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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76875 ***





                         Monthly Supplement of

                           THE PENNY MAGAZINE

                                 OF THE

             Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 16.]                   May 31 to June 30, 1832

------------------------------------------------------------------------


                       THE ABBEY OF ST. ALBAN’S.

   [Illustration: A large, cruciform ecclesiastical building with a
                        steeple at the center.]

On the 3d of February last, a part of the wall of the upper battlement
on the south-west side of the Abbey of St. Alban’s fell upon the roof
below, in two masses, at an interval of five minutes between the fall of
each fragment. The concussion was so great, that the inhabitants of the
neighbouring houses describe it as resembling the loudest thunder; and
the detached masses of the wall came down with such force that a large
portion of the roof, consisting of lead and heavy timber, was driven
into the aisle below. The abbey, generally, has been a good deal out of
repair for several years; and it is now estimated that 15,000_l._ will
be required to repair the damage, and to save this venerable fabric from
further injury.

A public subscription has been opened for this laudable object; and when
we consider the interest which the people of this country so properly
attach to the monuments of our early civilization, we cannot doubt that
the Abbey of St. Alban’s will be rescued, for several more generations,
from the devouring grasp of time.

St. Alban’s is, in many respects, one of the towns of England most
dignified by historical associations. It was one of the principal places
of the ancient Britons before the Roman conquest; and, within twenty-one
years after the invasion of the island, was raised, by the Romans, to
the rank of a city, under the name of Verulam. Many considerable
fragments of the Roman Verulam still exist, at a short distance from the
present town, particularly a large piece of a wall, constructed of Roman
tile, now called Gorhambury Block. Dr. Stukely, a celebrated antiquarian
writer, has calculated that about a hundred acres were included within
the Roman wall. The greater part of the city, first built by the Romans,
was demolished by the Britons, under Queen Boadicea, in the 61st year
after the birth of Christ; but it was soon rebuilt, and the inhabitants
continued under the protection of the Romans for a long period. In the
persecution of the Christians, under the Roman emperor Dioclesian, in
the year 304, Alban, a native of Verulam, who had been a soldier at
Rome, suffered martyrdom for his faith; and being the first Briton who
had been put to death for his religious opinions, he is called England’s
proto-martyr, or first martyr, as St. Stephen is called the proto-martyr
of Christianity. In 795, Offa, King of the Mercians, founded an abbey at
Holmhurst, close by the ancient Verulam, in honour of St. Alban, and the
place was thenceforward called St. Alban’s. The abbey flourished for
more than seven centuries. Its buildings, erected from time to time,
resembled a town more than a religious house. It had magnificent
apartments, in which the kings of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
were frequently entertained. The annual revenues, during its greatest
prosperity, were valued at 2500_l._--an enormous sum in those days.

Of this immense establishment, nothing is left but the present
conventual church, a gate-house, and a few scattered walls. The church,
which was principally erected in the reign of William Rufus, is in
magnitude equal to our largest cathedrals. It measures 550 feet from
east to west; if we include a chapel at one end, 606 feet. The extreme
breadth, at the intersection of the transepts, is 217 feet. The exterior
of this great pile is not very beautiful; but the spectator is struck
with its vastness, its simplicity, and its appearance of extreme age. A
large part of the original edifice is composed of materials taken from
the ruins of the ancient Verulam, consisting chiefly of Roman tile.
These portions of the interior are very rude, and form a striking
contrast to other parts which were finished after the elegant Norman
style was adopted in this country. In this manner it occurs that we see
at St. Alban’s a mixture of the round and the pointed arch, in two sides
of the same building, directly opposite each other. It is singular that
as one side of the building fell into decay, the later style of
architecture, that of the pointed arch, should have been used; while the
more ancient round arch was suffered to remain on the opposite side.
This want of uniformity greatly diminishes the beauty of the interior;
but still many of its effects are remarkably striking, particularly that
of the vast length of the church from east to west. Some parts of the
edifice furnish, also, beautiful and perfect specimens of the most
delicate workmanship.

The Abbey-Church of St. Alban’s contains the monuments of several
illustrious men, particularly that of Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, the
brother of Henry V. But St. Alban’s possesses the much higher
distinction of being the burial-place, as it was the abode, of the great
Lord Bacon. The old Church of St. Michael, in this town, contains the
remains of the immortal founder of the inductive philosophy, which
delivered the human mind from the tyranny of opinions established by
prescription and authority, and led the way for every man to think for
himself, and to rely upon the truths of established facts alone as the
materials for his conclusions. The following is a representation of Lord
Bacon’s monument.

 [Illustration: A statue of a man seated on a chair, his head resting on
              one hand, with the legend: FRANCISCVS BACON.]


                         ---------------------


                      MACHINERY AND MANUFACTURES.

  [‘The Economy of Machinery and Manufactures. By Charles Babbage, Esq.,
    A.M., Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in the University of
    Cambridge.’ 8vo. London, C. Knight, 1832.]

Here is a work of no common interest. Its object, as stated by the
author in his introductory paragraph, is “to point out the effects and
the advantages which arise from the use of tools and machines;--to
endeavour to classify their modes of action;--and to trace both the
causes and the consequences of applying machinery to supersede the skill
and power of the human arm.” It professes to embrace, therefore, both a
very important branch of the science of political economy, and the whole
domain of the mechanical arts.

The word _manufacture_, which means fabrication by the _hand_, has
become singularly inapplicable to the thing which it is used to denote.
The human hand now performs but a comparatively small part in most of
those processes to which the name of manufactures is given; and in some
of the most stupendous and wonderful of them its aid is hardly at all
employed. Where the steam-engine plies its mighty energies, man has in
many cases little more to do than to look on. If the expression, a
manufacturing country, were to be taken in its literal sense, as meaning
a country where articles were generally made by the hand, it would be
much more truly applicable to Spain, or Russia, or Poland, or Hindostan,
or indeed to any other country of the earth, than to ours. We are, of
all others, the people who do least by the hand.

