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diff --git a/77269-h/77269-h.htm b/77269-h/77269-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2a70daa --- /dev/null +++ b/77269-h/77269-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1429 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> + <head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title>The Penny Magazine, October 27, 1832 | Project Gutenberg</title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + body { margin-left: 8%; margin-right: 10%; } + h1 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.4em; } + h2 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.2em; } + .pageno { right: 1%; font-size: x-small; background-color: inherit; color: silver; + text-indent: 0em; text-align: right; position: absolute; + border: thin solid silver; padding: .1em .2em; font-style: normal; + font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; } + p { text-indent: 0; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify; } + .sc { font-variant: small-caps; } + .large { font-size: large; } + .xlarge { font-size: x-large; } + .small { font-size: small; } + .lg-container-l { text-align: left; } + .x-ebookmaker .lg-container-l { clear: both; } + .linegroup { display: inline-block; text-align: left; } + .x-ebookmaker .linegroup { display: block; margin-left: 1.5em; } + .linegroup .group { margin: 1em auto; } + .linegroup .line { text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em; } + div.linegroup > :first-child { margin-top: 0; } + ul.ul_1 {padding-left: 0; margin-left: 2.78%; margin-top: .5em; + margin-bottom: .5em; list-style-type: disc; } + div.pbb { page-break-before: always; } + hr.pb { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; margin-bottom: 1em; } + .x-ebookmaker hr.pb { display: none; } + .figcenter { clear: both; max-width: 100%; margin: 2em auto; text-align: center; } + div.figcenter p { text-align: center; text-indent: 0; } + .figcenter img { max-width: 100%; height: auto; } + .id001 { width:100%; } + .x-ebookmaker .id001 { margin-left:0%; width:100%; } + .ic001 { width:100%; } + .ig001 { width:100%; } + .table0 { margin: auto; border-collapse: collapse; } + .table1 { margin: auto; } + .blt { border-left: thin solid; } + .nf-center { text-align: center; } + .nf-center-c0 { text-align: left; margin: 0.5em 0; } + .nf-center-c1 { text-align: left; margin: 1em 0; } + .c000 { page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em; } + .c001 { margin-top: 1em; } + .c002 { page-break-before:auto; margin-top: 2em; } + .c003 { margin-top: 2em; text-indent: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + .c004 { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: 0.25em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + .c005 { margin-top: 2em; } + .c006 { vertical-align: top; text-align: left; padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; } + .c007 { vertical-align: top; text-align: center; padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; } + .c008 { vertical-align: top; text-align: center; padding-right: 1em; } + .c009 { vertical-align: top; text-align: left; padding-right: 1em; } + .c010 { vertical-align: top; text-align: center; } + .c011 { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; margin: 1em auto; } + .c012 { margin-top: 4em; } + .c013 { margin-top: 4em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + .c014 { margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + .transcribers-notes { width: 80%; margin: auto; padding: 0 1em; + color:black; background-color: #E3E4FA; border: 1px solid silver; + page-break-before:always;margin-top:4em; } + hr.divider {width:30%;margin-left:35%;margin-right:35%; } + hr.full {width:100%; } + .masthead {text-align:center; display:inline-block; width:100%; } + .masthead-left {float:left;text-align:left; } + .masthead-right {float:right;text-align:right; } + .masthead-left, .masthead-right {width:24%; } + .masthead-centre {margin:auto;width:50% } + .colophon {font-size:75%; } + .colophon-left {float:left; } + .colophon-right {float:right; } + .colophon-left, .colophon-right {width:48%;text-align:left; } + .clear {clear:both; } + .illo-wide {width:100%; } + div.linegroup > :last-child { margin-bottom: 0; } + </style> + </head> + <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, &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'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1632†</td> + <td class='c006'>Hot summer.</td> + <td class='blt c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1718</td> + <td class='c006'>Severe winter.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1665</td> + <td class='c006'>Severe winter.</td> + <td class='blt c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1723†</td> + <td class='c006'>Hot summer.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1680</td> + <td class='c006'>Ditto.</td> + <td class='blt c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1729</td> + <td class='c006'>Severe winter.