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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #66097 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66097)
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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of Chambers's Journal of Popular
-Literature, Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 33, Vol. I, August 16,
-1884, by Various 
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, Fifth
-       Series, No. 33, Vol. I, August 16, 1884
-
-Author: Various 
-
-Release Date: August 21, 2021 [eBook #66097]
-
-Language: English
-
-Produced by: Susan Skinner, Eric Hutton and the Online Distributed
-             Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-             produced from images generously made available by The
-             Internet Archive)
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL OF POPULAR
-LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART, FIFTH SERIES, NO. 33, VOL. I, AUGUST 16,
-1884 ***
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration:
-
-CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL
-
-OF
-
-POPULAR
-
-LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART
-
-Fifth Series
-
-ESTABLISHED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, 1832
-
-CONDUCTED BY R. CHAMBERS (SECUNDUS)
-
-NO. 33.—VOL. I.      SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1884.      PRICE 1½_d._]
-
-
-
-
-CAVE-CHAPELS.
-
-
-In the biographies of the saints of the early Celtic Church it is
-frequently recorded that towards the close of their lives they left
-their monasteries and sought the seclusion of some lonely island or
-mountain solitude, in order to pass the evening of their days in
-undisturbed devotion and freedom from worldly cares. Joceline in his
-_Life of St Kentigern_ also records that it was his custom to retire
-to a cave during Lent, so that, ‘removed from the strife of tongues
-and the tumults of this world, he might hide himself in God.’ Such
-retreats, whether they were used for periodical and temporary seclusion
-or for permanent retirement, were called in the ecclesiastical language
-of the day _Deserta_; and the frequent occurrence of this term in
-the topography of Scotland and Ireland—in its modern form of Dysart
-or Disert—shows how common the custom must once have been. Sometimes
-the recluse erected a habitation for himself of stones and turf, as
-St Cuthbert did in the island of Farne; but frequently he chose the
-shelter of a natural cavern or crevice in the rocks, as St Cuthbert
-is also said to have done at Weem in Perthshire. As the veneration
-for the memory of the saint increased with lapse of time, the sites
-of such hermitages naturally became places of pilgrimage, and troops
-of devotees were drawn to visit them by rumours of special benefits
-accruing to pilgrims of weak health, or peace of mind procured by
-the performance of special vows. In consequence of the peculiar
-prevalence of this mode of retirement in the primitive Celtic Church,
-cave-hermitages must have been exceedingly numerous in Scotland. But
-the thoroughness of the breach which the Church of the Reformation made
-with the traditions and especially with the superstitious practices of
-the past, has obliterated most of the traces of this early devotion;
-and it is only in a few isolated and exceptional cases that any of its
-associations have survived to our day.
-
-St Ninian’s Cave, near Physgill, in the parish of Glasserton,
-Wigtownshire, is situated a little to the west of the wooded valley
-which terminates in the creek known as Portcastle. It is simply a
-triangular fissure in the rock, some ten or twelve feet wide at the
-entrance, and about fifteen feet in height, narrowing inwards until,
-at a distance of about twenty-five feet from the entrance, the sides
-of the fissure come gradually together. A rudely-built wall has been
-constructed across the mouth of the cave, of which the lower part
-still remains. On the occasion of a visit to the cave by the late
-Dean Stanley of Westminster, a small cross was discovered carved on a
-projecting part of the rock, and three others were subsequently made
-visible by the partial removal of the debris from the face of the
-rock. The form of these crosses is peculiar. They are equal-limbed
-crosses, formed by four arcs of circles intersecting the circumference
-of a circumscribing circle. Similar equal-limbed crosses, but bearing
-the hook-like curve at the right-hand corner of the upper limb, which
-constitutes the _chrisma_ or monogram—the combined _Chi_ and _rho_ of
-the Greek word _Christos_—are found upon early Christian monuments
-at Kirkmadrine and Whithorn in the same county, but nowhere else in
-Scotland. These monuments bear inscriptions commemorative of certain
-‘holy and distinguished priests’—Viventius, Mavorius, and Florentius.
-Their names are so different from those of the priesthood of the
-Columban Church, that they may be regarded as followers if not as
-contemporaries of St Ninian. But none of the crosses in Ninian’s Cave
-present this peculiarly ancient characteristic of the _chrisma_, and
-these crosses may therefore be of a much later date than Ninian’s time.
-They are not confined to the rock-face, but have also been carved upon
-several of the loose stones found on the floor of the cave.
-
-In the month of June last the cave was thoroughly explored for the
-Ayrshire and Wigtownshire Archæological Association, under the
-superintendence of Sir Herbert Maxwell, M.P., and Mr Cochran-Patrick,
-M.P., Secretary of the Association and of the Society of Antiquaries
-of Scotland. They found that the whole floor of the cave had been
-regularly paved; and close to the entrance, but outside the external
-wall which converted the cave into a chapel, there was a large stone
-basin placed under a natural drip from the rock, which may have
-served as a holy-water vessel. A number of additional crosses were
-also discovered. On a stone which had been placed as one of the steps
-leading down to the paved floor there were four crosses in a line.
-On one of the stones of the pavement was an inscription in Roman
-letters, of which the word SANCTI could only be deciphered. Underneath
-the pavement and throughout the debris of the cave-floor there was a
-considerable accumulation of shells, consisting chiefly of limpets and
-periwinkles, mingled with splintered bones, evidently the refuse of the
-food of some earlier occupants. At a considerable depth immediately
-outside the wall of the chapel, the decayed remnants of a human
-skeleton were disentombed. Whether these were the bones of a hermit of
-the chapel who had chosen to be buried in the spot where he had ended
-his solitary life, or the remains of some victim of violence placed
-there for concealment, will probably remain unknown.
-
-St Ninian, to whom the cave was dedicated, was the first who preached
-Christianity among the southern Picts. His life and labours are briefly
-related by the Venerable Bede, and more fully by Ailred, a Cistercian
-monk of Rievaux, in Yorkshire. Ailred, whose _Life of St Ninian_ was
-written in the second half of the twelfth century, states that he
-derived his materials from a certain barbarously written manuscript,
-presumably of much earlier date. He informs us that Ninian was born
-at Whithorn—then called Rosnat—and that he was the son of a Christian
-Prince. Having received his education under the care of St Martin
-of Tours, he subsequently went to Rome, where he remained till he
-was made a bishop and sent to evangelise the people of his native
-province. From St Martin he obtained masons to build a stone church in
-Galloway after the Roman fashion. As this was the first stone church
-erected in Scotland, the fame of Ninian’s _Candida Casa_ or White
-House has been perpetuated in the Saxon form of Whitherne or Whithorn.
-The date of its erection is fixed by the fact that St Martin died in
-397 A.D.; and St Ninian, having heard of his death while the church
-was being built, resolved to dedicate the finished edifice to his
-memory. Ninian himself, after a life full of labours, was buried in
-the church of St Martin which he had built; and Ailred mentions the
-stone sarcophagus which contained his remains as still existing in his
-day, and much venerated in consequence of the many miraculous cures
-said to be wrought upon those who devoutly frequented it. Pilgrimages
-continued to be made to the shrine of St Ninian down to the period of
-the Reformation. In a letter of King James V. of Scotland to the Pope,
-the king states that pilgrims from England, Ireland, the Isles, and
-adjoining countries came yearly in flocks to St Ninian’s shrine at
-Whithorn. That notable pilgrim King James IV. made special pilgrimages
-to this famous shrine, and his Treasurer has preserved an account
-of his disbursements on these occasions. From it we learn that the
-king made offerings in money ‘at the Rude Altar; at the fertir (or
-shrine) in the outer kirk; at the reliques at the Hie Altair; at the
-Lady Altar; and in the chapel on the hill—at ilk place xiiis. 4d.’
-And in 1505 he offered also ‘ane relique of the king’s awn silver’ of
-considerable weight and value.
-
-The number of dedications to St Ninian, scattered over the whole
-country from the remotest Northern and Western Isles to the Mull of
-Galloway, bear testimony to the widespread devotion to his memory which
-once pervaded the Scottish Church. The removal of a portion of the wall
-of the choir of the old church of St Congan at Turriff in 1861 brought
-to light a fresco-painting of St Ninian, robed as a bishop, with mitre
-and pastoral staff—the only relic of pre-Reformation work of the kind
-that has been discovered in Scotland. Neither in his _Life_ nor in any
-ancient document has any reference been found to the occupation of
-the cave at Physgill by St Ninian; but Sulpicius Severus, who wrote a
-Life of St Martin of Tours, mentions that he had a little cell in the
-rock at Marmoutier to which he was accustomed to retire for prayer
-and meditation, and that many of his disciples also dug cells in the
-rock and took up their abodes in them. St Ninian being a disciple of
-St Martin, there is reason to conclude that in this respect he would
-follow the example of his master. But apart from this consideration,
-it is certain that from a very early period this cave has been
-traditionally associated with his name, and that this association was
-the reason for converting it into a chapel, where services would be
-held on the saint’s anniversaries, pilgrimages performed, vows paid,
-and offerings presented. It is not unlikely that in its earlier days
-the chapel may have been ministered to by a resident recluse, as was
-often the custom in similar circumstances. For instance, we are told by
-Bower, the continuator of Fordun’s _Chronicle_, that in crossing the
-Firth of Forth in the year 1123, King Alexander I. was driven by stress
-of weather to land on the island of Inchcolm, ‘where at that time lived
-an island hermit, who, belonging to the service of St Columba, devoted
-himself sedulously to his duties at a little chapel there, content
-with such poor food as the milk of one cow, and the shells and small
-sea-fishes he could collect.’ It is suggestive, too, that one of the
-copies of the _Scotichronicon_—that which belonged to the Abbey of
-Coupar-Angus—connects the island of Inchcolm with St Columba by saying
-that he lived in it for a certain time during his ministry among the
-Picts and Scots, just as the cave at Physgill is connected with St
-Ninian.
-
-There is another cave-chapel on the Wigtownshire coast, which had a
-reputation scarcely less famous than that of St Ninian. St Medan’s
-Cave, still locally known as ‘The Chapel Co’,’ is an irregular rent
-in the cliff between Maryport and East Tarbert, about four miles from
-Drumore. In front of it are the remains of a wall about four feet
-thick, of rough stones and lime, still showing traces of the doorway,
-and one deeply splayed window. About twelve feet farther in is the
-back wall of the chapel, reaching to the roof of the cave, but giving
-access, by a square-headed doorway four feet high and two and a half
-feet wide, to the small natural cell in which the cave terminates. Near
-the external entrance there are three pools or rock basins, within the
-tide-mark, and usually full of sea-water. The largest, which is about
-four feet in diameter, is known as ‘the Body Pool,’ and was used for
-the cure of internal and wasting disorders, being specially efficacious
-in cases of ‘back-gane bairns’. The second pool, of an irregularly
-triangular shape, and about two feet long, was known as ‘the Knee
-Pool,’ and was considered effectual for the cure of diseases of the
-lower limbs. The third pool, a circular basin about six inches diameter
-and the same in depth, was used for sore eyes. The cave and its pools
-were largely frequented for curative purposes down almost to the
-commencement of the present century, and continued to be occasionally
-visited to a much later period. There are persons yet living who
-remember large gatherings at St Medan’s Chapel, especially on the
-first Sunday of May, old style. St Medan, who is commemorated in the
-dedication of the church of Kirkmaiden, was one of the ‘devout women’
-of the early Celtic Church of whom there is no distinct biographic
-record. The _Breviary of Aberdeen_ states that she came from Ireland
-to Galloway, and ended her days near the blessed St Ninian. Mr Skene
-identifies her with Modwena, whose original name was Darerca, a convert
-of St Patrick, who died on St Columba’s birthday, July 6, 519 A.D.
-
-St Kieran’s Cave is situated in the precipitous cliffs of Achinhoan
-Head, about three miles south of the site of the church dedicated to
-him at Kilkerran, in Kintyre, Argyllshire. It is one of many fissures
-occurring in the limestone rock on this coast, irregularly triangular
-in shape, spacious and lofty. A substantially built wall three feet
-thick has been constructed across the entrance. Immediately within the
-entrance is a rough boulder with an oval basin scooped in its upper
-surface, which is placed beneath a drip of water from the roof of the
-cave, and thus forms a reservoir, which may have answered the purposes
-of a hermit’s well, a holy-water vessel for the pilgrims’ chapel, and a
-curative or holy well for the superstitious uses of later times. Close
-by it is another boulder about two feet in diameter, the upper surface
-of which is prettily carved with a circular border of fretwork, such
-as is frequently seen on the early sculptured monuments of Scotland
-and Ireland, inclosing a hexafoil with its points connected by arcs of
-circles. A writer in the old _Statistical Account of Scotland_ also
-speaks of the cross which St Kieran had cut upon the rock; but this
-is no longer visible. Kieran Macantsaor, or the ‘carpenter’s son,’
-was Abbot of Clonmacnois. In his youth he was a disciple of St Finan
-of Clonard; and in proof of the sanctity of his life, it is told of
-him that ‘he never looked upon a woman, and never told a lie.’ He was
-held in great esteem by St Columba, who is said to have written a hymn
-in praise of Kieran. He died at the age of thirty-three, and ‘was
-likened to Christ, both on account of his age and that his father was a
-carpenter like Joseph Muire.’
-
-A cave on the western shore of Loch Caolisport, also in Argyllshire,
-is associated with the name of the great evangelist of Scotland, St
-Columba. Like most other cave-chapels, it has the remains of a wall,
-with a doorway, constructed across the entrance. On a kind of rocky
-shelf close by the doorway is a rude circular basin, which probably
-served as the holy-water vessel of the chapel. Against the rock forming
-the east side of the cave is the altar platform, roughly but solidly
-built, and still standing—or at least till quite recently—to nearly
-its full height. On the smooth face of the rock above the centre of
-the altar platform is a cross carved in relief, of the Latin form, but
-with its arms and summit slightly expanding towards the extremities.
-This cross is placed a little to one side of the centre; but more
-nearly in a central position over the altar there are discernible
-the almost obliterated outlines of a much older cross which has been
-incised in the rock. At a little distance from the cave are the ruins
-of an ancient chapel dedicated to St Columba. It is a small plain
-edifice about forty feet by twenty-two, with one east window, and the
-remains of a window in each of the side-walls near the eastern end.
-The tradition is that St Columba, landing here on his way to Iona,
-established the chapel in the cave, which was ever afterwards held
-sacred to his memory, and that the chapel near it was subsequently
-founded in his honour. The cave was cleared out about two years ago
-by the proprietor; but no record of what might have been a most
-interesting scientific investigation appears to have been preserved.
-It is said that a great many burials were found in the floor of the
-cave—as many as sixteen or eighteen different skeletons are supposed
-to have been found—and underneath them the traces of a more ancient
-occupation of the cavern, probably in pagan times.
-
-The cave of St Molio in the Island of Lamlash, or Holy Island, on the
-east side of Arran, is a natural cavity in the sandstone rock, about
-twenty-five feet above the present tide-mark. Traces of a rudely-built
-wall across its entrance are still visible. A shelf of rock within
-the cave is known as ‘the Saint’s Bed;’ a large flat-topped rock
-close by with several step-like recesses cut in its circumference is
-called ‘the Saint’s Chair;’ and a fine spring of pure water, which is
-known as ‘the Saint’s Well,’ was formerly much resorted to for the
-healing virtues of its water. The Island of Lamlash appears in ancient
-documents as Helant-in-laysche or Almeslach, and this form of the name
-identifies it with St Molaissi or Laisren of Leighlin, a nephew of St
-Blane of Kingarth in Bute. His mother was a daughter of Aedhan, king of
-the Scots of Dalriada; and it is told of him, that in order to avoid
-being made king, he retired to an island in the sea between Alban and
-Britain—between the country of the Scots and that of the Britons of
-Strathclyde. This answers precisely to the situation of the Holy Island
-which is still associated with his name. There was a relic either of
-St Molaissi or of St Moluag of Lismore preserved in Arran down to the
-time of Martin’s visit to the island in the beginning of the last
-century. This was the _Baul Muluy_, a ‘green stone, like a globe in
-figure, about the bigness of a goose-egg,’ which was much used by the
-islanders for curing diseases and ‘for swearing decisive oaths upon
-it.’ It seems to have been in the hereditary custody of a family of
-Mackintoshes, and had also the reputation of having been anciently a
-_vexillum_ or battle-ensign of the Macdonalds of the Isles, carried
-with their host in their conflicts, in the belief that its presence
-would secure to them victory over their enemies. The cave of St Molio
-has several Runic inscriptions cut upon its interior—mere _graffiti_
-of occasional visitors at the time when the galleys of the Northmen
-frequented the western seas. Amudar, Ontur, and Sea-elk, who have left
-their names there, may have been pagans; but Nicolas of Haen, who
-carved the longest inscription, bears a good Christian name.
-
-St Serf’s Cave at Dysart, in Fife, derived its sanctity—as the town
-of Dysart has derived its name—from its having been the _desertum_
-or place of retirement of the saint during his seasons of meditation
-and prayer. The _Aberdeen Breviary_ states that ‘once upon a time the
-devil tempted the blessed St Serf with divers questions in the cave at
-Dysart; but confounded by the divine virtue, he went away; and from
-that day the said demon has appeared to no one in that cave, although
-the place is still held famous in honour of St Serf.’ Andrew of
-Wyntoun, prior of St Serf’s monastery in Lochleven, as in duty bound,
-gives, in his _Cronykill of Scotland_, a circumstantial account of this
-disputation with the Evil One:
-
-    Quhill Saynt Serf in till a stede
-    Lay eftir Maytynis in hys bede,
-    The devil came in full intent
-    For til fand him with argument;
-
-proposing to the saint many of the questions of high theological
-speculation which presented themselves to the cultivated minds of
-the fifteenth century, and receiving orthodox, and consequently
-unanswerable replies to them all:
-
-    Thane sawe the devil that he coud nocht,
-    With all the wylis that he socht,
-    Ourecum Saynt Serf; he sayd than
-    He kend hym for a wys man;
-
-and the saint becoming impatient of his flattery, commanded him to
-begone from his cave, and never more to annoy any one in it. This
-prohibition apparently obtained for the cave a reputation as of a place
-for ever freed from the temptations of the Evil One, and it continued
-in consequence to be used as a chapel, and largely frequented by
-pilgrims down almost to the Reformation.
-
-St Adrian’s Cave at Caiplie, also on the north shore of the Firth of
-Forth, consists of a cluster of contiguous cavities formed by the sea
-washing out the softer parts of the rock. The principal cavity bears
-obvious marks of artificial adaptation. It is somewhat irregular in
-shape, but large and lofty; and the foundation courses of a wall
-constructed across its entrance are still visible. Near the mouth
-of the cave, a kind of platform or seat is shaped in the rock, and
-a door cut through the rock communicates with a smaller cell on the
-south side. On the west side, a series of steps led up to a smaller
-cell, in the inner part of which was a kind of bench cut in the
-rock, which is said to have been the hermit’s bed. In front of the
-cave, five human skeletons were found, four of which were regularly
-buried east and west, the heads to the west, but without coffins. A
-considerable quantity of bones of oxen, sheep, and swine, and portions
-of deer-horns, were found mixed with the debris in front of the cave,
-evidently the refuse of the food of its occupants at some remote
-period. On the interior of the rocky walls of the cave, many pilgrim
-crosses are carved, some of the equal-armed form and surrounded with a
-border, but mostly of the Latin form. St Adrian, whose true name was
-probably Odran, is represented as having settled and laboured among the
-Pictish people of the east parts of Scotland. His settlement in the
-Firth of Forth is thus described by Wyntoun:
-
-    Adriane wyth hys cumpany
-    Togydder cam tyl Caplawchy,
-    Thare sum in to the Ile off May
-    Chesyd to byde to thare enday.
-    And some off thame chesyd be northe
-    In steddis sere the Wattyr off Forth.
-
-At Pittenweem, St Monance, and other places along the coast as far
-as Fifeness, there are several caves which have pilgrim crosses and
-other symbols of archaic character carved upon their rocky walls. All
-of these seem at one time to have been occupied as places of retreat
-and devotion by saints or recluses of the early Celtic Church, and
-doubtless are the _steddis sere_ (that is, the ‘several places’)
-referred to in Wyntoun’s narrative. At Fifeness is the cave of
-Constantine, king of the Scots, who, after a reign of forty years,
-exchanged the sceptre for the pilgrim’s staff, and ‘died in the house
-of the Apostle;’ that is, of St Andrew. At St Andrews itself is the
-cave of St Rule, or rather what remains of it, for it has been much
-destroyed within the last half-century. Sir Walter Scott describes the
-palmer in _Marmion_ as bound to fair St Andrews:
-
-    Within the ocean cave to pray,
-    Where good St Rule his holy lay,
-    From midnight to the dawn of day,
-      Sang to the billows’ sound;
-
-and mentions that on one side of the cave there still remained a sort
-of stone altar. The _Aberdeen Breviary_ states that St Gernadius, who
-settled at Kennedor, in Moray, lived in a cell partly natural, but
-artificially adapted for a habitation, in which he was wont to repose
-his wearied limbs on a bed of stone. His cave in the neighbourhood of
-Lossiemouth is distinguished by the holy well close beside it, which
-had a local reputation until quite recently, and is still known as St
-Gerardine’s Well. St Baldred of the Bass, who sat upon the rock in
-Aldhame Bay, and caused it to transport itself out of the fairway, had
-his cave also in the cliff opposite this rock; and traces have been
-found both upon the rock itself and in the cave of a long-continued
-occupation at a remote period.
-
-Although the materials for the illustration of this long-forgotten
-phase of ecclesiastical life are so few and fragmentary, they suffice
-to reveal the presence in these early ages of a passionate fervour
-of devotion and a child-like simplicity of faith to which we are
-altogether strangers in these times. The systems and institutions by
-which they were created and fostered ‘are productions of old ages,
-not to be repeated in the new: they presuppose a certain rudeness of
-conception, which the progress of mere scientific knowledge puts an end
-to.’
-
-
-
-
-BY MEAD AND STREAM.
-
-
-CHAPTER XLII.—A LAND SHIPWRECK.