When we say, therefore, that England is a manufacturing country and that
Poland is not, we mean merely that great numbers of articles of use and
of luxury are fabricated in the former country, without any necessary
reference to the mode in which they are fabricated. But it so happens
that such articles cannot be fabricated in great abundance except by
means of machinery; and therefore we often use the term manufacturing as
nearly synonymous with mechanical, or at least as implying the extensive
agency of machinery. It should be borne in mind, however, that
agriculture is also a manufacture; and that whether a country produces
iron or corn, each branch of industry involves mechanical aid, however
we may choose to distinguish between a manufacturing and an agricultural
country.

The book upon the subject of manufactures which Mr. Babbage has now
given to the world, consists chiefly of a very large and multifarious
collection of the mechanical expedients employed in the different
branches of our national industry, arranged according to the general
principle, of which each is an exemplification. The author has in this
way furnished a work which is not less interesting to the mere general
reader than it is likely to prove valuable to the student of mechanics.
Surrounded as we are in this country by the wonders of mechanical
invention, he among us must be singularly destitute of enlightened
curiosity who feels no desire to understand the operation of those
beautiful and most effective contrivances which he everywhere sees or
hears in motion; or to trace through the various stages of their
fabrication those numberless articles of use and of ornament of which
every one of our shops, and it may almost be said of our houses, is
full. The history of some of the most apparently trivial or
insignificant of these productions, of a pin or a needle for instance,
is often a rich succession of the most exquisite efforts of
ingenuity--of the most important results obtained by the simplest means,
and of a velocity and at the same time perfection of operation which to
the unaccustomed observer would seem little short of miraculous. The
wonders of our manufactures are not less deserving of our examination,
because they are performed in the very midst of us, and may be made
perfectly intelligible to all who care to understand them.

But it is to those who are actually engaged in mechanical invention that
this volume is doubtless fitted to render the most important service.
Let the particular department upon which a person so employed is
exercising his thoughts be what it may, his success is likely to depend
in no small degree upon his general familiarity with mechanical
contrivances. It has not unfrequently happened that for want of this
diversified knowledge the inventors and improvers of machines or of
processes have devoted their solitary efforts for a long time in vain,
in attempting merely to accomplish what had already been completely
achieved in some other department of mechanical skill with which they
happened to have no acquaintance. In other cases, a contrivance
applicable to many different branches, although introduced in one of the
number, has remained unknown to the cultivators of all the others for
many years. Thus, for example, the valuable contrivance of the
fly-shuttle, although introduced into the woollen manufactory about the
year 1738, was not employed in the weaving of cottons, where it was
equally applicable, till more than twenty years afterwards. So also, as
Mr. Babbage notices, the expedient of placing the workman employed in
beating out the blades of scythes in a seat suspended by ropes from the
ceiling, to give him sufficient freedom and rapidity of motion to bring
the different parts of the iron upon the anvil in quick succession,
although introduced in the manufacture of scythes long ago, has only
been recently applied to that of anchors; “an art in which,” as he
remarks, “the contrivance is of still greater importance.” Now such a
work as the one before us is admirably calculated to prevent all this
waste of inventive labour, and to ensure the communication of any new or
valuable contrivance to all descriptions of manufactures in which it is
fitted to be available. An inventor, who has made himself completely
master of this work, will have obtained a knowledge both of all the
principal expedients which have hitherto been employed in mechanics, and
of the scientific principles upon which all mechanical devices must
depend; and a man so instructed, it may be fairly inferred, will be
likely not only to waste but little time in re-discovering what has been
already found out, but also to find his efforts in original invention
crowned with far more rapid and more satisfying success than would have
otherwise attended them.

From the multiplicity of most interesting subjects of which Mr. Babbage
has treated, the mere enumeration of which would far exceed our limits,
we select only two specimens of the entertainment to be found in the
work. The following account of a foreign manufacture would appear
incredible, if we did not know to what singular uses the instincts of
animals may be directed:--


“_Lace made by Caterpillars._--A most extraordinary species of
manufacture, which is in a slight degree connected with copying, has
been contrived by an officer of engineers residing at Munich. It
consists of lace and veils, with open patterns in them, made entirely by
caterpillars. The following is the mode of proceeding adopted:--Having
made a paste of the leaves of the plant, on which the species of
caterpillar he employs feeds, he spreads it thinly over a stone, or
other flat substance, of the required size. He then, with a camel-hair
pencil dipped in olive oil, draws the pattern he wishes the insects to
leave open. This stone is then placed in an inclined position, and a
considerable number of the caterpillars are placed at the bottom. A
peculiar species is chosen, which spins a strong web; and the animals
commence at the bottom, eating and spinning their way up to the top,
carefully avoiding every part touched by the oil, but devouring every
other part of the paste. The extreme lightness of these veils, combined
with some strength, is truly surprising. One of them, measuring
twenty-six and a half inches by seventeen inches, weighed only 1.51
grains, a degree of lightness which will appear more strongly by
contrast with other fabrics. One square yard of the substance of which
these veils are made weighs four grains and one-third, whilst one square
yard of silk gauze weighs one hundred and thirty-seven grains, and one
square yard of the finest patent net weighs two hundred and sixty-two
grains and a half.”


