path: root/77007-0.txt

*** 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.

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




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




                          Transcriber’s Notes


This file uses _underscores_ to indicate italic text. New original cover
art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain. Itemized
changes from the original text:

 • p. 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 ***