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diff --git a/77007-0.txt b/77007-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dff6a3b --- /dev/null +++ b/77007-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1010 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77007 *** + + + + + + THE PENNY MAGAZINE + + OF THE + + Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + 23.] PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. [August 11, 1832 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + THE OLIVE. + + [Illustration: The Olive Tree.] + +There is something peculiarly mild and graceful in the appearance of the +olive-tree, even apart from its associations. The leaves bear some +resemblance to those of the willow, only they are more soft and +delicate. The flowers are as delicate as the leaves; they come in little +spikes from buds between the leaf-stalks and the spikes. At first they +are of a pale yellow; but when they expand their four petals, the +insides of them are white, and only the centre of the flower yellow. + +The wild olive is found indigenous in Syria, Greece, and Africa, on the +lower slopes of the Atlas. The cultivated one grows spontaneously in +many parts of Syria; and is easily reared in all parts of the shores of +the Levant that are not apt to be visited by frosty winds. Where olives +abound they give much beauty to the landscape. The beautiful plain of +Athens, as seen toward the north-west from Mount Hymettus, appears +entirely covered with olive-trees. Tuscany, the south of France, and the +plains of Spain, are the places of Europe in which the olive was first +cultivated. The Tuscans were the first who exported olive-oil largely, +and thus it has obtained the name of Florence-oil; but the purest is +said to be obtained from about Aix, in France. + +The proper time for gathering olives for the press is the eve of +maturity. If delayed too long, the next crop is prevented, and the tree +is productive only in the alternate years. At Aix, where the olive +harvest takes place early in November, it is annual: in Languedoc, +Spain, and Italy, where it is delayed till December or January, it is in +alternate years. The quality of the oil, also, depends upon the +gathering of the fruit in the first stage of its maturity. It should be +carefully plucked by the hand; and the whole harvest completed, if +possible, in a day. The oil-mill is simple. The fruit is reduced to a +pulp, put into sacks of coarse linen, or feather-grass, and subjected to +pressure. The growth of olives and the manufacture of the oil afford a +considerable employment to many of the inhabitants of France and Italy. +The importation of olive-oil into Great Britain amounted, in 1827, to +about four thousand five hundred tons, paying a duty of eight guineas +per tun. + +In ancient times, especially, the olive was a tree held in the greatest +veneration; for then the oil was employed in pouring out libations to +the gods, while the branches formed the wreaths of the victors at the +Olympic Games. The Greeks had a pretty and instructive fable in their +mythology, on the origin of the olive. They said that Neptune having a +dispute with Minerva, as to the name of the city of Athens, it was +decided by the gods that the deity who gave the best present to mankind +should have the privilege in dispute. Neptune struck the shore, out of +which sprung a horse: but Minerva produced an olive-tree. The goddess +had the triumph; for it was adjudged that Peace, of which the olive is +the symbol, was infinitely better than War, to which the horse was +considered as belonging, and typifying. Even in the sacred history, the +olive is invested with more honour than any other tree. The patriarch +Noah had sent out a dove from the ark, but she returned without any +token of hope. Then “He stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent +forth the dove out of the ark; and the dove came to him in the evening; +and, lo, in her mouth was an olive-branch plucked off: so Noah knew that +the waters were abated from the earth.” + +The veneration for the olive, and also the great duration of the tree, +appears from the history of one in the Acropolis at Athens. Dr. Clarke +has this passage in his Travels, in speaking of the temple of +Pandrosus--“Within this building, so late as the second century, was +preserved the _olive-tree_ mentioned by Apollodorus, which was said to +be as old as the foundation of the citadel. Stuart supposed it to have +stood in the portico of the temple of Pandrosus (called by him the +Pandroseum) from the circumstance of the air necessary for its support, +which could here be admitted between the caryatides; but instances of +trees, that have been preserved to a very great age, within the interior +of an edifice inclosed by walls, may be adduced.” + + [Illustration: The Olive.] + + + --------------------- + + + MATERNAL EDUCATION. + +The responsibility which is incurred by every mother imperatively calls +upon her to seek the best means of making her children good and rational +beings. This is not to be done by merely sending them to school for +instruction. Education must be continued at home, or otherwise its most +important results are left to chance, and it mainly depends upon +accident or circumstance whether the child becomes vicious or virtuous. +All persons may not have the power or the opportunity to direct the +infant mind with sufficient steadiness and judgment to produce certain +effects. It is much more within the ability of a mother to make her +children good-tempered, and to endow them with cheerful, contented +dispositions; but even in this, with the best intentions, she may fail +from want of understanding the means. It is, however, in the power of +all mothers--the learned and the unlearned, the rich and the poor--to +have the most _decided_ influence on the _moral_ character of their +children, and to make them virtuous members of society. To this end +children must be educated by example as well as by precept. Let not +parents believe that they are discharging their duty by admonishing +their children to do right, while they act at variance with those +principles they would inculcate. Children are peculiarly quick-sighted +in this respect, and detect the smallest contradiction in act and word +with surprising acuteness. That which we wish our children to become, +that we should endeavour as much as possible to be ourselves. This is a +maxim in parental management which would tend more than any other course +to ensure success. + + + --------------------- + + + MEANINGS OF WORDS.