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diff --git a/76752-0.txt b/76752-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..512f823 --- /dev/null +++ b/76752-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1032 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76752 *** + + + + + + THE PENNY MAGAZINE + + OF THE + + Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + 7.] PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. [May 12, 1832 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. PAUL’S. + + [Illustration: Old St. Paul’s Cathedral--South View.] + +The elevated situation of the spot on which St. Paul’s is built, seems +to have pointed it out from very ancient times for religious or other +public purposes. Without adopting the very doubtful opinion of some +antiquaries, that the Romans during their occupation of the island had +erected a temple to Diana upon this eminence--an opinion which has not +even the support of tradition, and which Sir Christopher Wren, when he +dug the foundations of the present church, became convinced had no other +support--it seems to be clear that these foreigners used it for a +cemetery or burial place, if not for anything more sacred. On the +erection of the present building many Roman funeral vases, +lacrymatories, and other articles used in sepulture, were found at a +considerable depth under the surface. Next to these lay in rows +skeletons of the ancient Britons; and immediately above them, Saxons in +stone coffins, or in graves lined with chalk, together with pins of +ivory and box wood which had fastened their grave clothes. The earliest +building which is actually recorded to have stood on this site was a +Christian church, built about the year 610, by Ethelbert, King of Kent, +the first of the Saxon princes who was converted by St. Augustine. It +was dedicated to St. Paul, and the old historians tell us was indebted +for the latest improvements which it received to the liberality of St. +Erkenwald, the bishop of the diocese, who died in 681. However, it could +scarcely have been a very magnificent or extensive edifice, if it be +true, as is related, that upon its being accidentally burned down in +961, it was rebuilt the same year. After this it was again destroyed by +fire in the year 1087; when the Norman bishop, Maurice, who had just +been appointed to the see, resolved to undertake its restoration, on a +much larger and more splendid scale, at his own expense. Both he and his +successor De Belmeis, each of whom presided twenty years over the +diocese, are said to have devoted all their revenues to this great work; +but it was not finished till the time of Bishop Niger, the fourth after +De Belmeis, in the year 1240. In 1135, indeed, the uncompleted building +had again caught fire, and been nearly burned to the ground. When the +fabric, which might thus be called ancient, even while it was yet new, +at last stood ready for consecration, it exhibited a mass 690 feet in +length by 130 in breadth, surmounted by a spire 520 feet in height. Some +additions, which were made to it after this, were not completed till +1315, in the reign of Edward II., the ninth king after him in whose +reign the first stone of the pile had been laid. + +This was the building we now call old St. Paul’s, the immediate +predecessor of the present cathedral. It was one of the largest edifices +in the world, and in its best days, before it was deformed by the +successive repairs to which it was subjected, and the various foreign +incumbrances under which it was long buried, it was no doubt a grand and +imposing structure. But, from the causes we have mentioned, its form in +the course of time underwent so many changes that at last it presented +the appearance of little else than a heap of incongruity and confusion. +The spire was of timber; but in 1315 it was found to be so much decayed +that the upper part of it had to be taken down and replaced. It was upon +this occasion that a ball, surmounted by a cross, was first fixed upon +the termination of the spire. + +The first accident which befel the church was the consequence of a +violent tempest of thunder and wind which burst over the metropolis on +the 1st of February, 1444. The lightning having struck the spire set it +on fire; and although a priest succeeded in extinguishing the flames, a +good deal of damage was done, so that it was not till the year 1462 that +the gilded ball with the cross again made its appearance on the summit +of the building. A much more serious disaster than this, however, +happened about a century afterwards. On the 4th of June, 1561, a plumber +who was employed in making some repairs, thoughtlessly left a pan of +coals burning within the spire while he went to dinner; the flames from +which caught the adjacent wooden work, and in no long time set the whole +building in a blaze. In spite of every thing that could be done, the +conflagration continued to rage till it had consumed every thing about +the church that was combustible, and reduced it to a mere skeleton of +bare and blackened walls. + +With such ardour, however, did the Queen (Elizabeth), and, it may be +said indeed, the whole nation, promote the scheme of restoring the +sacred edifice, all ranks contributing to the pious and patriotic work, +that in the space of about five years it was again opened for worship. +But it never recovered its ancient splendour: the spire, in particular, +was not rebuilt at all; and from the shortness of the time spent in the +restoration altogether, it is probable that other parts of the work were +hurried over without much attention either to strength or beauty. By the +end of the reign of Elizabeth accordingly, the structure had fallen into +sad decay; so that it was found in 1608 that it could not be repaired +under a cost of considerably more than twenty thousand pounds. It was +not, however, till 1633, in the reign of Charles I., that the repairs +were actually begun, the interval having been spent in attempts to +collect the necessary funds by subscription. Meanwhile the cathedral was +every year becoming more ruinous. The money subscribed at last amounted +to above a hundred thousand pounds, and then the celebrated Inigo Jones +having been appointed to superintend the work, it was, as we have said, +proceeded with. + +We shall now mention some particulars to show the extraordinary state of +neglect and ruin into which this once proud edifice had been by this +time allowed to fall. Towards the close of the sixteenth century it is +stated, that the benches at the door of the choir were commonly used by +beggars and drunkards for sleeping on, and that a large dunghill lay +within one of the doors of the church. The place indeed was the common +resort of idlers of all descriptions, who used to walk about in the most +irreverent manner with their hats on even during the performance of +divine service. More than twenty private houses were built against the +walls of the church, the owners of several of which had cut closets out +of the sacred edifice, while in other instances doors had been made into +the vaults which were converted into cellars. At one of the visitations +the verger presented that “the shrouds and cloisters under the +convocation-house are made a