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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/76897-0.txt b/76897-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec4e26b --- /dev/null +++ b/76897-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1072 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76897 *** + + + + + + THE PENNY MAGAZINE + + OF THE + + Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + 17.] PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. [July 7, 1832 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + THE CAPE BUFFALO--BOS CAFFER. + + [From a Correspondent.] + + [Illustration: Cape Buffalo.] + +Of the South African buffalo I had not many opportunities for personal +observation during my residence in that part of the Cape Colony of which +this animal is still an inhabitant; but, living among people by whom he +is frequently and eagerly hunted, I heard a good deal of his character +and habits, which may be comprised in the following sketch. + +The Boors and Hottentots describe the buffalo to be, what his aspect +strongly indicates, an animal of a fierce, treacherous, and cruel +disposition. Even when not provoked by wounds or driven to extremity in +the chase, they say he will attack, with the utmost ferocity, his great +enemy man, if he happens to intrude incautiously upon his haunts; and +what renders him the more dangerous is his habit of skulking in the +jungle, when he observes travellers approaching, and then suddenly +rushing out upon them. It has been remarked, too, (and this observation +has been corroborated by the Swedish traveller Sparrman,) that if he +succeeds in killing a man by goring and tossing him with his formidable +horns, he will stand over his victim afterwards for a long time, +trampling upon him with his hoofs, crushing him with his knees, mangling +the body with his horns, and stripping off the skin with his rough and +prickly tongue. This he does not do all at once, but at intervals, going +away and again returning, as if more fully to glut his vengeance. + +Although I have no reason to question the truth of this description, it +ought to be qualified by stating that though the buffalo will not +unfrequently thus attack man, and even animals, without any obvious +provocation, yet this malignant disposition will be found, if accurately +inquired into, the exception rather than the rule of the animal’s +ordinary habits. + +The _bos caffer_ is no more a beast of prey than the domestic ox, and +though much fiercer as well as more powerful than the ox, and bold +enough sometimes to stand stoutly on self defence even against the lion, +it is, I apprehend, nevertheless his natural instinct to retire from the +face of man, if undisturbed, rather than to provoke his hostility. The +proofs that are adduced of his vicious and wanton malignity arise +chiefly from the following cause. The males of a herd, especially at +certain seasons of the year, contend furiously for the mastery; and +after many conflicts the unsuccessful competitors are driven off, at +least for a season, by their stronger rivals. The exiles, like some +other species of animals under similar circumstances[1], are peculiarly +mischievous; and it is while skulking solitarily about the thickets, in +this state of sulky irritation, that they most usually exhibit the +dangerous disposition generally ascribed to the species. + +It is, nevertheless, very true that the Cape buffalo is, at all times, a +dangerous animal to hunt; as, when wounded, or closely pressed, he will +not unfrequently turn and run down his pursuer, whose only chance of +escape in that case is the swiftness of his steed, if the huntsman be a +Colonist or European. The Hottentot, who is light and agile, and +dexterous in plunging like an antelope through the intricacies of an +entangled forest, generally prefers following this game on foot. Like +all pursuits, when the spirit of enterprise is highly excited by some +admixture of perilous adventure, buffalo hunting is passionately +followed by those who once devote themselves to it; nor do the perilous +accidents that occasionally occur appear to make any deep impression on +those that witness them. The consequence is, that the buffalo is now +nearly extirpated throughout every part of the Cape Colony, except in +the large forests or jungles in the eastern districts, where, together +with the elephant, he still finds a precarious shelter. + +It was in this quarter that the following incident in buffalo hunting, +which may serve as a specimen of this rough pastime, was related to me +by a Dutch-African farmer, who had been an eye-witness of the scene some +fifteen years before. A party of Boors had gone out to hunt a troop of +buffaloes, which were grazing in a piece of marshy ground, interspersed +with groves of yellow wood and mimosa trees, on the very spot where the +village of Somerset is now built. As they could not conveniently get +within shot of the game without crossing part of the _valei_ or marsh, +which did not afford a safe passage for horses, they agreed to leave +their steeds in charge of their Hottentot servants and to advance on +foot, thinking that if any of the buffaloes should turn upon them, it +would be easy to escape by retreating across the quagmire, which, though +passable for man, would not support the weight of a heavy quadruped. +They advanced accordingly, and, under cover of the bushes, approached +the game with such advantage that the first volley brought down three of +the fattest of the herd, and so severely wounded the great bull leader +that he dropped on his knees, bellowing with pain. Thinking him mortally +wounded, the foremost of the huntsmen issued from the covert, and began +reloading his musket as he advanced to give him a finishing shot. But no +sooner did the infuriated animal see his foe in front of him, than he +sprang up and rushed headlong upon him. The man, throwing down his empty +gun, fled towards the quagmire; but the savage beast was so close upon +him that he despaired of escaping in that direction, and turning +suddenly round a clump of copsewood, began to climb an old mimosa tree +which stood at the one side of it. The raging beast, however, was too +quick for him. Bounding forward with a roar, which my informant (who was +of the party) described as being one of the most frightful sounds he +ever heard, he caught the unfortunate man with his horns, just as he had +nearly escaped his reach, and tossed him in the air with such force that +the body fell, dreadfully mangled, into a lofty cleft of the tree. The +buffalo ran round the tree once or twice apparently looking for the man, +until weakened with loss of blood he again sunk on his knees. The rest +of the party then, recovering from their confusion, came up and +despatched him, though too late to save their comrade, whose body was +hanging in the tree quite dead. + +----- + +Footnote 1: + + The elephant, for instance. See Menageries, vol. ii. p. 71. + + + --------------------- + + +ON THE IMPORTANCE OF A PUBLIC DECLARATION OF THE REASONS OF DECISIONS IN + COURTS OF JUSTICE. + +While a cause is pending I admit that all publications, and all the +little arts of popularity, tending to raise the prejudices or to inflame +the passions, are highly improper, and ought not to be permitted. But, +after the decision of a cause, the freedom of inquiry into the conduct +and opinions of the judges is one of the noblest and best securities +that human invention can contrive for the faithful administration of +justice. + +It is for this very purpose that it has been established in this +country, that judges shall give their opinions and decisions +publicly,--an admirable institution, which does honour to Britain, and +gives it a superiority in this respect over most of the other countries +in Europe. + +Laws may recommend or enforce the due administration of justice; but +these laws are of little avail, when compared with the superior efficacy +of the restraint which arises from the judgment of the public, exercised +upon the conduct and opinions of the judges. + +It would be extremely fatal to the liberties of this nation, and to that +inestimable blessing, the faithful distribution of justice if this +restraint upon judges were removed or improperly checked. + +The public has a right, and ought to be satisfied with regard to the +conduct, ability, and integrity of their judges. It is from these +sources alone that genuine respect and authority can be derived; and an +endeavour to make these the appendages of office, independent of the +personal character and conduct of the judge, is an attempt which, in +this free and enlightened country, most probably never will succeed. + +This freedom of inquiry is not only essential to the interests of the +community, but every judge, conscious of intending and acting +honourably, ought to promote and rejoice in the exercise of it. It is a +poor spirit indeed that can rest satisfied with authority and external +regard derived from office alone. The judge who is possessed of proper +elevation of mind will, both for his own sake and that of his country, +rejoice that his fellow-citizens have an opportunity of satisfying +themselves with regard to his conduct, and of distinguishing judges who +deserve well of the public, from those who are unworthy. He will adopt +the sentiment of the old Roman, who, conscious of no thoughts or actions +unfit for public view, expressed a wish for windows in his breast, that +all mankind might perceive what was passing there. + +If these considerations are of any force for establishing the justness +of the principle, the only objection I can foresee against this freedom +of inquiry is, that it may happen sometimes to be improperly exercised. + +This is an objection equally applicable to some of the greatest +blessings enjoyed by mankind, whether from nature or from civil +institutions. It is no real objection to health or civil liberty, that +both of them often have been, and are, extremely liable to be abused. + +When the freedom of inquiry now contended for happens to be improperly +used, it will be found that the mischief carries along with it its own +remedy. The most valuable part of mankind are soon disgusted with +unmerited or indecent attacks made either upon judges or individuals; +the person capable of such unworthy conduct loses his aim; the unjust or +illiberal invective returns upon himself, to his own disgrace; and the +judge whose conduct has been misrepresented, instead of suffering in the +public opinion, will acquire additional credit from the palpable +injustice of the attack made upon him. + + ⁂ From ‘Letters to Lord Mansfield, by Andrew Stuart, Esq.’ + + + --------------------- + + + ON THE HOT WIND OF AFRICA CALLED THE CAMSIN. + +“On my route from Suez to Cairo,” says Rüppel, “I had an opportunity of +observing a meteorological phenomenon of a very curious nature, which +possibly may lead to some interesting results. In the year 1822, May the +21st, being seven hours distant from Cairo, and in the desert, we were +overtaken by one of those violent winds from the south, about which many +travellers have told us such wonderful and incredible stories. During +the night there had been a light breeze from the north-east; but a short +time after sun-rise it began to blow fresh from the S.S.E., and the wind +gradually increased till it blew a violent storm. Clouds of dust filled +the whole atmosphere, so that it was impossible to distinguish any +object clearly as far off as fifty paces; even a camel could not be +recognised at this distance. In the mean time, we heard all along the +surface of the ground a kind of rustling or crackling sound, which I +supposed to proceed from the rolling sand that was dashed about with +such fury by the wind. Those parts of our bodies which were turned +towards the wind were heated to an unusual degree, and we experienced a +strange sensation of smarting, which might be compared with the pricking +of fine needles. This was also accompanied by a peculiar kind of sound. +At first I thought this smarting was occasioned by the small particles +of sand being driven by the storm against the parts of the body that +were exposed. In order to judge of the size of the particles, I +attempted to catch some in a cap; but how great was my surprise when I +found I could not succeed in securing a single specimen of these +supposed little particles. This led me to conceive that the smarting +sensation did not proceed from the small stones or the sand striking the +body, but that it must be the effect of some invisible force, which I +could only compare with a current of electric fluid. After forming this +conjecture, I began to pay closer attention to the phenomena which +surrounded me. I observed that the hair of all our party bristled up a +little, and that the sensation of pricking was felt most in the +extremities and joints, just as if a man were electrified on an +insulated stool. To convince myself that the painful sensation did not +proceed from small particles of stone or sand, I held a piece of paper +stretched up against the wind, so that even the finest portion of dust +must have been detected, either by the eye or the ear; yet nothing of +the kind took place. The surface of the paper remained perfectly unmoved +and free from noise. I stretched my arms out, and immediately the +pricking pain in the ends of my fingers increased. This led me to +conjecture that the violent wind, called in Egypt Camsin, is either +attended by strong electrical phenomena, or else the electricity is +caused by the motion of the dry sand of the desert. Hence we may account +for the heavy masses of dust, formed of particles of sand, which, for +several days, darken the cloudless sky. Perhaps we may also go so far as +to conjecture that the Camsin may have destroyed caravans by its +electrical properties, since some travellers assure us that caravans +have occasionally perished in the desert; though I must remark that in +all the regions I have travelled through, I never could hear the least +account of such an occurrence. At all events, to suppose that such +calamities have been caused by the sand overwhelming the caravans, is +the most ludicrous idea that can be imagined. + +“The Camsin generally blows in Egypt for two or three days successively, +but with much less violence during the night than the day. It only +occurs in the period between the middle of April and the beginning of +June, and hence its Arabic name, which signifies, ‘the wind of fifty +days.’” + + + --------------------- + + + FORKS. + + [From a Correspondent.] + +The interesting extract in your Magazine of the 26th May, on forks, +induces me to send you a few scraps on the history of forks. + +The word fork occurs only once or twice in the Bible; once in the +Pentateuch, where mention is made of “flesh forks,” evidently invented +to take the meat out of the pot; the other instance is in an account of +the riches of Solomon’s temple, where, singularly enough, the Vulgate +has the word _furca_, which the English translation renders by spoon. +Athenæus mentions also the word fork; but it does not appear whether it +was a _bident_ (with two prongs), or a _trident_ (with three prongs), +and it is quite certain that the Greeks were ignorant of the use of +forks in eating. At that time even Lucullus was not acquainted with that +luxury; a two-branched instrument or two were found at Herculaneum, but +it seems clear that they were not used at table in any period of the +Roman history. The first instance that history records of the use of +forks was at the table of John the good Duke of Burgundy, and he had +only two. + +At that period the loaves were made round; they were cut in slices which +were piled by the side of the carver, or _Ecuyer Tranchant_ (Cutting +Squire). He had a pointed carving-knife, and a skewer of drawn silver or +gold, which he stuck into the joint; having cut off a slice, he took it +on the point of the knife, and placed it on a slice of bread, which was +served to the guest. This ancient custom of serving the meat on the +point of the carver is still general throughout the continent of Europe. +A leg or a haunch of mutton had always a piece of paper wrapped round +the shank, which the carver took hold of with the left hand when he +carved the joint, and such is still the custom in Lower Germany and +Italy. We, who always imitate, and often without knowing why, have +imported the custom of ornamenting the shank, but the _penetration_ of +the fork is a decided improvement. Pointed knives are still general on +the Continent, it being so difficult to leave off old customs, even +after the occasion that gave them birth has ceased. It is only since the +peace, when every thing English became fashionable, that round-topped +knives have been adopted at Paris. + +Before the revolution in France it was customary, when a gentleman was +invited to dinner, for him to send his servant with his knife, fork, and +spoon; or if he had no servant, he carried them with him in his +breeches-pocket, as a carpenter carries his rule. A few of the ancient +regime still follow the good old custom, because it is old. The +peasantry of the Tyrol, and of parts of Germany and Switzerland, +generally carry a case in their pockets, containing a knife and fork, +and a spoon. + +Few use a fork so gracefully as an English lady. The Germans grasp it +with a clenched fist. + + + --------------------- + + + THE WEAVER’S SONG. + + [From ‘English Songs, and other Poems, by Barry Cornwall.’] + + Weave, brothers, weave!