--No. 3. + +Grammarians have divided words into various classes, called parts of +speech, an arrangement that has some advantages, and also some +inconveniences. The advantages are the same that we derive from +classification in all sciences, where we have a great number of objects +which we wish to have some ready means of referring to: the +disadvantages are, that the _names_ of the parts of speech have often +been an obstacle to our right understanding of the true nature and +meaning of the words themselves. For our present purpose it will be +enough to speak of _nouns_, _adjectives_, and _verbs_; or, if our +readers prefer it, we will use the term _noun_ as including that of +_adjective_. + +A _noun_, as the word imports, is a _name_ for something, whether it be +a thing immediately open to the examination of the senses, or an object +which we contemplate only by the mind. We propose to distribute some of +these nouns into classes, in order that by a comparison their meanings +may be better understood. + + + Nouns in _er_. + + Work-er. Hunt-er. + Kill-er. Speak-er. + Slay-er. Carri-er. + +The meaning of this termination in _er_ is obvious: it expresses the +_do-er_ of a thing. These words in _er_ may be considered as formed by +adding the termination _er_ to such words as _work_, _kill_, _carry_, +&c. In the last instance it will be observed that the _y_ is changed +into an _i_ in the new word. + +There are some words in _er_[1] which do not signify a _do-er_, such as +_murder_, _slaughter_, _laughter_. But we have the word _murder-er_, and +we might have such a word as _slaughter-er_: the word _laugh-er_ is +formed regularly from the word _laugh_. + +This termination _er_ is found in the German language in the same sense; +and also in the Latin and Greek, where the termination _or_, with the +same signification, is also of frequent occurrence. + + + Nouns in _or_. + + Act-or. Prosecut-or. + Doct-or. Orat-or. + Visit-or. Curat-or. + +We believe these words in _or_ are all derived from the Latin, while the +words in _er_ are genuine Saxon. _Visit-or_, and other words of the +class, are sometimes written _visit-er_; but it would perhaps be a good +rule to confine all the terminations in _or_ to words really derived +from Latin; for it may be laid down as a general rule that the nouns in +_or_, as the reader will see them in our common books, are of Latin +origin, while those in _er_ are of genuine Saxon growth. + + + Female nouns in _ess_ and _ix_. + +Some nouns in _or_ and _er_ have special terminations to denote the +female _doer_, thus, _hunt-ress_, _murder-ess_. + +The second example shows that these words are simply made by putting +_ess_ to the end of the word in _er_; and that in _hunt-ress_ the vowel +_e_ has been dropped, the word having been originally _hunteress_. Some +words in _ess_ change the termination of the masculine a little, as +_abbot_, _abbess_. This termination _ess_ is found in the Greek language +with the same signification. + +We have also feminine nouns in _ix_, formed from the Latin, such as +_executrix, prosecutrix_: in _ine_, such as _hero_, _hero-ine_. + + + Nouns in _ship_, (German, _schaft_) + + Lord,ship. Wor,ship. + Fellow,ship. Friend,ship. + +These words in _ship_ have the final syllable derived from the verb to +_shape_, which is to _make_, that is, to give a _form_ to a thing. Now +the word _Lord_ is an old Saxon word somewhat changed, and means +loaf-giving, (hlaf-ord); hence _lord-ship_ would mean originally “the +doing that which becomes a lord.” _Friend-ship_ now means the _state of +being friends_; originally, the _making of friends_. The word _worship_ +is used both as a noun and a verb, and it means _worth-ship_, “doing +that which is good.” Hence we say “your _wor-ship_” when we speak to +magistrates, or persons in authority. + + + Words in _dom_, (German, _thum_). + + King-dom. Christen-dom. + Duke-dom. Wis-dom, (wise-dom). + +The meaning of these words is clear from the use which we daily make of +them. They imply a notion of a collection of things belonging to a +person: thus, a _kingdom_ originally meant the “_possessions of a +king_,” his “people and lands.” _Wis-dom_ is the “possession of a wise +man;” and we do not know of any better. + + + Words in _ness_. + + Dark-ness. Like-ness. + Bright-ness. Great-ness. + +This termination is very common in the German language, where it is +found in the form _niss_. It expresses in the words just given the +qualities of _dark_, _bright_, &c. + + + Words in _y_, (_ei_ in German). + +These words differ somewhat in their meanings. + + Slave, slavery. Rob, robber, robber,y. + +In these instances the word in _y_ denotes a _condition_, as, “he is in +slavery;” or a profession, as, “he lives by robber-y, or villain-y, or +treacher-y, or knaver-y;” all of them very bad occupations. The word +‘robbery’ is now often used to express a single act committed, as, +“there was a great robbery committed lately.” It may also be observed, +that in all the instances above given, except villainy, the syllable +_er_ is placed between the first and last part of the word. From such +instances as ‘rob,’ ‘rob(b)-er,’ ‘robber-y,’ we might infer that many +words in _y_ are formed from nouns in _er_, which themselves are formed +from simple verbs. Thus, from the word ‘slave,’ the word ‘slaver,’ +meaning a ship engaged in the slave-trade, has sometimes been used. Many +of these words in _y_ denote a place where something is kept, or a