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| committer | pgww <pgww@lists.pglaf.org> | 2025-09-14 10:22:02 -0700 |
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} + div.linegroup > :last-child { margin-bottom: 0; } + .shrink {font-size:90%; } + </style> + </head> + <body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76874 ***</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span> + <h1 class='c000' title='The Penny Magazine, June 30, 1832'>THE PENNY MAGAZINE</h1> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div><span class='small'>OF THE</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div><span class='large'>Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class="full"> +<div class="masthead"> +<div class="masthead-right">[<span class='sc'>June</span> 30, 1832</div> +<div class="masthead-left">15.]</div> +<div class="masthead-centre">PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY.</div> +<hr class="full"> +</div> + +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>THE CAVE OF ELEPHANTA.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='illo-wide'> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<a href='images/the-cave-of-elephanta-full.jpg'><img src='images/the-cave-of-elephanta-inline.png' alt='A view of a cave, with large statues and pillars and two people standing inside.' class='ig001'></a> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class='c003'>One of the earliest monuments of India that attracted +the notice of Europeans was the excavation of Elephanta, +situated in a beautiful island of the same name, +called by the natives Goripura, or <i>Mountain City</i>. This +island is in the bay of Bombay, seven miles from Bombay +castle; it is about six miles in circumference, and +composed of two long hills with a narrow valley between +them.</p> + +<p class='c004'>The island has taken its familiar name from a colossal +statue of an elephant, cut out of a detached mass +of blackish rock unconnected with any stratum below. +This figure has had another on its back, which the old +travellers call a young elephant, but which, as far as we +can judge from the drawing of what remains of it, has +much more probably been a tiger. The head and neck +of this elephant dropped off about 1814, owing to a +large fissure that ran up through its back. The length +of this colossal figure, from the forehead to the root of +the tail, was 13 feet 2 inches; and the height at the +head 7 feet 4 inches. The remains of this colossus +stand about 250 yards to the right of the usual landing-place, +which is towards the southern part of the island.</p> + +<p class='c004'>After proceeding up the valley till the two mountains +unite, we come to a narrow path, after ascending which +there is a beautiful prospect of the northern part of the +island, and the opposite shores of Salsette. “Advancing +forward and keeping to the left along the bend of the +hill, we gradually mount to an open space, and come +suddenly on the grand entrance of a magnificent temple, +whose huge massy columns seem to give support to the +whole mountain which rises above it.</p> + +<p class='c004'>“The entrance into this temple, which is entirely +hewn out of a stone resembling porphyry, is by a spacious +front supported by two massy pillars and two +pilasters forming three openings, under a thick and +steep rock overhung by brushwood and wild shrubs. +The long ranges of columns that appear closing in perspective +on every side; the flat roof of solid rock +that seems to be prevented from falling only by the +massy pillars, whose capitals are pressed down and +flattened as if by the superincumbent weight; the darkness +that obscures the interior of the temple, which is +dimly lighted only by the entrances; and the gloomy +appearance of the gigantic stone figures ranged along +the wall, and hewn, like the whole temple, out of the +living rock,—joined to the strange uncertainty that +hangs over the history of this place,—carry the mind +back to distant periods, and impress it with that kind of +uncertain and religious awe with which the grander +works of ages of darkness are generally contemplated.</p> + +<p class='c004'>“The whole excavation consists of three principal +parts: the great temple itself, which is in the centre, +and two smaller chapels, one on each side of the great +temple. These two chapels do not come forward into +a straight line with the front of the chief temple, are +not perceived on approaching the temple, and are considerably +in recess, being approached by two narrow +passes in the hill, one on each side of the grand +entrance, but at some distance from it. After advancing +to some distance up these confined passes, we find each +of them conduct to another front of the grand excavation, +exactly like the principal front which is first seen; +all the three fronts being hollowed out of the solid rock, +and each consisting of two huge pillars with two pilasters. +The two side fronts are precisely opposite to each +other on the east and west, the grand entrance facing +the north. The two wings of the temple are at the +upper end of these passages, and are close by the grand +excavation, but have no covered passage to connect them +with it.<a id='r1'></a><a href='#f1' class='c005'><sup>[1]</sup></a>”</p> + +<p class='c004'>From the northern entrance to the extremity of this +cave is about 130½ feet, and from the eastern to the +western side 133. Twenty-six pillars, of which eight are +broken, and sixteen pilasters, support the roof. Neither +the floor nor the roof is in the same plane, and consequently +the height varies, being in some parts 17½, in +others 15 feet. Two rows of pillars run parallel to one +another from the northern entrance and at right angles +to it, to the extremity of the cave; and the pilasters, +one of which stands on each side of the two front pillars, +are followed by other pilasters and pillars also, forming +on each side of the two rows already described, another +row, running parallel to them up to the southern extremity +of the cave. The pillars on the eastern and western +front, which are like those on the northern side, are also +<span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>continued across the temple from east to west. Thus +the ranges of pillars form a number of parallel lines +intersecting one another at right angles—the pillars of +the central parts being considered as common to the +two sets of intersecting lines. The pillars vary both in +their size and decorations, though the difference is not +sufficient to strike the eye at first.</p> + +<p class='c004'>All the walls are covered with reliefs (which are yet +very little known for want of complete drawings), but +are described as being in good proportion and producing +rather a pleasing effect than the contrary. All the +sculptures refer to the Indian mythology, and the temple +seems to have been the special property of the god +Siva, since he appears very frequently with his usual +attributes. In one place we see him as half man and +half woman, with one breast and four hands, in one of +which he holds the snake.</p> + +<p class='c004'>In Mr. Daniell’s Views in India (vol. v. pl. 7) we +have a beautiful drawing of the northern front of the +Elephanta cave, with its overhanging trees and shrubs. +His eighth plate is that which we have above given. +“The view is taken near the centre of the temple looking +westward. The space between four of the pillars +is formed into a small temple, sacred to Mahadiva +(Siva), and has an entrance on each side, guarded by +colossal figures.” “On the walls are several groups of +figures in basso-relievo, evidently relating to the Hindoo +mythology; many of them are of colossal dimensions +and well executed. To the east and west are small apartments, +decorated also in the same manner. This excavation +is considerably elevated above the sea; the floor, +nevertheless, is generally covered with water during the +monsoon season; the rain being then driven in by the +wind; a circumstance to which possibly its present state +of decay is chiefly owing.”</p> + +<p class='c004'>Larger excavations of this kind are found in the +neighbouring island of Salsette. But these are far surpassed +by the temples of Ellora, which are in the province +of Hyderabad, about twenty miles north-west from +Aurungabad, the capital, and 239 east of Bombay. It +may be considered as near the centre of India. Here +we have a granite mountain, which is of an amphitheatre +form, completely chiselled out from top to bottom, +and filled with innumerable temples; the god Siva +alone having, it is said, about twenty appropriated to +himself. To describe the numerous galleries and rows +of pillars which support various chambers lying one +above another, the steps, porticos, and bridges of rock +over canals, also hewn out of the solid rock, would be +impossible; and we recommend those who have the +opportunity to look at Daniell’s designs, which will serve +to give some idea of this wonderful place.