common lay-stall for boards, trunks, and +chests, being let out unto trunk-makers; where, by means of their daily +knocking and noise, the church is greatly disturbed.” One house, partly +formed of the church, is stated to have been “lately used as a +play-house;” the owner of another, which was built upon the foundation +of the church, had contrived a way through a window into a part of the +steeple, which he had turned into a ware-room; and a third person had +excavated an oven in one of the buttresses, in which he baked his bread +and pies. + +The first thing which Jones did was to clear away these obstructions, +after which the work of restoration proceeded slowly but with tolerable +regularity till the commencement of the civil wars in 1642. In 1643, not +only all the revenues of the cathedral, but the funds which had been +collected for repairing it, together with all the unused building +materials, were seized by the Parliament. The scaffolding was given to +the soldiers of Colonel Jephson’s regiment for arrears of pay; on which, +no man hindering them, they dug pits in the middle of the church to saw +the timber in. Another part of the building was converted into a barrack +for dragoons and a stable. Public worship, nevertheless, was still +celebrated in the east end and a part of the choir, which was separated +from the rest by a brick wall, the congregation entering through one of +the north windows which was converted into a door. At the west end Inigo +Jones had erected a portico of great beauty, consisting of fourteen +columns, each rising to the lofty height of forty-six feet, and the +whole supporting an entablature crowned with statues. These statues were +thrown down and broken in pieces; and shops were built within the +portico, in which commodities of all sorts were sold. The wood-cut, at +the head of this article, represents the cathedral as it was drawn by +Hollar in 1656. + +In this state things continued till the restoration. Soon after that +event, the repairing of St. Paul’s again engaged the thoughts of the +king and the public; and subscriptions to a considerable amount having +been once more obtained, the work was recommenced on the 1st of August, +1663. Three years afterwards, however, (in September, 1666,) before it +had been nearly completed, the great fire, which consumed half the +metropolis, seized in its progress westward upon the scaffolding by +which the cathedral was surrounded, and after an awful conflagration, +left it a mere mass of ruins. History has recorded no finer instance of +national spirit than the noble courage and alacrity with which the +citizens of London, and the English government, and people generally, +rose from this terrible calamity and applied themselves to restore all +that it had destroyed. In the plans which were immediately taken into +consideration for rebuilding the city, St. Paul’s was not forgotten. Sir +Christopher Wren, who had been employed in superintending the previous +repairs, was ordered to examine and report upon the state in which the +foundations of the building were, and so much of the walls as was left +standing. At first it was thought that a considerable portion of the old +church might still be found available; but this idea was eventually +given up; and on the 21st of June, 1675, the foundation-stone of the +present building was laid. From this time the work proceeded without +interruption till its completion in 1710. The same great architect, Sir +Christopher Wren, presided over and directed the work from its +commencement to its close. For this, all that he received was £200 +a-year; and the commissioners had even the spite and meanness, after the +building was considerably advanced, to suspend the payment of one half +of this pittance till the edifice should be finished, under the pretence +of thereby better securing the diligence and expedition of the +architect. In fact, it was with no small difficulty that Sir Christopher +at last got his money at all. The whole expense of rebuilding the +cathedral was £736,000, which was raised almost entirely by a small tax +on coals. The church of St. Peter’s at Rome, which is indeed a building +of greater dimensions, but to which St. Paul’s ranks next even in that +respect among the sacred edifices of Christendom, took one hundred and +forty-five years to build, was the work of twelve successive architects, +and exhausted the revenues of nineteen successive popes. It is worthy of +remark, that St. Paul’s was begun and completed not only by one +architect, and one master mason, Mr. Thomas Strong, but also while one +bishop, Dr. Henry Compton, presided over the diocese. + + + --------------------- + + + AN EMIGRANT’S STRUGGLES. + + [Concluded from No. 6.] + +When we set out upon our expedition, which I have just mentioned, we had +two servants with us, and as many dogs. One man carried some biscuits; +another a bottle of rum, a piece of beef, and a little tea and sugar, +with a couple of tea-pots. Immediately behind my house there is a fine +long hill, rising, with an easy slope, to the height of five hundred or +six hundred feet, and covered, like the country in general, with trees +and grass. It has been the practice to allow proprietors of cattle and +sheep to graze on the unlocated parts, which they were obliged to quit +on settlers coming to occupy the ground. These herds were generally left +in the care of one or two men, while the proprietor lived in Hobart +Town; the consequence of which was, that the cattle were allowed to +stray wherever they chose, and became altogether wild. This was the case +where I have settled; and although the herdsmen have removed themselves +to their assigned limits, the cattle are still on my ground, and have +been the cause of my suffering one of the most serious inconveniences +which can befal a settler. For I had scarcely arrived on my land when my +working bullocks got into the wild herd, with which they continue until +this day. This has completely baulked my agricultural projects, obliging +me to perform by manual labour what the beasts of the field should have +done for me. But I am again digressing, and tiring you with my +misfortunes, instead of giving you an account of our journey. As we +approached the river Ouse we found its banks had been lately burnt by +the natives, and the grass and smaller trees were completely consumed. +After some search we found a place which we ventured to wade, but it was +with great difficulty we could keep our feet. Sometimes the dogs would +kill a kangaroo, and as we had not time or opportunity to make use of +it, the huge crows, which abound in the woods, soon hovered over the +carcase in great numbers. These crows are of the same genus as your +English ones, but of a different species. They are very large, and +distinguished by a white ring round the eye: they have even more cunning +than their brethren of the old world. The banks on the further side of +the Ouse are yet steeper than on this. We continued to ascend over the +burnt ground, and underneath huge trees, for about five miles, till we +arrived at the stock-keeper’s hut, which we discovered by the help of +the track of horses. Here we found eight men, who had been sent up a few +days before to erect a hut and stackyard