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diff --git a/20792-8.txt b/20792-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..526e83f --- /dev/null +++ b/20792-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2539 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 442, 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. 442 + Volume 17, New Series, June 19, 1852 + +Author: Various + +Editor: Robert Chambers and William Chambers + +Release Date: March 10, 2007 [EBook #20792] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH *** + + + + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. Shiffer and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL + + CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S + INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c. + + + No. 442. NEW SERIES. SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 1852. PRICE 1-1/2_d._ + + + + +THE OLD HOUSE IN CRANE COURT. + +The roaring pell-mell of the principal thoroughfares of London is +curiously contrasted with the calm seclusion which is often found at +no great distance in certain lanes, courts, and passages, and the +effect is not a little heightened when in these by-places we light +upon some old building speaking of antique institutions or bygone +habits of society. We lately had this idea brought strikingly before +us on plunging abruptly out of Fleet Street into Crane Court, in +search of the establishment known as the Scottish Hospital. We were +all at once transferred into a quiet narrow street, as it might be +called, full of printing and lithographic offices, tall, dark, and +rusty, while closing up the further end stood a dingy building of +narrow front, presenting an ornamental porch. A few minutes served to +introduce us to a moderate-sized hall, having a long table in the +centre, and an arm-chair at the upper end, while several old portraits +graced the walls. It was not without a mental elevation of feeling, as +well as some surprise, that we learned that this was a hall in which +Newton had spent many an evening. It was, to be quite explicit, the +meeting-place of the Royal Society from 1710 till 1782, and, +consequently, during not much less than twenty years of the latter +life of the illustrious author of the _Principia_, who, as an +office-bearer in the institution, must have often taken an eminent +place here. We were not, however, immediately in quest of the +antiquities of the Royal Society. Our object was to form some +acquaintance with the valuable institution which has succeeded to it +in the possession of this house. + +We must advert to a peculiarity of our Scottish countrymen, which can +be set down only on the credit side of their character--their sympathy +with each other when they meet as wanderers in foreign countries. +Scotland is just a small enough country to cause a certain unity of +feeling amongst the people. Wherever they are, they feel that Scotsmen +should stand, as their proverb has it, _shoulder to shoulder_. The +more distant the clime in which they meet, they remember with the more +intensity their common land of mountain and flood, their historical +and poetical associations, the various national institutions which +ages have endeared to them; and the more disposed are they to take an +interest in each other's welfare. This is a feeling in which time and +modern innovations work no change, and it is one of old-standing. + +When James VI. acceded to the throne of Elizabeth, he was followed +southward by some of his favourite nobles, and there was of course an +end put to that exclusive system of the late monarch which had kept +down the number of Scotsmen in London, to what must now appear the +astonishingly small one of fifty-eight. Perhaps some exaggerations +have been indulged in with regard to the host of traders and craftsmen +who went southward in the train of King James, but there can be no +doubt, that it was considerable in point of numbers. But where wealth +is sought for, there also, by an inevitable law of nature, is poverty. +The better class of Scotchmen settled in London, soon found their +feelings of compassion excited in behalf of a set of miserable +fellow-countrymen who had failed to obtain employment or fix +themselves in a mercantile position, and for whom the stated charities +of the country were not available. Hence seems to have arisen, so +early as 1613, the necessity for some system of mutual charity among +the natives of Scotland in London. So far as can be ascertained, it +was a handful of journeymen or hired artisans, who in that year +associated to aid each other, and prevent themselves from becoming +burdensome to strangers--an interesting fact, as evincing in a remote +period the predominance of that spirit of independence for which the +modern Scottish peasantry has been famed, and which even yet survives +in some degree of vigour, notwithstanding the fatally counteractive +influence of poor-laws. The funds contributed by these worthy men were +put into a box, and kept there--for in those days there were no banks +to take a fruitful charge of money--and at certain periods the +contributors would meet, and see what they could spare for the relief +of such poor fellow-countrymen as had in the interval applied to them. +We have still a faint living image of this simple plan in the _boxes_ +belonging to certain trades in our Scottish towns, or rather the +survivance of the phrase, for the money, we must presume, is now +everywhere relegated to the keeping of the banks. The institution in +those days was known as the SCOTTISH BOX, just as a money-dealing +company came to be called a bank, from the table (_banco_) which it +employed in transacting its business. From a very early period in its +history, it seems to have taken the form of what is now called a +Friendly Society, each person contributing an entrance-fee of 5s., and +6d. per quarter thereafter, so as to be entitled to certain benefits +in the event of poverty or sickness. Small sums were also lent to the +poorer members, without interest, and burial expenses were paid. We +find from the records that, in 1638, when the company was twenty in +number, and met in Lamb's Conduit Street, it allowed 20s. for a +certain class of those of its members who had died of the plague, and +30s. for others. The whole affair, however, was then on a limited +scale--the quarterly disbursements in 1661 amounting only to L.9, 4s. +Nevertheless, upwards of 300 poor Scotsmen, swept off by the +pestilence of 1665-6, were buried at the expense of the Box, while +numbers more were nourished during their sickness, without subjecting +the parishes in which they resided to the smallest expense. We have +not the slightest doubt, that not one of these people felt the +bitterness of a dependence on alms. If not actually entitled to relief +in consideration of previous payments of their own, they would feel +that they were beholden only to their kindly countrymen. It would be +like the members of a family helping each other. Humiliation could +have been felt only, if they had had to accept of alms from those +amongst whom they sojourned as strangers. Such is the way, at least, +in which we read the character of our countrymen. + +In the year 1665, the Box was exalted into the character of a +corporation by a royal charter, the expenses attendant on which were +disbursed by gentlemen named Kinnear, Allen, Ewing, Donaldson, &c. +When they met at the Cross Keys in 'Coven Garden,' they found their +receipts to be L.116, 8s. 5d. The character of the times is seen in +one of their regulations, which imposed a fine of 2s. 6d. for every +oath used in the course of their quarterly business. The institution +was now becoming venerable, and, as usual, members began to exhibit +their affection for it by presents. The Mr Kinnear just mentioned, +conferred upon it an elegant silver cup. James Donaldson presented an +ivory mallet or hammer, to be used by the chairman in calling order. +Among the contributors, we find the name of Gilbert Burnet (afterwards +Bishop) as giving L.1 half-yearly. They had an hospital erected in +Blackfriars Street; but experience soon proved that confinement to a +charity workhouse was altogether uncongenial to the feelings and +habits of the Scottish poor, and they speedily returned to the plan of +assisting them by small outdoor pensions, which has ever since been +adhered to. In those days, no effort was made to secure permanency by +a sunk fund. They distributed each quarter-day all that had been +collected during the preceding interval. The consequence of this not +very Scotsman-like proceeding was that, in one of those periods of +decay which are apt to befall all charitable institutions, the +Scottish Hospital was threatened with extinction; and this would +undoubtedly have been its fate, but for the efforts of a few patriotic +Scotsmen who came to its aid. + +Through the help of these gentlemen, a new charter was obtained +(1775), putting the institution upon a new and more liberal footing, +and at the same time providing for the establishment of a permanent +fund. Since then, through the virtue of the national spirit, +considerable sums have been obtained from the wealthier Scotch living +in London, and by the bequests of charitable individuals of the +nation; so that the hospital now distributes about L.2200 per annum, +chiefly in L.10 pensions to old people.[1] At the same time, a special +bequest of large amount (L.76,495) from William Kinloch, Esq., a +native of Kincardineshire, who had realised a fortune in India, allows +of a further distribution through the same channel of about L.1800, +most of it in pensions of L.4 to disabled soldiers and sailors. Thus +many hundreds of the Scotch poor of the metropolis may be said to be +kept by their fellow-countrymen from falling upon the parochial funds, +on which they would have a claim--a fact, we humbly think, on which +the nation at large may justifiably feel some little pride. As part of +the means of collecting this money, there is a festival twice a year, +usually presided over by some Scottish nobleman, and attended by a +great number of gentlemen connected with Scotland by birth or +otherwise. A committee of governors meets on the second Wednesday of +every month, to distribute the benefactions to the regular pensioners +and casual applicants; and, in accordance with the national habits of +feeling, this ceremony is always prefaced by divine service in the +chapel, according to the simple practice of the Presbyterian Church. +Since 1782, these transactions, as well as the general concerns of the +institution, have taken place in the old building in Crane Court, +where also the secretary has a permanent residence. + +Such, then, is the institution which has succeeded to the possession +of the dusky hall in which the Royal Society at one time assembled. It +was with a mingled interest that we looked round it, reflecting on the +presence of such men as Newton and Bradley of old, and on the many +worthy deeds which had since been done in it by men of a different +stamp, but surely not unworthy to be mentioned in the same sentence. A +portrait of Queen Mary by Zucchero, and one of the Duke of Lauderdale +by Lely--though felt as reminiscences of Scotland--were scarcely +fitted of themselves to ornament the walls; but this, of course, is as +the accidents of gifts and bequests might determine. We felt it to be +more right and fitting, that the secretary should be our old friend +Major Adair, the son of that Dr Adair who accompanied Robert Burns on +his visit to Glendevon in 1787. He is one of those men of activity, +method, and detail, joined to unfailing good-humour, who are +invaluable to such an institution. He is also, as might be expected, +entirely a Scotsman, and evidently regards the hospital with feelings +akin to veneration. Nor could we refrain from sympathising in his +views, when we thought of the honourable national principle from which +the institution took its rise, and by which it continues to be +supported, as well as the practical good which it must be continually +achieving. To quote his own words: 'From a view of the numbers +relieved, it is evident, that while this institution is a real +blessing to the aged, the helpless, the diseased, and the unemployed +poor of Scotland, resident in London, Westminster, and the +neighbourhood, extending to a circle of ten miles radius from the hall +of the corporation, it is of incalculable benefit to the community at +large, who, by means of this charity, are spared the pain of beholding +so great an addition, as otherwise there would be, of our destitute +fellow-creatures seeking their wretched pittance in the streets, +liable to be taken up as vagrants and sent to the house of correction, +and probably subjected to greater evils and disgrace.' The major has a +pet scheme for extending the usefulness of the institution. It implies +that individuals should make foundations of from L.300 to L.400 each, +in order to produce pensions of L.10 a year; these to be in the care +and dispensation of the hospital, and each to bear for ever the name +of its founder; thus permanently connecting his memory with the +institution, and insuring that once a year, at least, some humble +fellow-countryman shall have occasion to rejoice that such a person as +he once existed. The idea involves the gratification of a fine natural +feeling, and we sincerely hope that it will be realised. And why, +since we have said so much, should we hesitate to add the more general +wish, that the Scottish Hospital may continue to enjoy an undiminished +measure of the patronage of our countrymen? May it flourish for ever! + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _Note by an Englishman._--It is not one of the least curious +particulars in the history of the Scottish Hospital, that it +substantiates by documentary evidence the fact, that Scotsmen, who +have gone to England, occasionally find their way back to their own +country. It appears from the books of the corporation, that in the +year ending 30th November 1850, the sum of L.30, 16s. 6d. was spent in +'passages' from London to Leith; and there is actually a corresponding +society in Edinburgh to receive the _revenants_, and pass them on to +their respective districts. + + + + +THE HUNCHBACK OF STRASBOURG. + + +In the department of the Bas-Rhin, France, and not more than about two +leagues north of Strasbourg, lived Antoine Delessert, who farmed, or +intended farming, his own land--about a ten-acre slice of 'national' +property, which had fallen to him, nobody very well knew how, during +the hurly-burly of the great Revolution. He was about five-and-thirty, +a widower, and had one child, likewise named Antoine, but familiarly +known as Le Bossu (hunchback)--a designation derived, like his +father's acres, from the Revolution, somebody having, during one of +the earlier and livelier episodes of that exciting drama, thrown the +poor little fellow out of a window in Strasbourg, and broken his back. +When