--Swiftly throw + The shuttle athwart the loom, + And show us how brightly your flowers grow, + That have beauty but no perfume! + Come, show us the rose, with a hundred dyes, + The lily, that hath no spot; + The violet, deep as your true love’s eyes, + And the little forget-me-not! + Sing,--sing, brothers! weave and sing! + ’Tis good both to sing, and to weave + ’Tis better to work than live idle. + ’Tis better to sing than grieve. + + Weave, brothers, weave!--Weave, and bid + The colours of sunset glow! + Let grace in each gliding thread be hid! + Let beauty about ye blow! + Let your skein be long, and your silk be fine, + And your hands both firm and sure, + And time nor chance shall your work untwine; + But all,--like a truth,--endure!-- + So,--sing, brothers, &c. + + Weave, brothers, weave!--Toil is ours; + But toil is the lot of men: + One gathers the fruit, one gathers the flowers, + One soweth the seed again: + There is not a creature, from England’s King, + To the peasant that delves the soil, + That knows half the pleasures the seasons bring, + If he have not his share of toil! + So,--sing, brothers, &c. + + + --------------------- + + +_Dances: the Tarantula._--“The Peccorara and Tarantella are the dances +of Calabria: the latter is generally adopted throughout the kingdom of +Naples. The music accompanying it is extravagant and without melody: it +consists of some notes, the movement of which is always increasing, till +it ends in producing a convulsive effort. Two persons placed opposite to +each other make, like a pair of savages, wild contortions and indecent +gestures, which terminate in a sort of delirium. This dance, originating +in the city of Tarentum, has given rise to the fable of the Tarantula, +whose venomous bite, it is pretended, can be cured only by music and +hard dancing. Many respectable persons who have resided for a long time +in the city of Tarentum, have assured me that they never witnessed any +circumstance of the kind, and that it could be only attributed to the +heat and insalubrity of the climate, which produce nervous affections +that are soothed and composed by the charms of music. The Tarantula is a +species of spider that is to be found all over the South of Italy. The +Calabrians do not fear it, and I have often seen our soldiers hold it in +their hands without any bad effects ensuing.”--_Calabria, during a +Military Residence_ + + + --------------------- + + +_Property._--The advantages of the acquisition of property are two-fold; +they are not merely to be estimated by the pecuniary profit produced, +but by the superior tone of industry and economy which the possessor +unconsciously acquires. When a man is able to call _his own_ that which +he has obtained by his own well-directed exertion, this power at once +causes him to feel raised in the scale of being, and endows him with the +capability of enlarging the stock of his possessions. A cottager having +a garden, a cow, or even a pig, is much more likely to be an industrious +member of society than one who has nothing in which he can take an +interest during his hours of relaxation, and who feels he is of no +consequence because he has nothing which he can call _his own_. The +impressions which have been produced upon the minds of the peasantry, by +affording them the means of acquiring property and of possessing objects +of care and industry, are great, unqualified, and unvaried. In every +instance the cottager has been rendered more industrious, the wife more +active and managing, the children better educated, and more fitted for +their station in life. + + + --------------------- + + +_A Golden Rule._--Industry will make a man a purse, and frugality will +find him strings for it. Neither the purse nor the strings will cost him +anything. He who has it should only draw the strings as frugality +directs, and he will be sure always to find a useful penny at the bottom +of it. The servants of industry are known by their livery; it is always +_whole_ and _wholesome_. Idleness travels very leisurely, and poverty +soon overtakes him. Look at the _ragged slaves_ of _idleness_, and judge +which is the best master to serve--INDUSTRY or IDLENESS. + + + --------------------- + + + WESTMINSTER ABBEY. + + [Illustration: Western Entrance.] + +This magnificent and venerable pile, the second architectural glory of +our metropolis, is, like St. Paul’s, the last of several successive +structures which have occupied the same spot. The ground on which +Westminster Abbey stands was anciently part of a small island, called +Thorney Island, or the Isle of Thorns, formed by a branch of the Thames. +This branch, leaving the main course of the river near the end of +Abingdon Street, ran in a westerly direction along the line of the +present College Street, and the south side of Dean’s Yard. It then +turned northwardly, skirting the western side of Dean’s Yard, and, +crossing Tothill Street, continued its course along Prince’s Street +(then Long Ditch). From thence it ran in an eastern direction along +Gardener’s Lane, crossing King Street, Parliament Street, and Cannon Row +(formerly Channel Row), and rejoined the river near the southern +termination of Privy Gardens. The hollow bed of this water-course is +still mostly preserved, forming part of the sewers; and in the twelfth +century, and probably for a long time afterwards, the open stream was +crossed by a bridge at the place where it passed through King Street. +Originally, as was indeed the case with the borders of the Thames along +nearly the whole of its course to the sea, the ground beyond this hollow +was probably to a considerable distance a mere marsh. There is reason to +conclude that this was the case almost as far as the present Chelsea +Water-Works in one direction, and to the north side of St. James’s Park +in another. The island itself may be supposed to have been nearly in the +same state. It is said to have derived its name of Thorney from the +quantity of thorns with which it was covered. As our old legends have +placed a temple of Diana on the site of the present Cathedral of St. +Paul’s, so they have conceived it necessary to maintain the equal honour +of the Abbey Church by making it the successor of a temple to Apollo; of +the existence of which, however, no traces ever have been found. Thorney +Island, nevertheless, is generally considered to have had its Christian +church as early as its rival in sanctity, the mount on which St. Paul’s +is built. The account which has been commonly received is, that Sebert, +King of Essex, having been baptized about the year 605, immediately +afterwards, to give proof of the sincerity of his conversion, built a +church here and dedicated it to St. Peter. It is certain that Sebert was +in old times universally regarded as the original founder of the Abbey; +no better evidence of which can be desired than the care which is known +to have been taken on more than one occasion to preserve his remains and +those of his queen Ethelgotha on the repair or reconstruction of the +building, and to re-deposit them in the most honourable place within it. +Some writers, however, have contended that this church could not really +have had any existence till more than a century after the time of +Sebert. According to other accounts, again, Sebert was not only the +founder of Westminster Abbey, but also of St. Paul’s Cathedral. So +imperfect, obscure, and perplexing are the notices that have come down +to us of those times. + +A fable of no ordinary audacity was invented by the monks in regard to +the first consecration of this Abbey. It was pretended that the ceremony +had been actually performed by St. Peter in person. We need not repeat +the circumstantial details of the story; suffice it to mention, that +towards the middle of the thirteenth century the brethren of the +monastery actually sued the minister of Rotherhithe for the tithe of the +salmon caught in his parish, on the plea, as Fleta informs us, that St. +Peter had given them this right at the time when he consecrated their +church. After the death of Sebert, his subjects relapsed into paganism, +and the church fell into decay. It was restored by the celebrated Offa, +King of Mercia, but was again almost entirely destroyed in the course of +the Danish invasions. King Edgar, instigated by St. Dunstan, in the year +969, once more repaired the establishment, and endowed it both with +lands and privileges. But it was Edward the Confessor who, nearly a +century after this, first raised it to the consequence which it has ever +since maintained. This monarch, having fixed upon the Abbey for his +burial-place, resolved to rebuild it from the foundation, and spared no +cost in his endeavour to render the structure the most magnificent that +had ever been erected in his dominions. He devoted to the work, we are +told, “a tenth part of his entire substance, as well in gold, silver, +and cattle, as in all his other possessions.” It was completed in the +year 1065, and the 28th of December, the day of the Holy Innocents, was +appointed for its dedication. The King, however, was seized on +Christmas-day with the illness which proved fatal on the 4th or 5th of +January following; and he was not, therefore, present at the ceremony. +On the 12th of January his body was interred with great pomp before the +high altar; and the Abbey has since received the remains of many of his +royal successors. Here also, on Christmas-day the year following, was +performed the coronation of William the Conqueror; and in the same place +has been crowned (with the single exception, we believe, of Edward V.) +every prince who has reigned in England during the nearly eight +centuries that have since elapsed. + +The structure raised by the Confessor (which was built in the form of a +cross, and is supposed to have been the first English church built in +that form) remained without receiving any repairs or additions till the +reign of Henry III. That king, finding the eastern portion of the +edifice much wasted by time, took it down, and began to rebuild it in a +style of still greater magnificence than before. Edward I. and +succeeding monarchs continued the work which had been thus commenced; +but, owing probably in great part to the distracted state of the +kingdom, it proceeded so slowly that it was still incomplete when Henry +VII. came to the throne, towards the close of the fifteenth century. +Henry added the chapel dedicated to the Virgin, which is commonly known +by his name, and which, admirably restored as it has recently been, may +challenge competition, not certainly in magnitude or grandeur, but in +elegance and richness of ornament, and in what we may almost call +gem-like beauty and perfection, with any specimen of architecture which +the world has elsewhere to show. The principal repairs or alterations +that have been made since the time of Henry VII., are those executed by +Sir Christopher Wren, under whose superintendence the western towers, +which had been till then of unequal heights, were raised to the same +elevation, and the whole building was strengthened and renovated. These, +it must be confessed, are not in the best taste. Sir Christopher, who +despised Gothic architecture, was not the most fit person to be employed +in restoring such a structure. + +The following wood-cut is a view of the Abbey, from St. James’s Park, +before the alterations of Wren. It is copied from a very rare print. + + [Illustration: Westminster Abbey and Hall.] + +It is impossible for us, within our narrow limits, to attempt either an +enumeration of the various curiosities and objects of interest which +this Abbey contains, or even any description of the form and +architectural character of the building. What is properly the church is +in the form of a cross; but its eastern end is surrounded by chapels, +varying both in their shape and dimensions. Of these there were formerly +fourteen; there are still twelve; and although that called Henry VII.’s +stands out from the rest in richness and beauty, several of the others +also display considerable luxury of decoration. Here, as probably all +our readers are aware, is preserved the famous stone which was brought +from Scone in Scotland, by Edward I. in 1296, and upon which our kings +have since been crowned. But the principal attraction of Westminster +Abbey to the generality of its visitors, arises from the numerous tombs +which it contains, some of which are monumental erections of great +splendour. Here, all around us, and under our feet, are the mouldering +remains of kings, queens, nobles, statesmen, warriors, orators, +poets--of those who have been most illustrious during the successive +centuries of our history, for rank, power, beauty, or genius. This is +surely a field of graves that cannot be trodden by any without emotion, +or without many of those thoughts that make us both wiser and better. “I +know,” says Addison, in a paper on this subject, “that entertainments of +this nature are apt to raise dark and dismal thoughts in timorous minds +and gloomy imaginations; but, for my own part, though I am always +serious, I do not know what it is to be melancholy; and can therefore +take a view of nature in her deep and solemn scenes, with the same +pleasure as in her most gay and delightful ones. By this means I can +improve myself with those objects which others consider with terror. +When I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies in +me; when I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire +goes out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tombstone, my +heart melts with compassion; when I see the tomb of the parents +themselves, I consider the vanity of grieving for those whom we must +quickly follow; when I see kings lying by those who deposed them, when I +consider rival wits placed side by side, or the holy men that divided +the world with their contests and disputes, I reflect with sorrow and +astonishment on the bitter competitions, factions, and debates of +mankind. When I read the several dates of the tombs, of some that died +yesterday, and some six hundred years ago, I consider that great day +when we shall all of us be contemporaries, and make our appearance +together.” + + + --------------------- + + +_Perseverance._--King Robert Bruce, the restorer of the Scottish +monarchy, being out one day reconnoitring the enemy, lay at night in a +barn belonging to a loyal cottager. In the morning, still reclining his +head on the pillow of straw, he beheld a spider climbing up a beam of +the roof. The insect fell to the ground, but immediately made a second +essay to ascend. This attracted the notice of the hero, who, with +regret, saw the spider fall a second time from the same eminence, It +made a third unsuccessful attempt. Not without a mixture of concern and +curiosity, the monarch twelve times beheld the insect baffled in its +aim; but the thirteenth essay was crowned with success: it gained the +summit of the barn; when the King, starting from his couch, exclaimed, +“This despicable insect has taught me perseverance: I will follow its +example. Have I not been twelve times defeated by the enemy’s force? on +one fight more hangs the independence of my country.” In a few days his +anticipations were fully realized by the glorious result to Scotland of +the battle of Bannockburn. + + + --------------------- + + + THE WEEK. + + [Illustration: John Hunter.] + +July 14.