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diff --git a/77006-0.txt b/77006-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a1b65d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/77006-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,951 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77006 *** + + + + + + THE PENNY MAGAZINE + + OF THE + + Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + 22.] PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. [August 4, 1832 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + WARWICK CASTLE. + + [Illustration: Warwick Castle, from the Avon.] + +Warwick Castle is one of the most interesting monuments of feudal +grandeur in the kingdom. The view which we have given above is from the +River Avon, from whose banks the principal part of the edifice abruptly +rises, being built upon the solid rock of freestone which bounds the +river. Viewed by itself, this portion of the building is not the most +picturesque. But taken in connection with the ancient towers of the +castle, with the ecclesiastical edifices of Warwick Town in the +back-ground, and with the Avon and its beautiful bridge in front, it +would be difficult to find a scene more imposing,--certainly impossible +to find one so rich in historical associations, which should be also so +uninjured by time. + + [Illustration: CÆSAR’S TOWER, and part of WARWICK CASTLE, from the + Island.] + +Passing through a road cut through the solid rock, which now presents a +plantation of shrubs judiciously arranged so as to shut out the view of +the castle till it is suddenly presented to the eye, the visitor finds +himself in a spacious area where he is at once surrounded by ancient +fortifications, and Gothic buildings of a later date, now devoted to the +peaceful occupation of the descendants of the old chieftains who here +once held a stern and bloody sway over their trembling dependants. The +keep, erected, it is said, in the days of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, is +now only a picturesque ruin. But two towers of high antiquity are still +entire; and these are associated with the days of baronial splendour, +when many a proud man, the lord of such a castle as this, held the lives +and fortunes of trembling vassals in dependence upon his uncontrolled +will. Miserable was the condition both of “the oppressor and the +oppressed” in those evil times. One of these towers is called Cæsar’s--a +common appellation of some commanding part of the fortress in many +castles of remote antiquity. + + [Illustration: GUY’S TOWER with the entrance to Warwick Castle from the + Lower Court.] + +Another, and the more important of these towers, is called Guy’s. This +building is perhaps the most commanding feature of Warwick Castle. It is +a hundred and forty-eight feet in height. From whatever point it is +viewed its proportions are truly majestic. Its real grandeur is neither +advanced nor impaired by the traditions with which it is connected. Sir +Guy of Warwick is one of the heroes of the wild romances of the days of +chivalry. He is said, as is said of most of these worthies, to have +killed a giant and a dragon; but his chief exploit is thus recorded in +an old ballad:-- + + “On Dunmore heath I also slew + A monstrous wild and cruel beast, + Called the Dun-cow of Dunmore heath, + Which many people had opprest.” + +In these days no great importance will be attached to this passage in +the good knight’s prowess; and in truth many of the bragging feats of +those days, when people rode about on great horses, clad in coats of +mail, were not a whit more valuable to mankind, or evinced more real +courage, than this vaunted destruction of the “Dun-cow.” + +The state-rooms, which are exhibited at Warwick Castle, contain many +objects deserving attention. Some of the pictures are of the first order +of excellence, particularly several portraits by Vandyke. In a +greenhouse, delightfully situated in the grounds surrounding the castle, +is one of the finest and most perfect remains of antiquity, a Grecian +vase of white marble, dug up from the ruins of the Emperor Adrian’s +palace at Tivoli, and conveyed to England by the late Sir William +Hamilton. Of this celebrated piece of sculpture, now called “the Warwick +Vase,” we shall give a representation in a future number. + +On the edge of the road that leads from Warwick to Coventry is a knoll, +now almost covered with trees, which was the scene of one of the most +remarkable events in our history, which forcibly illustrates the +difference between the Warwick Castle of five centuries ago, and the +Warwick Castle of the present day. It was on this mount that Piers +Gaveston, the favourite of a weak monarch (Edward II.), was beheaded. +The original name of this place was Blacklow-hill. It is now called +either by that name, or by that of Gaveston-hill. Piers Gaveston, the +clever but unprincipled favourite of the King, was the object of +especial enmity to the great barons who were in opposition to the crown. +After various conflicts with the monarch, they succeeded in banishing +the favourite from the kingdom: but he having impudently returned in +1312, the Earl of Warwick forcibly seized upon his person, in defiance +of an express convention, and bore him in triumph to Warwick Castle, +where the Earls of Lancaster, Hereford, and Arundel, repaired to hold a +consultation about their prisoner. His fate was speedily decided. He was +dragged to Blacklow-hill, about two miles from Warwick Castle, where he +was beheaded amidst the scorn and reproach of his implacable and +perfidious enemies. On the top of Blacklow-hill there is a rude stone, +on which the name of Gaveston, and the date of his execution, are cut in +ancient characters. As we now look upon the beautiful prospect which +this summit presents, it is satisfactory to contrast the peacefulness +and the fertility that are spread around, with the wild appearance that +the same spot must have exhibited at the period of lawless violence +which we have described; and to reflect that such a tragedy can never +again occur, as long as all men are under the equal justice of the laws. + + + --------------------- + + + ON THE MEANINGS OF WORDS.