for the cattle. They had +sheltered themselves by branches of trees, and burnt a large fire in +front. They had chosen a spot beside a small spring of water, in the +midst of a large valley, which was almost clear of trees. After making +some kangaroo soup we again set out, and bending our course more to the +north, so as to keep near the river, we arrived at sun-set on the border +of a beautiful lake. It appeared about seven miles long, and +proportionably broad, with two lofty islands in the midst of it. The +water was very soft and clear; its bed seemed to be composed of fine +sand, and very shallow. Having formed our encampment near its brink, and +lighted three very large fires to keep ourselves warm, we commenced +making tea. One of the party fired a shot over its surface; the +discharge was succeeded by a long and lasting peal like thunder, which +had a sublime effect. We therefore named this piece of water Lake Echo. +We were now on very high ground, and seemed to overlook all the +mountains around us. In the morning, at peep of day, we took leave of +this enchanting scene, which we had admired at the two periods most +favourable to the display of its beauty with the rising and the setting +sun. The surface remained as even as glass, and the shadows of its banks +and islands gave a soft serenity to the landscape. A fine open valley +led us down to the river, but we traversed it with difficulty, for +during the wet season the water had so lodged in it that it was now full +of holes, and we were never sure of a step. We passed many recent +encampments of the natives, and saw their fires at a little distance. As +we approached the river the dog started a large kangaroo, and hunted it +down on the plain. This was a seasonable supply. We immediately +commenced cooking; cutting off some steaks, we strung them on a stick, +and set them before the fire; when one side was done we turned the +other;--this is what they call a _sticker-up_, and our manner of cooking +them is called _bush-fashion_. The slang nomenclature which the convicts +have imposed on this land is in many instances unpleasant and vulgar, +but sometimes appropriate. Having made a comfortable meal we again +crossed the Ouse, but with still greater difficulty than we had +encountered the day before. The immediate space between the rivers is +here still more mountainous than behind my house, and is covered with +large rugged stones, and fine lofty trees. We passed several encampments +of the natives. Pursuing our way, we soon came to the Shannon, which we +crossed, as the eastern side afforded the best walking. Here we entered +on an extensive plain, but so rough, and so obstructed with rushes, as +to render our passage through it quite laborious. In one part we struck +a light, and the wind blowing with great keenness, the grass blazed up +in a few minutes, the flame extending for nearly half a mile. Our +provisions were now quite exhausted, and we had to recreate ourselves +with tea, and chat beside a beautiful cascade on the river. In these +high regions we found several maple trees, with sweet unctuous juice +exuding from the bark. You can hardly form an idea of the beauty of the +heavens, as the vault appeared to the eye, while we reposed on a +kangaroo rug on the grass, beside a large fire which illumined the +trees, and with a fine sweep of the river winding its way before us, and +reflecting the silvery beams of the moon. Next morning, after walking +three or four miles, we killed a kangaroo, and fared sumptuously on a +_sticker-up_. Thus refreshed, we descended towards home. We had explored +in this journey a region which no European had ever seen before, and had +ascended to some of the highest ground in the island. I should calculate +my habitation to be nearly two thousand feet above the level of the sea, +and I think we ascended as much more. You may suppose what romantic +rapids and cascades occur in the course of a river which falls that +height in the course of thirty miles. Just before my door I have a broad +placid stream resembling a lake, over which I have made a flying bridge, +by means of a rope and the elm-tree case of my wife’s piano, which +answers the purpose so well that I brought over seven hundred sheep +belonging to Mrs. Smith, the other day, by twenty at a time. I am +completely at my own command, for if a visitor comes he must hail on the +opposite side before I slacken my rope, and allow him to pull the boat +over. + +We have no fish in these rivers, excepting some fresh water craw-fish, +such as are found in the Thames, some eels, and a small thing not worth +catching. We sometimes, however, shoot a wild duck or a widgeon, which +are both large and good. We have also a kind of pigeon, which is very +fine eating, and many other smaller birds, besides cockatoos +innumerable, both black and white, and some beautiful parrots and +paroquets. But the bird which chiefly enlivens the grove is a species of +magpie, which sings two regular bars of music, of the clearest and +sweetest notes you can imagine. On taking possession of my grant, my +plan was to build a rough hut for my servants, which I should inhabit +whilst a better one was erecting for myself, but the loss of my bullocks +made me fain to make the best of my first habitation. It is entirely +built of the materials on the ground, excepting the nails, which came +from England, and the window-frames, which were made in Hobart Town. The +walls are composed of logs or planks split out of the trees, of about a +foot broad, and two or three inches thick. These are sunk two feet in +the ground, and nailed to a beam at the top; they are then plastered +over with a mixture composed of sand, clay, and grass cut short, and the +wall is complete. The roof is covered with shingles, which are also +split out of the trees round the house, and have exactly the appearance +of slates. I have not yet been able to make a floor, we therefore walk +at present upon the bare earth. As I cannot afford to buy another set of +bullocks (for they cost 87_l._) I must wait patiently till I recover +them when the wild herds are got in. This of course throws me into great +difficulties. I have, however, upwards of one hundred sheep, two cows, +and three or four young ones, a goat, and a pig, besides eight hens. +These last thrive amazingly, chiefly owing to the number of grasshoppers +which they eat. + +I have just heard of an opportunity to send off a letter, and I +therefore hasten to a conclusion. It is strange, when I reflect upon it, +that any vicissitudes of life should have induced me voluntarily to +undergo separation from my friends; to desert their company for a wild +and enthusiastic scheme of emigration. Much however as I feel the +deprivation of such society, I must say that I do not yet regret my +coming to this country. When I consider that the people around me have +mostly been convicted of heinous offences in England, I am pleased at +the security we enjoy. You will, I know, rejoice to hear that I and my +family are in good health; and that though so remote, I am as near to +you in the alliance of friendship as ever. + + + --------------------- + + + THE LOBSTER. + + [Illustration: A lobster, viewed from above.] + +Amongst the numerous examples given