--On this day, in the year 1728, was born at Kilbride, in the +county of Lanark, Scotland, the celebrated JOHN HUNTER, one of the +greatest anatomists of modern times. The early life of this remarkable +man formed a strange introduction to the scientific eminence to which he +eventually attained. His father having died when he was about ten years +old, he seems scarcely, after this, to have received any further school +education; but was allowed to spend his time as he liked, till at last +he was bound apprentice to a cabinet-maker in Glasgow, whom one of his +sisters had married. After some time, however, this person failed--an +event which was probably regarded at the moment as a severe family +misfortune; but it turned out a blessing in disguise. Hunter’s brother, +William, who was ten years older than himself, had, after overcoming the +difficulties arising from the expenses of a medical education at the +University of Edinburgh, shortly before this settled in London, and was +already fast bringing himself into notice. To him John applied when he +found himself thrown out of any means of obtaining a living. He +requested his brother, who was then delivering a course of lectures on +anatomy, to take him as an assistant in his dissecting-room--and +intimated that if this proposal should not be accepted he would enlist +as a soldier. His brother, in reply, invited him to come to London. This +was in September, 1748, when he was in his twenty-first year. Never, +perhaps, did any learner make a more rapid progress than John Hunter now +made in his new study. Even his first attempt in the art of dissection +indicated a genius for the pursuit; and such was the success which +rewarded his ardent and persevering efforts to improve himself, that +after about a year he was considered by his brother fully competent to +take the management of a class of his own. His subsequent rise entirely +corresponded to this promising commencement. It was not long before he +took his place in the front rank of his profession, and had at his +command its highest honours and emoluments. The science of anatomy, +however, continued to be his favourite study; and in this he acquired +his greatest glory. Not only the chief portion of his time, but nearly +the whole of his professional gains, were devoted to the cultivation of +this branch of knowledge. One of the principal methods to which he had +recourse in order to throw light upon the structure of the human frame, +was to compare it with those of the various inferior animals. Of these +he had formed a large collection at his villa at Earl’s Court, Brompton; +“and it was to him,” says Sir Everard Home, “a favourite amusement in +his walks to attend to their actions and their habits, and to make them +familiar with him. The fiercer animals were those to which he was most +partial, and he had several of the bull kind from different parts of the +world. Among these was a beautiful small bull he had received from the +Queen, with which he used to wrestle in play, and entertain himself with +its exertions in its own defence. In one of these conflicts the bull +overpowered him, and got him down; and had not one of the servants +accidentally come by, and frightened the animal away, this frolic would +probably have cost him his life.” The same writer relates that on +another occasion “two leopards that were kept chained in an outhouse, +had broken from their confinement, and got into the yard among some +dogs, which they immediately attacked. The howling this produced alarmed +the whole neighbourhood. Mr. Hunter ran into the yard to see what was +the matter, and found one of them getting up the wall to make his +escape, the other surrounded by the dogs. He immediately laid hold of +them both, and carried them back to their den; but as soon as they were +secured, and he had time to reflect upon the risk of his own situation, +he was so much affected that he was in danger of fainting.” Mr. Hunter’s +valuable museum of anatomical preparations was purchased by Parliament +after his death for £15,000; and it is now deposited in the hall +belonging to the Royal College of Surgeons, in Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields, +where the public are admitted to view it on the order of any member of +the society. This distinguished person died suddenly on the 16th of +October, 1793, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. + + + --------------------- + + + THE LABOURERS OF EUROPE.--No. 1. + + [ITALY.] + +The condition of the Italian labourers varies in the different states. +The following accounts are from the best authorities:-- + +“The labourers in Lombardy (the most fruitful region in Italy) have +remained, throughout all the changes of government, what they were +before 1796, the servants of those whose lands they work; none have +become proprietors. Before the revolution of 1796 the greater part of +the land was in the hands of the high nobility and the clergy. Now it is +partly in the possession of a small number of shrewd speculators who +have known how to take advantages of political changes to enrich +themselves. But the peasants have not been benefited by the change. They +are still, not by law but by necessity, bound to the soil, in a state of +degradation, all their food consisting of a sort of bread made of Indian +corn flour, of beans and weak sour wine; they seldom taste meat. Those +who are employed on the rice-grounds are still more wretched. They are +obliged to remain for hours with their legs in marshy water, and this +engenders a cutaneous disease known by the name of _pellagra_, which +they generally neglect until they lose the use of their limbs and are +obliged at last to go to the hospital where many of them die[2].” + +In the ‘Letters from the North of Italy,’ by Mr. S. Rose, the writer +describes the following scene of misery,--one out of a thousand:--“A few +days ago I saw a poor infant lying under a sack in the convulsions of an +ague fit, and the next morning meeting another child whom I knew to be +his brother, I asked him ‘How does your brother do?’ to which he +answered; ‘Which brother, sir?’--‘Your brother that has the +fever.’--‘There are five of us with the fever, sir.’--‘Where do you +sleep?’--‘In an empty stable, sir.’--‘Where are your father and +mother?’--‘Our mother is dead, and our father begs or does such little +chance jobs as offer in the hotel.’--‘And what do you do?’--‘I get up +the trees here and pick vine leaves for the waiters to stop the +decanters with, and they give us our panada.’ This is bread boiled in +water with an infusion of oil or butter. Had my pecuniary means been +adequate to my desire to diminish this mass of misery, how was the thing +to be accomplished? I do not believe that I could have found a family +that would have boarded these melancholy little mendicants, and am quite +sure that no one would have had the patience to bear with the +waywardness of sickly childhood. In England the parish workhouse, or +some neighbouring hospital, would have offered a ready resource. There +are hospitals indeed here, but these are so thinly scattered (except +those in the Roman States which are both numerous and magnificent), and +are administered on such narrow principles, exclusive of particular +diseases and particular ages, and always turning upon some miserable +question of habitancy, within very confined limits, that they are +usually insufficient to the purposes I have mentioned.” This was written +from the Venetian States some twelve years ago, since which time +workhouses have been introduced into some of the principal towns. + +In Tuscany the peasantry are much better off. Labourers’ wages are there +between ninepence and a shilling a day, which, considering the low price +of provisions, and the mildness of the climate, is comparatively a good +remuneration. The women earn money by plaiting straw, out of which the +Leghorn hats are made. The farmers are either small proprietors +themselves, or, if tenants, share the produce with their landlord, who +stocks the farm and provides half the seeds and implements. This mode of +holding land by persons not possessing capital is very ancient;--and is +now called by writers on political economy, “Metayer Rent.” + +Of the peasantry of the provinces of Bologna and Romagna, commonly +called the Legations, and placed under the sovereignty of the Pope, we +have the following interesting account in Simond’s Travels in +Italy:--“The peasants are not proprietors and have not even a lease of +their farms, but hold them from father to son by a tacit understanding +most faithfully observed. The same roof often contains thirty or forty +persons,--different branches of the same family, with one common +interest, and governed by a chief who is chosen by themselves and is the +sole person responsible to the landlord. He directs all without doors +and his wife all within; one or two other women take care of all the +children that the fathers and mothers may go to work. _We have lost a +child during the night_, said one of them who was not herself a mother. +There reigns in general a most perfect harmony in this patriarchal +family. When the chief becomes too old, or otherwise incapable, another +is chosen who succeeds alike to the engagements and power of his +predecessor. He gives half the produce to the landlord, and pays half +the taxes. The landlord seldom takes the trouble to inspect the +divisions; he chooses only between the heaps laid out by the tenant, and +the grain is carried home. The same plan is observed with the hemp, +which is not divided till it is pounded and put up into packets. As to +the grapes, they are picked into large barrels, and an equal number sent +to the farm-house and to the landlord, an operation generally intrusted +wholly to the farmer. There are few villages, each farm-house being on +the farm. These family associations live much at their ease, but have +little money; they consume much of their own produce and buy and sell +very little. They have a great deal of poultry for home consumption. The +women spin and plait and can even dye. The country diversions go little +beyond the game of bowls: they have no dances and no merry-meetings, but +in lieu they have fine processions with music, discharge of cannon, and +sometimes horse-races. Though wine is very plentiful, a drunken man is a +rarity; there are few bloody quarrels, and few thefts, at least domestic +ones. The roads are safer here than in the Milanese, notwithstanding the +Austrian police of the latter, for there the farms are large and the +work is done by poor labourers who have no tie; while here the tenants +work for themselves, are at ease, and have no temptation. The education +of the people is intrusted to the priests, who give themselves little +trouble, and very few peasants can read or write. Each large family +generally consecrates a son to the Church; they call him priest Don +Peter, Augustin, &c., and he becomes the oracle of the family, but all +intimate ties with him are broken and he is called ‘brother’ no more.” + +The hardy natives of the Genoese coast, hemmed in between the mountains +and the sea, resort mostly to maritime occupations, in order to better +their fortunes. Their voyages are generally short, being chiefly +confined to the Mediterranean. By strict economy and frugality they save +the best part of their earnings which they bring home to their families; +who, during their absence, are employed in cultivating their gardens and +lemon-trees, or in fishing. By these joint exertions, a numerous +population is thriving on a barren soil; and the whole line of the +Riviera, or shore, for hundreds of miles, presents a succession of +handsome bustling towns and villages, inhabited by a cheerful, healthy, +and active race. + +Of the peasantry of Southern Italy and their condition we shall speak on +a future occasion. + +----- + +Footnote 2: + + Amministrazione del regno d’Italia. + + + --------------------- + + + ART OF SWIMMING. + + [Written by Dr. Franklin to a Friend.] + +“Choose a place where the water deepens gradually, walk coolly into it +till it is up to your breast, then turn round, your face to the shore, +and throw an egg into the water between you and the shore. It will sink +to the bottom, and be easily seen there, if your water is clear. It must +lie in water so deep as that you cannot reach it up but by diving for +it. To encourage yourself in order to do this, reflect that your +progress will be from deeper to shallower water, and that at any time +you may by bringing your legs under you and standing on the bottom, +raise your head far above the water. Then plunge under it with your eyes +open, throwing yourself towards the egg, and endeavouring by the actions +of your hands and feet against the water to get forward till within +reach of it. In the attempt you will find, that the water buoys you up +against your inclination; that it is not so easy a thing to sink as you +had imagined; that you cannot but by active force get down to the egg. +Thus you feel the power of the water to support you, and learn to +confide in that power; while your endeavours to overcome it, and reach +the egg, teach you the manner of acting on the water with your feet and +hands, which action is afterwards used in swimming to support your head +higher above water or to go forward through it. I would the more +earnestly press you to the trial of this method, because though I think +I satisfied you that your body is lighter than water, and that you might +float in it a long time with your mouth free for breathing, if you put +yourself in a proper posture and would be still and forbear struggling; +yet till you have obtained this experimental confidence in the water, I +cannot depend on your having the necessary presence of mind to recollect +that posture and the directions I gave you relating to it. The surprise +may put all out of your mind. For though we value ourselves on being +reasonable creatures, reason and knowledge seem on such occasions to be +of little use to us; and the brutes, to whom we allow scarce a +glimmering of either, appear to have the advantage of us. I will, +however, take this opportunity of repeating those particulars to you, +which I mentioned in our last conversation, as, by perusing them at your +leisure, you may possibly imprint them so in your memory as on occasions +to be of some use to you. 1st. That though the legs, being solid parts, +are specifically something heavier than fresh-water, yet the trunk, +particularly the upper part, from its hollowness, is so much lighter +than water, as that the whole of the body taken together is too light to +sink wholly under water, but some part will remain above, until the +lungs become filled with water, which happens from drawing water into +them instead of air, when a person in the fright attempts breathing +while the mouth and nostrils are under water. 