--No. 2. + +Every body must be aware that the same word has sometimes several +significations; and that words at the present day are often used in a +different sense from that which they had a few centuries ago, or even in +the time of our fathers. This necessarily arises from the great changes +that are constantly taking place in society: new inventions and new +ideas either require new words to express them, or render it necessary +to use old words in new senses. Owing to the rapidity with which a +population of a mixed character is pouring into the United States of +North America, we find that new words are in the process of formation, +because they are wanted; and we find also, that the English language in +that country is occasionally borrowing a word from the language of the +new comers. Thus, for instance, in some parts the word _plunder_ is +vulgarly used to signify _baggage_, having been introduced by the German +settlers. A man who is just arriving at his place of destination may +chance to hear himself spoken of in the following terms: “Mr. B. is just +come with his plunder.” We do not mean that it should be inferred from +this that the English language is much corrupted in the United States: +on the contrary, we believe it is spoken with greater purity by a +proportionally larger number in that country than in Great Britain. But +still such changes as we have alluded to are taking place there with +more rapidity than among ourselves. + +One of the principal divisions of grammar is etymology, by which term is +meant “the classifying of words which resemble one another in the mode +in which they are written, and in the general meanings assigned to +them.” The term etymology also includes “the tracing of the different +significations of a word, and showing how one proceeds from another.” +This latter division of the subject is one of great extent, and often of +great difficulty; and though not well adapted either for the amusement +or instruction of all classes of readers, yet it is still highly curious +and interesting to many. The history of some words would be much more +amusing than the lives of half the people included in our common +Biographies. + +Thus, to take a few familiar instances of the changes which words have +undergone, we all know pretty well what is now meant by a _knave_; but +this word formerly signified a servant, or person of inferior condition, +who waited on a superior. In our translation of the Bible, the words +“cunning workman” signify a “skilful workman”; but the word _cunning_ +has now a different meaning. Whose fault it is that these two words have +changed their signification--whether it is the fault of the master or +the man, we will not venture to decide. + +It should be remarked that our language at present contains, in many +instances, two sets of words which signify the same things. Such words +as _velocity_, _effeminate_, _timid_, _executed_, differ respectively +very little in meaning from the words _swiftness_, _womanish_, +_fearful_, and _done_. The words of the former class are of Latin +origin, and have for the most part been introduced into our language +either directly from the Latin, or from the French and the Italian. We +have received a large addition to such words within the last century; +and we are still receiving them rather faster than they are wanted. +Words of the second class belong to the real substance of our language, +and may be called words of Saxon origin: it is this part of our language +which resembles so closely the Dutch, the German, and some other +European languages that belong to one and the same family. + +As a specimen of our pure unmixed language, we can find none better than +the received version of the Bible, which, for simplicity, force, and +clearness, is hardly equalled by any other composition in the English +tongue. The Lord’s prayer is a perfect example of genuine English: it +contains very few words of Latin origin. It is altogether composed of +pure Saxon terms; and for this reason alone, independent of its internal +excellence, it would merit our peculiar attention, as showing the +genuine beauty and simplicity of our ancient Saxon tongue. + +The writings of Dr. Johnson may be considered as a specimen of Latinized +English, which, though sometimes sounding and forcible, is more +frequently bombastic, unmeaning, and disagreeable to all who relish +simplicity, either in manner or in language. As a general rule, it may +be safely affirmed, that our best writers, by which term we mean the +best _both in matter and in language_, prefer words of Saxon origin; +while those who pretend to more knowledge than they possess, are fond of +dressing the littleness of their thoughts in the most gaudy attire they +can find. Even the menders of shoes have caught the infection; and +instead of the plain old announcement of “shoes mended here,” we are now +frequently told that “repairs are executed;” while perhaps at the next +door we may learn that “funerals are performed.” + +It is of more importance than at first sight it may appear, that our +children should be well trained to use and understand the Saxon part of +our language; for though it is true that we now possess numerous +Latinized words which are both useful and indispensable, it is also true +that a great number of our words which come from the Latin or French do +not convey ideas so clear and precise as the genuine words of our +language. In composing books, then, for young children of all classes, +but more particularly those of the poorer class, it is of great +importance to avoid Latinized words as much as possible. When they have +made some progress in understanding the meanings of the Saxon words, +they may read books in which Latinized words are used whenever they are +found necessary, which, we venture to say, will not often be the case. + +In our next number we shall commence the classification of the Saxon +nouns of our language. + + + --------------------- + + + THE ERROR OF DISCOURAGING THE USE OF FOREIGN MANUFACTURES. + +There is no principle better settled, either in public or domestic +economy, than this--that it is for the interest of consumers to buy +commodities at the best and cheapest rate. Every sensible person acts +upon this rule in his own affairs so far as he is able; but in +consequence of the system of prohibiting and discouraging foreign +commodities, upon which our legislature has heretofore acted, the public +has been obliged to pay for certain British commodities considerably +more than their value. This is not the place to inquire why any vestiges +of the system of protecting duties, as they are called, have been +suffered to remain, or whether the complaints of various interests, +against the modification of the protective system, have been well or ill +founded; but it may still be useful for us to say a few