-
-To be unhappy and alone at night in chambers is to have an opportunity
-of realising the sense of desolation in its bitterest degree. The
-double doors and double windows which secure the stillness that is
-of so much importance for working purposes, seem now to shut you off
-doubly from the world; from help if you are dying, and from sympathy if
-you live. The rumble of the heaviest wagon reaches the ears as a faint
-sound from afar off; no footstep is heard at all; and the adjacent
-chambers are silent as the tenements of the dead. You welcome the plash
-of rain against the window-panes—dull as that is—as if it were a friend
-come to speak to you in your solitude.
-
-That is the time for thoughts of suicide to haunt a man if his mind is
-disturbed; and that is the time for cynical broodings on the vanity
-of life, the falsehood of friendship, and the fickleness of love. He
-sees in what miserable failure his most earnest efforts have resulted;
-he misinterprets the most trivial word and look of his friend, and he
-loses grip altogether of that faith which in healthier state enables
-him to find consolation in love. He recalls all the bitter things that
-have been written about women, and for the time-being believes them.
-
-How was it, Philip asked himself, that he had fallen into this
-desperate position? He had laboured with all his might for others
-rather than for himself; his object was a noble one, and quite
-feasible, he was still convinced. Yet the social revolution he
-had dreamed of was as far off as ever, and he suddenly found that
-he was face to face with absolute ruin. Evidently his blunder lay
-in his miscalculation of the power of his capital. There had been
-disappointments with his fellow-workers, who, shrewdly counting the
-cost of material and the market value of the manufactured article,
-saw that the latter would barely realise enough to give them a fair
-ordinary wage in the best of times, to say nothing of the share of
-profits promised them. The cost of material was too high; and it was
-natural that they should conclude the cost was so fixed by arrangement
-with their chief in order to deprive them of what they now called their
-rights.
-
-Philip saw the force of their argument, and began to inquire about the
-items of expenditure. Hitherto, he had been so deeply occupied in the
-organisation of his scheme, that he had left financial matters almost
-entirely in Wrentham’s hands. Hints were given him that the prices he
-was charged were not the prices paid for materials, but that a large
-proportion went in secret commissions. As soon as he began to look
-into the question closely, he was met by the astounding fact, that he
-had reached the end of his capital, and had heavy liabilities to meet
-almost immediately, as well as heavy current expenses to provide for.
-How to do this without applying to Mr Shield, he had been trying for
-weeks to find out; and the more harassed he became, the more impossible
-it appeared to work through the mess without assistance.
-
-Then had come the last humiliation: he must submit to the immediate
-and entire overthrow of all he had been working for, and in which he
-had sunk the considerable fortune placed at his disposal, or he must
-seek the help which only a short time ago had appeared to him as an
-impossible necessity. He was bewildered, and could not understand how
-it came about. It should not have been so. He yielded to the necessity,
-however; but determined that when his course became clear again, his
-first task should be to institute a thorough investigation into the
-causes of his failure.
-
-Through all this agitated survey of his position, how was it that the
-figure of Beecham continually obtruded itself? What could Wrentham
-have had in his head, when he urged him so strongly to find out from
-Madge all that she knew of the man’s history and possible friendship
-with Mr Shield? He had not felt very keenly impressed by the suggestion
-during Wrentham’s presence; but now, in the silence and alone with
-his chagrin, he became infected with Wrentham’s suspicion. It had not
-occurred to him until now that there was something most incongruous
-and altogether incomprehensible in a girl consenting to accept from
-an acquaintance of only a few weeks a confidence which she could not
-disclose to her guardians or the man who was soon to be her husband.
-
-If Beecham had been a younger man than he was, there would have been
-a ready and most bitter explanation of the mystery; but it was not
-available in the present case. And yet (so outrageously morbid had he
-become that he was capable of the thought!) women were such strange
-creatures, that there was no telling who might win their favour or by
-what charm it might be done.
-
-Pah!—What madness was this?
-
-He went to the front room and opened a window overlooking Gray’s Inn
-Road. The stillness of the chambers had become intolerable. This was
-better; much better. There was more air; he could hear the rattle of
-cabs, and catch glimpses of hurrying foot-passengers on the opposite
-side of the way.
-
-Why should he remain indoors, to be haunted by these horrible phantoms
-of doubt and suspicion? He knew they were phantoms, and yet he could
-not drive them from his brain. Sleep was impossible, and he was afraid
-to take more drugs, for he was conscious that they had already impaired
-his power of self-control. When would the morning come? The active
-duties he had to discharge would relieve him. He looked at his watch.
-Very little past midnight. Why, it seemed as if two nights had passed
-since Wrentham went away!
-
-Well, he would try Dr Joy’s specific, and endeavour to work, or walk
-off this nervous frenzy. First he tried the work. There was much need
-that he should master the accounts and compare prices paid with prices
-quoted in the markets. But the figures performed such strange antics
-before his eyes, that after an hour of vain endeavour to master their
-meaning, he impatiently closed the book and rose no wiser, or rather
-less wise, than he had been before he sat down.
-
-He took himself to task. It was of the utmost importance that in the
-morning he should be cool and clear-headed; but he could not hope to be
-so unless he obtained sleep. Well, he would try the second remedy.
-
-He put on his hat and overcoat and went out. It was not of any
-consequence to him in which direction he should walk, his sole object
-being to exhaust himself by the physical exercise, in order to induce
-healthy sleep. To distract his mind from its troublous ruminations, he
-turned instinctively towards those quarters where he was most likely to
-encounter signs of life.
-
-He strode along Oxford Street and down Regent Street. But he was
-walking in a dream. The lights of the lamps were dim in his eyes, the
-figures which flitted by him were like shadows, and he could not have
-told whether they were men or women. The voices of those who passed
-him seemed to be muffled, and he scarcely distinguished any sounds. A
-hansom cab came rattling at full speed towards him: the horse slipped,
-staggered, fell. There was a commotion, and although, a minute before,
-the street seemed to be deserted, figures sprang out of the darkness,
-and there was a crowd at the scene of disaster.
-
-He passed on, with that insensibility to the fate of others which
-characterises people when in dreamland. His feelings were numbed as
-his eyes were dimmed. The sense of humiliation at the utter failure of
-what he had believed to be so certain of success produced the one pain
-of which he was conscious, and which no drugs, fatigue, or reason had
-power to subdue.
-
-If the money had been his own, he could have borne with comparative
-calmness the overthrow of his hopes and the ridicule of those who had
-from the first called his project folly.
-
-But despite the assurances of Mr Shield and of Mr Shield’s solicitors,
-Philip had never regarded the money otherwise than as held in trust;
-and the loss of it was as bitter as the destruction of the beautiful
-palace he had built in air.
-
-The only bit of ballast left him was the dogged conviction that the
-principle which he had endeavoured to carry into practical effect was
-a right one, and would be turned to good account by some one more
-fortunate or more careful than he had been.
-
-He set his teeth together and marched on. He began to realise how
-strangely numbed his sensations were, and how vague everything appeared
-to him. The rain had ceased, and the tiny pools in the roadway
-glistening in the lamplight seemed like great white eyes staring at
-him in pity. He passed down the Haymarket, nor did he slacken his pace
-until he reached the Embankment. There he halted and leaned over the
-parapet. He was not fatigued: the rapid walk seemed to have instilled
-new strength into him and had partially cleared the cobwebs from his
-brain. He was attracted by the lights gleaming in the dark fast-flowing
-river. Out there, were black islets of barges, and on the opposite
-shore the fantastic outlines of buildings, showing like irregular
-ramparts against the dull gray sky. He was thinking of Madge, and the
-pain she would suffer on his account, when the worst was made known to
-her in the morning, perhaps, or next day.
-
-‘Got a copper to spare a poor cove as hasn’t had a crust for two days?’
-said a husky voice close to him.
-
-Philip started up. He was aware of the evil reputation of the
-Embankment and the character of the roughs who infest it after
-nightfall. A lamp close by showed him a miserable-looking wretch,
-ragged and hungry-eyed. He did seem to need help, poor fellow. Philip
-gave him a shilling, and was about to pass on. But a huge hulk of a
-fellow stood in his way.
-
-‘We want som’at more nor that, guv’nor. So tip us’——
-
-The man went down as if he had been shot. Philip was in the mood for
-mischief, and he had not forgotten his practice with the gloves. So
-the first words of the ruffian plainly intimating his purpose, a
-well-delivered blow straight from the shoulder finished the sentence
-for him. Philip knew that it would have been madness to have given
-the man time to attack him, and as it was, the other man was already
-attempting to rifle his pockets. This one belonged to the sneak tribe,
-and finding his throat suddenly gripped by fingers that seemed to
-possess the strength of a vice, his hands went up to loosen them.
-He was hurled aside; and Philip hurried away with a sort of savage
-pleasure in having punished the brace of scoundrels, as well as
-disappointed them of their expected prize.
-
-Near Blackfriars Bridge he met a policeman, to whom he briefly reported
-the incident. The man listened with stolid indifference.
-
-‘They are a bad lot about here, at nights, sir,’ he said composedly;
-‘and it ain’t a place for decent people at this hour.’
-
-The constable’s idea evidently was that decent people should keep out
-of the way of the roughs, not that it was his duty to keep the roughs
-from molesting the decent people who might be compelled to use the
-thoroughfare.
-
-Philip entered his dreary chambers again. He felt better, but still he
-could not sleep.
-
-
-
-
-LONDON HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES.
-
-
-From the day when Rahere the troubador, in the year 1123 A.D., founded
-the hospital of St Bartholomew, the number of hospitals, dispensaries,
-infirmaries, and other institutions for the cure and medical treatment
-of the sick poor, has gone on increasing, till now it stands at
-considerably over one hundred and fifty for London and its district
-alone. This is altogether exclusive of the workhouse infirmaries.
-Besides hospitals and dispensaries, there are included in the above
-number institutions for the supply of surgical instruments, &c.,
-either free, or at such reduced prices as bring them within the reach
-even of the very poor. Twelve of the London hospitals have medical
-schools attached to them, amongst which is one for the education of
-lady-doctors. Differences of opinion of course exist as to the medical
-woman, some no doubt regarding her as a great acquisition, and one of
-the glories of the nineteenth century; whilst others would speak of her
-as an institution naturally to be expected in the dark ages, but quite
-an anomaly in a civilised age. Which of the views may be the correct
-one, we will not pretend to say. However this may be, in Henrietta
-Street stands the medical school for women, which is in connection with
-the Royal Free Hospital, Gray’s Inn Road.
-
-The hospitals with medical schools attached undertake the treatment of
-almost every form of disease both surgical and medical. Still, there
-are some diseases which it is necessary should be treated apart in
-special hospitals, and the chief of these is that terrible scourge of
-past times, smallpox. Not only smallpox but scarlet fever and other
-infectious diseases have to be excluded from some of the hospitals
-of which we are speaking, inasmuch as they are not all provided with
-wards set apart for infectious cases. To get an idea, however, of
-the great variety of work undertaken by the largest hospitals, it
-may be well to glance at the various departments of medicine and
-surgery represented at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, the oldest of
-these London institutions. In addition to the out-patients’ rooms,
-and wards devoted to the treatment of ordinary medical and surgical
-diseases and accidents, there are the following special departments: A
-department for skin diseases; for diseases of the eye, ear, and throat;
-an orthopædic department; a dental department; a department for the
-special diseases of women; a maternity department; and lastly, in the
-case of this hospital, a ward for the treatment of cases of infectious
-disease. The average number of in-patients is estimated at over six
-thousand annually, and the out-patients at more than one hundred and
-fifty thousand. It will readily be believed that the work of the
-physicians and surgeons, both visiting and resident, connected with
-such an institution is by no means light. There are many other general
-hospitals in various parts of London, besides those having medical
-schools attached to them, but we cannot speak of them here. The nature
-of their work is much the same as that of the others, though of course
-the extent of it is more limited.
-
-Coming next to the dispensaries—their name is legion. Almost every
-parish in London has one or more, and they are very abundant in the
-immediate suburbs also. Some of these dispensaries are free, others are
-to a greater or less extent self-supporting. It is, we hope, needless
-to say that the public dispensaries of which we are speaking are not
-to be confounded with the private dispensaries set up by medical
-men, quite legitimately, for their own benefit, but which are not
-unfrequently conducted upon the lowest of commercial principles. The
-public dispensaries of London, with their committees of management
-and staffs of physicians and surgeons—who in the case of the free
-dispensaries are almost invariably honorary—do excellent work, and are
-worthy of all, and more than all, the support which they obtain. Unlike
-the majority of hospitals, they undertake the treatment of disease
-at the patients’ own homes; and by calling in the aid of the nursing
-institutions, they are able to supply not only medical attendance and
-medicine, but also trained nurses. Recently, an effort has been made
-to increase the number of provident dispensaries; and this indeed
-appears to be one of the best ways of meeting the difficulty of
-supplying good medical treatment to the poor cheaply, without demanding
-of medical men more unpaid work. It has been estimated that the
-medical profession does more work without payment than the rest of the
-professions put together.
-
-We will now say a few words concerning the special hospitals and
-dispensaries. And first, it is to be remembered that all are not of the
-same merit. Many of them may be said to be above praise; but some, it
-is to be feared, are almost beneath contempt. Indeed, the opinion of
-those in the medical profession best able to judge of the matter is, we
-believe, strongly opposed to the multiplication of special hospitals,
-except of course for those diseases which cannot be advantageously
-treated in the general hospitals. Enumerating now the special hospitals
-and dispensaries in their alphabetical order, first of all come those
-for the treatment of cancer, of which there are two. Then there are
-eight hospitals for children. A visit to the hospital in Great Ormond
-Street is calculated to make most persons enthusiastic on the subject
-of well-managed children’s hospitals; and many readers will remember
-the glowing description given by Charles Dickens of the East London
-Hospital for Children. Of hospitals for diseases of the chest there are
-five. The physicians of the general hospitals do not, if they can avoid
-it, admit patients suffering from consumption. The air of a hospital in
-which wounds and diseases of almost every kind are being treated is ill
-fitted to give any good chance of recovery to a case of consumption,
-which requires almost more than anything else fresh air and plenty of
-it; and if such a patient gets no good, he only occupies uselessly
-the place of some one who might benefit greatly by admission. Chest
-diseases require, too, arrangements for the securing of appropriate
-temperature, and this it would not be easy to do in a general hospital.
-It is well, therefore, that there should be special hospitals for
-diseases of the chest, and it is to be regretted the number is at
-present quite insufficient. Still, these chest hospitals contrive to
-treat a very large number of patients in the course of the year, the
-average being estimated at considerably over thirty-two thousand.
-
-There are six hospitals and infirmaries for the throat and ear; and
-three for diseases of the nervous system. Next we come to the fever
-hospitals—four in number. It is almost impossible to overrate the value
-of these hospitals. They not only tend to prevent the occurrence of
-epidemics, by removing the fever-stricken from the healthy, but they
-also save many from the untimely death that might have befallen them in
-their own ill-ventilated homes, and with the intermittent nursing which
-alone they could have secured. And further; even when the danger of
-death is past, the continuous care which can be given to patients in a
-hospital may restore many more to sound health, who in their own homes
-would only have escaped death to remain for the rest of their days
-miserable invalids.
-
-The hospitals to be next mentioned are one for fistula and one for
-diseases of the hip. Then there are three buildings for the reception
-of cases of incurable disease; two hospitals for lunatics; six
-lying-in hospitals; six for diseases of the eye; three orthopædic
-hospitals; one specially for accidents; six for skin diseases; four for
-smallpox—to which the remarks made on the fever hospitals of course
-apply; one for stone; three for women; and four for women and children.
-
-We have said nothing concerning the convalescent hospitals. Most of
-them are of course situated in the country; but those anywhere near
-London are largely supplied with patients from the metropolis. Their
-value is immense, for they restore many patients to complete health,
-who, had they gone back to their work immediately after severe illness,
-and the bad hygienic conditions pertaining to their homes, might have
-sunk into a state of permanent ill-health.
-
-There are a few other hospitals which may be alluded to, for, though
-they are not special as regards the diseases treated in them, yet they
-are special in other ways. Thus, there is the hospital at Greenwich for
-seamen; the French hospital for all foreigners who speak the French
-language; and the German hospital ‘for natives of Germany, others
-speaking the German language and English, in cases of accident;’ and
-lastly, there are a temperance hospital, a medical mission hospital,
-and one medical mission dispensary.
-
-And now it might perhaps seem that London has hospitals enough; but
-those who have had some experience of the matter are not wont to say
-so. They freely admit that numbers of persons seek and obtain the help
-of hospitals who have from their circumstances no right to it, and
-these they would gladly see excluded; but they cannot admit that even
-then there would be hospital accommodation enough for the legitimate
-claimants. Nay, they may go further, and declare that there is, through
-the length and breadth of that ‘great province of houses’ which men
-call London, an urgent and increasing demand for more. An attempt to
-meet this demand so far was made a few years ago, when Pay-hospitals
-were opened in Fitzroy Square and elsewhere (as described in this
-_Journal_ for October 13, 1880). This class of institutions might well
-be extended, as there are many patients both able and willing to pay
-for the treatment they require; and the still further development of
-such hospitals would greatly relieve the pressure presently felt by the
-purely charitable institutions.
-
-
-
-
-IN A FLASH.
-
-
-When first I remember my aunt Barbara, she was over forty years of
-age; but she could never have been accounted a handsome woman. She was
-very tall and very angular, with a long thin face, the most remarkable
-feature of which was a Roman nose of commanding proportions. But as she
-had one of the kindest hearts in the world, her paucity of good looks
-seemed a matter of trifling moment to those who had the privilege of
-knowing her well. It was at my request that, some two or three years
-before her death, she wrote out the following narrative of an actual
-occurrence in her early life. I put the manuscript away at the time,
-and did not come across it again till the other day. On looking over
-it once more, it seemed to me not unworthy of being transcribed for a
-wider circle of readers than that comprised by the writer’s immediate
-friends and acquaintances.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-You ask me to go back in memory (begins my aunt) to what seems to me
-now like a period of remote antiquity, when I, Barbara Waldron, was
-twenty-four years of age, and my sister Bessie five years younger, and
-endeavour to put down in writing the little story I told you by word of
-mouth a few days ago.
-
-You must know, then, that in those far-off days, my sister and I
-were keeping house for our brother John, who at that time filled the
-position of steward and land-agent to Lord Dorrington. The house we
-lived in was a pleasant but somewhat lonely residence, about half a
-mile from the little country town of Levensfield. The house suited us
-for several reasons. In the first place, the rent was low; in the next,
-a large walled garden was attached to it, in which Bessie and I spent
-many happy hours; and in the third place, there was a side-entrance
-to Dorrington Park, by which my brother could take a short-cut to
-the Hall whenever he had business with his lordship, or his lordship
-had business with him. Our household was a small one, and besides
-ourselves, comprised only Mary Gibbs, a middle-aged woman, and her
-niece, a girl of sixteen. John’s horse and gig were looked after by
-a young man named Reuben Gates, who did not, however, sleep on the
-premises. An important part of John’s duties was to receive and pay
-into the Levensfield bank the rents due from the farmers and other
-tenants of property held under Lord Dorrington. One such tenant was a
-certain Mr Shillito, a corn and seed merchant, who was noted for his
-eccentricities. It was only in keeping with Mr Shillito’s aggravating
-way of doing business that he should never pay his rent at the time
-other people paid theirs; that he should always pay it in gold and
-notes, instead of giving a cheque for the amount, as he was quite in
-a position to have done; and that he should make a point of bringing
-it himself, instead of naming a time when my brother might have called
-upon him; and finally, that he seldom arrived with the money till after
-banking-hours.
-
-We come now to a certain autumn evening. Kitty had just brought in the
-tea-tray. It was growing dusk, almost too dusk to see clearly without
-the lamp; but Bessie and I liked to economise the daylight as much as
-possible, especially now that the long winter nights were so close upon
-us. John had come in for a cup of tea. This evening, he was going to
-drive over to Nethercroft, some ten miles away, dine there with some
-friends, and stay all night. After dinner, there was to be a dance;
-and I was not without my suspicions as to the nature of the attraction
-which was taking him so far from home, although he laughingly
-pooh-poohed the soft impeachment, when I challenged him with it. John
-was in the act of putting down his cup and saucer, when we heard a
-noise of wheels outside, which presently came to a stand opposite the
-house. He crossed the room and peered through the window.
-
-‘It’s old Shillito, come to pay his rent,’ he remarked a moment later.
-‘Two hours after banking-time, as usual. What a nuisance he is!’ He
-went down-stairs; and about ten minutes later we heard Mr Shillito’s
-trap start off. Presently John came back. ‘Ninety pounds, all in gold
-and notes,’ he said. ‘I’ve had to lock it up in my desk till morning.’
-
-I may here remark that iron safes for the custody of money and other
-valuables were by no means so common in those days, especially in
-out-of-the-way country-places, as they appear to have since become.
-
-‘But the money will be quite safe in your desk, won’t it, John?’ asked
-Bessie.
-
-‘Safe enough without a doubt, seeing that no one but ourselves knows
-of its presence there. Only, as a matter of business, I should prefer
-to have had it in the coffers of the bank.’ Presently he added: ‘The
-old fellow was half-seas over, as he generally is; and I have no doubt,
-with so many houses of call by the way, that he will be soaked through
-and through before he reaches home. I wonder whether he goes to bed
-sober a night in his life?’
-
-A few minutes later, John kissed us and bade us good-night. Bessie and
-I went to the window to see him start; but by this time it was nearly
-dark. He waved his whip at us as soon as he had settled himself in
-his seat, then he gave the reins a little shake. Black Beryl’s heels
-struck fire from the stones as she sprang forward, the gravel scrunched
-beneath the wheels, and a moment later the shadows of evening had
-swallowed up horse and gig and driver. My sister and I pulled down the
-blinds and drew the curtains and rang for Kitty to bring in the lamp.
-
-The evening passed after our usual quiet fashion. We worked a little
-and read a little and played some half-dozen duets, and chatted
-between times, till the clock pointed to half-past ten, at which hour
-we generally retired for the night. My last duty every evening was
-to go the round of the house and satisfy myself that all lights were
-out, that the fires were safe, and that all the doors and windows were
-properly secured. When this duty had been duly accomplished to-night,
-the drawing-room lamp was extinguished, and then Bessie and I took our
-bed candles and marched up-stairs, leaving darkness and solitude behind
-us. Mary Gibbs and Kitty had retired long ago.