2ndly. That the legs and +arms are specifically lighter than salt-water, and will be supported by +it, so that a human body would not sink in salt-water, though the lungs +were filled as above, but from the greater specific gravity of the head. +3rdly. That therefore a person throwing himself on his back in +salt-water, and extending his arms, may easily lie so as to keep his +mouth and nostrils free for breathing; and by a small motion of his +hands may prevent turning, if he should perceive any tendency to it. +4thly. That in fresh-water, if a man throws himself on his back near the +surface, he cannot long continue in that situation, but by proper action +of his hands on the water. If he uses no such action, the legs and lower +part of the body will gradually sink till he comes into an upright +position, in which he will continue suspended, the hollow of the breast +keeping the head uppermost. 5thly. But if, in this erect position, the +head is kept upright above the shoulders, as when we stand on the +ground, the immersion will, by the weight of that part of the head that +is out of water, reach above the mouth and nostrils, perhaps a little +above the eyes, so that a man cannot long remain suspended in water with +his head in that position. 6thly. The body continuing suspended as +before, and upright, if the head be leaned quite back, so that the face +looks upwards, all the back part of the head being then under water, and +its weight consequently in a great measure supported by it, the face +will remain above water quite free for breathing, will rise an inch +higher every inspiration, and sink as much every expiration, but never +so low as that the water may come over the mouth. 7thly. If therefore a +person unacquainted with swimming, and falling accidentally into the +water, could have presence of mind sufficient to avoid struggling and +plunging, and to let the body take this natural position, he might +continue long safe from drowning till perhaps help would come. For as to +the clothes, their additional weight while immersed is very +inconsiderable, the water supporting it, though when he comes out of the +water, he would find them very heavy indeed. But, as I said before, I +would not advise you or any one to depend on having the presence of mind +on such an occasion, but learn fairly to swim, as I wish all men were +taught to do in their youth; they would, on many occurrences, be the +safer for having that skill, and on many more the happier, as freer from +painful apprehensions of danger, to say nothing of the enjoyment in so +delightful and wholesome an exercise. Soldiers particularly should, +methinks, all be taught to swim; it might be of frequent service either +in surprising an enemy, or saving themselves. And if I had now boys to +educate, I should prefer those schools (other things being equal) where +an opportunity was afforded for acquiring so advantageous an art, which, +once learned, is never forgotten.” + + + --------------------- + + + THE STORMY PETREL. + + [Illustration: A petrel flying over the sea.] + + [From ‘English Song and other Poems, by Barry Cornwall.’] + + A thousand miles from land are we, + Tossing about on the roaring sea; + From billow to bounding billow cast, + Like fleecy snow on the stormy blast: + The sails are scattered abroad, like weeds, + The strong masts shake, like quivering reeds, + The mighty cables, and iron chains, + The hull, which all earthly strength disdains, + They strain and they crack, and hearts like stone + Their natural hard proud strength disown. + + Up and down! up and down! + From the base of the wave to the billow’s crown, + And amidst the flashing and feathery foam + The Stormy Petrel finds a home,-- + A home, if such a place may be, + For her who lives on the wide wide sea, + On the craggy ice, in the frozen air, + And only seeketh her rocky lair + To warm her young, and to teach them spring + At once o’er the waves on their stormy wing! + + O’er the deep! O’er the deep! + Where the whale, and the shark, and the sword-fish sleep, + Outflying the blast and the driving rain, + The Petrel telleth her tale--in vain; + For the mariner curseth the warning bird + Who bringeth him news of the storms unheard! + Ah! thus does the prophet, of good or ill, + Meet hate from the creatures he serveth still: + Yet he ne’er falters:--So, Petrel! spring + Once more o’er the waves on thy stormy wing! + + + --------------------- + + + GOOD OLD TIMES. + + [From ‘Combe’s Constitution of Man.’] + +A gentleman who was subject to the excise laws fifty years ago described +to me the condition of his trade at that time. The excise officers, he +said, regarded it as an understood matter that at least one half of the +goods manufactured were to be smuggled without being charged with duty; +but then, said he, “they made us pay a moral and pecuniary penalty that +was at once galling and debasing. We were required to ask them to our +table at all meals, and place them at the head of it in our holiday +parties; when they fell into debt, we were obliged to help them out of +it; when they moved from one house to another, our servants and carts +were in requisition to perform this office, and by way of keeping up +discipline upon us, and also to make a show of duty, they chose every +now and then to step in and detect us in a fraud and get us fined; if we +submitted quietly, they told us that they would make us amends by +winking at another fraud, and generally did so; but if our indignation +rendered passive obedience impossible, and we spoke our mind of their +character and conduct, they enforced the law on us, while they relaxed +it on our neighbours, and these being rivals in trade undersold us in +the market, carried away our customers, and ruined our business. Nor did +the bondage end here. We could not smuggle without the aid of our +servants, and as they could, on occasion of any offence given to +themselves, carry information to the head-quarters of excise, we were +slaves to them also, and were obliged tamely to submit to a degree of +drunkenness and insolence that appears to me now perfectly intolerable. +Farther, this evasion and oppression did us no good, for all the trade +were alike, and we just sold our goods so much cheaper the more duty we +evaded, so that our individual success did not depend upon superior +skill and superior morality in making an excellent article at a moderate +price, but upon superior capacity for fraud, meanness, sycophancy, and +every possible baseness. Our lives were anything but enviable. +Conscience, although greatly blunted by practices that were universal +and viewed as inevitable, still whispered that they were wrong; our +sentiments of self-respect very frequently revolted at the insults to +which we were exposed, and there was a constant feeling of insecurity +from the great extent to which we were dependent upon wretches whom we +internally despised. When the government took a higher tone and more +principle, and greater strictness in the collection of the duties were +enforced, we thought ourselves ruined; but the reverse has been the +case. The duties, no doubt, are now excessively burdensome from their +amount, but that is their least evil. If it was possible to collect them +from every trader with perfect equality, our independence would be +complete, and our competition would be confined to superiority in +morality and skill. Matters are much nearer this point now than they +were fifty years ago, but still they would admit of considerable +improvement.” + + + --------------------- + + +_Arab Account of Debtor and Creditor._--Corporal punishments are unknown +among the Arabs. Pecuniary fines are awarded, whatever may be the nature +of the crime of which a man is accused. Every offence has its fine +ascertained in the court of justice, and the nature and amount of those +graduated fines are well known to the Arabs. All insulting expressions, +all acts of violence, a blow however slight, (and a blow may differ in +its degree of insult according to the part struck,) and the infliction +of a wound, from which even a single drop of blood flows, all have their +respective fines fixed. The judge’s sentence is sometimes to this +effect:--(Bokhyt and Djolan are two Arabs who have quarrelled and +fought.) + +Bokhyt called Djolan “a dog.” Djolan returned the insult by a blow upon +Bokhyt’s arm; then Bokhyt cut Djolan’s shoulder with a knife. Bokhyt +therefore owes to Djolan-- + + For the insulting expression 1 sheep + For wounding him in the shoulder 3 camels + +Djolan owes to Bokhyt-- + + For the blow upon his arm 1 camel + Remain due to Djolan, 2 camels and 1 sheep. + + _Burckhardt’s Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys._ + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + ⁂ The Office of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge is at + 59, Lincoln’s Inn Fields. + + LONDON:--CHARLES KNIGHT, PALL-MALL EAST. + + _Shopkeepers and Hawkers may be supplied Wholesale by the following + Booksellers, of whom, also, any of the previous Numbers may be had:--_ + + _London_, GROOMBRIDGE, Panyer Alley. + _Bath_, SIMMS. + _Birmingham_, DRAKE. + _Bristol_, WESTLEY and Co. + _Carlisle_, THURNAM; and SCOTT. + _Derby_, WILKINS and SON. + _Falmouth_, PHILIP. + _Hull_, STEPHENSON. + _Leeds_, BAINES and NEWSOME. + _Lincoln_, BROOKE and SONS. + _Liverpool_, WILLMER and SMITH. + _Manchester_, ROBINSON; and WEBB and SIMMS. + _Newcastle-upon-Tyne_, CHARNLEY. + _Norwich_, JARROLD and SON. + _Nottingham_, WRIGHT. + _Sheffield_, RIDGE. + _Dublin_, WAKEMAN. + _Edinburgh_, OLIVER and BOYD. + _Glasgow_, ATKINSON and Co. + + Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES, Stamford Street. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + Transcriber’s Notes + + +This file uses _underscores_ to indicate italic text. New original cover +art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain. Itemized +changes from the original text: + + • p. 139: Added period after heading “A Golden Rule.” + • p. 139: Added period after phrase “which is the best master to + serve--INDUSTRY or IDLENESS.” + • p. 142: Replaced closing single quotation mark with closing double + quotation mark after phrase “Metayer Rent.” + • p. 143: Added closing double quotation mark after phrase “all + intimate ties with him are broken and he is called ‘brother’ no + more.” + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76897 *** diff --git a/76897-h/76897-h.htm b/76897-h/76897-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..24df64f --- /dev/null +++ b/76897-h/76897-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1567 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> + <head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title>The Penny Magazine, July 7, 1832 | Project Gutenberg</title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + body { margin-left: 8%; margin-right: 10%; } + h1 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.4em; } + h2 { text-align: center; 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} + .c014 { margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + .transcribers-notes { width: 80%; margin: auto; padding: 0 1em; + color:black; background-color: #E3E4FA; border: 1px solid silver; + page-break-before:always;margin-top:4em; } + hr.divider {width:30%;margin-left:35%;margin-right:35%; } + hr.full {width:100%; } + .subtitle {margin-bottom:2em; } + .masthead {text-align:center; display:inline-block; width:100%; } + .masthead-left {float:left;text-align:left; } + .masthead-right {float:right;text-align:right; } + .masthead-left, .masthead-right {width:24%; } + .masthead-centre {margin:auto;width:50% } + .colophon {font-size:75%; } + .colophon-left {float:left; } + .colophon-right {float:right; } + .colophon-left, .colophon-right {width:48%;text-align:left; } + .clear {clear:both; } + .illo-wide {width:100%; } + div.linegroup > :last-child { margin-bottom: 0; } + #camel1, #camel2 {margin-left:4em; } + </style> + </head> + <body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76897 ***</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span> + <h1 class='c000' title='The Penny Magazine, July 7, 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'>July</span> 7, 1832</div> +<div class="masthead-left">17.]</div> +<div class="masthead-centre">PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY.</div> +<hr class="full"> +</div> + +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>THE CAPE BUFFALO—BOS CAFFER.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='subtitle'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div>[From a Correspondent.]</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='illo-wide'> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<a href='images/the-cape-buffalo-full.jpg'><img src='images/the-cape-buffalo-inline.png' alt='' class='ig001'></a> +<div class='ic001'> +<p>[Cape Buffalo.]</p> +</div> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class='c004'>Of the South African buffalo I had not many opportunities +for personal observation during my residence in +that part of the Cape Colony of which this animal is +still an inhabitant; but, living among people by whom +he is frequently and eagerly hunted, I heard a good +deal of his character and habits, which may be comprised +in the following sketch.</p> + +<p class='c004'>The Boors and Hottentots describe the buffalo to be, +what his aspect strongly indicates, an animal of a fierce, +treacherous, and cruel disposition. Even when not +provoked by wounds or driven to extremity in the chase, +they say he will attack, with the utmost ferocity, his great +enemy man, if he happens to intrude incautiously upon +his haunts; and what renders him the more dangerous +is his habit of skulking in the jungle, when he observes +travellers approaching, and then suddenly rushing out +upon them. It has been remarked, too, (and this observation +has been corroborated by the Swedish traveller +Sparrman,) that if he succeeds in killing a man by goring +and tossing him with his formidable horns, he will +stand over his victim afterwards for a long time, trampling +upon him with his hoofs, crushing him with his +knees, mangling the body with his horns, and stripping +off the skin with his rough and prickly tongue. This he +does not do all at once, but at intervals, going away +and again returning, as if more fully to glut his vengeance.</p> + +<p class='c004'>Although I have no reason to question the truth of +this description, it ought to be qualified by stating that +though the buffalo will not unfrequently thus attack +man, and even animals, without any obvious provocation, +yet this malignant disposition will be found, if +accurately inquired into, the exception rather than the +rule of the animal’s ordinary habits.</p> + +<p class='c004'>The <span lang="la"><i>bos caffer</i></span> is no more a beast of prey than the +domestic ox, and though much fiercer as well as more +powerful than the ox, and bold enough sometimes to +stand stoutly on self defence even against the lion, it is, +I apprehend, nevertheless his natural instinct to retire +from the face of man, if undisturbed, rather than to +provoke his hostility. The proofs that are adduced of +his vicious and wanton malignity arise chiefly from the +following cause. The males of a herd, especially at +certain seasons of the year, contend furiously for the +mastery; and after many conflicts the unsuccessful +competitors are driven off, at least for a season, by their +stronger rivals. The exiles, like some other species of +animals under similar circumstances<a id='r1'></a><a href='#f1' class='c005'><sup>[1]</sup></a>, are peculiarly +mischievous; and it is while skulking solitarily about +the thickets, in this state of sulky irritation, that they +most usually exhibit the dangerous disposition generally +ascribed to the species.