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diff --git a/77005-0.txt b/77005-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1433526 --- /dev/null +++ b/77005-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,979 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77005 *** + + + + + + Monthly Supplement of + + THE PENNY MAGAZINE + + OF THE + + Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + 21.] June 30 to July 31, 1832 + + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + HUNGERFORD MARKET. + + [Illustration: River Front of Hungerford Market.] + +An act was obtained in 1830, incorporating a company of proprietors for +the re-establishment of _Hungerford Market_. The site of the old market +has been purchased, together with the surrounding houses, those in +Hungerford-street, and some few in the Strand, in order to ensure a +proper frontage and secure a convenient access to that thoroughfare. +Many of these buildings are pulled down. The architect of the New Market +is Mr. C. Fowler. The front to the river is completed externally, and +forms a very elegant structure, as represented in the above view. The +basement of the centre next the river constitutes the Fish-Market. The +wings are intended for taverns, connected by a colonnade with a terrace +which occupies the entire front. From the Fish-Market the ascent is by a +spacious flight of steps in the centre externally, and two staircases +within, at the extremities of the portico, which is separated from the +hall by a screen of arches. The hall, exclusive of the porticoes, is 157 +feet long by 123 feet wide, consisting of a nave and two aisles, besides +ranges of shops against the side walls, with galleries over. These +galleries are approached by four staircases at the extremities. The +floor of the hall will be occupied by ranges of stands for casual +business, with convenient avenues between them. The galleries will be +appropriated for the sale of such articles as require a neat display, +and will be disposed somewhat in the manner of a bazaar, with a range of +counters, &c., and a walk in front. The roof of the nave, or centre +compartment of the building, being raised above the other parts by a +tier of open arches, ensures an ample supply of light and air; the roofs +of the aisles are likewise open in the centre, in order still further to +secure that important object. Underneath the whole of the hall is a +range of arched cellars or vaults, having approaches in various +directions. The upper court corresponds nearly with the lower court or +Fish-Market, but at the level of a story above it. The colonnades are +here combined with shops and dwellings for resident shopkeepers. The +columns, stairs, pavement, and parts of the front of this important +building are of granite. + +We subjoin the measurements of the different divisions of the Market. +The width of the upper and lower areas is that of the uncovered space. +That of the Great Hail is the total width: + + Length. Width. + feet. in. feet. + + Upper Area 140 0 69 + The Great Hall 157 0 123 + Lower Area 130 0 63 + The two Colonnades connecting the divisions, + and leading to Gallery-Staircases, each 11 6 + Total width of building, river front 126 + Total length of building from River to + Hungerford-street 475 6 + + + --------------------- + + + THE VILLAGE POOR-HOUSE. By a COUNTRY CURATE. Smith, Elder, & Co. 1832. + +This little volume claims our attention by the high poetical talent it +displays. It professes, moreover, to describe the actual state of +feeling amongst the poor, or the labouring body in England--that class +of society to whose wants and improvement our humble labours are mainly +directed. + +The author thus beautifully opens his subject:-- + + Our village has a pleasant look, + A happy look as e’er was seen-- + Right through the valley flows a brook + Which winds in many a flowery nook + And freshens all the green. + + On either side, so clear and white, + A row of cottages you see-- + And jessamine is clustered o’er + The humble trellis of each door, + Then left to clamber free + And shake its blossoms far and wide + O’er all the white-wash’d cottage side. + + As dying evening sinks away, + The old church tow’r, erect and grey, + Catches far up the parting light + And half grows holy to the sight. + +But from this description of the village itself the author passes to its +inhabitants, and then would prove to us, that this external beauty is +but a veil to cover what is in reality a more disgusting place than a +charnel-house. For within the village, he says, there is nothing but +tyranny and slavery,--pampered luxury on the part of the few, and the +most abject poverty on the part of the many. There is not one family, he +would show, in those happy circumstances, below wealth but above poverty +and dependence--there is not a single industrious contented labourer. +All here is misery--the most degrading, unrelieved suffering, and +unrepented crime, among the poor; from the rich _few_, there is not to +be drawn a single gleam of commiseration or charity to break the horrid +gloom. Were all the plagues of Egypt busy at once on the devoted place, +the village could not be so loathsome as it is here represented. + +We are fully prepared to admit the existence of evils among the +labouring classes of this country, but we are sure that the state of +things represented in this poem has no more foundation in truth than +those poetical pictures of rural life which our author, justly enough, +pronounces to be _only_ poetical. + +Has the “Country Curate” seen anything of the condition of the peasantry +in other countries?