One of the most important manufactures of our own country is that
connected with the Press, in all its various and complicated operations.
The following account of the mode in which a great London newspaper is
prepared, will be read with interest in all parts of the kingdom:--


“Another instance of the just application of machinery, even at an
increased expense, arises where the shortness of time in which the
article can be produced, has an important influence on its value. In the
publication of our daily newspapers, it frequently happens that the
debates in the Houses of Parliament are carried on to three and four
o’clock in the morning, that is, to within a very few hours of the time
for the publication of the newspaper. The speeches must be taken down by
reporters, conveyed by them to the establishment of the newspaper,
perhaps at the distance of one or two miles, transcribed by them in the
office, set up by the compositor, the press corrected, and the papers
printed off and distributed before the public can read them. Some of
these journals have a circulation of from five to ten thousand daily.
Supposing four thousand to be wanted, and that they could be printed
only at the rate of five hundred per hour upon one side of the paper
(which was the greatest number two journeymen and a boy could take off
by the old hand-presses), sixteen hours would be required for printing
the complete edition; and the news conveyed to the purchasers of the
latest portion of the impression, would be out of date before they could
receive it. To obviate this difficulty, it was often necessary to set up
the paper in duplicate, and sometimes, when late, in triplicate: but the
improvements in the printing-machines have been so great, that four
thousand copies are now printed on one side in an hour.

“The establishment of ‘The Times’ newspaper is an example, on a large
scale, of a manufactory in which the division of labour, both mental and
bodily, is admirably illustrated, and in which also the effect of the
domestic economy is well exemplified. It is scarcely imagined, by the
thousands who read that paper in various quarters of the globe, what a
scene of organized activity the factory presents during the whole night,
or what a quantity of talent and mechanical skill is put in action for
their amusement and information[1]. Nearly a hundred persons are
employed in this establishment; and, during the session of parliament,
at least twelve reporters are constantly attending the Houses of Commons
and Lords; each in his turn, after about an hour’s work, retiring to
translate into ordinary writing, the speech he has just heard and noted
in short-hand. In the mean time fifty compositors are constantly at
work, some of whom have already set up the beginning, whilst others are
committing to type the yet undried manuscript of the continuation of a
speech, whose middle portion is travelling to the office in the pocket
of the hasty reporter, and whose eloquent conclusion is, perhaps, at
that very moment, making the walls of St. Stephen’s vibrate with the
applause of its hearers. These congregated types, as fast as they are
composed, are passed in portions to other hands; till at last the
scattered fragments of the debate, forming, when united with the
ordinary matter, eight-and-forty columns, re-appear in regular order on
the platform of the printing-press. The hand of man is now too slow for
the demands of his curiosity, but the power of steam comes to his
assistance. Ink is rapidly supplied to the moving types by the most
perfect mechanism;--four attendants incessantly introduce the edges of
large sheets of white paper to the junction of two great rollers, which
seem to devour them with unsated appetite;--other rollers convey them to
the type already inked, and having brought them into rapid and
successive contact, re-deliver them to four other assistants, completely
printed by the almost momentary touch. Thus, in one hour, four thousand
sheets of paper are printed on one side; and an impression of twelve
thousand copies, from above three hundred thousand moveable pieces of
metal, is produced for the public in six hours.”


-----

Footnote 1:

  “The Author of these pages, with one of his friends, was recently
  induced to visit this most interesting establishment, after midnight,
  during the progress of a very important debate. The place was
  illuminated with gas, and was light as the day:--there was neither
  noise nor bustle;--and the visitors were received with such calm and
  polite attention, that they did not, until afterwards, become sensible
  of the inconvenience which such intruders, at a moment of the greatest
  pressure, must occasion, nor reflect that the tranquillity which they
  admired, was the result of intense and regulated occupation. But the
  effect of such checks in the current of business will appear on
  recollecting that, as four thousand newspapers are printed off on one
  side within the hour, every _minute_ is attended with a loss of
  sixty-six impressions. The quarter of an hour, therefore, which the
  stranger may think it not unreasonable to claim for the gratification
  of his curiosity (and to him this time is but a moment), may cause a
  failure in the delivery of one thousand copies, and disappoint a
  proportionate number of expectant readers, in some of our distant
  towns, to which the morning papers are despatched by the earliest and
  most rapid conveyances of each day.

  “This note is inserted with the further and more general purpose of
  calling the attention of those, especially foreigners, who are
  desirous of inspecting our larger manufactories to the chief cause of
  the difficulty which frequently attends their introduction. When the
  establishment is very extensive, and its departments skilfully
  arranged, the exclusion of visitors arises, not from any illiberal
  jealousy, nor, generally, from any desire of concealment, which would,
  in most cases, be absurd; but from the substantial inconvenience and
  loss of time, throughout an entire series of well-combined operations,
  which must be occasioned even by short and casual interruptions.”


                         ---------------------


                          ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

The last Monthly Report of the proceedings of the Committee of Science
of the Zoological Society, contains several facts of general interest.

The female _Puma_, in the Society’s Gardens, brought forth two young
ones on the 2d of April. The ground-colour of these is of a paler fawn
than that of either of the parents, and they are deeply spotted. The
eyelids of one of them were partially unclosed on April 9. The mother,
whose temper was always mild, has since become remarkably gentle,
purring when the keeper goes into her den, and allowing her young ones
to be handled and carried about without appearing to be annoyed by such
treatment. The young, on the contrary, were, when first born, extremely
fierce, hissing and scratching with all their might; they have, however,
since become better tempered, though they are still spiteful. The
manners of both the mother and the young are similar to those of the
_domestic cat_ and her kittens, the former carrying the latter about
from place to place in her mouth. For a day or two previously to her
littering she pulled the straw in her inner den into pieces and thus
formed a nest.

Some curious experiments have been made as to the mode of feeding
quadrupeds of prey, which is best adapted to bringing them into good
condition, and which may therefore be considered the most suited to
their natural habits. On January 11 two _leopards_ were weighed. No. 1.
weighed 91 lbs.: it was fed in the usual manner with 4 lbs. of beef
daily in one meal given in the evening. No. 2. weighed 100½ lbs.: it was
supplied with 2 lbs. of beef at eight o’clock in the morning, and with a
like quantity at the same hour in the evening daily. On Feb. 16 (after
an interval of five weeks) they were again weighed. No. 1. had gained in
weight 1 lb.: No. 2. had diminished in weight ½ lb. No alteration was
observed in the latter animal as regarded his daily exercise; but he
became more ferocious than he had previously been, and was particularly
violent.