-
-My sister’s room and mine adjoined each other, with a door of
-communication between, which generally stood partly open at night, for
-the sake of companionship. The windows of both rooms looked into the
-garden, which ran in a wide strip along that side of the house, and
-was shut in by a wall some seven or eight feet high, beyond which were
-three or four meadows, and then the boundary-wall of Dorrington Park.
-
-It was close on one o’clock—as I found out afterwards—when I woke
-suddenly from a sound sleep. The instant I opened my eyes the room
-was illumined by a vivid flash of lightning, and in all probability
-it was a peal of thunder that had broken my slumbers. Another flash
-followed after a brief interval, succeeded again by the deafening
-accompaniment. My sleep was effectually broken. I arose, flung a shawl
-over my shoulders, and crossing to the window, drew back the blind and
-peered out. As long ago as I can remember, lightning has always had a
-singular fascination for me. As a child, I loved to gaze upon its vivid
-splendours, and in this respect at least years have left me unchanged.
-A board creaked as I crossed the floor.
-
-‘Is that you, Barbara?’ asked my sister from the other room.
-
-‘Yes, dear. I am going to look out for a few minutes. Is not the
-lightning beautiful?’
-
-‘Very beautiful; only I wish it were anywhere rather than here,’
-answered Bessie, who at such times was just as nervous as I was the
-reverse.
-
-The flashes followed each other at intervals of about a minute. I
-had witnessed three or four when suddenly I gave a start, and an
-exclamation broke involuntarily from my lips. The last flash had
-revealed to me the figures of two men in the act of climbing over the
-garden-wall. One of the men was a stranger to me; but in the other,
-instantaneous as was the revelation, I recognised the somewhat peculiar
-face and figure of a man named Dethel, whom my brother had employed
-temporarily during the last week or two in the garden, our regular
-man being laid up at the time with rheumatism. There was something in
-the looks of the man in question which had set me against him from
-the first; but if we were all to be judged by our looks alone, what
-would become of us! For aught I knew to the contrary, Dethel might be
-an honest, hard-working fellow, with a wife and children dependent on
-him; but for all that, on the days he was working for us I carefully
-refrained from going into the garden.
-
-And now, here was this man, and another with him, effecting a
-surreptitious entry of the premises at one o’clock in the morning! Such
-a proceeding could have but one end in view. Two questions at once
-put themselves to me. Firstly, were these men aware that my brother
-was from home for the night, and that only three helpless women and a
-girl were left in the house? Secondly, had they by some means become
-cognisant of the fact that a few hours previously Mr Shillito had paid
-my brother a considerable sum of money, which must necessarily still
-be somewhere on the premises? In my mind there was little doubt that
-both these facts were fully known to the men. My brother’s movements
-were as open as the day, and Dethel had doubtless ascertained from
-Reuben the groom that his master would be from home on this particular
-night; while as for Mr Shillito, everybody knew how he talked in his
-loud-voiced way about his most private affairs when he had taken more
-to drink than was good for him. At the bar of more than one tavern that
-evening, every one who might chance to be within hearing would not
-fail to be informed that Mr Shillito had just paid John Waldron his
-half-year’s rent.
-
-These thoughts flashed through my mind almost as quickly as that flash
-which revealed so much. Breathlessly I waited for the next flash. It
-came, shattering the darkness for an instant, and then it, too, was
-swallowed up. The men were no longer visible. Between the two flashes
-they had had time to drop on the inner side of the wall, where the
-thick clumps of evergreens which clothed that part of the grounds
-would effectually screen them from view. At that very moment they were
-doubtless making their way stealthily towards the house. What was to
-be done? Never had I realised so fully as at that moment how helpless
-a creature a woman is. Drawing my shawl more closely round me and
-putting on a pair of list slippers which I wore about the house in
-cold weather, I crept noiselessly out of the room. At the top of the
-stairs I halted and listened; but all was silence the most profound.
-The corridor out of which the bedroom opened was lighted at the
-opposite end by a high narrow window which looked into the garden. To
-this window I now made my way, and there, with one ear pressed to the
-cold glass, I stood and listened. Presently I heard the faint sound
-of footsteps, and then the subdued voices of two people talking to
-each other. Directly under the place where I was standing was the back
-drawing-room, which opened on the garden by means of a French-window;
-and although this window was secured at night by shutters, I had an
-idea that the security in question was more fancied than real, and
-was of a kind that would be laughed to scorn by any burglar who was
-acquainted with his business. If the men had made up their minds
-to break into the house—and with what other object could they be
-there?—the probability was that they would make the attempt by way of
-the French-window. Even while this thought was passing through my mind,
-the voices of the men sank to a whisper, and a low peculiar grating
-sound made itself heard. Evidently they had already begun to force the
-fastenings of the window. I crept back to my room, feeling utterly
-dazed and helpless.
-
-‘Is that you, Barbara? Where have you been?’ asked my sister.
-
-Going into her room, I sat down on the side of the bed and told her
-everything in as few words as possible. She was of a somewhat timid and
-nervous disposition, and my news visibly affected her. She sat up in
-bed, trembling and clinging to my arm.
-
-‘Perhaps,’ she whispered, ‘if we lock our bedroom doors and keep very
-quiet, they will go away without coming near us.’
-
-‘Why, you goose, it’s not us they have come after, but Mr Shillito’s
-ninety pounds,’ I answered.
-
-‘And there’s poor mamma’s silver tea-service down-stairs; I hope they
-won’t find that,’ said Bessie.
-
-I hoped so too; but there was no judging how much Dethel had contrived
-to ascertain respecting us and our affairs. I went to the corridor
-window again and listened. The noise made by the men was now plainly
-distinguishable. It seemed as if they were trying to file or cut their
-way through some obstruction. After listening for a few moments, I went
-back to my room and began almost mechanically to put on a few articles
-of clothing, asking myself again and again as I did so whether it was
-not possible to do something—though what that something ought to be I
-knew no more than the man in the moon. The nearest house was a quarter
-of a mile away; and even if I could have stolen out unnoticed by way
-of the front-door, before I could have reached the farm and brought
-back help, the burglars would have effected their purpose and decamped.
-Our pecuniary means at that time were very straitened. For some time
-back John had been paying off some old family debts; and the loss of
-the ninety pounds—which, as a matter of course, he would feel bound to
-make good—would be a great blow to him. If I could only have got at the
-money, and have hidden it where the burglars would not be likely to
-find it, I felt that I should have accomplished something. But the bag
-was locked up in John’s strong mahogany desk, and was as utterly beyond
-my reach as if it had been in the coffers of the Bank of England, while
-yet it could hardly have been placed more conveniently ready to the
-hands of the thieves. To them the strong mahogany desk would seem a
-trifling obstacle indeed.
-
-All this time, metaphorically speaking, I was wringing my hands,
-knowing full well how precious were the fast-fleeting moments, but only
-feeling my helplessness the more, the more I strove to discern some
-loophole of escape. Oh, the wretchedness of such a feeling! I hope
-never to experience it again in the same degree as I experienced it
-that night.
-
-The lightning, if not quite so vivid as it had been a little while
-previously, still came in as frequent flashes, and by its light my
-sister and I made a hurried toilet. Our house stood a little way back
-from the high-road, from which it was divided by a tiny lawn and a low
-screen of evergreens. Once or twice in the course of the night one of
-the mounted constabulary would ride slowly past as he went his rounds;
-but I was without any knowledge as to the particular time when he might
-be expected, or whether, in fact, the time at which he might be looked
-for at any specified point did not vary from night to night. Still,
-there was just a possibility that he might put in an appearance at any
-moment; so I stationed Bessie at the window to keep a lookout for him,
-and be in readiness to raise an alarm the moment she heard the tramp of
-his horse’s hoofs. For once in a way the lightning was something to be
-thankful for; each flash lighted up the high-road for a considerable
-distance on both sides of the house.
-
-When this was done, it seemed as if everything possible had been done;
-and yet it was next to nothing. With both hands pressed to my eyes, I
-stood thinking as I seemed never to have thought before. Then it was
-that—as sudden, swift, and startling as one of those flashes which
-were momently illumining the outer world—an idea shot through my brain,
-which for an instant or two seemed to cause my heart to stand still.
-And yet at the first blush it was an idea that had about it something
-so preposterous, so ludicrous, even, that had the need been at all less
-imminent, I should have discarded it at once as little better than the
-inspiration of a mad woman. But preposterous as the idea might seem,
-for the life of me I could think of no other, and every minute now was
-invaluable. There was no time for hesitation. I must discard it or
-adopt it, and that without a moment’s delay. ‘I will try it; it can but
-fail,’ I said to myself with an inward groan.
-
-On the toilet-table was a jar of white tooth-powder, which had been
-replenished the previous day. I shook out a quantity of this powder,
-shut my eyes, and proceeded to rub it thickly over my face, arms, and
-hands. That done, I drew the white coverlet off the bed, and draped
-myself with it loosely from head to foot; then I unbound my hair, which
-in those days was ebon black and reached below my waist, and shook it
-round my face and over my shoulders in ‘most admired disorder.’ I was
-now ready for the rôle I had made up my mind to enact.
-
-Bessie has told me since that she thought I had taken leave of my
-senses. Just at the moment my toilet was completed, and as I turned
-and advanced towards her, another long, quivering flash lighted up the
-room. A low shriek burst involuntarily from my sister’s lips, and she
-shrank away from me as though I were something altogether uncanny.
-
-‘O Barbara, dear, what is the matter?’ she cried. ‘Why do you frighten
-me so?’
-
-‘It is not you I want to frighten, but the men down-stairs,’ I replied.
-Then, in a few hurried words, I told her my plan.
-
-She would have tried to dissuade me; but there was no time to listen.
-Leaving her there watching by the window, ready to raise an alarm in
-case the mounted constable should pass on his round, I stole swiftly
-and noiselessly down the carpeted staircase, and only paused when I
-reached the corridor below. I could hear a subdued murmur of voices,
-and a moment later I was startled by a noise of falling glass. The
-burglars had succeeded in effecting an entrance. They and I were
-separated only by the drawing-room door, which, although locked, was
-an obstacle that very few minutes would suffice to overcome. With an
-indrawing of my breath I sped quickly past the door along the length
-of the corridor until I reached the opposite end, where there were two
-more doors, one of them being that of my brother’s office, which also
-was locked, and from the lock of which I now withdrew the key. I have
-omitted to state that the window of John’s office was secured by two
-stout bars, which was probably one reason why the thieves had chosen to
-effect an entrance at a point more readily adapted for their purpose.
-The second door at the end of the corridor shut off a short passage
-leading to the kitchen. This door I succeeded in opening without noise.
-I had decided to take my stand a little way on the inner side of it,
-and there await the course of events. By this time the men were busily
-at work forcing the lock of the drawing-room door. A thin thread of
-light which shone from under showed that although the lightning was
-still as frequent as before, they did not find it sufficient for their
-purpose.
-
-Scarcely breathing, I waited. I was too excited, too wrought up, the
-tension of my nerves was too extreme, to allow of any personal fear.
-It was all terribly real, yet with a strange, vague sense of unreality
-underlying it. I felt as if I should not have been surprised had I woke
-up and found the whole affair resolve itself into a dream; while yet
-fully assured in my mind that it was nothing of the kind. Suddenly the
-noise at the door ceased; the lock had been forced. The thread of light
-disappeared; for a few moments all was silence the most profound. Then
-a faint creaking, which at any other time would have been inaudible,
-told me that the drawing-room door was being opened and that the
-crucial moment had come. I pressed one hand over my heart, and for a
-few brief seconds an almost overpowering longing seized me to get back
-to my room at any cost and lock myself within. But it was too late; by
-this time the men were in the corridor. I knew it, although I could not
-see them.
-
-‘Where’s the door we want?’ I heard one whisper to the other.
-
-‘On the right—the first door we come to.’
-
-As they advanced a step, I did the same.
-
-‘What noise was that?’ asked one of them quickly.
-
-‘Don’t be a fool. There was no noise.’
-
-‘I tell you there was.—Where’s the glim?’
-
-But the lightning was quicker than the bull’s-eye. It came, smiting the
-darkness, and flooding the corridor with the blinding intensity of its
-glare. Then I saw the men, and the men saw me, but darkness had hidden
-us from each other again before they had time to make sure that their
-eyes had not deceived them.
-
-One of them gave a gasp and whispered to his mate: ‘What was that tall,
-white thing at the end of the passage? Seemed to me like a ghost.’
-
-‘Ghost be dashed! There ain’t no such things.—Here’s the glim. We’ll
-soon see what it is.’ As he spoke, the light of his bull’s-eye lantern
-was turned full upon me.
-
-I advanced a couple of paces, and the men fell back in speechless
-surprise and terror. I have often tried since to picture to myself the
-appearance I must have presented when seen at such a moment and by that
-uncertain light, with my ghastly, death-like face, my dilated eyes,
-my black, snake-like locks, my tall figure all in white, and with one
-extended arm and finger pointed direct at the men. I cannot wonder at
-their fright.
-
-At this juncture came another flash, and a terrible peal of thunder
-startled the air and shook the house. At the very instant, impelled
-thereto by something within me that I was powerless to control, I burst
-into a wild peal of maniacal, blood-curdling laughter. One step nearer
-I advanced; but that was enough. With a loud yell of terror, the men
-turned and fled by the way they had come. I heard a crash of shattered
-glass; and after that, I remember nothing more till I came to my
-senses, to find Bessie supporting my head on her lap and pressing her
-smelling-salts to my nose.
-
-But John’s ninety pounds were saved, and it is hardly necessary to add
-that Dethel the ex-gardener was never seen in those parts again.
-
-
-
-
-SPIDER-SILK.
-
-
-It may not be inopportune to recall to the minds of our readers a
-somewhat neglected silk-source, which may perhaps at some future
-period form a profitable commercial undertaking. It is unnecessary to
-expatiate upon the beauty of the gossamer spun by the _Aranea diadema_,
-or common Garden spider, as the fairy-like tracery must be familiar to
-every one who has wandered through the woods in autumn, when the gauzy
-films festooned between and over the bushes were rendered prominent
-through saturation with dew or a sprinkling of hoar-frost. The thread
-produced by this little creature is estimated to be many times finer
-than the most attenuated filament of the well-known silkworm of Europe,
-the _Bombyx mori_; consequently, as may be imagined, the difficulty
-of obtaining such silk is so great that, except for land-surveying
-purposes, the web of spiders as a class has not been permanently
-utilised. For the latter object, the plan adopted by our surveying
-instrument makers[1] in order to secure small supplies of spider’s
-line, is remarkably simple, and affords an illustration of how
-closely instinct in the lower creation sometimes approaches reasoning
-intelligence in the higher. Having caught the selected spider, it is
-immediately tossed backwards and forwards from hand to hand of the
-operator, until the impulse of self-preservation induces the emission
-of its thread. Meanwhile, a wire, bent double like a hairpin—the
-distance between the prongs being slightly greater than the diameter of
-the telescope to be fitted—is at hand to receive the silk. As soon as
-the filament appears, the end is attached to the wire and the spider
-dropped, when it immediately emits its thread with great rapidity, in
-the hope of reaching the ground and escaping. This is frustrated by
-a dexterous revolution of the extemporised reel, which winds up the
-line as fast as it is produced, until the spider’s store of silk is
-exhausted. It is then allowed its liberty; and a touch of gum on each
-prong secures the silk in convenient lengths for future use.
-
-Rather more than fifty years ago, it seemed as if a new and important
-trade was about to be inaugurated by the rearing of spiders for their
-silk, which the Society of Arts marked with their approval by awarding
-a medal to a Mr Rolt for his success in obtaining an appreciable
-quantity from the Garden spider. This gentleman accomplished his
-purpose by connecting a reel with a steam-engine, setting it revolving
-at the rate of one hundred and fifty feet per minute; when, after two
-hours’ patience, he wound off eighteen thousand feet of beautiful
-white line of a metallic lustre from twenty-four spiders. Subsequent
-examination proved this thread to be only the thirty-thousandth part of
-an inch in diameter, so that a single pound-weight was estimated to be
-sufficient to encircle the globe. Although this gentleman appears not
-to have pushed his interesting experiments much further, a Frenchman of
-Languedoc afterwards established a factory for producing and weaving
-spider-silk into articles of utility. He manufactured gloves and
-stockings which were much admired; but the difficulty of rearing a
-sufficiently numerous family of spinners within a reasonable space, on
-account of their extreme pugnacity, soon interfered with this budding
-industry, and led to its abandonment. No difficulty was experienced
-by M. Reaumur in collecting some five thousand spiders and immuring
-them in fifty separate cells; but unfortunately, on one occasion there
-occurred a scarcity of flies; a food-panic ensued, and the hungry
-and infuriated prisoners, escaping during the night, fell upon one
-another with such deadly ferocity, that when the anxious proprietor
-paid his usual morning visit, only a few gorged and bloated specimens
-survived. It seemed, indeed, so vain to expect European spiders to
-exist peacefully within sight and reach of each other without their
-usual employment conducted after their own fashion, that the hope of
-rendering them useful for commercial purposes gradually died away, and
-has for many years been almost wholly relinquished.
-
-Certain species of foreign spiders, however, when examined with a view
-to their silk, offer a field of very considerable encouragement. In the
-island of Ceylon there is one described by Sir Samuel Baker as being
-two inches long, with a large yellow spot upon its back, which spins a
-beautiful yellow web two and a half feet in diameter, so strong that an
-ordinary walking-stick thrown in is entangled, and retained among the
-meshes. As might be expected, the filament, which is said to exhibit a
-more silky appearance than common spider’s web, is easily wound by hand
-on a card, without any special care being exercised in the operation.
-A spider of even more formidable dimensions is alluded to in the
-fascinating work, _The Gardens of the Sun_, by Mr F. W. Burbidge. It is
-a large, black, yellow-spotted creature, measuring six or eight inches
-across its extended legs, and it spins a web strained on lines as stout
-as fine sewing-cotton.
-
-The prince of the species, however, seems to be the _Aranea maculata_
-of Brazil, vouched for by Dr Walsh as having been seen and examined by
-him during his travels in that country. In this huge, ungainly, yet
-harmless and domesticated creature, we evidently possess a treasure
-of a silk-spinner, with which the non-nervous and practical among our
-colonial ladies, situated in moderately warm localities like Northern
-New Zealand, Queensland, and the Cape of Good Hope, might spend many
-a profitable hour when they became mutually acquainted. It is not
-only free from the vices of the European spider in not devouring its
-kind, but it actually exists in little harmonious communities of
-over one hundred individuals of different ages and sizes occupying
-the same web. Like the last-mentioned spider, this one is of similar
-colossal dimensions, and it spins a beautiful yellow network ten or
-twelve feet in diameter quite as strong as the silk of commerce.
-Regarding the toughness of this filament, the doctor says: ‘In passing
-through an opening between some trees, I felt my head entangled in
-some obstruction, and on withdrawing it, my light straw-hat remained
-behind. When I looked up, I saw it suspended in the air, entangled in
-the meshes of an immense cobweb, which was drawn like a veil of thick
-gauze across the opening, and was expanded from branch to branch of the
-opposite trees as large as a sheet, ten or twelve feet in diameter.’
-Another traveller, Lieutenant Herndon of the United States navy,
-confirms Dr Walsh’s account of this enormous spider, with the addition
-that he saw a single web which nearly covered a lemon tree; and he
-estimated its diameter at ten yards!
-
-Probably the latest addition to our knowledge of spider-silk has
-recently come from the Paris ‘Ecole pratique d’Acclimation,’ a member
-of which has discovered an African species which spins a strong
-yellow web, so like the product of the silkworm as to be scarcely
-distinguishable from it. So promising a material as a fibre of commerce
-does this seem to be, that, after close investigation, a syndicate of
-Lyons silk-merchants has reported in its favour; the more so as there
-is said to be no difficulty in acclimatising the spider in France.
-
-In those gigantic spiders there is evidently the nucleus of an
-important industry of the future, which colonists might perhaps easily
-ingraft upon their ordinary sericultural or other occupations. If
-the period has scarcely yet arrived for the profitable utilisation
-of ordinary spider’s web, surely something might be evolved from the
-less attenuated filaments just alluded to, which are strong enough to
-whisk a man’s hat from his head and retain his walking-stick dangling
-in the air. There are countless difficulties to be surmounted, such
-as the feeling of repulsion, or even disgust, at being brought into
-proximity with monstrous spiders like Dr Walsh’s pets; but as this
-species, unlike the _Lycosa tarantula_ and other poisonous and dreaded
-kinds, is harmless to human beings, and as their silk would evidently
-become a valuable addition to the resources of the loom as well as the
-boudoir, any such feelings and other obstacles would probably soon be
-overcome. The French—always in the van in such matters, notwithstanding
-their comparatively limited colonial opportunities—are not likely to
-allow this curious and interesting occupation to go begging for want of
-experiment and patience. But Britain—with her numerous dependencies and
-myriads of active, scheming, inventive brains scattered all over the
-globe—occupies a peculiarly favourable position to test and localise
-such an industry.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[1] In theodolites and other similar instruments for taking
-observations, lines of spider-silk cross the centre of the glass at
-right angles for certain purposes of observation.
-
-
-
-
-THIEVES AND THIEVING.
-
-
-The days when Border moss-troopers made a raid on the well-stocked
-farmyards of Northumberland, or when Highland caterans swooped down
-from Rob Roy’s country to levy ‘blackmail’ or ‘toom a fauld’ in the
-Lennox or in the Carse of Stirling, and departed, leaving burning byres
-or weeping widows behind, are for ever gone. Gone, too, are those later
-days when bold highwaymen of the Dick Turpin type—all well mounted
-and equipped, if we are to credit the legends that have come down
-to us—stopped the mailcoach or the travelling postchaise, and made
-the terrified passengers hand over their valuables. The traveller of
-to-day, whether cyclist or pedestrian, may roam from John o’ Groat’s
-to Land’s End without interruption from highwayman or footpad. The
-thieving profession has changed its character; and as now unfolded in
-courts of justice, it appears vulgar, prosaic, and mean. Indeed, we are
-doubtful if it was not always so. The pen of the novelist has thrown
-a glamour of romance around that as well as other features of former
-times, which we love to read about, but should not care to experience.
-But while this is so, the study of thieves as a class is far from being
-uninteresting. It has been our lot to see much of them and to learn
-more, from sources whose reliability is unquestionable.