this happened, Antoine, _père_, was a journeyman _ferblantier_ +(tinman) of that city. Subsequently, he became an active, though +subordinate member of the local Salut Public; in virtue of which +patriotic function he obtained Les Près, the name of his magnificent +estate. Working at his trade was now, of course, out of the question. +Farming, as everybody knows, is a gentlemanly occupation, skill in +which comes by nature; and Citizen Delessert forthwith betook himself, +with his son, to Les Près, in the full belief that he had stepped at +once into the dignified and delightful position of the ousted +aristocrat, to whom Les Près had once belonged, and whose haughty head +he had seen fall into the basket. But envious clouds will darken the +brightest sky, and the new proprietor found, on taking possession of +his quiet, unencumbered domain, that property has its plagues as well +as pleasures. True, there was the land; but not a plant, or a seed +thereon or therein, nor an agricultural implement of any kind to work +it with. The walls of the old rambling house were standing, and the +roof, except in about a dozen places, kept out the rain with some +success; but the nimble, unrespecting fingers of preceding patriots +had carried off not only every vestige of furniture, usually so +called, but coppers, cistern, pump, locks, hinges--nay, some of the +very doors and window-frames! Delessert was profoundly discontented. +He remarked to Le Bossu, now a sharp lad of some twelve years of age, +that he was at last convinced of the entire truth of his cousin +Boisdet's frequent observation--that the Revolution, glorious as it +might be, had been stained and dishonoured by many shameful excesses; +an admission which the son, with keen remembrance of his compulsory +flight from the window, savagely endorsed. + +'Peste!' exclaimed the new proprietor, after a lengthened and painful +examination of the dilapidations, and general nakedness of his +estate--'this is embarrassing. Citizen Destouches was right. I must +raise money upon the property, to replace what those brigands have +carried off. I shall require three thousand francs at the very least.' + +The calculation was dispiriting; and after a night's lodging on the +bare floor, damply enveloped in a few old sacks, the financial horizon +did not look one whit less gloomy in the eyes of Citizen Delessert. +Destouches, he sadly reflected, was an iron-fisted notary-public, who +lent money, at exorbitant interest, to distressed landowners, and was +driving, people said, a thriving trade in that way just now. His pulse +must, however, be felt, and money be obtained, however hard the terms. +This was unmistakably evident; and with the conviction tugging at his +heart, Citizen Delessert took his pensive way towards Strasbourg. + +'You guess my errand, Citizen Destouches?' said Delessert, addressing +a flinty-faced man of about his own age, in a small room of Numéro 9, +Rue Béchard. + +'Yes--money: how much?' + +'Three thousand francs is my calculation.' + +'Three thousand francs! You are not afraid of opening your mouth, I +see. Three thousand francs!--humph! Security, ten acres of middling +land, uncultivated, and a tumble-down house; title, _droit de +guillotine_. It is a risk, but I think I may venture. Pierre Nadaud,' +he continued, addressing a black-browed, sly, sinister-eyed clerk, +'draw a bond, secured upon Les Près, and the appurtenances, for three +thousand francs, with interest at ten per cent.'---- + +'Morbleu! but that is famous interest!' interjected Delessert, though +timidly. + +'Payable quarterly, if demanded,' the notary continued, without +heeding his client's observation; 'with power, of course, to the +lender to sell, if necessary, to reimburse his capital, as well as all +accruing _dommages-intérêts_!' + +The borrower drew a long breath, but only muttered: 'Ah, well; no +matter! We shall work hard, Antoine and I.' + +The legal document was soon formally drawn: Citizen Delessert signed +and sealed, and he had only now to pouch the cash, which the notary +placed upon the table. + +'Ah ça!' he cried, eyeing the roll of paper proffered to his +acceptance with extreme disgust. 'It is not in those _chiffons_ of +assignats, is it, that I am to receive three thousand francs, at ten +per cent.?' + +'My friend,' rejoined the notary, in a tone of great severity, 'take +care what you say. The offence of depreciating the credit or money of +the Republic is a grave one.' + +'Who should know that better than I?' promptly replied Delessert. 'The +paper-money of our glorious Republic is of inestimable value; but the +fact is, Citizen Destouches, I have a weakness, I confess it, for +coined money--_argent métallique_. In case of fire, for instance, +it'---- + +'It is very remarkable,' interrupted the notary with increasing +sternness--'it is very remarkable, Pierre' (Pierre was an influential +member of the Salut Public), 'that the instant a man becomes a landed +proprietor, he betrays symptoms of _incivisme_: is discovered to be, +in fact, an _aristocq_ at heart.' + +'I an _aristocq_!' exclaimed Delessert, turning very pale; 'you are +jesting, surely. See, I take these admirable assignats--three thousand +francs' worth at ten per cent.--with the greatest pleasure. Oh, never +mind counting among friends.' + +'Pardon!' replied Destouches, with rigid scrupulosity. 'It is +necessary to be extremely cautious in matters of business. Deducting +thirty francs for the bond, you will, I think, find your money +correct; but count yourself.' + +Delessert pretended to do so, but the rage in his heart so caused his +eyes to dance and dazzle, and his hands to shake, that he could +scarcely see the figures on the assignats, or separate one from the +other. He bundled them up at last, crammed them into his pocket, and +hurried off, with a sickly smile upon his face, and maledictions, +which found fierce utterance as soon as he had reached a safe +distance, trembling on his tongue. + +'Scélérat! coquin!' he savagely muttered. 'Ten per cent. for this +moonshine money! I only wish---- But never mind, what's sauce for the +goose is sauce for the gander. I must try and buy in the same way +that I have been so charmingly sold.' + +Earnestly meditating this equitable process, Citizen Delessert sought +his friend Jean Souday, who lived close by the Fossé des Tanneurs +(Tanners' Ditch.) Jean had a somewhat ancient mare to dispose of, +which our landed proprietor thought might answer his purpose. Cocotte +was a slight waif, sheared off by the sharp axe of the Place de la +Révolution, and Souday could therefore afford to sell her cheap. Fifty +francs _argent métallique_ would, Delessert knew, purchase her; but +with assignats, it was quite another affair. But, courage! He might +surely play the notary's game with his friend Souday: that could not +be so difficult. + +'You have no use for Cocotte,' suggested Delessert modestly, after +exchanging fraternal salutations with his friend. + +'Such an animal is always useful,' promptly answered Madame Souday, a +sharp, notable little woman, with a vinegar aspect. + +'To be sure--to be sure! And what price do you put upon this useful +animal?' + +'Cela dépend'---- replied Jean, with an interrogative glance at his +helpmate. + +'Yes, as Jean says, that depends--entirely depends'---- responded the +wife. + +'Upon what, citoyenne?' + +'Upon what is offered, parbleu! We are in no hurry to part with +Cocotte; but money is tempting.' + +'Well, then, suppose we say, between friends, fifty francs?' + +'Fifty francs! That is very little; besides, I do not know that I +shall part with Cocotte at all.' + +'Come, come; be reasonable. Sixty francs! Is it a bargain?' + +Jean still shook his head. 'Tempt him with the actual sight of the +money,' confidentially suggested Madame Souday; 'that is the only way +to strike a bargain with my husband.' + +Delessert preferred increasing his offer to this advice, and gradually +advanced to 100 francs, without in the least softening Jean Souday's +obduracy. The possessor of the assignats was fain, at last, to adopt +Madame Souday's iterated counsel, and placed 120 paper francs before +the owner of Cocotte. The husband and wife instantly, as silently, +exchanged with each other, by the only electric telegraph then in use, +the words: 'I thought so.' + +'This is charming money, friend Delessert,' said Jean Souday; 'far +more precious to an enlightened mind than the barbarous coin stamped +with effigies of kings and queens of the _ancien régime_. It is very +tempting; still, I do not think I can part with Cocotte at any price.' + +Poor Delessert ground his teeth with rage, but the expression of his +anger would avail nothing; and, yielding to hard necessity, he at +length, after much wrangling, became the purchaser of the old mare for +250 francs--in assignats. We give this as a specimen of the bargains +effected by the owner of Les Près with his borrowed capital, and as +affording a key to the bitter hatred he from that day cherished +towards the notary, by whom he had, as he conceived, been so +egregiously duped. Towards evening, he entered a wine-shop in the +suburb of Robertsau, drank freely, and talked still more so, fatigue +and vexation having rendered him both thirsty and bold. Destouches, he +assured everybody that would listen to him, was a robber--a villain--a +vampire blood-sucker, and he, Delessert, would be amply revenged on +him some fine day. Had the loquacious orator been eulogising some +one's extraordinary virtues, it is very probable that all he said +would have been forgotten by the morrow, but the memories of men are +more tenacious of slander and evil-speaking; and thus it happened that +Delessert's vituperative and menacing eloquence on this occasion was +thereafter reproduced against him with fatal power. + +Albeit, the now nominal proprietor of Les Près, assisted by his son +and Cocotte, set to work manfully at his new vocation; and by dint of +working twice as hard, and faring much worse than he did as a +journeyman _ferblantier_, contrived to keep the wolf, if not far from +the door, at least from entering in. His son, Le Bossu, was a +cheerful, willing lad, with large, dark, inquisitive eyes, lit up with +much clearer intelligence than frequently falls to the share of +persons of his age and opportunities. The father and son were greatly +attached to each other; and it was chiefly the hope of bequeathing Les +Près, free from the usurious gripe of Destouches, to his boy, that +encouraged the elder Delessert to persevere in his well-nigh hopeless +husbandry. Two years thus passed, and matters were beginning to assume +a less dreary aspect, thanks chiefly to the notary's not having made +any demand in the interim for the interest of his mortgage. + +'I have often wondered,' said Le Bossu one day, as he and his father +were eating their dinner of _soupe aux choux_ and black bread, 'that +Destouches has not called before. He may now as soon as he pleases, +thanks to our having sold that lot of damaged wheat at such a capital +price: corn must be getting up tremendously in the market. However, +you are ready for Destouches' demand of six hundred francs, which it +is now.' + +'Parbleu! quite ready; all ready counted in those charming assignats; +and that is the joke of it. I wish the old villain may call or send +soon'---- + +A gentle tap at the door interrupted the speaker. The son opened it, +and the notary, accompanied by his familiar, Pierre Nadaud, quietly +glided in. + +'Talk of the devil,' growled Delessert audibly, 'and you are sure to +get a whisk of his tail. Well, messieurs,' he added more loudly, 'your +business?' + +'Money--interest now due on the mortgage for three thousand francs,' +replied M. Destouches with much suavity. + +'Interest for two years,' continued the sourly-sardonic accents of +Pierre Nadaud; 'six hundred francs precisely.' + +'Very good, you shall have the money directly.' Delessert left the +room; the notary took out and unclasped a note-book; and Pierre Nadaud +placed a slip of _papier timbré_ on the dinner-table, preparatory to +writing a receipt. + +'Here,' said Delessert, re-entering with a roll of soiled paper in his +hand, 'here are your six hundred francs, well counted.' + +The notary reclasped his note-book, and returned it to his pocket; +Pierre Nadaud resumed possession of the receipt paper. + +'You are not aware, then, friend Delessert,' said the notary, 'that +creditors are no longer compelled to receive assignats in payment?' + +'How? What do you say?' + +'Pierre,' continued M. Destouches, 'read the extract from _Le bulletin +des Lois_, published last week.' Pierre did so with a ringing +emphasis, which would have rendered it intelligible to a child; and +the unhappy debtor fully comprehended that his paper-money was +comparatively worthless! It is needless to dwell upon the fury +manifested by Delessert, the cool obduracy of the notary, or the +cynical comments of the clerk. Enough to say, that M. Destouches +departed without his money, after civilly intimating that legal +proceedings would be taken forthwith. The son strove to soothe his +father's passionate despair, but his words fell upon unheeding ears; +and after several hours passed in alternate paroxysms of stormy rage +and gloomy reverie, the elder Delessert hastily left the house, taking +the direction of Strasbourg. Le Bossu watched his father's retreating +figure from the door until it was lost in the clouds of blinding snow +that was rapidly falling, and then sadly resumed some indoor +employment. It was late when he retired to bed, and his father had not +then returned. He would probably remain, the son thought, at +Strasbourg for the night. + +The chill, lead-coloured dawn was faintly struggling on the horizon +with the black, gloomy night, when Le Bossu rose. Ten minutes +afterwards, his father strode hastily into the house, and threw +himself, without a word, upon a seat. His eyes, the son observed, were +blood-shot, either with rage or drink--perhaps both; and his entire +aspect wild, haggard, and fierce. Le Bossu silently presented him with +a measure of _vin ordinaire_. It was eagerly swallowed, though +Delessert's hand shook so that he could scarcely hold the pewter +flagon to his lips. + +'Something has happened,' said Le Bossu presently. + +'Morbleu!--yes. That is,' added the father, checking himself, +'something _might_ have happened, if---- Who's there?' + +'Only the wind shaking the door. What _might_ have happened?' +persisted the son. + +'I will tell you, Antoine. I set off for Strasbourg yesterday, to see +Destouches once again, and entreat him to accept the assignats in +part-payment at least. He was not at home. Marguérite, the old +servant, said he was gone to the cathedral, not long since reopened. +Well, I found the usurer just coming out of the great western +entrance, heathen as he is, looking as pious as a pilgrim. I accosted +him, told my errand, begged, prayed, stormed! It was all to no +purpose, except to attract the notice and comments of the passers-by. +Destouches went his way, and I, with fury in my heart, betook myself +to a wine-shop--Le Brun's. He would not even change an assignat to +take for what I drank, which was not a little; and I therefore owe him +for it. When the gendarmes cleared the house at last, I was nearly +crazed with rage and drink. I must have been so, or I should never +have gone to the Rue Béchard, forced myself once more into the +notary's presence, and--and'---- + +'And what?' quivered the young man, as his father abruptly stopped, +startled as before into silence by a sudden rattling of the crazy +door. 