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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77269 ***
+
+
+
+
+                           THE PENNY MAGAZINE
+
+                                 OF THE
+
+             Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ 36.]                   PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY.     [October 27, 1832
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+                          THE BOA CONSTRICTOR.
+
+     [Illustration: The Boa Constrictor about to strike a Rabbit.]
+
+One of the most interesting objects in the fine collection of animals at
+the Surrey Zoological Gardens, is the Boa Constrictor. Curled up in a
+large box, through the upper grating of which it may be conveniently
+examined, this enormous reptile lies for weeks in a quiet and almost
+torpid state. The capacity which this class of animals possess of
+requiring food only at very long intervals, accounts for the inactive
+condition in which they principally live; but when the feeling of hunger
+becomes strong they rouse themselves from their long repose, and the
+voracity of their appetite is then as remarkable as their previous
+indifference. In a state of confinement the boa takes food at intervals
+of a month or six weeks; but he then swallows an entire rabbit or fowl,
+which is put in his cage. The artist who made the drawing for the above
+wood-cut, saw the boa at the Surrey Zoological Gardens precisely in the
+attitude which he has represented. The time having arrived when he was
+expected to require food, a live rabbit was put into his box. The poor
+little quadruped remained uninjured for several days, till he became
+familiar with his terrible enemy. On a sudden, while the artist was
+observing the ill-sorted pair, the reptile suddenly rose up, and,
+opening his fearful jaws, made a stroke at the rabbit, who was climbing
+up the end of the box; but, as if his appetite was not sufficiently
+eager, he suddenly drew back, when within an inch of his prey, and sunk
+into his wonted lethargy. The rabbit, unconscious of the danger, which
+was passed for a short season, began to play about the scaly folds of
+his companion; but the keeper said that his respite would be brief, and
+that he would be swallowed the next day without any qualms.
+
+All the tribe of serpents are sustained by animal food. The smaller
+species devour insects, lizards, frogs, and snails; but the larger
+species, and especially the boa, not unfrequently attack very large
+quadrupeds. In seizing upon so small a victim as a rabbit, the boa
+constrictor would swallow it without much difficulty; because the
+peculiar construction of the mouth and throat of this species enables
+them to expand so as to receive within them animals of much larger bulk
+than the ordinary diameter of their own bodies. But in those cases where
+the serpent attacks a large quadruped, such as an antelope, he entwines
+himself round his prey, and by his great muscular power crushes the
+principal bones, so that the dimensions of the victim are considerably
+reduced, and after a series of efforts which sometimes approach to
+strangulation, the monster makes an end of his meal. There are stories
+of the boa constrictor destroying even the buffalo and the tiger, by
+crushing them in this manner by the astonishing force of its muscles. We
+shall confine ourselves at present to a well-authenticated account of
+the voracious appetite of a serpent of this species, which was brought
+from Batavia, in the year 1817, on board a vessel which conveyed Lord
+Amherst and his suite to England.
+
+This serpent was of large dimensions, though not of the very largest. A
+living goat was placed in his cage. He viewed his prey for a few
+seconds, felt it with his tongue, and then, withdrawing his head, darted
+at the throat. But the goat, displaying a courage worthy of a better
+fate, received the monster on his horns. The serpent retreated, to
+return to the combat with more deadly certainty. He seized the goat by
+the leg, pulled it violently down, and twisted himself with astonishing
+rapidity round the body, throwing his principal weight upon the neck.
+The goat was so overpowered that he could not even struggle for escape.
+For some minutes after his victim was dead the serpent did not change
+his posture. At length he gradually slackened his grasp, and having
+entirely disengaged himself, he prepared to swallow the lifeless body.
+Feeling it about with his mouth, he began to draw the head into his
+throat; but the horns, which were four inches in length, rendered the
+gorging of the head a difficult task. In about two hours the whole body
+had disappeared. During the continuance of this extraordinary exertion
+the appearance of the serpent was hideous; he seemed to be suffering
+strangulation; his cheeks looked as if they were bursting; and the horns
+appeared ready to protrude through the monster’s scales. After he had
+accomplished his task, the boa measured double his ordinary diameter. He
+did not move from his posture for several days, and no irritation could
+rouse him from his torpor.
+
+
+                         ---------------------
+
+
+                    THE LABOURERS OF EUROPE.--No. 3.
+
+In the province of Naples, or “Campania the blest,” as it is called,
+from the great fertility of its soil and its genial climate, the farms
+are generally small. The corn returns eight or ten for one, and the land
+is not left fallow occasionally for a year, but ploughed and sown with
+something else. Frequently after harvest it is immediately sown with the
+scarlet trefoil, which, when in flower, looks like a crimson carpet
+spread over the verdant field. Rows of elms and mulberry trees,
+festooned with branches of the vine, divide the various possessions;
+while the fig, the lemon, and the orange, grow in the gardens freely and
+to their full size. The high ridges of the mountains afford rich
+pastures, safe from the heat and drought of the plains; the sides are
+covered with forests of chesnut trees, which afford an important article
+of food to the poor; while the lower declivities are occupied by olive
+plantations yielding a valuable and easy harvest. In this favoured
+region the inhabitants, indolent as they are, can easily procure their
+daily subsistence. Their cabins exhibit in many instances the appearance
+of slovenliness, but seldom that of indigence. The farmer’s rent is paid
+sometimes in money, sometimes in kind, such as grain, oil, &c. The
+leases are generally renewed from generation to generation. The farmer
+is a peasant, with no capital; he works his farm chiefly with the
+assistance of his family. These people have some domestic comforts, good
+beds, coarse, but good linen, a table, a few chairs, and a large chest
+for their clothes. They eat with their fingers out of one dish, and all
+the family drink out of the same glass. They are hospitable, however, in
+their way, but they are coarse and uninformed, having not, like the
+Tuscan peasants, an opportunity of intercourse with the educated
+classes. Few know how to read or write, or cast accounts; they sometimes
+hardly know the name of their landlord. The women dress very showily on
+holidays, and they generally have gold ear-rings, necklace and cross.