-
-There are many grades of intellect and ability among these
-Ishmaelites—from the low type of thief that lies in wait in our
-large towns for children going messages, and, beguiling them into a
-dark close, strips them of clothing and money—to the well-dressed,
-well-bred man of the world, who floats a swindling Company, has his
-office in a good locality, moves for a time in the best circles, and
-then decamps, carrying with him the capital of the elderly annuitant,
-or the hard-earned savings of the struggling tradesman. To her shame
-be it said, the child-stripper is generally a woman. Far more to his
-shame, the high-class swindler is generally a well-educated man, who
-occupies a good position in society, and has often only his own folly
-to blame for his having fallen to be a needy adventurer. They differ in
-degree, but not in kind; and though the law may call their offences by
-different names, the essence of the crime is the same in both cases.
-
-It is sad to see mere children, charged with daring acts of
-pocket-picking or purse-snatching, brought before a court; but
-such is often their only chance of salvation from a life of crime.
-Smutty-faced, ragged little urchins many of them are, dressed in
-clothes and shoes a world too big for them; and yet, when the dirt is
-washed from their faces, there is the glance of keen intelligence,
-and often comely features, underneath. Brought up in the murky closes
-that yet occupy the older parts of most of our cities, surrounded by
-influences such as may be inhaled from drunken, swearing men, and
-tawdry, coarse, and unkempt women, how could they grow up other than
-they do? Perchance they are reared in low lodging-houses, where a
-clever theft or an artful dodge is extolled as worthy of the highest
-admiration, or where some old hand is assiduous in giving them training
-lessons in crime. Industrial and Reformatory Schools are worthy of
-all support, checking as they do the career of these young prodigals
-while yet there is some hope. Apart altogether from considerations
-of a higher nature, it is surely to the interest of the public that
-children should be trained into useful wealth-producing members of
-the community, instead of growing up to prey upon society when out of
-prison, and burden the ratepayers when in.
-
-A large number of thieves are merely skirmishers or auxiliaries, as
-it were, on the flanks of the regular army. These auxiliaries do
-not live wholly by crime, but have some ostensible occupation which
-they follow. At the same time, they never lose a good opportunity of
-stealing. In all large towns, the cinder-gatherer may be seen. Late
-at night and early in the morning she goes through the streets and
-lanes, probing with a long knife the depths and shallows of every
-dust-heap, and rescuing therefrom every scrap that will sell. Papers,
-rags, bones, cinders, and old boots are transferred with marvellous
-celerity into the depths of the capacious bag which she carries.
-Should a stray door-mat be lying handy, or an unsecured back-door
-give access to a green where clothes lie bleaching, her ideas of
-_meum_ and _tuum_ become straightway rather hazy, and the chances
-are that a theft is reported next morning. A large number of thefts
-of umbrellas and greatcoats from lobbies are the work of pedlars,
-beggars, or old-clothesmen, who loaf around and watch their chance. A
-smart ‘professional’ of our acquaintance, who is at present in penal
-servitude, was an adept at stealing greatcoats. He had a piece of wire
-with a sort of hook on one end, with which he could snatch them from
-lobby-pegs without making his own appearance. Each ‘professional’
-has his own particular style of thieving in which he has graduated.
-These soon become known to the detectives, who, on learning the _modus
-operandi_ of a theft, are often able to pounce on the person wanted,
-even when no description can be supplied.
-
-One class of theft was very prevalent in Glasgow and neighbourhood
-some time ago. A man dressed like a tradesman called at a number of
-houses where the owners happened to be absent. (Of course the operator
-satisfied himself on that point first.) He represented that he had been
-sent by some well-known firm of upholsterers to measure a room for a
-new carpet, or by a joiner to repair the windows. In various instances,
-he got into houses, and generally found an opportunity to steal.
-Another thief well known in Dundee does the ‘pigeon’ trick. His method
-is to look out for an open window, ring the bell, and say that a pigeon
-has just flown away from him on the street and fluttered in at the
-window. Would they kindly search for it, or permit him to do so? Once
-in, ten to one but the clever thief manages to commit a theft before he
-goes out lamenting the loss of his bird, which, of course, cannot be
-found.
-
-A decrepit youth used to go about the city in which the writer lives.
-This lad’s legs were useless, so he had flat boards fastened with
-straps below his knees, and, assisted by short crutches, he crept along
-the pavement. He was a dexterous thief. If a lady stopped to look in
-at a shop-window, he could just reach her handbag or pocket; and if
-she was unwary, she was minus her purse in a few seconds, while the
-insignificant appearance of the thief disarmed suspicion.
-
-Thieves sometimes quarrel in their cups, and if a detective happens
-to meet them before the heat of anger has passed off, spitefulness
-often induces them to give him valuable information. Criminals are
-almost always prodigal in spending their ill-gotten gains, and the
-old proverb, ‘Lightly come, lightly go,’ seems specially applicable
-to them. If in funds, they share freely with their needy brethren,
-probably with an eye to receiving similar help when out at the knees
-and elbows themselves.
-
-Stolen property is often stowed away in very curious hiding-places. A
-lame man was convicted at Leeds assizes last year of passing base coin.
-When apprehended, it was found he had a receptacle in his wooden leg,
-in which a considerable stock of the bad money was cunningly secreted.
-We have sometimes seen a considerable pile of coins unearthed from the
-voluminous folds of a ragged coat, trousers, or vest. Banknotes, for
-obvious reasons, are capable of being stowed away in little space; and
-thieves often hide them in the cracked joints of a dilapidated old
-table, chair, or bed. Underneath a picture, or between the portrait
-and the back, appears to be a favourite place of concealment. Articles
-are often ‘planked’ in the chimney behind the grate; and a watch has
-even been tossed into a glowing coal-fire, when pursuit was close,
-although in at least one instance the latter device was unavailing.
-Two detectives were once searching the house of a well-known thief
-for some stolen jewellery. The scent was keen, and the examination
-searching. High and low they rummaged, but without success. From the
-air of the thief, the officers were satisfied the stolen property was
-concealed in or about the room. One of them observed that the interest
-of the ‘suspect’ got always most intense as they approached the window.
-Taking this as his cue, the officer narrowly examined the shutters, and
-even tore off the straps that kept in the window-sashes; but without
-result. Suddenly, a thought struck him, and lifting the lower sash, he
-scanned the outside of the wall closely. About three or four feet below
-the window-sill he saw a stone in the wall that appeared to be loose.
-Calling his comrade to hold him by the legs, he reached down, pulled
-out a small square stone, thrust in his hand, and found a nice little
-‘hide,’ containing not only the articles he was in search of, but also
-other stolen property sufficient to connect the thief with several
-‘jobs,’ and to procure him a long term of quiet contemplation.
-
-A smart female thief once very nearly outwitted an officer by wrapping
-a crumpled and dirty five-pound note round a candle, and stuffing
-it into a candlestick, which she then obligingly handed to him. He
-searched a considerable time before discovering that he had the object
-of his search in his hand. Another detective, after in vain searching a
-house for some trussed poultry that had been stolen, cast one parting
-glance around, when his eye chanced to alight on a cradle in which a
-woman was vainly trying to hush a squalling baby. A thought struck him.
-He asked her to lift the child. The woman made some excuse, but the
-officer insisted, and was immediately rewarded by finding a couple of
-the stolen fowls.
-
-A slight clue, sometimes discovered by the merest accident, often helps
-to unravel not only one, but a whole series of thefts. A peculiar
-button, a footmark, or a portion of dress, will spring a mine under
-the feet of a rascal who thought he was off scot-free. Of late years,
-thefts of money by young clerks or salesmen from their employers
-have become increasingly common. There are several causes for this.
-Beyond doubt the tastes and habits of the young men of to-day are
-more expensive than those of their fathers. With small means, or no
-means at all, they dress up as ‘mashers,’ and smoke choice cigars,
-attend theatres, concerts, balls, and race-meetings. If often indulged
-in, these are rather expensive luxuries; and as the supply of youths
-anxious for genteel employment is always in excess of the demand,
-the salaries given are in many cases low. Then firms are sometimes
-very lax in the oversight of young men who have large sums of money
-daily passing through their hands. It seems so easy to take the loan
-of a small sum, which, of course, is to be put back again. After the
-first false step, the descent is rapid; and many a young man fills a
-felon’s cell, or has to fly the country, under circumstances due to his
-master’s carelessness as well as his own folly.
-
-The plea of kleptomania is now put forward in defence of thieves
-much oftener than it used to be. Of course there are some cases in
-which kleptomania is indisputable, as, for instance, when we hear
-of a nobleman having to be watched by his valet to prevent him from
-pocketing his own silver spoons. We know a respectable bookseller
-who had for a considerable time, at intervals, been missing books
-from his shop. He was satisfied some of his customers were helping
-themselves, but he could not say which. At last his suspicions rested
-on a reverend gentleman of great abilities, but rather eccentric
-character. He watched him narrowly, and one day caught him in the act
-of surreptitiously carrying off a volume. The divine tried to explain
-it away; but the bookseller, after listening gravely, called a cab, and
-insisted on accompanying him home and examining his library. He hinted
-that otherwise he would be under the painful necessity of calling in
-the police. The clergyman made no further objection. They went to his
-house; and the bookseller brought back a number of valuable books, some
-of which he had not before missed, and said no more about the matter.
-The thief was a wealthy man, and had a large library; but he was a
-bibliomaniac.
-
-Some thefts, however, are of a different character, and in these the
-plea of kleptomania, like that of insanity in cases of murder, is
-sometimes pushed rather far. Without attempting to argue the matter on
-scientific principles, it seems rather strange that kleptomania appears
-only to affect those who are rich enough to pay an able advocate, and
-that the morbid desire to steal something—instead of moving them to
-carry it off openly—appears to be accompanied by an equally morbid
-desire to secrete the article stolen.
-
-We shall conclude this paper by one or two instances which show that
-thieving has also its comic side.
-
-A fire was raging fiercely in a grocery store, and the owner,
-accompanied by an active staff of assistants, was trying to rescue some
-of the goods by removing them to one side. Immense cheeses and hams
-were lying about in tempting profusion. A keen-eyed thief had just
-secured a large Gouda, and was marching off with it, when he found
-himself face to face with a policeman. The rogue grasped the situation
-instantly. ‘Here, policeman!’ cried he, planting the cheese in X’s arms
-before that officer knew what he was about; ‘you had better take charge
-of that, or somebody’ll be carrying it off;’ and in an instant the
-nimble rascal disappeared in the crowd.
-
-One morning, a merchant who had come by rail from his country residence
-was hurrying along the street to his counting-house in a pouring rain.
-He had forgotten his umbrella; but spying, as he thought, a friend with
-a large one a little before him, he hastened up, and seizing the handle
-of the umbrella, jocularly observed: ‘Hillo! is this mine you’ve got?’
-He had just had time to observe that the man was a complete stranger to
-him, and was about to apologise in some embarrassment, when the unknown
-saved him the trouble, by saying coolly: ‘Oh, it’s yours, is it?
-Pardon me; I did not know.’ And he hurried off, leaving the astonished
-merchant in full possession.
-
-About two years ago, a constable in a business part of London found
-a horse and van, about midnight, standing at the door of a grocer’s
-shop. He approached, and saw several men in aprons, apparently carrying
-chests of tea into the shop. Remarking that they were late at work,
-one of the men replied: ‘O yes; we’re preparing for Christmas;’ and
-the constable, thinking all was right, walked on. Next morning it was
-found the shop had been entered by thieves, who had carried off what
-they evidently took to be twenty-two half-chests of tea, most of which
-had been standing in the shop-window. The rogues had gone leisurely
-to work, and being caught by the constable, had employed themselves
-in carrying _in_ some of the boxes, till he should pass. The reader
-may judge the surprise and disgust of the thieves, when they found
-that only one of the chests contained tea, and a second tea-dust, the
-remaining twenty boxes being merely ‘dummies’ filled with sawdust, with
-a sprinkling of tea on the top!
-
-Nothing tends more to root out and lessen the number of nests of
-thieves than the exercise of the power vested in corporations to pull
-down old houses, which, densely populated with the poorer classes,
-become at last the abodes of filth, disease, and crime. The former
-inmates cannot stand the new sanitary and social atmosphere introduced
-by wider streets and purer air. They gradually betake themselves to
-other and more honest modes of employment, or seek for ‘fresh woods and
-pastures new.’ On the other hand, the exercise of a little prudence and
-common-sense by the general public would prevent an opportunity being
-given for the commission of a large number of petty but often very
-annoying thefts.
-
-
-
-
-ST JOHN’S GATE.
-
-
-A short distance from the very heart of London, stands—for it has not
-yet been swept away by the builder’s hand—one of the finest remaining
-relics of the ancient city. It is a heavy fortified gate, built of
-large blocks of freestone, and flanked by bastions. It has a fine
-groined Norman arch; and though it is now old and decayed, it is still
-strong, and shows us what its strength and stability have been in days
-gone by. It was built by, and belonged to, at one time, that famous
-order of chivalry, ‘The Knights Hospitallers,’ or ‘Knights of St John
-of Jerusalem,’ the great rivals of the Templars, and who did such
-good service in the Holy Land in the time of the crusades; and when
-Palestine was hopelessly lost, kept up their incessant war against the
-Infidel in Rhodes, and when driven from that island by the Turks—in
-Malta.
-
-This order had at one time many religious houses scattered over Europe;
-and their London priory, that of St John of Clerkenwell, has quite
-a history of its own to tell. It was founded in the year 1100 by a
-devout baron named Jordan Briset, this being the time that the first
-crusade, led by Godfrey of Bouillon, was going on. For a considerable
-time after this, we know little of the priory, save that the knights
-were growing in riches and arrogance, and thus were making themselves
-obnoxious to the people, although some of the old chroniclers tell us
-that ‘they tended the sick and the needy.’ In fact, they got to be so
-disliked by the common people, that in the riots which took place in
-the reign of Richard II.—in which Wat Tyler, Jack Straw, and John Ball
-took so prominent a part, the last-named being a clergyman, who, in his
-harangues to the multitude, took for his text the rhyme,
-
-    When Adam delved and Eve span,
-    Who was then a gentleman?
-
-and made the people think that all the property of the rich was really
-theirs—the rebels made the Priory of St John a special mark of their
-fury, and after destroying houses and much property belonging to the
-knights, they attacked the place itself and burnt it to the ground; and
-capturing the prior soon after, they executed him upon the spot.
-
-For many years after, the knights were engaged in building a new
-priory; but the work went slowly on, owing to the troubled state of the
-order at what was then their great stronghold, Rhodes, and the large
-numbers of men and sums of money required there to assist in keeping
-back the conquering Turks, who were fighting with great zeal under the
-victorious Sultan Solyman. Gradually, a fine church, whose bell is
-related to have had an exceedingly fine tone, was added to the priory;
-and soon after the church was finished, Thomas Dockwra, who was then
-prior, built the gate; this being in or about the year 1504, in the
-latter part of the reign of Henry VII., the first of the famous dynasty
-of Tudor sovereigns.
-
-About the year 1540, Henry VIII. suppressed all the larger monasteries
-and private religious houses in England, and the venerable priory
-fell with the others. This was a severe blow to the prosperity of the
-order, and is said to have broken the heart of the valiant old L’isle
-Adam, the grandmaster, who held Rhodes till he could hold it no longer,
-and then, obtaining honourable terms from the Sultan Solyman, removed
-to the island of Malta, where the knights continued to be a powerful
-enemy to the Turks until 1798, when, ‘through the treachery of the
-Maltese, and the cowardice of D’Hompesch the grandmaster, the island
-was surrendered to the French;’ and soon after this, most of the
-property still belonging to the order in many parts of Europe was
-confiscated by the various governments. Since then, the order, which
-had been gradually degenerating, has not had any political importance.
-
-The priory, however, was not destroyed, like most of its kindred
-buildings, at the Reformation, for even the bluff, matter-of-fact
-King Henry had some respect for the venerable old building; and so,
-instead of destroying it, we are told that he used it for a military
-storehouse. In Edward VI.’s reign, however, a more ruthless and
-sweeping hand came to deal with it. The proud and ambitious Seymour,
-Duke of Somerset, at that time Lord Protector, had no kindly feeling
-for such places; and the church and all the rest of the priory, with
-the exception of the gate, were blown up with gunpowder. The large
-blocks of stone were used to build Somerset’s palace in the Strand in
-1549. It remained till the year 1776, when it gave place to the present
-one, a building erected after the Palladian style, from the designs of
-Sir William Chambers.
-
-We hear nothing more of the gate till the reign of James I., when
-that monarch bestowed the building on Sir Roger Wilbraham, who lived
-there for many years. Long after this, Cave the printer rented the old
-gate for a small sum, and here was first printed and published the
-_Gentleman’s Magazine_. This was one of the first places to which Dr
-Johnson, then poor, and almost unknown, came, when he settled in the
-great city. Here he made his first literary efforts by helping Cave
-in his publication. Here also Garrick the actor first played, some of
-Cave’s interested workmen taking the other parts of the pieces.
-
-The old gate is now turned into a tavern, called _Old Jerusalem
-Tavern_, and inside may still be seen some interesting relics of
-the former days of the gate, when it was the chief entrance to the
-priory of one of the most powerful religious bodies in Europe. Who
-can look upon such a relic without being reminded of the great spirit
-of chivalry, that strange compound of barbarity and courtesy; of the
-crusades, and the great changes which have taken place since the time
-of the prosperous days of the old priory? and we cannot but feel
-thankful that we live in a happier, less troubled, and more enlightened
-age; and as we gaze upon the grim old gate, think of the words of
-Shakspeare: ‘To what base uses may we return.’
-
-
-
-
-’TWIXT DAYBREAK AND DAYLIGHT.
-
-
-    The glint and glimmer of the daybreak shows
-    In the fast-reddening east; the sable clouds
-    With roseate streaks and golden threads are lined;
-    And the first early cock, awakening, rings
-    His shrill clear challenge on the breaking morn!
-
-    A voiceless stir of many murmurings,
-    From woodland, hill, and dale, and meadow, tells
-    The flight of slumber: now the cricket chirps
-    Amid the barley, and the skylark plumes
-    His wing for early rising; passes by
-    The milkmaid to the pasture; and the farm
-    Grows noisy with the many-varied sounds
-    Of rustic labour, telling that hath fled
-    The drowsy sweet forgetfulness of night!
-
-    Shadows of dreamland pass from earth away
-    Into the mystic world of things unseen;
-    The stern necessities of daily life
-    Again their round commence, as, one by one,
-    Toilers awaken to the coming day!
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Printed and Published by W. & R. CHAMBERS, 47 Paternoster Row, LONDON,
-and 339 High Street, EDINBURGH.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-_All Rights Reserved._
-
-
-*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL OF POPULAR
-LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART, FIFTH SERIES, NO. 33, VOL. I, AUGUST 16,
-1884 ***
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-<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 33, Vol. I, August 16, 1884, by Various </p>
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world 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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
-are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
-country where you are located before using this eBook.
-</div>
-
-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 33, Vol. I, August 16, 1884</p>
-  <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Various </p>
-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: August 21, 2021 [eBook #66097]</p>
-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p>
-  <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Susan Skinner, Eric Hutton and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</p>
-<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL OF POPULAR LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART, FIFTH SERIES, NO. 33, VOL. I, AUGUST 16, 1884 ***</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_513">{513}</span></p>
-
-<h1>CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL<br />
-OF<br />
-POPULAR<br />
-LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART</h1>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='center'>
-
-
-
-<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
-
-<a href="#CAVE-CHAPELS">CAVE-CHAPELS.</a><br />
-<a href="#BY_MEAD_AND_STREAM">BY MEAD AND STREAM.</a><br />
-<a href="#LONDON_HOSPITALS_AND">LONDON HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES.</a><br />
-<a href="#IN_A_FLASH">IN A FLASH.</a><br />
-<a href="#SPIDER-SILK">SPIDER-SILK.</a><br />
-<a href="#THIEVES_AND_THIEVING">THIEVES AND THIEVING.</a><br />
-<a href="#ST_JOHNS_GATE">ST JOHN’S GATE.</a><br />
-<a href="#TWIXT_DAYBREAK_AND_DAYLIGHT">’TWIXT DAYBREAK AND DAYLIGHT.</a><br />
-
-<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
-
-</p>
-
-<hr class="full" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<div class="figcenter w100" id="header" style="max-width: 43.75em;">
-  <img class="w100" src="images/header.jpg" alt="Chambers’s Journal of Popular Literature, Science,
-and Art. Fifth Series. Established by William and Robert Chambers, 1832. Conducted by R. Chambers (Secundus)." />
-</div>
-
-
-<hr class="full" />
-<div class="center">
-<div class="header">
-<p class="floatl"><span class="smcap">No. 33.—Vol. I.</span></p>
-<p class="floatr"><span class="smcap">Price</span> 1½<em>d.</em></p>
-<p class="floatc">SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1884.</p>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<hr class="full" />
-
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CAVE-CHAPELS">CAVE-CHAPELS.</h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the biographies of the saints of the early
-Celtic Church it is frequently recorded that
-towards the close of their lives they left their
-monasteries and sought the seclusion of some
-lonely island or mountain solitude, in order to
-pass the evening of their days in undisturbed devotion
-and freedom from worldly cares. Joceline
-in his <i>Life of St Kentigern</i> also records that it
-was his custom to retire to a cave during Lent,
-so that, ‘removed from the strife of tongues and
-the tumults of this world, he might hide himself
-in God.’ Such retreats, whether they were used
-for periodical and temporary seclusion or for
-permanent retirement, were called in the ecclesiastical
-language of the day <i>Deserta</i>; and the
-frequent occurrence of this term in the topography
-of Scotland and Ireland—in its modern
-form of Dysart or Disert—shows how common
-the custom must once have been. Sometimes the
-recluse erected a habitation for himself of stones
-and turf, as St Cuthbert did in the island of
-Farne; but frequently he chose the shelter of
-a natural cavern or crevice in the rocks, as St
-Cuthbert is also said to have done at Weem in
-Perthshire. As the veneration for the memory
-of the saint increased with lapse of time, the
-sites of such hermitages naturally became places
-of pilgrimage, and troops of devotees were drawn
-to visit them by rumours of special benefits
-accruing to pilgrims of weak health, or peace
-of mind procured by the performance of special
-vows. In consequence of the peculiar prevalence
-of this mode of retirement in the primitive Celtic
-Church, cave-hermitages must have been exceedingly
-numerous in Scotland. But the thoroughness
-of the breach which the Church of the
-Reformation made with the traditions and especially
-with the superstitious practices of the past,
-has obliterated most of the traces of this early
-devotion; and it is only in a few isolated and
-exceptional cases that any of its associations have
-survived to our day.</p>
-
-<p>St Ninian’s Cave, near Physgill, in the parish
-of Glasserton, Wigtownshire, is situated a little
-to the west of the wooded valley which terminates
-in the creek known as Portcastle. It is simply
-a triangular fissure in the rock, some ten or
-twelve feet wide at the entrance, and about
-fifteen feet in height, narrowing inwards until,
-at a distance of about twenty-five feet from the
-entrance, the sides of the fissure come gradually
-together. A rudely-built wall has been constructed
-across the mouth of the cave, of which
-the lower part still remains. On the occasion of
-a visit to the cave by the late Dean Stanley of
-Westminster, a small cross was discovered carved
-on a projecting part of the rock, and three others
-were subsequently made visible by the partial
-removal of the debris from the face of the rock.