</p> + +<p class='c004'>The rock-cut temples of India are generally supposed +to be of higher antiquity than pagodas<a id='r2'></a><a href='#f2' class='c005'><sup>[2]</sup></a> or temples, +built on the surface of the earth.</p> + +<div class='shrink'> + +<p class='c006'>⁂ Abridged from ‘British Museum—Egyptian Antiquities.’</p> + +</div> + +<hr class='c007'> +<div class='footnote' id='f1'> +<p class='c004'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. Mr. W. Erskine, in the Bombay Literary Transactions.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f2'> +<p class='c004'><a href='#r2'>2</a>. The word pagoda is a corruption of <i>Bhaga-rati</i>, “holy house,” +one of the several names by which the Hindoo temples are known.]</p> +</div> + +<div class='c008'></div> +<hr class="divider"> +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>THE WEATHER.—No. 3.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c003'>Ben Jonson, in his play of ‘Every Man out of his +Humour,’ has a character of which some examples +may still be found, even in our own day. It is that of +a credulous man, who relies implicitly on the <i>Weather +Prophecies</i> of the almanacs of his time;—and, his barns +being full, resolves not to sow his ground, because the +almanacs foretel</p> + +<div class='shrink'> + +<div class='lg-container-b'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Rotten weather and unseasoned hours.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class='c009'>This species of credulity is probably not very often +now carried as far as in the instance of <i>Sordido</i>, the +dupe of the play;—but still there are some amongst us +who will not cut their grass till they have seen what +“Master Moore” says about the weather. In nine +cases out of ten these superstitious confiders in an +almost worn-out imposture, have in the end to exclaim +with the miser of the old dramatist, “Tut, these star-monger +knaves, who would trust ’em? One says, <i>dark +and rainy</i>, when ’tis as clear as crystal; another says, +<i>tempestuous blasts and storms</i>, and ’twas as calm as a +milk-bowl. Here be sweet rascals for a man to credit +his whole fortunes with<a id='r3'></a><a href='#f3' class='c005'><sup>[3]</sup></a>!”</p> + +<p class='c004'>Now, let us see what the almanac oracle of the +present time—“Francis Moore, Physician”—says about +the weather, for June, 1832. He says, in one of his +narrow columns which runs parallel with the calendar +of the present month, “Variable, with thunder showers +flying about. Some showers at intervals, attended with +electrical <i>phenomena</i>, <span class='fss'>EVEN TO THE END</span>.” Be it remembered +that this prophecy is for <em>all parts</em> of the United +Kingdom—for England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland;—for +the hilly districts and for the plains,—for the +coasts and for the inland countries. A correspondent, +who writes to us about the weather, very sensibly says, +“Does it not often happen that they have many rainy +days successively at Manchester, whilst not a drop falls +at Leeds? How then can any man’s tables about the +moon, or general rules for the weather, or the prophecies +of almanacs, answer for both the hilly and level +districts? The Cheshire men say that their rugged-topt +hills knock out the bottoms of the clouds, and leave +them as leaky as a sieve while passing over Manchester.” +So much for the <em>universal</em> application of these astrological +predictions of the weather.</p> + +<p class='c004'>But let us further examine this prophecy of Moore’s +Almanac for the present month of June. There are +some who impudently defend the publication of such +predictions, as well as the predictions of political events +which the same almanac contains;—and they say that +the weather prophecies are only intended to give the +average results of many years of actual observation, +which make more impression upon the farmer’s mind +in this form than if he were to refer himself to meteorological +tables of the barometer, of the thermometer, of +the hygrometer, and of the rain-gauge. Now, here is a +prediction calculated to frighten the credulous agriculturist +into a belief that the whole of June, throughout +the country, will be unfavourable to hay-making:—“Showers +at intervals, attended with <i>electrical phenomena</i>, +<span class='fss'>EVEN TO THE END</span>.” Electrical phenomena! This +is a phrase as terrific as the obscurities of the ancient oracles. +A phenomenon, as most of our readers know, is an +appearance—anything made manifest to us in any way; +and as electricity is doubtless one of the most important +agents in producing particular states of the weather, rain +and sunshine, wind and calm, heat and cold, may be +equally <i>electrical phenomena</i>. But “showers at intervals, +attended with electrical phenomena,” is a phrase +naturally calculated to frighten the ignorant into a belief +that the weather of June, “even unto the end,” will be +rainy, attended with heavy storms; the most unfavourable +state, because producing the greatest uncertainty +and expense in the work of getting in the hay-harvest. +This prediction was probably manufactured a year ago: +it was printed in October last; and so far from giving a +notion of what is the <em>average</em> weather for June—the +only matter upon which the prediction monger could +possess the slightest information—he prophesies directly +in the teeth of the best meteorological records; for it is +a well-known fact that in June the average number of +days on which rain falls is under twelve—the lowest +number of any month in the year. June, therefore, is +in general the most favourable month for hay-making, +whatever exceptions there may be in particular years; +of which “Francis Moore” could know no more beforehand +than the most ignorant peasant whom he deludes.</p> + +<p class='c004'><span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>But let us look a little further at the prophecies of +the Weather-Almanac. June being lost to the hay-farmer +by the fear of “rain and electrical phenomena,” +July is to make him happy “with fair and hot weather.” +The hay-harvest therefore will be, if possible, deferred +by the dupes onward to July. Now in July a continuance +of rainy weather commonly happens about the +middle of the month; and this periodical tendency to +rain has given rise to the popular tradition of St. Swithin. +Of course there are exceptions to this tendency; but in +this, as in most cases, the popular error has some little +foundation in truth. The chances, therefore, are that +the farmer who, for fear of “electrical phenomena,” has +let June pass over without cutting his grass, will find a +very short interval between the beginning of July and +the periodical rains of the middle of that month; and +thus a great deal of national property may be destroyed, +and the credulous individual’s capital expended in vain, +because he has chosen to believe in a musty cheat, of +which even the propagators of the deception are +ashamed.</p> + +<p class='c004'>We have endeavoured to show in a former Number +(and we shall continue the subject in a future paper), +that by the careful use of good instruments, some few +facts may be established as guides in operations dependent +upon the weather. In the place of these the observations +of shepherds, fishermen, and others who have +attended to the <em>passing</em> and <em>local</em> signs of winds, and +clouds, and tints of the sky, and other omens, are not +to be despised. These men are practical philosophers, +who may fairly claim some accurate knowledge of the +weather from day to day. They are much too sensible +and honest to pretend to any power of predicting if +it will be fair or foul weather, for a year, or a month, +or even a week beforehand. Such a man has been +described by the poet:—</p> + +<div class='shrink'> + +<div class='lg-container-b'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>⸻“In his shepherd’s calling he was prompt,</div> + <div class='line'>And watchful more than ordinary men.</div> + <div class='line'>Hence had he learned the meaning of all winds,</div> + <div class='line'>Of blasts of every tone; and, oftentimes,</div> + <div class='line'>When others heeded not, he heard the South</div> + <div class='line'>Make subterraneous music, like the noise</div> + <div class='line'>Of bagpipers on distant Highland hills.