by Dr. Paley, of the wonderful +manner in which Nature contrives to overcome difficulties, which would +at first appear insurmountable, there is perhaps none more striking than +the mode in which the lobster is released from his case when the +increasing size of his body requires more room. In most animals the skin +grows with their growth. In some animals, instead of a soft skin, there +is a shell, which admits by its form of gradual enlargement. Thus the +shell of the tortoise, which consists of several pieces, is gradually +enlarged at the joinings of those pieces which are called “sutures.” +Shells with two sides, like those of the muscle, grow bigger by addition +at the edge. Spiral shells, as those of the snail, receive this addition +at their mouth. The simplicity of their form admits of this; but the +lobster’s shell being applied to the limbs of his body, as well as to +the body itself, does not admit of either of the modes of enlargement +which is observed in other shells. It is so hard that it cannot expand +or stretch, and it is so complicated in its form that it does not admit +of being enlarged by adding to its edge. How, then, was the growth of +the lobster to be provided for? We have seen that room could not be made +for him in his old shell: was he then to be annually fitted with a new +one? If so, another difficulty arises: how was he to get out of his +present confinement? How was he to open his hard coat, or draw his legs +out of his boots which are become too tight for him? The works of the +Deity are known by expedients, and the provisions of his power extend to +the most desperate cases. The case of the lobster is thus provided for: +At certain seasons his shell grows soft. The animal swells his body; the +seams open, and the claws burst at the joints. When the shell is thus +become loose upon the body, the animal makes a second effort, and by a +trembling motion, a sort of spasm, casts off his case. In this state of +nakedness the poor defenceless fish retires to a hole in the rocks. The +released body makes a sudden growth. In about eight and forty hours a +fresh concretion of humour takes place all over the surface of his body; +it quickly hardens; and thus a new shell is formed, fitted in every part +to the increased size of the body and limbs of the animal. This +wonderful change takes place every year. + + + --------------------- + + + MATERNAL CARE OF THE EARWIG. + +In ‘Insect Transformations,’ (p. 102,) it is mentioned that the +distinguished Swedish naturalist, Baron De Geer, “discovered a female +earwig in the beginning of April under some stones, brooding over a +number of eggs, of whose safety she appeared to be not a little jealous. +In order to study her proceedings the better, he placed her in a +nurse-box, filled with fresh earth, and scattered the eggs in at random. +She was not long, however, in collecting them with all care into one +spot, carrying them one by one in her mandibles, and placing herself +over them. She never left them for a moment, sitting as assiduously as a +bird does while hatching. In about five or six weeks the grubs were +hatched, and were then of a whitish colour.” + +These observations the author of ‘Insect Transformations’ has just had +an opportunity of verifying and extending, and has communicated to us +the following interesting facts:-- + +“About the end of March, I found an earwig brooding over her eggs in a +small cell scooped out in a garden border; and in order to observe her +proceedings I removed the eggs into my study, placing them upon fresh +earth under a bell glass. The careful mother soon scooped out a fresh +cell, and collected the scattered eggs with great care to the little +nest, placing herself over them, not so much, as it afterwards appeared, +to keep them warm as to prevent too rapid evaporation of their moisture. +When the earth began to dry up, she dug the cell gradually deeper, till +at length she got almost out of view; and whenever the interior became +too dry, she withdrew the eggs from the cell altogether, and placed them +round the rim of the glass where some of the evaporated moisture had +condensed. Upon observing this, I dropped some water into the abandoned +cell, and the mother soon afterwards replaced her eggs there. When the +water which had dropped had nearly evaporated, I moistened the outside +of the earth opposite the bottom of the cell; and the mother perceiving +this, actually dug a gallery right through to the spot where she found +the best supply of moisture. Having neglected to moisten the earth for +some days, it again became dry, and there was none even round the rim of +the glass as before. Under these circumstances, the mother earwig found +a little remaining moisture quite under the clod of earth upon the board +of the mantel-piece, and thither she forthwith carried her eggs. + +“Her subsequent proceedings were not less interesting; for though I +carefully moistened the earth every day, she regularly changed the +situation of the eggs morning and evening, placing them in the original +cell at night, and on the board under the clod during the day; as if she +understood the evaporation to be so great when the sun was up that her +eggs might be left too dry before night. + +“I regret to add, that during my absence the glass had been moved, and +the mother escaped, having carried away all her eggs but one or two, +which soon shrivelled up and will of course prove abortive.” + + + --------------------- + + + THE WEEK. + +May 14.--This is the birth-day of GABRIEL DANIEL FAHRENHEIT, usually +regarded as the inventor of the common mercurial thermometer, and +certainly the first person by whom the instrument was accurately +constructed. Fahrenheit was born at Dantzic, in 1686. His business was +that of a merchant, but he was fond of spending his leisure in +philosophical inquiries and experiments; and at last he settled at +Amsterdam, and devoted himself almost entirely to the fabrication of the +instrument which bears his name, and which still continues to be the +thermometer principally used in Britain, North America, and Holland. He +is supposed to have begun to make these thermometers about the year +1720, and he died in 1736. It was Fahrenheit, also, who first noticed +the fact that water boils at different degrees of temperature, according +to the weight of the atmospheric column resting upon it--that it +requires, for instance, less heat to make it boil on the summit than at +the foot of a high mountain. We shall, in some future number, explain +the construction and principle of the thermometer. In the mean time we +extract from ‘the Companion to the Almanac’ for 1830, a comparison of +the various scales of the thermometer which are in general use:-- + +“A fertile cause of error in estimating and comparing the statements of +temperature, is the very different manner in which they are recorded by +scientific men of different nations. Wherever the English language +prevails, the graduation of _Fahrenheit_ is generally preferred. By the +German authors, Römer (Reaumur) is used; and the French have, within a +few years, decided to adopt that of Celsius, a Swedish philosopher, +calling it ‘_Thermomètre Centigrade_.’ To diminish this evil, in some +degree, the annexed diagram has been constructed, which shows by +inspection, the expression of any point of temperature in the degrees of +either or of all the above-mentioned scales; and the comparison of any +degree of one with the equivalent degrees of the others.” + + [Illustration: A thermometer, with markings for the Reaumur, + Fahrenheit, and Celsius scales. The following temperatures are marked, + most with degrees Fahrenheit: Highest Temp. Sun’s rays at London, 134°; + Highest Temp. of the Air at ditto, 90°; Mean Temp. of ditto at ditto, + 49 and a half°; Lowest Temp. of ditto at ditto, 11°; Ditto at the + Earth’s surface at ditto, 5°; Greatest cold observed in the shade in + England; Boiling point of water; Boiling point of alcohol, 174° (both + at 30 inches barometric pressure); melting points of beeswax (142°) and + tallow (127°); Fever heat as usually marked; Fever heat in general, + 107°; Blood heat; Summer heat; Temperate; Usual Temp. of Spring water, + 50°; Water freezes; Strong wine freezes, 20°.] + +May 16.--On this day, in the year 1623, was born at Rumsey, in +Hampshire, the celebrated Sir WILLIAM PETTY, a memorable and animating +example of the elevation and distinction which real talent, accompanied +by activity and perseverance, has always in this country been able to +command for its possessor. Petty’s father was a clothier, and he appears +to have given his son little to set out in life with but a good +education. It is said that Petty, when quite a boy, took great delight +in spending his time among smiths, carpenters, and other artificers, so +that at twelve years old he knew how to work at their trades. He made so +great progress at the grammar-school, that at fifteen he had made +himself master of French, Latin, and Greek, and understood something of +mathematics and physical science. On entering the world, he went to Caen +in Normandy with a little stock of merchandize, which he there improved; +and on his return to England, having obtained some employment connected +with the navy, he managed to save about sixty pounds before he was +twenty years of age; and with this sum he repaired to the Continent, to +study medicine at the foreign universities. He accordingly attended the +requisite classes successively at Leyden, Utrecht, and Paris; and in +about three years came home well qualified to commence practising as a +physician. Having taken up his residence in this capacity at Oxford, he +soon acquired for himself a distinguished reputation, and, young as he +was, was appointed assistant professor of anatomy in the University. He +had already also become known in the scientific world by some mechanical +inventions of considerable ingenuity; and he was one of the club of +inquirers who, about the year 1649, began to assemble weekly at Oxford, +for philosophical investigations and experiments, and out of whose +meetings eventually arose the present Royal Society. Indeed, Dr. Wallis, +one of the members, in a letter, in which he has given an account of the +association, tells us that their meetings were first held “at Dr. +Petty’s lodgings, in an apothecary’s house, because of the convenience +of inspecting drugs, and the like, as there was occasion.” Petty’s +reputation, however, rose so rapidly that, after having succeeded first +to the professorship of anatomy in the University, and then to that of +music in Gresham College, he was, in 1652, appointed physician to the +forces in Ireland. This carried him over to that country--and eventually +introduced him to a new career. In 1655 we find him appointed secretary +to the Lord Lieutenant, and three years afterwards a member of the House +of Commons. He was, however, soon after removed from his public +employments by the Parliament which met after the death of the +Protector. On the Restoration, which took place the following year, he +was made a commissioner of the Court of Claims. The remainder of his +life was as busy as the portion of it already passed had been; but we +have no room to enumerate the books he wrote, the ingenious schemes and +inventions with which his mind was constantly teeming, and the lucrative +speculations in mining, the manufacture of iron, and various other great +undertakings, in which he engaged. Suffice it to say, that, after +accumulating a large property, he died in London, on the 16th of +December, 1687, full of honours, if not of years. The first Marquis of +Lansdowne (the father of the present Marquis) was the great-grandson of +Sir William Petty. + + + --------------------- + + + THE VALUE OF A PENNY. + +It is an old saying, that “a pin a day is a groat a year,” by which +homely expression some wise man has intended to teach thoughtless people +the value of small savings. We shall endeavour to show the value of a +somewhat higher article, though a much despised one,--we mean a penny. + +Pennies, like minutes, are often thrown away because people do not know +what to do with them. Those who are economists of time, and all the +great men on record have been so, take care of the minutes, for they +know that a few minutes well applied each day will make hours in the +course of a week, and days in the course of a year; and in the course of +a long life they will make enough of time, if well employed, in which a +man may by perseverance have accomplished some work, useful to his +fellow-creatures, and honourable to himself. + +Large fortunes, when gained honestly, are rarely acquired in any other +way than by small savings at first; and savings can only be made by +habits of industry and temperance. A saving man, therefore, while he is +adding to the general stock of wealth, is setting an example of those +virtues on which the very existence and happiness of society depend. +There are saving people who are misers, and have no one good quality for +which we can like them. These are not the kind of people of whom we are +speaking; but we may remark that a miser, though a disagreeable fellow +while alive, is a very useful person when dead. He has been compared to +a tree, which, while it is growing, can be applied to no use, but at +last furnishes timber for houses and domestic utensils. But a miser is +infinitely more useful than a spendthrift, a mere consumer and waster, +who, after he has spent all his own money, tries to spend that of other +people. + +Suppose a young man, just beginning to work for himself, could save one +penny a day; and we believe there are few unmarried young workmen who +could not do this. At the end of a year he would have 1_l._ 10_s._ +5_d._, which he could safely deposit in a savings’ bank, where it would +lie safely, with some small addition for interest, till he might want +it. After five years’ savings, at the rate of a penny a day, he would +have between 8 and 9_l._, which it is very possible he might find some +opportunity of laying out to such advantage as to establish the +foundation of his future fortune. Who has not had the opportunity of +feeling some time in his life how advantageously he could have laid out +such a sum of money, and how readily such a sum might have been saved by +keeping all the pennies and sixpences that had been thrown away? Such a +sum as 8 or 9_l._ would enable a man to emigrate to Canada, where he +might, by persevering industry, acquire enough