-The form of these crosses is peculiar. They are
-equal-limbed crosses, formed by four arcs of
-circles intersecting the circumference of a circumscribing
-circle. Similar equal-limbed crosses,
-but bearing the hook-like curve at the right-hand
-corner of the upper limb, which constitutes the
-<i>chrisma</i> or monogram—the combined <i>Chi</i> and <i>rho</i>
-of the Greek word <i>Christos</i>—are found upon early
-Christian monuments at Kirkmadrine and Whithorn
-in the same county, but nowhere else in
-Scotland. These monuments bear inscriptions
-commemorative of certain ‘holy and distinguished
-priests’—Viventius, Mavorius, and Florentius.
-Their names are so different from those of the
-priesthood of the Columban Church, that they
-may be regarded as followers if not as contemporaries
-of St Ninian. But none of the crosses
-in Ninian’s Cave present this peculiarly ancient
-characteristic of the <i>chrisma</i>, and these crosses
-may therefore be of a much later date than
-Ninian’s time. They are not confined to the
-rock-face, but have also been carved upon several
-of the loose stones found on the floor of the cave.</p>
-
-<p>In the month of June last the cave was
-thoroughly explored for the Ayrshire and
-Wigtownshire Archæological Association, under
-the superintendence of Sir Herbert Maxwell,
-M.P., and Mr Cochran-Patrick, M.P., Secretary
-of the Association and of the Society of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_514">{514}</span>
-Antiquaries of Scotland. They found that the
-whole floor of the cave had been regularly
-paved; and close to the entrance, but outside
-the external wall which converted the cave
-into a chapel, there was a large stone basin
-placed under a natural drip from the rock,
-which may have served as a holy-water vessel.
-A number of additional crosses were also discovered.
-On a stone which had been placed
-as one of the steps leading down to the paved
-floor there were four crosses in a line. On one
-of the stones of the pavement was an inscription
-in Roman letters, of which the word <span class="smcap">Sancti</span>
-could only be deciphered. Underneath the
-pavement and throughout the debris of the
-cave-floor there was a considerable accumulation
-of shells, consisting chiefly of limpets and
-periwinkles, mingled with splintered bones, evidently
-the refuse of the food of some earlier
-occupants. At a considerable depth immediately
-outside the wall of the chapel, the decayed
-remnants of a human skeleton were disentombed.
-Whether these were the bones of a hermit of
-the chapel who had chosen to be buried in
-the spot where he had ended his solitary life,
-or the remains of some victim of violence
-placed there for concealment, will probably remain
-unknown.</p>
-
-<p>St Ninian, to whom the cave was dedicated,
-was the first who preached Christianity among
-the southern Picts. His life and labours are
-briefly related by the Venerable Bede, and more
-fully by Ailred, a Cistercian monk of Rievaux, in
-Yorkshire. Ailred, whose <i>Life of St Ninian</i> was
-written in the second half of the twelfth century,
-states that he derived his materials from a certain
-barbarously written manuscript, presumably of
-much earlier date. He informs us that Ninian
-was born at Whithorn—then called Rosnat—and
-that he was the son of a Christian Prince.
-Having received his education under the care
-of St Martin of Tours, he subsequently went to
-Rome, where he remained till he was made a
-bishop and sent to evangelise the people of his
-native province. From St Martin he obtained
-masons to build a stone church in Galloway
-after the Roman fashion. As this was the
-first stone church erected in Scotland, the fame
-of Ninian’s <i>Candida Casa</i> or White House has
-been perpetuated in the Saxon form of Whitherne
-or Whithorn. The date of its erection is fixed
-by the fact that St Martin died in 397 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>;
-and St Ninian, having heard of his death while
-the church was being built, resolved to dedicate
-the finished edifice to his memory. Ninian
-himself, after a life full of labours, was buried
-in the church of St Martin which he had built;
-and Ailred mentions the stone sarcophagus which
-contained his remains as still existing in his
-day, and much venerated in consequence of the
-many miraculous cures said to be wrought upon
-those who devoutly frequented it. Pilgrimages
-continued to be made to the shrine of St Ninian
-down to the period of the Reformation. In a
-letter of King James V. of Scotland to the
-Pope, the king states that pilgrims from England,
-Ireland, the Isles, and adjoining countries
-came yearly in flocks to St Ninian’s shrine at
-Whithorn. That notable pilgrim King James IV.
-made special pilgrimages to this famous shrine,
-and his Treasurer has preserved an account of
-his disbursements on these occasions. From it
-we learn that the king made offerings in money
-‘at the Rude Altar; at the fertir (or shrine)
-in the outer kirk; at the reliques at the Hie
-Altair; at the Lady Altar; and in the chapel
-on the hill—at ilk place xiiis. 4d.’ And in
-1505 he offered also ‘ane relique of the king’s
-awn silver’ of considerable weight and value.</p>
-
-<p>The number of dedications to St Ninian,
-scattered over the whole country from the
-remotest Northern and Western Isles to the Mull
-of Galloway, bear testimony to the widespread
-devotion to his memory which once pervaded
-the Scottish Church. The removal of a portion
-of the wall of the choir of the old church of St
-Congan at Turriff in 1861 brought to light a
-fresco-painting of St Ninian, robed as a bishop,
-with mitre and pastoral staff—the only relic of
-pre-Reformation work of the kind that has been
-discovered in Scotland. Neither in his <i>Life</i>
-nor in any ancient document has any reference
-been found to the occupation of the cave at
-Physgill by St Ninian; but Sulpicius Severus,
-who wrote a Life of St Martin of Tours, mentions
-that he had a little cell in the rock at Marmoutier
-to which he was accustomed to retire for prayer
-and meditation, and that many of his disciples
-also dug cells in the rock and took up their abodes
-in them. St Ninian being a disciple of St Martin,
-there is reason to conclude that in this respect
-he would follow the example of his master. But
-apart from this consideration, it is certain that
-from a very early period this cave has been
-traditionally associated with his name, and that
-this association was the reason for converting it
-into a chapel, where services would be held on
-the saint’s anniversaries, pilgrimages performed,
-vows paid, and offerings presented. It is not
-unlikely that in its earlier days the chapel may
-have been ministered to by a resident recluse,
-as was often the custom in similar circumstances.
-For instance, we are told by Bower, the continuator
-of Fordun’s <i>Chronicle</i>, that in crossing
-the Firth of Forth in the year 1123, King Alexander
-I. was driven by stress of weather to land
-on the island of Inchcolm, ‘where at that time
-lived an island hermit, who, belonging to the
-service of St Columba, devoted himself sedulously
-to his duties at a little chapel there, content with
-such poor food as the milk of one cow, and the
-shells and small sea-fishes he could collect.’ It
-is suggestive, too, that one of the copies of the
-<i>Scotichronicon</i>—that which belonged to the Abbey
-of Coupar-Angus—connects the island of Inchcolm
-with St Columba by saying that he lived
-in it for a certain time during his ministry
-among the Picts and Scots, just as the cave at
-Physgill is connected with St Ninian.</p>
-
-<p>There is another cave-chapel on the Wigtownshire
-coast, which had a reputation scarcely less
-famous than that of St Ninian. St Medan’s Cave,
-still locally known as ‘The Chapel Co’,’ is an
-irregular rent in the cliff between Maryport and
-East Tarbert, about four miles from Drumore.
-In front of it are the remains of a wall about
-four feet thick, of rough stones and lime, still
-showing traces of the doorway, and one deeply
-splayed window. About twelve feet farther in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_515">{515}</span>
-is the back wall of the chapel, reaching to the
-roof of the cave, but giving access, by a square-headed
-doorway four feet high and two and a half
-feet wide, to the small natural cell in which the
-cave terminates. Near the external entrance there
-are three pools or rock basins, within the tide-mark,
-and usually full of sea-water. The largest,
-which is about four feet in diameter, is known
-as ‘the Body Pool,’ and was used for the cure of
-internal and wasting disorders, being specially
-efficacious in cases of ‘back-gane bairns’. The
-second pool, of an irregularly triangular shape,
-and about two feet long, was known as ‘the
-Knee Pool,’ and was considered effectual for the
-cure of diseases of the lower limbs. The third
-pool, a circular basin about six inches diameter
-and the same in depth, was used for sore eyes.
-The cave and its pools were largely frequented
-for curative purposes down almost to the commencement
-of the present century, and continued
-to be occasionally visited to a much later
-period. There are persons yet living who
-remember large gatherings at St Medan’s Chapel,
-especially on the first Sunday of May, old style.
-St Medan, who is commemorated in the dedication
-of the church of Kirkmaiden, was one of the
-‘devout women’ of the early Celtic Church of
-whom there is no distinct biographic record.
-The <i>Breviary of Aberdeen</i> states that she came
-from Ireland to Galloway, and ended her days
-near the blessed St Ninian. Mr Skene identifies
-her with Modwena, whose original name was
-Darerca, a convert of St Patrick, who died on
-St Columba’s birthday, July 6, 519 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span></p>
-
-<p>St Kieran’s Cave is situated in the precipitous
-cliffs of Achinhoan Head, about three miles
-south of the site of the church dedicated to him
-at Kilkerran, in Kintyre, Argyllshire. It is one
-of many fissures occurring in the limestone rock
-on this coast, irregularly triangular in shape,
-spacious and lofty. A substantially built wall
-three feet thick has been constructed across the
-entrance. Immediately within the entrance is
-a rough boulder with an oval basin scooped
-in its upper surface, which is placed beneath
-a drip of water from the roof of the cave,
-and thus forms a reservoir, which may have
-answered the purposes of a hermit’s well, a
-holy-water vessel for the pilgrims’ chapel, and
-a curative or holy well for the superstitious uses
-of later times. Close by it is another boulder
-about two feet in diameter, the upper surface of
-which is prettily carved with a circular border
-of fretwork, such as is frequently seen on the
-early sculptured monuments of Scotland and
-Ireland, inclosing a hexafoil with its points connected
-by arcs of circles. A writer in the old
-<i>Statistical Account of Scotland</i> also speaks of
-the cross which St Kieran had cut upon the
-rock; but this is no longer visible. Kieran
-Macantsaor, or the ‘carpenter’s son,’ was Abbot
-of Clonmacnois. In his youth he was a disciple
-of St Finan of Clonard; and in proof of the
-sanctity of his life, it is told of him that ‘he
-never looked upon a woman, and never told a
-lie.’ He was held in great esteem by St Columba,
-who is said to have written a hymn in praise of
-Kieran. He died at the age of thirty-three,
-and ‘was likened to Christ, both on account of
-his age and that his father was a carpenter like
-Joseph Muire.’</p>
-
-<p>A cave on the western shore of Loch Caolisport,
-also in Argyllshire, is associated with the
-name of the great evangelist of Scotland, St
-Columba. Like most other cave-chapels, it has
-the remains of a wall, with a doorway, constructed
-across the entrance. On a kind of rocky
-shelf close by the doorway is a rude circular
-basin, which probably served as the holy-water
-vessel of the chapel. Against the rock forming
-the east side of the cave is the altar platform,
-roughly but solidly built, and still standing—or
-at least till quite recently—to nearly its full
-height. On the smooth face of the rock above
-the centre of the altar platform is a cross carved
-in relief, of the Latin form, but with its arms
-and summit slightly expanding towards the
-extremities. This cross is placed a little to one
-side of the centre; but more nearly in a central
-position over the altar there are discernible the
-almost obliterated outlines of a much older cross
-which has been incised in the rock. At a little
-distance from the cave are the ruins of an
-ancient chapel dedicated to St Columba. It is
-a small plain edifice about forty feet by twenty-two,
-with one east window, and the remains of
-a window in each of the side-walls near the
-eastern end. The tradition is that St Columba,
-landing here on his way to Iona, established the
-chapel in the cave, which was ever afterwards
-held sacred to his memory, and that the chapel
-near it was subsequently founded in his honour.
-The cave was cleared out about two years ago
-by the proprietor; but no record of what might
-have been a most interesting scientific investigation
-appears to have been preserved. It is said
-that a great many burials were found in the
-floor of the cave—as many as sixteen or eighteen
-different skeletons are supposed to have been
-found—and underneath them the traces of a
-more ancient occupation of the cavern, probably
-in pagan times.</p>
-
-<p>The cave of St Molio in the Island of Lamlash, or
-Holy Island, on the east side of Arran, is a natural
-cavity in the sandstone rock, about twenty-five
-feet above the present tide-mark. Traces of a
-rudely-built wall across its entrance are still
-visible. A shelf of rock within the cave is
-known as ‘the Saint’s Bed;’ a large flat-topped
-rock close by with several step-like recesses cut
-in its circumference is called ‘the Saint’s Chair;’
-and a fine spring of pure water, which is known
-as ‘the Saint’s Well,’ was formerly much resorted
-to for the healing virtues of its water. The
-Island of Lamlash appears in ancient documents
-as Helant-in-laysche or Almeslach, and this form
-of the name identifies it with St Molaissi or
-Laisren of Leighlin, a nephew of St Blane of
-Kingarth in Bute. His mother was a daughter
-of Aedhan, king of the Scots of Dalriada; and
-it is told of him, that in order to avoid being
-made king, he retired to an island in the sea
-between Alban and Britain—between the country
-of the Scots and that of the Britons of Strathclyde.
-This answers precisely to the situation of the
-Holy Island which is still associated with his
-name. There was a relic either of St Molaissi
-or of St Moluag of Lismore preserved in Arran
-down to the time of Martin’s visit to the island
-in the beginning of the last century. This was
-the <i>Baul Muluy</i>, a ‘green stone, like a globe in
-figure, about the bigness of a goose-egg,’ which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_516">{516}</span>
-was much used by the islanders for curing diseases
-and ‘for swearing decisive oaths upon it.’ It
-seems to have been in the hereditary custody
-of a family of Mackintoshes, and had also the
-reputation of having been anciently a <i>vexillum</i>
-or battle-ensign of the Macdonalds of the Isles,
-carried with their host in their conflicts, in the
-belief that its presence would secure to them
-victory over their enemies. The cave of St
-Molio has several Runic inscriptions cut upon
-its interior—mere <i>graffiti</i> of occasional visitors
-at the time when the galleys of the Northmen
-frequented the western seas. Amudar, Ontur,
-and Sea-elk, who have left their names there,
-may have been pagans; but Nicolas of Haen, who
-carved the longest inscription, bears a good Christian
-name.</p>
-
-<p>St Serf’s Cave at Dysart, in Fife, derived its
-sanctity—as the town of Dysart has derived its
-name—from its having been the <i>desertum</i> or place
-of retirement of the saint during his seasons of
-meditation and prayer. The <i>Aberdeen Breviary</i>
-states that ‘once upon a time the devil tempted
-the blessed St Serf with divers questions in the
-cave at Dysart; but confounded by the divine
-virtue, he went away; and from that day the
-said demon has appeared to no one in that cave,
-although the place is still held famous in honour
-of St Serf.’ Andrew of Wyntoun, prior of St
-Serf’s monastery in Lochleven, as in duty bound,
-gives, in his <i>Cronykill of Scotland</i>, a circumstantial
-account of this disputation with the Evil One:</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">Quhill Saynt Serf in till a stede</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Lay eftir Maytynis in hys bede,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">The devil came in full intent</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">For til fand him with argument;</div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>proposing to the saint many of the questions
-of high theological speculation which presented
-themselves to the cultivated minds of the fifteenth
-century, and receiving orthodox, and consequently
-unanswerable replies to them all:</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">Thane sawe the devil that he coud nocht,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">With all the wylis that he socht,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Ourecum Saynt Serf; he sayd than</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">He kend hym for a wys man;</div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>and the saint becoming impatient of his flattery,
-commanded him to begone from his cave, and
-never more to annoy any one in it. This
-prohibition apparently obtained for the cave a
-reputation as of a place for ever freed from the
-temptations of the Evil One, and it continued in
-consequence to be used as a chapel, and largely
-frequented by pilgrims down almost to the
-Reformation.</p>
-
-<p>St Adrian’s Cave at Caiplie, also on the north
-shore of the Firth of Forth, consists of a cluster
-of contiguous cavities formed by the sea washing
-out the softer parts of the rock. The principal
-cavity bears obvious marks of artificial adaptation.
-It is somewhat irregular in shape, but large
-and lofty; and the foundation courses of a wall
-constructed across its entrance are still visible.
-Near the mouth of the cave, a kind of platform
-or seat is shaped in the rock, and a door cut
-through the rock communicates with a smaller
-cell on the south side. On the west side, a series
-of steps led up to a smaller cell, in the inner
-part of which was a kind of bench cut in the
-rock, which is said to have been the hermit’s
-bed. In front of the cave, five human skeletons
-were found, four of which were regularly buried
-east and west, the heads to the west, but without
-coffins. A considerable quantity of bones of oxen,
-sheep, and swine, and portions of deer-horns,
-were found mixed with the debris in front of
-the cave, evidently the refuse of the food of its
-occupants at some remote period. On the interior
-of the rocky walls of the cave, many pilgrim
-crosses are carved, some of the equal-armed form
-and surrounded with a border, but mostly of
-the Latin form. St Adrian, whose true name
-was probably Odran, is represented as having
-settled and laboured among the Pictish people
-of the east parts of Scotland. His settlement
-in the Firth of Forth is thus described by
-Wyntoun:</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">Adriane wyth hys cumpany</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Togydder cam tyl Caplawchy,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Thare sum in to the Ile off May</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Chesyd to byde to thare enday.</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">And some off thame chesyd be northe</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">In steddis sere the Wattyr off Forth.</div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>At Pittenweem, St Monance, and other places
-along the coast as far as Fifeness, there are
-several caves which have pilgrim crosses and
-other symbols of archaic character carved upon
-their rocky walls. All of these seem at one
-time to have been occupied as places of retreat
-and devotion by saints or recluses of the early
-Celtic Church, and doubtless are the <i>steddis
-sere</i> (that is, the ‘several places’) referred to in
-Wyntoun’s narrative. At Fifeness is the cave
-of Constantine, king of the Scots, who, after a
-reign of forty years, exchanged the sceptre for
-the pilgrim’s staff, and ‘died in the house of
-the Apostle;’ that is, of St Andrew. At St
-Andrews itself is the cave of St Rule, or rather
-what remains of it, for it has been much
-destroyed within the last half-century. Sir Walter
-Scott describes the palmer in <i>Marmion</i> as bound
-to fair St Andrews:</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">Within the ocean cave to pray,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Where good St Rule his holy lay,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">From midnight to the dawn of day,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent2">Sang to the billows’ sound;</div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>and mentions that on one side of the cave there
-still remained a sort of stone altar. The <i>Aberdeen
-Breviary</i> states that St Gernadius, who settled
-at Kennedor, in Moray, lived in a cell partly
-natural, but artificially adapted for a habitation,
-in which he was wont to repose his wearied
-limbs on a bed of stone. His cave in the
-neighbourhood of Lossiemouth is distinguished
-by the holy well close beside it, which had a
-local reputation until quite recently, and is still
-known as St Gerardine’s Well. St Baldred of
-the Bass, who sat upon the rock in Aldhame
-Bay, and caused it to transport itself out of
-the fairway, had his cave also in the cliff
-opposite this rock; and traces have been found
-both upon the rock itself and in the cave
-of a long-continued occupation at a remote
-period.</p>
-
-<p>Although the materials for the illustration of
-this long-forgotten phase of ecclesiastical life are
-so few and fragmentary, they suffice to reveal
-the presence in these early ages of a passionate
-fervour of devotion and a child-like simplicity
-of faith to which we are altogether strangers in
-these times. The systems and institutions by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_517">{517}</span>
-which they were created and fostered ‘are productions
-of old ages, not to be repeated in the
-new: they presuppose a certain rudeness of
-conception, which the progress of mere scientific
-knowledge puts an end to.’</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak x-ebookmaker-important" id="BY_MEAD_AND_STREAM">BY MEAD AND STREAM.</h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<h3>CHAPTER XLII.—A LAND SHIPWRECK.</h3>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">To</span> be unhappy and alone at night in chambers
-is to have an opportunity of realising the sense
-of desolation in its bitterest degree. The double
-doors and double windows which secure the
-stillness that is of so much importance for
-working purposes, seem now to shut you off
-doubly from the world; from help if you are
-dying, and from sympathy if you live. The
-rumble of the heaviest wagon reaches the ears
-as a faint sound from afar off; no footstep is
-heard at all; and the adjacent chambers are
-silent as the tenements of the dead. You
-welcome the plash of rain against the window-panes—dull
-as that is—as if it were a friend
-come to speak to you in your solitude.</p>
-
-<p>That is the time for thoughts of suicide to
-haunt a man if his mind is disturbed; and that
-is the time for cynical broodings on the vanity
-of life, the falsehood of friendship, and the
-fickleness of love. He sees in what miserable
-failure his most earnest efforts have resulted;
-he misinterprets the most trivial word and look
-of his friend, and he loses grip altogether of
-that faith which in healthier state enables
-him to find consolation in love. He recalls
-all the bitter things that have been written
-about women, and for the time-being believes
-them.</p>
-
-<p>How was it, Philip asked himself, that he
-had fallen into this desperate position? He
-had laboured with all his might for others
-rather than for himself; his object was a noble
-one, and quite feasible, he was still convinced.
-Yet the social revolution he had dreamed of
-was as far off as ever, and he suddenly found
-that he was face to face with absolute ruin.