+Daily labourers are paid about two carlins, or eight pence, a day, and
+somewhat more at harvest time. But they are engaged only a small part of
+the year, and they employ the rest of their time in cutting wood in the
+forests, in charcoal making, and other occasional jobs. They offer
+themselves as guides to travellers, assuming the absurd appellation of
+_Cicerone_; and sometimes, for lack of other employment, they join the
+banditti in some expedition just to try their fortune, after which they
+return quietly to their native village and resume their rural
+occupations. Pot-houses or wine-shops are very numerous, and to these
+the idlers resort on holidays, after mass, to play and drink. This was
+once a source of frequent quarrels, ending often in bloodshed and
+murder. But by the present laws (for the Neapolitan criminal justice has
+somewhat improved) the vintner is made answerable for any mischief that
+happens in his house, and there is no longer any asylum for criminals,
+in consequence of which blows are seldom given. The farmers, however, do
+not much frequent the wine-shops; they prefer selling their own wine,
+and remaining at home on Sundays to see their children dance the
+_tarantella_. Of this dance they are never tired.
+
+The vintage is the season of universal rejoicing. The vines are planted
+thick, and allowed to grow luxuriantly, and to spread in high festoons
+from tree to tree, forming shady alleys into which the rays of the sun
+can hardly penetrate. At vintage time a man first cuts the middle
+branches between one tree and another, so as to make a lane for the cart
+to go through. The cart is drawn by a fine well-fed ox, and on it is a
+large tub; the men carry long narrow ladders, by which they ascend the
+trees, and having filled the baskets with grapes, they throw them down
+to the women below, who empty the contents into the tub. Jokes and
+joyous songs relieve the vintagers’ labours, while the farmer looks on
+in silence, watching the progress and calculating the produce of the
+_ricolt_. When the tub is full, the ox drags the cart reeling with
+grapes to the vats, the fruit is thrown in, and then being pressed under
+the feet of a man, the liquor descends into a lower vat, where it
+undergoes fermentation. These vats are square, built of brick or
+masonry, and uncovered. When the weather is dry the must is left to
+ferment five days,--if it should rain, one or two days more. The husks
+or dregs are then put into a press with water, and a sort of small wine
+is made, which is the common drink of the labourers. Another sort of
+wine is made by drawing some of the must or new wine out of the vat
+after four-and-twenty hours, and pouring it into canvass bags, which are
+suspended over another vat, into which the liquor distils. The wine thus
+made is called _lambiccato_; it is sweet and pale, does not keep, and,
+though not wholesome, it is agreeable to the taste of the people. They
+repeat the process several times in order to clear it and prevent any
+further fermentation. They use this wine to mix with the old wine, which
+has turned sour or musty. Some wines are also made by boiling a certain
+quantity of the must, and then mixing it with the rest: these wines keep
+longer. The vine bears fruit two years after it has been planted, and
+then continues to produce for sixty years or more.
+
+In the other parts of the kingdom of Naples the condition of the rural
+population varies according to the climate, localities, and nature of
+the soil. In the mountains of Abruzzo the inhabitants are chiefly
+shepherds, who migrate every year with their flocks to the plains of
+Puglia. Their families accompany them, and assist them in making various
+kinds of cheese from sheep, cow, and buffalo milk, for which they are
+renowned. These mountaineers are an honest, frugal, industrious race:
+the men dress in sheepskins, and numbers of them are to be seen at
+Christmas time about the streets of Naples, playing their bagpipes in
+honour of the festivity.
+
+The inhabitants of the large province of Calabria are another peculiar
+race. Brave, hardy, and proud, they work but little and live frugally.
+Although provisions are cheap, wages are too low to allow the labourers
+to buy animal food, cheese, or butter: a Calabrian peasant will make his
+dinner of a handful of lupines, a few chestnuts, and two ounces of
+bread. When he can afford to drink the common wine, he pays for it from
+one penny to two-pence a quart. The inhabitants near the coast live
+somewhat better. The Calabrian, however, disdains to beg; he will sooner
+rob on the high road.
+
+The Sicilian peasantry, especially in the interior of the island, are
+still worse than the Calabrian. The towns and villages swarm with
+beggars, and the misery and consequent corruption of the poorer classes
+are almost incredible. While the coasts of the island abound with
+populous and luxurious towns, one half of whose inhabitants, however,
+are in a state of beggary or nearly so, the fertile valleys of the
+interior are left in great measure unproductive, the few farmers
+thinking only of getting what is absolutely necessary for their
+subsistence, and not of multiplying the produce of their lands, for
+which they have no market. The total want of roads or means of
+communication, the absence of capital, the indolence of the great
+proprietors, the injudicious trammels on exportation, and several other
+causes, contribute to the total prostration of Sicilian agriculture.
+
+The land-tax in the kingdom of Naples is extremely heavy, amounting to
+about one-third of the estimated rent of the estates, whether cultivated
+or not.
+
+
+                         ---------------------
+
+
+                            COMETS.--No. 2.