</p> + +<p class='c004'>It is, nevertheless, very true that the Cape buffalo is, +at all times, a dangerous animal to hunt; as, when +wounded, or closely pressed, he will not unfrequently +turn and run down his pursuer, whose only chance of +escape in that case is the swiftness of his steed, if the +huntsman be a Colonist or European. The Hottentot, +who is light and agile, and dexterous in plunging like an +antelope through the intricacies of an entangled forest, +generally prefers following this game on foot. Like all +pursuits, when the spirit of enterprise is highly excited +by some admixture of perilous adventure, buffalo hunting +is passionately followed by those who once devote +themselves to it; nor do the perilous accidents that +occasionally occur appear to make any deep impression +on those that witness them. The consequence is, that +the buffalo is now nearly extirpated throughout every +part of the Cape Colony, except in the large forests or +jungles in the eastern districts, where, together with the +elephant, he still finds a precarious shelter.</p> + +<p class='c004'>It was in this quarter that the following incident in +buffalo hunting, which may serve as a specimen of this +rough pastime, was related to me by a Dutch-African +farmer, who had been an eye-witness of the scene some +fifteen years before. A party of Boors had gone out to +hunt a troop of buffaloes, which were grazing in a +piece of marshy ground, interspersed with groves of +yellow wood and mimosa trees, on the very spot where +the village of Somerset is now built. As they could not +conveniently get within shot of the game without +crossing part of the <i>valei</i> or marsh, which did not afford +a safe passage for horses, they agreed to leave their +steeds in charge of their Hottentot servants and to +advance on foot, thinking that if any of the buffaloes +should turn upon them, it would be easy to escape by +retreating across the quagmire, which, though passable +for man, would not support the weight of a heavy +quadruped. They advanced accordingly, and, under +cover of the bushes, approached the game with such +advantage that the first volley brought down three of +the fattest of the herd, and so severely wounded the +great bull leader that he dropped on his knees, bellowing +with pain. Thinking him mortally wounded, the foremost +of the huntsmen issued from the covert, and began +reloading his musket as he advanced to give him a +finishing shot. But no sooner did the infuriated +animal see his foe in front of him, than he sprang up +and rushed headlong upon him. The man, throwing +<span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>down his empty gun, fled towards the quagmire; but +the savage beast was so close upon him that he despaired +of escaping in that direction, and turning suddenly +round a clump of copsewood, began to climb an old mimosa +tree which stood at the one side of it. The raging +beast, however, was too quick for him. Bounding +forward with a roar, which my informant (who was of +the party) described as being one of the most frightful +sounds he ever heard, he caught the unfortunate man +with his horns, just as he had nearly escaped his reach, +and tossed him in the air with such force that the body +fell, dreadfully mangled, into a lofty cleft of the tree. +The buffalo ran round the tree once or twice apparently +looking for the man, until weakened with loss of +blood he again sunk on his knees. The rest of the +party then, recovering from their confusion, came up +and despatched him, though too late to save their +comrade, whose body was hanging in the tree quite +dead.</p> + +<hr class='c006'> +<div class='footnote' id='f1'> +<p class='c004'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. The elephant, for instance. See Menageries, vol. ii. p. 71.</p> +</div> + +<div class='c003'></div> +<hr class="divider"> +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>ON THE IMPORTANCE OF A PUBLIC DECLARATION OF THE REASONS OF DECISIONS IN COURTS OF JUSTICE.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c007'>While a cause is pending I admit that all publications, +and all the little arts of popularity, tending to +raise the prejudices or to inflame the passions, are +highly improper, and ought not to be permitted. But, +after the decision of a cause, the freedom of inquiry +into the conduct and opinions of the judges is one of +the noblest and best securities that human invention can +contrive for the faithful administration of justice.</p> + +<p class='c004'>It is for this very purpose that it has been established +in this country, that judges shall give their opinions +and decisions publicly,—an admirable institution, which +does honour to Britain, and gives it a superiority in this +respect over most of the other countries in Europe.</p> + +<p class='c004'>Laws may recommend or enforce the due administration +of justice; but these laws are of little avail, when +compared with the superior efficacy of the restraint +which arises from the judgment of the public, exercised +upon the conduct and opinions of the judges.</p> + +<p class='c004'>It would be extremely fatal to the liberties of this +nation, and to that inestimable blessing, the faithful +distribution of justice if this restraint upon judges were +removed or improperly checked.</p> + +<p class='c004'>The public has a right, and ought to be satisfied with +regard to the conduct, ability, and integrity of their +judges. It is from these sources alone that genuine respect +and authority can be derived; and an endeavour +to make these the appendages of office, independent of +the personal character and conduct of the judge, is an +attempt which, in this free and enlightened country, +most probably never will succeed.</p> + +<p class='c004'>This freedom of inquiry is not only essential to the interests +of the community, but every judge, conscious of +intending and acting honourably, ought to promote and +rejoice in the exercise of it. It is a poor spirit indeed +that can rest satisfied with authority and external regard +derived from office alone. The judge who is possessed +of proper elevation of mind will, both for his own sake +and that of his country, rejoice that his fellow-citizens +have an opportunity of satisfying themselves with regard +to his conduct, and of distinguishing judges who +deserve well of the public, from those who are unworthy. +He will adopt the sentiment of the old Roman, +who, conscious of no thoughts or actions unfit for +public view, expressed a wish for windows in his +breast, that all mankind might perceive what was passing +there.</p> + +<p class='c004'>If these considerations are of any force for establishing +the justness of the principle, the only objection I +can foresee against this freedom of inquiry is, that it +may happen sometimes to be improperly exercised.</p> + +<p class='c004'>This is an objection equally applicable to some of the +greatest blessings enjoyed by mankind, whether from +nature or from civil institutions. It is no real objection +to health or civil liberty, that both of them often have +been, and are, extremely liable to be abused.</p> + +<p class='c004'>When the freedom of inquiry now contended for happens +to be improperly used, it will be found that the +mischief carries along with it its own remedy. The +most valuable part of mankind are soon disgusted with +unmerited or indecent attacks made either upon judges +or individuals; the person capable of such unworthy +conduct loses his aim; the unjust or illiberal invective +returns upon himself, to his own disgrace; and the +judge whose conduct has been misrepresented, instead +of suffering in the public opinion, will acquire additional +credit from the palpable injustice of the attack made +upon him.</p> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div>⁂ From ‘Letters to Lord Mansfield, by Andrew Stuart, Esq.’</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='c003'></div> +<hr class="divider"> +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>ON THE HOT WIND OF AFRICA CALLED THE CAMSIN.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c007'>“On my route from Suez to Cairo,” says Rüppel, “I +had an opportunity of observing a meteorological phenomenon +of a very curious nature, which possibly may lead +to some interesting results. In the year 1822, May the +21st, being seven hours distant from Cairo, and in the +desert, we were overtaken by one of those violent winds +from the south, about which many travellers have told +us such wonderful and incredible stories. During the +night there had been a light breeze from the north-east; +but a short time after sun-rise it began to blow fresh +from the S.S.E., and the wind gradually increased till +it blew a violent storm. Clouds of dust filled the whole +atmosphere, so that it was impossible to distinguish any +object clearly as far off as fifty paces; even a camel +could not be recognised at this distance. In the mean +time, we heard all along the surface of the ground a +kind of rustling or crackling sound, which I supposed +to proceed from the rolling sand that was dashed about +with such fury by the wind. Those parts of our bodies +which were turned towards the wind were heated to an +unusual degree, and we experienced a strange sensation +of smarting, which might be compared with the pricking +of fine needles. This was also accompanied by a +peculiar kind of sound. At first I thought this smarting +was occasioned by the small particles of sand being +driven by the storm against the parts of the body that +were exposed. In order to judge of the size of the +particles, I attempted to catch some in a cap; but how +great was my surprise when I found I could not succeed +in securing a single specimen of these supposed little +particles. This led me to conceive that the smarting +sensation did not proceed from the small stones or the +sand striking the body, but that it must be the effect of +some invisible force, which I could only compare with +a current of electric fluid. After forming this conjecture, +I began to pay closer attention to the phenomena +which surrounded me. I observed that the hair of all +our party bristled up a little, and that the sensation of +pricking was felt most in the extremities and joints, +just as if a man were electrified on an insulated stool. +To convince myself that the painful sensation did not +proceed from small particles of stone or sand, I held a +piece of paper stretched up against the wind, so that +even the finest portion of dust must have been detected, +either by the eye or the ear; yet nothing of the kind +took place. The surface of the paper remained perfectly +unmoved and free from noise. I stretched my arms +out, and immediately the pricking pain in the ends of +my fingers increased. This led me to conjecture that +the violent wind, called in Egypt Camsin, is either +attended by strong electrical phenomena, or else the +electricity is caused by the motion of the dry sand of +the desert. Hence we may account for the heavy +masses of dust, formed of particles of sand, which, for +<span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>several days, darken the cloudless sky. Perhaps we +may also go so far as to conjecture that the Camsin +may have destroyed caravans by its electrical properties, +since some travellers assure us that caravans have occasionally +perished in the desert; though I must remark +that in all the regions I have travelled through, I never +could hear the least account of such an occurrence. At +all events, to suppose that such calamities have been +caused by the sand overwhelming the caravans, is the +most ludicrous idea that can be imagined.</p> + +<p class='c004'>“The Camsin generally blows in Egypt for two or +three days successively, but with much less violence +during the night than the day. It only occurs in the +period between the middle of April and the beginning +of June, and hence its Arabic name, which signifies, +‘the wind of fifty days.’”</p> + +<div class='c003'></div> +<hr class="divider"> +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>FORKS.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='subtitle'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div>[From a Correspondent.]</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class='c004'>The interesting extract in your Magazine of the 26th +May, on forks, induces me to send you a few scraps on +the history of forks.</p> + +<p class='c004'>The word fork occurs only once or twice in the +Bible; once in the Pentateuch, where mention is made of +“flesh forks,” evidently invented to take the meat out +of the pot; the other instance is in an account of the +riches of Solomon’s temple, where, singularly enough, +the Vulgate has the word <span lang="la"><i>furca</i></span>, which the English +translation renders by spoon. Athenæus mentions also +the word fork; but it does not appear whether it was a +<span lang="la"><i>bident</i></span> (with two prongs), or a <span lang="la"><i>trident</i></span> (with three +prongs), and it is quite certain that the Greeks were +ignorant of the use of forks in eating. At that time +even Lucullus was not acquainted with that luxury; a +two-branched instrument or two were found at Herculaneum, +but it seems clear that they were not used at +table in any period of the Roman history. The first +instance that history records of the use of forks was at +the table of John the good Duke of Burgundy, and he +had only two.</p> + +<p class='c004'>At that period the loaves were made round; they were +cut in slices which were piled by the side of the carver, +or <span lang="la"><i>Ecuyer Tranchant</i></span> (Cutting Squire). He had a +pointed carving-knife, and a skewer of drawn silver or +gold, which he stuck into the joint; having cut off a +slice, he took it on the point of the knife, and placed +it on a slice of bread, which was served to the guest. +This ancient custom of serving the meat on the point +of the carver is still general throughout the continent +of Europe. A leg or a haunch of mutton had always +a piece of paper wrapped round the shank, which the +carver took hold of with the left hand when he carved +the joint, and such is still the custom in Lower +Germany and Italy. We, who always imitate, and +often without knowing why, have imported the custom +of ornamenting the shank, but the <em>penetration</em> of the +fork is a decided improvement. Pointed knives are +still general on the Continent, it being so difficult to +leave off old customs, even after the occasion that gave +them birth has ceased. It is only since the peace, when +every thing English became fashionable, that round-topped +knives have been adopted at Paris.</p> + +<p class='c004'>Before the revolution in France it was customary, +when a gentleman was invited to dinner, for him to +send his servant with his knife, fork, and spoon; or if +he had no servant, he carried them with him in his +breeches-pocket, as a carpenter carries his rule. A few +of the ancient regime still follow the good old custom, +because it is old. The peasantry of the Tyrol, and of +parts of Germany and Switzerland, generally carry a +case in their pockets, containing a knife and fork, and a +spoon.</p> + +<p class='c004'>Few use a fork so gracefully as an English lady. +The Germans grasp it with a clenched fist.</p> + +<div class='c003'></div> +<hr class="divider"> +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>THE WEAVER’S SONG.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='subtitle'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div>[From ‘English Songs, and other Poems, by Barry Cornwall.’]</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Weave, brothers, weave!—Swiftly throw</div> + <div class='line in2'>The shuttle athwart the loom,</div> + <div class='line'>And show us how brightly your flowers grow,</div> + <div class='line in2'>That have beauty but no perfume!</div> + <div class='line'>Come, show us the rose, with a hundred dyes,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The lily, that hath no spot;</div> + <div class='line'>The violet, deep as your true love’s eyes,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And the little forget-me-not!