'And what?' + +'And abused him for a flinty-hearted scoundrel, as he is. He ordered +me away, and threatened to call the guard. I was flinging out of the +house, when Marguérite twitched me by the sleeve, and I stepped aside +into the kitchen. "You must not think," she said, "of going home on +such a night as this." It was snowing furiously, and blowing a +hurricane at the time. "There is a straw pallet," Marguérite added, +"where you can sleep, and nobody the wiser." I yielded. The good woman +warmed some soup, and the storm not abating, I lay down to rest--to +rest, do I say?' shouted Delessert, jumping madly to his feet, and +pacing furiously to and fro--'the rest of devils! My blood was in a +flame; and rage, hate, despair, blew the consuming fire by turns. I +thought how I had been plundered by the mercenary ruffian sleeping +securely, as he thought, within a dozen yards of the man he had +ruined--sleeping securely just beyond the room containing the +_secrétaire_ in which the mortgage-deed of which I had been swindled +was deposited'---- + +'Oh, father!' gasped the son. + +'Be silent, boy, and you shall know all! It may be that I dreamed all +this, for I think the creaking of a door, and a stealthy step on the +stair, awoke me; but perhaps that, too, was part of the dream. +However, I was at last wide awake, and I got up and looked out on the +cold night. The storm had passed, and the moon had temporarily broken +through the heavy clouds by which she was encompassed. Marguérite had +said I might let myself out, and I resolved to depart at once. I was +doing so, when, looking round, I perceived that the notary's +office-door was ajar. Instantly a demon whispered, that although the +law was restored, it was still blind and deaf as ever--could not see +or hear in that dark silence--and that I might easily baffle the +cheating usurer after all. Swiftly and softly, I darted towards the +half-opened door--entered. The notary's _secrétaire_, Antoine, was +wide open! I hunted with shaking hands for the deed, but could not +find it. There was money in the drawers, and I--I think I should have +taken some--did perhaps, I hardly know how--when I heard, or thought I +did, a rustling sound not far off. I gazed wildly round, and plainly +saw in the notary's bedroom--the door of which, I had not before +observed, was partly open--the shadow of a man's figure clearly traced +by the faint moonlight on the floor. I ran out of the room, and out of +the house, with the speed of a madman, and here--here I am!' This +said, he threw himself into a seat, and covered his face with his +hands. + +'That is a chink of money,' said Le Bossu, who had listened in dumb +dismay to his father's concluding narrative. 'You had none, you said, +when at the wine-shop.' + +'Money! Ah, it may be as I said---- Thunder of heaven!' cried the +wretched man, again fiercely springing to his feet, 'I am lost!' + +'I fear so,' replied a commissaire de police, who had suddenly +entered, accompanied by several gendarmes--'if it be true, as we +suspect, that you are the assassin of the notary Destouches.' + +The assassin of the notary Destouches! Le Bossu heard but these words, +and when he recovered consciousness, he found himself alone, save for +the presence of a neighbour, who had been summoned to his assistance. + +The _procès verbal_ stated, in addition to much of what has been +already related, that the notary had been found dead in his bed, at a +very early hour of the morning, by his clerk Pierre Nadaud, who slept +in the house. The unfortunate man had been stifled, by a pillow it was +thought. His _secrétaire_ had been plundered of a very large sum, +amongst which were Dutch gold ducats--purchased by Destouches only the +day before--of the value of more than 6000 francs. Delessert's +mortgage-deed had also disappeared, although other papers of a similar +character had been left. Six crowns had been found on Delessert's +person, one of which was clipped in a peculiar manner, and was sworn +to by an _épicier_ as that offered him by the notary the day previous +to the murder, and refused by him. No other portion of the stolen +property could be found, although the police exerted themselves to the +utmost for that purpose. + +There was, however, quite sufficient evidence to convict Delessert of +the crime, notwithstanding his persistent asseverations of innocence. +His known hatred of Destouches, the threats he had uttered concerning +him, his conduct in front of the cathedral, Marguérite's evidence, and +the finding the crown in his pocket, left no doubt of his guilt, and +he was condemned to suffer death by the guillotine. He appealed of +course, but that, everybody felt, could only prolong his life for a +short time, not save it. + +There was one person, the convict's son, who did not for a moment +believe that his father was the assassin of Destouches. He was +satisfied in his own mind, that the real criminal was he whose step +Delessert had dreamed he heard upon the stair, who had opened the +office-door, and whose shadow fell across the bedroom floor; and his +eager, unresting thoughts were bent upon bringing this conviction home +to others. After awhile, light, though as yet dim and uncertain, broke +in upon his filial task. + +About ten days after the conviction of Delessert, Pierre Nadaud called +upon M. Huguet, the procureur-général of Strasbourg. He had a serious +complaint to make of Delessert, _fils_. The young man, chiefly, he +supposed, because he had given evidence against his father, appeared +to be nourishing a monomaniacal hatred against him, Pierre Nadaud. +'Wherever I go,' said the irritated complainant, 'at whatever hour, +early in the morning and late at night, he dogs my steps. I can in no +manner escape him, and I verily believe those fierce, malevolent eyes +of his are never closed. I really fear he is meditating some violent +act. He should, I respectfully submit, be restrained--placed in a +_maison de santé_, for his intellects are certainly unsettled; or +otherwise prevented from accomplishing the mischief I am sure he +contemplates.' + +M. Huguet listened attentively to this statement, reflected for a few +moments, said inquiry should be made in the matter, and civilly +dismissed the complainant. + +In the evening of the same day, Le Bossu was brought before M. Huguet. +He replied to that gentleman's questioning by the avowal, that he +believed Nadaud had murdered M. Destouches. 'I believe also,' added +the young man, 'that I have at last hit upon a clue that will lead to +his conviction.' + +'Indeed! Perhaps you will impart it to me?' + +'Willingly. The property in gold and precious gems carried off has not +yet been traced. I have discovered its hiding-place.' + +'Say you so? That is extremely fortunate.' + +'You know, sir, that beyond the Rue des Vignes there are three houses +standing alone, which were gutted by fire some time since, and are now +only temporarily boarded up. That street is entirely out of Nadaud's +way, and yet he passes and repasses there five or six times a day. +When he did not know that I was watching him, he used to gaze +curiously at those houses, as if to notice if they were being +disturbed for any purpose. Lately, if he suspects I am at hand, he +keeps his face determinedly _away_ from them, but still seems to have +an unconquerable hankering after the spot. This very morning, there +was a cry raised close to the ruins, that a child had been run over by +a cart. Nadaud was passing: he knew I was close by, and violently +checking himself, as I could see, kept his eyes fixedly _averted_ from +the place, which I have no longer any doubt contains the stolen +treasure.' + +'You are a shrewd lad,' said M. Huguet, after a thoughtful pause. 'An +examination shall at all events take place at nightfall. You, in the +meantime, remain here under surveillance.' + +Between eleven and twelve o'clock, Le Bossu was again brought into M. +Huguet's presence. The commissary who arrested his father was also +there. 'You have made a surprising guess, if it _be_ a guess,' said +the procureur. 'The missing property has been found under a +hearth-stone of the centre house.' Le Bossu raised his hands, and +uttered a cry of delight. 'One moment,' continued M. Huguet. 'How do +we know this is not a trick concocted by you and your father to +mislead justice?' + +'I have thought of that,' replied Le Bossu calmly. 'Let it be given +out that I am under restraint, in compliance with Nadaud's request; +then have some scaffolding placed to-morrow against the houses, as if +preparatory to their being pulled down, and you will see the result, +if a quiet watch is kept during the night.' The procureur and +commissary exchanged glances, and Le Bossu was removed from the room. + +It was verging upon three o'clock in the morning, when the watchers +heard some one very quietly remove a portion of the back-boarding of +the centre house. Presently, a closely-muffled figure, with a +dark-lantern and a bag in his hand, crept through the opening, and +made direct for the hearth-stone; lifted it, turned on his light +slowly, gathered up the treasure, crammed it into his bag, and +murmured with an exulting chuckle as he reclosed the lantern and stood +upright: 'Safe--safe, at last!' At the instant, the light of half a +dozen lanterns flashed upon the miserable wretch, revealing the stern +faces of as many gendarmes. 'Quite safe, M. Pierre Nadaud!' echoed +their leader. 'Of that you may be assured.' He was unheard: the +detected culprit had fainted. + +There is little to add. Nadaud perished by the guillotine, and +Delessert was, after a time, liberated. Whether or not he thought his +ill-gotten property had brought a curse with it, I cannot say; but, at +all events, he abandoned it to the notary's heirs, and set off with Le +Bossu for Paris, where, I believe, the sign of 'Delessert et Fils, +Ferblantiers,' still flourishes over the front of a respectably +furnished shop. + + + + +PHILOSOPHY OF THE SHEARS. + + +The vestiarian profession has always been ill-treated by the world. +Men have owed much, and in more senses than one, to their tailors, and +have been accustomed to pay their debt in sneers and railleries--often +in nothing else. The stage character of the tailor is stereotyped from +generation to generation; his goose is a perennial pun; and his +habitual melancholy is derived to this day from the flatulent diet on +which he _will_ persist in living--cabbage. He is effeminate, +cowardly, dishonest--a mere fraction of a man both in soul and body. +He is represented by the thinnest fellow in the company; his starved +person and frightened look are the unfailing signals for a laugh; and +he is never spoken to but in a gibe at his trade: + + 'Thou liest, thou thread, + Thou thimble, + Thou yard, three-quarters, half-yard, quarter, nail; + Away thou rag, thou quantity, thou remnant; + Or I shall so bemete thee with thy yard, + As thou shalt think on prating while thou liv'st!' + +All this is not a very favourable specimen of the way in which the +stage holds the mirror up to nature. We may suppose that a certain +character of effeminacy attached to a tailor in that olden time when +he was the fashioner for women as well as men; but now that he has no +professional dealings with the fair sex but when they assume masculine +'habits,' it is unreasonable to continue the stigma. In like manner, +when the cloth belonged to the customer, it was allowable enough to +suspect him of a little amiable weakness for cabbage; but now that he +is himself the clothier, the joke is pointless and absurd. Tailors, +however, can afford to laugh, as well as other people, at their +conventional double--or rather _ninth_, for at least in our own day +they have wrought very hard to elevate their calling into a science. +The period of lace and frippery of all kinds has passed away, and this +is the era of simple form, in which sartorial genius has only cloth to +work upon as severely plain as the statuary's marble. It is true, we +ourselves do not understand the 'anatomical principles' on which the +more philosophical of the craft proceed, nor does our scholarship +carry us quite the length of their Greek (?) terminology; but we +acknowledge the result in their workmanship, although we cannot trace +the steps by which it is brought about. + +Very different is the plan now from what it was in the days of Shemus +nan Snachad, James of the Needle, hereditary tailor to Vich Ian Vohr, +when men were measured as classes rather than as individuals, and when +a cutter had only to glance at the customer to ascertain to which +category he belonged. + +'You know the measure of a well-made man? Two double nails to the +small of the leg'---- + +'Eleven from haunch to heel, seven round the waist. I give your honour +leave to hang Shemus, if there's a pair of shears in the Highlands +that has a baulder sneck than her ain at the _camadh an truais_ (shape +of the trews).' And so the thing was done, without tape or figures, +without a word of Greek or anatomy! However, the anatomical tailors we +shall not meddle with for the present, because we do not understand +their science; nor with the Greek tailors, because we fear to take +the liberty; nor with the Hebrew tailors, because we are only a +Gentile ourselves. Our object is to draw attention to the doings of an +individual who interferes with no science but his own, and who +patronises exclusively his mother-tongue, which is not Hebrew, but +broad Scotch. + +This individual is Mr Macdonald, a near neighbour of ours, who, about +eighteen years ago, listened with curiosity, but not with dread, to +the clamorous pretensions of the craft to which he belonged. At that +time, every man had a 'new principle' of his own for the sneck of the +shears, some theoretical mode of cutting, which was to make the coat +fit like the skin. Our neighbour, who had a practical and mechanical, +rather than a speculative head, resolved not to be behind in the race +of competition, but to proceed in a different way. 