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diff --git a/78155-0.txt b/78155-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..554caa0 --- /dev/null +++ b/78155-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2493 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78155 *** + + + “_Familiar in their Mouths as HOUSEHOLD WORDS._”—SHAKESPEARE. + + + + + HOUSEHOLD WORDS. + A WEEKLY JOURNAL. + + + CONDUCTED BY CHARLES DICKENS. + + + N^{o.} 12.] SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 1850. [PRICE 2_d._ + + + + + OLD LAMPS FOR NEW ONES. + + +The Magician in “Aladdin” may possibly have neglected the study of men, +for the study of alchemical books; but it is certain that in spite of +his profession he was no conjuror. He knew nothing of human nature, or +the everlasting set of the current of human affairs. If, when he +fraudulently sought to obtain possession of the wonderful Lamp, and went +up and down, disguised, before the flying-palace, crying New Lamps for +Old ones, he had reversed his cry, and made it Old Lamps for New ones, +he would have been so far before his time as to have projected himself +into the nineteenth century of our Christian Era. + +This age is so perverse, and is so very short of faith—in consequence, +as some suppose, of there having been a run on that bank for a few +generations—that a parallel and beautiful idea, generally known among +the ignorant as the Young England hallucination, unhappily expired +before it could run alone, to the great grief of a small but a very +select circle of mourners. There is something so fascinating, to a mind +capable of any serious reflection, in the notion of ignoring all that +has been done for the happiness and elevation of mankind during three or +four centuries of slow and dearly-bought amelioration, that we have +always thought it would tend soundly to the improvement of the general +public, if any tangible symbol, any outward and visible sign, expressive +of that admirable conception, could be held up before them. We are happy +to have found such a sign at last; and although it would make a very +indifferent sign, indeed, in the Licensed Victualling sense of the word, +and would probably be rejected with contempt and horror by any Christian +publican, it has our warmest philosophical appreciation. + +In the fifteenth century, a certain feeble lamp of art arose in the +Italian town of Urbino. This poor light, Raphael Sanzio by name, better +known to a few miserably mistaken wretches in these later days, as +Raphael (another burned at the same time, called Titian), was fed with a +preposterous idea of Beauty—with a ridiculous power of etherealising, +and exalting to the very Heaven of Heavens, what was most sublime and +lovely in the expression of the human face divine on Earth—with the +truly contemptible conceit of finding in poor humanity the fallen +likeness of the angels of God, and raising it up again to their pure +spiritual condition. This very fantastic whim effected a low revolution +in Art, in this wise, that Beauty came to be regarded as one of its +indispensable elements. In this very poor delusion, Artists have +continued until this present nineteenth century, when it was reserved +for some bold aspirants to “put it down.” + +The Pre-Raphael Brotherhood, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the dread Tribunal +which is to set this matter right. Walk up, walk up; and here, +conspicuous on the wall of the Royal Academy of Art in England, in the +eighty-second year of their annual exhibition, you shall see what this +new Holy Brotherhood, this terrible Police that is to disperse all +Post-Raphael offenders, has “been and done!” + +You come—in this Royal Academy Exhibition, which is familiar with the +works of WILKIE, COLLINS, ETTY, EASTLAKE, MULREADY, LESLIE, MACLISE, +TURNER, STANFIELD, LANDSEER, ROBERTS, DANBY, CRESWICK, LEE, WEBSTER, +HERBERT, DYCE, COPE, and others who would have been renowned as great +masters in any age or country—you come, in this place, to the +contemplation of a Holy Family. You will have the goodness to discharge +from your minds all Post-Raphael ideas, all religious aspirations, all +elevating thoughts; all tender, awful, sorrowful, ennobling, sacred, +graceful, or beautiful associations; and to prepare yourselves, as +befits such a subject—Pre-Raphaelly considered—for the lowest depths of +what is mean, odious, repulsive, and revolting. + +You behold the interior of a carpenter’s shop. In the foreground of that +carpenter’s shop is a hideous, wry-necked, blubbering, red-headed boy, +in a bed-gown; who appears to have received a poke in the hand, from the +stick of another boy with whom he has been playing in an adjacent +gutter, and to be holding it up for the contemplation of a kneeling +woman, so horrible in her ugliness, that (supposing it were possible for +any human creature to exist for a moment with that dislocated throat) +she would stand out from the rest of the company as a Monster, in the +vilest cabaret in France, or the