words upon the +groundlessness of the assertions that are in the mouths of many, in +regard to the supposed injurious tendency of a taste for foreign +commodities, in preference to British. We mention the subject, purely as +one of public economy, and not in reference to any question immediately +before Parliament, or the public. + +Those who lament the use in this country of French silks, or French +gloves, seem to take it for granted that the use of such articles throws +out of employment, as a matter of course, a certain number of British +artisans, and that the country is consequently impoverished in +proportion. But such reasoners must be very ignorant of the nature of +trade, because nothing is more certain than that the French have never +yet given us gratis a single yard of silk, or a single pair of gloves, +but that an equivalent in British produce or manufactures, or the value +thereof, is given in exchange for every cargo of French goods that +crosses the channel. Those who buy must also sell; nor can there be any +trade, whether between nations or individuals, unless on a fair +principle of reciprocity. This country, therefore, can never be +impoverished, nor the demand for British labour diminished, by the +importation of French silks, or any other foreign manufactures, in how +large quantity soever. + +It must, however, be admitted, that the tendency of any sudden change in +the law which introduces foreign manufactures into the market, to the +discouragement of British is necessarily, at first, to throw some +workmen out of employment, by changing the direction of the demand for +labour. This is one of the inconveniences that unavoidably follows an +alteration in an old established system of policy; but we believe that +the magnitude of such inconveniences has been very greatly exaggerated. +At all events, if one demand for labour be closed by the abolition of +restriction in a particular instance, it is quite clear that an +equivalent demand must be opened in some other quarter, and therefore +that the aggregate demand for labour in the country cannot be at all +diminished. The question, therefore, comes to this, whether it is better +that the persons occupied in a particular branch of labour should not be +inconvenienced by being obliged to change the nature of their work, or +that the whole mass of consumers should be enabled to buy a foreign +commodity which can be imported better and cheaper than it can be made +in Great Britain? The issue is between the few and the many; and, +whether the benefit to be derived by the many, from the particular +measure, is not greater than the loss or inconvenience to be +consequently sustained by the few? Not that good, or evil, ought to be +estimated by the numbers who would participate in the advantages of one +measure, or another; but that governments ought never to be unmindful +that it is the interest of the consumer, or in other words, of the +nation at large, which it is their bounden duty to consult and advance, +in preference to the subordinate claims of any class of individuals. + +If then, it is certain, that the same encouragement is afforded to +British industry, whether we consume what is made abroad, or what is +manufactured under our own eyes, it is time that we should hear less of +those foolish lamentations of the growing taste for foreign fashions, +which are constantly in the mouths of those who will not take the +trouble to reflect. We may be perfectly sure that neither does Don +Miguel present us with port wine, nor will the supply of it be +continued, any longer than we furnish to the Portuguese, British +manufactures. The ladies of England have no more reason to fancy it +ungenerous, or unpatriotic, to ornament themselves with the beautiful +and elegant fabrics of France, than they have for considering it wrong +to drink Chinese tea for their breakfasts, instead of a decoction from +indigenous plants. Those who make it a matter of conscience to dress +themselves exclusively in British stuffs, should, for consistency’s +sake, use roasted wheat to the avoidance of coffee, and all other +substitutes of the like nature, in preference to the genuine articles; +for the simple reason that the substitutes are made in Great Britain, +and that the original articles are produced out of it. + +Whilst, therefore, we love and honour our country with an affection and +reverence which other lands cannot so well claim from Englishmen, we +must beg to repudiate that kind of patriotism which would force us into +an absurd disregard of the advantages of living in a civilized age. It +is not true patriotism, but the spirit of monopoly, that is fostered by +the erroneous notions we condemn; and monopolies will always be hateful +in the eyes of honest governments, for they are repugnant to the welfare +of the mass of the people. + + + --------------------- + + + THE GREAT SKELETON OF THE MEGATHERIUM. + + [Illustration: A skeleton of a megatherium, mounted as if for display + in a museum.] + +Our conceptions of the plan of Nature must, to say the least, be ever +imperfect: perhaps we do not err in supposing that it is the design of +Providence to fill all space with life and enjoyment. We may look in two +directions at her works; by the assistance of the microscope we find +everywhere minute vegetable and animal productions:--rising from the +contemplation of these, we turn to that luxuriant vegetation, and to +those huge animals which, according to the economy and fabric of the +animal body, exhibit the largest possible dimensions. Of these it would +appear that many have yielded their abode to man, and are now extinct. + +In the great plains of South America, and more especially behind Buenos +Ayres, in that flat country which is washed by the Parana and its +tributaries, there are found the remains of enormous animals. Their +bones lie sunk in the mud, or alluvial soil; and sometimes, during a +very dry season, when the waters are low, they appear standing up above +the surface like trunks of trees, or _snags_ as they are called in +America. Such are the bones lately brought to London by the very +meritorious exertions of Mr. Parish. + +The inhabitants of a remote district saw the pelvis of the animal which +we are going to describe, appearing above the water, and throwing a +lasso, or cord, over it, they drew it ashore. The pelvis is the circle +of bones which extends from haunch to haunch; and we may form some +conception of its size, both from the manner in which it was found, and +from the lively remark