--If not, let him ask those who have, and they will +assure him that it is nearly every where inferior to that of the +peasantry of England. We do not say this from any overweening national +pride, or from any desire to make the people idly contented with their +state as it is, and indifferent to future improvement. No! we would say +to the peasantry, as to every other class, Keep your eyes ever open to +your rights; strive to make what is indifferent--good, what is +good--better; and persevere in that moral and intellectual improvement +which can alone render you sensible of your rights, and fit you for +their enjoyment! You are not now what you were a century or two ago, +because you are better informed and more civilized than then; and a +century hence your condition will be so much the better, as you will be +more civilized than now. We would rescue the wealthier body from the +insane jealousy and hatred which the verses of the “Country Curate” have +a direct tendency to excite against them in the breasts of the poor; we +would hint at the exertions now pretty generally made by that body to +promote the welfare and instruction of the labouring classes, with which +their own welfare is closely linked. But still we would not have the +poor depend entirely on what the rich may bestow upon them, or assist +them in obtaining. We would have the peasant or the artisan work out his +own mental improvement, and then, most assuredly, will he find his moral +dignity elevated and his comforts increased. + + + --------------------- + + + HEALTH AND LONGEVITY. + + [The Effects of Arts, Trades, and Professions, and of Civil States and + Habits of Living, on Health and Longevity; By C. Turner Thackrah, Esq. + Second Edition. Longman, 1832.] + +The author of this book is a medical practitioner at Leeds; and the +object of his work, than which there can be none more important, is to +exhibit, in most cases from personal observation, the influence of +particular occupations on the health of the individuals pursuing them +and on the duration of their lives. His general impression is, that the +employments of large manufacturing towns, such as Leeds, Manchester, +Birmingham, and Sheffield, are decidedly unfavourable to health and +consequently to happiness; and, he says, with regard to the town in +which he lives, “every day we see sacrificed to the artificial state of +society one, and sometimes two victims, whom the destinies of nature +would have spared.” Doubtless, continued and laborious occupation in +crowded rooms is not favourable to health; but, on the other hand, it +should be considered that these very employments, by increasing the +comforts of the great mass of consumers, have a direct tendency to +secure the general health of the community; and that if the term +“destinies of nature” is to be taken to apply to man in an uncivilized +state, it is perfectly certain that the artisan who pursues his calling +under the most unfavourable circumstances is far better off in his +physical condition, and therefore in his capacity for long life, than +the poor dweller in the forests of America or the wilds of Africa, whose +supply of food and clothing is wholly dependent upon chance, and who is +entirely without medical aid in sickness. It is a well-known fact, that +in this country, a century ago, the average mortality in a year was one +in thirty; it is now about one in sixty; that is, where one person in a +year dies now, two died a century ago, as compared with the gross amount +of the population. When it is considered therefore, how large a number +of our countrymen are employed in manufactures, it would seem that, upon +the whole, manufacturing employments are not so unfavourable to health +as might at first be imagined. An attentive examination of Mr. +Thackrah’s book will show, that even in the most apparently unwholesome +employments there is a wonderful compensation in the power of habit; and +it is beyond all doubt that cleanliness, temperance, and that habitual +cheerfulness which leads the spirit to triumph over the most adverse +circumstances, will enable those who would appear necessarily the most +unfortunate, to pass through life with comparative happiness and +comfort. Still, it is very important to examine what occupations have +the most unfavourable influence on health,--not with the view of making +those who follow them dissatisfied with their condition, but for the +purpose of suggesting every preventive and remedial measure, within the +range of human knowledge, to the attention of the capitalist, whose +first duty is to provide for the happiness of those around him; and +above all to show the working-man himself how much he has it in his own +power to mitigate the evils which he cannot altogether avoid. In this +point of view Mr. Thackrah’s book deserves the most serious +consideration of all classes. It is most satisfactory to know, upon Mr. +Thackrah’s authority, that “in many of our occupations the injurious +agents might be immediately removed or diminished.” + +For the convenience of his inquiry the writer before us divides society +into five great classes, viz.--I. Operatives. II. Dealers. III. Master +Manufacturers, and Merchants. IV. Men independent of business and +labour. V. Professional Men.--The first section of operatives he +sub-divides into--1, those whose employments are chiefly in the open +air; 2, those whose employments are carried on in an atmosphere confined +and impure; 3, those whose employments produce dust, odour, or gaseous +exhalations; 4, those whose employments injure or annoy by acting on the +skin; 5, those whose employments expose them to wet and steam; 6, those +who are exposed to a high temperature, or great variations of +temperature. When we state that in these six sub-divisions of the great +class of operatives, Mr. Thackrah describes the peculiar effects of +about two hundred different employments, it must be evident that we +cannot attempt even to enumerate the occupations whose influence upon +health is here noticed. To show, however, the interesting mode in which +this inquiry is for the most part conducted, we subjoin an abridged +extract, descriptive of the condition of the grinders and machine-makers +of Sheffield:-- + + +“Dr. Knight, in the North-of-England Medical Journal, states that the +fork-grinders, who use a _dry_ grindstone, die at the ages of 28 or 32, +while the table-knife grinders, who work on _wet_ stones, survive to +between 40 and 50. Dr. K.’s paper very properly alludes to the +combination of injurious agents and circumstances. It is not, merely the +pernicious employment, but the want of sieve and ventilation in the +apartments where the men now work,--the want, moreover, of that exercise +in the open air which they formerly took in going to work and returning +from it; and finally, the intemperance which results from their +congregation, and still more from their desperation of life. It appears, +that in 1822, ‘out of 2,500 grinders, there were not 35 who had arrived +at the age of 50, and perhaps not double that number who had reached the +age of 45; and out of more than 80 fork-grinders, exclusive of boys, it +was reported that there was not a single individual 36 years old.’ The +symptoms of the grinders’ disease are those of slow but certainly fatal +consumption. The remedies judiciously recommended by Dr. Knight, are, +1st. Dusting the machinery, before the work commences: 2nd. Great +reduction in the time of labour: 3rd. Use of wet stones as much as +possible; 4th. Large flues to be laid on the floor for ventilation, and +currents of air to be forced through them by the machines: 5th. +Fork-grinding to be confined to criminals. + +“_Draw-filing cast iron_ is a very injurious occupation. The dust is +much more abundant, and the metallic particles much more minute, than in +the filing of _wrought_ iron. The particles rise so copiously as to +blacken the mouth and nose. The men first feel the annoyance in the +nostrils. The lining membrane discharges copiously for some time, and +then becomes preternaturally dry. Besides the dust there are some very +bright scales, called _kisk_, very visible though scarcely tangible, +which rise from the castings, as these are taken out of the moulders’ +boxes, and considerably irritate the air-tube. But these scales produce +much less frequent annoyance than the particles detached by the file, +notwithstanding the dust of the employ. Respiration is not promptly +impeded. Of ten men whom I examined with reference to this point, but +one had difficulty of breathing as a _primary_ symptom. The subsequent +symptoms are determined chiefly by intemperance, and the constitutional +disposition to consumption. The machine-makers earn high wages, and many +consequently are addicted to liquor. In all, the breathing becomes, in a +few years, more affected by exertion; but in the intemperate it is most +affected; the morning cough is attended with retchings, disorder of the +liver and of the other organs of digestion becomes established, and at +length pulmonary consumption closes the list of symptoms. Scarcely a +filer can be found in health. Few bear the employ, even modified as it +is by frequent changes of material, for twenty-five years. Only one +instance have I been able to find of a working filer exceeding the age +of fifty. What can be done to prevent this lamentable waste of life? +Magnetic mouth-pieces, which attract the particles of iron inhaled in +respiration, and thus greatly diminish the quantity which would enter +the air-tube, were many years ago introduced in Sheffield, and ought ere +this to have been more extensively tried. But there is a strange apathy +both among the men and the masters.” + + +If the working-classes, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, have +abundant evils in their employments, those who would appear to be placed +under happier circumstances are not exempt from those corroding cares +and unnatural excitements which injure health, and destroy life, as +speedily as crowded rooms and extreme heat or cold. Let us take Mr. +Thackrah’s description of the class of shopkeepers:-- + + +“They are generally temperate in their diet. They injure health, not by +direct attacks, not by the introduction of injurious agents, but by +withholding the pabulum of life--a due supply of that pure fluid, which +nature designed as food for the constitution. Be it remembered that man +subsists upon the air, more than upon his meat and drink. Numerous +instances might be adduced of persons existing for months and years on a +very scanty supply of aliment, but it is notorious that no one can exist +for an hour without a copious supply of air. The atmosphere which +shopkeepers breathe is contaminated and adulterated; air, with its vital +principles so diminished, that it cannot fully decarbonize the blood, +nor fully excite the nervous system. Hence shopkeepers are pale, +dyspeptic, and subject to affections of the head. They often drag on a +sickly existence, die before the proper end of human life, and leave a +progeny like themselves.” + + +The merchant and manufacturer is probably not more fortunate, though he +may appear to have a greater command of worldly comforts:-- + + +“Of the causes of disease, anxiety of mind is one of the most frequent +and important. When we walk the streets of large commercial towns, we +can scarcely fail to remark the hurried gait, and care-worn features of +the well-dressed passengers. Some young men, indeed, we may see, with +countenances possessing natural cheerfulness and colour; but these +appearances rarely survive the age of manhood. Cuvier closes an eloquent +description of animal existence and change, with the conclusion that +‘life is a state of force.’ What he would urge in a physical view, we +may more strongly urge in a moral. Civilization has changed our +character of mind as well as of body. We live in a state of unnatural +excitement:--unnatural, because it is partial, irregular, and excessive. +Our muscles waste for _want_ of action; our nervous system is worn out +by _excess_ of action. Vital energy is drawn from the operations for +which nature designed it, and devoted to operations which nature never +contemplated. If we cannot adopt the doctrine of a foreign philosopher, +‘that a thinking man is a depraved animal,’ we may without hesitation +affirm, ‘that inordinate application of mind, the cares, anxieties, and +disappointments of commercial life, greatly impair the physical +powers.’” + + +Let us see if the _idle_ man of independent fortune is placed under more +favourable circumstances for the enjoyment of existence:-- + + +“A man supplied with food and comforts, without labour and care, has +constantly full opportunity of attending to health. But man is a social +animal. The Creator has ordained that no individual shall live to +himself, and live in happiness. A man without an object is like a tree +without a leading shoot. He has not the vigour of his fellows; his +strength is either dissipated in irregular pursuits, or decays from +listlessness. In professions and trades the nervous system is often +exhausted by excessive application; here, as frequently it declines from +the want of exertion. Need I add, that the vices which result from the +want of employment, undermine the constitution and shorten life.” + + +Mr. Thackrah has stated, in many instances, the modes which he conceives +applicable to the mitigation or removal of the evils of particular +employments. It is, of course, not within our province to follow him in +these details. But throughout his work he notices also those habits +which are best calculated to preserve man in health in every