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author: www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> 2025-11-19 10:19:44 -0800
committer: www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> 2025-11-19 10:19:44 -0800
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+  <head>
+    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <title>The Penny Magazine, October 27, 1832 | Project Gutenberg</title>
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+  <body>   
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77269 ***</div>
+
+<div>
+  <span class='pageno' id='Page_289'>289</span>
+  <h1 class='c000' title='The Penny Magazine, October 27, 1832'>THE PENNY MAGAZINE</h1>
+</div>
+
+<div class='nf-center-c1'>
+<div class='nf-center c001'>
+    <div><span class='small'>OF THE</span></div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<div class='nf-center-c1'>
+<div class='nf-center c001'>
+    <div><span class='large'>Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.</span></div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="full">
+<div class="masthead">
+<div class="masthead-right">[<span class='sc'>October</span> 27, 1832</div>
+<div class="masthead-left">36.]</div>
+<div class="masthead-centre">PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY.</div>
+<hr class="full">
+</div>
+
+<div>
+  <h2 class='c002'>THE BOA CONSTRICTOR.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<div class='illo-wide'>
+
+<div  class='figcenter id001'>
+<a href='images/the-boa-constrictor-full.jpg'><img src='images/the-boa-constrictor-inline.png' alt='' class='ig001'></a>
+<div class='ic001'>
+<p>[The Boa Constrictor about to strike a Rabbit.]</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<p class='c003'>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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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
+<span class='pageno' id='Page_290'>290</span>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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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.</p>
+
+<div class='c005'></div>
+<hr class="divider">
+<div>
+  <h2 class='c002'>THE LABOURERS OF EUROPE.—No. 3.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class='c003'>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, &#38;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
+<i>Cicerone</i>; 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 <i>tarantella</i>. Of this dance they are never tired.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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 <span lang="it"><i>ricolt</i></span>. 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 <span lang="it"><i>lambiccato</i></span>; 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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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
+<span class='pageno' id='Page_291'>291</span>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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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 <a id='tn-beggary'></a>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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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.</p>
+
+<div class='c005'></div>
+<hr class="divider">
+<div>
+  <h2 class='c002'>COMETS.—No. 2.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class='c003'>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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>We proceed to give a few more remarks, the substance
+of which may be found in Littrow:—</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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.</p>
+
+<table class='table0'>
+  <tr>
+    <td class='c006' colspan='2'>Comet years.</td>
+    <td class='c007'>Temperature.</td>
+ <td class='blt c006' colspan='2'>Comet years.</td>
+    <td class='c007'>Temperature.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class='c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1632†</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Hot summer.</td>
+ <td class='blt c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1718</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Severe winter.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class='c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1665</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Severe winter.</td>
+ <td class='blt c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1723†</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Hot summer.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class='c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1680</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Ditto.</td>
+ <td class='blt c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1729</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Severe winter.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class='c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1682†</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Warm winter.</td>
+ <td class='blt c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1737</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Hot summer.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class='c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1683</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Cold summer.</td>
+ <td class='blt c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1744</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Severe winter.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class='c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1683</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Severe winter.</td>
+ <td class='blt c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1748†</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Hot summer.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class='c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1684</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Cold summer.</td>
+ <td class='blt c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1764†</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Warm winter.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class='c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1689</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Warm winter.</td>
+ <td class='blt c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1766</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Severe winter.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class='c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1695</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Cold summer.</td>
+ <td class='blt c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1769†</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Warm winter.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class='c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1699</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Severe winter.</td>
+ <td class='blt c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1771</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Severe winter.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class='c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1701†</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Hot summer.</td>
+ <td class='blt c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1774†</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Hot summer.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class='c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1702</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Ditto.</td>
+ <td class='blt c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1781†</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Ditto.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class='c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1702</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Warm winter.</td>
+ <td class='blt c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1783†</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Warm winter.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class='c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1706</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Severe winter.</td>
+ <td class='blt c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1784</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Severe winter.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class='c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1718†</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Hot summer.</td>
+ <td class='blt c006'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c006'>1785</td>
+    <td class='c006'>Ditto.</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class='c004'>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 <em>not</em>
+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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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:—</p>
+
+<table class='table1'>
+  <tr>
+    <td class='c008'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c009'>&#160;</td>
+    <td class='c010'><span class='small'>Comets.</span></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class='c008'>For every</td>
+    <td class='c009'>10 hot years</td>
+    <td class='c010'>14</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class='c008'>„</td>
+    <td class='c009'>10 cold ditto</td>
+    <td class='c010'>16</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class='c008'>„</td>
+    <td class='c009'>10, neither hot nor cold, ditto</td>
+    <td class='c010'>20</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class='c004'>But, after all, it may be said that though comets produce
+no change in the temperature that we can estimate,
+they <em>may</em> 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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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 <em>concurrence</em> of diseases, &#38;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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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.”</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>We will add another instance, not in favour of Mr.