</div> + <div class='line in4'>Sing,—sing, brothers! weave and sing!</div> + <div class='line in6'>’Tis good both to sing, and to weave</div> + <div class='line in4'>’Tis better to work than live idle.</div> + <div class='line in6'>’Tis better to sing than grieve.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Weave, brothers, weave!—Weave, and bid</div> + <div class='line in2'>The colours of sunset glow!</div> + <div class='line'>Let grace in each gliding thread be hid!</div> + <div class='line in2'>Let beauty about ye blow!</div> + <div class='line'>Let your skein be long, and your silk be fine,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And your hands both firm and sure,</div> + <div class='line'>And time nor chance shall your work untwine;</div> + <div class='line in2'>But all,—like a truth,—endure!—</div> + <div class='line in12'>So,—sing, brothers, &c.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Weave, brothers, weave!—Toil is ours;</div> + <div class='line in2'>But toil is the lot of men:</div> + <div class='line'>One gathers the fruit, one gathers the flowers,</div> + <div class='line in2'>One soweth the seed again:</div> + <div class='line'>There is not a creature, from England’s King,</div> + <div class='line in2'>To the peasant that delves the soil,</div> + <div class='line'>That knows half the pleasures the seasons bring,</div> + <div class='line in2'>If he have not his share of toil!</div> + <div class='line in12'>So,—sing, brothers, &c.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='c003'></div> +<hr class="divider"> + +<p class='c007'><i>Dances: the Tarantula.</i>—“The Peccorara and Tarantella +are the dances of Calabria: the latter is generally +adopted throughout the kingdom of Naples. The music +accompanying it is extravagant and without melody: it consists +of some notes, the movement of which is always increasing, +till it ends in producing a convulsive effort. Two +persons placed opposite to each other make, like a pair of +savages, wild contortions and indecent gestures, which terminate +in a sort of delirium. This dance, originating in the +city of Tarentum, has given rise to the fable of the Tarantula, +whose venomous bite, it is pretended, can be cured +only by music and hard dancing. Many respectable persons +who have resided for a long time in the city of Tarentum, +have assured me that they never witnessed any circumstance +of the kind, and that it could be only attributed to +the heat and insalubrity of the climate, which produce +nervous affections that are soothed and composed by the +charms of music. The Tarantula is a species of spider that +is to be found all over the South of Italy. The Calabrians +do not fear it, and I have often seen our soldiers hold it in +their hands without any bad effects ensuing.”—<cite>Calabria, +during a Military Residence</cite></p> + +<div class='c003'></div> +<hr class="divider"> + +<p class='c007'><i>Property.</i>—The advantages of the acquisition of property +are two-fold; they are not merely to be estimated by the +pecuniary profit produced, but by the superior tone of industry +and economy which the possessor unconsciously acquires. +When a man is able to call <em>his own</em> that which he +has obtained by his own well-directed exertion, this power +at once causes him to feel raised in the scale of being, and +endows him with the capability of enlarging the stock of his +possessions. A cottager having a garden, a cow, or even a +pig, is much more likely to be an industrious member of +society than one who has nothing in which he can take an +interest during his hours of relaxation, and who feels he is +of no consequence because he has nothing which he can call +<em>his own</em>. The impressions which have been produced upon +the minds of the peasantry, by affording them the means of +acquiring property and of possessing objects of care and +industry, are great, unqualified, and unvaried. In every +instance the cottager has been rendered more industrious, +the wife more active and managing, the children better +educated, and more fitted for their station in life.</p> + +<div class='c003'></div> +<hr class="divider"> + +<p class='c007'><a id='tn-goldenrule'></a><i>A Golden Rule.</i>—Industry will make a man a purse, and +frugality will find him strings for it. Neither the purse nor +the strings will cost him anything. He who has it should +only draw the strings as frugality directs, and he will be sure +always to find a useful penny at the bottom of it. The servants +of industry are known by their livery; it is always +<em>whole</em> and <em>wholesome</em>. Idleness travels very leisurely, and +poverty soon overtakes him. Look at the <em>ragged slaves</em> +of <em>idleness</em>, and judge <a id='tn-industryor'></a>which is the best master to serve—<span class='fss'>INDUSTRY</span> +or <span class='fss'>IDLENESS</span>.</p> + +<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span></div> +<div class='c003'></div> +<hr class="divider"> +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>WESTMINSTER ABBEY.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='illo-wide'> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<a href='images/westminster-abbey-1-full.jpg'><img src='images/westminster-abbey-1-inline.png' alt='' class='ig001'></a> +<div class='ic001'> +<p>[Western Entrance.]</p> +</div> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class='c007'>This magnificent and venerable pile, the second architectural +glory of our metropolis, is, like St. Paul’s, the +last of several successive structures which have occupied +the same spot. The ground on which Westminster +Abbey stands was anciently part of a small island, +called Thorney Island, or the Isle of Thorns, formed +by a branch of the Thames. This branch, leaving the +main course of the river near the end of Abingdon +Street, ran in a westerly direction along the line of the +present College Street, and the south side of Dean’s +Yard. It then turned northwardly, skirting the western +side of Dean’s Yard, and, crossing Tothill Street, continued +its course along Prince’s Street (then Long +Ditch). From thence it ran in an eastern direction +along Gardener’s Lane, crossing King Street, Parliament +Street, and Cannon Row (formerly Channel +Row), and rejoined the river near the southern termination +of Privy Gardens. The hollow bed of this +water-course is still mostly preserved, forming part of +the sewers; and in the twelfth century, and probably +for a long time afterwards, the open stream was crossed +by a bridge at the place where it passed through +King Street. Originally, as was indeed the case with +the borders of the Thames along nearly the whole +of its course to the sea, the ground beyond this hollow +was probably to a considerable distance a mere marsh. +There is reason to conclude that this was the case +almost as far as the present Chelsea Water-Works +in one direction, and to the north side of St. James’s +Park in another. The island itself may be supposed +to have been nearly in the same state. It is said +to have derived its name of Thorney from the quantity +of thorns with which it was covered. As our old +legends have placed a temple of Diana on the site of +the present Cathedral of St. Paul’s, so they have conceived +it necessary to maintain the equal honour of the +Abbey Church by making it the successor of a temple +to Apollo; of the existence of which, however, +no traces ever have been found. Thorney Island, +nevertheless, is generally considered to have had its +Christian church as early as its rival in sanctity, the +mount on which St. Paul’s is built. The account which +has been commonly received is, that Sebert, King of +Essex, having been baptized about the year 605, immediately +afterwards, to give proof of the sincerity of his +conversion, built a church here and dedicated it to St. +Peter. It is certain that Sebert was in old times universally +regarded as the original founder of the Abbey; +no better evidence of which can be desired than the care +which is known to have been taken on more than one +occasion to preserve his remains and those of his queen +Ethelgotha on the repair or reconstruction of the building, +and to re-deposit them in the most honourable +place within it. Some writers, however, have contended +that this church could not really have had any existence +till more than a century after the time of Sebert. According +to other accounts, again, Sebert was not only +the founder of Westminster Abbey, but also of St. Paul’s +Cathedral. So imperfect, obscure, and perplexing are +the notices that have come down to us of those times.</p> + +<p class='c004'>A fable of no ordinary audacity was invented by the +monks in regard to the first consecration of this Abbey. +It was pretended that the ceremony had been actually +performed by St. Peter in person. We need not repeat +the circumstantial details of the story; suffice it to mention, +that towards the middle of the thirteenth century +the brethren of the monastery actually sued the +minister of Rotherhithe for the tithe of the salmon +caught in his parish, on the plea, as Fleta informs +us, that St. Peter had given them this right at the +time when he consecrated their church. After the +death of Sebert, his subjects relapsed into paganism, +and the church fell into decay. It was restored by the +celebrated Offa, King of Mercia, but was again almost +entirely destroyed in the course of the Danish invasions. +King Edgar, instigated by St. Dunstan, in the year 969, +once more repaired the establishment, and endowed it +both with lands and privileges. But it was Edward the +Confessor who, nearly a century after this, first raised +it to the consequence which it has ever since maintained. +This monarch, having fixed upon the Abbey for his +burial-place, resolved to rebuild it from the foundation, +and spared no cost in his endeavour to render the +structure the most magnificent that had ever been +erected in his dominions. He devoted to the work, we +are told, “a tenth part of his entire substance, as well in +gold, silver, and cattle, as in all his other possessions.” +It was completed in the year 1065, and the 28th of +December, the day of the Holy Innocents, was appointed +for its dedication. The King, however, was seized on +Christmas-day with the illness which proved fatal on the +4th or 5th of January following; and he was not, +therefore, present at the ceremony. On the 12th of +January his body was interred with great pomp before +the high altar; and the Abbey has since received the +remains of many of his royal successors. Here also, on +Christmas-day the year following, was performed the +coronation of William the Conqueror; and in the same +place has been crowned (with the single exception, we +believe, of Edward V.) every prince who has reigned +in England during the nearly eight centuries that have +since elapsed.</p> + +<p class='c004'>The structure raised by the Confessor (which was built +in the form of a cross, and is supposed to have been +the first English church built in that form) remained +without receiving any repairs or additions till the reign of +Henry III. That king, finding the eastern portion of +the edifice much wasted by time, took it down, and began +to rebuild it in a style of still greater magnificence +than before. Edward I. and succeeding monarchs continued +the work which had been thus commenced; but, +owing probably in great part to the distracted state of +the kingdom, it proceeded so slowly that it was still incomplete +when Henry VII. came to the throne, towards +the close of the fifteenth century. Henry added the +chapel dedicated to the Virgin, which is commonly known +<span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>by his name, and which, admirably restored as it has +recently been, may challenge competition, not certainly +in magnitude or grandeur, but in elegance and richness +of ornament, and in what we may almost call gem-like +beauty and perfection, with any specimen of architecture +which the world has elsewhere to show. The principal +repairs or alterations that have been made since the time +of Henry VII., are those executed by Sir Christopher +Wren, under whose superintendence the western towers, +which had been till then of unequal heights, were raised +to the same elevation, and the whole building was +strengthened and renovated. These, it must be confessed, +are not in the best taste. Sir Christopher, who +despised Gothic architecture, was not the most fit person +to be employed in restoring such a structure.</p> + +<p class='c004'>The following wood-cut is a view of the Abbey, from +St. James’s Park, before the alterations of Wren. It is +copied from a very rare print.</p> + +<div class='illo-wide'> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<a href='images/westminster-abbey-2-full.jpg'><img src='images/westminster-abbey-2-inline.png' alt='' class='ig001'></a> +<div class='ic001'> +<p>[Westminster Abbey and Hall.]</p> +</div> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class='c004'>It is impossible for us, within our narrow limits, to attempt +either an enumeration of the various curiosities and +objects of interest which this Abbey contains, or even +any description of the form and architectural character +of the building. What is properly the church is in the +form of a cross; but its eastern end is surrounded by +chapels, varying both in their shape and dimensions. +Of these there were formerly fourteen; there are still +twelve; and although that called Henry VII.’s stands +out from the rest in richness and beauty, several of +the others also display considerable luxury of decoration. +Here, as probably all our readers are aware, is preserved +the famous stone which was brought from Scone in Scotland, +by Edward I. in 1296, and upon which our kings +have since been crowned. But the principal attraction +of Westminster Abbey to the generality of its visitors, +arises from the numerous tombs which it contains, some +of which are monumental erections of great splendour. +Here, all around us, and under our feet, are the mouldering +remains of kings, queens, nobles, statesmen, warriors, +orators, poets—of those who have been most illustrious +during the successive centuries of our history, for rank, +power, beauty, or genius. This is surely a field of +graves that cannot be trodden by any without emotion, +or without many of those thoughts that make us both +wiser and better. “I know,” says Addison, in a paper on +this subject, “that entertainments of this nature are apt +to raise dark and dismal thoughts in timorous minds and +gloomy imaginations; but, for my own part, though I +am always serious, I do not know what it is to be melancholy; +and can therefore take a view of nature in her +deep and solemn scenes, with the same pleasure as in her +most gay and delightful ones. By this means I can +improve myself with those objects which others consider +with terror. When I look upon the tombs of the great, +every emotion of envy dies in me; when I read the +epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire goes +out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tombstone, +my heart melts with compassion; when I see the +tomb of the parents themselves, I consider the vanity of +grieving for those whom we must quickly follow; when +I see kings lying by those who deposed them, when I +consider rival wits placed side by side, or the holy men +that divided the world with their contests and disputes, I +reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the bitter competitions, +factions, and debates of mankind. When I +read the several dates of the tombs, of some that died +yesterday, and some six hundred years ago, I consider +that great day when we shall all of us be contemporaries, +and make our appearance together.”</p> + +<div class='c003'></div> +<hr class="divider"> + +<p class='c007'><i>Perseverance.