                       [Illustration: The Puma.]

On December 23 two _hyænas_ were weighed. No. 1. weighed 86 lbs.: it was
fed as usual with 3 lbs. of beef daily at one meal in the evening. No.
2. weighed 93 lbs.: it was supplied with the same quantity of beef
daily, divided into two equal portions, one of which was given in the
morning and the other in the evening. On February 16 (after an interval
of eight weeks) they were again weighed; and No. 1. was found to have
increased in weight 1 lb., while No. 2. had diminished in weight 1 lb.
The latter animal was observed to take less exercise than he had
previously been accustomed to, and slept more than usual: his temper was
not affected, and he did not exhibit unusual signs of hunger.

During the continuance of the experiment all the animals were fasted one
day in each week in common with the other carnivorous species kept in
the menagerie.

From these experiments it appears that carnivorous _mammalia_ fed with
two meals daily, do not continue in equally good condition with those
which have the same quantity of flesh daily in one meal only. It further
appears that in one instance (that of the _leopard_) the temper changed
for the worse, and thus animals of the genus _felis_ might become more
dangerous in a menagerie from the ferocity they would acquire under such
treatment; and that in another instance the habits were altered as
regarded exercise, a diminution of which, in confined animals, must be
injurious to health. The inference deduced is consequently in favour of
the continuance of the accustomed mode of feeding the purely carnivorous
animals with one meal daily.

The same results were produced by the same experiments upon two of a
species less completely carnivorous--the _Paradoxure gennet_. It may be
inferred from the circumstance, that quadrupeds of prey thrive best with
long intervals between their meals, and that the difficulty which such
animals experience in obtaining food is counterbalanced by their
requiring it not so frequently as animals who feed on vegetables.


                         ---------------------


                        STATUE OF WILLIAM PITT.

 [Illustration: A statue of a man standing in flowing robes, holding a
                               tablet.]

A Colossal statue of bronze, of which the above is a representation, was
erected in Hanover-square, at the end of last year, to the memory of
William Pitt. The orator is represented in the act of speaking. This
statue, which in many respects is the finest in London, is the work of
Mr. Chantrey.


                         ---------------------


                     GLEANINGS IN NATURAL HISTORY.

We have occasionally selected a paragraph from a very pretty volume, by
Mr. Jesse, published under the above title. The author lives in the
neighbourhood of Kew; and, like Mr. White of Selborne, who made a small
village in Hampshire one of the most interesting spots to the lover of
nature, by his ample descriptions of the natural objects which he saw
around him, Mr. Jesse has rendered his walks a vehicle for much
instruction and amusement to himself and to others. He principally
confines his attention to zoology--the most generally attractive of the
departments of natural history; and he looks upon the animal world with
so much practical wisdom, being disposed to be happy himself and to see
every creature around him happy, that there are few persons who will not
read his slight sketches with improvement to their hearts and
understandings.

We copy a passage descriptive of the manner of taking deer for hunting
in the king’s parks:--


“In addition to the herd of fallow-deer, amounting to about one thousand
six hundred, which are kept in Richmond Park, there is generally a stock
of from forty to fifty red deer. Some stags from the latter are selected
every year, and sent to Swinley, in order to be hunted by the king’s
stag hounds. When a stag, which has been hunted for three or four
seasons, is returned to the park, to end his days there, he is generally
more fierce and dangerous than any of the others at a particular season
of the year. At that time it is sometimes not safe to approach him; and
the keepers informed me, that they have been obliged to fire at them
with buck shot, when they have been attacked by them. They account for
this ferocity, by the circumstance of the deer having been much handled,
and consequently rendered more familiar with, and less afraid of, those
whom they would naturally shun.

“Does are longer lived than bucks. One doe in Richmond Park lived to be
twenty years old; and there are other instances of their having attained
the same age.

“A curious circumstance lately occurred, respecting the red deer in the
park in question. In the year 1825, not a single calf was dropped by any
of the hinds, though they had bred freely the preceding, and did the
same in the subsequent year. I find an event recorded in the ‘Journal of
a Naturalist,’ as having happened in the same year in regard to cows. It
is there stated that, for many miles round the residence of the author,
scarcely any female calves were born. This diminution of the usual breed
of deer, and the increase of sex in another animal, is not a little
remarkable.


                       [Illustration: Red Deer.]


“There is a fine breed of buck-hounds in Richmond Park, and their
sagacity is very extraordinary. In taking the deer, according to annual
custom, either for the royal hunt or for the fattening paddocks, a stag
or a buck, which has been previously fixed upon, is ridden out of the
herd by two or three of the keepers in succession, each of whom is
closely followed by a hound, the young dogs only being kept in slips. As
soon as the deer has been separated from his companions, the dogs have
the requisite signal given to them, and they immediately follow in
pursuit. The scene is then highly interesting. A strong deer will afford
a very long chase, but when he comes to bay, the dogs generally seize
him by the throat or ears; the keepers come up, take him by the horns,
and after having strapped his hind and fore legs together, put him into
a cart which follows for the purpose, and he is then disposed of as he
may be wanted. I have seen an active young keeper throw himself from his
horse upon a deer at bay, which he had come up to at full gallop, and
hold his horns till assistance arrived. Some danger, however, attends
this sport; as, when a deer has been hard pressed, I have seen him, in
more than one instance, suddenly turn upon the horsemen and injure the
horses, and in one case wound the leg of the horseman. The dogs are so
well trained, and are so soon made aware which buck is intended to be
caught, that they seldom make a mistake, even if the deer regains the
herd after having been driven from it, but press him through it, till
they have again separated him from it. It is well known that when a
hard-pressed deer tries to rejoin his companions, they endeavour to
avoid and get away from him as much as possible, or try to drive him
away with their horns. So severe is the chase in Richmond Park in taking
deer, especially when the ground is wet, that three or four good horses
may be tired by a single horseman in one day’s deer-taking, if each deer
is ridden out of the herd, and followed till he is taken. When dogs are
in slips, the man who holds them merely rides as near as he can to the
person who is endeavouring to single out the deer, and awaits his signal
for slipping the dog. These dogs, who are a large, rough sort of
greyhound and very powerful and sagacious, are soon taught not to injure
the deer when they come to them. The cry of ‘hold them,’ made use of by
the keepers in urging them forward, seems to be perfectly understood by
the dogs.”