lowest gin-shop in England. Two almost +naked carpenters, master and journeyman, worthy companions of this +agreeable female, are working at their trade; a boy, with some small +flavor of humanity in him, is entering with a vessel of water; and +nobody is paying any attention to a snuffy old woman who seems to have +mistaken that shop for the tobacconist’s next door, and to be hopelessly +waiting at the counter to be served with half an ounce of her favourite +mixture. Wherever it is possible to express ugliness of feature, limb, +or attitude, you have it expressed. Such men as the carpenters might be +undressed in any hospital where dirty drunkards, in a high state of +varicose veins, are received. Their very toes have walked out of Saint +Giles’s. + +This, in the nineteenth century, and in the eighty-second year of the +annual exhibition of the National Academy of Art, is the Pre-Raphael +representation to us, Ladies and Gentlemen, of the most solemn passage +which our minds can ever approach. This, in the nineteenth century, and +in the eighty-second year of the annual exhibition of the National +Academy of Art, is what Pre-Raphael Art can do to render reverence and +homage to the faith in which we live and die! Consider this picture +well. Consider the pleasure we should have in a similar Pre-Raphael +rendering of a favourite horse, or dog, or cat; and, coming fresh from a +pretty considerable turmoil about “desecration” in connexion with the +National Post Office, let us extol this great achievement, and commend +the National Academy! + +In further considering this symbol of the great retrogressive principle, +it is particularly gratifying to observe that such objects as the +shavings which are strewn on the carpenter’s floor are admirably +painted; and that the Pre-Raphael Brother is indisputably accomplished +in the manipulation of his art. It is gratifying to observe this, +because the fact involves no low effort at notoriety; everybody knowing +that it is by no means easier to call attention to a very indifferent +pig with five legs, than to a symmetrical pig with four. Also, because +it is good to know that the National Academy thoroughly feels and +comprehends the high range and exalted purposes of Art; distinctly +perceives that Art includes something more than the faithful portraiture +of shavings, or the skilful colouring of drapery—imperatively requires, +in short, that it shall be informed with mind and sentiment; will on no +account reduce it to a narrow question of trade-juggling with a palette, +palette-knife, and paint-box. It is likewise pleasing to reflect that +the great educational establishment foresees the difficulty into which +it would be led, by attaching greater weight to mere handicraft, than to +any other consideration—even to considerations of common reverence or +decency; which absurd principle, in the event of a skilful painter of +the figure becoming a very little more perverted in his taste, than +certain skilful painters are just now, might place Her Gracious Majesty +in a very painful position, one of these fine Private View Days. + +Would it were in our power to congratulate our readers on the hopeful +prospects of the great retrogressive principle, of which this thoughtful +picture is the sign and emblem! Would that we could give our readers +encouraging assurance of a healthy demand for Old Lamps in exchange for +New ones, and a steady improvement in the Old Lamp Market! The +perversity of mankind is such, and the untoward arrangements of +Providence are such, that we cannot lay that flattering unction to their +souls. We can only report what Brotherhoods, stimulated by this sign, +are forming; and what opportunities will be presented to the people, if +the people will but accept them. + +In the first place, the Pre-Perspective Brotherhood will be presently +incorporated, for the subversion of all known rules and principles of +perspective. It is intended to swear every P. P. B. to a solemn +renunciation of the art of perspective on a soup-plate of the willow +pattern; and we may expect, on the occasion of the eighty-third Annual +Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Art in England, to see some pictures +by this pious Brotherhood, realising HOGARTH’S idea of a man on a +mountain several miles off, lighting his pipe at the upper window of a +house in the foreground. But we are informed that every brick in the +house will be a portrait; that the man’s boots will be copied with the +utmost fidelity from a pair of Bluchers, sent up out of Northamptonshire +for the purpose; and that the texture of his hands (including four +chilblains, a whitlow, and ten dirty nails) will be a triumph of the +Painter’s art. + +A Society, to be called the Pre-Newtonian Brotherhood, was lately +projected by a young gentleman, under articles to a Civil Engineer, who +objected to being considered bound to conduct himself according to the +laws of gravitation. But this young gentleman, being reproached by some +aspiring companions with the timidity