of Professor Buckland, on seeing this portion of +the skeleton--that two of the largest members of the Geological Society +might pass through its circle. When we put our hands upon our haunches, +we rest them upon the wings of the pelvis: now if we extend our arms to +the utmost, we have an exact measure of the breadth of the bones of +which we are speaking, for it measures across from five to six feet. + +This part of the skeleton was brought to the authorities at Buenos +Ayres; from whom Mr. Parish had interest to obtain it: after which, he +sent some hundred miles into the country; had the bottom of the river +sounded and dragged for the remainder of the bones; and, finally, had +that part of the water dammed off, so as to obtain the skull, the +vertebræ of the spine and of the tail, the bones of the hinder +extremity, and the shoulder bone. This skeleton, imperfect as it is, +proves to be, not the mastodon, or fossil animal of the Ohio, but the +great fossil animal of Paraguay, the last discovered of the extinct +species, and called megatherium by Cuvier, from two Greek words which +signify the _great monster_. + +An imperfect skeleton of this animal is in the Royal Cabinet of Natural +History at Madrid; and it is singular enough that what is wanting in +those bones is supplied in the present. Some doubts were entertained, +for example, whether the pelvis made a complete circle, for this part, +in the Madrid skeleton, was broken off in front; the sagacious Cuvier +presumed that it did; and our specimen proves it. + +Examining these bones, putting them together, and comparing them with +the drawings of Joseph Garrega, Madrid, 1796, and of Dr. Pander and Dr. +D’Alton, of Bonn, 1821, we may venture upon some speculations concerning +them. The hinder parts of this animal must have been of great magnitude +and strength compared with the anterior part. Anatomists know, from the +inspection of the bones, what was the condition of the muscles; for the +processes by which they are acted upon are ever strong and projecting, +when the muscles are powerful. The processes of the pelvis show what +large and strong muscles must have operated upon the thigh bone; and the +thigh bone itself is an extraordinary object. It is two feet five inches +in length; is three feet four inches round its thickest, and two feet +two inches round its smallest, part; it is thus twice or three times the +thickness of the thigh bone of the elephant. It is of very great +solidity, and the ridges or processes which stand out from it, imply +that the muscles were of extraordinary power. The bones of the leg, the +tibia and fibula, which are separate in other animals, are here short, +thick, and united into one compact bone. The calcaneum, or heel bone, +projects far, being more than a foot in length, and thus it gives a +powerful lever to the muscles that are attached to it. And the bones of +the toes are, indeed, very curious; exhibiting to the comparative +anatomist that structure which is adapted for the attachment of long and +clumsy claws--but neither like the split hoof of the ruminating animals, +nor the retractile claws of the feline, or cat tribe, and resembling +more the tardigrade class, or sloths. Some have estimated the foot to be +upwards of four feet in length, and to be a foot in breadth. + +A most ingenious member of the Geological Society, in his observations +upon this subject, conceived that this great strength was given to the +hinder extremities of the animal, that it might the better stand upon +three feet, and scratch with the fore foot that was free. We should have +the more willingly assented to this idea had the hind foot been +obviously calculated for standing upon; but the processes of the bones, +and the formation of the toes, seem to indicate that this limb was to be +more actively employed. Why not suppose that it dug like such animals as +we see employed in digging?--they work with their fore feet, and, after +a certain accumulation, make more desperate exertions with their hind +feet, to clear away the encumbrance. On the whole, the extremities of +this animal must have been short compared with his length, and the +breadth of his haunches; for his height is not estimated at more than +seven feet. As we have said, the processes of the bones imply great +muscular strength, and, probably, activity,--such activity as we see in +the motions of the armadillo. + +Nothing is more surprising than the smallness of the head in this +animal: indeed we could not have believed that the head belonged to +these enormous bones, had not Mr. Cliff put the vertebræ together, and +did we not see that those of the neck corresponded with each other; and +that the anterior vertebra of all, the atlas, fitted exactly into the +articulating processes of the skull. This part is imperfect, but happily +the teeth and a portion of the jaw are here. The teeth are most singular +in their structure. There are no incisors or front teeth. Probably the +animal had a projecting snout, like the tapir in the Zoological Gardens. +It certainly had not a trunk like the elephant; because the length of +the neck, as shown by the vertebræ, enabled it to reach the ground with +the mouth: and neither the form of the bones of the face, nor the holes +through which the nerves pass, indicate the attachment of such an organ +as the trunk. The teeth are seated in the back part of the jaw; their +ground surfaces enter into one another with extraordinary exactness; and +the enamel is so placed that they are worn in a manner quite peculiar. +They are unlike the teeth of the lion or of the tiger; they obviously +suffered great attrition: and are provided against a rapid wasting by +the mode of their growth, which resembles that of the front teeth of +animals which gnaw--the rodentia. The projecting incisor teeth of the +beaver, for example, cut like an adze, but they necessarily suffer from +the attrition; to provide against which they grow at their roots, and +advance forwards in proportion as they waste on their exposed surfaces. +These teeth of the megatherium, although in the usual place of grinders, +have the provision for growing at the fangs, whilst they waste on their +crowns; which implies that they were used in cutting vegetables, and, +probably, the roots dug out of the earth. From the processes of the +scapula, or shoulder-blade, we see that this animal had a clavicle, or +collar-bone, and that the radius and ulna had free rotatory motion: the +marks upon the humerus, too, show that the muscles which roll