                         ---------------------


                           THE UNITED STATES.

  [Remarks on the Statistics and Political Institutions of the United
    States. By William Gore Ouseley, Esq., Attaché to his Majesty’s
    Legation at Washington. 8vo. London, Rodwell, 1832.]

The book before us is rather a rambling one; and we cannot say that it
appears to us to contain much that is new, or that it has been prepared
with all the care, even in regard to its merely literary qualities,
which ought to have been bestowed on it. But the work is written in a
moderate, fair, and manly spirit, and is calculated to beget a very
favourable opinion of the general liberality and philanthropy of the
author’s views. Although it contains some sensible remarks upon Mrs.
Trollope’s volumes, which we lately noticed, and also upon a variety of
other minor points, the greater portion of it is devoted to an
examination of the financial results of the American system of
government, and a comparison of the burthens which it imposes upon the
people with those which are borne by the inhabitants of England and of
France. The settlement of this question appears to be the principal aim
of the writer; and he has brought together the tables and estimates of
various authorities by whom it has been investigated.

In looking at these statements, however, it must be borne in mind, that
the two countries are differently situated in many other respects, as
well as in regard to their political institutions; and the difference
between the amount of taxes paid in the one and that paid in the other,
may arise, wholly or in part, from circumstances with which the form of
the government has really nothing whatever to do.

It is our duty to mention this circumstance to point out that any belief
that the two countries can be brought to the same point of taxation is
somewhat irrational. On the other hand we can have no hesitation in
expressing an opinion, that the nearer they are assimilated, the greater
will be the amount of public happiness in the more highly-taxed country.
A wise government will always strive to reduce taxes to the lowest point
that is compatible with security against foreign violence, the
maintenance of the laws, and the preservation of national credit.

A great part of Mr. Gore Ouseley’s book is made up of extracts from the
American Almanac, and other recent publications. The following passage,
relating to the gold mines which have been lately opened in some of the
Southern States of the Union, contains some curious and interesting
information, which is also copied from other works, but which is not
generally known:--


“These mines have not been worked to any considerable extent for more
than about five or six years, or probably much less. And yet many of
them are worked upon an extensive scale, and mills for grinding the ore,
propelled by water or by steam, are erected in vast numbers. The company
of Messrs. Bissels, which is one of the most considerable, employs about
600 hands. The whole number of men now employed at the mines in these
southern states is at least 20,000. The weekly value of these mines is
estimated at 100,000 dollars, or more than one million sterling
annually. But a small part of the gold is sent to the United States
Mint. By far the larger part is sent to Europe, particularly to Paris.

“Of the working miners the greater number are foreigners--Germans,
Swiss, Swedes, Spaniards, English, Welsh, Scotch, &c. There are no less
than _thirteen_ different languages spoken at the mines in this
State[2]! And men are flocking to the mines from all parts, and find
ready employment. Hundreds of landowners and renters work the mines on
their grounds on a small scale, not being able to encounter the expense
of much machinery. The state of morals among the miners or labourers is
represented to be deplorably bad. This may be attributed to the absence
of any general organization as yet for the police and regulation of the
mines, combined with the usual effects of gold upon the uneducated and
needy classes of men (often not the most favourable specimens of their
various nations) who generally seek employment in the gold districts.
The village of Charlotte, in Mecklenburg County, is in the immediate
vicinity of several of the largest mines. It is increasing rapidly.

“One interesting fact deserves mention:--When speaking of the gold
mines, there are indubitable evidences that these mines were known and
_worked_ by the aboriginal inhabitants, or some other people, at a
remote period. Many pieces of machinery which were used for this purpose
have been found. Among them are several _crucibles_ of earthenware, and
far better than those now in use. Messrs. Bissels had tried three of
them, and found that they lasted twice or three times as long as even
the Hessian crucibles, which are the best now made. It is to be
regretted that some antiquary has not had an opportunity of at least
examining these curious relics; and it is hoped that they will be
preserved in future, notwithstanding the temptation offered by their
superior qualities.

“These gold mines prove that the whole region in which they abound was
once under the powerful action of fire. And it is a fact, not generally
known, that the miners who have come from the mines in South America and
in Europe pronounce this region to be more abundant in gold than any
other that has been found on the globe. There is no telling the extent
of these mines; but sufficient is known to prove they are of vast
extent.”--pp. 151-153.


-----

Footnote 2:

  North Carolina. The gold mines commence in Virginia, and extend
  south-west through North Carolina, part of South Carolina, Georgia,
  and Alabama, and end in Tennessee. The chief mines at present are
  those of North Carolina and Georgia.


                         ---------------------


                             THE CALABRIAS.

  [Calabria; during a Military Residence of Three Years, &c. In a Series
    of Letters, by a General Officer of the French Army, from the
    original MS. London, Effingham Wilson, 1832.]