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class='c004'>The late Sir Humphrey Davy, one of the most successful +modern explorers of the secrets of nature, was +not above attending to, and explaining the, “weather-omens” +which are derived from popular observation. +In his ‘Salmonia’ he has the following dialogue +between Halieus (a fly-fisher), Poietes (a poet), Physicus +(a man of science), and Ornither (a sportsman):—</p> + +<div class='shrink'> + +<p class='c003'>“<i>Poiet</i>. I hope we shall have another good day to-morrow, for +the clouds are red in the west.</p> + +<p class='c004'>“<i>Phys</i>. I have no doubt of it, for the red has a tint of purple.</p> + +<p class='c004'>“<i>Hal</i>. Do you know why this tint portends fine weather?</p> + +<p class='c004'>“<i>Phys</i>. The air, when dry, I believe, refracts more red, or heat-making +rays; and as dry air is not perfectly transparent, they are +again reflected in the horizon. I have generally observed a coppery +or yellow sun-set to foretel rain; but, as an indication of wet weather +approaching, nothing is more certain than a halo round the moon, +which is produced by the precipitated water; and the larger the +circle, the nearer the clouds, and consequently the more ready to fall.</p> + +<p class='c004'>“<i>Hal</i>. I have often observed that the old proverb is correct—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘A rainbow in the morning is the shepherd’s warning;</div> + <div class='line'> A rainbow at night is the shepherd’s delight.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c004'>Can you explain this omen?</p> + +<p class='c004'>“<i>Phys</i>. A rainbow can only occur when the clouds containing, or +depositing, the rain are opposite the sun,—and in the evening the +rainbow is in the east, and in the morning in the west; and as our +heavy rains, in this climate, are usually brought by the westerly wind, +a rainbow in the west indicates that the bad weather is on the road, +by the wind, to us; whereas the rainbow in the east proves that the +rain in these clouds is passing from us.</p> + +<p class='c004'>“<i>Poiet</i>. I have often observed, that when the swallows fly high +fine weather is to be expected or continued; but when they fly low, +and close to the ground, rain is almost surely approaching. Can +you account for this?</p> + +<p class='c004'>“<i>Hal</i>. Swallows follow the flies and gnats, and flies and gnats +usually delight in warm strata of air; and as warm air is lighter, +and usually moister, than cold air, when the warm strata of air are +high, there is less chance of moisture being thrown down from them +by the mixture with cold air; but when the warm and moist air is +close to the surface, it is almost certain that, as the cold air flows +down into it, a deposition of water will take place.</p> + +<p class='c004'>“<i>Poiet</i>. I have often seen sea-gulls assemble on the land, and +have almost always observed that very stormy and rainy weather was +approaching. I conclude that these animals, sensible of a current +of air approaching from the ocean, retire to the land to shelter themselves +from the storm.</p> + +<p class='c004'>“<i>Orn</i>. No such thing. The storm is their element, and the little +petrel enjoys the heaviest gale; because, living on the smaller sea +insects, he is sure to find his food in the spray of a heavy wave, and +you may see him flitting above the edge of the highest surge. I believe +that the reason of this migration of sea-gulls, and other sea +birds, to the land, is their security of finding food; and they may +be observed, at this time, feeding greedily on the earth-worms and +larvæ, driven out of the ground by severe floods; and the fish, on +which they prey in fine weather in the sea, leave the surface, and +go deeper in storms. The search after food, as we have agreed +on a former occasion, is the principal cause why animals change their +places. The different tribes of the wading birds always migrate when +rain is about to take place; and I remember once, in Italy, having +been long waiting, in the end of March, for the arrival of the double +snipe in the Campagna of Rome, a great flight appeared on the 3d +of April, and the day after heavy rain set in, which greatly interfered +with my sport. The vulture, upon the same principle, follows armies; +and I have no doubt that the augury of the ancients was a good deal +founded upon the observation of the instincts of birds. There are +many superstitions of the vulgar owing to the same source. For +anglers, in spring, it is always unlucky to see single magpies,—but +<em>two</em> may be always regarded as a favourable omen; and the reason +is, that in cold and stormy weather one magpie alone leaves the nest +in search of food, the other remaining sitting upon the eggs or the +young ones; but when two go out together it is only when the +weather is warm and mild, and favourable for fishing.</p> + +<p class='c004'>“<i>Poiet</i>. The singular connections of causes and effects to which +you have just referred, makes superstition less to be wondered at, +particularly amongst the vulgar; and when two facts, naturally unconnected, +have been accidentally coincident, it is not singular that +this coincidence should have been observed and registered, and that +omens of the most absurd kind should be trusted in. In the west of +England, half a century ago, a particular hollow noise on the sea +coast was referred to a spirit or goblin, called Bucca, and was supposed +to foretel a shipwreck; the philosopher knows that sound +travels much faster than currents in the air—and the sound always +foretold the approach of a very heavy storm, which seldom takes +place on that wild and rocky coast without a shipwreck on some +part of its extensive shores, surrounded by the Atlantic.”</p> + +</div> + +<p class='c003'>We may not improperly conclude this paper with +some lines which have been transmitted to us, as a +production of the late Dr. Jenner, the discoverer of +vaccination. We, of course, do not recommend an +implicit reliance upon such <em>natural</em> prophecies of the +weather of the coming day. But, at any rate, whatever +connected with this subject tends to open a man’s own +eyes,—whatever excites in him the habit of observation +and comparison,—is a benefit; whilst a reliance, on the +contrary, on the unprincipled quackeries of the more +popular almanacs which still disgrace our country, as well +as every other prostration of the understanding before +the shrine of ignorance, is the most deceptive of all states +of the human mind, and the most likely to engender a +train of other delusions which shut up the sources of real +knowledge, and degrade the whole moral as well as +intellectual character.</p> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c008'> + <div>SIGNS OF RAIN.</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='shrink'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div>Addressed by Dr. Jenner, in 1810, to a Lady who asked him if he thought it would rain to-morrow.</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The hollow winds begin to blow,</div> + <div class='line'>The clouds look black, the glass is low:</div> + <div class='line'>The soot falls down, the spaniels sleep,</div> + <div class='line'>And spiders from their cobwebs creep:</div> + <div class='line'>Last night the sun went pale to bed,</div> + <div class='line'>The moon in halos hid her head:</div> + <div class='line'>The boding shepherd heaves a sigh,</div> + <div class='line'>For see, a rainbow spans the sky;</div> + <div class='line'>The walls are damp, the ditches smell,</div> + <div class='line'>Closed is the pink-eyed pimpernel;</div> + <div class='line'>The squalid toads at dusk were seen</div> + <div class='line'>Slowly crawling o’er the green;</div> + <div class='line'>Loud quack the ducks, the peacocks cry,</div> + <div class='line'>The distant hills are looking nigh;</div> + <div class='line'>Hark, how the chairs and tables crack,</div> + <div class='line'>Old Betty’s joints are on the rack;</div> + <div class='line'>And see yon rooks, how odd their flight,</div> + <div class='line'>They imitate the gliding kite,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>Or seem precipitate to fall</div> + <div class='line'>As if they felt the piercing ball;</div> + <div class='line'>How restless are the snorting swine,</div> + <div class='line'>The busy flies disturb the kine,</div> + <div class='line'>Low o’er the grass the swallow wings,</div> + <div class='line'>The cricket too, how loud she sings,</div> + <div class='line'>Puss on the hearth with velvet paws</div> + <div class='line'>Sits wiping o’er her whisker’d jaws:—</div> + <div class='line'>’Twill surely rain, I see, with sorrow,</div> + <div class='line'>Our jaunt must be put off to-morrow.