place +where animals are collected, or a place where something is made, as-- + + Pigger-y. Brewer-y. Granar-y. + Nunner-y. Factor-y. Nurser-y. + +Some of them signify an art, in which sense they are akin to the first +examples that we gave, though of a more respectable class. + + Gunner-y. Archer-y. Carpentr-y + +This termination _y_ does not appear to belong to the Saxon part of our +language. It is found both in Greek and Latin, and very often in the +former language in significations the same as it now has in our own +tongue. Such words as + + Piety, Vanity, Humanity, + +are derived from Latin words which end in _tas_, as _pietas_, &c. + + [To be Continued.] + +----- + +Footnote 1: + +In German, _mord_ is the same as our _murder_; and _moerder_ the same as + our _murderer_. Thus the German has preserved more consistency in the + formation of this word. + + + --------------------- + + + THE GIRAFFE. + + [From a Correspondent.] + +The interesting animal you alluded to in your Magazine of 30th June, and +which made so unfortunate a journey to England, was an old acquaintance +of mine. I happened to be at Malta when it arrived in that island from +Egypt. The Governor, Sir F. Ponsonby, provided it with a very pleasant +and appropriate lodging in the grounds of the villa of Sant’ Antonio, +where I saw it several times with its two African keepers, who had +attended it so far. The sultry, dry climate of Malta seemed to agree +very well with it. There were no trees on that arid rock tall enough to +require the length of his neck--the tallest at Sant’ Antonio were not +much higher than its legs, and it was exceedingly pretty to see with +what grace the creature bent its long, elastic neck, and brought its +small, deer-like head, to play with their topmost branches. It only +played with them. The Africans fed him regularly with some sort of dry +provender, and when they appeared he was accustomed to show considerable +animation; but I never saw it so forgetful of its dignity as to run--on +the contrary, it walked up to them with very stately steps. Its eye then +was particularly bright and beautiful, and the whole appearance of the +animal was indeed very different from what I have heard described after +its arrival in England. + +The day it was embarked it did not look so well as usual. It was put on +board a large, new merchant brig only lately built at Malta. When it was +in the hold, with its feet almost on the brig’s keel, it could stretch +its neck out of the main hatch-way, and command all the deck with its +head. It seemed greatly astonished, but remained as tranquil as +possible. I never heard it make the least noise. When the sailors went +near it, it drew in its head, but seemed to protrude it with pleasure +when its old companions and countrymen, the Africans, approached it. + +At Constantinople, on one side of the Hippodrome, there is a menagerie, +now very ill provided,--dark, filthy, and much neglected. Some years ago +a giraffe was sent from Egypt to enrich the collection of beasts then +existing there. Its keeper was accustomed to take it to exercise in the +large open square of the Hippodrome, where the Turks used to flock daily +in great crowds, to cultivate the acquaintance of the extraordinary +quadruped. Seeing how perfectly inoffensive it was, and how domesticated +it became, the keeper next used to take it with him on his walks through +the city, and wherever the general favourite appeared, a number of +friendly hands were held out of the _gazebos_, or projecting latticed +windows, to offer it something to eat. The Turkish women were +particularly attentive to it. The generality of the streets at +Constantinople are so narrow, that, as it walked along the middle, its +neck being inflected to the right or to the left, it could almost touch +the houses. After some time, when it came to a house where it had been +particularly well treated, if no one was at the window, it would gently +tap against the wooden lattice, as though to announce its visit. It was +extremely docile and easily directed, but if left to itself, it was +observed invariably to take the street in which it had the most or the +best friends. This pet of the Turkish capital died a long time before my +arrival, but an old servant I had, told me the anecdote. + +The old traveller, Marco Polo, says he was told of the existence of +camelopards, or giraffes, in the island of Madagascar on the coast of +Africa, and in Abyssinia. It does not appear that he saw any specimen, +but he describes its principal features very accurately. + C. M + + + --------------------- + + + THE SHEPHERD BOY. + + The rain was pattering o’er the low thatch’d shed + That gave us shelter. There was a shepherd boy + Stretching his lazy limbs on the rough straw + In vacant happiness. A tatter’d sack + Cover’d his sturdy loins, while his rude legs + Were deck’d with uncouth patches of all hues, + Iris and jet, through which his sun-burnt skin + Peep’d forth in dainty contrast. He was a glory + For painter’s eye; and his quaint draperies + Would harmonize with some fair sylvan scene, + Where arching groves, and flower-embroider’d banks, + Verdant with thymy grass, tempted the sheep + To scramble up their height, while he, reclin’d + Upon the pillowing moss, lay listlessly + Through the long summer’s day. Not such as he + In plains of Thessaly, as poets feign, + Went piping forth at the first gleam of morn, + And in their bowering thickets dreamt of joy, + And innocence, and love. Let the true lay + Speak thus of the poor hind:--his indolent gaze + Reck’d not of natural beauties; his delights + Were gross and sensual: not the glorious sun, + Rising above his hills, and lighting up + His woods and pastures with a joyous beam, + To him was grandeur; not the reposing sound + Of tinkling flocks cropping the tender shoots + To him was music; not the blossomy breeze + That slumbers in the honey-dropping bean-flower + To him was fragrance: he went plodding on + His long-accustomed path; and when his cares + Of daily duties