'It is all very +well,' thought he, 'to talk of principles and theories; but with the +requisite apparatus, the human figure may be measured as accurately as +a block of stone;' and accordingly he set to work, not to invent a +theory, but to construct a machine. This machine, though exhibited +some time ago in the School of Arts, and received with great favour, +we happened not to hear of till a few days ago; but a visit to our +neighbour puts it now in our power to report that his apparatus does +much more, as we shall presently explain, than measure a customer. + +The machine consists of three perpendicular pieces of wood, the centre +one between six and seven feet high, with a plinth for the measuree to +stand upon. The wood is marked from top to bottom with inches and +parts of an inch, and is furnished with slides, fitting closely, but +movable at the pleasure of the operator. When the customer places +himself upon this machine, standing at his full height, he has much +the appearance of a man suffering the punishment of crucifixion, only +his arms, instead of being extended, hang motionless by his sides, +with the fingers pointed. A slide is now run up between the victim's +legs, to give the measurement of what is technically called the fork; +while others mark in like manner upon the inch scale, the position of +the knees, hips, tips of the fingers, shoulder, neck, head, &c. When +the operator is satisfied that he has thus obtained the accurate +admeasurement of the figure, in its natural position when standing +erect, the gentleman steps from the machine, and turning round, sees +an exact diagram, in wood, of his own proportions. + +This instrument, it will be seen, is very well adapted for the object +for which it was intended; but it would, nevertheless, have escaped +our inspection but for the other purposes of observation to which it +has been applied by the ingenious inventor. He has measured in all +about 5000 adults, registering in a book the measurement of each, with +the names written by themselves. Among the autographs, we find that of +Sir David Wilkie in the neighbourhood of the names of half a dozen +American Indians. Here would be a new branch of inquiry for those who +are addicted to the study of character through the handwriting. With +such abundant materials before them, they would doubtless be able to +determine the height and general proportions of their unseen +correspondents. In the article of height, many men correspond to the +minutest portion of an inch; but in the other proportions of the +figure, it would seem that no two human beings are alike. So great is +the disparity in persons of the same height, that the trunk of an +individual of five feet and a half, is occasionally found to be as +long as that of a man of six feet. In fact, Mr Macdonald, in an early +period of his measurements, was so confounded by the difference in the +proportions, that he at once came to the conclusion, that our +population is made up of mixed tribes of mankind. + +In the midst of all this diversity, the question was, What were the +proper proportions? or, in other words, What proportions constituted a +handsome figure? and here our vestiarian philosopher was for a long +time at a loss. At length, however, he took 300 measurements, without +selection, including the length of the trunk, of the head and neck, +and of the fork, and adding them all together, struck the average: +from which it resulted, that the average head and neck gives 10-1/2 +inches; trunk, 25 inches; and fork, 32 inches; making the whole +figure, from the crown of the head to the sole of the _shoe_, 5 feet +7-1/2 inches. The word we have italicised is the drawback: a tailor +measures with the shoes on; and Mr Macdonald can only approximate to +the truth when he deducts half an inch for the sole, and declares the +average height of our population to be five feet seven inches. On this +basis, however, he constructed a scale of beauty applying to all +heights: If a man of 5 feet 7 inches give 10-1/2 inches for head and +neck, 25 for trunk, and 31-1/2 for fork, what should another give, of +6 feet, or any other height? The approximation of a man's actual +measurement to this rule of three determines his pretensions in the +way of symmetry; and the inventor of the _shibboleth_ has found it so +far to answer, that a figure coming near the rule invariably pleases +the eye, and gives the assurance of a handsome man. Independently of +this advantage, a man of such proportions has great strength, and is +able to withstand the fatigue of violent exercise for a longer period +than one less symmetrically formed. + +The term 'adult,' however, used by Mr Macdonald to designate those he +measured, is not satisfactory--it does not inform us that the persons +measured had reached their full development; for men continue to grow, +as has been shewn by M. Quetelet, even after twenty-five. The height +given, notwithstanding--five feet seven inches--in all probability +approximates pretty closely to the true average; and the very +different result shewn in Professor Forbes's measurements in the +University must be set pretty nearly out of the question. The number +of Scotsmen measured by the professor was 523 in all; but these were +of eleven different ages, from fifteen to twenty-five, all averaged +separately; and supposing the number of each age to have been alike, +this would give less than fifty of the age of twenty-five--the average +height of whom was 69.3 inches. But independently of the smallness of +the number, the professor's customers were volunteers, and it is not +to be supposed that under-sized persons would put themselves forward +on such an occasion. It may be added, that even the height of the +boot-heels of young collegians of twenty-five would tend to falsify +the average. + +Men do not only differ in their proportions from other men, but from +themselves. The arms and legs may be paired, but they are not matched, +and in every respect one side of the body is different from the other: +the eyes are not set straight across the face, neither is the mouth; +the nose is inclined to one side; the ears are of different sizes, and +one is nearer the crown of the head than the other; there are not two +fingers, nor two nails on the fingers, alike, and the same +disagreement runs through the whole figure. This, however, is so +common an observation, that we should not have thought it necessary to +mention it, but for the bearing the facts given by our statist have +upon the common theory by which the irregularity is sought to be +accounted for. This declares, that use is the cause of the greater +growth of one limb, &c.: that the right hand, for instance, is larger +than the left, because it is in more active service. It appears, +however, that although the left limbs are in general smaller, this is +not, as it is usually supposed, invariably the case; while the ears +and eyes, that are used indiscriminately, present the same relative +difference of size. We do not, therefore, make our own proportions in +this respect: we come into the world with them, and our occupations +merely exaggerate a natural defect. An idle man will have one arm half +an inch longer than the other; while a woman, who has been accustomed +in early years to carry a child, exhibits a difference amounting +sometimes to an inch and a half. + +When these facts were first mentioned to us, we looked with some +curiosity at the machine from which we had just stepped out; and there +we found an illustration of them not highly flattering to our +self-esteem. Knees, hips, shoulders, ears, all were so ill-assorted, +that it seemed as if Nature had been actually trying her 'prentice +hand upon our peculiar self. It was in vain to bethink ourselves of +the physical eccentricities of the distinguished men of other times: + + 'Ammon's great son one shoulder had too high; + Such Ovid's nose, and, sir, you have an eye!'-- + +we might have gone through tho whole inventory of the figure, and +concluded the quotation: + + 'Go on, obliging creatures, make me see + All that disgraced my betters met in me. + Say, for my comfort, languishing in bed, + Just so immortal Maro held his head; + And when I die, be sure you let me know-- + Great Homer died three thousand years ago!' + +What we had seen, however, was only the length of the figure; but we +were informed by our philosophic tailor, that the limbs, &c., are +likewise irregularly placed as regards breadth. The trunk of the body +is of various shapes, which he distinguishes as the oval, the +circular, and the flat. The first has the arms placed in the middle; +in the second, they are more towards the back, and relatively long; +and in the third, more towards the front, and relatively short. The +length of the forearm should be the length of the lower part of the +leg, and if either longer or shorter, the difference appears in the +walk. If shorter, the walk is a kind of waddle, the elbows inclining +outwards; if longer, it is distinguished by a swinging motion, as if +the person carried weights in his hands. If the circumference of the +body, measured with an inch-tape just below the shoulders, be smaller +than the circumference of the hips, the person will rock in walking, +and plant his feet heavily upon the ground. If greater, so that the +chief weight is above the limbs, the step will be light, as is +familiarly seen in corpulent men, whose delicate mode of walking we +witness with ever-recurring surprise. If the shoulders slope +downwards, with the spine bending inwards, the individual 'cannot +throw a stone, or handle firearms with dexterity.' When inclined +forwards, and well relieved from the body, he may be a proficient in +these exercises. A peculiarity in walking is given by the size of the +head and neck being out of proportion; and an instance is mentioned of +a man being discharged from the army, on account of his conformation +rendering it impossible for him to keep his head steady. + +All these are curious and suggestive particulars. It is customary to +refer awkwardness of manner to bad habit, and such diseases as +consumption either to imprudence or hereditary taint; but it may be +doubted whether taints are not mainly the result of original +conformation. Habit and imprudence may doubtless aggravate the evil, +just as exercise may enlarge a member of the body; but it is nature +which sows the seeds of decay in her own productions. Physically, the +child is a copy of the parents, even to their peculiarities of gait; +and these peculiarities would seem to depend on the correct or +incorrect balance of the members of the body. When the conformation is +of a kind which interferes with the play of the lungs, the same +transmission of course takes place, and consumption may be the fatal +inheritance. If the arrangement of the parts were perfect, it may be +doubted--for symmetry is the basis of health as well as +beauty--whether we should ever hear of such a thing as 'taint in the +blood.' If this theory were to gain ground, it would simplify much the +practice of medicine; for the disease would stand in visible and +tangible presence before the eyes, and the employment of inventions, +to counteract and finally conquer the eccentricities of nature, would +be governed by science, and thus relieved from the suspicion of +quackery, which at present more or less attaches to it. To pursue +these speculations, however, would lead us too far; and before +concluding, we must find room for a few more of our practical +philosopher's observations. + +All good mechanics, it seems, have large hands and thick and short +fingers; which is pretty nearly the conclusion arrived at by +D'Arpentigny in _La Chirognomonie_, although the captain adds, that +the hands must be _en spatule_--that is to say, with the end of the +fingers enlarged in the form of a spatula. The hand is generally the +same breadth as the foot: a fact recognised by the country people, +who, when buying their shoes at fairs--which were the usual +mart--might have been seen thrusting in their hand to try the breadth, +when they had ascertained that the length was suitable. A short foot +gives a mincing walk, while a long one requires the person to bring +his body aplomb with the foot before taking the step, which thus +resembles a stride. Good dancers have the limbs short as compared with +the body, which has thus the necessary power over them; but if too +short, there is a deficiency of dexterity in the management of the +feet. + +In conclusion, it will be seen, we think, that there is much to be +learned even in the business of the shears. There is no trade whatever +which will not afford materials for thought to an intelligent man, and +thus enlarge the mind and elevate the character. + + + + +THE NIGHTINGALE: + +A MUSICAL QUESTION. + + +Is the song of the nightingale mirthful or melancholy? is a question +that has been discussed so often, that anything new on the subject +might be considered superfluous, were it not that the very fact of the +discussion is in itself a curiosity worthy of attention. The note in +dispute was heard with equal distinctness by Homer and Wordsworth; and +indeed there are few poets of any age or country who have not, at one +time or other in their lives, had the testimony of their own ears as +to its character. Whence, then, this difference of opinion? Listen to +Thomson's unqualified assertion, given with the seriousness of an +affidavit: + + ----'all abandoned to despair, she sings + Her sorrows through the night, and on the bough + Sole sitting still at every dying fall + Takes up again her lamentable strain + Of winding wo; till wide around the woods + Sigh to her song and with her wail resound.' + +Then Homer in the _Odyssey_, through Pope's paraphrase: + + 'Sad Philomel, in bowery shades unseen, + To vernal airs attunes her varied strains.' + +Virgil, as rendered by Dryden: + + ----'she supplies the night with mournful strains + And melancholy music fills the plains.' + +Milton, too: + + ----'Philomel will deign a song + In her sweetest, saddest plight, + Smoothing the rugged brow of night, + While Cynthia checks her dragon yoke + Gently o'er the accustom'd oak: + Sweet bird, that shun'st the noise of folly-- + Most musical, most melancholy.' + +And again in _Comus_: + + ----'the love-lorn nightingale + Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well.' + +And Shakspeare makes his poor banished Valentine congratulate himself, +that in the forest he can + + ----'to the nightingale's complaining note + Tune his distresses and record his wo. + +We might go on much longer in this strain. We might give, likewise, +the mythological cause assigned for the imputed melancholy, and add +that some, not content with this, represent the bird as leaning its +breast against a thorn-- + + 'To aggravate the inward grief, + Which makes its music so forlorn.' + +But we would rather pause to admit candidly, that two of the above +witnesses might be challenged--Virgil and Thomson; who indeed should +be counted but as one, for the author of the _Seasons_, in the lines +quoted, has translated, though not so closely as Dryden, from the +_Georgics_ of the Latin poet. If you will read the passage--it matters +not whether in Virgil, Dryden, or Thomson--you will perceive that it +is a special occurrence that is spoken of: no statement whatever is +made as to the character of the nightingale's ordinary song. Thomson, +in the course of his