+
+Well then--we give up the question as to the danger of our earth
+jostling this comet of Biela, at least for the next century; but every
+one will admit that comets have a great influence on the temperature,
+and often cause dreadful epidemics. Thus say those who love to prophesy
+of evil; but we hope the present change of weather (October 5,) when the
+comet is many thousand miles nearer than he was during the warm weather
+of a few weeks back, will make people doubt a little before they
+attribute warm summers and autumns and good vintages, or bad summers and
+bad vintages (for comets are messengers both of good and evil,) to these
+much-abused and ill-understood wanderers.
+
+We proceed to give a few more remarks, the substance of which may be
+found in Littrow:--
+
+It is said that comets raise the temperature at the earth’s surface. In
+reply to this assertion, we give a list of those years from 1632 to
+1785, which were remarkable for the unusual temperature either of their
+winter or their summer, and were likewise distinguished by the
+appearance of comets.
+
+       Comet years.  Temperature.    | Comet years.  Temperature.
+         1632†      Hot summer.      |   1718      Severe winter.
+         1665       Severe winter.   |   1723†     Hot summer.
+         1680       Ditto.           |   1729      Severe winter.
+         1682†      Warm winter.     |   1737      Hot summer.
+         1683       Cold summer.     |   1744      Severe winter.
+         1683       Severe winter.   |   1748†     Hot summer.
+         1684       Cold summer.     |   1764†     Warm winter.
+         1689       Warm winter.     |   1766      Severe winter.
+         1695       Cold summer.     |   1769†     Warm winter.
+         1699       Severe winter.   |   1771      Severe winter.
+         1701†      Hot summer.      |   1774†     Hot summer.
+         1702       Ditto.           |   1781†     Ditto.
+         1702       Warm winter.     |   1783†     Warm winter.
+         1706       Severe winter.   |   1784      Severe winter.
+         1718†      Hot summer.      |   1785      Ditto.
+
+Here in one hundred and fifty-three years we have fifteen marked (†), in
+which the comet may be supposed to have produced a greater degree of
+warmth; while it happens that there are just as many in which it may be
+said to have increased the cold. What, then, is the conclusion? Why,
+that the comet brings neither heat nor cold, at least none that we can
+discover. But there is another way of showing that comets do _not_ bring
+warmth, and that if they cause any change at all in the temperature
+(which we do not affirm) we have as much right to say they bring cold.
+
+From the register of the temperature kept at the Vienna Observatory,
+from the year 1800 to 1828 inclusive, it appears that in seven years,
+the average temperature of which exceeded the general average
+temperature at Vienna, there were ten comets; in five years, which fell
+below the average temperature, there were eight comets; and in six
+years, some of which were a little above and others a little below the
+average temperature, there were twelve comets. Or this result may be
+expressed in the following way:--
+
+                                                     Comets.
+           For every 10 hot years                      14
+               „     10 cold ditto                     16
+               „     10, neither hot nor cold, ditto   20
+
+But, after all, it may be said that though comets produce no change in
+the temperature that we can estimate, they _may_ cause diseases and
+other calamities by acting in some way to us invisible and unknown.
+Forster, in his ‘Illustrations of the atmospherical origin of Epidemic
+Diseases,’ asserts that since the Christian era the most unhealthy
+years, and those most fruitful in all kinds of human calamities, have
+been marked by the appearance of great comets, and that on the contrary
+no great comet has ever appeared in a healthy year.
+
+If any of our readers feel disposed to believe so bold an assertion, we
+beg they will read Littrow’s chapter on this subject, or get some good
+friend to read it to them, and we venture to say they will be for ever
+cured of all propensity to believe in the marvellous, unless the proofs
+are rather stronger than those which Forster produces. Littrow denies
+altogether the accuracy of Forster’s tables of the _concurrence_ of
+diseases, &c. and comets; but, independent of this, why should a comet
+cause a particular disease in one part of the globe and not in another?
+or why, when the comet of 1668 appeared, should there be “a great
+mortality among the cats” in Westphalia only? and how did it happen that
+the Dutch and Flemish cats escaped? But to set the matter at rest,
+Littrow takes Forster’s table of diseases just as it is given, and
+compares it with Olber’s ‘Catalogue of all the known tracks of Comets,’
+and to this he adds the catalogue of comets which Riccioli has collected
+out of the older writers. This comparison gives the following among many
+other results:--“A. D. 717. There was a three years’ plague in the East,
+and 300,000 men died at Constantinople alone.” But unfortunately there
+was no comet in this year, nor in any years nearer to this date than 684
+and 729. As there was no comet in 717, we ought, according to Mr.
+Forster’s reasoning, not to believe that 300,000 men died at
+Constantinople; which, for our part, we are as little inclined to give
+credit to as to many other marvellous facts of the same kind which the
+chronicles register.
+
+To take an example in favour of Mr. Forster;--“A.D. 1200. Plague in
+Egypt, in which about 10,000,000 of men died.” The Arabic writer, Ali
+ben Rodoan, mentions a comet in this year, the body of which was said to
+be three times as large as Venus; we can believe all this but not “the
+10,000,000 men.”
+
+We will add another instance, not in favour of Mr. Forster.
+
+“1624. Destructive epidemic for five years through nearly all Europe. In
+London 35,000 men died; in Venice 90,000, and Italy lost the fourth part
+of its inhabitants,” &c. This _may_ be true, but we believe not that
+Italy lost the fourth part of its population; nor, if this calamitous
+event did take place, do we believe there were then or are now any means
+of ascertaining the loss with such accuracy. But how stand the comets
+for this year? Alas! for theories without facts. Between 1618 and 1652
+no comets are recorded.
+
+We have spoken of the false fears which the presence of comets sometimes
+engender, in a tone which some persons may call by the name of levity.