The Calabrias, which are divided into two provinces, citra and ultra,
occupy the extremity of the South of Italy, forming a peninsula one
hundred and seventy miles in length, and varying in breadth from seventy
to thirty-five miles. The beautiful Mediterranean sea flows round this
peninsula, and a chain of the Apennines intersects it. The summit of
these mountains is a vast platform called La Syla, which is admirable
for pasture, and well provided with farm-houses and villages. The plains
washed by the sea would be everywhere most fertile, but they have been
neglected, and permitted to become swamped and pestilentially unhealthy
in many places.

A little work has just been published, which contains some instructive
and amusing information with regard to this part of Italy. This work is
the translation of a French volume, entitled ‘Lettres sur les Calabres,
par un Officier Français,’ which was published at Paris some twelve or
thirteen years since. What the Author may have become we know not, but
when he wrote his Letters he was nothing more than a subaltern;--a
clever man, as his little book proves, yet still only a lieutenant of
the line. But the translator, or publisher, appears to consider that the
high-sounding additions of, “A General Officer of the French Army” and
“from the original MS.” are necessary to the success of the book in its
English dress. It is to be regretted that a volume which contains much
to inform and amuse should be introduced to the English reader with the
aid of such useless quackery; for the work is really valuable in itself,
and requires no such arts to recommend it.

During his three years’ residence, the Author of these Letters, which
were written on the spot, when the scenery and the romantic adventures
he was engaged in were fresh and full in his mind, traversed the
Calabrias several times in their whole extent, and in pursuit of
partisans and brigands climbed mountains and penetrated into wild glens
which for ages had probably never been visited except by the native
robber or huntsman. He saw and described all the great towns, and the
sites of the ancient cities of Magna Græcia; and his account of the
productions and curiosities, manners and customs of these provinces, is
full and most amusing. We subjoin two or three passages, describing the
physical character of the country and the manners of its people:--


“The climate of Calabria varies according to the character and elevation
of the soil, and is consequently favourable to all sorts of produce. In
the plains, sheltered against the north wind, there are found
sugar-canes, aloes, and date-trees; while the pine and birch cover the
tops of the mountains. The great variety and richness of the productions
of Calabria furnish an abundance of all the necessaries of life. It has
grain of every description; wines which might be rendered as good as
those of Spain and Languedoc, if the inhabitants had more intelligence
and industry; and olive oil in such profusion, that it is kept in vast
cisterns dug in the earth, or in the rock. Great quantities of silkworms
(and silkworms of the very best quality) are bred here, which, together
with the growth of cotton, form a considerable article of commerce. The
liquorice root grows without cultivation; and in the forests is found a
sort of manna, which is in great request. Immense droves of horned
cattle pass alternately from the rich grazing grounds of the Syla to the
aromatic pasture of the plains, where they remain during the winter.
Their flocks are as vast as their herds. Their breed of horses is hardy,
active, extremely swift, full of fire, and very numerous. And besides
these the Calabrians have the excellent mule, so necessary for a
mountainous country, and vast droves of the formidable buffalo, which
they tame and employ in labour like an ox. In all parts of Calabria
there is a great quantity of game of every description. The seacoasts
abound with fish: the sword-fish alone supplies food to a part of the
inhabitants during several months of the year, and the tunny forms a
lucrative branch of commerce.... All this ought to produce comfort and
opulence, but hardly any thing is met with but abject misery! Nature has
done every thing for the country, but for many ages the vices of the
government have marred its prosperity. The condition of the peasantry is
most wretched: there is a total want of emulation. The climate and the
soil do all the work. Productions of every kind are the spontaneous
gifts of nature without any aid from art and industry. With the
exception of a few cities, and some towns that are regularly built, all
the other inhabited places present the most miserable and disgusting
appearance: the whole interior of their houses is a mass of revolting
filth: the pigs live familiarly with the inmates.... These people have
no true principle of religion or morals. Like all ignorant masses, they
are superstitious to excess. The most atrocious brigand carries in his
bosom relics and images of saints, which he invokes at the very moment
he is committing the greatest enormities.... The Calabrians are capable
of being made excellent soldiers from their robust constitutions, their
sobriety, activity, and quickness. If these people, isolated as they are
from the rest of Europe, and entrenched behind impassable mountains,
were actuated by a pure spirit of patriotism, political and religious,
they would become invincible; and the country they inhabit might be
rendered a sure and safe asylum against tyranny.”


                         ---------------------


        POEMS. BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. London. Andrews, 1832.

Our reasons for noticing and recommending this volume to our readers are
manifold. It is beautiful in itself; it is written by an American; it is
one of the best specimens we have seen of the poetical genius of our
transatlantic brethren; it is edited by Washington Irving, the most
accomplished prose writer of America; and is by him dedicated or rather
addressed to Samuel Rogers, the author of the ‘Pleasures of Memory,’ and
who, at an advanced period of life, preserves all the generous glow of
youth for letters and for arts, and for every thing connected with the
intellectual improvement of mankind.

The exhibition of actual specimens of American taste and literature will
tend to counteract the mischievous effects of those caricatures of
American life and manners with which some authors have of late amused
the spleen and prejudice of the British public. It is important to
remove the illusion produced by writers of talent, who, professing to
delineate national peculiarities truly, exaggerate and misrepresent
them; regardless, and perhaps unconscious, that by using ridicule and
sarcasm on such subjects they are renewing antipathies which never had a
rational existence, and which years of friendly intercourse had almost
annihilated; and are detaching from us the sympathies of those who by
descent, community of free institutions (though differently modified),
and identity of language, must naturally be well disposed towards us.

“During an intimacy of some years’ standing,” says Washington Irving to
Samuel Rogers, “I have uniformly remarked a liberal interest on your
part in the rising character and fortunes of my country, and a kind
disposition to promote the success of American talent, whether engaged
in literature or the arts. I am induced, therefore, as a tribute of
gratitude, as well as a general testimonial of respect and friendship,
to lay before you the present volume, in which, for the first time, are
collected together the fugitive productions of one of our living poets,
whose writings are deservedly popular throughout the United States.”