</i>—King Robert Bruce, the restorer of the +Scottish monarchy, being out one day reconnoitring the +enemy, lay at night in a barn belonging to a loyal cottager. +In the morning, still reclining his head on the pillow of +straw, he beheld a spider climbing up a beam of the roof. +The insect fell to the ground, but immediately made a +second essay to ascend. This attracted the notice of the +hero, who, with regret, saw the spider fall a second time +from the same eminence, It made a third unsuccessful attempt. +Not without a mixture of concern and curiosity, +the monarch twelve times beheld the insect baffled in its +aim; but the thirteenth essay was crowned with success: +it gained the summit of the barn; when the King, starting +from his couch, exclaimed, “This despicable insect has +taught me perseverance: I will follow its example. Have +I not been twelve times defeated by the enemy’s force? on +one fight more hangs the independence of my country.” In +a few days his anticipations were fully realized by the glorious +result to Scotland of the battle of Bannockburn.</p> + +<div class='c003'></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='ic001'> +<p>[John Hunter.]</p> +</div> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class='c007'>July 14.—On this day, in the year 1728, was born at +Kilbride, in the county of Lanark, Scotland, the celebrated +<span class='sc'>John Hunter</span>, one of the greatest anatomists of +modern times. The early life of this remarkable man +formed a strange introduction to the scientific eminence +to which he eventually attained. His father having +died when he was about ten years old, he seems scarcely, +after this, to have received any further school education; +but was allowed to spend his time as he liked, till at +last he was bound apprentice to a cabinet-maker in +Glasgow, whom one of his sisters had married. After +some time, however, this person failed—an event which +was probably regarded at the moment as a severe +family misfortune; but it turned out a blessing in disguise. +Hunter’s brother, William, who was ten years +older than himself, had, after overcoming the difficulties +arising from the expenses of a medical education at +the University of Edinburgh, shortly before this settled +in London, and was already fast bringing himself into +notice. To him John applied when he found himself +<span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>thrown out of any means of obtaining a living. He +requested his brother, who was then delivering a course +of lectures on anatomy, to take him as an assistant in +his dissecting-room—and intimated that if this proposal +should not be accepted he would enlist as a soldier. His +brother, in reply, invited him to come to London. This +was in September, 1748, when he was in his twenty-first +year. Never, perhaps, did any learner make a more +rapid progress than John Hunter now made in his new +study. Even his first attempt in the art of dissection +indicated a genius for the pursuit; and such was the +success which rewarded his ardent and persevering +efforts to improve himself, that after about a year he was +considered by his brother fully competent to take the +management of a class of his own. His subsequent rise +entirely corresponded to this promising commencement. +It was not long before he took his place in the front rank +of his profession, and had at his command its highest +honours and emoluments. The science of anatomy, however, +continued to be his favourite study; and in this he +acquired his greatest glory. Not only the chief portion +of his time, but nearly the whole of his professional gains, +were devoted to the cultivation of this branch of knowledge. +One of the principal methods to which he had +recourse in order to throw light upon the structure of +the human frame, was to compare it with those of the +various inferior animals. Of these he had formed a +large collection at his villa at Earl’s Court, Brompton; +“and it was to him,” says Sir Everard Home, “a favourite +amusement in his walks to attend to their actions +and their habits, and to make them familiar with him. +The fiercer animals were those to which he was most +partial, and he had several of the bull kind from different +parts of the world. Among these was a beautiful +small bull he had received from the Queen, with which +he used to wrestle in play, and entertain himself with its +exertions in its own defence. In one of these conflicts +the bull overpowered him, and got him down; and had +not one of the servants accidentally come by, and frightened +the animal away, this frolic would probably have +cost him his life.” The same writer relates that on +another occasion “two leopards that were kept chained +in an outhouse, had broken from their confinement, and +got into the yard among some dogs, which they immediately +attacked. The howling this produced alarmed +the whole neighbourhood. Mr. Hunter ran into the +yard to see what was the matter, and found one of them +getting up the wall to make his escape, the other surrounded +by the dogs. He immediately laid hold of them +both, and carried them back to their den; but as soon as +they were secured, and he had time to reflect upon the +risk of his own situation, he was so much affected that +he was in danger of fainting.” Mr. Hunter’s valuable +museum of anatomical preparations was purchased by +Parliament after his death for £15,000; and it is now +deposited in the hall belonging to the Royal College of +Surgeons, in Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields, where the public are +admitted to view it on the order of any member of the +society. This distinguished person died suddenly on the +16th of October, 1793, in the sixty-sixth year of his age.</p> + +<div class='c003'></div> +<hr class="divider"> +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>THE LABOURERS OF EUROPE.—No. 1.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='subtitle'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div>[ITALY.]</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class='c004'>The condition of the Italian labourers varies in the different +states. The following accounts are from the best +authorities:—</p> + +<p class='c004'>“The labourers in Lombardy (the most fruitful +region in Italy) have remained, throughout all the +changes of government, what they were before 1796, the +servants of those whose lands they work; none have +become proprietors. Before the revolution of 1796 the +greater part of the land was in the hands of the high +nobility and the clergy. Now it is partly in the possession +of a small number of shrewd speculators who have +known how to take advantages of political changes to +enrich themselves. But the peasants have not been +benefited by the change. They are still, not by law but +by necessity, bound to the soil, in a state of degradation, +all their food consisting of a sort of bread made of +Indian corn flour, of beans and weak sour wine; they +seldom taste meat. Those who are employed on the +rice-grounds are still more wretched. They are obliged +to remain for hours with their legs in marshy water, and +this engenders a cutaneous disease known by the name +of <i>pellagra</i>, which they generally neglect until they lose +the use of their limbs and are obliged at last to go to the +hospital where many of them die<a id='r2'></a><a href='#f2' class='c005'><sup>[2]</sup></a>.”</p> + +<p class='c004'>In the ‘Letters from the North of Italy,’ by Mr. S. +Rose, the writer describes the following scene of misery,—one +out of a thousand:—“A few days ago I saw a +poor infant lying under a sack in the convulsions of an +ague fit, and the next morning meeting another child +whom I knew to be his brother, I asked him ‘How does +your brother do?’ to which he answered; ‘Which +brother, sir?’—‘Your brother that has the fever.’—‘There +are five of us with the fever, sir.’—‘Where do +you sleep?’—‘In an empty stable, sir.’—‘Where are +your father and mother?’—‘Our mother is dead, and +our father begs or does such little chance jobs as offer +in the hotel.’—‘And what do you do?’—‘I get up the +trees here and pick vine leaves for the waiters to stop +the decanters with, and they give us our panada.’ This +is bread boiled in water with an infusion of oil or butter. +Had my pecuniary means been adequate to my desire +to diminish this mass of misery, how was the thing to +be accomplished? I do not believe that I could have +found a family that would have boarded these melancholy +little mendicants, and am quite sure that no one +would have had the patience to bear with the waywardness +of sickly childhood. In England the parish workhouse, +or some neighbouring hospital, would have offered +a ready resource. There are hospitals indeed here, +but these are so thinly scattered (except those in the +Roman States which are both numerous and magnificent), +and are administered on such narrow principles, +exclusive of particular diseases and particular ages, and +always turning upon some miserable question of habitancy, +within very confined limits, that they are usually +insufficient to the purposes I have mentioned.” This +was written from the Venetian States some twelve years +ago, since which time workhouses have been introduced +into some of the principal towns.</p> + +<p class='c004'>In Tuscany the peasantry are much better off. Labourers’ +wages are there between ninepence and a shilling +a day, which, considering the low price of provisions, +and the mildness of the climate, is comparatively a good +remuneration. The women earn money by plaiting +straw, out of which the Leghorn hats are made. The +farmers are either small proprietors themselves, or, if +tenants, share the produce with their landlord, who +stocks the farm and provides half the seeds and implements. +This mode of holding land by persons not possessing +capital is very ancient;—and is now called by +writers on political economy, <a id='tn-metayerrent'></a>“Metayer Rent.”</p> + +<p class='c004'>Of the peasantry of the provinces of Bologna and +Romagna, commonly called the Legations, and placed +under the sovereignty of the Pope, we have the following +interesting account in Simond’s Travels in Italy:—“The +peasants are not proprietors and have not even +a lease of their farms, but hold them from father to son +by a tacit understanding most faithfully observed. The +same roof often contains thirty or forty persons,—different +branches of the same family, with one common interest, +and governed by a chief who is chosen by themselves +and is the sole person responsible to the landlord. He +directs all without doors and his wife all within; one or +two other women take care of all the children that the +fathers and mothers may go to work. <i>We have lost a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>child during the night</i>, said one of them who was not +herself a mother. There reigns in general a most perfect +harmony in this patriarchal family. When the +chief becomes too old, or otherwise incapable, another +is chosen who succeeds alike to the engagements and +power of his predecessor. He gives half the produce +to the landlord, and pays half the taxes. The +landlord seldom takes the trouble to inspect the divisions; +he chooses only between the heaps laid out by +the tenant, and the grain is carried home. The same +plan is observed with the hemp, which is not divided +till it is pounded and put up into packets. As to the +grapes, they are picked into large barrels, and an equal +number sent to the farm-house and to the landlord, an +operation generally intrusted wholly to the farmer. +There are few villages, each farm-house being on the +farm. These family associations live much at their +ease, but have little money; they consume much of +their own produce and buy and sell very little. They +have a great deal of poultry for home consumption. +The women spin and plait and can even dye. The +country diversions go little beyond the game of bowls: +they have no dances and no merry-meetings, but in +lieu they have fine processions with music, discharge of +cannon, and sometimes horse-races. Though wine is +very plentiful, a drunken man is a rarity; there are few +bloody quarrels, and few thefts, at least domestic ones. +The roads are safer here than in the Milanese, notwithstanding +the Austrian police of the latter, for there the +farms are large and the work is done by poor labourers +who have no tie; while here the tenants work for themselves, +are at ease, and have no temptation. The education +of the people is intrusted to the priests, who give +themselves little trouble, and very few peasants can read +or write. Each large family generally consecrates a son +to the Church; they call him priest Don Peter, Augustin, +&c., and he becomes the oracle of the family, but +<a id='tn-allbroken'></a>all intimate ties with him are broken and he is called +‘brother’ no more.”</p> + +<p class='c004'>The hardy natives of the Genoese coast, hemmed in +between the mountains and the sea, resort mostly to +maritime occupations, in order to better their fortunes. +Their voyages are generally short, being chiefly confined +to the Mediterranean. By strict economy and frugality +they save the best part of their earnings which they +bring home to their families; who, during their absence, +are employed in cultivating their gardens and lemon-trees, +or in fishing. By these joint exertions, a numerous +population is thriving on a barren soil; and the +whole line of the Riviera, or shore, for hundreds of miles, +presents a succession of handsome bustling towns and +villages, inhabited by a cheerful, healthy, and active race.</p> + +<p class='c004'>Of the peasantry of Southern Italy and their condition +we shall speak on a future occasion.</p> + +<hr class='c006'> +<div class='footnote' id='f2'> +<p class='c004'><a href='#r2'>2</a>. Amministrazione del regno d’Italia.</p> +</div> + +<div class='c003'></div> +<hr class="divider"> +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>ART OF SWIMMING.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='subtitle'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div>[Written by Dr. Franklin to a Friend.]</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class='c004'>“Choose a place where the water deepens gradually, +walk coolly into it till it is up to your breast, then turn +round, your face to the shore, and throw an egg into +the water between you and the shore. It will sink to +the bottom, and be easily seen there, if your water is +clear. It must lie in water so deep as that you cannot +reach it up but by diving for it. To encourage yourself +in order to do this, reflect that your progress will be +from deeper to shallower water, and that at any time +you may by bringing your legs under you and standing +on the bottom, raise your head far above the water. +Then plunge under it with your eyes open, throwing +yourself towards the egg, and endeavouring by the +actions of your hands and feet against the water to get +forward till within reach of it. In the attempt you +will find, that the water buoys you up against your inclination; +that it is not so easy a thing to sink as you +had imagined; that you cannot but by active force get +down to the egg. Thus you feel the power of the water +to support you, and learn to confide in that power; +while your endeavours to overcome it, and reach the +egg, teach you the manner of acting on the water with +your feet and hands, which action is afterwards used in +swimming to support your head higher above water +or to go forward through it. I would the more earnestly +press you to the trial of this method, because +though I think I satisfied you that your body is lighter +than water, and that you might float in it a long time +with your mouth free for breathing, if you put yourself +in a proper posture and would be still and forbear +struggling; yet till you have obtained this experimental +confidence in the water, I cannot depend on your having +the necessary presence of mind to recollect that posture +and the directions I gave you relating to it. The +surprise may put all out of your mind. For though we +value ourselves on being reasonable creatures, reason and +knowledge seem on such occasions to be of little use to +us; and the brutes, to whom we allow scarce a glimmering +of either, appear to have the advantage of us. +I will, however, take this opportunity of repeating those +particulars to you, which I mentioned in our last conversation, +as, by perusing them at your leisure, you may +possibly imprint them so in your memory as on occasions +to be of some use to you. 1st. That though the +legs, being solid parts, are specifically something heavier +than fresh-water, yet the trunk, particularly the upper +part, from its hollowness, is so much lighter than water, +as that the whole of the body taken together is too light +to sink wholly under water, but some part will remain +above, until the lungs become filled with water, which +happens from drawing water into them instead of air, +when a person in the fright attempts breathing while +the mouth and nostrils are under water. 