humane and touching protest against the barbarous +art: 'through which birds are + + ---- by tyrant man + Inhuman caught, and in the narrow cage + From liberty confined, and boundless air,' + +represents the nightingale's misery when thus bereaved. This portion +of the lines shall stand entire; none, we are sure, would wish us +further to mangle the passage: + + 'But chief, let not the nightingale lament + Her ruined care, too delicately framed + To brook the harsh confinement of the cage. + Oft, when returning with her loaded bill, + The astonished mother finds a vacant nest, + By the rude hands of unrelenting clowns + Robbed: to the ground the vain provision falls. + Her pinions ruffle, and low drooping, scarce + Can bear the mourner to the poplar shade; + Where all abandoned to despair, she sings + Her sorrows through the night.' + +It will at once be seen that this description relates to an +exceptional condition, and we have yet to seek what character Virgil +and Thomson would give to the ordinary song of this paradoxical +musician. For the Roman, we do not know that any passage exists in his +works which can help us to a conclusion; but Thomson's testimony must +undoubtedly be ranged on the contra side, as appears from the +following lines in his _Agamemnon_: + + 'Ah, far unlike the nightingale! she sings + Unceasing through the balmy nights of May-- + She sings from love and joy.' + +In the passage from his Spring, which we have given, we cannot but +fancy that the poet endeavoured--if we may so say--to effect a +compromise between the opinion which, through the influence of +classical poetry, generally prevailed as to the character of the +bird's music, and the opposing convictions which his own senses had +forced upon him. It was desirable to describe its strains according to +the popular fancy, and therefore he borrowed from Virgil such a +description of the bird's sorrow as under the assumed circumstances +did no violence to his own judgment. + +Thomson is not the only poet in whom we fancy we detect some such +attempt at compromise. It appears to us that Villega, the Anacreon of +Spain, in the following little poem, which we give in Mr Wiffen's +translation, adopted, with a similar object, this idea of the +nightingale robbed of her young. The truthful and somewhat minute +description in the song, however, represents the bird's ordinary +performance, and but ill suits the circumstances under which it is +supposed to be uttered. The failure on the part of the poet may be +ascribed to his secret conviction, that the nightingale's was a +cheerful melody; and his labouring against that conviction to the +necessity he felt himself under of following his classical masters. + + 'I have seen a nightingale + On a sprig of thyme bewail, + Seeing the dear nest that was + Hers alone, borne off, alas! + By a labourer: I heard, + For this outrage, the poor bird + Say a thousand mournful things + To the wind, which on its wings + From her to the guardian sky + Bore her melancholy cry-- + Bore her tender tears. She spake + As if her fond heart would break. + One while in a sad, sweet note, + Gurgled from her straining throat, + She enforced her piteous tale, + Mournful prayer and plaintive wail; + One while with the shrill dispute, + Quite o'er-wearied, she was mute; + Then afresh, for her dear brood, + Her harmonious shrieks renewed; + Now she winged it round and round, + Now she skimmed along the ground; + Now from bough to bough in haste + The delighted robber chased; + And alighting in his path, + Seemed to say, 'twixt grief and wrath: + "Give me back, fierce rustic rude! + Give me back my pretty brood!" + And I saw the rustic still + Answer: "That I never will!"' + +Independently of the untruthfulness of which a naturalist would +complain in this description--for no birds under such circumstances of +distress sing, but merely repeat each its own peculiar piercing cry, +never at any other time heard, and which cannot be mistaken--there is +a palpable effort of ingenuity discoverable in the representation, +which seems to tell us that the writer was making up a story, rather +than uttering his own belief. It may even be doubted whether Virgil +himself, who seems first to have invented this fancy, and behind whose +broad mantle later poets have sheltered themselves, may not have felt +an inclination to depart from the Greek opinion of Philomel's ditty. +Why otherwise did he not simply and at once--as his masters Homer and +Theocritus had done before him--describe her notes as mournful, +instead of casting about for some cause that might excuse him for +giving them that character? But however this may be, we cannot conceal +from ourselves, that some stubborn passages still remain in the poets, +proclaiming that there are men, and those among the greatest and most +tasteful, to whose fancy the voice of the nightingale has sounded full +of wo. + +Homer must be counted of this number--unless we think with Fox, in the +preface to his _History of Lord Holland_, that it is only as to her +wakefulness Penelope is compared to the night singing-bird; and so +must Milton (for although Coleridge has satisfactorily dealt with the +passage in _Il Penseroso_, the line of the Lady's song in _Comus_ +remains still); and Shakspeare himself, who could scarcely be +influenced, as Milton might very possibly be, by the opinions of the +Grecian poets. + +It is a strange contest we are here considering. Which of us would for +a moment doubt our ability to decide in a dispute as to the liveliness +or sadness of any given melody?--yet here we see the greatest poets, +the favoured children of nature, utterly at variance on a point +concerning which we should have expected to find even the most +ordinary minds able to decide. + +The question becomes more involved from the fact, that some writers +take _both_ sides; for instance, Chiobrera in _Aleippo_: the +nightingale + + 'Unwearied still reiterates her lays, + Jocund _or_ sad, delightful to the ear;' + +and Hartley Coleridge, in the following beautiful song, which we +transcribe the more readily because it has not long been published, +and may be new to many of our readers: + + ''Tis sweet to hear the merry lark, + That bids a blithe good-morrow; + But sweeter to hark in the twinkling dark + To the soothing song of sorrow. + Oh, nightingale! what doth she ail? + And is she _sad_ or _jolly_? + For ne'er on earth was sound of mirth + So like to melancholy. + + The merry lark he soars on high, + No worldly thought o'ertakes him; + He sings aloud to the clear blue sky, + And the daylight that awakes him. + As sweet a lay, as loud, as gay, + The nightingale is trilling; + With feeling bliss, no less than his + Her little heart is thrilling. + + Yet ever and anon a sigh + Peers through her lavish mirth; + For the lark's bold song is of the sky, + And hers is of the earth. + By night and day she tunes her lay, + To drive away all sorrow; + For bliss, alas! to-night may pass, + And wo may come to-morrow.' + +We must now cite one or two of the many passages which represent the +nightingale's as an _absolutely_ cheerful song. We fear we cannot +insist so much as Fox is disposed to do, on the evidence of Chaucer, +who continually styles the nightingale's a merry note, because it is +evident that in _his_ day the word had a somewhat different meaning +from that which it at present conveys. For example, the poet calls the +organ 'merry.' Nor dare we lay stress upon the instance which Cary +cites--in a note to his _Purgatory_--of a 'neglected poet,' Vallans, +who in his _Tale of Two Swannes_ ranks the 'merrie nightingale among +the cheerful birds,' because we do not know whether, even at the time +when Vallans wrote--the book was published, it seems, in +1590--'merrie' had come to bear its present signification. + +We shall, however, find a witness among the writers of his period in +Gawain Douglas, who died Bishop of Dunkeld in 1522. He, in a prologue +to one of his _Æneids_, applies not only the word 'merry' to our bird, +but one of less questionable signification--'mirthful.' If we come +down to more modern times, we shall find Wordsworth, who seems above +all others, except Burns, to have had a catholic ear for the whole +multitude of natural sounds, not only refusing the character of +melancholy to the nightingale's song, but placing it below the +stock-dove's, because it is deficient in the pensiveness and +seriousness which mark the note of the latter. + +However, of all testimonies which can be brought on this side of the +question, the strongest is that of Coleridge. No other has so +accurately described the song itself; moreover, he alone has entered +the lists avowedly as an antagonist, and confessing in so many words +to the existence of an opinion opposite to his own. + + 'And hark! the nightingale begins its song, + "Most musical, most melancholy" bird. + A melancholy bird? oh, idle thought![2] + In nature there is nothing melancholy. + But some night-wandering man, whose heart was pierced + With the resemblance of a grievous wrong, + Or slow distemper, or neglected love, + First named these notes a melancholy strain: + And youths and maidens most poetical, + Who lose the deepening twilight of the spring + In ball-rooms and hot theatres, they still, + Full of meek sympathy, must heave their sighs + O'er Philomela's pity-pleading strains. + My friend, and thou, our sister! we have learnt + A different love: we may not thus profane + Nature's sweet voices, always full of love + And joyance! 'Tis the _merry_ nightingale + That crowds and hurries and precipitates + With fast-thick warble his delicious notes, + As he were fearful that an April night + Would be too short for him to utter forth + His love-chant and disburden his full soul + Of all its music!' + +Little now remains to be said. We have laid before the reader +specimens of the two contending opinions, as well as of that which is +set up as a golden mean between them; and he has but to put down our +pages, and to walk forth--provided he does not live too far north, or +in some smoke-poisoned town--to judge for himself as to the true +character of the strains. Small risk, we think, would there be in +pronouncing on which side his verdict would be given! Well do we +remember the night when we first heard this sweet bird: how we +listened and refused to believe--for we were young, and our idea had +of course been that his song was a melancholy one--that those madly +hilarious sounds could come from the mournful nightingale. Wordsworth +attempts thus to account for the delusion under which the older poets +laboured on this subject: + + 'Fancy, who leads the pastimes of the glad, + Full oft is pleased a wayward dart to throw, + Sending sad shadows after things not sad, + Peopling the harmless fields with sighs of wo. + Beneath her sway, a simple forest cry + Becomes an echo of man's misery. + What wonder? at her bidding ancient lays + Steeped in dire grief the voice of Philomel, + And that blithe messenger of summer days, + The swallow, twittered, subject to like spell.' + +It is curious that the people who first fixed the stigma of melancholy +upon our bird--the Greeks, or at least the Athenians, and it is of +them we speak--were perhaps the very gayest people that ever danced +upon the earth--absolute Frenchmen. The very sprightliness of their +temper, however, by the universally prevailing law of contrast, may +have induced in them a fondness for sad and doleful legends; and we +confess, for our own part, that while we from our hearts admire the +poetical beauty and elegance of their various fables, we do not a +little disrelish the constant vein of melancholy which pervades them +all. Not the least sad of their fictions is that which relates to the +nightingale; a story that has found its way--and even more universally +the opinion of the bird's music which it implied--amongst all the +nations whom Greece has instructed and civilised. + +But we have yet another reply to the question, 'Why do most people +call the nightingale's a melancholy song?' It is heard by night, +'whilst our spirits are attentive,' and the solemn gloom of the hour +influences the judgment of the ear; for another false impression, +which like the monster Error of Spenser, has bred a thousand young +ones as ill-favoured as herself, ascribes melancholy to night. There +is no good reason why we should think thus of the night, still less +that the impression should influence our judgment in other matters; +and we owe no small thanks to those who have endeavoured to reclaim to +their proper uses these misdirected associations, and to teach, that + + 'In nature there is nothing melancholy;' + +but on the contrary, + + 'Healing her wandering and distempered child, + She pours around her softest influences, + Her sunny hues, fair forms, and breathing sweets, + Her melodies of woods, and winds, and waters, + Till he relent, and can no more endure + To be a jarring and a dissonant thing + Amid the general dance and harmony; + But, bursting into tears, wins back his way, + His angry spirit healed and harmonised + By the benignant touch of love and beauty.' + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] _Note by Coleridge._--'The passage in Milton possesses an +excellence far superior to that of mere description. It is spoken in +the character of the Melancholy Man, and has, therefore, a dramatic +propriety. The author makes this remark, to rescue himself from the +charge of having alluded with levity to a line of Milton's.' + + + + +THE TEA-COUNTRIES OF CHINA. + + +About four years ago, Mr Fortune, author of _Three Years' Wanderings +in the Northern Provinces of China_, was deputed by the East India +Company to proceed to China for the purpose of obtaining the finest +varieties of the tea-plant, as well as native manufacturers and +implements, for the government tea-plantations in the Himalaya. Being +acquainted with the Chinese language, and adopting the Chinese +costume, he penetrated into districts unvisited before by +Europeans--excepting, perhaps, the Catholic missionaries--exciting no +further curiosity as to his person or pedigree, than what was due to a +stranger from one of the provinces beyond the great wall. His +principal journeys were to Sung-lo, the great green-tea district, and +to the Bohea Mountains, the great black-tea district; besides a flying +visit to Kingtang, or Silver Island, in the Chusan archipelago. The +narrative, which he has since published,[3] manifests a good faculty +for observation; but travelling as privately as possible, he saw +little but the exterior aspects of the country, the appearance of +which he describes very graphically. As a botanist, he had a keen eye +for everything which promised to enlarge our knowledge of the Chinese +flora, and discovered many useful and ornamental trees and shrubs, +some of which, such as the funereal cypress, will one day produce a +striking and beautiful effect in our English landscape, and in our +cemeteries. Of social and political information relative to the +Celestial Empire, the book is quite barren; and we do not know that +there is anything in it which will be so acceptable to the reader, as +fresh and reliable information about his favourite beverage. To this, +therefore, our attention will be confined. + +The plant in cultivation about Canton, from which the Canton teas are +made, is known to botanists as the _Thea bohea_; while the more +northern variety, found in the green-tea country, has been called +_Thea viridis_. The first appears to have been named upon the +supposition, that all the black teas of the Bohea Mountains were +obtained from this species; and the second was called _viridis_, +because it furnished the green teas of commerce. These names seem to +have misled the public; and hence many persons, until a few years ago, +firmly believed that black tea could be made only from _Thea bohea_, +and green tea only from _Thea viridis_. In his _Wanderings in China_, +published in 1846, Mr Fortune had stated that both teas could be made +from either plant, and that the difference in their appearance +depended upon manipulation, and upon that only. But the objection was +made, that although he had been in many of the tea-districts near the +coast, he had not seen those greater ones inland which furnish the +teas of commerce. Since that time, however, he has visited them, +without seeing reason to alter his statements. The two kinds of tea, +indeed, are rarely made in the same district; but this is a matter of +convenience. Districts which formerly were famous for black teas, now +produce nothing but green. At Canton, green and black teas are made +from the _Thea bohea_ at the pleasure of the manufacturer, and +according to demand. When the plants arrive from the farms fresh and +cool, they dry of a bright-green colour; but if they are delayed in +their transit, or remain in a confined state for too long a period, +they become heated, from a species of spontaneous fermentation; and +when loosened and spread open, emit vapours, and are sensibly warm to +the hand. When such plants are dried, the whole of the green colour is +found to have been destroyed, and a red-brown, and sometimes a +blackish-brown result is obtained. 