This is all as it should be, in relation both to Mr. Rogers and his
friend. And we confess we augur most favourably of the taste of a
country, _throughout_ which, poetry so refined in sentiment, and so pure
in execution and ornament, as that contained in the volume before us,
enjoys popularity.

We began by recommending Mr. Bryant’s Poems. A perusal of the following
specimen, as well as of one or two that we have lately printed
separately, will justify our so doing, and there are many pieces in the
volume of equal originality and beauty. A warm admiration of the works
of nature, strong religious feeling towards the great Author of these
works, a singular happiness of description, and a power of clothing his
descriptions “with moral associations that make them speak to the
heart,” “an independent spirit, and the buoyant aspirations incident to
a youthful, a free, and a rising country[3],” are among the charming
characteristics of this American poet. We will only add, that the whole,
while written in a style elegant enough to please the most fastidious,
is simple and intelligible enough for the commonest reader.


                            TO A WATERFOWL.

         Whither, midst falling dew,
           While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
         Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue
           Thy solitary way?

         Vainly the fowler’s eye
           Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,
         As, darkly painted on the crimson sky,
           Thy figure floats along.

         Seek’st thou thy plashy brink
           Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,
         Or where the rocking billows rise and sink
           On the chafed ocean-side?

         There is a Power whose care
           Teaches thy way along that pathless coast--
         The desert and illimitable air--
           Lone wandering, but not lost.

         All day thy wings have fanned,
           At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere,
         Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,
           Though the dark night is near.

         And soon that toil shall end,
           Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest
         And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend
           Soon o’er thy sheltered nest.

         Thou’rt gone--the abyss of heaven
           Hath swallowed up thy form; yet on my heart
         Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,
           And shall not soon depart.

         He, who, from zone to zone,
           Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
         In the long way that I must tread alone,
           Will lead my steps aright.

-----

Footnote 3:

  Washington Irving’s dedicatory Letter to Rogers.


                         ---------------------


                                 INDIA.

  [Pen and Pencil Sketches. Being the Journal of a Tour in India. By
    Captain Mundy, late Aide-de-Camp to Lord Combermere. 2 vols. 8vo.]

We recommend these two octavo volumes to those of our readers who may be
able to obtain the perusal of them. We think that not only great
amusement may be derived from Captain Mundy’s work, but that it supplies
more information concerning the parts of our dominions in India that he
visited, than may be collected from many ponderous volumes. In his
lively chapters, indeed, amusement and _fun_ (to use a homely word) go
hand in hand with instruction. At the sketch of a human character,
European or Indian, Hindoo or Mussulman, or at the sketch of a scene,
the Captain is equally at home and happy; and in the first class of his
essays he shows so generous and philanthropic a feeling, and in the
second so fine a perception and appreciation of the beauties of nature,
that he captivates both our affection and our taste. What we admire,
too, as much as his talent--and this is perhaps generally the
inseparable companion of intellect of a superior order--is his fine
cheerfulness of spirit. In his daily life he is always disposed to make
the best of things. He is as joyous in his tent, or the equally
comfortless bungalow, as in the palace; palanqueens or the back of an
elephant, Arabians or ragged coolies[4], are all the same to him!
Forward he goes on his journey, only telling you now and then that the
thermometer is nearly at 100°, or that it is raining deluges; and he
looks for, and finds amusement or interest of some kind or other
wherever he moves! At one time we find him hunting the antelope with
leopards, at another bringing down partridges with a “Manton;”--here
seeing a tiger fighting with a rhinoceros, there _himself_ in deadly
conflict with a jungle tiger;--now Mac-adamizing or making roads at
Simla, on the Steppes of the Himalaya mountains, now smoking his hookah
at Calcutta. At his professional duties he is as cheerful as at his
sports, and one cannot help perceiving he is in possession of that
valuable but very attainable secret of making “a pleasure of business.”

The following piece of practical philosophy, or how to make the best of
a bad lodging, is a lesson for all classes:--


“The elevation of Simla above the sea is seven thousand eight hundred
feet; and, during the month of May, I find the thermometer was never
higher than 73°, or lower than 55°, in my _garret_. This apartment,
occupied by me during our stay in the hills, was pervious both to heat
and cold, being, in fact, of that elevated character, which in England
is usually devoted to cheeses, or apples and onions, and forming the
interval between the ceiling of the dining-room and the wooden pent-roof
of the house, which descending in a slope quite to the floor, only
admitted of my standing upright in the centre. Though this canopy of
planks was lined with white-washed canvas, it by no means excluded the
rains so peremptorily as I, not being an amphibious animal, could have
wished; and, during some of the grand storms, the hailstones rattled
with such stunning effect upon the drum-like roof, that the echo sung in
my ears for a week after. This my exalted dormitory was rendered
accessible by a wooden ladder; but, spite of its sundry désagrémens, I
thanked my stars--in whose near neighbourhood I was--for my luck in
getting any shelter at all, without the trouble of building, in the
present crowded state of Simla. I enjoyed a splendid view from my
windows (I beg pardon, window), and the luxury of privacy, except at
night, when the rats sustained an eternal carnival, keeping me in much
the same state as Whittington during his first week in London. I soon
grew tired of bumping my head against the roof in pursuit of these
four-footed Pindarrees[5], and at length became callous to their
nocturnal orgies--and kept a cat[6].”