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class='c007'> +<div class='footnote' id='f3'> +<p class='c004'><a href='#r3'>3</a>. Every Man out of his Humour; Act iii. Scene 7.</p> +</div> + +<div class='c008'></div> +<hr class="divider"> +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>THE BRITISH MUSEUM.—No. 4.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='illo-wide'> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<a href='images/the-british-museum-1-full.jpg'><img src='images/the-british-museum-1-inline.png' alt='' class='ig001'></a> +<div class='ic002'> +<p>[The Musk-Ox.]</p> +</div> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class='c003'>We shall occasionally turn aside from the monuments of +Art in the British Museum to notice some of the specimens +in the collection of Natural History. Stuffed +skins and skeletons are, of course, much less interesting, +both to the scientific student of zoology and to the +ordinary observer, than the living animal, retaining his +natural habits, as far as they can be preserved, in a +menagerie. But, at the same time, a stuffed skin +affords a much better notion of the animated creature +than the best drawing; and, in some cases, the living +specimen cannot be procured, or kept alive, in this +country. In such cases we are compelled to resort to +such preserved specimens as that of the <i>musk-ox</i>, on +the great staircase of the Museum.</p> + +<p class='c004'>This specimen is very faithfully represented in the +above wood-cut. The animal, of which this skin was +once a part, was shot by some of the persons accompanying +Captain Parry, in one of his expeditions to the +Polar Seas; and was presented to the Museum by the +Lords of the Admiralty. The appearance of the musk-ox, +as the visitor will observe, is strikingly different +from that of the common black cattle of Great Britain. +Its limbs are singularly short,—its crooked horns are +broad and flattened,—long thick hair covers the whole +of its trunk, hanging down nearly to the ground,—and +its short tail, bending inwards, is entirely hidden by the +long hair of the rump and hind quarters. It will be +noticed that the hair is particularly thick under the +throat, looking something like a horse’s mane inverted. +The adaptation of the structure of this animal to the +frozen regions which he inhabits, offers one of the +most striking illustrations of design which the natural +world exhibits. The shortness of the creature’s limbs +prevents that exposure of the trunk to the snow-storms +and the cold, which would result from a greater elevation; +whilst he is more effectually protected from the severity +of the seasons by the dense mass of hair with which his +whole body is covered, and which, in winter, becomes a +thick woolly coat, beneath the long straight hair which +forms his outer garment. The Author of the Appendix +to Parry’s Second Voyage, in noticing the remarkable +projection of the orbits of the eyes in this species, considers +that their formation is necessary to carry the eye +of the animal clear beyond the large quantity of hair +required to preserve the warmth of the head.</p> + +<p class='c004'>Thus protected from the inclemency of winter cold, +the musk-ox remains the contented and happy inhabitant +of the most barren and desolate parts of the earth. +Within the Arctic Circle, in those almost inaccessible +regions which lie nearest the North Pole, large herds of +these quadrupeds are found, appearing to derive as much +enjoyment from existence as the cattle who graze on the +most luxuriant pastures, beneath a genial sky. They are +not often found at a great distance from woods; but +when they feed upon open grounds they prefer the most +precipitous situations, climbing amidst rocks with all the +agility and precision of the mountain-goat or the chamois. +Grass, when they can get it, moss, twigs of willow, and +pine shoots, constitute their food. The parts of the polar +regions inhabited by the musk-ox are thus described in +the Appendix to Parry’s Second Voyage:—</p> + +<div class='shrink'> + +<p class='c003'>“This species of ox inhabits the North Georgian Islands +in the summer months. They arrived in Melville Island in +the middle of May, crossing the ice from the southward, +and quitted it on their return towards the end of September. +The musk-ox may be further stated, on Esquimaux information, +to inhabit the country on the west of Davis’ Strait, +and on the north of Baffin’s Bay; as a head and horns and +a drawing of a bull being shown to the Esquimaux of the +west coast of Davis’ Strait who were communicated with on +the 7th of September, were immediately recognized, and the +animal called by the name of Umingmack. This is evidently +the same with the Umimak of the Esquimaux of Wolstenholme +Sound, who were visited by the former expedition, and +of which nothing more could be learnt at the time from their +description than that it was a large horned animal inhabiting +the land, and certainly not a rein-deer. It is probable +that the individuals which extend their summer migration +to the north-east of Baffin’s Bay, retire during the winter to +the continent of America, or to its neighbourhood, as the +species is unknown in South Greenland.”</p> + +</div> + +<p class='c003'>Captain Franklin, in his Journey to the Polar Sea, +has given the following account of the habits of this +species:—</p> + +<div class='shrink'> + +<p class='c003'>“The musk-oxen, like the buffalo, herd together in bands, +and generally frequent barren grounds during the summer +months, keeping near the rivers, but retire to the woods in +winter. They seem to be less watchful than most other +wild animals, and when grazing are not difficult to approach, +provided the hunters go against the wind. When two or +three men get so near a herd as to fire at them from different +points, these animals, instead of separating or running +away, huddle closer together, and several are generally killed; +but if the wound is not mortal they become enraged, and +dart in the most furious manner at the hunters, who must +be very dexterous to evade them. They can defend themselves +by their powerful horns against wolves and bears, +which, as the Indians say, they not unfrequently kill. The +musk-oxen feed on the same substances with the rein-deer, +and the prints of the feet of these two animals are so much +alike, that it requires the eye of an experienced hunter to +distinguish them. The largest killed by us did not exceed +in weight three hundred pounds. The flesh has a musky +disagreeable flavour, particularly when the animal is lean, +which unfortunately for us was the case with all that we +now killed,”</p> + +</div> + +<p class='c003'>The bulls of this species killed during Parry’s second +voyage <a id='tn-lbs'></a>weighed, upon an average, about 700 lbs., +yielding about 400 lbs. of meat; and they stood about +10½ hands high at the withers.</p> + +<p class='c004'>On the staircase of the Museum are also stuffed +specimens of a male and female Giraffe, or Camelopard, +which were presented to the Museum by Mr. Burchell, +the traveller in Africa. The living giraffe which was +presented to George IV. in 1827, by the Pacha of +Egypt, died in 1829. The other giraffe sent to the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>government of France, in 1827, is still living in the +Jardin des Plantes, at Paris. It is impossible from a +studied specimen to form an adequate idea of the grace +and beauty of this remarkable animal; nor of the impression +produced upon the senses by a creature of such +enormous height lifting up its head to gather the tender +leaves from branches three times as high as a tall man. +Till the living giraffes were brought to England and +France there was a general belief that the descriptions +of this animal were partly fabulous. It is now established +that the account which was given of this animal +by Le Vaillant, one of the most amusing of travellers, +who saw the animal in its native woods, is perfectly +accurate. We copy the following description from his +Second Voyage, as translated in ‘The Menageries,’ +Vol. I.:—</p> + +<div class='shrink'> + +<p class='c003'>“The giraffe ruminates, as every animal does that possesses, +at the same time, horns and cloven feet. It grazes +also in the same way; but not often, because the country +which it inhabits has little pasturage. Its ordinary food is +the leaf of a sort of mimosa, called by the natives <i>kanaap</i>, +and by the colonists, <i>kameeldoorn</i>. This tree being only +found in the country of the Namaquas, may probably afford +a reason why the giraffe is there fixed, and why he is not +seen in those regions of Southern Africa where the tree does +not grow.