+We have done so, because we believe that such fears, tending to make
+people unhappy, are best got rid of by a little good-natured ridicule.
+One of the best foundations of happiness is a confidence that the laws
+by which the universe is governed, however mysterious and inexplicable,
+are intended to sustain and preserve that wondrous mechanism which we so
+imperfectly understand, but which we know must proceed from the most
+perfect goodness as well as wisdom and power.
+
+The errors which we have noticed regarding comets have in some cases
+been the errors of men whose judgments have been led astray by false
+assumptions. But there have not been wanting self-constituted
+interpreters of the designs of Providence, who have misled the ignorant
+by pronouncing comets to be the forerunners, sometimes of pestilence, at
+others of war, and at others of political or local occurrences, such as
+the Fire of London. Such predictions, like those connected with eclipses
+of the sun and moon, cannot be too strongly stigmatized, as proceeding
+either from the most presumptuous ignorance, or the most wicked
+imposture. It is quite enough for men to aim at an approximation to a
+knowledge of the system of the world, without taking upon themselves to
+assign supposed causes for the existence of this or that phenomenon--and
+those causes often the most frivolous and absurd. True knowledge leads
+not to presumption but to humility: and it would be well for those who
+take upon themselves to expound, with reference to passing events, the
+eternal ways of Providence, as if they were gods, knowing good and evil,
+to take example from the modesty of such immortal philosophers as Newton
+and Bacon; and, whilst confessing that the little that is known to men
+only serves to show the more clearly how much is unknown, to humble
+themselves before that great _First Cause_ who made “the sun to rule the
+day, the moon and the stars to govern the night,--for his mercy endureth
+for ever!”
+
+
+                         ---------------------
+
+
+                         THE TEMPLES OF PÆSTUM.
+
+                 [Illustration: The Temple of Neptune.]
+
+These sublime relics of antiquity stand on the edge of a vast and
+desolate plain, that extends from the neighbourhood of the city of
+Salerno to the mountains of the Cilento, or nearly to the confines of
+Calabria. The approach to them across this wild is exceedingly
+impressive. For miles and miles scarcely a human habitation is seen, or
+any living creature, save herds of savage-looking buffaloes, that range
+the lords of the waste. And when you are within the lines of the ancient
+walls of the town--of the once opulent and magnificent Pæstum--only a
+miserable little taverna, or house of entertainment, a barn, and a mean
+modern edifice belonging to the nominal bishop of the place, and nearly
+always uninhabited, meet your eye. But there the three ancient edifices
+rise before you in the most imposing and sublime manner--they can hardly
+be called ruins, they have still such a character of firmness and
+entireness. Their columns seem to be rooted in the earth, or to have
+grown from it! The first impression produced on the traveller, when he
+arrives at the spot, has often been described. Even the critical and
+sceptical Forsyth exclaims, “On entering the walls of Pæstum I felt all
+the religion of the place--I trod as on sacred ground--I stood amazed at
+the long obscurity of its mighty ruins!”
+
+These edifices have been called, rather by caprice or conjecture than
+from any good grounds for such names, the Temple of Ceres, the Temple of
+Neptune, and the Basilica. That of Ceres, which is the smallest of the
+three, first presents itself to the traveller from Naples. It has six
+columns in front, and thirteen in length; the columns are thick in
+proportion to their elevation, and much closer to each other than they
+are generally found to be in Greek Temples, “which,” says Mr. Forsyth,
+“crowds them advantageously on the eye, enlarges our idea of the space,
+and gives a grand, an heroic air to a monument of very moderate
+dimension.”
+
+The second, or the Temple of Neptune, is not the largest, but by far the
+most massy and imposing of the three: it has six columns in front and
+fourteen in length, the angular column to the west, with its capital,
+has been struck and partially shivered by lightning. It once threatened
+to fall and ruin the symmetry of one of the most perfect monuments now
+in existence, but it has been secured by iron cramps. An inner peristyle
+of much smaller columns rises in the cella, in two stories, with only an
+architrave, which has neither frieze nor cornice between the columns,
+which thus almost seem standing the one on the capital of the other--a
+defect in architecture, which is, however, justified by Vitruvius and
+the example of the Parthenon. The light pillars of this interior
+peristyle, of which some have fallen, rise a few feet above the exterior
+cornice and the massy columns of the temple. Whether you gaze at this
+wonderful edifice from without or from within, as you stand on the floor
+of the cella, which is much encumbered with heaps of fallen stones and
+rubbish, the effect is awfully grand. The utter solitude, and the
+silence, never broken save by the flight and screams of the crows and
+birds of prey which your approach may scare from the cornices and
+architraves, where they roost in great numbers, adds to the solemn
+impression produced by those firmset and eternal looking columns.
+
+The third structure, generally called a basilica, but sometimes an
+atrium, a curia, a market-place, or an exchange, is the most extensive,
+and, in point of architecture, the most curious, It has nine columns in
+front, and eighteen in length, and a row of pillars in the middle,
+parallel to the sides, which divide the temple, or whatever it may have
+been, into two equal parts. The diameter of these columns is somewhat
+larger than that of the columns of the first temple, but much smaller
+than the diameter of those of the second temple.
+
+All the three structures are in the peculiar style called the Doric.