to purchase a piece of +land; and, if blessed with moderate length of life, he might be the +happy cultivator of his own estate. + +Eight pounds would enable a mechanic, who had acquired a good character +for sobriety and skill, to furnish himself on credit with goods and +tools to five or six times the amount of his capital; and this might +form the foundation of his future fortune. + +It often happens that a clever and industrious man may have the +opportunity of bettering his condition by removing to another place, or +accepting some situation of trust; but the want of a little money to +carry him from one place to another, the want of a better suit of +clothes, or some difficulty of that kind, often stands in the way. Eight +pounds would conquer all these obstacles. + +It may be said that five years is too long a time to look forward to. We +think not. This country is full of examples of men who have risen from +beginnings hardly more than the savings of a penny, through a long +course of persevering industry, to wealth and respectability. And we +believe there is hardly a condition, however low, from which a young man +of good principles and unceasing industry may not elevate himself. + +But suppose the penny only saved during one year: at the end of it the +young man finds he has got 1_l._ 10_s._ 5_d._ Will he squander this at +the ale-house, or in idle dissipation, after having had the virtue to +resist temptation all through the year? We think not. This 1_l._ 10_s._ +5_d._ may perform a number of useful offices. It may purchase some +necessary implement, some good substantial article of dress, some useful +books, or, if well laid out, some useful instruction in the branch of +industry which is his calling. It may relieve him in sickness, it may +contribute to the comfort of an aged father, it may assist the young man +in paying back some part of that boundless debt which he owes to the +care and tender anxiety of a mother, who has lived long enough to feel +the want of a son’s solicitude. Finally, however disposed of at the end +of the year, if well disposed of, the penny saved will be a source of +genuine satisfaction. The saving of it during the year has been a daily +repetition of a virtuous act, which near the end of the year we have +little doubt will be confirmed into a virtuous habit. + +Suppose a dozen young men, who are fond of reading, were to contribute a +penny a week to a common stock: at the end of the year they would have +2_l._ 12_s._ This sum judiciously laid out, would purchase at least +twelve volumes of really useful books, varying in price from three to +four shillings, besides allowing some small sum for the person who took +care of them and kept the accounts. Another year’s saving would add +another twelve volumes; and in five years the library might contain +sixty volumes, including a few useful books of reference, such as +dictionaries, maps, &c.--an amount of books, if well chosen, quite as +much as any one of them would be able to study well in his leisure +hours. + +But suppose the number of contributors were doubled or trebled, the +annual income would then amount to 5_l._ 4_s._, or 7_l._ 16_s._, for +which sum they could certainly procure as many useful books as they +could possibly want. There might be some difficulty in the choice of +books, as it is not always easy to know what are good and what are bad. +We propose to meet this difficulty by occasional notices of particular +books under the head of ‘The Library.’ At present we will merely suggest +what _classes_ of books might gradually find admission into such a +library. There are now good practical and cheap treatises on the +principles of many of the branches of industry which are followed by +mechanics--such as books on the elements of geometry and measuring of +surfaces and solids; on arithmetic; on chemistry, and its application to +the useful arts, &c.; lives of persons distinguished for industry and +knowledge; descriptions of foreign countries, compiled from the best +travels; maps on a pretty large scale, both of the heaven and of +different parts of the earth: such books as these, with an English +dictionary, a gazetteer, and some periodical work, would form a useful +library, such as in a few years might be got together. + +It would be impossible to enumerate all the good things that a penny +will purchase; and as to all the bad things, they are not worth +enumerating. But there is one which we cannot omit mentioning. A penny +will buy a penny-worth of gin, and a man may spend it daily without +thinking himself the worse for it. But as every penny saved tends to +give a man the habit of saving pennies, so every penny spent in gin, +tends to cause him to spend more. Thus the saver of the penny may at the +end of the year be a healthy reputable person, and confirmed economist, +with 1_l._ 10_s._ 5_d._ in his pocket: the spender may be an unhealthy, +ill-looking, worthless fellow; a confirmed gin-drinker, with nothing in +his pocket except unpaid bills. + +We wish it were in our power to impress strongly on the working people +of this kingdom, how much happiness they may have at their command by +small savings. They are by far the most numerous part of the community; +and it is by their condition that the real prosperity of the country +should be estimated; not by the few who live in affluence and splendour. +Hard as the condition of the working classes often is, are they not yet +aware that by industry, frugality, and a judicious combination of their +small resources, they can do more to make themselves happy, than anybody +else can do for them? + + + --------------------- + + + MIRABEAU. + +M. Dumont, of Geneva, a distinguished writer on jurisprudence, who died +about two years ago, has left behind him a most interesting work, +entitled ‘Recollections of Mirabeau, and of the two first Legislative +Assemblies.’ This work has been received throughout Europe as one of +great merit and importance, and deservedly so; for it contains, in a +brief space, the best account we have read of the most extraordinary +part of the life of one of the most extraordinary men of modern times; +and with it, the first impulses and movement of the French Revolution. + +This most extraordinary man, whose character is still a problem to most +of those who knew him, was Honoré Gabriel Riquetti de Mirabeau, who +ruled the National Assembly, who directed the political opinions of +twenty-five millions of men for two years together, and who was, for +that period, what has been cleverly termed “the intellectual Dictator of +France.” This champion for the people was born a noble; his father was +the Marquis de Mirabeau, of whose ancestors we know nothing; but, on his +mother’s side, he could boast a descent of which even those who dislike +or care not for aristocracy, might be proud; for she was grand-daughter +of Riquet, constructor of the famous canal of Languedoc. Mirabeau was +ugly in face almost to hideousness; and he was perfectly conscious of +this; for, in writing to a lady who had never seen him, he told her to +fancy the face of a tiger that had been marked with the smallpox, and +then she would have an idea of his countenance; and at a later period, +when his voice and gesture and appearance struck