</p> + +</div> + +<div class='illo-wide'> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<a href='images/the-british-museum-2-full.jpg'><img src='images/the-british-museum-2-inline.png' alt='' class='ig001'></a> +<div class='ic002'> +<p>[The Giraffe.]</p> +</div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='shrink'> + +<p class='c003'><a id='tn-isthehead'></a>“Doubtless the most beautiful part of his body is the +head. The mouth is small; the eyes are brilliant and full. +Between the eyes, and above the nose is a swelling, very +prominent and well defined. This prominence is not a +fleshy excrescence, but an enlargement of the bony substance; +and it seems to be similar to the two little lumps, +or protuberances, with which the top of his head is armed, +and which, being about the size of a hen’s egg, spring, on +each side, at the commencement of the mane. His tongue +is rough, and terminates in a point. The two jaws have, +on each side, six molar teeth; but the lower jaw has, beyond +these, eight incisive teeth, while the upper jaw has +none.</p> + +<p class='c004'>“The hoofs, which are cleft, and have no nails, resemble +those of the ox. We may remark, at first sight, that those +of the fore feet are larger than those of the hind. The leg +is very slender, but the knees have a prominence, because +the animal kneels when he lies down.</p> + +<p class='c004'>“If I had not myself killed the giraffe, I should have believed, +as have many naturalists, that the fore legs are much +longer than the hind. This is an error; for the legs have, +in general, the proportion of those of other quadrupeds. I +say in general, because in this genus there are varieties, as +there are in animals of the same species.… His defence, +as that of the horse and other hoofed animals, consists in +kicks; and his hinder limbs are so light, and his blows so +rapid, that the eye cannot follow them. They are sufficient +for his defence against the lion. He never employs his +horns in resisting any attack.… The giraffes, male +and female, resemble each other in their exterior, in their +youth. Their obtuse horns are then terminated by a knot +of long hair: the female preserves this peculiarity some +time, but the male loses it at the age of three years. The +hide, which is at first of a light red, becomes of a deeper +colour as the animal advances in age, and is at length of a +yellow brown in the female, and of a brown approaching to +black in the male. By this difference of colour the male +may be distinguished from the female at a distance. The +skin varies in both sexes, as to the distribution and form of +the spots. The female is not so high as the male, and the +prominence of the front is not so marked. She has four +teats. According to the account of the natives, she goes +with young about twelve months, and has one at a birth.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class='c008'></div> +<hr class="divider"> +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>THE WEEK.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='illo-wide'> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<a href='images/the-week-full.jpg'><img src='images/the-week-inline.png' alt='' class='ig001'></a> +<div class='ic002'> +<p>[Flaxman.]</p> +</div> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class='c003'>July 4.—On this day, in the year 1715, was born at +Haynichen, near Freyberg, in Saxony, the German poet, +<span class='sc'>Christian Furchtegott Gellert</span>. Gellert was not a +man of the highest genius; but appearing at a favourable +time, being animated by the finest spirit of benevolence +and virtuous ambition, and possessing just the talents +and character of mind suited to the task which he undertook, +that of awakening the general body of his countrymen +to a taste for literature, he produced as great +and as gratifying an effect by his works as, perhaps, +any writer that ever lived. His father was a clergyman, +and he was originally intended for the same profession; +but his first attempt in the pulpit convinced him that his +constitutional timidity would probably prevent him from +ever becoming an effective public speaker. He then +resolved to devote himself to the instruction of his countrymen +through the press. At this time Germany was +almost destitute of a national literature. The country +had given birth to many great scholars; and both classical +learning and the abstruse philosophy of the middle +ages were cultivated with zeal and success in its colleges. +But scarcely any one had yet arisen to write for the +people. This Gellert and a few of his friends resolved +to do. Discarding all the repulsive technicalities of the +schools, they proceeded to expound and illustrate the +great principles of morality, metaphysics, and criticism, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>for the use of society at large, <a id='tn-style'></a>in a natural and popular +style, such as was fitted to be intelligible and interesting +to all. In this patriotic enterprise Gellert may be said +to have spent his life. Every successive work which he +produced was received with delight by Germany; but +his celebrated ‘Fables’ were read with rapture by all +classes of the population. One day a peasant appeared +at Gellert’s door in Leipsic, with a waggon loaded with +fire-wood. “Is it not here,” asked the man, “that Mr. +Gellert lives?” On being told that it was, he desired +to see the master of the house; and having been brought +to him, “Are not you, sir,” he said, “the author of +the ‘Fables?’” “I am,” replied Gellert. “Well then,” +said the other, “here is a load of wood, which I have +brought you, to thank you for the pleasure which your +book has given to myself, my wife, and my children.” +By such a heart as Gellert’s this was probably felt to be +a more touching tribute to his powers than the plaudits +of crowded theatres would have been. Another time he +was standing in the workshop of a bookbinder, when a +villager came in with a book in his hand. “Here,” said +he, “I want this book strongly bound.” “Where did you +pick up this book?” asked the binder. “I bought it in +our town,” replied the delighted possessor of the treasure; +“it has made the steward of the manor and the schoolmaster +laugh till they have almost split their sides: I +have a little boy, who is now a tolerably good reader; he +shall read from this book to me in the evening, while I +smoke my pipe, and I will go no more to the ale-house.” +Even the war (commonly called the <i>seven +years’ war</i>) which ravaged a great part of Germany +from 1756 to 1763, did not extinguish the popular enthusiasm +for the writings of Gellert. When Leipsic +was taken by the Prussians in 1758, a lieutenant of hussars +found out the peaceable poet in his house, and not +contented with thanking him warmly for the delightful +books to which, he said, he owed so many pleasant +hours, insisted, by way of more substantially testifying +his gratitude, upon making him a present of a pair of +pistols, which he had taken from a Cossack. Nay, the +common soldiers themselves used to come, almost in regiments, +to hear a course of lectures on moral philosophy, +which he read in public about this time; and it is related +that one man, having obtained leave of absence, turned a +considerable way out of his road, on his journey homewards, +in order to see, as he expressed it, that <i>honest fellow</i>, +Mr. Gellert, <i>whose books had saved him from becoming +a profligate</i>. The works of Gellert have been frequently +printed in a collected form, and amount, in the +fullest edition, to ten volumes duodecimo. He had +been afflicted during the greater part of his life by bad +health; and died on the night of the 13th of December, +1769, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. Having lingered +long in considerable pain, he remarked to the physician, +a short time before his death, that he had not believed it +would have been so difficult to die, and asked when the +termination of his sufferings might be expected. When +he was informed that another hour would probably release +him, “God be praised,” he said; “still another +hour!” and then lay in silent resignation, till the expected +deliverance came. Germany lamented, with all the tokens +of national grief, the loss of her amiable instructor; and +medals and public monuments testified the admiration +and gratitude of all ranks of his countrymen.</p> + +<p class='c004'>July 6.