'I had also noticed,' says Mr +Warrington, in a paper read by him before the Chemical Society, 'that +a clear infusion of such leaves, evaporated carefully to dryness, was +not all undissolved by water, but left a quantity of brown oxidised +extractive matter, to which the denomination _apothem_ has been +applied by some chemists; a similar result is obtained by the +evaporation of an infusion of black tea. The same action takes place +by the exposure of the infusions of many vegetable substances to the +oxidising influence of the atmosphere; they become darkened on the +surface, and this gradually spreads through the solution, and on +evaporation, the same oxidised extractive matter will remain insoluble +in water. Again, I had found that the green teas, when wetted and +redried, with exposure to the air, were nearly as dark in colour as +the ordinary black teas. From these observations, therefore, I was +induced to believe, that the peculiar characters and chemical +differences which distinguish black tea from green, were to be +attributed to a species of heating or fermentation, accompanied with +oxidation by exposure to the air, and not to its being submitted to a +higher temperature in the process of drying, as had been generally +concluded. My opinion was partly confirmed by ascertaining from +parties conversant with the Chinese manufacture, that the leaves for +the black teas were always allowed to remain exposed to the air in +mass for some time before they were roasted.' + +This explanation by Mr Warrington from scientific data, is confirmed +by Mr Fortune from personal observation, and fully accounts, not only +for the difference in colour between the two teas, but also for the +effect produced on some constitutions by green tea, such as nervous +irritability, sleeplessness, &c.; and Mr Fortune truly remarks, that +what Mr Warrington observed in the laboratory of Apothecaries' Hall, +may be seen by every one who has a tree or bush in his garden. Mark +the leaves which are blown from trees in early autumn; they are brown, +or perhaps of a dullish green when they fall, but when they have been +exposed for some time in their detached state to air and moisture, +they become as black as our blackest teas. Without detailing the whole +process in the manufacture of either kind of tea, it may be stated in +reference to green tea, _1st_, That the leaves are roasted almost +immediately, after they are gathered; and _2d_, That they are dried +off quickly after the rolling process. In reference to black tea, on +the other hand, it may be observed, _1st_, That after being gathered, +the leaves are exposed for a considerable time; _2d_, That they are +tossed about until they become soft and flaccid, and are then left in +heaps; _3d_, That after being roasted for a few minutes and rolled, +they are exposed for some hours to the air in a soft and moist state; +and _4th_, That they are at last dried slowly over charcoal fires. +After all, then, genuine green tea is, as might reasonably be +conjectured, an article less artificial than black. There is, at the +same time, too much foundation for the suspicion, that the green teas +so much patronised in Europe and America, are not so innocently +manufactured. Mr Fortune witnessed the process of colouring them in +the Hung-chow green-tea country, and describes the process. The +substance used is a powder consisting of four parts of gypsum and +three parts of Prussian blue, which was applied to the teas during the +last process of roasting. + +'During this part of the operation,' he says, 'the hands of the +workmen were quite blue. I could not help thinking, that if any +green-tea drinkers had been present during the operation, their taste +would have been corrected, and, I may be allowed to add, improved. +One day, an English gentleman in Shang-hae, being in conversation with +some Chinese from the green-tea country, asked them what reasons they +had for dyeing the tea, and whether it would not be better without +undergoing this process. They acknowledged that tea was much better +when prepared without having any such ingredients mixed with it, and +that they never drank dyed teas themselves; but justly remarked, that +as foreigners seemed to prefer having a mixture of Prussian blue and +gypsum with their tea, to make it look uniform and pretty, and as +these ingredients were cheap enough, the Chinese had no objections to +supply them, especially as such teas always fetched a higher price!' +The quantity of colouring matter used is rather more than an ounce to +14-1/2 lbs. of tea; so that in every 100 lbs. of coloured green tea +consumed in England or America, the consumer actually drinks nearly +half a pound of Prussian blue and gypsum! Samples of these +ingredients, procured from the Chinamen in the factory, were sent last +year to the Great Exhibition. + +In the black-tea districts, as in the green, large quantities of young +plants are yearly raised from seeds. These seeds are gathered in the +month of October, and kept mixed up with sand and earth during the +winter months. In this manner they are kept fresh until spring, when +they are sown thickly in some corner of the farm, from which they are +afterwards transplanted. When about a year old, they are from nine +inches to a foot in height, and ready for transplanting. This is +always done at the change of the monsoon in spring, when fine warm +showers are of frequent occurrence. The most favourable situations are +on the slopes of the hills, as affording good drainage, which is of +the utmost importance; and which, on the plains, is attained by having +the lands above the watercourses. Other things being equal, a +moderately rich soil is preferred. They are planted in rows about four +feet apart (in poor soils, much closer), and have a very hedge-like +appearance when full grown. A plantation of tea, when seen at a +distance, looks like a little shrubbery of evergreens. As the +traveller threads his way amongst the rocky scenery of Woo-e-shan, he +is continually coming upon these plantations, which are dotted upon +the sides of all the hills. The leaves are of a rich dark-green, and +afford a pleasing contrast to the strange, and often barren scenery +which is everywhere around. The young plantations are generally +allowed to grow unmolested for two or three years, till they are +strong and healthy; and even then, great care is exercised not to +exhaust the plants by plucking them too bare. But, with every care, +they ultimately become stunted and unhealthy, and are never profitable +when they are old; hence, in the best-managed tea-districts, the +natives yearly remove old plantations, and supply their places with +fresh ones. About ten or twelve years is the average duration allowed +to the plants. The tea-farms are in general small, and their produce +is brought to market in the following manner: A tea-merchant from +Tsong-gan or Tsin-tsun, goes himself, or sends his agents, to all the +small towns, villages, and temples in the district, to purchase teas +from the priests and small farmers. When the teas so purchased are +taken to his house, they are mixed together, of course keeping the +different qualities as much apart as possible. By this means, a chop +(or parcel) of 600 chests is made; and all the tea of this chop is of +the same description or class. The large merchant in whose hands it is +now, has to refine it, and pack it for the foreign market. When the +chests are packed, the name of the chop is written upon each, or ought +to be; but it is not unusual to leave them unmarked till they reach +the port of exportation, when the name most in repute is, if possible, +put upon them. When the chop is purchased in the tea-district, a +number of coolies are engaged to carry the chests on their shoulders, +either to their ultimate destination, or to the nearest river. The +time occupied in the entire transport by land and river, from the +Bohea country to Canton, is about six weeks or two months. The +expenses of transit, of course, vary with localities, and other +circumstances; but, in general, those expenses are so very moderate, +that the middlemen realise large profits, while the small farmers and +manipulators are subjected to a grinding process, which keeps them in +comparative poverty. + +Of late years, some attempts have been made to cultivate the tea-shrub +in America and Australia; but the result will not equal the +expectation entertained by the projectors of the scheme. The tea-plant +will grow wherever the climate and soil are suitable; but labour is so +much cheaper in China than in either of those countries, that +successful competition is impossible. The Chinese labourers do not +receive more than twopence or threepence a day. The difference, +therefore, in the cost of labour will afford ample protection to the +Chinese against all rivals whose circumstances in this respect are not +similar to their own. + +India, however, is as favourably situated in all respects for +tea-cultivation as China itself, and its introduction, therefore, into +that country is a matter of equal interest and importance. In +procuring the additional seeds, implements, and workmen, Mr Fortune +succeeded beyond his expectations. Tea-seeds retain their vitality for +a very short period, if they are out of the ground; and after trying +various plans for transporting them to their destination, he adopted +the method of sowing them in Ward's cases soon after they were +gathered, which had the effect of preserving them in full life. The +same plan will answer as effectually in preserving other kinds of +seeds intended for transportation, and in which so much disappointment +is generally experienced. In due time, all the cases arrived at their +destination in perfect safety, and were handed over to Dr Jameson, the +superintendent of the botanical gardens in the north-west provinces, +and of the government tea-plantations. When opened, the tea-plants +were found to be in a very healthy state. No fewer than 12,838 plants +were counted, and many more were germinating. Notwithstanding their +long voyage from the north of China, and the frequent transhipment and +changes by the way, they seemed as green and vigorous as if they had +been growing all the while on the Chinese hills. + +In these days, when tea is no longer a luxury, but a necessary of life +in England and her colonies, its production on Indian soil is worthy +of persevering effort. To the natives of India themselves, it would be +of the greatest value. The poor _paharie_, or hill-peasant, has +scarcely the common necessaries of life, and certainly none of its +luxuries. The common sorts of grain which his lands produce will +scarcely pay the carriage to the nearest market-town, far less yield +such a profit as to enable him to procure any articles of commerce. A +common blanket has to serve him for his covering by day and for his +bed at night, while his dwelling-house is a mere mud-hut, capable of +affording but little shelter from the inclemency of the weather. If +part of these lands produced tea, he would then have a healthy +beverage to drink, besides a commodity which would be of great value +in the market. Being of small bulk, and extremely light in proportion +to its value, the expense of carriage would be trifling, and he would +have the means of making himself and his family more comfortable and +more happy. In China, tea is one of the necessaries of life, in the +strictest sense of the word. A Chinese never drinks cold water, which +he abhors, and considers unhealthy. Tea is his favourite beverage from +morning to night--not what we call tea, mixed with milk and sugar--but +the essence of the herb itself drawn out in pure water. Those +acquainted with the habits of the people, can scarcely conceive of +their existence, were they deprived of the tea-plant; and there can be +no doubt that its extensive use adds much to their health and comfort. +The people of India are not unlike the Chinese in many of their +habits. The poor of both countries eat sparingly of animal food; rice, +and other grains and vegetables, form the staple articles on which +they live. This being the case, it is not at all unlikely that the +Indian will soon acquire a habit which is so universal in China. But +in order to enable him to drink tea, it must be produced at a cheap +rate, not at 4s. or 6s. a pound, but at 4d. or 6d.; and this can be +done, but only on his own hills. The accomplishment of this would be +an immense boon for the government to confer upon the people, and +might ultimately work a constitutional change in their character and +temperament--ridding them of their proverbial indolence, and endowing +them with that activity of body and mind which renders the Chinese so +un-Asiatic in their habits and employments. + +That our readers may, if they choose, have 'tea as in China,' we quote +a recipe from a Chinese author, which may be of service to them. +'Whenever the tea is to be infused for use,' says Tüng-po, 'take water +from a running stream, and boil it over a lively fire. It is an old +custom to use running water boiled over a lively fire; that from +springs in the hills is said to be the best, and river-water the next, +while well-water is the worst. A lively fire is a clear and bright +charcoal fire. When making an infusion, do not boil the water too +hastily, as first it begins to sparkle like crabs' eyes, then somewhat +like fish's eyes, and lastly, it boils up like pearls innumerable, +springing and waving about. This is the way to boil the water.' The +same author gives the names of six different kinds of tea, all of +which are in high repute. As their names are rather flowery, they may +be quoted for the reader's amusement. They are these: the 'first +spring tea,' the 'white dew,' the 'coral dew,' the 'dewy shoots,' the +'money shoots,' and the 'rivulet garden tea.' 