the +wrist-joint were powerful: now these, with the adaptation in the form of +the toes for long and strong claws, lead us to believe that the animal +turned out the earth like the mole, and was in structure something +between the sloth and the ant-eater. Altogether, it would appear that he +dug and searched for roots, and lived on vegetables. + +There is another fact important to our speculations on the habits of +this animal; there has been brought home from the same districts, and +found along with bones similar to these, though remotely placed from the +present specimen, a cover like the shell of the armadillo, but of a size +like a great brewer’s boiler, and studded with tubercles, like the nails +upon a prison-door. If this shell covered the animal, for what purpose +of defence could it be? An ingenious geologist conceived that the animal +had the power of flinging up the soil in such masses, that, in +descending, it required a protection to its back. This conjecture will +hardly be satisfactory; and yet to suppose that such a creature, +possessed of such dimensions, could have a formidable enemy, and that it +required the protection of a defensive armour, like the armadillo, is +perhaps equally extravagant. + +According to the methods of the naturalists, from the circumstance of +this animal wanting the front teeth, we should class it with the +_Edentés_ of Cuvier, and, following that author, place it along with the +megalonyx (having _large claws_). This latter animal, also extinct, +President Jefferson described as a great lion, higher in limbs than our +largest ox, and the enemy of the grand mastodon, thereby presenting a +terrific idea of the ancient world. But Cuvier, by his knowledge of +anatomy, proved it to have been a vegetable feeder, and to be properly +classed with the tardigrade animals, a harmless race. + +This specimen of the megatherium, in its magnificent ruins, must give +activity to the fancy. It is said that there is nothing interesting in +antiquarian research, but as it is associated with man,--with human +action or suffering. But here are remains which carry the mind back to +the most remote times; not into the contemplation of the ages of +mankind, but to the earlier condition of the globe, when it was +undergoing a succession of changes, which were, at length, to suit it +for the abode of the human race. + +The condition of a part of these bones may convey an idea of the plains +where they are found. Some of them are nearly consumed by fire; the +natives using them for setting their kettles on when cooking. To +understand how they should be applied for such uses, we must recollect +that there is no stone to resist the fire; and that there is nothing but +mud and vegetable productions for many hundred miles around where these +bones were discovered. + +The wood-cut of the megatherium at the head of this notice is copied +from a plate in the great work of Cuvier on Fossil Bones, which +representation is from the specimen in Madrid. + + + --------------------- + + + THE WEEK. + + [Illustration: Dryden] + +August 9th.--The anniversary of the birth of JOHN DRYDEN. This great +poet was born in 1631, in the parish of Aldwinkle-All-Saints, +Northamptonshire, where his father, the third son of Sir Erasmus Dryden, +Bart., had a small estate. The poet’s third son, Erasmus Henry, +eventually succeeded to this baronetcy. All Dryden’s near connexions +appear to have attached themselves in the civil wars to the party of the +Parliament; and the poet himself, afterwards so celebrated for his +royalist strains, began also by exercising his talents on that side of +the question. The first verses by which he made himself much known, were +his ‘Heroic Stanzas on the Death of Oliver Cromwell,’ in which he +celebrated the memory of the Protector and his actions with no cold or +sparing panegyric. When the Restoration, however, a few months after, +brought other principles or professions into fashion, Dryden, with many +more, made no scruple to adopt the new creed. His Elegy on Cromwell was +followed by his ‘Astræa Redux,’ an effusion of thanksgiving ‘on the +happy Restoration and Return of his sacred Majesty Charles II.;’ and +that by a shorter piece on the coronation of the same monarch. As the +poet, however, was yet only in his twenty-ninth year, perhaps it may be +thought that he had not passed the age for the only change of political +opinion which is usually looked upon with indulgence--the first, namely, +which a man makes, or that in which he relinquishes the creed of +education and custom, for that of reason and experience. And it is at +least to be said for Dryden, that after this he distinguished himself by +no second apostacy, but, right or wrong, adhered steadily during the +remainder of his days to the colours under which he now took his place, +although he lived to see the time when it would certainly have been for +his worldly interest to have again changed sides, and when he would also +have had many and high examples to countenance him in so doing. It was +in the year after the publication of his ‘Astræa Redux’ that he first +appeared in the character of a dramatist, which he afterwards sustained +by so long a series of productions. His commencing effort in this line +was his play entitled ‘The Duke of Guise,’ It was in the ‘Annus +Mirabilis,’ however, which appeared in 1667, that his genius first broke +forth with any promise of that full effulgence at which it eventually +arrived. It is with the publication of this poem too that he may be +properly said to have entered upon authorship as a profession; and from +that event till the close of the century, his life may be described as +having been but one long literary labour, scarcely ever relieved by any +considerable interval of repose. We cannot here go over in detail the +names and dates of his manifold productions; but we may merely observe +that no fewer than twenty-eight dramas, and eight original poems of +considerable length, besides many minor effusions, and several volumes +of poetical translation from Chaucer, Boccaccio, Ovid, Theocritus, +Lucretius, Horace, Juvenal, Persius, and Virgil, together with no small +number of treatises in prose, in the shape of dedications, prefaces, and +other more elaborate disquisitions, attest the unwearied industry, as +well as the singular fertility of his mind. Such incessant exertions +were so far from exhausting his genius, that his powers continued not +only to do their work with unimpaired elasticity, but even apparently to +gather new