—The birth-day of <span class='sc'>John Flaxman</span>, the late +eminent sculptor, whose works have done so much to +form the English school of design. Flaxman was born +in 1755, in York, from whence he was removed in his +infancy to London, where his father, who was a moulder +of figures, subsequently kept a shop in the Strand for +the sale of plaster casts. The father’s occupation, no +doubt, contributed to call forth the genius of the son; but +the boy very early began to give evidence of fondness for +those arts to which his future life was devoted, and of +singular taste and skill in the efforts of his uninstructed +pencil. Like many more of the most distinguished cultivators +of literature and art, he was prevented by the +weakness and delicate health of his early years from +mixing in the ruder sports of boys of his own age; and +this, of course, gave him more time for solitary study. +His father was not able to afford him the advantages of +a regular education; but he rapidly acquired a great deal +of knowledge by his own unaided efforts. When he was +fifteen he was admitted a student in the Royal Academy. +Here he was successful in a competition for the inferior +honour of the silver medal; but on the contest for the +gold one, Sir Joshua Reynolds, the President, awarded +the prize to another. This was, perhaps, upon the whole, +not an unfortunate incident for Flaxman, though he +severely felt what he thought an injustice. His rival, +notwithstanding his good fortune on this occasion, never +rose to any distinction; but Flaxman, with the heroism +of true genius, resolved to obliterate this defeat of his +youth by future triumphs, of the glory of which no such +decision should be able to rob him. And this resolution +he nobly fulfilled. His first employment was given him +by the Messrs. Wedgewood, the productions of whose +porcelain potteries he embellished with designs that gave +at once a new character to this branch of British manufactures. +In 1782 he married; and five years afterwards +proceeded to visit Italy, where he remained till 1794, +studying the celebrated monuments of the fine arts with +which that country abounds, and at the same time exerting +his own pencil in the production of works which +soon spread his fame over Europe. Having then returned +to England, he was in 1797 elected an Associate, +and in 1800 a Member, of the Royal Academy. +After this he executed many great works in marble; +and, as a lecturer, afforded some valuable contributions +to the literature of his profession. For many years before +his death his name ranked with <a id='tn-livingartists'></a>the highest of the living +artists of England. But we must refer the reader for an +account of his performances to Mr. Allan Cunningham’s +interesting life of him, lately published, or to the abstract +of that memoir in the second number of the Gallery of +Portraits. He died at his house in Buckingham-street, +on the 7th of December, 1826, in the seventy-second +year of his age.</p> + +<div class='c008'></div> +<hr class="divider"> +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>IMPROVEMENT IN SOCIAL CONDITION.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c003'>The history of the United States of North America is, +in some respects, one of the most instructive that we +can turn to; because we are accurately acquainted with +the origin of this social community, and are also enabled +to trace its history in all its important facts, from the +first establishment of the several colonies up to the +present condition of the Union. Of all historical records +none can be put in comparison with legislative +enactments, as showing the condition of the people at +any given period, and the degree of mental culture +diffused among them. In the American States, even +under their former colonial government, there were few +men of any importance in the provinces who did not +participate in some of the functions of government; and +we may therefore consider the laws enacted at that +period as indicative of the opinions held by the most +influential classes.</p> + +<p class='c004'>We happen to have before us an old collection of +Virginia laws, entitled, ‘A complete collection of the +Laws of Virginia, at a Grand Assembly held at James +City, 23d March, 1662;’ a few extracts from which may +not be uninteresting.</p> + +<p class='c004'>There appears to be in this volume only one law +about education, which prescribes the founding of a +college “for the advance of learning, education of +youth, supply of the ministry, and promotion of piety.” +The law states how the money is to be raised; but as to +its application nothing more is said, except that a piece +<span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>of land is to be got, and, “with as much speed as may +be convenient, housing is to be erected thereon for entertainment +of students and scholars.” The <em>housing</em> department +seems to have been the uppermost thing in the +legislature’s thoughts; the providing of good teachers +was a secondary consideration.</p> + +<p class='c004'>There are several enactments about “rewards for +killing wolves,” which at that time infested even the +lower parts of Virginia. At the present day, owing to +the increase of population, the wolf and other wild +animals, though occasionally heard of, are but rarely +seen even in the mountains, and seldom do any damage. +The reward “for every wolf destroyed by pit, trap, or +otherwise, is 200 pounds of tobacco.”</p> + +<p class='c004'>Tobacco was the most common standard of value in +Virginia at that time, as we see from this and numerous +other instances, where fines, &c. are estimated at so +many pounds of tobacco. Thus it is stated in enactment +35, that “the court shall not take cognizance of any +cause under the value of 200 pounds of tobacco, or +twenty shillings sterling, which a private justice may +and is hereby authorized and empowered to hear and +determine.”</p> + +<p class='c004'>The following recipe for good order is contained in +an enactment, entitled ‘Pillories to be erected at each +Court:’—“In every county the court shall cause to be +set up a pillory, a pair of stocks, and a whipping-post +near the court-house, and a ducking-stool;—and the +court not causing the said pillory, whipping-post, stocks, +and ducking-stool to be erected, shall be fined 5000 +pounds of tobacco to the use of the public.”</p> + +<p class='c004'>In those days the following provision was made for +extending the elective franchise, which appears founded +on a rational principle: “Every county that will lay out +100 acres of land, and people it with 100 tytheable (taxable) +persons, that place shall enjoy the like privilege” +of sending a burgess. The burgesses, together with their +attendants, were free from arrest, from the time of election +till ten days after dissolution of the assembly; this +privilege, however, was somewhat modified by several +clauses. Every burgess was allowed during the sitting +of the assembly “150 lbs. of tobacco and cask per day, +besides the necessary charge of going to the assembly +and returning.” This practice of paying legislators, +which, in America, originated under the Colonial system, +is still continued in the United States. It did not entirely +cease in England until the reign of Charles II. +Andrew Marvell, one of the burgesses of Hull, was the +last member of the House of Commons who appears to +have accepted the wages which all were entitled to +receive.</p> + +<p class='c004'>Among commercial restrictions we find an enactment +prohibiting the planting of tobacco after the 10th of July, +which was done for “the improvement of our only commodity +tobacco, which can no ways be effected but by +lessening the quantity and amending the quality.” That +the former effect might possibly be produced by the enactment, +without securing the latter, seems pretty certain. +Another object that the government had in view +was to compel the people to become silk-growers against +their will. “Be it therefore enacted,” says the legislature, +“that every proprietor of land within the colony of Virginia +shall, for every hundred acres of land holden in +fee, plant upon the said land ten mulberry-trees at twelve +foot distance from each other, and secure them by weeding +and a sufficient fence from cattle and horses.” Tobacco +fines, as usual, were enacted in case the planting +and weeding were not duly performed; and further, +“there shall be allowed in the public levy to any one for +every pound of wound silk he shall make, fifty pounds +of tobacco, to be raised in the public levy, and paid in +the county or counties where they dwell that make it.” +This act was passed in 1662, and probably continued +in force for a long time; but Virginia did not therefore +become a silk-growing country, nor has it yet, though +many parts are well adapted to raise this commodity. +People, we presume, have hitherto found other things +more profitable than silk.