Even an hair-breadth escape from a midnight robber in no way interrupts
the Captain’s joyous mood:--


“I retired to my tent this evening pretty well knocked up; and during
the night had an adventure, which might have terminated with more loss
to myself, had I slept sounder. My bed, a low canopy, or ‘four feet,’
was in one corner of the tent, close to a door, and I woke several times
from a feverish doze, fancying I heard something moving in my tent; but
could not discover anything, though a cherang, or little Indian lamp,
was burning on the table. I therefore again wooed the balmy power, and
slept. At length, just as ‘the iron tongue of midnight had told twelve’
(for I had looked at my watch five minutes before, and replaced it under
my pillow), I was awakened by a rustling sound under my head; and, half
opening my eyes, without changing my position, I saw a hideous black
face within a foot of mine, and the owner of this index of a cut-throat,
or, at least, cut-purse disposition, kneeling on the carpet, with one
hand under my pillow, and the other grasping--not a dagger!--but the
door-post. Still without moving my body, and with half-closed eyes, I
gently stole my right hand to a boar-spear, which at night was always
placed between my bed and the wall; and as soon as I had clutched it,
made a rapid and violent movement, in order to wrench it from its place,
and try the virtue of its point upon the intruder’s body--but I wrenched
in vain. Fortunately for the robber, my bearer, in placing the weapon in
its usual recess, had forced the point into the top of the tent and the
butt into the ground so firmly, that I failed to extract it at the first
effort; and my visitor, alarmed by the movement, started upon his feet
and rushed through the door. I had time to see that he was perfectly
naked, with the exception of a black blanket twisted round his loins,
and that he had already stowed away in his cloth my candlesticks and my
dressing-case, which latter contained letters, keys, money, and other
valuables. I had also leisure, in that brief space, to judge, from the
size of the arm extended to my bed, that the bearer was more formed for
activity than strength; and, by his grizzled beard, that he was rather
old than young. I, _therefore_, sprung from my bed, and darting through
the purdar of the inner door, seized him by the cummerbund just as he
was passing the outer entrance[7]. The cloth, however, being loose, gave
way, and ere I could confirm my grasp, he snatched it from my hand,
tearing away my thumb-nail down to the quick. In his anxiety to escape,
he stumbled through the outer purdar, and the much-esteemed
dressing-case fell out of his loosened zone. I was so close at his
heels, that he could not recover it; and jumping over the
tent-ropes--which, doubtless, the rogue calculated would trip me up--he
ran towards the road. I was in such a fury, that, forgetting my bare
feet, I gave chase, vociferating lustily, ‘Choor! choor!’ (thief!
thief!) but was soon brought up by some sharp stones, just in time to
see my rascal, by the faint light of the room through the thick foliage
overhead, jump upon a horse standing unheld near the road, and dash down
the path at full speed, his black blanket flying in the wind. What would
I have given for my double-barrelled Joe at that moment! As he and his
steed went clattering along the rocky forest road, I thought of the
black huntsman of the Hartz, or the erl-king! Returning to my tent, I
solaced myself by abusing my servants, who were just rubbing their eyes
and stirring themselves, and by threatening the terrified sepoy sentry
with a court-martial. My trunks at night were always placed outside the
tent, under the sentry’s eye; the robber, therefore, must have made his
entry on the opposite side, and he must have been an adept in his
vocation, as four or five servants were sleeping between the khanauts.
The poor devil did not get much booty for his trouble, having only
secured a razor, a pot of pomatum (which will serve to lubricate his
person for his next exploit[8]), and the candlesticks, which on closer
inspection, will prove to him the truth of the axiom, that ‘all is not
gold that glitters,’ nor even silver.... The next morning, on relating
my adventure, I was told that I was fortunate in having escaped cold
steel; and many more comfortable instances were recited, of the robbed
being stabbed in attempting to secure the robber[9].”


But it is in his account of Indian hunting with which the volumes
abound, and which are truly excellent, that Captain Mundy gives full way
to his buoyant spirit and hilarity: and as the animal pursued is not the
timid hare or the paltry fox, but generally the cruel, destructive, and
formidable tiger, and as there is both adventure and danger, we can
frequently follow him in these hunts with great interest. The following
account of the sagacity of an elephant in a lion-hunt must conclude our
extracts:--


“A lion had charged my friend’s elephant, and he, having wounded the
lion, was in the act of leaning forward in order to fire another shot,
when the front of the howdah (elephant’s castle) suddenly gave way, and
he was precipitated over the head of the elephant into the very jaws of
the furious beast. The lion, though severely hurt, immediately seized
him, and would doubtless shortly have put a fatal termination to the
conflict, had not the elephant, urged by the mahout (the driver, who
sits on the elephant’s neck), stepped forward, though greatly alarmed,
and grasping in her trunk the top of a young tree, bent it down hard
across the loins of the lion, and thus forced the tortured animal to
quit his hold! My friend’s life was thus preserved, but his arm was
broken in two places, and he was severely clawed on the breast and
shoulders. The lion was afterwards slain by the other sportsmen who came
up.”


-----

Footnote 4:

  A coolie is a rough Indian pony.

Footnote 5:

  An immense association of robbers that a few years ago devastated
  India. They have been suppressed by the British.

Footnote 6:

  Vol. i. p. 235.

Footnote 7:

  The tents in India have double flies; the outer khanaut, or wall,
  forming a verandah, of some four feet wide, round the interior
  pavilion.

Footnote 8:

  Indian thieves oil their naked bodies to render their seizure
  difficult.

Footnote 9:

  Vol. i. p. 165.


                         ---------------------


⁂ For notices to Correspondents, see the Wrapper of the Monthly Part.


                         ---------------------


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    who, residing in country places, cannot obtain the Publication at
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    may be sold at a convenient and uniform price, a MONTHLY SUPPLEMENT,
    consisting chiefly of Notices of such _New Books_ as we think right
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                          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. 131, footnote: Changed single to double closing quote after phrase
   “which must be occasioned even by short and casual interruptions.”



*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76875 ***