vigour and dexterity to the last. His celebrated ‘Alexander’s +Feast,’ and his admirable Fables, (the latter, translations indeed, in +so far as the incidents are concerned, from Boccaccio and Chaucer, but +made by Dryden entirely his own by the embellishment and the filling +up,) were written when the illustrious author was on the verge of his +seventieth year, and suffering under poverty and accumulated +afflictions, from which he was relieved by death a few months +afterwards. He died on the 1st of May, 1700, and was buried in +Westminster Abbey, in a grave next to that of Chaucer. Among our English +poets Dryden stands at the head of the school to which he belongs, +which, however, is not that of the highly imaginative, but rather that +of the intense, energetic, and pointed, in feeling and expression. Pope, +who is to be classed as, in many respects, his pupil, has excelled him +in precision, regularity, and neatness of diction, and his wit, also, if +not more brilliant, is certainly more refined and unmixed; but he has +not approached Dryden either in the rich and varied music of his verse, +or in the cordiality of his indignant declamation, or in the exquisitely +free and easy flow of his merely discursive passages. There is nothing, +indeed, more perfect in the language than Dryden’s reasoning in rhyme. +Here, and in every thing else, his extraordinary command of expression +is one of the chief sources of his strength. Dryden’s vocabulary, +without comprehending the whole extent of the English tongue, is yet +complete for the demands of his particular range of composition. +Certainly few writers have wielded language with a more perfect mastery +of the weapon. And it is this which not only gives much of its power to +his poetry, but has also imparted to his prose style a charm that has +been rarely equalled. It deserves, however, to be remarked, that to his +affluence of words are probably to be in part ascribed some of his +defects as well as many of his excellences. As a dramatist he has almost +completely failed, and perhaps to a greater degree than he otherwise +would have done, simply because he was so consummate a rhetorician. In +his plays, as in all his other productions, he has given us sonorous +verse and splendid declamation in abundance, but little true +passion--many feats of art, but few touches of nature--much, in short, +to fill the ear, but almost nothing to move the heart. But on another +account also, indeed, Dryden was altogether unfitted to excel as a +dramatic writer. He wanted the power of forgetting and abstracting +himself from his merely personal feelings. But nearly every thing that +Dryden has written most forcibly--every thing he has done in which there +is really any passion, derives the chief portion of its animation from +its being the mere utterance of his own rage, or scorn, or exultation, +or other pervading sentiment at the moment. There is none of that +passing out of himself into another being, the capacity of which is the +soul of dramatic genius, and by the exertion of which a great dramatist +seems not to speak through his characters, but only, as it were, to +listen to what they say, and faithfully to write it down. + + + --------------------- + + + THE LIBRARY. + + [Select Works of the British Poets, with Biographical and Critical + Prefaces by Dr. Aikin. 8vo. Lond. 1824. Price 18s. in boards.] + +This is a volume which we hold to be eminently deserving of a place in +our library list. Its merits are, first, that it contains an +extraordinary quantity of matter for the price, and is therefore a very +cheap book; and secondly, that it contains almost nothing but what is +excellent in quality, and is therefore a book whose possession is really +a treasure. It is also beautifully printed. + +To those who do not know the volume, its title may not convey a correct +notion of what it is. It is not a collection of poetical _extracts_, but +of entire poems. None of the pieces are in any way abridged or altered. +Whatever is given is printed in an unmutilated and perfect form, as it +came from the pen of the author, and is to be found in the fullest and +most authentic edition of his works. The book becomes, in this way, in +the literal sense of the expression, a poetical library,--that is to +say, an assemblage not of scattered leaves, from the works of our poets, +but of their principal works themselves. Here are the whole of the +Paradise Lost, the Paradise Regained, the Comus, and the Samson +Agonistes, of Milton; Dryden’s Palemon and Arcite, in three books; J. +Philips’s Cyder, in two books; Addison’s Campaign, and his Letter from +Italy; Prior’s Alma, and his Solomon; Gay’s Trivia, and his Shepherd’s +Walk; Somerville’s Chase; Pope’s Rape of the Lock, his Essay on Man, and +his Moral Essays; Thomson’s Seasons, his Castle of Indolence, and his +Liberty, in five parts; Churchill’s Rosciad; Young’s Night Thoughts, and +his Universal Passion; Akenside’s Pleasures of Imagination; Goldsmith’s +Traveller, and his Deserted Village; Johnson’s London, and his Vanity of +Human Wishes; Armstrong’s Art of Preserving Health; Cowper’s Task, his +Review of Schools, his Table Talk, and his Conversation; and Beattie’s +Minstrel. In addition, there are a great number of smaller pieces by +these writers, and also by Ben Jonson, Cowley, Waller, Parnell, Rowe, +Green, Tickell, Hammond, Swift, A. Philips, Collins, Shenstone, Gray, +Smollet, Lyttleton, the Wartons, and Mason. These poems probably contain +altogether considerably more than 100,000 lines; and certainly could not +be purchased, in any other form in which they have ever been published, +for anything like the cost of the present volume. The biographical and +critical notices with which the productions of each writer are +introduced, are short and unpretending; but although they cannot be +described as containing anything either very profound or very brilliant, +the opinions which they advance are for the most part inoffensive and +sensible enough, and at least as records of dates, compiled from common +sources, but we believe tolerably accurate, they will be found useful. + +There is another edition of this book, divided into several volumes, and +sold at a considerably higher price; but that in one volume, which we +have described, is the edition both for the single student and also for +the economically conducted subscription library. In this shape too it is +a capital book for the traveller’s trunk or portmanteau--a whole library +of delightful reading, which hardly occupies