+They are all raised upon substructions forming three gradations or high
+steps--the columns without bases repose on the uppermost of these steps:
+the columns are not quite five diameters in height, they taper off about
+one-fourth as they ascend, they are fluted like all ancient Greek
+columns, their capitals are flat and prominent, and their
+intercolumniation, or the space from one to the other, little exceeds
+one diameter. The material of which they are built is the same
+throughout each of the temples and common to them all. It is an
+exceedingly hard, but porous and brittle stone, of a sober brownish-grey
+colour. It is a curious fact, that not only the ignorant people on the
+spot, but Neapolitan antiquaries (who, however, rarely travel to see
+things with their own eyes) wonder whence the ancients brought these
+masses of curious stone. They found them on the spot. “The stone of
+these edifices,” says Mr. Forsyth, “was probably formed at Pæstum
+itself, by the brackish water of the Salso acting on vegetable earth,
+roots, and plants; for you can distinguish their petrified tubes in
+every column.” And Mr. Mac Farlane, who passed a considerable time on
+the spot, adds, “The brackish water of the river Salso that runs by the
+wall of the town, and in different branches across the plain, has so
+strong a petrifying virtue that you can almost follow the operation with
+the eye; the waters of the neighbouring Sele (a considerable river--the
+ancient Silarus) have in all ages been remarkable for the same quality:
+in many places where the soil had been removed, we perceived strata of
+stone similar to the stones which compose the temples, and I could
+almost venture to say that the substratum of all the plain, from the
+Sele to Acropoli, is of the like substance. Curious petrifactions of
+leaves, pieces of wood, insects, and other vegetable and animal matters,
+are observed in the materials of the columns, walls,” &c.
+
+These temples are the only ancient remains of any importance to be found
+at Pæstum, except the Cyclopean walls of the city, which are pretty well
+preserved on three sides, and only entirely obliterated on the side
+towards the sea. On the eastern side, indeed, they have suffered little,
+and fragments of towers, which seem to have flanked the walls at regular
+distances, yet exist. There is a gate in this part called _La Porta
+della Sirena_, or the Syren’s Gate (from a small rudely sculptured
+figure that looks like a dolphin, over the arch) which is very perfect,
+but mean and small; and here the ancient aqueduct is traced for some
+distance.
+
+The origin of the city may safely be referred to remote antiquity; but
+those are probably in the right who would fix the period at which the
+existing temples were erected as contemporary with, or a little
+posterior to the building of the Parthenon at Athens. But even this
+calculation leaves them the venerable age of twenty-two centuries; and
+so firm and strong are they still, that, except in the case of a
+tremendous earthquake or some other extraordinary convulsion of nature,
+two thousand two hundred and many more years may pass over their mighty
+columns and architraves, and they remain, as they now are, the objects
+of the world’s admiration.
+
+           [Illustration: Interior of the Temple of Neptune.]
+
+
+                         ---------------------
+
+
+                DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GAMBLING AND TRADING.
+
+It has been remarked that all games or sports are imitations either of
+_war_ or _commerce_. The imitations of war are sufficiently obvious;
+some, such as the combats of the gladiators in ancient Rome, were
+exhibitions of actual fighting; others, such as the bull-fights of
+Spain, the elephant and tiger-fights of India, the cock-fights,
+dog-fights, badger-baits, &c. of England and other countries, are
+exhibitions of the combats of animals. In these cruel sports, the men or
+animals are made to fight for the amusement of the lookers-on, who
+sympathize in the exertions of skill, power, and courage which they
+behold. More frequently, however, the pleasure is derived from being,
+not a spectator, but an actor in the contest; as in all field-sports,
+such as hunting, shooting, and fishing; or in bloodless games, such as
+cricket, football, prisoners-base, chess, draughts, &c.; in which the
+gratification arises from a sense of the skill exercised, from the love
+of emulation, and the feeling of superiority. The games which appear to
+be imitations of mercantile dealings are, without exception, _games of
+chance_ or _gambling games_, such as games with dice and cards,
+lotteries, raffles, &c. In games of this kind there is usually a stake
+to be played for, which is like the sum that a trader hopes to gain by
+an adventure or speculation; and either chance alone, or a mixture of
+chance and skill, determines the winner. In some games of cards the
+resemblance is still further increased by the players _exchanging_ some
+of their cards, as in the well-known game of _commerce_.
+
+But in noting the _resemblance_ between trade and games of chance, it is
+also important to note their _difference_. At games of chance there is a
+certain stake made up by the contributions of the players; and when the
+game is over, whatever is gained by one player is lost by another. There
+can be no gain without a corresponding loss. In trade, however, this is
+far otherwise. _Every voluntary exchange must necessarily be for the
+benefit of both parties._ It would be an absurdity to suppose that both
+parties to an exchange are not gainers. No man exchanges merely for the
+sake of _changing_: for example, no man gives a shilling in order to get
+a shilling, or gives a copy of a book in order to get an identical copy
+of the same book. Still less does any one exchange in order to give away
+something which is more valuable to him than that which he gets in
+return. No man gives a horse worth £30 for a bushel of corn worth 10_s._
+No man gives a cargo of cotton goods worth £500 for a pipe of wine worth
+£50.