of his conception, has abrogated +that idea in favour of a Pre-Galileo Brotherhood now flourishing, who +distinctly refuse to perform any annual revolution round the Sun, and +have arranged that the world shall not do so any more. The course to be +taken by the Royal Academy of Art in reference to this Brotherhood is +not yet decided upon; but it is whispered that some other large +Educational Institutions in the neighbourhood of Oxford are nearly ready +to pronounce in favour of it. + +Several promising Students connected with the Royal College of Surgeons +have held a meeting, to protest against the circulation of the blood, +and to pledge themselves to treat all the patients they can get, on +principles condemnatory of that innovation. A Pre-Harvey-Brotherhood is +the result, from which a great deal may be expected—by the undertakers. + +In literature, a very spirited effort has been made, which is no less +than the formation of a P. G. A. P. C. B., or Pre-Gower and +Pre-Chaucer-Brotherhood, for the restoration of the ancient English +style of spelling, and the weeding out from all libraries, public and +private, of those and all later pretenders, particularly a person of +loose character named SHAKESPEARE. It having been suggested, however, +that this happy idea could scarcely be considered complete while the art +of printing was permitted to remain unmolested, another society, under +the name of the Pre-Laurentius Brotherhood, has been established in +connexion with it, for the abolition of all but manuscript books. These +MR. PUGIN has engaged to supply, in characters that nobody on earth +shall be able to read. And it is confidently expected by those who have +seen the House of Lords, that he will faithfully redeem his pledge. + +In Music, a retrogressive step, in which there is much hope, has been +taken. The P. A. B., or Pre-Agincourt Brotherhood has arisen, nobly +devoted to consign to oblivion Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, and every +other such ridiculous reputation, and to fix its Millennium (as its name +implies) before the date of the first regular musical composition known +to have been achieved in England. As this Institution has not yet +commenced active operations, it remains to be seen whether the Royal +Academy of Music will be a worthy sister of the Royal Academy of Art, +and admit this enterprising body to its orchestra. We have it on the +best authority, that its compositions will be quite as rough and +discordant as the real old original—that it will be, in a word, exactly +suited to the pictorial Art we have endeavoured to describe. We have +strong hopes, therefore, that the Royal Academy of Music, not wanting an +example, may not want courage. + +The regulation of social matters, as separated from the Fine Arts, has +been undertaken by the Pre-Henry-the-Seventh Brotherhood, who date from +the same period as the Pre-Raphael Brotherhood. This society, as +cancelling all the advances of nearly four hundred years, and reverting +to one of the most disagreeable periods of English History, when the +Nation was yet very slowly emerging from barbarism, and when gentle +female foreigners, come over to be the wives of Scottish Kings, wept +bitterly (as well they might) at being left alone among the savage +Court, must be regarded with peculiar favour. As the time of ugly +religious caricatures (called mysteries), it is thoroughly Pre-Raphael +in its spirit; and may be deemed the twin brother to that great society. +We should be certain of the Plague among many other advantages, if this +Brotherhood were properly encouraged. + +All these Brotherhoods, and any other society of the like kind, now in +being or yet to be, have at once a guiding star, and a reduction of +their great ideas to something palpable and obvious to the senses, in +the sign to which we take the liberty of directing their attention. We +understand that it is in the contemplation of each Society to become +possessed, with all convenient speed, of a collection of such pictures; +and that once, every year, to wit upon the first of April, the whole +intend to amalgamate in a high festival, to be called the Convocation of +Eternal Boobies. + + + + + SAVINGS’ BANK DEFALCATIONS. + + +It is exactly fifty years ago since the clergyman of a little town in +Bucks circulated among the poorer part of his parishioners a proposal, +which excited the ridicule of many and the apprehension of not a few. +“If any inhabitant of Wendover chooses,” said he, “to entrust me with +any amount of his savings, in sums of not less than twopence at a time, +I shall be happy to receive the money, and to repay the sum to him next +Christmas, with an addition of one-third upon the amount of his +deposit.” It was some time before the population of Wendover could be +brought to understand the value of the proposal; but it was still longer +before its universal application became appreciated. Five years elapsed +ere any similar institution rose into existence: then a “Charitable +Bank” was opened at