the National Assembly +with awe, he was accustomed to say, if any of its members had shown +refractoriness during his absence, “I will go down to the House and show +them my wild boar’s head[1], and that will silence them!” + +All the circumstances of the times were favourable to his ambition and +his wonderful talents and energy; but perhaps no man ever begun public +life with more disadvantages, as regarded his own character, against +him. He had been seventeen times in prison; he had deserted his own, and +run away with other men’s wives; he had had the most scandalous lawsuits +with his own family; had been condemned as a criminal; exiled; executed +in effigy; he had written and published one of the most depraved of +books; had led the most dissipated and obscene of lives; and was known +to be a dangerous enemy to those he hated, and an unsure friend to those +he pretended to love. The morals of the French capital had been reduced +in the days of despotism to a degraded standard; but, according to +Dumont, when the name of Mirabeau was first read in the National +Assembly among those elected to represent the French nation, it was +hissed and hooted by all present. + +In spite, however, of all this, in a few weeks he was everything with +those men who had considered themselves disgraced by being associated +with him; and gathering influence and power by bounds, and not by slow +steps, he became almost the absolute master of the National Assembly, +the mass of whose members he moved and controlled with as much facility +as the Italian showman moves his wooden puppets. His talents and energy +were indeed, as we have characterized them--_wonderful_, and so was his +eloquence; but these qualities would not of themselves have given him +the supremacy he obtained. There were two other advantages in his +favour: the first of which we have never heard sufficient importance +given to--the second of which M. Dumont alone has clearly, and, it +appears to us, honestly, stated. + +During his long imprisonments, Mirabeau had profoundly studied the +science of politics; and during his exile in foreign countries, and +particularly in England, he had attentively investigated the practical +part of government: he was the only man that entered the National +Assembly well acquainted with the necessary forms and true spirit of a +representative government; all the rest had to learn their rudiments. +There was talent--there was even genius in abundance--but all these new +legislators were theorists; Mirabeau was the only practical man. + +In the second place, he had a wonderful art (which he had also acquired +during his misfortunes, when his poverty obliged him to write and +compile books and pamphlets for his living) of readily availing himself +of the assistance of other men, and of working up their materials so as +to make them appear his own. The whole matter of many of Mirabeau’s most +admired speeches was furnished by M. Dumont himself, or by another +citizen of Geneva, M. Duroverai; and, generally, he laid under +contribution the information and experience of all his associates. When +he was deficient on any point, or, what was more frequently the case, +pressed for time, he would assemble these gentlemen, and from their +conversation, their notes, or digested essays, get up all he wanted, and +proceed forthwith to astonish the Assembly with his wonderful fund of +knowledge and flashes of eloquence. But that eloquence, it must be said, +did really make the matter his own; his powers of adaptation were as +great as those of invention in other men. + +Mirabeau’s hatred to the ancient despotism was implacable; but he seems +to have had no objection to a constitutional monarchy. Great obscurity +still hangs over these matters; but it is said that, seeing the +democratic principle was gaining too much strength, and the revolution +going too far, he had undertaken to stop its march, and that the +negotiations with the Court of the unfortunate Louis XVI., which were +notorious, had for their object the prevention of a republic, and the +establishment of a limited monarchy. His will had hitherto been law; he +had ruled and played with all parties and factions--but whether he could +now have succeeded to the utmost of his wish--whether he could now have +quieted the storm _he_ had mainly raised, and on which he had floated, +we cannot determine; for at the very crisis, at the time when he was +supposed to hold the destinies of his country in his hands, he died in +the forty-second year of his age, after a most agonizing illness of five +days, brought on by his detestable excesses. + +His funeral was “rather an apotheosis than a human entombment.” Nearly +all Paris followed his body to the church of Sainte Geneviève, +thenceforward entitled the Pantheon; the melancholy music, the thousand +torches, and the intermittent cannon, producing an effect which has been +forcibly described by many eye-witnesses; and those who had feared and +hated him, those who had been literally enchanted by his eloquence and +genius, saw the grave closed over Mirabeau with awe and feelings that +never can be described. + +The career of Mirabeau offers a few consolatory remarks to those who are +gifted with no extraordinary faculties, either for good or for evil. +Mirabeau swayed the destinies of millions,--but he was never +happy;--Mirabeau had almost reached the pinnacle of human power, and yet +he fell a victim to the same evil passions which degrade and ruin the +lowest of mankind. He could never be really great, because he was never +freed from the bondage of his own evil desires. The man who steadily +pursues a consistent course of duty, which has for its object to do good +to himself and to all around him, will be followed to the grave by a few +humble and sincere mourners, and no record will remain, except in the +hearts of those who loved him, to tell of his earthly career. But that +man may gladly leave to such as Mirabeau the music, the torches, and the +cannon, by which a nation proclaimed its loss; for assuredly he has felt +that inward consolation, and that sustaining hope throughout his life, +which only the good can feel;--he has fully enjoyed, in all its purity, +the holy influence of “the peace of God, which passeth all +understanding.” + +----- + +Footnote 1: + + In French, la hure. + + + --------------------- + + + THE MAY-FLY. + +“The angler’s May-fly, the most short-lived in its perfect state of any +of the insect race, emerges from the water, where it passes its +_aurelia_ state, about six in the evening, and dies about eleven at +night.”