-Evidently his blunder lay in his miscalculation
-of the power of his capital. There had been
-disappointments with his fellow-workers, who,
-shrewdly counting the cost of material and the
-market value of the manufactured article, saw
-that the latter would barely realise enough to
-give them a fair ordinary wage in the best of
-times, to say nothing of the share of profits
-promised them. The cost of material was too
-high; and it was natural that they should conclude
-the cost was so fixed by arrangement with
-their chief in order to deprive them of what
-they now called their rights.</p>
-
-<p>Philip saw the force of their argument, and
-began to inquire about the items of expenditure.
-Hitherto, he had been so deeply occupied in
-the organisation of his scheme, that he had left
-financial matters almost entirely in Wrentham’s
-hands. Hints were given him that the prices
-he was charged were not the prices paid for
-materials, but that a large proportion went in
-secret commissions. As soon as he began to
-look into the question closely, he was met by
-the astounding fact, that he had reached the
-end of his capital, and had heavy liabilities
-to meet almost immediately, as well as heavy
-current expenses to provide for. How to do
-this without applying to Mr Shield, he had
-been trying for weeks to find out; and the
-more harassed he became, the more impossible
-it appeared to work through the mess without
-assistance.</p>
-
-<p>Then had come the last humiliation: he must
-submit to the immediate and entire overthrow
-of all he had been working for, and in which
-he had sunk the considerable fortune placed at
-his disposal, or he must seek the help which
-only a short time ago had appeared to him as
-an impossible necessity. He was bewildered, and
-could not understand how it came about. It
-should not have been so. He yielded to the
-necessity, however; but determined that when
-his course became clear again, his first task
-should be to institute a thorough investigation
-into the causes of his failure.</p>
-
-<p>Through all this agitated survey of his position,
-how was it that the figure of Beecham continually
-obtruded itself? What could Wrentham
-have had in his head, when he urged him so
-strongly to find out from Madge all that she
-knew of the man’s history and possible friendship
-with Mr Shield? He had not felt very keenly
-impressed by the suggestion during Wrentham’s
-presence; but now, in the silence and alone with
-his chagrin, he became infected with Wrentham’s
-suspicion. It had not occurred to him until
-now that there was something most incongruous
-and altogether incomprehensible in a girl consenting
-to accept from an acquaintance of only
-a few weeks a confidence which she could not
-disclose to her guardians or the man who was
-soon to be her husband.</p>
-
-<p>If Beecham had been a younger man than
-he was, there would have been a ready and
-most bitter explanation of the mystery; but it
-was not available in the present case. And yet
-(so outrageously morbid had he become that he
-was capable of the thought!) women were such
-strange creatures, that there was no telling who
-might win their favour or by what charm it
-might be done.</p>
-
-<p>Pah!—What madness was this?</p>
-
-<p>He went to the front room and opened a
-window overlooking Gray’s Inn Road. The
-stillness of the chambers had become intolerable.
-This was better; much better. There was more
-air; he could hear the rattle of cabs, and catch
-glimpses of hurrying foot-passengers on the
-opposite side of the way.</p>
-
-<p>Why should he remain indoors, to be haunted
-by these horrible phantoms of doubt and suspicion?
-He knew they were phantoms, and yet
-he could not drive them from his brain. Sleep
-was impossible, and he was afraid to take more
-drugs, for he was conscious that they had already
-impaired his power of self-control. When would
-the morning come? The active duties he had
-to discharge would relieve him. He looked at
-his watch. Very little past midnight. Why, it
-seemed as if two nights had passed since
-Wrentham went away!</p>
-
-<p>Well, he would try Dr Joy’s specific, and
-endeavour to work, or walk off this nervous
-frenzy. First he tried the work. There was
-much need that he should master the accounts
-and compare prices paid with prices quoted in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_518">{518}</span>
-the markets. But the figures performed such
-strange antics before his eyes, that after an hour
-of vain endeavour to master their meaning, he
-impatiently closed the book and rose no wiser,
-or rather less wise, than he had been before he
-sat down.</p>
-
-<p>He took himself to task. It was of the utmost
-importance that in the morning he should be
-cool and clear-headed; but he could not hope
-to be so unless he obtained sleep. Well, he
-would try the second remedy.</p>
-
-<p>He put on his hat and overcoat and went
-out. It was not of any consequence to him in
-which direction he should walk, his sole object
-being to exhaust himself by the physical exercise,
-in order to induce healthy sleep. To distract
-his mind from its troublous ruminations, he
-turned instinctively towards those quarters where
-he was most likely to encounter signs of life.</p>
-
-<p>He strode along Oxford Street and down
-Regent Street. But he was walking in a dream.
-The lights of the lamps were dim in his eyes,
-the figures which flitted by him were like
-shadows, and he could not have told whether
-they were men or women. The voices of those
-who passed him seemed to be muffled, and he
-scarcely distinguished any sounds. A hansom
-cab came rattling at full speed towards him: the
-horse slipped, staggered, fell. There was a commotion,
-and although, a minute before, the street
-seemed to be deserted, figures sprang out of the
-darkness, and there was a crowd at the scene of
-disaster.</p>
-
-<p>He passed on, with that insensibility to the
-fate of others which characterises people when
-in dreamland. His feelings were numbed as his
-eyes were dimmed. The sense of humiliation at
-the utter failure of what he had believed to be
-so certain of success produced the one pain of
-which he was conscious, and which no drugs,
-fatigue, or reason had power to subdue.</p>
-
-<p>If the money had been his own, he could
-have borne with comparative calmness the overthrow
-of his hopes and the ridicule of those who
-had from the first called his project folly.</p>
-
-<p>But despite the assurances of Mr Shield and
-of Mr Shield’s solicitors, Philip had never
-regarded the money otherwise than as held in
-trust; and the loss of it was as bitter as the
-destruction of the beautiful palace he had built
-in air.</p>
-
-<p>The only bit of ballast left him was the
-dogged conviction that the principle which he had
-endeavoured to carry into practical effect was a
-right one, and would be turned to good account
-by some one more fortunate or more careful
-than he had been.</p>
-
-<p>He set his teeth together and marched on.
-He began to realise how strangely numbed his
-sensations were, and how vague everything
-appeared to him. The rain had ceased, and the
-tiny pools in the roadway glistening in the
-lamplight seemed like great white eyes staring
-at him in pity. He passed down the Haymarket,
-nor did he slacken his pace until he reached
-the Embankment. There he halted and leaned
-over the parapet. He was not fatigued: the
-rapid walk seemed to have instilled new strength
-into him and had partially cleared the cobwebs
-from his brain. He was attracted by the lights
-gleaming in the dark fast-flowing river. Out
-there, were black islets of barges, and on the
-opposite shore the fantastic outlines of buildings,
-showing like irregular ramparts against the dull
-gray sky. He was thinking of Madge, and the
-pain she would suffer on his account, when the
-worst was made known to her in the morning,
-perhaps, or next day.</p>
-
-<p>‘Got a copper to spare a poor cove as hasn’t
-had a crust for two days?’ said a husky voice
-close to him.</p>
-
-<p>Philip started up. He was aware of the evil
-reputation of the Embankment and the character
-of the roughs who infest it after nightfall. A
-lamp close by showed him a miserable-looking
-wretch, ragged and hungry-eyed. He did seem
-to need help, poor fellow. Philip gave him a
-shilling, and was about to pass on. But a huge
-hulk of a fellow stood in his way.</p>
-
-<p>‘We want som’at more nor that, guv’nor.
-So tip us’——</p>
-
-<p>The man went down as if he had been shot.
-Philip was in the mood for mischief, and he had
-not forgotten his practice with the gloves. So
-the first words of the ruffian plainly intimating
-his purpose, a well-delivered blow straight from
-the shoulder finished the sentence for him.
-Philip knew that it would have been madness
-to have given the man time to attack him,
-and as it was, the other man was already
-attempting to rifle his pockets. This one belonged
-to the sneak tribe, and finding his throat
-suddenly gripped by fingers that seemed to possess
-the strength of a vice, his hands went up to
-loosen them. He was hurled aside; and Philip
-hurried away with a sort of savage pleasure in
-having punished the brace of scoundrels, as well
-as disappointed them of their expected prize.</p>
-
-<p>Near Blackfriars Bridge he met a policeman,
-to whom he briefly reported the incident. The
-man listened with stolid indifference.</p>
-
-<p>‘They are a bad lot about here, at nights,
-sir,’ he said composedly; ‘and it ain’t a place
-for decent people at this hour.’</p>
-
-<p>The constable’s idea evidently was that decent
-people should keep out of the way of the roughs,
-not that it was his duty to keep the roughs
-from molesting the decent people who might
-be compelled to use the thoroughfare.</p>
-
-<p>Philip entered his dreary chambers again.
-He felt better, but still he could not sleep.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="LONDON_HOSPITALS_AND">LONDON HOSPITALS AND
-DISPENSARIES.</h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">From</span> the day when Rahere the troubador, in the
-year 1123 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>, founded the hospital of St Bartholomew,
-the number of hospitals, dispensaries,
-infirmaries, and other institutions for the cure
-and medical treatment of the sick poor, has gone
-on increasing, till now it stands at considerably
-over one hundred and fifty for London and
-its district alone. This is altogether exclusive
-of the workhouse infirmaries. Besides hospitals
-and dispensaries, there are included in the above
-number institutions for the supply of surgical
-instruments, &amp;c., either free, or at such reduced
-prices as bring them within the reach even of the
-very poor. Twelve of the London hospitals have
-medical schools attached to them, amongst which
-is one for the education of lady-doctors. Differences
-of opinion of course exist as to the medical<span class="pagenum" id="Page_519">{519}</span>
-woman, some no doubt regarding her as a great
-acquisition, and one of the glories of the nineteenth
-century; whilst others would speak of her as an
-institution naturally to be expected in the dark
-ages, but quite an anomaly in a civilised age.
-Which of the views may be the correct one, we
-will not pretend to say. However this may be,
-in Henrietta Street stands the medical school
-for women, which is in connection with the Royal
-Free Hospital, Gray’s Inn Road.</p>
-
-<p>The hospitals with medical schools attached
-undertake the treatment of almost every form
-of disease both surgical and medical. Still, there
-are some diseases which it is necessary should
-be treated apart in special hospitals, and the chief
-of these is that terrible scourge of past times,
-smallpox. Not only smallpox but scarlet fever
-and other infectious diseases have to be excluded
-from some of the hospitals of which we are speaking,
-inasmuch as they are not all provided with
-wards set apart for infectious cases. To get an
-idea, however, of the great variety of work undertaken
-by the largest hospitals, it may be well to
-glance at the various departments of medicine and
-surgery represented at St Bartholomew’s Hospital,
-the oldest of these London institutions. In addition
-to the out-patients’ rooms, and wards devoted
-to the treatment of ordinary medical and surgical
-diseases and accidents, there are the following
-special departments: A department for skin
-diseases; for diseases of the eye, ear, and throat;
-an orthopædic department; a dental department;
-a department for the special diseases of women;
-a maternity department; and lastly, in the case
-of this hospital, a ward for the treatment of
-cases of infectious disease. The average number
-of in-patients is estimated at over six thousand
-annually, and the out-patients at more than one
-hundred and fifty thousand. It will readily be
-believed that the work of the physicians and surgeons,
-both visiting and resident, connected with
-such an institution is by no means light. There
-are many other general hospitals in various parts
-of London, besides those having medical schools
-attached to them, but we cannot speak of them
-here. The nature of their work is much the
-same as that of the others, though of course the
-extent of it is more limited.</p>
-
-<p>Coming next to the dispensaries—their name
-is legion. Almost every parish in London has one
-or more, and they are very abundant in the immediate
-suburbs also. Some of these dispensaries
-are free, others are to a greater or less extent
-self-supporting. It is, we hope, needless to say
-that the public dispensaries of which we are
-speaking are not to be confounded with the
-private dispensaries set up by medical men, quite
-legitimately, for their own benefit, but which are
-not unfrequently conducted upon the lowest of
-commercial principles. The public dispensaries
-of London, with their committees of management
-and staffs of physicians and surgeons—who in the
-case of the free dispensaries are almost invariably
-honorary—do excellent work, and are worthy of
-all, and more than all, the support which they
-obtain. Unlike the majority of hospitals, they
-undertake the treatment of disease at the patients’
-own homes; and by calling in the aid of the
-nursing institutions, they are able to supply not
-only medical attendance and medicine, but also
-trained nurses. Recently, an effort has been
-made to increase the number of provident dispensaries;
-and this indeed appears to be one of
-the best ways of meeting the difficulty of supplying
-good medical treatment to the poor cheaply,
-without demanding of medical men more unpaid
-work. It has been estimated that the medical
-profession does more work without payment than
-the rest of the professions put together.</p>
-
-<p>We will now say a few words concerning the
-special hospitals and dispensaries. And first, it
-is to be remembered that all are not of the same
-merit. Many of them may be said to be above
-praise; but some, it is to be feared, are almost
-beneath contempt. Indeed, the opinion of those
-in the medical profession best able to judge of
-the matter is, we believe, strongly opposed to
-the multiplication of special hospitals, except of
-course for those diseases which cannot be advantageously
-treated in the general hospitals. Enumerating
-now the special hospitals and dispensaries
-in their alphabetical order, first of all come
-those for the treatment of cancer, of which there
-are two. Then there are eight hospitals for children.
-A visit to the hospital in Great Ormond
-Street is calculated to make most persons enthusiastic
-on the subject of well-managed children’s
-hospitals; and many readers will remember the
-glowing description given by Charles Dickens of
-the East London Hospital for Children. Of
-hospitals for diseases of the chest there are five.
-The physicians of the general hospitals do not,
-if they can avoid it, admit patients suffering from
-consumption. The air of a hospital in which
-wounds and diseases of almost every kind are
-being treated is ill fitted to give any good chance
-of recovery to a case of consumption, which
-requires almost more than anything else fresh
-air and plenty of it; and if such a patient gets
-no good, he only occupies uselessly the place of
-some one who might benefit greatly by admission.
-Chest diseases require, too, arrangements for the
-securing of appropriate temperature, and this it
-would not be easy to do in a general hospital.
-It is well, therefore, that there should be special
-hospitals for diseases of the chest, and it is to be
-regretted the number is at present quite insufficient.
-Still, these chest hospitals contrive to
-treat a very large number of patients in the
-course of the year, the average being estimated
-at considerably over thirty-two thousand.</p>
-
-<p>There are six hospitals and infirmaries for the
-throat and ear; and three for diseases of the
-nervous system. Next we come to the fever
-hospitals—four in number. It is almost impossible
-to overrate the value of these hospitals.
-They not only tend to prevent the occurrence
-of epidemics, by removing the fever-stricken
-from the healthy, but they also save many from
-the untimely death that might have befallen
-them in their own ill-ventilated homes, and with
-the intermittent nursing which alone they could
-have secured. And further; even when the
-danger of death is past, the continuous care
-which can be given to patients in a hospital may
-restore many more to sound health, who in their
-own homes would only have escaped death to
-remain for the rest of their days miserable
-invalids.</p>
-
-<p>The hospitals to be next mentioned are one
-for fistula and one for diseases of the hip. Then
-there are three buildings for the reception of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_520">{520}</span>
-cases of incurable disease; two hospitals for
-lunatics; six lying-in hospitals; six for diseases
-of the eye; three orthopædic hospitals; one
-specially for accidents; six for skin diseases;
-four for smallpox—to which the remarks made
-on the fever hospitals of course apply; one for
-stone; three for women; and four for women and
-children.</p>
-
-<p>We have said nothing concerning the convalescent
-hospitals. Most of them are of course
-situated in the country; but those anywhere near
-London are largely supplied with patients from
-the metropolis. Their value is immense, for they
-restore many patients to complete health, who,
-had they gone back to their work immediately
-after severe illness, and the bad hygienic conditions
-pertaining to their homes, might have
-sunk into a state of permanent ill-health.</p>
-
-<p>There are a few other hospitals which may
-be alluded to, for, though they are not special
-as regards the diseases treated in them, yet
-they are special in other ways. Thus, there is
-the hospital at Greenwich for seamen; the French
-hospital for all foreigners who speak the French
-language; and the German hospital ‘for natives
-of Germany, others speaking the German language
-and English, in cases of accident;’ and lastly,
-there are a temperance hospital, a medical
-mission hospital, and one medical mission
-dispensary.</p>
-
-<p>And now it might perhaps seem that London
-has hospitals enough; but those who have had
-some experience of the matter are not wont to say
-so. They freely admit that numbers of persons
-seek and obtain the help of hospitals who have
-from their circumstances no right to it, and these
-they would gladly see excluded; but they cannot
-admit that even then there would be hospital
-accommodation enough for the legitimate claimants.
-Nay, they may go further, and declare
-that there is, through the length and breadth
-of that ‘great province of houses’ which men
-call London, an urgent and increasing demand
-for more. An attempt to meet this demand so
-far was made a few years ago, when Pay-hospitals
-were opened in Fitzroy Square and elsewhere
-(as described in this <i>Journal</i> for October
-13, 1880). This class of institutions might well
-be extended, as there are many patients both
-able and willing to pay for the treatment they
-require; and the still further development of
-such hospitals would greatly relieve the pressure
-presently felt by the purely charitable
-institutions.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="IN_A_FLASH">IN A FLASH.</h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">When</span> first I remember my aunt Barbara, she
-was over forty years of age; but she could never
-have been accounted a handsome woman. She
-was very tall and very angular, with a long
-thin face, the most remarkable feature of which
-was a Roman nose of commanding proportions.
-But as she had one of the kindest hearts in the
-world, her paucity of good looks seemed a
-matter of trifling moment to those who had
-the privilege of knowing her well. It was at
-my request that, some two or three years before
-her death, she wrote out the following narrative
-of an actual occurrence in her early life. I put
-the manuscript away at the time, and did not
-come across it again till the other day. On
-looking over it once more, it seemed to me not
-unworthy of being transcribed for a wider circle
-of readers than that comprised by the writer’s
-immediate friends and acquaintances.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p2">You ask me to go back in memory (begins
-my aunt) to what seems to me now like a period
-of remote antiquity, when I, Barbara Waldron,
-was twenty-four years of age, and my sister
-Bessie five years younger, and endeavour to put
-down in writing the little story I told you by
-word of mouth a few days ago.</p>
-
-<p>You must know, then, that in those far-off
-days, my sister and I were keeping house for
-our brother John, who at that time filled the
-position of steward and land-agent to Lord
-Dorrington. The house we lived in was a
-pleasant but somewhat lonely residence, about
-half a mile from the little country town of
-Levensfield. The house suited us for several
-reasons. In the first place, the rent was low;
-in the next, a large walled garden was
-attached to it, in which Bessie and I spent
-many happy hours; and in the third place,
-there was a side-entrance to Dorrington Park,
-by which my brother could take a short-cut
-to the Hall whenever he had business with
-his lordship, or his lordship had business with
-him. Our household was a small one, and
-besides ourselves, comprised only Mary Gibbs,
-a middle-aged woman, and her niece, a girl of
-sixteen. John’s horse and gig were looked after
-by a young man named Reuben Gates, who
-did not, however, sleep on the premises. An
-important part of John’s duties was to receive
-and pay into the Levensfield bank the rents
-due from the farmers and other tenants of
-property held under Lord Dorrington. One such
-tenant was a certain Mr Shillito, a corn and
-seed merchant, who was noted for his eccentricities.
-It was only in keeping with Mr Shillito’s
-aggravating way of doing business that he should
-never pay his rent at the time other people
-paid theirs; that he should always pay it in
-gold and notes, instead of giving a cheque for
-the amount, as he was quite in a position to
-have done; and that he should make a point
-of bringing it himself, instead of naming a
-time when my brother might have called upon
-him; and finally, that he seldom arrived with
-the money till after banking-hours.</p>
-
-<p>We come now to a certain autumn evening.
-Kitty had just brought in the tea-tray. It was
-growing dusk, almost too dusk to see clearly
-without the lamp; but Bessie and I liked to
-economise the daylight as much as possible,
-especially now that the long winter nights were
-so close upon us. John had come in for a cup
-of tea. This evening, he was going to drive
-over to Nethercroft, some ten miles away, dine
-there with some friends, and stay all night.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_521">{521}</span>
-After dinner, there was to be a dance; and I
-was not without my suspicions as to the nature
-of the attraction which was taking him so far
-from home, although he laughingly pooh-poohed
-the soft impeachment, when I challenged him
-with it. John was in the act of putting down
-his cup and saucer, when we heard a noise of
-wheels outside, which presently came to a stand
-opposite the house. He crossed the room and
-peered through the window.</p>
-
-<p>‘It’s old Shillito, come to pay his rent,’ he
-remarked a moment later. ‘Two hours after
-banking-time, as usual. What a nuisance he
-is!’ He went down-stairs; and about ten
-minutes later we heard Mr Shillito’s trap start
-off. Presently John came back. ‘Ninety pounds,
-all in gold and notes,’ he said. ‘I’ve had to
-lock it up in my desk till morning.’</p>
-
-<p>I may here remark that iron safes for the
-custody of money and other valuables were by
-no means so common in those days, especially
-in out-of-the-way country-places, as they appear
-to have since become.</p>
-
-<p>‘But the money will be quite safe in your
-desk, won’t it, John?’ asked Bessie.</p>
-
-<p>‘Safe enough without a doubt, seeing that
-no one but ourselves knows of its presence
-there. Only, as a matter of business, I should
-prefer to have had it in the coffers of the bank.’
-Presently he added: ‘The old fellow was half-seas
-over, as he generally is; and I have no
-doubt, with so many houses of call by the
-way, that he will be soaked through and
-through before he reaches home. I wonder
-whether he goes to bed sober a night in his
-life?’</p>
-
-<p>A few minutes later, John kissed us and bade
-us good-night. Bessie and I went to the window
-to see him start; but by this time it was nearly
-dark. He waved his whip at us as soon as he
-had settled himself in his seat, then he gave
-the reins a little shake. Black Beryl’s heels
-struck fire from the stones as she sprang
-forward, the gravel scrunched beneath the
-wheels, and a moment later the shadows of
-evening had swallowed up horse and gig and
-driver. My sister and I pulled down the blinds
-and drew the curtains and rang for Kitty to
-bring in the lamp.</p>
-
-<p>The evening passed after our usual quiet
-fashion. We worked a little and read a little
-and played some half-dozen duets, and chatted
-between times, till the clock pointed to half-past
-ten, at which hour we generally retired for the
-night. My last duty every evening was to go the
-round of the house and satisfy myself that all
-lights were out, that the fires were safe, and that
-all the doors and windows were properly secured.