+
+Some of our readers may perhaps be inclined to exclaim that they need
+not to be informed of a maxim which is never formally stated, only
+because it is universally admitted; and may think that in telling them
+that neither party loses by an exchange, we adhere strictly to our
+character of not admitting _news_ into our magazine. Nevertheless this
+axiom, however evident and undeniable, is impliedly rejected by many of
+those persons who consider free trade as injurious to the wealth of a
+country. For in whatever manner merchants are permitted to trade it is
+quite certain that they will never give more than they get--in other
+words, never voluntarily make a losing bargain. Sometimes indeed it
+happens that goods are voluntarily sold _at a loss_, but it is evident
+that no merchant will long continue to make exchanges by which he is a
+loser. Those persons, therefore, who maintain that if we trade freely
+with a foreign country our merchants will lose, unless that country
+trades freely with us, maintain that one of the parties to a voluntary
+exchange may be a loser. For as no considerable trade can be carried on
+by means of the precious metals by a country in which they are not
+produced, it is obvious that if we import a large quantity of goods from
+a foreign country, we must either give in exchange goods of less value
+to us than those which we part with, or that if they will not take our
+goods and do not want bullion, they must give us their goods for
+nothing. The latter supposition is, we fear, too favourable to ourselves
+to be very probable, or, as is commonly said, it is _too good to be
+true_; but at any rate it is as likely that foreigners will give us
+_their_ goods for nothing, as that we will give foreigners _our_ goods
+for nothing; which would be the case if it were true that a free trade,
+or any other trade, is a losing trade.
+
+
+                         ---------------------
+
+
+                        SATURDAY NIGHT’S WAGES.
+
+The system frequently pursued in manufacturing towns in paying the wages
+of mechanics, is not, perhaps, calculated to give to these all the
+advantages which they should derive from their hard earnings.
+
+It is the custom in many factories to pay the wages of the week at a
+neighbouring public-house on the Saturday evening, after the labours of
+the day are over. This duty, in a large establishment, is a work which
+necessarily occupies some time; and the most sober and well-disposed,
+those most anxious to take their earnings home to their families, cannot
+obtain their money in time for procuring the Sunday’s meal before the
+usual hour of rest. After a hard day’s labour, spent in domestic cares,
+and in rendering the dwelling in a fit state for the coming day, the
+weary housewife would gladly seek repose. Under this arrangement,
+however, she is obliged to encroach on the period which should be
+devoted to sleep, in order to make her requisite purchases, or to invade
+the quiet of the Sabbath morning with the petty cares of life, which,
+for that one day at least, should be laid aside.
+
+This in itself is a great annoyance to the female part of the community;
+but it is light as air to them, compared with the more serious evil
+which the system carries in its train, and which they would gladly
+exchange for any personal inconvenience they might be called upon to
+endure.
+
+Workmen of the most abstemious habits consider themselves in a manner
+constrained to take some refreshment in the house where they have just
+received money; and though they may spend but a trifle, that trifle
+would have been better bestowed in assisting to minister to the wants of
+those nearest and dearest to them. But what a temptation is held out to
+men of a less temperate character. Here the love of noisy fellowship is
+nourished, unfitting the mind for the quiet enjoyments of home. Here the
+habit of intoxication is gradually acquired and confirmed. While wives
+are anxiously waiting at the door of the house for those supplies which
+will enable them to furnish necessaries for their families, husbands are
+too often rioting within, forgetful of those ties which should prevent
+such a waste of time and money in selfish and degrading enjoyment; and
+when, at length, the expecting female does obtain the residue of the
+earnings which should have been appropriated to the support of her
+family for the ensuing week, she finds the sum fearfully diminished and
+inadequate for the purpose.
+
+Many a watchful mother has had to mourn over the ruined prospects of a
+beloved son, whose first deviation from right was the loitering at the
+public-house on the Saturday night; his former simple habits gradually
+turned into those of selfishness, and all its lamentable consequences.
+Many an affectionate wife has had to grieve at this wreck of her early
+happiness, first invaded by the Saturday night’s temptation; while she
+is either left to struggle neglected and alone through the miseries of
+life, or called upon to endure more active ill treatment from her
+inebriated partner.
+
+It may be said, we are rather exaggerating the picture; that a large
+proportion of those who gain their livelihood by working as mechanics
+are respectable, intelligent, and virtuous members of society. Most
+happily this is true; but we think a still farther number might be
+ranked in the same class, if the payment of wages were better regulated,
+while the comfort of the artisans, and that of their families, would at
+the same time be materially increased.
+
+There can be little doubt that, were proprietors once convinced of the
+bad effects which arise from this plan, they would adopt one more
+conducive to the comfort of those by whose labour they are benefited. A
+walk in a manufacturing town at twelve o’clock on the Saturday night,
+would sufficiently expose the evils of this manner of payment. The shops
+are then still open, and harassed females are seen flocking to them; the
+streets are crowded with people; and many women, with looks of distress,
+are still lingering at the doors of the pay-houses, in the vain hope of
+alluring home their truant husbands. The whole continues a scene of
+noise, bustle, and confusion, long past the hour of midnight, and but
+ill-befitted to usher in the day of rest. How unlike the holy soothing
+repose of the cotter’s Saturday eve, so beautifully described by Burns.
+
+If payment of the week’s earnings were made on the respective premises
+instead of at a drinking-house, and on the Friday instead of the
+Saturday evening, all these evils might at once be avoided.
+
+The men would have no temptation given them to spend their earnings away
+from their families--the women would be enabled to make their purchases
+on the Saturday, at the time most convenient for the purpose, and they
+would have one chance less for unhappiness.
+
+Two objections are made to this proposed alteration--the one moral, the
+other practical.
+
+It is said that, with a well furnished pocket, a man not very
+industrious may be inclined to indulge himself in idleness during the
+ensuing day; but this would evince so total an absence of foresight and
+prudence, that the individual capable of such conduct would, we fear,
+when paid on the Saturday, in like manner take his holiday on the
+Monday, or just as long as his money might last.