the room of a single change +of linen. The publishers, we ought likewise to mention, have lately +brought out another volume to match with the present, containing many of +the principal works (the whole of the Faery Queene among others) of our +earlier poets. This is also an extremely beautiful book, but, from being +larger than its predecessor, it is considerably dearer. The critical +notices have the advantage of being from the pen of Mr. Southey. + +There is no department in which English literature is richer than in +that of poetry, nor is the literature of any country richer in this +department than that of England. For nearly five hundred years, that is +to say from the middle of the fourteenth century, when Chaucer +flourished, to the middle of the nineteenth in which we ourselves live, +our language has been constantly accumulating wealth of this +description. Of all the works of former times, the writings of our old +poets are beyond all comparison those which are still the best known, +and may be most truly said yet to live. A great poem is indeed the only +sort of literary production that ever gains a real immortality. Among +prose works, one supplants another as successive generations come into +being; and the older are little more than remembered in name, almost +without being ever read. Certainly, they lose altogether their popular +acceptance. The reason of this is to be found, without looking for it in +any superior excellence, or preeminent natural attraction, which poetry +may possess. A great poem is the only sort of work which can be said to +be really finished and perfect--to be something which any addition would +injure. All other works are written for the time merely till others on +the same subject shall be composed, with the aid of better lights, to +take their places; poems only are written for all ages. Milton knew this +well, when, resolving, as he has himself recorded, to produce a work +which men should not willingly let die, he addressed himself to the +composition of a great poem. The only other species of work that can +compete in this respect with a great poem is a work of pure science. The +same quality of perfection (not absolute excellence, but absolute +_finish_), which belongs to the former, may belong also to the latter, +_in so far as it goes_. Thus, the Iliad of Homer has descended to us, a +popular book, from the remotest times, and, along with it, the Elements +of Euclid. + + + --------------------- + + + THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. KING OF ENGLAND. + +The popular errors and misstatements that exist in history are +innumerable. The writers of the early annals of England, as those of +other countries, have generally had a strong feeling for the marvellous, +and where different versions of an event obtained, have chosen rather +that which was most striking and dramatic, than that which was most +true, or best supported by contemporary evidence. Later historians have +but too often adopted their stories without doubt or examination. + +One of such narratives is that of the death of King Richard II., which +represents that unfortunate but vicious monarch as being murdered in +Pomfret Castle by Sir Piers of Exton and his assistants, but not till he +had made a most heroic resistance, snatching a battle-axe from one of +his assailants, and with it laying no less than four of them dead at his +feet. + +This was the account inserted in all our current histories, and learnt +by every school-boy in Goldsmith’s Abridgement: but within these few +years the ingenious Mr. Tytler, in his History of Scotland, has inserted +a very different one, and maintains,--“that Richard contrived to effect +his escape from Pomfret Castle; that he travelled in disguise to the +Scottish Isles; and that he was there discovered, in the kitchen of +Donald, the Lord of the Isles, by a jester, who had been bred up at his +court;--that Donald, Lord of the Isles, sent him, under the charge of +the Lord Montgomery, to Robert III., King of Scotland, by whom he was +supported as became his rank, so long as that monarch lived;--that he +was; after the death of the king, delivered to the Duke of Albany, the +governor of the kingdom, by whom he was honourably treated;--and that he +finally died in the castle of Stirling, in the year 1419, and was buried +on the north side of the altar, in the church of the preaching friars, +in the town of that name.” + +Now this story, which has been adopted by Sir Walter Scott in his +epitome of Scottish History, and which is as romantic as our popular +version, seems to be, like it, decidedly incorrect. All contemporary +historians of the death of Richard II. give a totally different account +from either of the preceding. “Of these, Thomas of Walsingham, Thomas +Otterbourne, the Monk of Evesham, who wrote the life of Richard, and the +continuator of the Chronicle of Croyland, all relate that Richard +_voluntarily starved himself to death, in a fit of despair, in his +prison at Pomfret_. To these must also be added the testimony of Gower +the poet to the same effect, who was not only a contemporary, but had +been himself patronised by Richard.” + +The last sentence is extracted from an interesting paper lately read by +Lord Dover before the Royal Society of Literature. By comparing the +different authorities Lord Dover has clearly proved the incorrectness of +the two stories; and though evidence is wanting to substantiate the +fact, that Richard was _not “for-hungered_,” or starved to death by his +keepers, “the probabilities of the case would appear to be very strongly +in favour of his voluntary starvation.” + + + --------------------- + + +_Courts of Justice among Crows._--Those extraordinary assemblies, which +may be called crow-courts, are observed here (in the Feroe Islands) as +well as in the Scotch Isles; they collect in great numbers as if they +had been all summoned for the occasion. A few of the flock sit with +drooping heads; others seem as grave as if they were judges, and some +are exceedingly active and noisy, like lawyers and witnesses; in the +course of about an hour the company generally disperse, and it is not +uncommon, after they have flown away, to find one or two left dead on +the spot.