-When this duty had been duly accomplished
-to-night, the drawing-room lamp was extinguished,
-and then Bessie and I took our bed
-candles and marched up-stairs, leaving darkness
-and solitude behind us. Mary Gibbs and Kitty
-had retired long ago.</p>
-
-<p>My sister’s room and mine adjoined each other,
-with a door of communication between, which
-generally stood partly open at night, for the
-sake of companionship. The windows of both
-rooms looked into the garden, which ran in a
-wide strip along that side of the house, and was
-shut in by a wall some seven or eight feet high,
-beyond which were three or four meadows, and
-then the boundary-wall of Dorrington Park.</p>
-
-<p>It was close on one o’clock—as I found out
-afterwards—when I woke suddenly from a sound
-sleep. The instant I opened my eyes the room
-was illumined by a vivid flash of lightning,
-and in all probability it was a peal of thunder
-that had broken my slumbers. Another flash
-followed after a brief interval, succeeded again
-by the deafening accompaniment. My sleep was
-effectually broken. I arose, flung a shawl over
-my shoulders, and crossing to the window,
-drew back the blind and peered out. As long
-ago as I can remember, lightning has always
-had a singular fascination for me. As a child,
-I loved to gaze upon its vivid splendours, and
-in this respect at least years have left me
-unchanged. A board creaked as I crossed the
-floor.</p>
-
-<p>‘Is that you, Barbara?’ asked my sister from
-the other room.</p>
-
-<p>‘Yes, dear. I am going to look out for a
-few minutes. Is not the lightning beautiful?’</p>
-
-<p>‘Very beautiful; only I wish it were anywhere
-rather than here,’ answered Bessie, who
-at such times was just as nervous as I was
-the reverse.</p>
-
-<p>The flashes followed each other at intervals
-of about a minute. I had witnessed three or
-four when suddenly I gave a start, and an
-exclamation broke involuntarily from my lips.
-The last flash had revealed to me the figures
-of two men in the act of climbing over the
-garden-wall. One of the men was a stranger
-to me; but in the other, instantaneous as
-was the revelation, I recognised the somewhat
-peculiar face and figure of a man named Dethel,
-whom my brother had employed temporarily
-during the last week or two in the garden, our
-regular man being laid up at the time with
-rheumatism. There was something in the looks
-of the man in question which had set me against
-him from the first; but if we were all to be
-judged by our looks alone, what would become
-of us! For aught I knew to the contrary,
-Dethel might be an honest, hard-working fellow,
-with a wife and children dependent on him;
-but for all that, on the days he was working
-for us I carefully refrained from going into the
-garden.</p>
-
-<p>And now, here was this man, and another
-with him, effecting a surreptitious entry of the
-premises at one o’clock in the morning! Such
-a proceeding could have but one end in view.
-Two questions at once put themselves to me.
-Firstly, were these men aware that my brother
-was from home for the night, and that only
-three helpless women and a girl were left in
-the house? Secondly, had they by some means
-become cognisant of the fact that a few hours
-previously Mr Shillito had paid my brother a
-considerable sum of money, which must necessarily
-still be somewhere on the premises? In
-my mind there was little doubt that both these
-facts were fully known to the men. My brother’s
-movements were as open as the day, and Dethel
-had doubtless ascertained from Reuben the groom
-that his master would be from home on this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_522">{522}</span>
-particular night; while as for Mr Shillito, everybody
-knew how he talked in his loud-voiced
-way about his most private affairs when he had
-taken more to drink than was good for him.
-At the bar of more than one tavern that evening,
-every one who might chance to be within hearing
-would not fail to be informed that Mr Shillito
-had just paid John Waldron his half-year’s
-rent.</p>
-
-<p>These thoughts flashed through my mind
-almost as quickly as that flash which revealed
-so much. Breathlessly I waited for the next flash.
-It came, shattering the darkness for an instant, and
-then it, too, was swallowed up. The men were
-no longer visible. Between the two flashes they
-had had time to drop on the inner side of the
-wall, where the thick clumps of evergreens which
-clothed that part of the grounds would effectually
-screen them from view. At that very moment
-they were doubtless making their way stealthily
-towards the house. What was to be done?
-Never had I realised so fully as at that moment
-how helpless a creature a woman is. Drawing
-my shawl more closely round me and putting
-on a pair of list slippers which I wore about
-the house in cold weather, I crept noiselessly
-out of the room. At the top of the stairs I
-halted and listened; but all was silence the most
-profound. The corridor out of which the bedroom
-opened was lighted at the opposite end by
-a high narrow window which looked into the
-garden. To this window I now made my way,
-and there, with one ear pressed to the cold glass,
-I stood and listened. Presently I heard the faint
-sound of footsteps, and then the subdued voices
-of two people talking to each other. Directly
-under the place where I was standing was the
-back drawing-room, which opened on the garden
-by means of a French-window; and although
-this window was secured at night by shutters,
-I had an idea that the security in question was
-more fancied than real, and was of a kind that
-would be laughed to scorn by any burglar who
-was acquainted with his business. If the men
-had made up their minds to break into the house—and
-with what other object could they be
-there?—the probability was that they would
-make the attempt by way of the French-window.
-Even while this thought was passing through
-my mind, the voices of the men sank to a whisper,
-and a low peculiar grating sound made itself
-heard. Evidently they had already begun to
-force the fastenings of the window. I crept back
-to my room, feeling utterly dazed and helpless.</p>
-
-<p>‘Is that you, Barbara? Where have you
-been?’ asked my sister.</p>
-
-<p>Going into her room, I sat down on the side
-of the bed and told her everything in as few
-words as possible. She was of a somewhat timid
-and nervous disposition, and my news visibly
-affected her. She sat up in bed, trembling and
-clinging to my arm.</p>
-
-<p>‘Perhaps,’ she whispered, ‘if we lock our bedroom
-doors and keep very quiet, they will go
-away without coming near us.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Why, you goose, it’s not us they have come
-after, but Mr Shillito’s ninety pounds,’ I
-answered.</p>
-
-<p>‘And there’s poor mamma’s silver tea-service
-down-stairs; I hope they won’t find that,’ said
-Bessie.</p>
-
-<p>I hoped so too; but there was no judging
-how much Dethel had contrived to ascertain
-respecting us and our affairs. I went to the
-corridor window again and listened. The noise
-made by the men was now plainly distinguishable.
-It seemed as if they were trying to
-file or cut their way through some obstruction.
-After listening for a few moments, I went back
-to my room and began almost mechanically to
-put on a few articles of clothing, asking myself
-again and again as I did so whether it was
-not possible to do something—though what
-that something ought to be I knew no more
-than the man in the moon. The nearest
-house was a quarter of a mile away; and
-even if I could have stolen out unnoticed by
-way of the front-door, before I could have
-reached the farm and brought back help, the
-burglars would have effected their purpose and
-decamped. Our pecuniary means at that time
-were very straitened. For some time back John
-had been paying off some old family debts; and
-the loss of the ninety pounds—which, as a
-matter of course, he would feel bound to make
-good—would be a great blow to him. If I could
-only have got at the money, and have hidden it
-where the burglars would not be likely to find
-it, I felt that I should have accomplished something.
-But the bag was locked up in John’s
-strong mahogany desk, and was as utterly beyond
-my reach as if it had been in the coffers of the
-Bank of England, while yet it could hardly have
-been placed more conveniently ready to the hands
-of the thieves. To them the strong mahogany
-desk would seem a trifling obstacle indeed.</p>
-
-<p>All this time, metaphorically speaking, I was
-wringing my hands, knowing full well how
-precious were the fast-fleeting moments, but only
-feeling my helplessness the more, the more I
-strove to discern some loophole of escape. Oh,
-the wretchedness of such a feeling! I hope never
-to experience it again in the same degree as I
-experienced it that night.</p>
-
-<p>The lightning, if not quite so vivid as it had
-been a little while previously, still came in as
-frequent flashes, and by its light my sister and
-I made a hurried toilet. Our house stood a
-little way back from the high-road, from which
-it was divided by a tiny lawn and a low screen
-of evergreens. Once or twice in the course of
-the night one of the mounted constabulary would
-ride slowly past as he went his rounds; but I
-was without any knowledge as to the particular
-time when he might be expected, or whether, in
-fact, the time at which he might be looked for
-at any specified point did not vary from night
-to night. Still, there was just a possibility that
-he might put in an appearance at any moment;
-so I stationed Bessie at the window to keep a
-lookout for him, and be in readiness to raise
-an alarm the moment she heard the tramp of
-his horse’s hoofs. For once in a way the lightning
-was something to be thankful for; each
-flash lighted up the high-road for a considerable
-distance on both sides of the house.</p>
-
-<p>When this was done, it seemed as if everything
-possible had been done; and yet it was next to
-nothing. With both hands pressed to my eyes,
-I stood thinking as I seemed never to have
-thought before. Then it was that—as sudden,
-swift, and startling as one of those flashes which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_523">{523}</span>
-were momently illumining the outer world—an
-idea shot through my brain, which for an
-instant or two seemed to cause my heart to stand
-still. And yet at the first blush it was an idea
-that had about it something so preposterous, so
-ludicrous, even, that had the need been at all
-less imminent, I should have discarded it at once
-as little better than the inspiration of a mad
-woman. But preposterous as the idea might
-seem, for the life of me I could think of no other,
-and every minute now was invaluable. There
-was no time for hesitation. I must discard it
-or adopt it, and that without a moment’s delay.
-‘I will try it; it can but fail,’ I said to myself
-with an inward groan.</p>
-
-<p>On the toilet-table was a jar of white tooth-powder,
-which had been replenished the previous
-day. I shook out a quantity of this powder,
-shut my eyes, and proceeded to rub it thickly
-over my face, arms, and hands. That done, I
-drew the white coverlet off the bed, and draped
-myself with it loosely from head to foot; then I
-unbound my hair, which in those days was ebon
-black and reached below my waist, and shook
-it round my face and over my shoulders in ‘most
-admired disorder.’ I was now ready for the
-rôle I had made up my mind to enact.</p>
-
-<p>Bessie has told me since that she thought I
-had taken leave of my senses. Just at the
-moment my toilet was completed, and as I
-turned and advanced towards her, another long,
-quivering flash lighted up the room. A low
-shriek burst involuntarily from my sister’s lips,
-and she shrank away from me as though I were
-something altogether uncanny.</p>
-
-<p>‘O Barbara, dear, what is the matter?’ she
-cried. ‘Why do you frighten me so?’</p>
-
-<p>‘It is not you I want to frighten, but the men
-down-stairs,’ I replied. Then, in a few hurried
-words, I told her my plan.</p>
-
-<p>She would have tried to dissuade me; but there
-was no time to listen. Leaving her there watching
-by the window, ready to raise an alarm in
-case the mounted constable should pass on his
-round, I stole swiftly and noiselessly down the
-carpeted staircase, and only paused when I
-reached the corridor below. I could hear a
-subdued murmur of voices, and a moment later
-I was startled by a noise of falling glass. The
-burglars had succeeded in effecting an entrance.
-They and I were separated only by the drawing-room
-door, which, although locked, was an
-obstacle that very few minutes would suffice to
-overcome. With an indrawing of my breath I
-sped quickly past the door along the length of
-the corridor until I reached the opposite end,
-where there were two more doors, one of them
-being that of my brother’s office, which also was
-locked, and from the lock of which I now withdrew
-the key. I have omitted to state that the
-window of John’s office was secured by two stout
-bars, which was probably one reason why the
-thieves had chosen to effect an entrance at a
-point more readily adapted for their purpose.
-The second door at the end of the corridor
-shut off a short passage leading to the kitchen.
-This door I succeeded in opening without noise.
-I had decided to take my stand a little way on
-the inner side of it, and there await the course
-of events. By this time the men were busily
-at work forcing the lock of the drawing-room
-door. A thin thread of light which shone from
-under showed that although the lightning was
-still as frequent as before, they did not find it
-sufficient for their purpose.</p>
-
-<p>Scarcely breathing, I waited. I was too excited,
-too wrought up, the tension of my nerves was
-too extreme, to allow of any personal fear. It
-was all terribly real, yet with a strange, vague
-sense of unreality underlying it. I felt as if I
-should not have been surprised had I woke up
-and found the whole affair resolve itself into a
-dream; while yet fully assured in my mind that
-it was nothing of the kind. Suddenly the noise
-at the door ceased; the lock had been forced.
-The thread of light disappeared; for a few moments
-all was silence the most profound. Then
-a faint creaking, which at any other time would
-have been inaudible, told me that the drawing-room
-door was being opened and that the crucial
-moment had come. I pressed one hand over my
-heart, and for a few brief seconds an almost
-overpowering longing seized me to get back to
-my room at any cost and lock myself within.
-But it was too late; by this time the men were
-in the corridor. I knew it, although I could not
-see them.</p>
-
-<p>‘Where’s the door we want?’ I heard one
-whisper to the other.</p>
-
-<p>‘On the right—the first door we come to.’</p>
-
-<p>As they advanced a step, I did the same.</p>
-
-<p>‘What noise was that?’ asked one of them
-quickly.</p>
-
-<p>‘Don’t be a fool. There was no noise.’</p>
-
-<p>‘I tell you there was.—Where’s the glim?’</p>
-
-<p>But the lightning was quicker than the bull’s-eye.
-It came, smiting the darkness, and flooding
-the corridor with the blinding intensity of its
-glare. Then I saw the men, and the men saw
-me, but darkness had hidden us from each
-other again before they had time to make sure
-that their eyes had not deceived them.</p>
-
-<p>One of them gave a gasp and whispered to his
-mate: ‘What was that tall, white thing at the
-end of the passage? Seemed to me like a ghost.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Ghost be dashed! There ain’t no such
-things.—Here’s the glim. We’ll soon see what
-it is.’ As he spoke, the light of his bull’s-eye
-lantern was turned full upon me.</p>
-
-<p>I advanced a couple of paces, and the men
-fell back in speechless surprise and terror. I
-have often tried since to picture to myself the
-appearance I must have presented when seen
-at such a moment and by that uncertain light,
-with my ghastly, death-like face, my dilated
-eyes, my black, snake-like locks, my tall figure
-all in white, and with one extended arm and
-finger pointed direct at the men. I cannot
-wonder at their fright.</p>
-
-<p>At this juncture came another flash, and a terrible
-peal of thunder startled the air and shook
-the house. At the very instant, impelled thereto
-by something within me that I was powerless to
-control, I burst into a wild peal of maniacal, blood-curdling
-laughter. One step nearer I advanced;
-but that was enough. With a loud yell of terror,
-the men turned and fled by the way they had
-come. I heard a crash of shattered glass; and
-after that, I remember nothing more till I
-came to my senses, to find Bessie supporting my
-head on her lap and pressing her smelling-salts
-to my nose.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_524">{524}</span></p>
-
-<p>But John’s ninety pounds were saved, and
-it is hardly necessary to add that Dethel the
-ex-gardener was never seen in those parts
-again.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="SPIDER-SILK">SPIDER-SILK.</h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">It</span> may not be inopportune to recall to the
-minds of our readers a somewhat neglected silk-source,
-which may perhaps at some future period
-form a profitable commercial undertaking. It is
-unnecessary to expatiate upon the beauty of the
-gossamer spun by the <i>Aranea diadema</i>, or common
-Garden spider, as the fairy-like tracery must be
-familiar to every one who has wandered through
-the woods in autumn, when the gauzy films
-festooned between and over the bushes were
-rendered prominent through saturation with dew
-or a sprinkling of hoar-frost. The thread produced
-by this little creature is estimated to be
-many times finer than the most attenuated filament
-of the well-known silkworm of Europe, the
-<i>Bombyx mori</i>; consequently, as may be imagined,
-the difficulty of obtaining such silk is so great
-that, except for land-surveying purposes, the
-web of spiders as a class has not been permanently
-utilised. For the latter object, the plan
-adopted by our surveying instrument makers<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>
-in order to secure small supplies of spider’s
-line, is remarkably simple, and affords an illustration
-of how closely instinct in the lower
-creation sometimes approaches reasoning intelligence
-in the higher. Having caught the selected
-spider, it is immediately tossed backwards and
-forwards from hand to hand of the operator,
-until the impulse of self-preservation induces the
-emission of its thread. Meanwhile, a wire, bent
-double like a hairpin—the distance between
-the prongs being slightly greater than the diameter
-of the telescope to be fitted—is at hand to
-receive the silk. As soon as the filament appears,
-the end is attached to the wire and the spider
-dropped, when it immediately emits its thread
-with great rapidity, in the hope of reaching the
-ground and escaping. This is frustrated by a
-dexterous revolution of the extemporised reel,
-which winds up the line as fast as it is produced,
-until the spider’s store of silk is exhausted.
-It is then allowed its liberty; and a touch of
-gum on each prong secures the silk in convenient
-lengths for future use.</p>
-
-<p>Rather more than fifty years ago, it seemed as
-if a new and important trade was about to be
-inaugurated by the rearing of spiders for their
-silk, which the Society of Arts marked with their
-approval by awarding a medal to a Mr Rolt
-for his success in obtaining an appreciable quantity
-from the Garden spider. This gentleman
-accomplished his purpose by connecting a reel
-with a steam-engine, setting it revolving at the
-rate of one hundred and fifty feet per minute;
-when, after two hours’ patience, he wound off
-eighteen thousand feet of beautiful white line of
-a metallic lustre from twenty-four spiders. Subsequent
-examination proved this thread to be
-only the thirty-thousandth part of an inch in
-diameter, so that a single pound-weight was
-estimated to be sufficient to encircle the globe.
-Although this gentleman appears not to have
-pushed his interesting experiments much further,
-a Frenchman of Languedoc afterwards established
-a factory for producing and weaving
-spider-silk into articles of utility. He manufactured
-gloves and stockings which were much
-admired; but the difficulty of rearing a sufficiently
-numerous family of spinners within a
-reasonable space, on account of their extreme
-pugnacity, soon interfered with this budding
-industry, and led to its abandonment. No
-difficulty was experienced by M. Reaumur in collecting
-some five thousand spiders and immuring
-them in fifty separate cells; but unfortunately,
-on one occasion there occurred a scarcity of
-flies; a food-panic ensued, and the hungry and
-infuriated prisoners, escaping during the night,
-fell upon one another with such deadly ferocity,
-that when the anxious proprietor paid his
-usual morning visit, only a few gorged and
-bloated specimens survived. It seemed, indeed,
-so vain to expect European spiders to exist
-peacefully within sight and reach of each other
-without their usual employment conducted after
-their own fashion, that the hope of rendering
-them useful for commercial purposes gradually
-died away, and has for many years been almost
-wholly relinquished.</p>
-
-<p>Certain species of foreign spiders, however,
-when examined with a view to their silk, offer a
-field of very considerable encouragement. In
-the island of Ceylon there is one described by
-Sir Samuel Baker as being two inches long, with
-a large yellow spot upon its back, which spins a
-beautiful yellow web two and a half feet in
-diameter, so strong that an ordinary walking-stick
-thrown in is entangled, and retained among the
-meshes. As might be expected, the filament,
-which is said to exhibit a more silky appearance
-than common spider’s web, is easily wound by
-hand on a card, without any special care being
-exercised in the operation. A spider of even
-more formidable dimensions is alluded to in the
-fascinating work, <i>The Gardens of the Sun</i>, by Mr
-F. W. Burbidge. It is a large, black, yellow-spotted
-creature, measuring six or eight inches
-across its extended legs, and it spins a web
-strained on lines as stout as fine sewing-cotton.</p>
-
-<p>The prince of the species, however, seems to be
-the <i>Aranea maculata</i> of Brazil, vouched for by
-Dr Walsh as having been seen and examined by
-him during his travels in that country. In this
-huge, ungainly, yet harmless and domesticated
-creature, we evidently possess a treasure of a silk-spinner,
-with which the non-nervous and practical
-among our colonial ladies, situated in moderately
-warm localities like Northern New Zealand,
-Queensland, and the Cape of Good Hope, might
-spend many a profitable hour when they became
-mutually acquainted. It is not only free from
-the vices of the European spider in not devouring
-its kind, but it actually exists in little harmonious
-communities of over one hundred individuals of
-different ages and sizes occupying the same web.
-Like the last-mentioned spider, this one is of
-similar colossal dimensions, and it spins a beautiful
-yellow network ten or twelve feet in diameter
-quite as strong as the silk of commerce. Regarding
-the toughness of this filament, the doctor<span class="pagenum" id="Page_525">{525}</span>
-says: ‘In passing through an opening between
-some trees, I felt my head entangled in some
-obstruction, and on withdrawing it, my light
-straw-hat remained behind. When I looked up,
-I saw it suspended in the air, entangled in the
-meshes of an immense cobweb, which was drawn
-like a veil of thick gauze across the opening, and
-was expanded from branch to branch of the
-opposite trees as large as a sheet, ten or twelve
-feet in diameter.’ Another traveller, Lieutenant
-Herndon of the United States navy, confirms Dr
-Walsh’s account of this enormous spider, with
-the addition that he saw a single web which
-nearly covered a lemon tree; and he estimated its
-diameter at ten yards!</p>
-
-<p>Probably the latest addition to our knowledge
-of spider-silk has recently come from the
-Paris ‘Ecole pratique d’Acclimation,’ a member
-of which has discovered an African species which
-spins a strong yellow web, so like the product of
-the silkworm as to be scarcely distinguishable
-from it. So promising a material as a fibre of
-commerce does this seem to be, that, after close
-investigation, a syndicate of Lyons silk-merchants
-has reported in its favour; the more so as there
-is said to be no difficulty in acclimatising the
-spider in France.</p>
-
-<p>In those gigantic spiders there is evidently the
-nucleus of an important industry of the future,
-which colonists might perhaps easily ingraft upon
-their ordinary sericultural or other occupations.