situation. +These best remedies, which are in a great degree within the reach of us +all, may be comprised in the words _temperance_, _cleanliness_, +_exercise in the open air_, and _cheerful relaxation_. It should be the +aim of every working-man to employ these remedies for any evils of his +occupation, as far as he can himself; it is the duty of every employer, +as much as in him lies, so to regulate his periods of labour, that no +artisan shall be unable, from want of time, to take his evening walk in +the fresh fields, to cultivate his little garden, or to afford an hour +to that improvement of his mind which will invigorate and refresh his +body, by the cheapest and the purest of all pleasures. + + + --------------------- + + + GEORGE THE FOURTH’S GATE, HYDE PARK CORNER. + + [Illustration: Entrance to the Green Park, St. James’s.] + +This fine gate, which was completed about five years since, after a +design by Mr. Decimus Burton, was originally intended for a private +entrance to the New Palace. Within the last few months it has been +devoted to a purpose of more general utility, the road from Constitution +Hill having been turned so as to allow access through the gate to those +carriages which have the privilege of passing through the park, and also +to foot-passengers. A new lodge has recently been erected in James +Street, opening to the road connecting Pimlico with Great George Street, +Westminster; and this road is free to horsemen and private carriages +without distinction. + + + --------------------- + + + THE LIVERPOOL DOCKS. + +We are enabled, after many experiments, to present our readers with a +plan of the Liverpool Docks, executed by a new process--namely, by a +union of lines cut upon wood, and of moveable type. The completion of +our wishes, in this respect, will enable us to illustrate any subject of +geography or topography, by maps and plans, executed with more precision +than we could have attained by any other means. We subjoin to this plan +a short account of these extraordinary public works, which the growing +commerce of Liverpool has created:-- + +The town of Liverpool was originally a small fishing-village, till Henry +the Second, in 1172, first used its port as a station for the +embarkation of troops to Ireland. This circumstance, with the gradually +increasing commerce consequent on the connection ever since maintained +between the two countries, and the excellence of its port, doubtlessly +laid the foundation of its present magnitude and prosperity. Yet its +growth for a long period was slow, and even at times seemed to +retrograde. In 1571 the inhabitants of the “poor decayed town of +Liverpool” petitioned Queen Elizabeth to be relieved from a subsidy +imposed on them; and in 1630, while Bristol was assessed at 1,000_l._ +for ship-money by Charles I., Liverpool was rated at only 26_l._ + + [Illustration: Map of the Liverpool docks, showing the old docks and + the planned new docks] + +The first great increase which took place in the importance of Liverpool +appears to have been shortly after the commencement of the war with +France in 1778, in the first year of which one hundred and twenty +privateers, manned by eight thousand seven hundred and fifty seamen, +issued from this port. Since that period its increase has been constant +and wonderfully rapid. The population, which in 1801 was 77,653, in 1831 +amounted to 165,175. In the year ending June, 1830, the number of +vessels, entered inwards and outwards, amounted to 11,214, of which the +tonnage was 1,411,964, and the customs duties 3,123,758_l._ 8_s._ 10_d_. +To provide facilities for this immense traffic great exertions have been +made, and vast expense incurred, in the construction of docks and the +erection of warehouses. The plan we have given shows their position; and +the following account, extracted from Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary +of England, a valuable work recently completed in four quarto volumes, +affords such information as may render the plan perfectly +intelligible:-- + + +For the security of the shipping in the port, and for the greater +facility of loading and unloading merchandize, an immense range of docks +and warehouses, extending nearly two miles along the eastern bank of the +river (the Mersey), has been constructed on a scale of unparalleled +magnificence, and forming one of those characteristics of commercial +greatness in which this town is unrivalled. The docks are of three +kinds, the wet docks, the dry docks, and the graving docks; the wet +docks are chiefly for ships of great burden employed in the foreign +trade, and which float in them at all states of the tide, the water +being retained by gates; the dry docks, so called because they are left +dry when the tide is out, are chiefly appropriated to coasting vessels; +and the graving docks, which admit or exclude the water at pleasure, are +adapted to the repair of ships, during which they are kept dry, and when +completed are floated out by admitting the tide. The Old Dock, which was +the first of the kind constructed in England, and for making which, an +act of parliament was obtained in 1708, is not now in use, its site +having been appropriated to the erection of a new custom-house, and +other offices connected with the trade of the port. The Dry Dock, which +is about to be converted into a wet dock, was constructed under the +authority of an act passed in the 11th of George II., and is chiefly +occupied by sloops from the north coast, which import corn, provisions, +and slate, and convey back the produce of the West Indies, the +Mediterranean, Portugal, and Baltic: it has a quay five hundred yards in +length, and has communication with three graving docks; it has been +considerably enlarged, and many of the buildings surrounding it have +been taken down with the view of obtaining more quay room. The Salthouse +Dock, so named from some salt-works formerly contiguous to it, was +constructed about the same time as the Dry Dock; the upper part of it is +chiefly for ships that are laid up, and the lower part for vessels in +the Levant, Irish, and coasting trades; the quay is seven hundred and +fifty-nine yards in extent, and is provided with convenient warehouses, +with arcades for foot-passengers on the east side, and extensive sheds +on the west side; between this dock and the river are some +ship-builders’ yards, which the corporation intend to convert into docks +for the craft