were o’erpass’d, he ate, + And laugh’d, and slept, with a most drowsy mind. + Dweller in cities, scorn’st thou the shepherd boy, + Who never look’d within to find the eye + For Nature’s glories? Oh, his slumbering spirit + Struggled to pierce the fogs and deepening mists + Of rustic ignorance; but he was bound + With a harsh galling chain, and so he went + Grovelling along his dim instinctive way. + Yet _thou_ hadst other hopes and other thoughts, + But the world spoil’d thee: then the mutable clouds, + And doming skies, and glory-shedding sun, + And tranquil stars that hung above thy head + Like angels gazing on thy crowded path, + To thee were worthless, and thy soul forsook + The love of beauteous fields, and the blest lore + That man may read in Nature’s book of truth. + Despise not, then, the lazy shepherd boy, + For his account and thine shall be made up, + And evil cherish’d and occasion lost + May cast their load upon thee, while his spirit + May bud and bloom in a more sunny sphere. + + + --------------------- + + +Two things are required on the part of the working classes to +adjust themselves to the state of society as one altering and +improving:--skill, or practical knowledge, so that when one branch +of productive labour fails from improvement or fluctuation, they +may resort to another; and economy, that they may provide against +“a rainy day,” and instead of seeking relief in combination and +outrage, have the means of support until the arrival of more +favourable times. These qualities will appear only where there has +been some training of the head and the heart. Let then the mind be +taught to think and the judgment be fitted for correct decision, +and the difference will be manifest, as it is now in cases +occasionally witnessed; the intelligent will not be the dupes of +demagogues or incendiaries, and the thrifty will discover a higher +tone of feeling than their improvident neighbours.--_Wilderspin’s +Early Discipline._ + + + --------------------- + + + HOLYROOD HOUSE, EDINBURGH. + +The west part of Edinburgh is built along the ridge of a somewhat steep +hill, stretching for about a mile from east to west. At the western +extremity of the street, which, under various names, extends in a +continuous line along this summit, stands the castle, crowning a lofty +and precipitous rock; at its opposite end, which lies low, is the palace +of Holyrood House, there commonly designated the Abbey. Holyrood House, +in fact, was a religious establishment long before it became a royal +residence. It was one of the numerous monasteries founded by the +Scottish King David I., a monarch who was made a saint for his pious +profusion. The name of Holyrood was derived from a celebrated silver +rood (or cross) said to have been actually put into the hands of the +founder by an angel, as he was hunting one day on the spot where the +abbey was afterwards erected. This cross was accordingly regarded with +great veneration and pride by the Scots for more than two centuries; but +David II. having thought proper to carry it along with him, in 1347, in +his foolish invasion of England, it fell a prey to the victors at the +disastrous battle of Neville’s Cross, in which the King himself was +severely wounded and taken prisoner, and, according to some accounts, +twenty thousand of his troops left dead on the field. The Holy Rood was +long after this preserved with great care in the cathedral of Durham, +and continued to be the object of nearly as reverential a regard among +its new as it had been among its original possessors. Holyrood House was +most liberally endowed with lands and privileges both by its founder and +by several of his successors; so that it eventually became the richest +ecclesiastical establishment in Scotland. This abbey was repeatedly both +plundered and burned in the course of the wars with the English. In +1544, especially, when Leith and Edinburgh were taken and sacked by the +Earl of Hertford (afterwards the Protector Somerset) the whole of the +church was burned to the ground, with the exception of the nave, which +was subsequently used as a chapel. + + [Illustration: Interior of Holyrood Chapel.] + +The earliest notice we have of the existence of a palace at Holyrood is +no older than the beginning of the sixteenth century. The more ancient +palaces of the Scottish kings were all to the north of the Forth, the +country to the south of that river not having properly formed part of +their dominions till a comparatively recent era. It is probable, +however, that they may have had a residence at Holyrood before the year +1503, when we first find the _palace_ expressly mentioned. After this, +in 1528, James V. made great additions to the buildings already +existing, or rather indeed rebuilt the whole from the foundation. A +great part of this erection was burnt by the English in 1544; but the +devastation committed on this occasion was soon after repaired; and a +new palace built on a much more extensive scale than before. It was +probably, indeed, a considerably larger building than the present, +inasmuch as it is stated to have consisted of five courts, or +quadrangles. Here the unfortunate Mary had her principal residence +during the time she enjoyed her regal dignity; and here also her son +James VI. held his court, till his accession to the crown of England. A +considerable part of this building was afterwards burned down by +Cromwell’s soldiers, and it lay in ruins till about the year 1670, when, +by direction of Charles II. the present structure was commenced after a +design of Sir William Bruce. + + [Illustration: Western Front of Holyrood Palace.] + +The present palace of Holyrood House is a handsome stone edifice, +surrounding a court which is nearly square, each side measuring about +230 feet in length. The four different ranges of buildings are flanked +by towers at each extremity--and an arcade, supported by pillars, goes +round the whole of the interior. The north-west portion of the building +is all that remains of the palace erected