</p> + +<p class='c004'>The following enactment has a most barbarous character +about it, not unmixed with something extremely +ludicrous as to the idea of the legislature trying to +prevent women from talking: “Whereas many babbling +women slander and scandalize their neighbours, for +which their poor husbands are often involved in chargeable +and vexatious suits, and cast in great damages:—Be +it therefore enacted, that in actions of slander, occasioned +by the wife, after judgment passed for the +damages, the woman shall be punished by ducking; +and if the slander be so enormous as to be adjudged at +greater damages than 500 pounds of tobacco, then the +woman to suffer a ducking for each 500 pounds of +tobacco adjudged against the husband, if he refuse to +pay the tobacco.”</p> + +<p class='c004'>This old statute book of Virginia is full of enactments +such as we have quoted; some exceedingly mischievous, +and others very ludicrous. It would, however, be unfair +to say that there are not also some good regulations in +it. Were a history of our own or any other country to +be written, founded on the legislative enactments and +illustrated, whenever it was possible, by individual cases +on record, we should then begin to have some idea of +what history is. Instead of the splendours or the follies +of a few who occupy the attention of the historian, we +should be able to form a more complete picture of the +condition of the whole community, and a more exact +estimate of the progress which has been made in social +knowledge.</p> + +<div class='c008'></div> +<hr class="divider"> +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>THE LOSS OF THE ROYAL GEORGE.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c003'>On the 29th of August, 1782, it was found necessary +that the Royal George, a line-of-battle ship of 108 guns, +which had lately arrived at Spithead from a cruise, +should, previously to her going again to sea, undergo +the operation which seamen technically call a <i>Parliament +heel</i>. In such cases the ship is inclined in a certain +degree on one side, while the defects below the watermark +on the other side are examined and repaired. This +mode of proceeding is, we believe, at the present day, +very commonly adopted where the defects to be repaired +are not extensive, or where (as was the case with the +Royal George) it is desirable to avoid the delay of going +into dock. The operation is usually performed in still +weather and smooth water, and is attended with so little +difficulty and danger, that the officers and crew usually +remain on board, and neither the guns nor stores are +removed.</p> + +<p class='c004'>The business was commenced on the Royal George +early in the morning, a gang of men from the Portsmouth +Dock-yard coming on board to assist the ship’s +carpenters. It is said that, finding it necessary to strip +off more of the sheathing than had been intended, the +men in their eagerness to reach the defect in the ship’s +bottom, were induced to <i>heel</i> her too much, when a sudden +squall of wind threw her wholly on her side; and +the gun-ports being open, and the cannon rolling over +to the depressed side, the ship was unable to right herself, +instantaneously filled with water, and went to the +bottom.</p> + +<p class='c004'>The fatal accident happened about ten o’clock in the +morning; Admiral Kempenfeldt was writing in his +cabin, and the greater part of the people were between +decks. The ship, as is usually the case upon coming +into port, was crowded with people from the shore, particularly +women, of whom it is supposed there were not +less than three hundred on board. Amongst the sufferers +were many of the wives and children of the petty +officers and seamen, who, knowing the ship was shortly +to sail on a distant and perilous service, eagerly embraced +<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>the opportunity of visiting their husbands and +fathers.</p> + +<p class='c004'>The Admiral, with many brave officers and most of +those who were between decks, perished; the greater +number of the guard, and those who happened to be on +the upper deck, were saved by the boats of the fleet. +About seventy others were likewise saved. The exact +number of persons on board at the time could not be +ascertained; but it was calculated that from 800 to 1000 +were lost. Captain Waghorne, whose gallantry in the +North Sea battle, under Admiral Parker, had procured +him the command of this ship, was saved, though he was +severely bruised and battered; but his son, a lieutenant +in the Royal George, perished. Such was the force of +the whirlpool, occasioned by the sudden plunge of so +vast a body in the water, that a victualler which lay +alongside the Royal George was swamped; and several +small craft, at a considerable distance, were in imminent +danger.</p> + +<p class='c004'>Admiral Kempenfeldt, who was nearly 70 years of age, +was peculiarly and universally lamented. In point of +general science and judgment, he was one of the first +naval officers of his time; and, particularly in the art of +manœuvring a fleet, he was considered by the commanders +of that day as unrivalled. His excellent qualities, +as a man, are said to have equalled his professional +merits.</p> + +<p class='c004'>This melancholy occurrence has been recorded by the +poet, Cowper, in the following beautiful lines:—</p> + +<div class='shrink'> + +<div class='lg-container-b'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Toll for the brave!</div> + <div class='line in2'>The brave, that are no more!</div> + <div class='line'>All sunk beneath the wave,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Fast by their native shore.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Eight hundred of the brave,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Whose courage well was tried,</div> + <div class='line'>Had made the vessel heel,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And laid her on her side.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>A land-breeze shook the shrouds,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And she was overset;</div> + <div class='line'>Down went the Royal George,</div> + <div class='line in2'>With all her crew complete.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Toll for the brave!</div> + <div class='line in2'>Brave Kempenfeldt is gone;</div> + <div class='line'>His last sea-fight is fought;</div> + <div class='line in2'>His work of glory done.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>It was not in the battle;</div> + <div class='line in2'>No tempest gave the shock;</div> + <div class='line'>She sprang no fatal leak;</div> + <div class='line in2'>She ran upon no rock.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>His sword was in its sheath;</div> + <div class='line in2'>His fingers held the pen,</div> + <div class='line'>When Kempenfeldt went down,</div> + <div class='line in2'>With twice four hundred men.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Weigh the vessel up,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Once dreaded by our foes!</div> + <div class='line'>And mingle with our cup</div> + <div class='line in2'>The tear that England owes.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Her timbers yet are sound,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And she may float again,</div> + <div class='line'>Full charg’d with England’s thunder,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And plough the distant main.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But Kempenfeldt is gone,</div> + <div class='line in2'>His victories are o’er;</div> + <div class='line'>And he, and his eight hundred,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Shall plough the wave no more.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='c008'></div> +<hr class="divider"> + +<p class='c003'><i>Strange Mode of curing a vicious Horse.</i>—I have seen +vicious horses in Egypt cured of the habit of biting, by presenting +to them, while in the act of doing so, a leg of mutton +just taken from the fire: the pain which a horse feels in +biting through the hot meat, causes it, after a few lessons, to +abandon the vicious habit.—<cite>Burckhardt.