+
+The other objection arises from the mode in which the wages are usually
+paid at a large establishment. The required amount of money is in the
+first instance deposited in the hands of the confidential foreman, who
+does not pay each individual workman, but divides the whole in classes,
+and to a responsible man in each of these intrusts the sum due to his
+particular class: should the individuals of which this is composed be
+very numerous, he in his turn subdivides, till at length the various
+claimants receive their due. The transaction is not, therefore, simply
+that of a proprietor paying his men, but it involves itself into a much
+more complicated form, and the men must necessarily have a common place
+of rendezvous to adjust their various accounts. That this difficulty may
+be obviated, and that it is in fact nearly as easy to pay on the
+premises as to adjourn to another house, we happen to be furnished with
+a practical proof. The proprietor of a large concern, not residing on
+the spot where it is carried on, had recently occasion to proceed to
+that place in order to examine more particularly how the works were
+conducted. He immediately perceived the bad effects arising from the
+system of paying the workmen at a drinking-house, and determined at once
+to abolish the practice. This intention was strongly combated by the
+superintendent, who assured him that it was an impossibility to pay all
+the men at the works, for if the few to whom he delivered the money for
+their respective divisions were to receive it on the premises, they
+would of their own accord repair to the usual pay-house with those to
+whom the money was due, in order to make a settlement among themselves.
+
+The gentleman persevered, however, in his intention; and on the day of
+payment, he himself, without any assistance, paid into the hands of each
+workman before he left the premises, the wages due to him. He thus
+proved the practicability of the alteration, and acquired the right of
+insisting that henceforth the plan should always be pursued. By a little
+method, and by the aid of a few assistants, this work would of course be
+comparatively easy to one understanding its practical details; if in the
+absence of these advantages it was accomplished without any difficulty,
+in the manner we have described, by one quite new to the business, in an
+establishment where numerous work-people are employed, it follows that
+this objection is of no weight.
+
+
+                         ---------------------
+
+
+_Struggle between an Eagle and a Salmon._--“That the eagle is extremely
+destructive to fish, and particularly so to salmon, many circumstances
+would prove. Eagles are constantly discovered watching the fords in the
+spawning season, and are seen to seize and carry off the fish. Some
+years since a herdsman, on a very sultry day in July, while looking for
+a missing sheep, observed an eagle posted on a bank that overhung a
+pool. Presently the bird stooped and seized a salmon, and a violent
+struggle ensued: when the herdsman reached the spot, he found the eagle
+pulled under water by the strength of the fish, and the calmness of the
+day, joined to drenched plumage, rendered him unable to extricate
+himself. With a stone the peasant broke the eagle’s pinion, and actually
+secured the spoiler and his victim, for he found the salmon dying in his
+grasp. When shooting on Lord Sligo’s mountains, near the Killeries, I
+heard many particulars of the eagle’s habits and history from a
+grey-haired peasant who had passed a long life in these wilds. The
+scarcity of hares, which here were once abundant, he attributed to the
+rapacity of those birds; and he affirmed, that when in pursuit of these
+animals, the eagles evinced a degree of intelligence that appeared
+extraordinary. They coursed the hares, he said, with great judgment and
+certain success; one bird was the active follower, while the other
+remained in reserve, at the distance of forty or fifty yards. If the
+hare, by a sudden turn, freed himself from his most pressing enemy, the
+second bird instantly took up the chase, and thus prevented the victim
+from having a moment’s respite. He had remarked the eagles also while
+they were engaged in fishing. They chose a small ford upon the rivulet
+which connects Glencullen with Glandullah, and, posted on either side,
+waited patiently for the salmon to pass over. Their watch was never
+fruitless,--and many a salmon, in its transit from the sea to the lake,
+was transferred from its native element to the wild aërie in the Alpine
+cliff that beetles over the romantic waters of Glencullen.”
+
+[These anecdotes are extracted from a work just published, containing
+spirited details of a sportsman’s life in Ireland, and numerous sketches
+of natural history. It is entitled, ‘_Wild Sports of the West._’]
+
+
+                         ---------------------
+
+
+                               THE WEEK.
+
+October 28.--This is commonly regarded as the birthday of the great
+Erasmus, and in one place is mentioned as such by himself, although in
+another he says he was born on the 27th. The year of his birth is still
+more uncertain; some authorities placing the event in 1465, but the
+commonly received date, and that inscribed on his monument at Rotterdam,
+being 1467. It was in this city he first saw the light. His mother’s
+name was Margaret, the daughter of a physician. He was, as he tells us
+himself, a natural son. The relations of his father, Gerard, had opposed
+his marriage with Margaret, and having prevailed upon him sometime after
+the birth of Erasmus to make a journey to Rome, there persuaded him that
+she was dead, and by that representation induced him to enter a
+monastery. He is described to have been a person well instructed in the
+learning of that age. Erasmus took his father’s name only, according to
+what was then the fashion among scholars, turning it into Greek,
+Erasmus, or, as it should rather have been Erasmius, signifying
+_Amiable_ in that language, as Gerard does in Dutch. To this he prefixed
+the other Latin name Desiderius, (in French Didier,) which has been
+regarded as having the same signification. His mother was his first
+teacher, and at nine years of age he was sent to a grammar school at
+Deventer. Here he greatly distinguished himself among his schoolfellows.