--_White’s Selborne._ + + The sun of the eve was warm and bright + When the May-fly burst his shell, + And he wanton’d awhile in that fair light + O’er the river’s gentle swell; + And the deepening tints of the crimson sky + Still gleam’d on the wing of the glad May-fly. + + The colours of sunset pass’d away, + The crimson and yellow green, + And the evening-star’s first twinkling ray + In the waveless stream was seen; + Till the deep repose of the stillest night + Was hushing about his giddy flight. + + The noon of the night is nearly come-- + There’s a crescent in the sky;-- + The silence still hears the myriad hum + Of the insect revelry. + The hum has ceas’d--the quiet wave + Is now the sportive May-fly’s grave. + + Oh! thine was a blessed lot--to spring + In thy lustihood to air, + And sail about, on untiring wing, + Through a world most rich and fair, + To drop at once in thy watery bed, + Like a leaf that the willow branch has shed. + + And who shall say that his thread of years + Is a life more blest than thine! + Has his feverish dream of doubts and fears + Such joys as those which shine + In the constant pleasures of thy way, + Most happy child of the happy May? + + For thou wert born when the earth was clad + With her robe of buds and flowers, + And didst float about with a soul as glad + As a bird in the sunny showers; + And the hour of thy death had a sweet repose, + Like a melody, sweetest at its close. + + Nor too brief the date of thy cheerful race-- + ’Tis its use that measures time-- + And the mighty Spirit that fills all space + With His life and His will sublime, + May see that the May-fly and the Man + Each flutter out the same small span. + + And the fly that is born with the sinking sun, + To die ere the midnight hour, + May have deeper joy, ere his course be run, + Than man in his pride and power; + And the insect’s minutes be spared the fears + And the anxious doubts of our three-score years. + + The years and the minutes are as one-- + The fly drops in his twilight mirth, + And the man, when his long day’s work is done, + Crawls to the self-same earth. + Great Father of each! may our mortal day + Be the prelude to an endless May! + + + --------------------- + + + HIGH DUTIES AND LOW DUTIES. + +It is a well-known principle, that in taxation two and two do not make +four--that is, if a government receive one sum from a low or a moderate +duty upon an article of common use, that receipt will not be doubled by +doubling the duty. In some cases it will be even lessened. This result +is produced by the diminished consumption, arising out of the higher +price to the consumer; which higher price includes the additional profit +which the manufacturer and the retailer must charge for the additional +capital employed upon the article in consequence of the tax. Suppose a +tax of a penny were put upon the ‘Penny Magazine.’ Let us see, in that +case, how the tax would affect the consumption, and what the government +would gain by the tax. In the first place the tax would raise the price +of the Magazine to _three_-pence; for, as the retailer receives +one-third of the present price, he would also require to receive +one-third of the additional price:--the stamp of a penny would therefore +immediately become three half-pence to the consumer, by the profit of +the retailer alone. The remaining half-penny would be necessary to +compensate the publisher for this additional advance of capital, and for +the diminished return upon the original outlay for authors, artists, and +that branch of the printing process which is called composition. There +are certain expenses which are the same whether a work sells one hundred +copies, or one hundred thousand. The price being therefore raised to +three-pence, we may fairly conclude that the consumption would be +diminished nine-tenths--that ten thousand copies would be sold instead +of a hundred thousand. Let us see how the revenue would be affected by +these altered circumstances:-- + + The paper for 100,000 copies of the Penny Magazine + weighs 3,400 lbs., upon which a duty is paid of 3d. £. s. d. + per lb., amounting to 42 10 0 + + The imposition of a stamp of 1d. per copy would have + the effect of raising the retail price of the Penny + Magazine to 3d. At that rate it is presumed that + the sale of the _Three_-penny Magazine, instead of + being 100,000 copies, would be reduced to 10,000 + at the utmost. + + Upon 10,000 copies, with 1d. stamp, the revenue + would receive as under: £. s. d. £. s. d. £. s. d. + Duty of 3d. in the lb. upon paper. 4 5 0 + Stamp of 1d. upon 10,000 41 13 0 + Deduct discount of twenty per cent. + allowed upon news stamps 8 6 6 + ________ 33 6 6 + ________ 37 11 6 + ________ + _Weekly_ loss to the revenue from the high duty 4 18 6 + ________ + + Or, _Annual_ duty upon sixty-four impressions of 100,000 + copies of the Penny Magazine, using 217,600 lbs. of + paper, taxed at 3d. per lb 2,720 0 0 + _Annual_ produce of a penny stamp, and paper duty upon + 10,000 copies 2,404 16 0 + ___________ + _Annual_ loss to the revenue from the high duty 315 4 0 + +By this operation, therefore, the government would sustain that loss +which invariably results from the diminished consumption of an article +of general use upon which a high duty is imposed; and ninety thousand +persons would be excluded from the purchase of a little work from which +they derive instruction and amusement. By this diminished consumption of +nine-tenths of the Penny Magazine, nearly nine-tenths of the +paper-makers, printers, type-founders, ink-makers, bookbinders, +carriers, and retailers, to whom the sale of a hundred thousand copies +weekly affords profitable employment, would, as far as the Penny +Magazine goes, be deprived of that employment; and that diminution of +profitable employment would in a degree diminish their power of +continuing consumers of other articles contributing to the revenue, and +thus still more affect the amount of taxation dependent upon the Penny +Magazine. + + + --------------------- + + +_Perseverance_.--“I recollect,” says Sir Jonah Barrington, “in Queen’s +County, to have seen a Mr. Clerk, who had been a working carpenter, and +when making a bench for the session justices at the Court-house, was +laughed at for taking peculiar pains in planing and smoothing the seat +of it. He smilingly observed, that he did so _to make it easy for +himself_, as he was resolved he would never die till he had a right to +sit thereupon, and he kept his word. He was an industrious man--honest, +respectable, and kind-hearted. He succeeded in all his efforts to +accumulate an independence; he did accumulate it, and uprightly. His +character kept pace with the increase of his property, and he lived to +sit as a magistrate on that very bench that he sawed and planed.” + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + LONDON:--CHARLES KNIGHT, PALL-MALL EAST. + + _Shopkeepers and Hawkers may be supplied Wholesale by the following + Booksellers:_-- + + _London_, GROOMBRIDGE, Panyer Alley, Paternoster Row. + _Birmingham_, DRAKE. + _Bristol_, WESTLEY and Co. + _Hull_, STEPHENSON. + _Leeds_, BAINES and Co. + _Liverpool_, WILLMER and SMITH. + _Manchester_, ROBINSON, and WEBB and SIMMS. + _Newcastle-upon-Tyne_, CHARNLEY. + _Nottingham_, WRIGHT. + _Dublin_, WAKEMAN. + _Edinburgh_, OLIVER and BOYD. + _Glasgow_, ATKINSON and Co. + + Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES, Stamford Street. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + Transcriber’s Notes + + +This file uses _underscores_ to indicate italic text. New original cover +art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain. Itemized +changes from the original text: + + • p. 61: Added “a” to phrase “the value of a somewhat higher article.” + • p. 62: Changed “here” to “there” in phrase “And we believe there is + hardly a condition, however low, from which.” + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76752 *** |