Tottenham, by a lady named Priscilla Wakefield, +assisted by six gentlemen, who undertook from their private purses to +allow five per cent. interest on the deposits. Three years passed, and +another society upon the same principle was formed at Bath. After this, +the eyes of the public began to be opened; and by 1816, there were +established in England seventy different Savings’ Banks; whilst Wales +boasted of four, and Ireland of five. At present the number of Savings’ +Banks in operation in Great Britain, is five hundred and eighty-four. +Those doing the largest amount of business are of course in London; and +some idea may be formed of the magnitude of their transactions, when it +is stated that the St. Martin’s Bank, near Trafalgar Square, alone, has +on its books at present, forty thousand depositors, whose investments +amount to upwards of a million and a quarter sterling. Since this +establishment was first commenced in 1816, it has opened one hundred and +seventy-three thousand accounts for nearly eight millions of money. The +bank which approaches the nearest to the St. Martin’s Bank in magnitude, +is the Bishopsgate Bank in Moorfields. That bank has three-quarters of a +million invested in it. The Bloomsbury Bank has half a million: the +Marylebone Bank about 300,000_l._ There are banks as large as the last, +at Newcastle, Nottingham, Norwich, Bristol, Hull, Devonport, Leeds, and +Birmingham. The Liverpool and Manchester Banks have deposits of half a +million each. In Exeter there is a bank with thirty-five thousand +depositors, and half a million of money. + +This immense amount of business is done at no very great cost. For the +five hundred and eighty-four banks, there are altogether only eleven +hundred and forty paid officers. The salaries of these officers amount +to no more than seventy-five thousand pounds a year; and they manage the +business of more than a million of depositors, whose accounts exceed +twenty-eight millions sterling—a sum equal to the capital of the Bank of +England. + +The mere fact of any institution having to deal with so enormous a +capital, renders it one of great importance commercially. But when it is +remembered that the vast aggregate is made up of small savings; and that +additions to, or withdrawals from it, furnish a clue to the fluctuations +between the prosperity and depression of the largest, most useful, and +least wealthy among us—the thews and sinews of the nation—the +administration and management of Savings’ Banks cannot be too jealously +watched. + +Unhappily a painful interest has been lately imparted to the system by +the abstraction of large sums by certain local managers; and by the +discovery that to make these defalcations good, there exists no +government liability. Indeed by law (the act of 1844) even the Trustees +are not liable; but honour has always, as we shall see, proved with them +stronger than the statute. A clear understanding of the actual +connection of the State with Savings’ Banks is of vital importance, not +only to depositors, but to those who interest themselves in promoting +the banking system among the humbler classes; a system, which, it may be +safely affirmed, has hitherto proved of the utmost benefit not only to +the worldly prosperity, but to the morals of the working bees of our +Great Hive. + +Savings’ Banks were first established from motives of benevolence. They +soon, however, came to involve such great responsibility that the +managers were anxious that the State should give them the benefit of its +support. The State was nothing loth, for it saw the advantage of having +such large amounts of money in possession. Accordingly, in 1817, there +was opened at the National Debt Office, a “Fund for the Banks for +Savings,” and an act was passed compelling the Trustees to pay in their +deposits to that Fund, receiving a debenture which bore interest at the +rate of 4_l._ 10_s._ per cent. + +The Government, therefore, is only responsible for the money _after_ it +is paid to the National Debt Office: it is not accountable for +deficiencies arising in the course of Savings’ Bank transactions, or +from the embezzlement or mismanagement of local officers. Still +depositors are seldom defrauded; for when such defaults have happened, +the Trustees and Managers of the Bank concerned have stepped in to cover +the deficiencies, except in a case which occurred in Wales in 1824, and +in other instances subsequently in Ireland. In no one case, on the other +hand, has the Government ever rendered assistance to the value of a +farthing. Why, will be seen when the dealings between the local +authorities of these banks and the National Debt Office are explained. +They are simply as follows:—The accumulated deposits of each Savings’ +Bank, are paid over to some neighbouring banker, or other person, who +acts gratuitously as treasurer. The treasurer pays the money, by check +or otherwise, to the National Debt Commissioners, who invest it in +Exchequer Bills or Stock. At the end of the year they allow an interest +upon the amount deposited. Out of this interest the Savings’ Banks +Trustees are authorised by law to pay interest to the depositors at the +rate of not less than 2_l._ 15_s._, nor more than 3_l._ 0_s._ 10_d._ per +cent. per annum. The Banks vary in the precise rate; the average rate of +interest afforded by all the Banks in the United Kingdom is 2_l._ 17_s._ +6_d._ Thus 7_s._ 6_d._ per cent.