+Before he had reached his fourteenth year, however, he had lost both his
+father and mother; and the guardians in whose charge he had been left
+forced him by threats to enter a monastery, and then possessed
+themselves of his property. This base treatment was to Erasmus the
+source of half a lifetime of difficulties and misfortunes. Hating the
+profession which he had been compelled to adopt, and keenly feeling the
+injustice of which he had been the victim, he eagerly sought the means
+of escape from his present situation. At last he prevailed upon his
+superiors to allow him to go to study at the College of Montaigu in
+Paris. In this city he supported himself for some years by his exertions
+as a teacher,--an occupation which he never liked, but in which it was
+his fate to be engaged for a considerable part of his life. His
+lectures, however, gradually spread his reputation; and in 1497 he was
+induced by some of his pupils from England to visit this country. Here
+he was warmly welcomed by many of the most distinguished scholars of the
+time: he formed in particular an intimate acquaintance with the
+afterwards-celebrated Sir Thomas More; and Warham, Archbishop of
+Canterbury, evinced the strongest disposition to patronise him. He soon
+after, however, returned to Paris; and then he made a tour through the
+principal cities of Italy, visiting in succession Bologna, Venice,
+Padua, and Rome. Wherever he appeared he was received as one of the
+greatest ornaments of the age. But Erasmus had made up his mind to
+return to England; and here, accordingly, he once more made his
+appearance in 1506. The great scholar seems, from the time of his first
+visit to this country, to have felt a strong attachment to its society
+and manners, and had his talents been more liberally remunerated would
+probably have made it his permanent abode. Indeed he speaks in one of
+his writings of Holland and England as entitled to an equal place in his
+affection,--the one as the land of his birth, the other as that of his
+adoption. When he came to England, he threw off, he tells us, his
+monastic habit, which he had worn till then, finding such a garb was not
+fashionable in this country. How long Erasmus remained in England at
+this time it is impossible exactly to ascertain; but after having
+returned to the continent we find him here again in 1510. The wandering
+life which the great scholar appears to have led presents us with a
+curious picture of the manners of the time; and the fate of Erasmus, in
+his incessant migrations from one part of Europe to another, was only
+that of many of his brethren. It was a sort of existence, however, it is
+right to remark, which had its pleasures and advantages as well as its
+inconveniences; and at an age when the general intercourse of nations
+was so irregular and imperfect, travelling was almost the only way by
+which inquisitive minds could learn anything of foreign countries. At
+the same time the main object for which such peregrinations were
+undertaken seems to have generally been to seek for patronage. In
+England, Erasmus had nothing to depend upon except the liberality of his
+wealthy friends and admirers. Of these the most powerful, and also the
+most munificent, was Archbishop Warham, who, in 1511, gave him the
+living of Aldington in Kent, and also procured him the appointment of
+teacher of Greek at Cambridge. Notwithstanding these benefactions,
+however, we find him still engaged in a continual warfare with poverty.
+He seems, indeed, to have depended for his subsistence almost entirely
+upon the occasional bounty of his friends; and it is painful to peruse
+his frequent and earnest solicitations for assistance from one or other
+of them. Sometimes he petitions even for a few crowns, or notices his
+receipt of that small sum. Perhaps there is a good deal of truth in Dr.
+Jortin’s conjecture, that he was but an indifferent manager, and had his
+own imprudence to thank for much of what he suffered. One circumstance,
+amusingly illustrative both of his propensity to move about from one
+place to another and of his inability to take care of himself or of his
+property, is his continual supplication to one friend or another to give
+him a horse. No sooner does he get one than he loses it, and some other
+charitable acquaintance is called upon to take pity upon him and supply
+him with another. Erasmus seems to have resided with More during part of
+the time he was in England, but not, as has been sometimes affirmed, in
+the house which More built for himself at Chelsea, which was only
+erected in 1521, whereas Erasmus certainly left this country, to which
+he never returned, in 1518. After that he resided principally at Basil,
+where, in the society of many friends whom he loved, and whose pursuits
+were similar to his own, he employed himself with an industry that has
+never been surpassed, in the preparation of a succession of works, which
+on the whole may be considered as having placed him, both as a scholar
+and as a man of genius, above all his contemporaries. In his latter
+years the court of Rome more than once expressed an anxiety to bestow
+upon him a Cardinal’s hat, and arrangements would even have been made to
+secure him the income necessary for the maintenance of that dignity; but
+the old man, satisfied with his fame as a scholar, and with the
+competence which the success of his writings had at last procured him,
+declined the proffered honour. He died at Basil on the 12th of July,
+1536, and was interred with great pomp in that city. His native town of
+Rotterdam, however, although it neither received his remains, nor had
+been much honoured by his presence while he lived, was so proud of
+having given birth to so illustrious a writer, that his statue in bronze
+was placed by the authorities in a conspicuous situation in one of their
+public places, where it still remains. It is renown enough for
+Rotterdam, many have thought, to have produced Erasmus. Perhaps no other
+modern has written the Latin language with the grace and elegance of
+this accomplished scholar, or shown so familiar a mastery over all its
+resources. But his works are distinguished by many other admirable
+qualities besides the beauties of their style; by the most playful and
+engaging wit, the most natural touches of humour, great powers of
+graphic description, and, above all, a pervading spirit of good sense
+and philosophic moderation, which doubles the charm of every other
+excellence. Those of Erasmus’s writings which are best known, are his
+Eulogy on Folly, a production of light satire; his Adages, and
+especially his celebrated Colloquies, of the second edition of which,
+published at Paris in 1527, it is a remarkable but well authenticated
+fact, that there were sold no fewer than 24,000 copies.
+
+              [Illustration: Portrait of Erasmus reading.]
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
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+                        59, Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
+
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+
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+
+            Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES, Duke Street, Lambeth.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+                          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. 291: Added comma after phrase “in a state of beggary or nearly
+   so.”
+ • p. 293: Replaced comma with period after phrase “from the love of
+   emulation, and the feeling of superiority.”
+ • p. 295: Added closing double quotation mark after phrase “over the
+   romantic waters of Glencullen.”
+ • p. 295: Added closing square bracket after phrase “Wild Sports of the
+   West.”
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77269 ***