-If the period has scarcely yet arrived for the
-profitable utilisation of ordinary spider’s web,
-surely something might be evolved from the less
-attenuated filaments just alluded to, which are
-strong enough to whisk a man’s hat from his
-head and retain his walking-stick dangling in the
-air. There are countless difficulties to be surmounted,
-such as the feeling of repulsion, or
-even disgust, at being brought into proximity
-with monstrous spiders like Dr Walsh’s pets; but
-as this species, unlike the <i>Lycosa tarantula</i> and
-other poisonous and dreaded kinds, is harmless to
-human beings, and as their silk would evidently
-become a valuable addition to the resources of
-the loom as well as the boudoir, any such feelings
-and other obstacles would probably soon be
-overcome. The French—always in the van in
-such matters, notwithstanding their comparatively
-limited colonial opportunities—are not likely to
-allow this curious and interesting occupation to
-go begging for want of experiment and patience.
-But Britain—with her numerous dependencies
-and myriads of active, scheming, inventive brains
-scattered all over the globe—occupies a peculiarly
-favourable position to test and localise
-such an industry.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="THIEVES_AND_THIEVING">THIEVES AND THIEVING.</h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">The</span> days when Border moss-troopers made a
-raid on the well-stocked farmyards of Northumberland,
-or when Highland caterans swooped
-down from Rob Roy’s country to levy ‘blackmail’
-or ‘toom a fauld’ in the Lennox or in the Carse
-of Stirling, and departed, leaving burning byres
-or weeping widows behind, are for ever gone.
-Gone, too, are those later days when bold highwaymen
-of the Dick Turpin type—all well
-mounted and equipped, if we are to credit the
-legends that have come down to us—stopped
-the mailcoach or the travelling postchaise, and
-made the terrified passengers hand over their
-valuables. The traveller of to-day, whether
-cyclist or pedestrian, may roam from John o’
-Groat’s to Land’s End without interruption from
-highwayman or footpad. The thieving profession
-has changed its character; and as now
-unfolded in courts of justice, it appears vulgar,
-prosaic, and mean. Indeed, we are doubtful if
-it was not always so. The pen of the novelist
-has thrown a glamour of romance around that
-as well as other features of former times, which
-we love to read about, but should not care to
-experience. But while this is so, the study of
-thieves as a class is far from being uninteresting.
-It has been our lot to see much of them and
-to learn more, from sources whose reliability is
-unquestionable.</p>
-
-<p>There are many grades of intellect and ability
-among these Ishmaelites—from the low type of
-thief that lies in wait in our large towns for
-children going messages, and, beguiling them into
-a dark close, strips them of clothing and money—to
-the well-dressed, well-bred man of the world,
-who floats a swindling Company, has his office in
-a good locality, moves for a time in the best
-circles, and then decamps, carrying with him
-the capital of the elderly annuitant, or the hard-earned
-savings of the struggling tradesman. To
-her shame be it said, the child-stripper is generally
-a woman. Far more to his shame, the
-high-class swindler is generally a well-educated
-man, who occupies a good position in society,
-and has often only his own folly to blame
-for his having fallen to be a needy adventurer.
-They differ in degree, but not in kind; and
-though the law may call their offences by different
-names, the essence of the crime is the
-same in both cases.</p>
-
-<p>It is sad to see mere children, charged with
-daring acts of pocket-picking or purse-snatching,
-brought before a court; but such is often their
-only chance of salvation from a life of crime.
-Smutty-faced, ragged little urchins many of them
-are, dressed in clothes and shoes a world too
-big for them; and yet, when the dirt is washed
-from their faces, there is the glance of keen
-intelligence, and often comely features, underneath.
-Brought up in the murky closes that
-yet occupy the older parts of most of our cities,
-surrounded by influences such as may be inhaled
-from drunken, swearing men, and tawdry, coarse,
-and unkempt women, how could they grow up
-other than they do? Perchance they are reared
-in low lodging-houses, where a clever theft or
-an artful dodge is extolled as worthy of the
-highest admiration, or where some old hand is
-assiduous in giving them training lessons in
-crime. Industrial and Reformatory Schools are
-worthy of all support, checking as they do the
-career of these young prodigals while yet there is
-some hope. Apart altogether from considerations
-of a higher nature, it is surely to the interest of
-the public that children should be trained into
-useful wealth-producing members of the community,
-instead of growing up to prey upon
-society when out of prison, and burden the ratepayers
-when in.</p>
-
-<p>A large number of thieves are merely skirmishers
-or auxiliaries, as it were, on the flanks
-of the regular army. These auxiliaries do not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_526">{526}</span>
-live wholly by crime, but have some ostensible
-occupation which they follow. At the same time,
-they never lose a good opportunity of stealing.
-In all large towns, the cinder-gatherer may be
-seen. Late at night and early in the morning
-she goes through the streets and lanes, probing
-with a long knife the depths and shallows of
-every dust-heap, and rescuing therefrom every
-scrap that will sell. Papers, rags, bones, cinders,
-and old boots are transferred with marvellous
-celerity into the depths of the capacious bag
-which she carries. Should a stray door-mat be
-lying handy, or an unsecured back-door give
-access to a green where clothes lie bleaching,
-her ideas of <i>meum</i> and <i>tuum</i> become straightway
-rather hazy, and the chances are that a theft is
-reported next morning. A large number of thefts
-of umbrellas and greatcoats from lobbies are the
-work of pedlars, beggars, or old-clothesmen, who
-loaf around and watch their chance. A smart
-‘professional’ of our acquaintance, who is at
-present in penal servitude, was an adept at
-stealing greatcoats. He had a piece of wire with
-a sort of hook on one end, with which he could
-snatch them from lobby-pegs without making
-his own appearance. Each ‘professional’ has his
-own particular style of thieving in which he has
-graduated. These soon become known to the
-detectives, who, on learning the <i>modus operandi</i>
-of a theft, are often able to pounce on the
-person wanted, even when no description can be
-supplied.</p>
-
-<p>One class of theft was very prevalent in
-Glasgow and neighbourhood some time ago. A
-man dressed like a tradesman called at a number
-of houses where the owners happened to be absent.
-(Of course the operator satisfied himself on that
-point first.) He represented that he had been
-sent by some well-known firm of upholsterers to
-measure a room for a new carpet, or by a joiner
-to repair the windows. In various instances,
-he got into houses, and generally found an opportunity
-to steal. Another thief well known in
-Dundee does the ‘pigeon’ trick. His method
-is to look out for an open window, ring the
-bell, and say that a pigeon has just flown away
-from him on the street and fluttered in at the
-window. Would they kindly search for it, or
-permit him to do so? Once in, ten to one but
-the clever thief manages to commit a theft before
-he goes out lamenting the loss of his bird, which,
-of course, cannot be found.</p>
-
-<p>A decrepit youth used to go about the city
-in which the writer lives. This lad’s legs were
-useless, so he had flat boards fastened with straps
-below his knees, and, assisted by short crutches,
-he crept along the pavement. He was a dexterous
-thief. If a lady stopped to look in at a shop-window,
-he could just reach her handbag or
-pocket; and if she was unwary, she was minus
-her purse in a few seconds, while the insignificant
-appearance of the thief disarmed suspicion.</p>
-
-<p>Thieves sometimes quarrel in their cups, and
-if a detective happens to meet them before the
-heat of anger has passed off, spitefulness often
-induces them to give him valuable information.
-Criminals are almost always prodigal in spending
-their ill-gotten gains, and the old proverb, ‘Lightly
-come, lightly go,’ seems specially applicable to
-them. If in funds, they share freely with their
-needy brethren, probably with an eye to receiving
-similar help when out at the knees and elbows
-themselves.</p>
-
-<p>Stolen property is often stowed away in very
-curious hiding-places. A lame man was convicted
-at Leeds assizes last year of passing base
-coin. When apprehended, it was found he had
-a receptacle in his wooden leg, in which a considerable
-stock of the bad money was cunningly
-secreted. We have sometimes seen a considerable
-pile of coins unearthed from the voluminous
-folds of a ragged coat, trousers, or vest. Banknotes,
-for obvious reasons, are capable of being
-stowed away in little space; and thieves often
-hide them in the cracked joints of a dilapidated
-old table, chair, or bed. Underneath a picture,
-or between the portrait and the back, appears
-to be a favourite place of concealment. Articles
-are often ‘planked’ in the chimney behind the
-grate; and a watch has even been tossed into a
-glowing coal-fire, when pursuit was close, although
-in at least one instance the latter device was
-unavailing. Two detectives were once searching
-the house of a well-known thief for some stolen
-jewellery. The scent was keen, and the examination
-searching. High and low they rummaged,
-but without success. From the air of the thief,
-the officers were satisfied the stolen property was
-concealed in or about the room. One of them
-observed that the interest of the ‘suspect’ got
-always most intense as they approached the
-window. Taking this as his cue, the officer
-narrowly examined the shutters, and even tore
-off the straps that kept in the window-sashes;
-but without result. Suddenly, a thought struck
-him, and lifting the lower sash, he scanned
-the outside of the wall closely. About three or
-four feet below the window-sill he saw a stone
-in the wall that appeared to be loose. Calling
-his comrade to hold him by the legs, he reached
-down, pulled out a small square stone, thrust
-in his hand, and found a nice little ‘hide,’ containing
-not only the articles he was in search of,
-but also other stolen property sufficient to connect
-the thief with several ‘jobs,’ and to procure
-him a long term of quiet contemplation.</p>
-
-<p>A smart female thief once very nearly outwitted
-an officer by wrapping a crumpled and
-dirty five-pound note round a candle, and stuffing
-it into a candlestick, which she then obligingly
-handed to him. He searched a considerable time
-before discovering that he had the object of his
-search in his hand. Another detective, after in
-vain searching a house for some trussed poultry
-that had been stolen, cast one parting glance
-around, when his eye chanced to alight on a
-cradle in which a woman was vainly trying to
-hush a squalling baby. A thought struck him.
-He asked her to lift the child. The woman
-made some excuse, but the officer insisted, and
-was immediately rewarded by finding a couple
-of the stolen fowls.</p>
-
-<p>A slight clue, sometimes discovered by the
-merest accident, often helps to unravel not only
-one, but a whole series of thefts. A peculiar
-button, a footmark, or a portion of dress, will
-spring a mine under the feet of a rascal who
-thought he was off scot-free. Of late years, thefts
-of money by young clerks or salesmen from their
-employers have become increasingly common.
-There are several causes for this. Beyond doubt
-the tastes and habits of the young men of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_527">{527}</span>
-to-day are more expensive than those of their
-fathers. With small means, or no means at all,
-they dress up as ‘mashers,’ and smoke choice
-cigars, attend theatres, concerts, balls, and race-meetings.
-If often indulged in, these are rather
-expensive luxuries; and as the supply of youths
-anxious for genteel employment is always in
-excess of the demand, the salaries given are in
-many cases low. Then firms are sometimes very
-lax in the oversight of young men who have
-large sums of money daily passing through their
-hands. It seems so easy to take the loan of a
-small sum, which, of course, is to be put back
-again. After the first false step, the descent is
-rapid; and many a young man fills a felon’s
-cell, or has to fly the country, under circumstances
-due to his master’s carelessness as well as
-his own folly.</p>
-
-<p>The plea of kleptomania is now put forward
-in defence of thieves much oftener than it used
-to be. Of course there are some cases in which
-kleptomania is indisputable, as, for instance, when
-we hear of a nobleman having to be watched by
-his valet to prevent him from pocketing his own
-silver spoons. We know a respectable bookseller
-who had for a considerable time, at intervals,
-been missing books from his shop. He was satisfied
-some of his customers were helping themselves,
-but he could not say which. At last his
-suspicions rested on a reverend gentleman of great
-abilities, but rather eccentric character. He
-watched him narrowly, and one day caught him
-in the act of surreptitiously carrying off a volume.
-The divine tried to explain it away; but the
-bookseller, after listening gravely, called a cab,
-and insisted on accompanying him home and
-examining his library. He hinted that otherwise
-he would be under the painful necessity of calling
-in the police. The clergyman made no further
-objection. They went to his house; and the
-bookseller brought back a number of valuable
-books, some of which he had not before missed,
-and said no more about the matter. The thief
-was a wealthy man, and had a large library; but
-he was a bibliomaniac.</p>
-
-<p>Some thefts, however, are of a different character,
-and in these the plea of kleptomania, like
-that of insanity in cases of murder, is sometimes
-pushed rather far. Without attempting to argue
-the matter on scientific principles, it seems rather
-strange that kleptomania appears only to affect
-those who are rich enough to pay an able advocate,
-and that the morbid desire to steal something—instead
-of moving them to carry it off
-openly—appears to be accompanied by an equally
-morbid desire to secrete the article stolen.</p>
-
-<p>We shall conclude this paper by one or two
-instances which show that thieving has also its
-comic side.</p>
-
-<p>A fire was raging fiercely in a grocery store,
-and the owner, accompanied by an active staff of
-assistants, was trying to rescue some of the goods
-by removing them to one side. Immense cheeses
-and hams were lying about in tempting profusion.
-A keen-eyed thief had just secured a
-large Gouda, and was marching off with it, when
-he found himself face to face with a policeman.
-The rogue grasped the situation instantly. ‘Here,
-policeman!’ cried he, planting the cheese in X’s
-arms before that officer knew what he was about;
-‘you had better take charge of that, or somebody’ll
-be carrying it off;’ and in an instant the nimble
-rascal disappeared in the crowd.</p>
-
-<p>One morning, a merchant who had come by
-rail from his country residence was hurrying
-along the street to his counting-house in a pouring
-rain. He had forgotten his umbrella; but
-spying, as he thought, a friend with a large one
-a little before him, he hastened up, and seizing
-the handle of the umbrella, jocularly observed:
-‘Hillo! is this mine you’ve got?’ He had just
-had time to observe that the man was a complete
-stranger to him, and was about to apologise in
-some embarrassment, when the unknown saved
-him the trouble, by saying coolly: ‘Oh, it’s
-yours, is it? Pardon me; I did not know.’ And
-he hurried off, leaving the astonished merchant
-in full possession.</p>
-
-<p>About two years ago, a constable in a business
-part of London found a horse and van, about
-midnight, standing at the door of a grocer’s shop.
-He approached, and saw several men in aprons,
-apparently carrying chests of tea into the shop.
-Remarking that they were late at work, one
-of the men replied: ‘O yes; we’re preparing
-for Christmas;’ and the constable, thinking all
-was right, walked on. Next morning it was
-found the shop had been entered by thieves,
-who had carried off what they evidently took
-to be twenty-two half-chests of tea, most of
-which had been standing in the shop-window.
-The rogues had gone leisurely to work, and
-being caught by the constable, had employed
-themselves in carrying <i>in</i> some of the boxes, till
-he should pass. The reader may judge the
-surprise and disgust of the thieves, when they
-found that only one of the chests contained tea,
-and a second tea-dust, the remaining twenty boxes
-being merely ‘dummies’ filled with sawdust, with
-a sprinkling of tea on the top!</p>
-
-<p>Nothing tends more to root out and lessen
-the number of nests of thieves than the exercise
-of the power vested in corporations to pull down
-old houses, which, densely populated with the
-poorer classes, become at last the abodes of filth,
-disease, and crime. The former inmates cannot
-stand the new sanitary and social atmosphere
-introduced by wider streets and purer air. They
-gradually betake themselves to other and more
-honest modes of employment, or seek for ‘fresh
-woods and pastures new.’ On the other hand, the
-exercise of a little prudence and common-sense
-by the general public would prevent an opportunity
-being given for the commission of a large
-number of petty but often very annoying thefts.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="ST_JOHNS_GATE">ST JOHN’S GATE.</h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">A short</span> distance from the very heart of London,
-stands—for it has not yet been swept away by
-the builder’s hand—one of the finest remaining
-relics of the ancient city. It is a heavy fortified
-gate, built of large blocks of freestone, and flanked
-by bastions. It has a fine groined Norman arch;
-and though it is now old and decayed, it is still
-strong, and shows us what its strength and
-stability have been in days gone by. It was
-built by, and belonged to, at one time, that famous
-order of chivalry, ‘The Knights Hospitallers,’ or
-‘Knights of St John of Jerusalem,’ the great rivals
-of the Templars, and who did such good service<span class="pagenum" id="Page_528">{528}</span>
-in the Holy Land in the time of the crusades;
-and when Palestine was hopelessly lost, kept up
-their incessant war against the Infidel in Rhodes,
-and when driven from that island by the Turks—in
-Malta.</p>
-
-<p>This order had at one time many religious
-houses scattered over Europe; and their London
-priory, that of St John of Clerkenwell, has quite
-a history of its own to tell. It was founded in
-the year 1100 by a devout baron named Jordan
-Briset, this being the time that the first crusade,
-led by Godfrey of Bouillon, was going on. For
-a considerable time after this, we know little of
-the priory, save that the knights were growing
-in riches and arrogance, and thus were making
-themselves obnoxious to the people, although
-some of the old chroniclers tell us that ‘they
-tended the sick and the needy.’ In fact, they
-got to be so disliked by the common people, that
-in the riots which took place in the reign of
-Richard II.—in which Wat Tyler, Jack Straw,
-and John Ball took so prominent a part, the last-named
-being a clergyman, who, in his harangues
-to the multitude, took for his text the rhyme,</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">When Adam delved and Eve span,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Who was then a gentleman?</div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>and made the people think that all the property
-of the rich was really theirs—the rebels made the
-Priory of St John a special mark of their fury,
-and after destroying houses and much property
-belonging to the knights, they attacked the place
-itself and burnt it to the ground; and capturing
-the prior soon after, they executed him upon
-the spot.</p>
-
-<p>For many years after, the knights were engaged
-in building a new priory; but the work went
-slowly on, owing to the troubled state of the
-order at what was then their great stronghold,
-Rhodes, and the large numbers of men and sums
-of money required there to assist in keeping back
-the conquering Turks, who were fighting with
-great zeal under the victorious Sultan Solyman.
-Gradually, a fine church, whose bell is related
-to have had an exceedingly fine tone, was added
-to the priory; and soon after the church was
-finished, Thomas Dockwra, who was then prior,
-built the gate; this being in or about the year
-1504, in the latter part of the reign of Henry
-VII., the first of the famous dynasty of Tudor
-sovereigns.</p>
-
-<p>About the year 1540, Henry VIII. suppressed
-all the larger monasteries and private religious
-houses in England, and the venerable priory fell
-with the others. This was a severe blow to the
-prosperity of the order, and is said to have broken
-the heart of the valiant old L’isle Adam, the
-grandmaster, who held Rhodes till he could hold
-it no longer, and then, obtaining honourable terms
-from the Sultan Solyman, removed to the island
-of Malta, where the knights continued to be a
-powerful enemy to the Turks until 1798, when,
-‘through the treachery of the Maltese, and the
-cowardice of D’Hompesch the grandmaster, the
-island was surrendered to the French;’ and soon
-after this, most of the property still belonging
-to the order in many parts of Europe was confiscated
-by the various governments. Since then,
-the order, which had been gradually degenerating,
-has not had any political importance.</p>
-
-<p>The priory, however, was not destroyed, like
-most of its kindred buildings, at the Reformation,
-for even the bluff, matter-of-fact King Henry had
-some respect for the venerable old building; and
-so, instead of destroying it, we are told that he
-used it for a military storehouse. In Edward
-VI.’s reign, however, a more ruthless and sweeping
-hand came to deal with it. The proud and
-ambitious Seymour, Duke of Somerset, at that
-time Lord Protector, had no kindly feeling for
-such places; and the church and all the rest of
-the priory, with the exception of the gate, were
-blown up with gunpowder. The large blocks of
-stone were used to build Somerset’s palace in the
-Strand in 1549. It remained till the year 1776,
-when it gave place to the present one, a building
-erected after the Palladian style, from the designs
-of Sir William Chambers.</p>
-
-<p>We hear nothing more of the gate till the reign
-of James I., when that monarch bestowed the
-building on Sir Roger Wilbraham, who lived
-there for many years. Long after this, Cave the
-printer rented the old gate for a small sum, and
-here was first printed and published the <i>Gentleman’s
-Magazine</i>. This was one of the first places
-to which Dr Johnson, then poor, and almost
-unknown, came, when he settled in the great city.
-Here he made his first literary efforts by helping
-Cave in his publication. Here also Garrick the
-actor first played, some of Cave’s interested workmen
-taking the other parts of the pieces.</p>
-
-<p>The old gate is now turned into a tavern, called
-<i>Old Jerusalem Tavern</i>, and inside may still be seen
-some interesting relics of the former days of the
-gate, when it was the chief entrance to the priory
-of one of the most powerful religious bodies in
-Europe. Who can look upon such a relic without
-being reminded of the great spirit of chivalry,
-that strange compound of barbarity and courtesy;
-of the crusades, and the great changes which have
-taken place since the time of the prosperous days
-of the old priory? and we cannot but feel thankful
-that we live in a happier, less troubled, and more
-enlightened age; and as we gaze upon the grim old
-gate, think of the words of Shakspeare: ‘To what
-base uses may we return.’</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="TWIXT_DAYBREAK_AND_DAYLIGHT">’TWIXT DAYBREAK AND DAYLIGHT.</h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The</span> glint and glimmer of the daybreak shows</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">In the fast-reddening east; the sable clouds</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">With roseate streaks and golden threads are lined;</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">And the first early cock, awakening, rings</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">His shrill clear challenge on the breaking morn!</div>
-  </div>
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">A voiceless stir of many murmurings,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">From woodland, hill, and dale, and meadow, tells</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">The flight of slumber: now the cricket chirps</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Amid the barley, and the skylark plumes</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">His wing for early rising; passes by</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">The milkmaid to the pasture; and the farm</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Grows noisy with the many-varied sounds</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Of rustic labour, telling that hath fled</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">The drowsy sweet forgetfulness of night!</div>
-  </div>
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">Shadows of dreamland pass from earth away</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Into the mystic world of things unseen;</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">The stern necessities of daily life</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Again their round commence, as, one by one,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Toilers awaken to the coming day!</div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="full" />
-
-<p class="center">Printed and Published by <span class="smcap">W. &amp; R. Chambers</span>, 47 Paternoster
-Row, <span class="smcap">London</span>, and 339 High Street, <span class="smcap">Edinburgh</span>.</p>
-
-<hr class="full" />
-
-<p class="center"><i>All Rights Reserved.</i></p>
-
-<hr class="full" />
-
-<div class="footnotes"><p class="ph3">FOOTNOTES:</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> In theodolites and other similar instruments for
-taking observations, lines of spider-silk cross the centre
-of the glass at right angles for certain purposes of
-observation.</p>
-
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL OF POPULAR LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART, FIFTH SERIES, NO. 33, VOL. I, AUGUST 16, 1884 ***</div>
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