by James V.; but the +apartments which it contains are very interesting. Here are both the +state-room and the bed-chamber which were used by Queen Mary, with the +old furniture remaining, much of the needlework of which is said to have +been done by her own hands. It was in this bed-room that she was sitting +at supper, with her half-sister, the Countess of Argyle, when Darnley +and his fellow-conspirators rushed in, and dragging forth her minion, +Rizzio, slew him at the door of the apartment. The unhappy man received +about fifty-five wounds. The trap-door, or opening in the floor of the +adjoining passage, by which they ascended from the apartment below, is +still shown, as well as certain dark stains on the floor, stated to be +the marks made by Rizzio’s blood. The Pretender, Charles Edward, took +possession of these apartments when he established himself for a short +time in Edinburgh, in 1745, and slept, it is said, in what had been +Queen Mary’s bed. The same bed, which still occupies its ancient place, +received, a few months afterwards, the victorious Duke of Cumberland, +when the slaughter of Culloden had for ever decided the question between +the houses of Stuart and Hanover. In later times it has twice served as +an asylum to the exiled princes of another house. Charles X. of France, +when Count d’Artois, resided here from 1795 till 1799, with his two +sons, the Dukes d’Angouleme and de Berri; and the same royal personage, +a second time driven from his country, has now a second time found +refuge, with his family, within the same walls. A new ‘Fall of Princes,’ +such as old Lydgate translated from a French version of Boccaccio’s +Latin, or a continuation of the ‘Mirror for Magistrates,’ might be +compiled from the history of the successive tenants of Holyrood House +since it was first erected by James V. + +When his late Majesty visited Scotland in 1822, the state apartments in +Holyrood House were fitted up with great magnificence, and their gilded +and mirrored walls again reflected the splendour of levees and +drawing-rooms. Considerable sums also have since been expended from the +crown revenues in restoring the palace; and in consequence many +important repairs and alterations have been effected. The largest of the +apartments which it contains is a gallery on the north side, 145 feet in +length by 25 in breadth, and 18½ in height. This gallery is adorned with +111 imaginary portraits of Scottish kings, all painted by a Flemish +artist named De Witt, who was brought over by James VII. to execute the +work. They are not worth much more as specimens of art than as +illustrations of history. The Duke of Cumberland’s troops, when here in +1746, by way perhaps of evincing their superior connoisseurship, thought +proper to stab and slash many of these canvass monarchs with their +swords and bayonets; but they have since been repaired, and are now +inserted into the panels of the wainscot. It is in this gallery that the +elections of the representative peers of Scotland take place. + +Next to Queen Mary’s apartments, however, the old chapel is the most +interesting part of Holyrood House. It consists, as we have already +intimated, only of the nave of the original abbey-church. This ruin (for +it is now nothing more) has received in the course of the recent +restorations such repairs as will at least arrest for some time the +farther progress of decay. + +Holyrood House, as being a royal palace, is still a sanctuary for +insolvent debtors; and they enjoy the protection, which extends to their +effects as well as to their persons, not only within the immediate +precincts of the palace, but over the whole of the adjoining royal park. +This park is about three miles in circumference, and comprehends within +its bounds the hill called Arthur’s Seat, one of the most striking +objects of natural scenery to be found in the neighbourhood of any city. + + + --------------------- + + + THE FIREMEN’S DOG. + +About three years ago, a gentleman, residing a few miles from the +metropolis, was called up to town in the middle of the night, by the +intelligence that the premises adjoining his house of business were on +fire. The removal of his furniture and papers of course immediately +claimed his attention; yet, notwithstanding this and the bustle which is +ever incident to a fire, his eye every now and then rested on a dog, +whom, during the hottest progress of the devouring element, he could not +help noticing running about, and apparently taking a deep interest in +what was going on, contriving to keep himself out of every body’s way, +and yet always present amidst the thickest of the stir. + +When the fire was got under, and the gentleman had leisure to look about +him, he again observed the dog, who, with the firemen, appeared to be +resting from the fatigues of duty, and was led to make some inquiries +respecting him. What passed may perhaps be better told in its original +shape of question and answer between the gentleman and a fireman +belonging to the Atlas Insurance Office. + +_Gentleman._--(stooping down to pat the dog, and addressing the +fireman).--Is this your dog, my friend? + +_Firemen._--No, sir, he does not belong to me, or to any one in +particular. We call him the firemen’s dog. + +_Gentleman._--The firemen’s dog! Why so? has he no master? + +_Fireman._--No, sir, he calls none of us master, though we are all of us +willing enough to give him a night’s lodging and a pennyworth of meat; +but he won’t stay long with any of us; his delight is to be at all the +fires in London, and, far or near, we generally find him on the road as +we are going along, and sometimes, if it is out of town, we give him a +lift. I don’t think there has been a fire for these two or three years +past which he has not been at. + +The communication was so extraordinary, that the gentleman found it +difficult to believe the story, until it was confirmed by the concurrent +testimony of several other firemen; none of them, however, were able to +give any account of the