2ndly. That +the legs and arms are specifically lighter than salt-water, +and will be supported by it, so that a human body +would not sink in salt-water, though the lungs were +filled as above, but from the greater specific gravity of +the head. 3rdly. That therefore a person throwing +himself on his back in salt-water, and extending his +arms, may easily lie so as to keep his mouth and nostrils +free for breathing; and by a small motion of his +hands may prevent turning, if he should perceive any +tendency to it. 4thly. That in fresh-water, if a man throws +himself on his back near the surface, he cannot long +continue in that situation, but by proper action of his +hands on the water. If he uses no such action, the +legs and lower part of the body will gradually sink till +he comes into an upright position, in which he will continue +suspended, the hollow of the breast keeping the +head uppermost. 5thly. But if, in this erect position, +the head is kept upright above the shoulders, as when +we stand on the ground, the immersion will, by the +weight of that part of the head that is out of water, +reach above the mouth and nostrils, perhaps a little +above the eyes, so that a man cannot long remain suspended +in water with his head in that position. 6thly. +The body continuing suspended as before, and upright, +if the head be leaned quite back, so that the face looks +upwards, all the back part of the head being then under +water, and its weight consequently in a great measure +supported by it, the face will remain above water quite +free for breathing, will rise an inch higher every inspiration, +and sink as much every expiration, but never so +low as that the water may come over the mouth. 7thly. +If therefore a person unacquainted with swimming, and +falling accidentally into the water, could have presence +of mind sufficient to avoid struggling and plunging, and +to let the body take this natural position, he might continue +long safe from drowning till perhaps help would +come. For as to the clothes, their additional weight +while immersed is very inconsiderable, the water supporting +<span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>it, though when he comes out of the water, he +would find them very heavy indeed. But, as I said +before, I would not advise you or any one to depend +on having the presence of mind on such an occasion, +but learn fairly to swim, as I wish all men were taught +to do in their youth; they would, on many occurrences, +be the safer for having that skill, and on many more +the happier, as freer from painful apprehensions of +danger, to say nothing of the enjoyment in so delightful +and wholesome an exercise. Soldiers particularly should, +methinks, all be taught to swim; it might be of frequent +service either in surprising an enemy, or saving +themselves. And if I had now boys to educate, I should +prefer those schools (other things being equal) where +an opportunity was afforded for acquiring so advantageous +an art, which, once learned, is never forgotten.”</p> + +<div class='c003'></div> +<hr class="divider"> +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>THE STORMY PETREL.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='illo-wide'> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<a href='images/the-stormy-petrel-full.jpg'><img src='images/the-stormy-petrel-inline.png' alt='A petrel flying over the sea.' class='ig001'></a> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='subtitle'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div>[From ‘English Song and other Poems, by Barry Cornwall.’]</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>A thousand miles from land are we,</div> + <div class='line'>Tossing about on the roaring sea;</div> + <div class='line'>From billow to bounding billow cast,</div> + <div class='line'>Like fleecy snow on the stormy blast:</div> + <div class='line'>The sails are scattered abroad, like weeds,</div> + <div class='line'>The strong masts shake, like quivering reeds,</div> + <div class='line'>The mighty cables, and iron chains,</div> + <div class='line'>The hull, which all earthly strength disdains,</div> + <div class='line'>They strain and they crack, and hearts like stone</div> + <div class='line'>Their natural hard proud strength disown.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Up and down! up and down!</div> + <div class='line'>From the base of the wave to the billow’s crown,</div> + <div class='line'>And amidst the flashing and feathery foam</div> + <div class='line'>The Stormy Petrel finds a home,—</div> + <div class='line'>A home, if such a place may be,</div> + <div class='line'>For her who lives on the wide wide sea,</div> + <div class='line'>On the craggy ice, in the frozen air,</div> + <div class='line'>And only seeketh her rocky lair</div> + <div class='line'>To warm her young, and to teach them spring</div> + <div class='line'>At once o’er the waves on their stormy wing!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>O’er the deep! O’er the deep!</div> + <div class='line'>Where the whale, and the shark, and the sword-fish sleep,</div> + <div class='line'>Outflying the blast and the driving rain,</div> + <div class='line'>The Petrel telleth her tale—in vain;</div> + <div class='line'>For the mariner curseth the warning bird</div> + <div class='line'>Who bringeth him news of the storms unheard!</div> + <div class='line'>Ah! thus does the prophet, of good or ill,</div> + <div class='line'>Meet hate from the creatures he serveth still:</div> + <div class='line'>Yet he ne’er falters:—So, Petrel! spring</div> + <div class='line'>Once more o’er the waves on thy stormy wing!</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='c003'></div> +<hr class="divider"> +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>GOOD OLD TIMES.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='subtitle'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div>[From ‘Combe’s Constitution of Man.’]</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class='c004'>A gentleman who was subject to the excise laws fifty +years ago described to me the condition of his trade at that +time. The excise officers, he said, regarded it as an understood +matter that at least one half of the goods manufactured +were to be smuggled without being charged with duty; +but then, said he, “they made us pay a moral and pecuniary +penalty that was at once galling and debasing. We were +required to ask them to our table at all meals, and +place them at the head of it in our holiday parties; when +they fell into debt, we were obliged to help them out of it; +when they moved from one house to another, our servants +and carts were in requisition to perform this office, and by +way of keeping up discipline upon us, and also to make a +show of duty, they chose every now and then to step in and +detect us in a fraud and get us fined; if we submitted +quietly, they told us that they would make us amends by winking +at another fraud, and generally did so; but if our indignation +rendered passive obedience impossible, and we spoke +our mind of their character and conduct, they enforced the +law on us, while they relaxed it on our neighbours, and +these being rivals in trade undersold us in the market, carried +away our customers, and ruined our business. Nor +did the bondage end here. We could not smuggle without +the aid of our servants, and as they could, on occasion of +any offence given to themselves, carry information to the +head-quarters of excise, we were slaves to them also, and +were obliged tamely to submit to a degree of drunkenness +and insolence that appears to me now perfectly intolerable. +Farther, this evasion and oppression did us no good, for all +the trade were alike, and we just sold our goods so much +cheaper the more duty we evaded, so that our individual +success did not depend upon superior skill and superior +morality in making an excellent article at a moderate price, +but upon superior capacity for fraud, meanness, sycophancy, +and every possible baseness. Our lives were anything +but enviable. Conscience, although greatly blunted +by practices that were universal and viewed as inevitable, +still whispered that they were wrong; our sentiments of +self-respect very frequently revolted at the insults to which +we were exposed, and there was a constant feeling of insecurity +from the great extent to which we were dependent +upon wretches whom we internally despised. When the +government took a higher tone and more principle, and +greater strictness in the collection of the duties were enforced, +we thought ourselves ruined; but the reverse has been +the case. The duties, no doubt, are now excessively burdensome +from their amount, but that is their least evil. If +it was possible to collect them from every trader with perfect +equality, our independence would be complete, and our +competition would be confined to superiority in morality and +skill. Matters are much nearer this point now than they +were fifty years ago, but still they would admit of considerable +improvement.”</p> + +<div class='c003'></div> +<hr class="divider"> + +<p class='c007'><i>Arab Account of Debtor and Creditor.</i>—Corporal punishments +are unknown among the Arabs. Pecuniary fines are +awarded, whatever may be the nature of the crime of which +a man is accused. Every offence has its fine ascertained in +the court of justice, and the nature and amount of those +graduated fines are well known to the Arabs. All insulting +expressions, all acts of violence, a blow however slight, +(and a blow may differ in its degree of insult according to +the part struck,) and the infliction of a wound, from which +even a single drop of blood flows, all have their respective +fines fixed. The judge’s sentence is sometimes to this +effect:—(Bokhyt and Djolan are two Arabs who have +quarrelled and fought.)</p> + +<p class='c004'>Bokhyt called Djolan “a dog.” Djolan returned the +insult by a blow upon Bokhyt’s arm; then Bokhyt cut +Djolan’s shoulder with a knife. Bokhyt therefore owes to +Djolan—</p> + +<table class='table0' id='camel1'> +<colgroup> +<col class='colwidth70'> +<col class='colwidth29'> +</colgroup> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>For the insulting expression</td> + <td class='c009'>1 sheep</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>For wounding him in the shoulder</td> + <td class='c009'>3 camels</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class='c004'>Djolan owes to Bokhyt—</p> + +<table class='table0' id='camel2'> +<colgroup> +<col class='colwidth70'> +<col class='colwidth29'> +</colgroup> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>For the blow upon his arm</td> + <td class='c009'>1 camel</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c008'>Remain due to Djolan, 2 camels and 1 sheep.</td> + <td class='c009'> </td> + </tr> +</table> + +<div class='c010'><cite>Burckhardt’s Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys.</cite></div> + +<hr class='c011'> +<div class='colophon'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c012'> + <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, of whom, also, any of the previous Numbers may be had:—</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.</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='c013'></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='c014'>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-goldenrule'>p. 139</a>: Added period after heading “A Golden Rule.” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-industryor'>p. 139</a>: Added period after phrase “which is the best master to + serve—<span class='fss'>INDUSTRY</span> or <span class='fss'>IDLENESS</span>.” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-metayerrent'>p. 142</a>: Replaced closing single quotation mark with closing double + quotation mark after phrase “Metayer Rent.” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-allbroken'>p. 143</a>: Added closing double quotation mark after phrase “all intimate + ties with him are broken and he is called ‘brother’ no more.” + + </li> + </ul> + +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76897 ***</div> + </body> + <!-- created with ppgen.py 3.57e (with regex) on 2025-09-18 12:31:01 GMT --> +</html> + diff --git a/76897-h/images/cover.jpg b/76897-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ef725c2 --- /dev/null +++ b/76897-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/76897-h/images/the-cape-buffalo-full.jpg b/76897-h/images/the-cape-buffalo-full.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec0a880 --- /dev/null +++ b/76897-h/images/the-cape-buffalo-full.jpg diff --git a/76897-h/images/the-cape-buffalo-inline.png b/76897-h/images/the-cape-buffalo-inline.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fe5613d --- /dev/null +++ b/76897-h/images/the-cape-buffalo-inline.png diff --git a/76897-h/images/the-stormy-petrel-full.jpg b/76897-h/images/the-stormy-petrel-full.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..32fa711 --- /dev/null +++ b/76897-h/images/the-stormy-petrel-full.jpg diff --git a/76897-h/images/the-stormy-petrel-inline.png b/76897-h/images/the-stormy-petrel-inline.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..de8df07 --- /dev/null +++ b/76897-h/images/the-stormy-petrel-inline.png diff --git a/76897-h/images/the-week-full.jpg b/76897-h/images/the-week-full.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..08e1725 --- /dev/null +++ b/76897-h/images/the-week-full.jpg diff --git a/76897-h/images/the-week-inline.png b/76897-h/images/the-week-inline.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..65eabec --- /dev/null +++ b/76897-h/images/the-week-inline.png diff --git a/76897-h/images/westminster-abbey-1-full.jpg b/76897-h/images/westminster-abbey-1-full.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a909af3 --- /dev/null +++ b/76897-h/images/westminster-abbey-1-full.jpg diff --git a/76897-h/images/westminster-abbey-1-inline.png b/76897-h/images/westminster-abbey-1-inline.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7ec22ec --- /dev/null +++ b/76897-h/images/westminster-abbey-1-inline.png diff --git a/76897-h/images/westminster-abbey-2-full.jpg b/76897-h/images/westminster-abbey-2-full.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7b43013 --- /dev/null +++ b/76897-h/images/westminster-abbey-2-full.jpg diff --git a/76897-h/images/westminster-abbey-2-inline.png b/76897-h/images/westminster-abbey-2-inline.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..53b3854 --- /dev/null +++ b/76897-h/images/westminster-abbey-2-inline.png diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e09e1d9 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for eBook #76897 +(https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76897) |