employed in the inland trade. George’s Dock was +constructed in the 2d of George III., at an expense of 21,000_l._; it +was originally two hundred and forty-six yards in length, and one +hundred yards in breadth, with a quay of seven hundred yards in extent; +but it has been enlarged, and the quay is now one thousand and one yards +in length: on the east side is a range of extensive warehouses, in front +of which is an arcade for foot-passengers: and on the west side are +sheds for protecting the merchandize from the weather: at the north and +south ends of the dock are handsome cast-iron bridges; and a parade is +continued westward for a considerable distance into the river: this dock +has a communication with the two preceding docks, and also with the +Prince’s Dock, by basins, which preclude the necessity of returning into +the river. The King’s Dock, constructed in the 25th of George III., is +two hundred and seventy yards in length, and ninety-six in breadth, and +is appropriated to vessels from Virginia and other parts, laden with +tobacco, which article is exclusively landed here: the new tobacco +warehouses extend the whole length of the quay, on the west side, and +are five hundred and seventy-five feet in length, and two hundred and +thirty-nine in depth; the old warehouses on the opposite side, which +were appropriated to that purpose, have been converted into sheds for +the security of merchandize: ships from the Baltic, freighted with +timber and naval stores, discharge their cargoes on the quay; across the +entrance is a handsome swivel bridge of cast-iron: this dock has a +communication on the south with a dry dock and two graving docks. The +Queen’s Dock, constructed at the same time, is four hundred and seventy +yards long, and two hundred and twenty-seven and a half in breadth, with +a spacious quay, and is chiefly occupied by vessels freighted with +timber, and by those employed in the Dutch and Baltic trades; at the +south end it communicates with a basin of considerable extent, called +the Brunswick Half-Tide Dock, which is also connected with the Brunswick +Dry Basin. On the south of the half-tide dock, a new dock of larger +dimensions than any of the preceding, for vessels laden with timber, is +in progress, to be called the Brunswick Dock, with a basin to the south +of it, and patent slips for the repairing of vessels, which will +probably terminate the range of docks at the southern extremity. The +Prince’s Dock, constructed under an act passed in the 51st of George +III., was opened with great pomp on the day of the coronation of his +late Majesty, George IV.; it is five hundred yards in length, and one +hundred and six in breadth; at the north end is a spacious basin, +belonging to it, and at the south end it communicates with the basin of +George’s Dock. The quays are spacious, and there are sheds for the +protection of goods from the weather: along the west side, near the +river, is a beautiful marine parade, seven hundred and fifty yards long, +and eleven wide, defended by a stone parapet wall, from which is a +delightful view of the river and the shipping; at convenient intervals +are three flights of steps leading down to the river, where boats are in +constant attendance. To the north of the basin belonging to this dock, +four spacious wet docks, and a large graving dock, which latter is to be +fitted up with patent slips, are at present in a state of rapid +progress; and, when completed, will probably terminate the range of +docks on the north side of the town. The Duke’s Dock, between Salthouse +and the King’s Dock, is a small dock belonging to the trustees of the +late Duke of Bridgewater, for the use of his flats, with commodious +warehouses. The several carriers by water have also convenient basins on +the river, for the use of their barges, with quays for loading and +unloading their goods; and the Mersey and Irwell navigation company have +a small dock, called the Manchester Dock, for the flats employed in that +extensive trade, and for the transport to this town of the productions +of Cheshire, and the adjoining counties. The whole range of the docks, +when the northern and southern additions are completed, will be two +miles and eight hundred and twenty yards in length. Spacious as they are +they are still considered inadequate to the increasing commerce of the +port, and measures are in contemplation for their further extension. The +sums expended in the formation of these docks amount to more than two +millions sterling; for clearing them from the accumulation of silt +brought in by the tide, a dredging-machine, worked by a steam-engine of +ten-horse power, is in constant operation, by which fifty tons per hour +are raised into barges, and deposited where it may be washed away by the +current of the river. + + +To this we are enabled to add, from an official paper, the following +table, showing the area of water and the quantity of quay-space of these +splendid docks:-- + + | Area of water in | Quay-Space in + | Square Yards. | Lineal Yards. + DRY BASINS. | | + | | + Prince’s Basin | 20,909 | 509 + Seacombe Basin | 1,805 | 188 + George’s Basin | 16,372 | 455 + George’s Ferry Basin | 1,344 | 160 + Old Dock Gut | 7,737 | 447 + Queen’s Basin | 24,391 | 601 + Brunswick Basin | 23,622 | 572 + South Ferry Basin | 2,927 | 205 + | | + WET DOCKS. | | + | | + Prince’s Dock, with its two locks | 57,129 | 1613 + George’s Dock, with its two passages | 26,793½ | 1001 + Dry Dock as altered | 19,095 | 500 + Salthouse Dock, with its passage | 23,025 | 759 + King’s Dock, with its passage | 37,776 | 875 + Queen’s Dock, with its two passages | 51,501½ | 1255 + Half-tide Dock, with its passage | 13,185½ | 497 + | | + NEW NORTH WORKS. | | + | | + No. 1 Dock, with No. 1 Lock, and | | + half of passage | 30,764½ | 1012 + No. 2 Dock, with Entrance-Lock, | | + and half of two passages | 29,085½ | 839 + No. 3 Dock, with No. 2 Lock, and | | + half of passage | 33,642½ | 1050 + No. 4 Dock, with its Lock | 29,313 | 914 + Half-tide Basin | 17,605 | 586 + | | + NEW SOUTH DOCKS. | | + | | + Brunswick Dock, with its passage | 60,824 | 1092 + Half-tide Basin | 9,245 | 483 + | ───────── | ────── + +This forms a total of dock-room of one hundred and eleven acres; and the +quay-space extends to the length of eight miles, within a few yards. The +whole length of the river-wall is two miles, eight hundred and twenty +yards, exclusive of the openings. + + + --------------------- + + + FELIX