'Tea,' says he, 'is of a +cooling nature, and, if drunk too freely, will produce exhaustion and +lassitude. Country people, before drinking it, add ginger and salt, to +counteract this cooling property. It is an exceedingly useful plant; +cultivate it, and the benefit will be widely spread; drink it, and the +animal spirits will be lively and clear. The chief rulers, dukes, and +nobility, esteem it; the lower people, the poor and beggarly, will not +be destitute of it; all use it daily, and like it.' Another author +upon tea says, that 'drinking it tends to clear away all impurities, +drives off drowsiness, removes or prevents headache, and it is +universally in high esteem.' + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] _A Journey to the Tea-Countries of China._ By Robert Fortune. +1852. + + + + +THE GREAT OYER OF POISONING. + + +In a previous article, an account was given of the proceedings against +the Earl and Countess of Somerset for the murder of Sir Thomas +Overbury. Though they were spared, several other persons were executed +for this offence; and the circumstances under which those who were +represented as the chief criminals escaped, while the others, whose +guilt was represented as merely secondary, were executed, is among the +most mysterious parts of the history. There was so much said about +poisoning throughout the whole inquiry, that Sir Edward Coke gave the +trials the name of 'The Great Oyer of Poisoning.' Oyer has long been a +technical term in English law; and it is almost unnecessary to +explain, that it is old French for _to hear_--_oyer and terminer_ +meaning, to hear and determine. The same inscrutable reasons which +make the evidence so imperfect against the chief offenders, affect the +whole of it. But while the exact causes of the death of Sir Thomas +Overbury may be left in doubt, as well as the motives which led to it, +enough is revealed in the trials of the minor offenders to throw a +remarkable light on the strange habits of the time, and especially on +the profligacy and credulity of the court of King James. + +The first person put to trial was Richard Weston, who had been +appointed for the purpose of taking charge of Sir Thomas Overbury. If +he had been murdered by poison, there could be no doubt that Weston +was one of the perpetrators. He had been brought up as an apothecary; +and it was said that he was selected on account of his being thus +enabled to dabble in poisons. The charge against him is very +indistinct. He was charged that he, 'in the Tower of London, in the +parish of Allhallows Barking, did obtain and get into his hand certain +poison of green and yellow colour, called rosalgar--knowing the same +to be deadly poison--and the same did maliciously and feloniously +mingle and compound in a kind of broth poured out into a certain +dish.' Weston long refused to plead to the indictment. Of old, a +person could not be put on trial unless he pleaded not guilty, and +demanded a trial. The law, however, provided for those who were +obstinate a more dreadful death than would be inflicted on the +scaffold. To frighten him into compliance, the court gave him a +description of it, telling him that he was 'to be extended, and then +to have weights laid upon him no more than he was able to bear, which +were by little and little to be increased; secondly, that he was to be +exposed in an open place near to the prison, in the open air, being +naked; and lastly, that he was to be preserved with the coarsest bread +that could be got, and water out of the next sink or puddle.' He was +told that 'oftentimes men lived in that extremity eight or nine days.' +People have sometimes endured the _peine forte et dure_, as it was +called, because, unless they pleaded and were convicted, their estates +were not forfeited; and they endured the death of protracted torture +for the sake of their families. Weston's object was supposed to be to +prevent a trial, the evidence in which would expose his great patrons +the Earl and Countess of Somerset. The motive was not, however, strong +enough to make him stand to his purpose. He pleaded to the indictment, +was found guilty, and executed at Tyburn. + +The next person brought up was of a more interesting character--Anne +Turner, the widow of a physician. It is stated in the Report, that +when she appeared at the bar, the chief-justice Coke said to her: +'that women must be covered in the church, but not when they are +arraigned, and so caused her to put off her hat; which done, she +covered her hair with her handkerchief, being before dressed in her +hair with her handkerchief over it.' Although Mother Turner's pursuits +were of the questionable kind generally attributed to old hags--she +dealt in philters, soothsaying, and poisoning--she must have been a +young and beautiful woman. In some of the letters which were produced +at the trials, she was called 'Sweet Turner.' In a poem, called +_Overbury's Vision_, published in 1616, and reprinted in the seventh +volume of the Harleian Miscellany, she is thus enthusiastically +described-- + + 'It seemed that she had been some gentle dame; + For on each part of her fair body's frame + Nature such delicacy did bestow, + That fairer object oft it doth not shew. + Her crystal eye, beneath an ivory brow, + Did shew what she at first had been; but now + The roses on her lovely cheeks were dead; + The earth's pale colour had all overspread + Her sometime lovely look; and cruel Death, + Coming untimely with his wintry breath, + Blasted the fruit which, cherry-like in show, + Upon her dainty lips did whilome grow. + Oh, how the cruel cord did misbecome + Her comely neck! And yet by law's just doom + Had been her death.' + +It might be said to be Mrs Turner's profession, to minister to all +the bad passions of intriguers. The wicked Countess of Essex employed +her to secure to her, by magic arts and otherwise, the affection of +Somerset, and at the same time to create alienation and distaste on +the part of her husband. Among the documents produced at her trial was +one said to be a list of 'what ladies loved what lords;' and it is +alleged that Coke prohibited its being read, because, whenever he cast +his eye on it, he saw there the name of his own wife. Some mysterious +articles were produced at the trial, which were believed to be +instruments of enchantment and diabolical agency. 'There were also +enchantments shewed in court, written in parchment, wherein were +contained all the names of the blessed Trinity mentioned in the +Scriptures; and in another parchment + B + C + D + E; and in a third, +likewise in parchment, were written all the names of the holy Trinity, +as also a figure, on which was written this word, _corpus_; and on the +parchment was fastened a little piece of the skin of a man. In some of +these parchments were the devil's particular names, who were conjured +to torment the Lord Somerset, and Sir Arthur Manwaring, if their loves +should not continue, the one to the Countess, the other to Mrs +Turner.' Along with these were some pictures, as they were termed, or, +more properly speaking, models of the human figure. 'At the shewing,' +says the report, 'of these, and inchanted papers, and other pictures +in court, there was heard a crack from the scaffolds, which caused +great fear, tumult, and confusion among the spectators, and throughout +the hall, every one fearing hurt, as if the devil had been present, +and grown angry to have his workmanship shewed by such as were not his +own scholars.'[4] + +The small figures, which appeared to have created the chief +consternation, were, we are inclined to believe, very innocent things. +There was, it is true, a belief that an individual could be injured or +slain by operations on his likeness. There was, however, another +purpose connected with Mrs Turner's pursuits to which small jointed +images, like artists' lay figures, were used. This was to exhibit the +effect of any new fashion, or peculiar style of dress. In this manner +small figures, about the size of dolls, were long used in Paris. We +have seen people expressing their surprise at pictures of full-grown +Frenchwomen examining dolls, but in reality they were not more +triflingly occupied than those who now contemplate the latest fashions +in their favourite feminine periodical. Mrs Turner was very likely to +have occasion for such figures, for she was, with her other pursuits, +a sort of dressmaker, or _modiste_; in fact, she seems to have been a +ready minister to every kind of human vanity and folly, as well as to +a good deal of human wickedness. In the department of dress, she had a +name in her own sex and age as illustrious as that of Brummel among +dandies in the beginning of this century. As he was the inventor of +the starched cravat, she was his precursor in the invention of the +starched ruff, or, as it is generally said, of the yellow starch. + +The best account we have of the starched ruff is by a man who wrote to +abuse it. An individual named Stubbes published an _Anatomy of +Abuses_. Having become extremely rare, a small impression of it was +lately reprinted, as a curious picture of the times. Stubbes dealt +trenchantly with everything that savoured of pride and ostentation in +dress; and he was peculiarly severe on Mrs Turner's invention, which +made the ruff stand against bad weather. He describes the ruffs as +having been made 'of cambric Holland lawn; or else of some other the +finest cloth that can be got for money, whereof some be a quarter of a +yard deep; yea, some more--very few less.' He describes with much glee +the elementary calamities to which, before the invention of the +starch, they were liable. 'If Æolus with his blasts, or Neptune with +his storms, chance to hit upon the crazy barque of their bruised +ruffs, then they goeth flip-flap in the wind, like rags that flew +abroad, lying upon their shoulders like the dish-clout of a slut.' +Having thus, with great exultation, described these reproofs to human +pride, he mentions how 'the devil, as he, in the fulness of his +malice, first invented these great ruffs, so hath he now found out +also two great pillars to bear up and maintain this his kingdom of +great ruffs--for the devil is king and prince over all the kingdom of +pride.' One pillar appears to have been a wire framework--something, +perhaps, of the nature of the hoop. The other was 'a certain kind of +liquid matter, which they call starch, wherein the devil hath willed +them to wash and dye their ruffs well; and this starch they make of +divers colours and hues--white, red, blue, purple, and the like, +which, being dry, will then stand stiff and inflexible about their +necks.' + +Mrs Turner, at her execution, was arrayed in a ruff stiffened with the +material for the invention of which she was so famous. She had for her +scientific adviser a certain Dr Forman--a man who was believed to be +deep in all kinds of dangerous chemical lore, and at the same time to +possess a connection with the Evil One, which gave him powers greater +than those capable of being obtained through mere scientific agency. +Had he been alive, he would have undoubtedly been tried with the other +poisoners. His widow gave some account of his habits, and of his +wonderful apparatus, such as 'a ring which would open like a watch;' +but the glimpse obtained of him is brief and mysteriously tantalising. +We remember that, about twenty-five years ago, this man was made the +hero of a novel called _Forman_, which contains much effective +writing, but did not somehow fit the popular taste. + +Notwithstanding the scientific ingenuity both of the males and females +concerned in this affair, the poisoning seems to have been conducted +in a very bungling manner when compared with the slow and secret +poisonings of the French and Italians. It is believed that a female of +Naples, called Tophana, who used a tasteless liquid, named after her +_Aqua Tophana_, killed with it 600 people before she was discovered to +be a murderess. The complete secrecy in which these foreigners +shrouded their operations--people seeming to drop off around them as +if by the silent operation of natural causes--was what made their +machinations so frightful. Poisoning, however, is a cowardly as well +as a cruel crime, which has never taken strong root in English habits; +and, as we have observed, the poisoners on this occasion, +notwithstanding the skill and knowledge enlisted by them in the +service, were arrant bunglers. Thus, the confession of James Franklin, +an accomplice, would seem to shew that Sir Thomas Overbury was +subjected to poisons enough to have deprived three cats of their +twenty-seven lives. + +'Mrs Turner came to me from the countess, and wished me, from her, to +get the strongest poison I could for Sir T. Overbury. Accordingly, I +bought seven--viz., aquafortis, white arsenic, mercury, powder of +diamonds, _lapis costitus_, great spiders, and cantharides. All these +were given to Sir T. Overbury at several times. And further +confesseth, that the lieutenant knew of these poisons; for that +appeared, said he, by many letters which he writ to the Countess of +Essex, which I saw, and thereby knew that he knew of this matter. One +of these letters I read for the countess, because she could not read +it herself; in which the lieutenant used this speech: "Madam, the scab +is like the fox--the more he is cursed, the better he fareth." And +many other speeches. Sir T. never eat white salt, but there was white +arsenic put into it. Once he desired pig, and Mrs Turner put into it +_lapis costitus_. The white powder that was sent to Sir T. in a +letter, he knew to be white arsenic. At another time, he had two +partridges sent him by the court, and water and onions being the +sauce, Mrs Turner put in cantharides instead of pepper; so that there +was scarce anything that he did eat but there was some poison +mixed.'