--_Landt’s Description of Feroe Islands._ + +Dr. Edmonstone, in his view of the Shetland Islands, says that sometimes +the crow-court, or meeting, does not appear to be complete before the +expiration of a day or two, crows coming from all quarters to the +session. As soon as they are all arrived, a very general noise ensues, +the business of the court is opened, and shortly after, they all fall +upon one or two individual crows (who are supposed to have been +condemned by their peers) and put them to death. When the execution is +over, they quietly disperse. + + + --------------------- + + +A Persian philosopher, being asked by what method he had acquired so +much knowledge, answered, “By not being prevented by shame from asking +questions when I was ignorant.” + + + --------------------- + + + THE BANIAN TREE. + + [Illustration: A Banyan tree, with multiple stems, forms a small grove; + in the background are elaborate pagodas.] + +The banian-tree (_Ficus Indica_) is one of the many species of the +fig-tree, and deserves notice, not only as a fruit-tree, but from its +being a sacred tree with the Hindoos in the East Indies, from the vast +size that it attains, and from the singularity of its growth. The fruit +does not exceed that of a hazel-nut in bigness; but the lateral branches +send down shoots that take root, till, in course of time, a single tree +extends itself to a considerable grove. This remarkable tree was known +to the ancients. Strabo mentions, that after the branches have extended +about twelve feet horizontally, they shoot down in the direction of the +earth, and there root themselves; and when they have attained maturity, +they propagate onward in the same manner, till the whole becomes like a +tent supported by many columns. This tree is also noticed by Pliny with +a minute accuracy, which has been confirmed by the observations of +modern travellers; and Milton has rendered the description of the +ancient naturalist almost literally, in the following beautiful +passage:-- + + “Branching so broad along, that in the ground + The bending twigs take root; and daughters grow + About the mother tree; a pillared shade, + High over-arched, with echoing walks between. + There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat, + Shelters in cool; and tends his pasturing herds + At loop-holes cut through thickest shade.” + +Some specimens of the Indian fig-tree are mentioned as being of immense +magnitude. One near Mangee, twenty miles to the westward of Patna, in +Bengal, spread over a diameter of 370 feet. The entire circumference of +the shadow at noon was 1116 feet, and it required 920 feet to surround +the fifty or sixty stems by which the tree was supported. Another +covered an area of 1700 square yards; and many of almost equal +dimensions are found in different parts of India and Cochin China, where +the tree grows in the greatest perfection. A particular account of the +banian-tree (sometimes called the pagod-tree) is given in Cordiner’s +‘Ceylon.’ Mr. Southey has also described it both in the spirit of a poet +and a naturalist. The cut given above, which is copied from Mr. +Daniell’s splendid work on ‘Oriental Scenery,’ well illustrates this +description:-- + + “’Twas a fair scene wherein they stood, + A green and sunny glade amid the wood, + And in the midst an aged Banian grew. + It was a goodly sight to see + That venerable tree, + For o’er the lawn, irregularly spread, + Fifty straight columns propt its lofty head; + And many a long depending shoot, + Seeking to strike its root, + Straight like a plummet, grew towards the ground. + Some on the lower boughs, which crost their way, + Fixing their bearded fibres, round and round, + With many a ring and wild contortion wound; + Some to the passing wind, at times, with sway + Of gentle motion swung; + Others of younger growth, unmov’d, were hung + Like stone-drops from the cavern’s fretted height. + Beneath was smooth and fair to sight, + Nor weeds nor briers deform’d the natural floor; + And through the leafy cope which towered it o’er + Came gleams of chequer’d light. + So like a temple did it seem, that there + A pious heart’s first impulse would be prayer[1].” + +----- + +Footnote 1: + + Curse of Kehama. + + + --------------------- + + +_Portuguese Robinson Crusoe, Diego Alvarez._--He was wrecked upon the +shoals on the north of the bar of Bahia. Part of the crew were lost; +others escaped this death to suffer one more dreadful; the natives +seized and eat them. Diego saw there was no other possible chance of +saving his life, than by making himself as useful as possible to these +cannibals. He therefore exerted himself in recovering things from the +wreck, and by these exertions succeeded in conciliating their favour. +Among other things he was fortunate enough to get on shore some barrels +of powder, and a musket, which he put in order at his first leisure, +after his masters were returned to their village; and one day, when the +opportunity was favourable, brought down a bird before them. The women +and children shouted Caramuru! Caramuru! which signified “a man of +fire!” and they cried out that he would destroy them: but he gave to +understand to the men, whose astonishment had less of fear mingled with +it, that he would go with them to war, and kill their enemies. Caramuru +was the name which from thenceforward he was known by. They marched +against the Tapuyas; the fame of this dreadful engine went before them, +and the Tapuyas fled. From a slave Caramuru became a sovereign. The +chiefs of the savages thought themselves happy if he would accept their +daughters to be his wives; he fixed his abode upon the spot where Villa +Velha was afterwards erected, and soon saw as numerous a progeny as an +old patriarch’s rising round him. The best families in Bahia trace their +origin to him.--_Southey’s History of Brazil._ + + + --------------------- + + +It is evident that nature has made man susceptible of experience, and +consequently more and more perfectible; it is absurd then to wish to +arrest him in his course, in spite of the eternal law which impels him +forward.--_Du Marsais._ + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + ⁂ 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, Paternoster Row. + _Bath_, SIMMS. + _Birmingham_, DRAKE. + _Bristol_, WESTLEY and Co. + _Carlisle_, THURNAM; and SCOTT. + _Derby_, WILKINS and SON. + _Doncaster_, BROOKE and CO. + _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. + _Worcester_, DEIGHTON. + _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. +Illustrations have been moved in some cases to natural breaks in the +text. Itemized changes from the original text: + + • p. 180: Replaced “o” with “of” in phrase “Dr. Pander and Dr. D’Alton, + of Bonn.” + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77006 *** |