early habits of the dog, or to offer any +explanation of the circumstances which led to this singular propensity. +A minute of the facts was made at the time by the inquirer, with a view +to their transmission to some of the journals or periodicals, which +publish anecdotes of natural history of animals; but other things +interfered, and the intention was lost sight of. + +In the month of June, last year, the same gentleman was again called up +in the night to a fire in the village in which he resided, Camberwell in +Surrey, and to his surprise here he again met with “the firemen’s dog,” +still alive and well, pursuing with the same apparent interest and +satisfaction, the exhibition of that which seldom fails to bring with it +disaster and misfortune, oftentimes loss of life and ruin. Still he +called no man master, disdained to receive bed or board from the same +hand more than a night or two at a time, nor could the firemen trace out +his ordinary resting-place. + +The foregoing account is strictly true, and the truth may be ascertained +by inquiry of any of the regular firemen of the metropolis. But who of +those best acquainted with the habits of that most sagacious of our +quadrupeds shall offer an explanation of the “hobby” of the firemen’s +dog? + + ⁂ We insert this extraordinary story upon the authority of a + Correspondent who gives us his name and address. + + + --------------------- + + + CHAUCER’S HOUSE OF FAME. + +One of the most curious and interesting of Chaucer’s Poems is that +entitled ‘THE HOUSE OF FAME.’ It is of considerable length, being +divided into three books, comprising 2170 lines. Whether imitated, as +some critics have conjectured, from a foreign original (which however, +never has been produced), or constructed by the genius of our English +bard, with no further assistance than some hints in the Metamorphoses of +Ovid, it is at least equally valuable as a picture of the learning and +opinions, on many subjects, of Chaucer’s age, the latter part of the +fourteenth century. It is chiefly in reference to its value in this +respect, that we mean to notice it at present. We omit, therefore, any +analysis of the story, which would occupy more space than we can afford, +and which may be found accurately enough given in the 14th section of +‘Warton’s History of English Poetry.’ For a similar reason we shall not +stop to notice the poetical beauties in which the work abounds, although +some of them deserve to be ranked among the finest examples of romantic +loftiness of conception and splendour of colouring. + +If it were necessary to prove, contrary to some of the accounts of the +invention, that gunpowder was known a considerable time before the close +of the fourteenth century, a passage in this poem would show that its +use in the charging of fire-arms was already familiar. In book iii. l. +553, the sound is represented as rushing from the trump of Æolus + + “As swift as pellet out of gun + When fire is in the powder run.” + +An engine, probably warlike, for projecting stones, is afterwards +alluded to at line 843, where a particular noise is compared to + + “The routing[2] of the stone + That fro the engine is letten gone.” + +But one of the most curious passages in the poem is that in the second +book, in which the author unfolds the leading principles of the natural +philosophy then in vogue. It is too long to be quoted entire; but we +shall give the most material parts of it, only taking the liberty of +modernising the spelling where the pronunciation is not thereby +affected. The discourse takes the form of an address to the poet +himself, from one of the personages of the poem, and begins with the +ancient explanation of the phenomena of gravitation. “Geffrey,” says the +speaker, in substance, “thou knowest well that every thing in nature +hath a natural station in which it may be best preserved and that hither +every thing by its natural inclination striveth to come whenever it is +not already there.” He then proceeds:-- + + “As thus, lo! thou may’st all day see, + Take any thing that heavy be, + As stone, or lead, or thing of weight, + And bear it ne’er so high on height; + Let go thine hand--it falleth down; + Right so, I say, by fire or soun’, + Or smoke, or other thinges light, + Alway they seek upward on height. + Light things up, and heavy down charge, + While every of them be at large. + And for this cause thou may’st well see + That every river to the sea + Inclined is to go by kind: + And by these skillés[3], as I find, + Have fishes dwelling in flood and sea, + And trees eke on the earthé be. + Thus every thing by his reasòn + Hath his own proper mansiòn, + To which he seeketh to repair,” &c. + +He then goes on, as follows, to explain the philosophy of sound, with +more correctness than many may perhaps be prepared to expect:-- + + “Sound is nought but air y-broken; + And every speeché that is spoken, + Whether loud or privy, foul or fair, + In his substance ne is but air; + For as flame is but lighted smoke, + Right so is sound but air y-broke. + But this may be in many wise, + Of the which I will thee devise, + As sound cometh of pipe or harp; + For when a pipe is blowén sharp + The air is twist with violènce, + And rent;--lo! this is my sentènce:-- + Eke, when that men harp-stringés smite, + Whether that it be much or lite[4] + Lo! with the stroke the air it breaketh; + And right so breaketh it when men speaketh.” + +A few lines after, the following account is given of the spreading of +sound, which, so far as it goes, is unexceptionable:-- + + “If that thou + Throw in a water now a stone, + Well wottest thou it will make anon + A little roundel as a circle, + Per’venture as broad as a covèrcle[5]; + And right anon thou shalt see weel + That circle cause another wheel, + And that the third, and so forth, brother, + Every circle causing other + Much broader than himselfen was; + And thus, from roundel to compàss, + Each abouten othèr going + Y-causeth of othèrs stirrìng, + And multiplying evermo, + Till that it be so