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1682†</td> + <td class='c006'>Warm winter.</td> + <td class='blt c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1737</td> + <td class='c006'>Hot summer.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1683</td> + <td class='c006'>Cold summer.</td> + <td class='blt c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1744</td> + <td class='c006'>Severe winter.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1683</td> + <td class='c006'>Severe winter.</td> + <td class='blt c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1748†</td> + <td class='c006'>Hot summer.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1684</td> + <td class='c006'>Cold summer.</td> + <td class='blt c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1764†</td> + <td class='c006'>Warm winter.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1689</td> + <td class='c006'>Warm winter.</td> + <td class='blt c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1766</td> + <td class='c006'>Severe winter.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1695</td> + <td class='c006'>Cold summer.</td> + <td class='blt c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1769†</td> + <td class='c006'>Warm winter.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1699</td> + <td class='c006'>Severe winter.</td> + <td class='blt c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1771</td> + <td class='c006'>Severe winter.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1701†</td> + <td class='c006'>Hot summer.</td> + <td class='blt c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1774†</td> + <td class='c006'>Hot summer.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1702</td> + <td class='c006'>Ditto.</td> + <td class='blt c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1781†</td> + <td class='c006'>Ditto.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1702</td> + <td class='c006'>Warm winter.</td> + <td class='blt c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1783†</td> + <td class='c006'>Warm winter.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1706</td> + <td class='c006'>Severe winter.</td> + <td class='blt c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1784</td> + <td class='c006'>Severe winter.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c006'> </td> + <td class='c006'>1718†</td> + <td class='c006'>Hot summer.</td> + <td class='blt c006'> </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'> </td> + <td class='c009'> </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, &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,” +&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,” &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, &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, <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, &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> diff --git a/77269-h/images/cover.jpg b/77269-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..87440c1 --- /dev/null +++ b/77269-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/77269-h/images/the-boa-constrictor-full.jpg b/77269-h/images/the-boa-constrictor-full.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..08bdd79 --- /dev/null +++ b/77269-h/images/the-boa-constrictor-full.jpg diff --git a/77269-h/images/the-boa-constrictor-inline.png b/77269-h/images/the-boa-constrictor-inline.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6173c99 --- /dev/null +++ b/77269-h/images/the-boa-constrictor-inline.png diff --git a/77269-h/images/the-temples-of-paestum-1-full.jpg b/77269-h/images/the-temples-of-paestum-1-full.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..49b8790 --- /dev/null +++ b/77269-h/images/the-temples-of-paestum-1-full.jpg diff --git a/77269-h/images/the-temples-of-paestum-1-inline.png b/77269-h/images/the-temples-of-paestum-1-inline.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9119cf2 --- /dev/null +++ b/77269-h/images/the-temples-of-paestum-1-inline.png diff --git a/77269-h/images/the-temples-of-paestum-2-full.jpg b/77269-h/images/the-temples-of-paestum-2-full.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9a1a844 --- /dev/null +++ b/77269-h/images/the-temples-of-paestum-2-full.jpg diff --git a/77269-h/images/the-temples-of-paestum-2-inline.png b/77269-h/images/the-temples-of-paestum-2-inline.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..232caee --- /dev/null +++ b/77269-h/images/the-temples-of-paestum-2-inline.png diff --git a/77269-h/images/the-week-full.jpg b/77269-h/images/the-week-full.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..faa5d45 --- /dev/null +++ b/77269-h/images/the-week-full.jpg diff --git a/77269-h/images/the-week-inline.png b/77269-h/images/the-week-inline.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..85fbab1 --- /dev/null +++ b/77269-h/images/the-week-inline.png |