—which constitutes the difference +between 2_l._ 17_s._ 6_d._ and the 3_l._ 5_s._—forms the fund out of +which is defrayed the charges of management. + +In the majority of Banks, there is only one paid officer; but of course +the number varies according to the amount of business. The St. Martin’s +Bank is the most complete establishment of the kind, and consists of +sixteen persons. Some Banks have only one remunerated official. In every +case, the National Debt Commissioners have power to make such +regulations, under the Savings’ Bank Act, as enforce each paid officer +giving heavy security for his honesty. + +It is of great consequence that the public should understand that the +defalcations which have of late caused some distrust in the stability of +Savings’ Banks, have not arisen from any defect of the great principles, +but only in the details, and from the abuses of the system. They have +happened chiefly in consequence of the culpably loose and irregular +conduct of the local managers; but partly from the carelessness or +ignorance of depositors. The chief manager of an Institution in +default—as in the latest case which has come before the public—has left +everything to the actuary or cashier, who did precisely as he pleased, +and he is blamable for laxity. On the other hand, most of the monies of +which depositors were plundered never passed through a Savings’ Bank at +all. They were paid to the Officers of the Banks at their own abodes, +and these officers never gave any account of them to the Managers. The +only way to stop this, is to make it criminal for any officer of a Bank +to receive the money of any depositor, at any other time or place than +at the Bank during the regular Bank hours. The fact is that there have +rarely, if ever, hitherto been any _genuine_ frauds upon Savings’ Banks. +The frauds have taken place upon irregular transactions out of doors. +Hence it is that the National Debt Commissioners repudiate all liability +to the depositors. + +Against, however, the National Debt Office itself there is a very +serious charge. As we have stated, it is bound to invest, in the public +securities, the monies paid over to them by the Trustees and Treasurers +of Savings’ Banks. It appears, from parliamentary returns, that at +different periods the Commissioners have accumulated large sums of this +money, and dealt with it in different classes of securities; although +the necessities of Savings’ Banks did not require any such operations. +The result has been very unfortunate. The National Debt Commissioners +appear, by their accounts, to have less stock by _two millions_ of +money, than the capital paid to them ought to represent. This glaring +fact appears on the face of the public accounts. No explanation has ever +been given; no reasons have ever been assigned. The belief is, that the +operations by which the Savings’ Banks fund so seriously suffered, were +necessitated by the financial exigencies of government some years since. +They commenced in 1834 and continued down to 1843, when they were +discovered and checked by public opinion. As, then, for this amount the +Government is responsible, the nation will be, ultimately, obliged to +pay it up to the depositors. + +But a calm review of these facts—startling as some of them are—should +not essentially affect the stability of Savings’ Banks, and alarm is +comparatively groundless. Firstly, the defalcations of officers are +generally made good by their sureties, or by the local trustees; and +secondly, the deficiency of two millions is not likely to be called for +so suddenly as to inconvenience the public purse. + +It is now necessary to point out how—to glance at the opposite page of +the account—the law guards against frauds attempted _by_ the public upon +Savings’ Banks. The only way in which they could be so abused, would be +by attempts, on the part of the comparatively wealthy, to obtain a +higher rate of interest, for investments, than they could get elsewhere. +But an average interest, 2_l._ 17_s._ 6_d._ per cent. with a maximum of +3_l._ 0_s._ 10_d._, would seem a sufficient bar to such deposits. But in +order to guard against such a possibility, the law has enacted that no +one person shall be permitted to deposit more than 30_l._ in any one +year, or more than 150_l._ pounds in the whole; and if his principal and +interest together ever amounts to 200_l._, then the payment of all +further interest is stopped. These restrictions are effectual in +preserving Savings’ Banks to the sole object of savings—the savings of +the poor. + +As regards actual frauds and attempts at fraud by the public, we have +been obliged