NEFF. + + [A Memoir of Felix Neff, Pastor of the High Alps. By William Stephen + Gilly, M.A., Prebendary of Durham. Rivington, 1832.] + +This is a volume which no one can read without improvement. It contains +the history of a young Protestant clergyman, Felix Neff, who devoted his +life to the duty of preaching the divine word to the scattered +inhabitants of the dreary regions called “the High Alps” of +France[1];--and who, in the discharge of this sacred trust, felt that he +was advancing his principal object while he was improving the physical +condition of these poor people, and leading them to the acquirement of +_general_ knowledge. The difficulties which this wise and pious man +encountered could only have been overcome by the most ardent zeal. The +labours which he underwent, and the privations which he sustained, +ruined his health, and consigned him prematurely to the grave. But his +career, though short, was one of permanent usefulness to the +mountaineers in whose service he perished: and he has left behind him a +new example of how much one man may accomplish for the benefit of his +fellow-creatures, who goes forward in a good work with singleness of +purpose, regardless of any other reward but the approbation of his own +conscience. + +Neff was not a man in whom book-learning constituted the only knowledge. +He received a tolerable education from the pastor of the village near +Geneva in which he was born; and the contemplative and devout qualities +of his mind were called forth by the grand and beautiful scenery by +which he was surrounded in his boyhood. But he had a strong love for +what was practically useful, and he therefore learnt the trade of a +nursery gardener; he had a stronger passion for romantic adventure, and +he entered as a private soldier in the service of Geneva in 1815. At +sixteen, when he was a gardener, he published a valuable little treatise +on the culture of trees; and, within two years after he became a soldier +at the age of seventeen, he was promoted to be serjeant of artillery, in +consequence of his theoretical and practical knowledge of mathematics. +His anxious desire, however, was to be a teacher of religion; and he at +length quitted the army to devote himself to the studies which would be +necessary previous to his ordination as a minister. He first assumed the +functions of what is called a pastor-catechist; and was ultimately +called to the vocation for which he was so anxious, by one of those +independent congregations of England, whose ministers are received in +the Protestant churches of France. Neff adopted the resolution to be +ordained in London, for the satisfaction of some religious scruples. +This ceremony took place in a chapel in the Poultry, in 1823; and within +six months after he was appointed authorized pastor of the department of +the High Alps. To form an estimate of the labours which such an +appointment involved, it may be sufficient to mention that, in order to +visit his various flocks, the pastor had to travel, from his fixed +residence, twelve miles in a western direction, sixty in an eastern, +twenty in a southern, and thirty-three in a northern; and that Neff +steadily persevered, in all seasons, in passing on foot from one +district to another, climbing mountains covered with snow, forcing a way +through valleys choked up by the masses of rocks that were hurled down +by the winter’s storm, partaking of the coarse fare and imperfect +shelter of the peasant’s hut, and never allowing himself any repose or +relaxation, because the ignorance of the poor people who were intrusted +to his charge was so great, that nothing but incessant activity on his +part could surmount its evils. Mr. Gilly has justly observed (speaking +in his character of an English clergyman), “it is well that we should +see how hard some of our brethren work, and how hard they live; and that +we should discover, to our humiliation, that it is not always where +there is the greatest company of preachers that the word takes deepest +root.” + +The course of Neff’s life, and the affection which he inspired, will be +better understood from the following extract:-- + + +“When his arrival was expected in certain hamlets, whose rotation to be +visited was supposed to be coming round, it was beautiful to see the +cottages send forth their inhabitants, to watch the coming of the +beloved minister. ‘Come take your dinner with us.’--‘Let me prepare your +supper.’--‘Permit me to give up my bed to you,’--were re-echoed from +many a voice, and though there was nothing in the repast which denoted a +feast-day, yet never was festival observed with greater rejoicing than +by those whose rye-bread and pottage were shared with the pastor Neff. +Sometimes, when the old people of one cabin were standing at their +doors, and straining their eyes to catch the first view of their ‘guide +to heaven,’ the youngsters of another were perched on the summit of a +rock, and stealing a prospect which would afford them an earlier sight +of him, and give them the opportunity of offering the first invitation. +It was on these occasions that he obtained a perfect knowledge of the +people, questioning them about such of their domestic concerns as he +might be supposed to take an interest in, as well as about their +spiritual condition, and finding where he could be useful both as a +secular adviser and a religious counsellor. ‘Could all their children +read? Did they understand what they read? Did they offer up morning and +evening prayers? Had they any wants that he could relieve? Any doubts +that he could remove? Any afflictions wherein he could be a comforter?’ + +“It was thus that he was the father of his flock, and master of their +affections and their opinions; and when the seniors asked for his +blessing, and the children took hold of his hands or his knees, he felt +all the fatigue of his long journeys pass away, and became recruited +with new strength. But for the high and holy feelings which sustained +him, it is impossible that he could have borne up against his numerous +toils and exposures, even for the few months in which he thus put his +constitution to the trial. Neither rugged paths, nor the inclement +weather of these Alps, which would change suddenly from sunshine to +rain, and from rain to sleet, and from sleet to snow; nor snow deep +under foot, and obscuring the view when dangers lay thick on his road; +nothing of this sort deterred him from setting out, with his staff in +his hand, and his wallet on his back, when he imagined that his duty +summoned him. I have been assured by those who have received him into +their houses at such times, that he has come in chilly, wet, and +fatigued; or exhausted by heat, and sudden transitions from excessive +heat to piercing cold, and that after sitting down a few minutes his +elastic spirits would seem to renovate his sinking frame, and he would +enter into discourse with all the mental vigour of one who was neither +weary nor languid. + +“When he was not resident at the presbytery, he was the guest of some +peasant, who found him willing to live as he lived, and to make a scanty +meal of soup-maigre, often without salt or bread, and to retire to rest +in the same apartment, where a numerous family were crowded together, +amidst all the inconveniences of a dirty and smoky hovel.” + + +We have already stated that the benevolent pastor of the High Alps was +intent upon improving the condition of his people as to physical +comfort, at the same time that he proclaimed to them the hopes and +consolations of religion. Let us see how he set about this work:-- + + +“His first attempt was to impart an idea of domestic convenience. +Chimneys and windows to their hovels were luxuries to which few of them +had aspired, till he showed them how easy it was to make a passage for +the smoke, and admittance for the light and air. He next convinced them +that warmth might be obtained more healthily than by pigging together +for six or seven months in stables, from which the muck of the cattle +was removed but once during the year. For their coarse and unwholesome +food, he had, indeed, no substitute, because the sterility of the soil +would produce no other; but he pointed out a mode of tillage, by which +they increased the quantity: and in cases of illness, where they had no +conception of applying the simplest remedies, he pointed out the comfort +which a sick person may derive from light and warm soups and other +soothing assistance. So ignorant were they of what was hurtful or +beneficial in acute disorders, that wine and brandy were no unusual +prescriptions in the height of a raging fever. Strange enough, and still +more characteristic of savage life, the women, till Neff taught the men +better manners, were treated with so much disregard, that they never sat +at table with their husbands or brothers, but stood behind them, and +received morsels from their hands with obeisance and profound +reverence.” + + +He taught the people of the valleys how to irrigate their lands, so as +to increase the crop of grass, which is exceedingly small. He found the +utmost difficulty in explaining to his hearers that the water might be +made to rise and fall, and might be dammed up and distributed +accordingly as it might be required for use. The labour and expense +appeared to them insuperable difficulties. In spite of their prejudices +he accomplished his object, working with the people as a common +labourer, and applying his knowledge as an engineer for their exclusive +advantage. By thus teaching them how to double their crops he saved them +from some of their most severe privations. He taught them also how to +cultivate the potato with advantage. But he did more even than this. He +incited the people to build a schoolhouse in one of the districts where +knowledge was most wanted: and that proper teachers might be spread +throughout these regions so shut out from the ordinary means of +education, he persuaded a number of young persons to assemble together, +one or two from each community, during the most dreary of the winter +months, when they could not labour in the fields, and during that time +to work hard with him in the attainment of that knowledge which they +were afterwards to spread amongst their uninstructed friends and +neighbours. The perseverance of these young people was worthy of their +zealous pastor. To accomplish this good work perfectly he obtained the +assistance of a studious young friend, who was preparing himself for a +great public school. Neff’s own account of his progress as a +schoolmaster is so interesting that we are sure our readers will not +complain of its length:-- + + +“The short space of time which we had before us, rendered every moment +precious. We divided the day into three parts. The first was from +sunrise to eleven o’clock, when we breakfasted. The second from noon to +sunset, when we supped. The third from supper till ten or eleven o’clock +at night, making in all fourteen or fifteen hours of study in the +twenty-four. We devoted much of this time to lessons in reading, which +the wretched manner in which they had been taught, their detestable +accent, and strange tone of voice, rendered a most necessary, but +tiresome duty. The grammar, too, of which not one of them had the least +idea, occupied much of our time. People who have been brought up in +towns can have no conception of the difficulty which mountaineers and +rustics, whose ideas are confined to those objects only to which they +have been familiarized, find in learning this branch of science. There +is scarcely any way of conveying the meaning of it to them. All the +usual terms and definitions, and the means which are commonly employed +in schools, are utterly unintelligible here. But the curious and novel +devices which must be employed have this advantage,--that they exercise +their understanding, and help to form their judgment. Dictation was one +of the methods to which I had recourse: without it they would have made +no progress in grammar and orthography; but they wrote so miserably, and +slowly, that this consumed a great portion of valuable time. Observing +that they were ignorant of the signification of a great number of French +words, of constant use and recurrence, I made a selection from the +vocabulary, and I set them to write down in little copy-books words +which were in most frequent use; but the explanations contained in the +dictionary were not enough, and I was obliged to rack my brain for new +and brief definitions which they could understand, and to make them +transcribe these. Arithmetic was another branch of knowledge which +required many a weary hour. Geography was considered a matter of +recreation after dinner; and they pored over the maps with a feeling of +delight and amusement, which was quite new to them. I also busied myself +in giving them some