[5] + +It is impossible to believe that the human frame could stand out for +weeks against so hot a siege. It would appear as if Franklin must +really have confessed too much. It has already been said, that the +confused state of the whole evidence renders it difficult to find how +far a case was made out against the Earl and Countess of Somerset. +Such a confession as Franklin's only makes matters still more +confused. That Sir Thomas Overbury really was poisoned, one can +scarcely doubt, if even a portion of what Franklin and the others say +is true; but the reckless manner in which the crime was gone about, +and the confusion of the whole evidence, is extremely perplexing. Not +the least remarkable feature in this tragedy is the number of people +concerned in it. We find, brought to trial, the Earl and Countess of +Somerset and Sir Thomas Monson, who, though said to be the guiltiest +of all, were spared: Weston, Franklin, and Mrs Turner, were executed: +Forman, and another man of science who was said to have given aid, had +gone to their account before the trials came on. Then, in Franklin's +confession, it was stated that 'the toothless maid, trusty Margaret, +was acquainted with the poisoning; so was Mrs Turner's man, Stephen; +so also was Mrs Home, the countess's own handmaid;' and several other +subordinate persons are alluded to in a similar manner. + +The quietness and secrecy of the French and Italian poisonings have +been already alluded to. The poisoners, in general, instead of acting +in a bustling crowd, generally prepared themselves for their dreadful +task by secretly acquiring the competent knowledge, so that they might +not find it necessary to take the aid of confederates. They generally +did their work alone, or at most two would act together. It certainly +argues a sadly demoralised state of society in the reign of King +James, that so many persons should be found who would coolly connect +themselves with the work of death; but still there was not so much +real danger as in the quiet, systematic poisonings of such criminals +as Tophana and the Countess of Brinvilliers. The great Oyer of +poisoning was, however, calculated to make a very deep impression on +the public mind. It filled London with fear and suspicion. When +rumours about poisonings become prevalent, no one knows exactly how +far the crime has proceeded, and this and that event is remembered and +connected with it. All the sudden deaths within recollection are +recalled, and thus accounted for. People supposed to be adepts in +chemistry were in great danger from the populace, and one man, named +Lamb, was literally torn to pieces by a mob at Charing-Cross. The +people began to dwell upon the death of Prince Henry, the king's +eldest son, who had fallen suddenly. It was remembered that he was a +youth of a frank, manly disposition--the friend and companion of +Raleigh and of other heroic spirits. He liked popularity, and went +into many of the popular prejudices of the times--forming altogether +in his character a great contrast to his grave, dry, fastidious, and +suspicious brother Charles, who was to succeed to his vacant place. He +had died very suddenly--of fever, it was said; but popular rumour now +attributed his death to poison. Nay, it was said that his own father, +jealous of his popularity, was the perpetrator; and it was whispered +that _this_ was the secret which King James was so afraid his +favourite Somerset might tell if prosecuted to death. In a work called +_Truth brought to Light_, a copy was given of an alleged medical +report on a dissection of the body, calculated to confirm these +suspicions: it may be found in the _State Trials_, ii. 1002. Arthur +Wilson, who published his life and reign of King James during the +Commonwealth, said: 'Strange rumours are raised upon this sudden +expiration of our prince, the disease being so violent that the combat +of nature in the strength of youth (being almost nineteen years of +age) lasted not above five days. Some say he was poisoned with a bunch +of grapes; others attribute it to the venomous scent of a pair of +gloves presented to him (the distemper lying for the most part in the +head.) They that knew neither of these are stricken with fear and +amazement, as if they had tasted or felt the effects of those +violences. Private whisperings and suspicions of some new designs +afoot broaching prophetical terrors that a black Christmas would +produce a bloody Lent, &c.' Kennet, in his notes on Wilson's work, +says that he possesses a rare copy of a sermon preached while the +public mind was thus excited, 'wherein the preacher, who had been his +domestic chaplain, made such broad hints about the manner of his +(Prince Henry's) death, that melted the auditory into a flood of +tears, and occasioned his being dismissed the court.' + +But suspicion did not stop here. When King James himself died in much +pain, his body shewing the unsightly symptoms consequent on his gross +habits, poison was again suspected; and as it had been said on the +former occasion, that the father had connived at the death of his son, +it was now whispered that the remaining son, anxious to commence his +ill-starred reign, was accessory to hurrying his father from the +world. The moral character of Charles I. is sufficient to acquit him +of such a charge. But historians even of late date have not entirely +acquitted his favourite, Buckingham, who, it was said, finding that +the king was tired of him, resolved to make him give place to the +prince, in whose good graces he felt secure. The authors of the +scandalous histories published during the Commonwealth, said that the +duke's mother administered the poison externally in the form of a +plaster. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] _State Trials_, ii. 932. + +[5] _State Trials_, 941. + + + + +NEURALGIA.[6] + + +Obstructives and sceptics are in one sense benefactors: although they +do not generally originate improved modes of thought and action, they +at least prevent the adoption of crude theories and ill-digested +measures. To meet the criticism of these opponents, inventive genius +must more carefully bring its ideas and plans to the test of practical +experiment and thorough investigation; and as truth must ultimately +prevail, it cannot be considered unjust or injurious to insist upon +its presenting its credentials. This is, we submit, one of the +benefits resulting from schools, colleges, and guilds: it is difficult +to impress them with novel truths; but in a great degree they act as +breakwaters to the waves of error. In no department of social life is +this doctrine better illustrated than in the medical profession, which +is among the keenest and most sceptical of bodies in scrutinising +novelty; but it has rarely allowed any real improvement to remain +permanently untested and unadopted. We believe this to be the fair +view to take of a class of scientific men who have certainly had a +large share of sarcasm to endure. + +General readers, for whom we profess to cater, take no great interest +in medical subjects and discussions; but as historians of what is +doing in the world of art, science, and literature, we think it our +duty to record, in a brief way, any information we can collect that +may be beneficial to the suffering portion of humanity; and in this +'miserable world' it is most probable that one-fourth part of our +readers are invalids. Why should they not have their little troubles, +whims, and maladies studied and cared for? The disease which gives a +title to this short notice is perhaps one of the most mysterious and +vexatious to which our nature is liable; both its cause and cure are +equally occult, and its _modus operandi_ is scarcely intelligible. A +contemporary thus playfully alludes to the subject in terms more funny +than precise:--'What is neuralgia? A nervous spasm, the cause of which +has, however, not been satisfactorily and conclusively demonstrated; +but we may, perhaps, obtain a clearer view of its nature, if we look +upon it as connected with "morbid nutrition." Every one knows that the +system is, or ought to be, constantly subject to a law of waste and +repair; and if the operation of this law is impeded by "cold," "mental +excitement," or any other baneful condition, diseases more or less +unpleasant must ensue. The _vis naturæ_ uses certain particles of +matter in forming nerves; others in forming membrane, bones, juices, +&c.; while used-up particles are expelled altogether from the system. +We can readily conceive that each order of atoms is used by a distinct +function, and has a different mission; and any morbid perversion or +mingling of their separate destinies must end in disorder and +suffering--nature's violent endeavour to restore the regularity of her +operations. A cough is simply an effort of the lungs or bronchiæ to +remove some offending intruder that ought to be doing duty elsewhere; +and may we not call neuralgia _a cough of a nerve_ to get rid of a +disagreeable oppression--nature's legitimate _coup d'état_ to put down +and transport those "_red socialist_" particles that would interfere +with the regularity of its constitution? Let us fancy, for a moment, a +delicate little army of atoms marching obediently along, to form new +nerve in place of the substance that is wasting away: another little +army of carbonaceous particles have just received orders to pack up +their luggage and be off, to make way for the advancing +nerve-battalion; but in their exodus they are met by a fierce +destroyer, in the shape of an east wind--a Caffre that suddenly throws +the ranks of General Carbon into disorder, and drives them back upon +the brilliant and pugnacious array of General Nerve: a battle-royal is +the result. General Nerve immediately places lance in rest, and +advances to the charge with the unsparing war-cry of: "Mr Ferguson, +you don't lodge here!" and if Caffre East-wind is not despised and +trifled with, he is generally beaten for a time; but great are the +sufferings of humanity--the scene of this encounter--while the fight +is raging.' + +Now comes the question: How to get rid of this cruel invader? Dr +Downing has undertaken to give an answer, which we believe to be +satisfactory. In addition to the proper medical and hygienic +treatment, which is carefully and ably stated in the work before us, +Dr Downing has invented an apparatus which appears to be very +efficacious; and we will therefore allow him to describe it in his own +words:--'From considering tic douloureux as often a local disease, +depending on a state of excessive irritability, sensibility, or spasm +of a particular nerve, and from reflecting upon its causes, and +observing the effect of topical sedatives, I was led to the +conclusion, that the most direct way of quieting this state was by the +application of warmth and sedative vapour to the part, so as to soothe +the nerves, and calm them into regular action. For this purpose, I +devised an apparatus which answers the purpose sufficiently well. It +is a kind of fumigating instrument, in which dried herbs are burned, +and the heated vapour directed to any part of the body. It is +extremely simple in construction, and consists essentially of three +parts with their media of connection--a cylinder for igniting the +vegetable matter, bellows for maintaining a current of air through the +burning material, and tubes and cones for directing and concentrating +the stream of vapour. The chief medicinal effects I have noticed in +the use of this instrument are those of a sedative character; but its +remedial influence is not alone confined to the use of certain herbs. +A considerable power is attributable to the warm current or intense +heat generated. When the vegetable matter is ignited, and a current of +air is made to pass through the burning mass, a small or great degree +of heat can be produced at pleasure. Thus, when the hand is gently +pressed upon the bellows, a mild, warm stream of vapour is poured +forth which may act as a _douche_ to irritable parts; but by strongly +and rapidly compressing the same receptacle, the fire within the +cylinder is urged like that of a smith's forge, and the blast becomes +intensely hot and burning.' + +Those who wish to know more of this mode of treatment, had better +refer to the work itself. We must content ourselves with having simply +drawn our readers' attention to it. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[6] _Neuralgia: its various Forms, Pathology, and Treatment._ Being +the Jacksonian Prize Essay of the Royal College of Surgeons for 1850; +with some Additions. By C. Toogood Downing, M.D., M.R.C.S. Churchill, +London. + + + + +ANCIENT GLACIERS IN THE LAKE COUNTRY. + + +Mr Robert Chambers, in a recent tour of the lakes of Westmoreland +(April 1852), has discovered that the valleys of that interesting +district were at one time occupied by glaciers. Glacialised surfaces +were previously observed in a few places not far from Kendal, but +without any conclusion as to the entire district. By Mr Chambers +conspicuous and unequivocal memorials of ice-action have been found in +most of the great central valleys, such as those of Derwentwater, +Ulleswater, Thirlwater, and Windermere. The principal phenomena are +rounded hummocks of rock on the skirts of the hills, and in the middle +of the valleys; and as these hummocks, whatever may be the direction +of the valleys, invariably present a smoothed side up, and an abrupt +side downwards (_stoss-seite_ and _lee-seite_ of the Scandinavian +geologists), it becomes certain that the glaciers proceeding from the +mountains at the upper extremities were local to the several valleys. +The smoothed hummocks are very noticeable in Derwentwater or +Borrowdale, the celebrated Bowderstone resting on one; a particularly +fine low surface appears at Grange, near the head of the lake. At +Patterdale, in Ulleswater Valley, the rocks are so much marked in this +manner, that the whole place bears a striking resemblance to the +sterile parts of Sweden; and some small rocky islets, near the head of +the lake, are unmistakable _roches moutonnées_. The two valleys +descending in opposite directions from Dunmail Raise, have had +glaciers proceeding from some central point: in that of Thirlwater, +the rounded hummocks are conspicuous at Armboth; in the other, near +Grasmere, and near the Windermere Railway Station. In all these cases, +the characteristic striation, or scratching produced on rock-surfaces +by glaciers, is more or less distinct, according as the surface may +have been protected in intermediate ages. Where any drift or alluvial +formation has covered it, the polish and striation are as perfect as +if they had been formed in recent times, and the lines are almost +invariably in the general direction of the valley. + + * * * * * + +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. 442, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH *** + +***** This file should be named 20792-8.txt or 20792-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/7/9/20792/ + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. 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