with the experience of the St. Martin’s Bank, which very +probably speaks for that of all the Savings’ Banks in England:—“Since +this Bank was instituted, in 1816,” says our informant, “there have been +only five attempts at fraud, by forgery of depositors’ signatures, or +otherwise. In two of those five cases the forgery was detected and no +loss ensued. In the other three cases the Bank sustained the loss, which +amounted in the whole to less than 50_l._ Attempts at personation seldom +succeed,—nor are these always fraudulent; absent depositors are often +consenting parties, in order to save themselves the trouble of attending +personally. Such cases lead to dispute; but two such cases which have +occurred here are rather curious. In 1847 a man married a female +depositor, and induced her to withdraw the whole of her money (exceeding +100_l_), of which having possessed himself, he abandoned her. +Subsequently he deposited 90_l._., part of this money, in three +different Savings’ Banks, our own among the number. The wife having +stated her case to us, we took advantage of the law which prohibited him +from depositing in more than one Bank, and refused to allow him to +withdraw. The case was referred; and the barrister appointed by act of +Parliament to settle such questions awarded that, under the statute, the +deposits were forfeited to the Commissioners of the National Debt. The +Lords of the Treasury, upon the wife’s memorial, ordered the restitution +of the money to her, for her own separate use, free from her husband’s +control; and this arrangement we had the pleasure of carrying into +effect.—The other case was equally singular. In 1848 the Painters’ and +Glaziers’ Friendly Society had an account with us. They sought to eject +one of the trustees of their fund from the benefits of their Society, on +the ground that on the ‘10th of April’ he had acted as a Special +Constable, contrary to the rule prohibiting him from ‘voluntarily +entering Her Majesty’s service.’ The trustee protested to us, and we +objected to pay the Society’s money without his signature to the order. +Thereupon ‘the Painters and Glaziers’ caused the case to be referred, +and the barrister awarded that the funds should not be transferred or +withdrawn without the trustee’s consent.” + +From the same quarter we ascertained, in reference to unclaimed money, a +remarkable circumstance. The amount of unclaimed deposits in the St. +Martin’s Place Bank has of late decreased instead of increased. In 1842 +the Bank held 10,800_l._, which had been unclaimed for seven years. In +1849, although its business had so amazingly augmented, the amount which +had remained unclaimed for seven years was 9898_l._ or nearly 1000_l._ +less. This is accounted for by the great pains taken to trace and summon +the depositors and their representatives. It certainly is remarkable +that out of transactions to the extent of more than eight and a half +millions of money, only 9900_l._ should remain unclaimed. + +From what we have stated on this subject it will be seen that although +Savings’ Banks are not on a satisfactory footing as between the +Government and depositors, or as between the latter and the local +managers; yet, on the whole, the system is so well contrived, that no +good reason has lately been revealed for the public to withdraw their +confidence from them. The cure of the more glaring defects is now under +the consideration of Government, and this paper will be best concluded +by a sketch of the proposed remedy. The bill introduced by the +Chancellor of the Exchequer deals with all the defects we have pointed +out: perhaps it introduces some new ones, but these it will be purged of +probably in Committee. One of the chief evils is that exemption from +liability which was extended to trustees in 1844: and it is proposed, +for wilful or neglectful losses, to restore this liability. These +officers are now unpaid; and it is proposed to pay them, Government +being responsible for their acts, and having the privilege of +appointing. To prevent fraud, occasioned by the treasurer or actuary +receiving monies at his own house, it is intended that the treasurer +alone shall receive money, and that he shall attend at certain stated +times for that purpose. A local banker is to fill the office, who will +not be wholly unremunerated. For any other person than the treasurer to +receive money as a savings’ bank deposit, will be a misdemeanour. Daily +accounts are to be rendered to the Commissioners of the National Debt; +and those Commissioners will appoint auditors, who shall exercise a +constant revision of the accounts, subject to supervision by special +inspectors despatched at discretion. These arrangements will necessarily +entail greater expence, and to meet it, the rate of interest allowed to +depositors, is to be reduced to 2_l._ 15_s._, and deposits limited to +100_l._ Above that amount, Government will either hold the money without +interest, or, at the depositor’s option, invest it in the funds free of +charge. + + + + + THE