notions of the sphere, and of the form and motion of +the earth; of the seasons and the climates, and of the heavenly bodies. +Everything of this sort was as perfectly novel to them, as it would have +been to the islanders of Otaheite; and even the elementary books, which +are usually put into the hands of children, were at first as +unintelligible as the most abstruse treatises on mathematics. I was +consequently forced to use the simplest and plainest modes of +demonstration; but these amused and instructed them at the same time. A +ball made of the box-tree, with a hole through it, and moving on an +axle, and on which I had traced the principal circles; some large +potatoes hollowed out; a candle, and sometimes the skulls of my +scholars, served for the instruments by which I illustrated the +movements of the heavenly bodies, and of the earth itself. Proceeding +from one step to another, I pointed out the situation of different +countries on the chart of the world, and in separate maps, and took +pains to give some slight idea, as we went on, of the characteristics, +religion, customs, and history of each nation. These details fixed +topics of moment in their recollection. Up to this time I had been +astonished by the little interest they took, Christian-minded as they +were, in the subject of Christian missions; but, when they began to have +some idea of geography, I discovered that their former ignorance of this +science, and of the very existence of many foreign nations in distant +quarters of the globe, was the cause of such indifference. But as soon +as they began to learn who the people are who require to have the Gospel +preached to them, and in what part of the globe they dwell, they felt +the same concern for the circulation of the Gospel that other Christians +entertained. These new acquirements, in fact, enlarged their spirit, +made new creatures of them, and seemed to triple their very existence. + +“In the end, I advanced so far as to give some lectures in geometry, and +this too produced a happy moral development. + +“Lessons in music formed part of our evening employment, and those +being, like geography, a sort of amusement, they were regularly +succeeded by grave and edifying reading, and by such reflections as I +took care to suggest for their improvement.” + + +The unremitting labours of Neff destroyed his health, and he was at +length obliged to quit the inclement district in which he had +accomplished so much good. He lingered for some time in a state of great +debility, and died at Geneva on the 12th April, 1829. + +We cannot better conclude this brief and imperfect notice of a truly +valuable and delightful book, than by the following observations of its +author on the character of the admirable individual whose noble labours +he has recommended to the imitation, not only of every Christian +minister, but of every one, however humble, who feels a desire to +advance his own real happiness and that of his fellow-creatures:-- + + +“It was his anxiety to build up the Christian on a foundation where self +dependence, vain-glory, and imaginary merit were to have no place +whatever; and yet every act of his ministry proved that he set a just +value on knowledge and attainments. It was his labour of love to show, +that whenever any addition is made to our stock of knowledge, we not +only gain something in the way of enjoyment, but are laying up a store +for the improvement of our moral and religious feelings, and of our +general habits of industry. The spiritual advancement of his flock was +the great end and object of all his toils; but no man ever took a warmer +interest in the temporal comforts of those about him, and this he +evinced by instructing them in the management of their fields and +gardens, in the construction of their cottages, and in employing all his +own acquirements in philosophy and science for the amelioration of their +condition.... He so condescended to things of low estate, as to become a +teacher of a, b, c, not only to ignorant infancy, but to the dull and +unpliant capacities of adults. Beginning with the most tiresome +rudiments, he proceeded upwards, leading on his scholars methodically, +kindly, and patiently, until he had made them proficients in reading, +writing, and arithmetic, and could lead them into the pleasanter paths +of music, geography, history, and astronomy. His mind was too enlarged +to fear that he should be teaching his peasant boys too much. It was his +aim to show what a variety of enjoyments may be extracted out of +knowledge, and that even the shepherd and the goatherd of the +mountain-side will be all the happier and the better for every piece of +solid information that he can acquire.” + + +----- + +Footnote 1: + + The High Alps were originally peopled by Christians who fled to these + sterile and gloomy mountains and valleys to escape persecution for + their religious opinions. They were a hiding-place for centuries. + + + --------------------- + + + STATUE OF MAJOR CARTWRIGHT. + + [Illustration: A statue of a man, seated, in short trousers and a long + coat or robe] + +A statue to the memory of Major Cartwright has lately been erected, by +public subscription, in Burton Crescent, where the venerable reformer +for many years resided. It is of bronze, and was executed by Mr. Clarke, +late of Birmingham. + + + --------------------- + + + ⁂ The Penny Magazine will, in most cases, be delivered _weekly_ in the + Towns of the United Kingdom, by Booksellers and Newsvenders, to whom + Subscribers should address their Orders. It cannot be sent by Post + as a Newspaper is, being unstamped. For the convenience of those, + who, residing in country places, cannot obtain the Publication at + _regular_ weekly intervals, the Numbers published during each Month + will be stitched together to form a _Monthly Part_. 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New original cover +art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain. Itemized +changes from the original text: + + • p. 170: Added closing bracket after subtitle of article “Health and + Longevity.” + • p. 171: Added hyphen between “of” and “England” in phrase “the + North-of-England Medical Journal.” + • p. 172: Added hyphen between “foot” and “passengers” in phrase “and + also to foot-passengers.” + • p. 173: Added comma after phrase “freighted with timber and naval + stores.” + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77005 *** |