notice to +those who are interested in the progress of natural or geographical +discovery. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, commanded by the +late Captain Owen Stanley, during the years 1846-50, including +Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea, the Louisiade Archipelago, &c. +&c. By John Macgillivray, F.R.G.S., Naturalist to the Expedition. +London: Boone. 2 vols. 8vo. + + + + +A CELEBRATED FRENCH CLOCKMAKER. + + +The superiority of French clocks and watches has been achieved only by +the laborious efforts of many ingenious artisans. Of one of these, to +whom France owes no little of its celebrity in this branch of art, we +propose to speak. Breguet was the name of this remarkable individual. +He was a native of Neuchatel, in Switzerland, and thence he was +removed, while young, to Versailles, for the purpose of learning his +business as a horologist. His parents being poor, he found it +necessary to rely on his own energy for advancement in life. + +At Versailles, he served a regular apprenticeship, during which his +diligence in improving himself was almost beyond example. He became +greatly attached to his profession; and soon, by studious +perseverance, his talents were developed by real knowledge. At length +the term of apprenticeship expired, and as the master was expressing +to the pupil the satisfaction which his good conduct and diligence had +given him, he was struck with astonishment when he replied: 'Master, I +have a favour to ask of you. I feel that I have not always as I ought +employed my time, which was to have indemnified you for the cares and +lessons you have spent on me. I beg of you, then, to permit me to +continue with you three months longer without salary.' This request +confirmed the attachment of the master to his pupil. But scarcely was +the apprenticeship of the latter over, when he lost his mother and his +stepfather, and found himself alone in the world with an elder +sister--being thus left to provide, by his own industry, for the +maintenance of two persons. Nevertheless, he ardently desired to +complete his necessary studies, for he felt that the knowledge of +mathematics was absolutely indispensable to his attaining perfection +in his art. This determined purpose conquered every obstacle. Not only +did he labour perseveringly for his sister and himself, but also found +means to attend regularly a course of public lectures which the Abbe +Marie was then giving at the College Mazarin. The professor, having +remarked the unwearied assiduity of the young clockmaker, made a +friend of him, and delighted in considering him as his beloved pupil. +This friendship, founded on the truest esteem and the most +affectionate gratitude, contributed wondrously to the progress of the +student. + +The great metamorphosis which was effected so suddenly in the young +clockmaker was very remarkable. There is something very encouraging in +his example, affording as it does a proof of the power of the man who +arms himself with a determined purpose. At first, the struggle with +difficulties appears hard, painful, almost impossible; but only let +there be a little perseverance, the obstacles vanish one after the +other, the way is made plain: instead of the thorns which seem to +choke it, verdant laurels suddenly spring up, the reward of constant +and unwearied labour. Thus it was with our studious apprentice. His +ideas soon expand; his work acquires more precision; a new and a more +extended horizon opens before him. From a skilful workman, it is not +long before he becomes an accomplished artist. Yet a few years, and +the name of Breguet is celebrated. + +At the epoch of the first troubles of the Revolution of 1789, Breguet +had already founded the establishment which has since produced so many +master-pieces of mechanism. The most honourable, the most flattering +reputation was his. One anecdote will serve to prove the high repute +in which he was held, even out of France. One day a watch, to the +construction of which he had given his whole attention, happened to +fall into the hands of Arnold, the celebrated English watchmaker. He +examined it with interest, and surveyed with admiration the simplicity +of its mechanism, the perfection of the workmanship. He could scarcely +be persuaded that a specimen thus executed could be the work of French +industry. Yielding to the love of his art, he immediately set out for +Paris, without any other object than simply to become acquainted with +the French artist. On arriving in Paris, he went immediately to see +Breguet, and soon these two men were acquainted with each other. They +seem, indeed, to have formed a mutual friendship. In order that +Breguet might give Arnold the highest token of his esteem and +affection, he requested him to take his son with him to be taught his +profession, and this was acceded to. + +The Revolution destroyed the first establishment of Breguet, and +finally forced the great artist to seek an asylum on a foreign shore. +There generous assistance enabled him, with his son, to