+Forster.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>“1624. Destructive epidemic for five years through
+nearly all Europe. In London 35,000 men died; in
+<span class='pageno' id='Page_292'>292</span>Venice 90,000, and Italy lost the fourth part of its inhabitants,”
+&#38;c. This <em>may</em> 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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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 <em>First Cause</em> who made “the sun to rule the day,
+the moon and the stars to govern the night,—for his
+mercy endureth for ever!”</p>
+
+<div class='c005'></div>
+<hr class="divider">
+<div>
+  <h2 class='c002'>THE TEMPLES OF PÆSTUM.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<div class='illo-wide'>
+
+<div  class='figcenter id001'>
+<a href='images/the-temples-of-paestum-1-full.jpg'><img src='images/the-temples-of-paestum-1-inline.png' alt='' class='ig001'></a>
+<div class='ic001'>
+<p>[The Temple of Neptune.]</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<p class='c003'>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!”</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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
+<span class='pageno' id='Page_293'>293</span>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.”</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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,” &#38;c.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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 <span lang="it"><i>La Porta della Sirena</i></span>,
+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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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.</p>
+
+<div class='illo-wide'>
+
+<div  class='figcenter id001'>
+<a href='images/the-temples-of-paestum-2-full.jpg'><img src='images/the-temples-of-paestum-2-inline.png' alt='' class='ig001'></a>
+<div class='ic001'>
+<p>[Interior of the Temple of Neptune.]</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class='c005'></div>
+<hr class="divider">
+<div>
+  <h2 class='c002'>DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GAMBLING AND TRADING.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class='c003'>It has been remarked that all games or sports are imitations
+either of <em>war</em> or <em>commerce</em>. 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, &#38;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, &#38;c.; in which the gratification
+arises from a sense of the skill exercised, <a id='tn-superiority'></a>from
+the love of emulation, and the feeling of superiority.
+The games which appear to be imitations of mercantile
+dealings are, without exception, <i>games of chance</i> or
+<i>gambling games</i>, such as games with dice and cards,
+lotteries, raffles, &#38;c. In games of this kind there is
+<span class='pageno' id='Page_294'>294</span>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 <em>exchanging</em> some of their cards, as in the well-known
+game of <i>commerce</i>.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>But in noting the <em>resemblance</em> between trade and
+games of chance, it is also important to note their <em>difference</em>.
+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. <em>Every
+voluntary exchange must necessarily be for the benefit
+of both parties.</em> It would be an absurdity to suppose
+that both parties to an exchange are not gainers. No
+man exchanges merely for the sake of <em>changing</em>: 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<i>s.</i> No man gives a cargo of cotton goods worth
+£500 for a pipe of wine worth £50.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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 <em>news</em> 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 <em>at a
+loss</em>, 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 <i>too good to be true</i>; but at any rate it
+is as likely that foreigners will give us <em>their</em> goods for
+nothing, as that we will give foreigners <em>our</em> goods for
+nothing; which would be the case if it were true that a
+free trade, or any other trade, is a losing trade.</p>
+
+<div class='c005'></div>
+<hr class="divider">
+<div>
+  <h2 class='c002'>SATURDAY NIGHT’S WAGES.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class='c003'>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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>If payment of the week’s earnings were made on the
+<span class='pageno' id='Page_295'>295</span>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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>Two objections are made to this proposed alteration—the
+one moral, the other practical.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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.</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>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.</p>
+
+<div class='c005'></div>
+<hr class="divider">
+
+<p class='c003'><i>Struggle between an Eagle and a Salmon.</i>—“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 <a id='tn-glencullen'></a>over the
+romantic waters of Glencullen.”</p>
+
+<p class='c004'>[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. <a id='tn-wildsports'></a>It is
+entitled, ‘<cite>Wild Sports of the West.</cite>’]</p>
+
+<div class='c005'></div>
+<hr class="divider">
+<div>
+  <h2 class='c002'>THE WEEK.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class='c003'>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 <i>Amiable</i>
+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
+<span class='pageno' id='Page_296'>296</span>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.</p>
+
+<div class='illo-wide'>
+
+<div  class='figcenter id001'>