</cite></p> + +<div class='c008'></div> +<hr class="divider"> + +<p class='c003'>The Bedouins never allow a horse, at the moment of his +birth, to fall upon the ground; they receive it in their arms, +and so cherish it for several hours, occupied in washing and +stretching its tender limbs, and caressing it as they would a +baby. After this they place it on the ground, and watch its +feeble steps with particular attention, prognosticating from +that time the excellences or defects of their future companion.—<cite>Burckhardt.</cite></p> + +<div class='c008'></div> +<hr class="divider"> + +<p class='c003'><i>Tremendous Earthquakes.</i>—Earthquakes have caused +many melancholy changes in Calabria; and every thing +bears testimony to the cruel ravages occasioned by that of +1783. This frightful catastrophe, which has altered the +aspect of these countries in an inconceivable manner, was +preceded by the most appalling indications. Close, compact, +and immoveable mists seemed to hang heavily over the earth: +in some places the atmosphere appeared red hot, so that people +expected it would every moment burst out into flames: +the water of the rivers assumed an ashy and turbid colour, +while a suffocating stench of sulphur diffused itself around. +The violent shocks which were repeated at several intervals +from the 5th of February to the 28th of May, destroyed the +greater part of the buildings of Calabria Ultra. The number +of inhabitants who were crushed under the ruins of their +houses, or who perished on the strands of Scylla, was estimated +at about 50,000. Rivers arrested in their course by +the fall of mountains, became so many infected lakes, corrupting +the air in all directions. Houses, trees, and large +fields were hurried down together to the bottom of the deep +glens without being separated by the shock: in short, all the +extraordinary calamities and changes which can be effected +by earthquakes were beheld at this deplorable period, <a id='tn-calabria'></a>under +the various forms which characterize them.—<cite>Calabria, +during a Military Residence.</cite></p> + +<div class='c008'></div> +<hr class="divider"> + +<p class='c003'><i>Age of Sheep</i>.—The age of a sheep may be known by +examining the front teeth. They are eight in number, and +appear during the first year, all of a small size. In the +second year, the two middle ones fall out, and their place is +supplied by two new teeth, which are easily distinguished by +being of a larger size. In the third year two other small +teeth, one from each side, drop out and are replaced by two +large ones; so that there are now four large teeth in the +middle, and two pointed ones on each side. In the fourth +year the large teeth are six in number, and only two small +ones remain, one at each end of the range. In the fifth +year the remaining small teeth are lost, and the whole front +teeth are large. In the sixth year the whole begin to be +worn, and in the seventh, sometimes sooner, some fall out or +are broken.</p> + +<div class='shrink'> + +<p class='c006'>⁂ From ‘the Mountain Shepherd’s Manual,’ a useful little tract +on the nature, diseases, and management of sheep, being No. 24 of +the ‘Farmer’s Series,’ published under the Superintendence of the +Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.</p> + +</div> + +<div class='c008'></div> +<hr class="divider"> + +<p class='c003'><i>Anecdote of the late Honourable Henry Cavendish.</i>— One +Sunday evening he was standing at Sir Joseph Banks’s, in +a crowded room, conversing with Mr. Hatchett, when Dr. +Ingenhousz, who had a good deal of pomposity of manner, +came up with an Austrian gentleman in his hand, and introduced +him formally to Mr. Cavendish. He mentioned the +titles and qualifications of his friend at great length, and said +that he had been peculiarly anxious to be introduced to a +philosopher so profound and so universally known and celebrated +as Mr. Cavendish. As soon as Dr. Ingenhousz had +finished, the Austrian gentleman began, and assured Mr. +Cavendish, that his principal reason for coming to London +was to see and converse with one of the greatest ornaments +of the age, and one of the most illustrious philosophers that +ever existed. To all these high-flown speeches Mr. Cavendish +answered not a word; but stood with his eyes cast down, +quite abashed and confounded. At last, seeing an opening +in the crowd, he darted through it, with all the speed he was +master of; nor did he stop till he reached his carriage, which +drove him directly home.</p> + +<hr class='c010'> +<div class='colophon'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c011'> + <div>⁂ The Office of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge is at 59, Lincoln’s Inn Fields.</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div>LONDON:—CHARLES KNIGHT, PALL-MALL EAST.</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div><i>Shopkeepers and Hawkers may be supplied Wholesale by the following Booksellers:—</i></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='colophon-left'> + +<div class='lg-container-l'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><i>London</i>, <span class='sc'>Groombridge</span>, Panyer Alley, Paternoster Row.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Bath</i>, <span class='sc'>Simms</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Birmingham</i>, <span class='sc'>Drake</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Bristol</i>, <span class='sc'>Westley</span> and Co.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Carlisle</i>, <span class='sc'>Thurnam</span>; and <span class='sc'>Scott</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Derby</i>, <span class='sc'>Wilkins</span> and <span class='sc'>Son</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Falmouth</i>, <span class='sc'>Philip</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Hull</i>, <span class='sc'>Stephenson</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Leeds</i>, <span class='sc'>Baines</span> and <span class='sc'>Newsome</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Lincoln</i>, <span class='sc'>Brooke</span> and <span class='sc'>Sons</span>.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> +<div class='colophon-right'> + +<div class='lg-container-l'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><i>Liverpool</i>, <span class='sc'>Willmer</span> and <span class='sc'>Smith</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Manchester</i>, <span class='sc'>Robinson</span>; and <span class='sc'>Webb</span> and <span class='sc'>Simms</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Newcastle-upon-Tyne</i>, <span class='sc'>Charnley</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Norwich</i>, <span class='sc'>Jarrold</span> and <span class='sc'>Son</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Nottingham</i>, <span class='sc'>Wright</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Sheffield</i>, <span class='sc'>Ridge</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Dublin</i>, <span class='sc'>Wakeman</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Edinburgh</i>, <span class='sc'>Oliver</span> and <span class='sc'>Boyd</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Glasgow</i>, <span class='sc'>Atkinson</span> and Co.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> +<div class='clear'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div>Printed by <span class='sc'>William Clowes</span>, Stamford Street.</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> +<div> + +<p class='c012'></p> + +</div> +<div class='transcribers-notes'> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='xlarge'>Transcriber’s Notes</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain. Itemized changes from the original text:</p> + <ul class='ul_1'> + <li><a href='#tn-lbs'>p. 124</a>: Added period after abbreviation “lbs.” in phrase “weighed, upon an + average, about 700 lbs., yielding about 400 lbs. of meat.” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-isthehead'>p. 125</a>: Added period after phrase “Doubtless the most beautiful part + of his body is the head.” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-style'>p. 126</a>: Supplied missing letters in word “style” in phrase “in a natural + and popular style.” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-livingartists'>p. 126</a>: Added period after phrase “the highest of the living + artists of England.” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-calabria'>p. 128</a>: Removed closing double quotation mark after phrase “under the + various forms which characterize them.” + </li> + </ul> + +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76874 ***</div> + </body> + <!-- created with ppgen.py 3.57e (with regex) on 2025-09-14 15:38:03 GMT --> +</html> + |