continue his +ingenious experiments in his art. At length, having returned to Paris +after two years' absence, he opened a new establishment, which +continued to flourish till 1823, when France lost this man, the pride +and boast of its industrial class. Breguet was member of the +Institute, was clockmaker to the navy, and member of the Bureau of +Longitude. He was indeed the most celebrated clockmaker of the age; he +had brought to perfection every branch of his art. Nothing could +surpass the delicacy and ingenuity of his free escapement with a +maintaining power. To him we owe another escapement called 'natural,' +in which there is no spring, and oil is not needed; but another, and +still more perfect one, is the double escapement, where the precision +of the contacts renders the use of oil equally unnecessary, and in +which the waste of power in the pendulum is repaired at each +vibration. + +The sea-watches or chronometers of Breguet are famous throughout the +world. It is well known that these watches are every moment subject to +change of position, from the rolling and pitching of the vessel. +Breguet conceived the bold thought of enclosing the whole mechanism of +the escapement and the spring in a circular envelope, making a +complete revolution every two minutes. The inequality of position is +thus, as it were, equalised on that short lapse of time; the mechanism +itself producing compensation, whether the chronometer is subjected to +any continuous movement, or kept steady in an inclined or upright +position. Breguet did still more: he found means to preserve the +regularity of his chronometers even in case of their getting any +sudden shock or fall, and this he did by the parachute. Sir Thomas +Brisbane put one of them to the proof, carrying it about with him on +horseback, and on long journeys and voyages; in sixteen months, the +greatest daily loss was only a second and a half--that is, the +57,600th part of a daily revolution. + +Such is the encouraging example of Breguet, who was at first only a +workman. And to this he owes his being the best judge of good workmen, +as he was the best friend to them. He sought out such everywhere, even +in other countries; gave them the instruction of a master of the art; +and treated them with the kindness of a father. They were indebted to +him for their prosperity, and he owed to them the increase of fortune +and of fame. He well understood the advantages of a judicious division +of labour, according to the several capabilities of artisans. By this +means, he was able to meet the demand for pieces of his workmanship, +not less remarkable for elegance and beauty than for extreme accuracy. +It may indeed be said, that Breguet's efforts gave a character to +French horology that it has never lost. So much may one man do in his +day and generation to give an impetus to an important branch of +national industry. + + + + +SAINT ELIZABETH OF BOHEMIA. + + + 'Would that we two were lying + Beneath the church-yard sod, + With our limbs at rest in the green earth's breast, + And our souls at home with God!'[4] + + I never lay me down to sleep at night + But in my heart I sing that little song: + The angels hear it, as, a pitying throng, + They touch my burning lids with fingers bright, + Like moonbeams--pale, impalpable, and light. + And when my daily pious tasks are done, + And all my patient prayers said one by one, + God hears it. Seems it sinful in His sight + That round my slow burnt-offering of quenched will, + One quivering human sigh creeps windlike still? + That when my orisons in silence fail, + Lingers one tremulous note of human wail? + Dear lord--spouse--hero--martyr--saint! erelong + I think God will forgive my singing that poor song. + + A year ago, I bade my little son + Bear on a pilgrimage a sacred load + Of alms; he cried out, fainting on the road, + 'Mother, O mother, would that this were done!' + Him I reproved with tears, and said: 'Go on, + Nor feebly sink ere half thy task be o'er.' + Would not God say to me the same, and more? + I will not sing that song. Thou, dearest one, + Husband--no, _brother_--stretch thy steadfast hand + Across the void! Mine grasps it. Now I stand, + My woman-weakness nerved to strength divine. + We'll quaff life's aloe-cup as though 'twere wine, + Each to the other; journeying on apart, + Till at heaven's golden doors we two leap heart to heart. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] From Kingsley's _Saint's Tragedy_. Elizabeth, Princess of Bohemia, +the most sincere among the mistaken devotee saints of the middle ages, +renounced her royal state, her husband and children, and spent her +life in the sternest asceticism, and in the most self-denying acts of +charity. + + + + +A MAN-OF-WAR, OR A MAN OF PEACE. + + +It will probably be remembered that, a few years ago, a great +excitement was caused by the discovery of vast deposits of guano upon +the island of Ichaboe, situated on the west coast of Africa. The +remarkable fertilising qualities of guano gave it great value as an +article of commerce, and a large number of vessels were despatched +from various ports to take in cargoes at the island. It was computed +that at one time not less than 500 vessels were lying off Ichaboe, and +as there was no settled authority to regulate the trade of the place, +a scene of indescribable confusion and tumult soon presented itself. +The crews of several of the ships having established themselves upon +the table-land at the top of the island (the island being little more +than a huge rock, rising with almost perpendicular cliffs from the +ocean), a dispute arose between them and their captains, which soon +proceeded to open mutiny on the part of the men. The only access to +their position being by long ladders, the men set their masters at +defiance, and held possession of their stronghold, which was +inaccessible, except by permission of the mutineers. The captains +despatched a vessel to the Cape of Good Hope, for the purpose of +laying a complaint before the governor, and soliciting his aid. The +governor was about to despatch a man-of-war--the only remedy that is +generally thought of in such cases--when a good, devoted man, a +missionary at Cape Town, named Bertram, hearing of the affair, +represented to the governor his earnest desire to spare the effusion +of blood, and his conviction that, if he were allowed to proceed to +the island, he could bring the quarrel to an amicable settlement. Mr +Bertram obtained the consent of the authorities, and the order for the +sailing of the man-of-war was suspended. He proceeded to Ichaboe, and +being rowed ashore, began to ascend one of the lofty ladders. Two +seamen, well armed, who had guard above, shouted to know who he was +and what he wanted. 'A friend, who wants to speak to you,' was the +reply. The guards seeing a single man, unarmed, climbing fearlessly +towards them, permitted him to ascend. He called the men round him, +spoke kindly but faithfully to them, heard their complaints, and +undertook to negotiate for them. He did this with so much tact and +judgment, that a reconciliation was soon effected, and harmony +restored between the captains and their crews. Mr Bertram remained ten +days with the men on the summit of the island, employing the time to +the best advantage in preaching and teaching amongst them. It was only +on the plea of urgent duty that the men would permit him to leave +them. They clustered round him, as he was about to descend from +amongst them for the last time; each was eager to wring him by the +hand, and tears rolled down many a weather-beaten cheek as he bade +them a last adieu. 'God bless you, sir!' they exclaimed; 'you have +been our true friend; would that you could stay amongst us, for we +feel that you have done us good.' It will be well for nations when +they have more faith in the power of a man of peace, and less in that +of a man-of-war.--_Bond of Brotherhood_. + + + + +NOTE TO INTENDING EMIGRANTS. + + +In reply to numerous correspondents who make inquiry respecting the +most suitable fields for emigration, we have again to intimate, that +we cannot assume the responsibility of privately advising individuals +on the important step of emigrating to one place in preference to +another. Every one is best acquainted with his own desires, abilities, +and necessities, and should, with the general assistance of public +opinion and the press, be able to make up his mind whether he should +or should not emigrate, or what distant land will be to him most +answerable and agreeable. With the view of doing all in our power to +assist in forming this resolution, we have lately had prepared, under +our own inspection, a series of cheap and accessible Manuals on the +subject of Emigration; containing, we believe, all desirable +information for those who are disposed to emigrate; and a perusal of +which may possibly obviate the necessity of seeking private counsel on +any point. The Manuals may be had from any of the ordinary agents for +supplying this Journal; they separately refer to AUSTRALIA, AMERICA, +NEW ZEALAND, the CAPE, and PORT NATAL; and in addition, there is one +devoted to general considerations and directions. The whole, however, +may be obtained bound in a single volume. + + +_Price 4s. 6d. Cloth, Lettered,_ + +THE EMIGRANT'S MANUAL. + +A complete MANUAL for EMIGRANTS, embracing the latest and most +trustworthy information, in One Volume. It may also be had in Parts, +each referring to a distinct FIELD OF EMIGRATION. + +AUSTRALIA, 1_s._--NEW ZEALAND, CAPE of GOOD HOPE, &c. 1_s._--BRITISH +AMERICA, and UNITED STATES of AMERICA, 1_s._--EMIGRATION in its +PRACTICAL APPLICATION to INDIVIDUALS and COMMUNITIES, 1_s._ + + * * * * * + +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 Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 432, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH *** + +***** This file should be named 17348.txt or 17348.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/3/4/17348/ + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. 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