+<a href='images/the-week-full.jpg'><img src='images/the-week-inline.png' alt='' class='ig001'></a>
+<div class='ic001'>
+<p>[Portrait of Erasmus reading.]</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class='c011'>
+<div class='colophon'>
+
+<div class='nf-center-c0'>
+<div class='nf-center c012'>
+    <div>⁂ The Office of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge is at 59, Lincoln’s Inn Fields.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<div class='nf-center-c0'>
+<div class='nf-center c001'>
+    <div>LONDON: CHARLES KNIGHT, PALL-MALL EAST.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<div class='nf-center-c0'>
+  <div class='nf-center'>
+    <div><i>Shopkeepers and Hawkers may be supplied Wholesale by the following Booksellers, of whom, also, any of the previous Numbers may be had:—</i></div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<div class='colophon-left'>
+
+<div class='lg-container-l'>
+  <div class='linegroup'>
+    <div class='group'>
+      <div class='line'><i>London</i>, <span class='sc'>Groombridge</span>, Panyer Alley.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Bath</i>, <span class='sc'>Simms</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Birmingham</i>, <span class='sc'>Drake</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Bristol</i>, <span class='sc'>Westley</span> and Co.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Carlisle</i>, <span class='sc'>Thurnam</span>; and <span class='sc'>Scott</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Derby</i>, <span class='sc'>Wilkins</span> and <span class='sc'>Son</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Doncaster</i>, <span class='sc'>Brooke</span> and <span class='sc'>Co.</span></div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Exeter</i>, <span class='sc'>Balle</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Falmouth</i>, <span class='sc'>Philip</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Hull</i>, <span class='sc'>Stephenson</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Kendal</i>, <span class='sc'>Hudson</span> and <span class='sc'>Nicholson</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Leeds</i>, <span class='sc'>Baines</span> and <span class='sc'>Newsome</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Lincoln</i>, <span class='sc'>Brooke</span> and <span class='sc'>Sons</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Liverpool</i>, <span class='sc'>Willmer</span> and <span class='sc'>Smith</span>.</div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+</div>
+<div class='colophon-right'>
+
+<div class='lg-container-l'>
+  <div class='linegroup'>
+    <div class='group'>
+      <div class='line'><i>Manchester</i>, <span class='sc'>Robinson</span>; and <span class='sc'>Webb</span> and <span class='sc'>Simms</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Newcastle-upon-Tyne</i>, <span class='sc'>Charnley</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Norwich</i>, <span class='sc'>Jarrold</span> and <span class='sc'>Son</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Nottingham</i>, <span class='sc'>Wright</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Oxford</i>, <span class='sc'>Slatter</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Plymouth</i>, <span class='sc'>Nettleton</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Portsea</i>, <span class='sc'>Horsey</span>, Jun.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Sheffield</i>, <span class='sc'>Ridge</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Staffordshire, Lane End</i>, C. <span class='sc'>Watts</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Worcester</i>, <span class='sc'>Deighton</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Dublin</i>, <span class='sc'>Wakeman</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Edinburgh</i>, <span class='sc'>Oliver</span> and <span class='sc'>Boyd</span>.</div>
+      <div class='line'><i>Glasgow</i>, <span class='sc'>Atkinson</span> and <span class='sc'>Co.</span></div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+</div>
+<div class='clear'>
+
+<div class='nf-center-c0'>
+  <div class='nf-center'>
+    <div>Printed by <span class='sc'>William Clowes</span>, Duke Street, Lambeth.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class='pbb'>
+ <hr class='pb c001'>
+</div>
+<div>
+
+<p class='c013'></p>
+
+</div>
+<div class='transcribers-notes'>
+
+<div class='nf-center-c1'>
+  <div class='nf-center'>
+    <div><span class='xlarge'>Transcriber’s Notes</span></div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p class='c014'>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain. Itemized changes from the original text:</p>
+  <ul  class='ul_1'>
+    <li><a href='#tn-beggary'>p. 291</a>: Added comma  after phrase “in a state of beggary or nearly so.”
+    </li>
+    <li><a href='#tn-superiority'>p. 293</a>: Replaced comma with period after phrase “from the love of 
+    emulation, and the feeling of superiority.”
+    </li>
+    <li><a href='#tn-glencullen'>p. 295</a>: Added closing double quotation mark after phrase “over the 
+    romantic waters of Glencullen.”
+    </li>
+    <li><a href='#tn-wildsports'>p. 295</a>: Added closing square bracket after phrase “Wild Sports of the 
+    West.”
+    </li>
+  </ul>
+
+</div>
+
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77269 ***</div>
+  </body>
+  <!-- created with ppgen.py 3.57e (with regex) on 2025-11-19 17:32:44 GMT -->
+</html>
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author	www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org>	2025-11-19 10:19:44 -0800
committer	www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org>	2025-11-19 10:19:44 -0800
commit	d2632605fcace6718685a200d3c2e47d75a3f47c (patch)
tree	43bad26e6372aa9144ca1a05a9398edffead0615 /77269-h