far y-go + That it at bothé brinkés be.... + + And right thus every word, I wis, + That loud or privy spoken is, + Y-moveth first an air about, + And of his moving, out of doubt, + Another air anon is moved, + As I have of the water proved + That every circle causeth other; + Right so of air, my lievé[6] brother, + Every air another stirreth + More and more, and speech upbeareth, + Or voice, or noise, or word, or soun’, + Aye through multiplication.” + +Pope, it may be recollected, has introduced this illustration (although +in a different part of the narrative) into his Temple of Fame. This poem +he wrote in his twenty-third year; and he acknowledges the hint to have +been taken from this work of Chaucer’s, although he states that the +design is in a manner entirely altered, and the descriptions and most of +the particular thoughts his own. It will be found, however, that rather +more than half of Pope’s poem is borrowed from that of Chaucer. But +Chaucer’s work is altogether more than four times as long as Pope’s. + +There is a long passage in the second book of Chaucer’s ‘House of Fame,’ +(l. 106-152,) which is exceedingly interesting as giving us an account +of the domestic habits of the poet himself. On the same subject may be +consulted a shorter passage in book iii. 920-930. + +----- + +Footnote 2: + + _i.e._ roaring. + +Footnote 3: + + _i.e._ reasons. + +Footnote 4: + + _i.e._ little. + +Footnote 5: + + _i.e._ pot-lid. + +Footnote 6: + + _i.e._ dear. + + + --------------------- + + + THE WEEK. + +August 15.--The birthday of Admiral Blake, one of the noblest of +England’s heroes and patriots. Robert Blake was born in 1599, at +Bridgewater, in Somersetshire, where his father, who had been a Spanish +merchant, was settled. After he had spent some years at Wadham College, +Oxford, his father died; and he, being the eldest son, returned to +Bridgewater, and lived in a retired manner on the estate which he had +inherited. Although known for his attachment to puritan principles, he +took no part in public affairs till 1640, when he was returned for +Bridgewater to the parliament which met for a few weeks in the early +part of that year. But he failed in being re-elected for the one by +which it was followed--the celebrated Long Parliament, which was +destined to act so memorable a part. He was employed, however, in the +war between the King and the nation, which soon after broke out, and +distinguished himself by his military talent on various occasions. But +it was on another element that his fame was to be chiefly gathered. It +was in 1649, when he was fifty years of age, that he was first invested +with a command at sea. The expedition on which he was sent was directed +against Prince Rupert, whom he pursued from Kinsale, in Ireland, to the +Tagus, and thence to Malaga, on the southern coast of Spain, where he +scattered or destroyed nearly the whole of his fleet. On his return to +England, after this victory, which he had achieved in despite of the +opposition of both Spain and Portugal, he was appointed to the +honourable office of Warden of the Cinque Ports. In the beginning of the +year 1652, when the nation was preparing for war with Holland, Blake was +the man who was chosen to be invested with the chief command of the +fleet. Hostilities soon commenced, and Blake found himself opposed by +the most celebrated admiral of the age, Van Tromp, at the head of one of +the finest equipments that had ever been sent out by the first naval +power in the world. In the beginning of May Van Tromp appeared in the +Channel with forty fine men-of-war; and, by way of defiance, took up his +station in Dover Roads. The fleet under Blake’s command consisted only +of twenty-six sail; but on the 9th he nevertheless boldly advanced +against the enemy, who weighed anchor at his approach, and in reply to +three successive guns, which he fired without ball, as a signal for them +to strike their flag, ranged themselves in order of battle. A desperate +fight ensued, which lasted from four in the afternoon till night, and +the result of which was that the Dutch, after losing two of their ships, +thought proper to retreat. The next great affair with the enemy, in +which Blake was engaged, took place on the 29th of November. On that day +he was again met in the Channel by Van Tromp, now at the head of a fleet +of seventy men-of-war, and six fire-ships. Blake’s force scarcely +exceeded half that of his opponent--but scorning to run away, he +determined to try once more what the gallantry of English sailors could +do under the conduct of a captain who had before led them on to victory +through so unequal a strife. And perhaps his courage might have been +again crowned with success; but besides being obliged to contend +throughout the engagement with an adverse wind, he himself unfortunately +received a wound which partially disabled him, and threw a part of his +forces into disorder. The consequence was, that after a conflict which +lasted from eight in the morning till night, the English found +themselves obliged to retreat, and to take refuge partly in the Downs +and partly in the Thames. Although the circumstances were such as to +remove from it all disgrace, Blake probably felt this defeat severely, +especially as it was followed by the most arrogant and insulting conduct +on the part of the Dutch admiral, who immediately made his way through +the Channel, bearing the ensign of a broom fastened to his main-topmast, +as if to signify that he had swept those seas of British ships. But in +the February following, the English hero, having employed the interval +with admirable diligence in repairing his ships, again put to sea with a +fleet of sixty sail, and soon after encountered his old adversary at the +head of seventy men-of-war, and having three hundred merchantmen under +convoy. The battle this time was far more obstinate than any that had +yet been fought between them: for three days the two armaments, running +up the Channel together, scarcely intermitted their furious fire; when +at last, on the fourth morning, the Dutch, having lost eleven of their +ships of war and thirty merchantmen, while only one of the English +vessels was destroyed, took flight for the coast of Holland. Several +other engagements took place between the two admirals in the course of +the same year; and the result, upon the whole, was decidedly in favour +of the English. Having thus asserted the dominion of his countrymen over +their surrounding seas, Blake returned to England, and was received both +by the Protector and the people with all respect and honour. Some time +before this Cromwell had dismissed the Long Parliament, and openly +assumed arbitrary power; but Blake being at sea when this change took +place, grieved and indignant as his noble spirit must have felt, +restrained himself from giving expression to his sentiments; and calling +his officers together, merely remarked to them, that, with the enemy yet +unsubdued, they had clearly in the mean time only one duty to perform: +“It is not for us,” said he, “to mind state affairs, but to keep the +foreigners from fooling us.” In the parliament which assembled in +September, 1654, Blake was returned for Bridgewater; and he sat in the +House till 1656, when he was despatched with a fleet to the +Mediterranean, to chastise Spain for certain insults which that power +had offered to the English flag. He acquitted himself in this expedition +with his usual ability; but after having done great injury to the marine +of the enemy, and taken many rich prizes, he was attacked by an illness +which rapidly enfeebled him, and from which indeed he soon felt that he +could not recover. He exerted himself, however, as long as his strength +would allow, and even engaged in a new enterprise against Santa Cruz, in +Teneriffe, which was attended with splendid success, after it had become +evident that this would be his last service of gallantry to his country. +He then set sail for England; and as life was fast ebbing, the only and +constant wish he expressed was that he might but once more rest his +eyes, for however short a space, on the coast of his native land before +closing them for ever. His wish, and no more, was granted. He expired as +the fleet was entering Plymouth Sound, on the 27th of August, 1657. A +true model in all things of a British sailor, Blake had been during his +life as prodigal of his money among his comrades as of his personal +exertions in the service of his country; and notwithstanding the ample +opportunities he had had of enriching himself, it was found that he had +not increased his paternal fortune by so much as 500_l._ A magnificent +public funeral, and the interment of his body in Henry VII.’s Chapel, in +Westminster Abbey, testified the grief of England for the loss of her +greatest defender; but among the mean outrages which disgraced the +triumph of the Restoration, it was one of the very meanest that Blake’s +mouldering remains were removed from the honourable resting-place thus +assigned to them, and deposited in the neighbouring church-yard of St. +Margaret. They could not, however, remove his glory from the page of the +national history, nor bury among common and forgotten things the name +and actions of one who, as having first taught our seamen that daring +and contempt of danger for which they have ever since been famous, +deserves to be regarded as, more than any other, the founder of the +naval greatness of England. + + [Illustration: Admiral Blake.] + + + --------------------- + + +_General Education_.--A strange idea is entertained by many that +education unfits persons for labour, and renders them dissatisfied +with their condition in life. But what would be said were any of the +powers of the body to be in a certain case disused? Suppose a man were +to place a bandage over his right eye--to tie up one of his hands--or +to attach a ponderous weight to his legs--and, when asked the cause +were, to reply, that the glance of that eye might make him +covetous--that his hand might pick his neighbour’s pocket--or that his +feet might carry him into evil company,--might it not be fairly +replied, that his members were given to use and not to abuse, that +their abuse is no argument against their use, and that this suspension +of their action was just as contrary to the wise and benevolent +purpose of their Creator as their wrong and guilty application? And +does this reasoning fail when applied to the mind? Is not the +unemployed mental faculty as opposed to the advantage of the +individual as the unused physical power? Can the difference between +mind and matter overturn the ordinary principles of reasoning and of +morals? Besides, how is man to be prepared for the duties he has to +discharge?--By mere attention to his body? Impossible. The mind must +be enlightened and disciplined; and if this be neglected, the man +rises but little in character above the beasts that perish, and is +wholly unprepared for that state to which he ought to have +aspired.--_Wilderspin’s Early Discipline._ + + + --------------------- + + +_Trade in Bristles._--In 1828, 1,748,921 lbs. of bristles were imported +into England from Russia and Prussia, each of which cannot have weighed +less than two grains. From this we may fairly conjecture that +13,431,713,280 bristles were imported in that year. As these are only +taken from the top of the hog’s back, each hog cannot be supposed to +have supplied more than 7680 bristles, which, reckoning each bristle to +weigh two grains, will be one pound. Thus in Russia and Prussia, in +1828, 1,748,921 hogs and boars were killed, to furnish the supply of +England with bristles. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + ⁂ 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. Itemized +changes from the original text: + + • p. 186: Added period after “wor,ship.” to match other entries in + table. + • p. 190: Replaced period with comma after phrase “some hints in the + Metamorphoses of Ovid.” + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77007 *** |