SUMMER SABBATH. + + + The woods my Church, to-day—my preacher boughs, + Whispering high homilies through leafy lips; + And worshippers, in every bee that sips + Sweet cordial from the tiniest flower, that grows + ’Mid the young grass, and, in each bird, that dips + Light pinions in the sunshine as it throws + Gold showers upon green trees. All things around + Are full of Prayer! The very blush which tips + Yon snowy cloud, is bright with adoration! + The grass breathes incense forth, and all the ground + Is a wide altar; while the stillest sound + Is vibrating with praise. No profanation + Reaches the thoughts, while thus to ears and eyes + Nature her music and her prayer supplies! + + + + + NEWSPAPER ANTECEDENTS. + + +Those in whom the appetite for news on which we have already commented +is very strong, must wonder how our forefathers existed without +newspapers; for so it happened that the lieges of these realms did get +on very well without them up to the days of the first of the Stuarts. +But although they had no printed newspapers, they could not and did not +do without news; conveyed orally in the form of gossip, or by means of +manuscript intelligencers. Friendly communications containing the gossip +of the town for the enlightenment of cousins in the country are as old +as pen and ink, and much older than paper; for many, still extant in the +British Museum, were written on vellum. By-and-bye, the writing of such +letters became a profession, and every country family of pretension +could boast of “our own correspondent.” These writers were generally +disbanded military officers, younger sons very much “about town,” and, +not unfrequently, clergymen. Shirley in his “Love Tricks” draws the +portrait of one of these antecedents of the present race of Editors. + + “_Easparo._ I tell you, Sir, I have known a gentleman that has spent + the best part of a thousand pounds while he was prentice to the trade + in Holland, and out of three sheets of paper, which was his whole + stock, (the pen and ink-horn he borrowed,) he set up shop, and spent a + hundred pounds a year. It has been a great profession. Marry, most + commonly they are soldiers; a peace concluded is a great plague upon + them, and if the wars hold we shall have store of them. Oh, they are + men worthy of commendation. They speak in print. + + “_Antonio._ Are they soldiers? + + “_Eas._ Faith so they would be thought, though indeed they are but + mongrels, not worthy of that noble attribute. They are indeed + bastards, not sons of war and true soldiers, whose divine souls I + honour, yet they may be called great spirits too, for their valour is + invisible; these, I say, will write you a battle in any part of Europe + at an hour’s warning, and yet never set foot out of a tavern; describe + you towns, fortifications, leaders, the strength of the enemy, what + confederates, every day’s march. Not a soldier shall lose a hair, or + have a bullet fly between his arms, but he shall have a page to wait + on him in quarto. Nothing destroys them but want of a good memory, for + if they escape contradiction they may be chronicled.” + +By the time James the First began to reign, this employment had so +completely moulded itself into a regular craft, that news-writers set up +offices and kept “emissaries,” or reporters, to bring them accounts of +what was going on in various parts of the metropolis. These reports were +sifted, collected, and arranged by the master of the office, or +“Register,” who acted as Editor. To Nathaniel Butter, a news-writer of +that period, was the British public indebted for the first printed +newspaper. Ben Jonson in his “Staple of News” gives a vivid picture of +Mr. Butter’s office before he took to printing. + +_Enter Register and Nathaniel._ + + _Reg._ What, are those desks fit now? Set forth the table, + The carpet and the chair; where are the News + That were examined last? Have you filled them up? + + _Nath._ Not yet, I had no time. + + _Reg._ Are those News registered + That emissary Buz sent in last night, + Of Spinola and his eggs? + + _Nath._ Yes, sir, and filed. + + _Reg._ What are you now upon? + + _Nath._ That our new emissary + Westminster gave us, of the golden heir. + + _Reg._ Dispatch; that’s news indeed, and of importance.— + +_Enter a Country-woman._ + + What would you have, good woman? + + _Woman._ I would have, sir, + A groat’s-worth of any News, I care not what, + To carry down this Saturday to our vicar. + + _Reg._ O! you are a butter-woman; ask Nathaniel, + The clerk there. + + _Nath._ Sir, I tell her she must stay + Till emissary Exchange, or Paul’s send in, + And then I’ll fit her. + + _Reg._ Do, good woman, have patience; + It is not now, as when the Captain lived; + You’ll blast the reputation of the office, + Now in the bud, if you dispatch these groats + So soon: let them attend in name of policy. + +To have served his gaping customers too quickly, would have seemed as +though the News was _made_ instead of being collected; so thought the +Register. + +Respecting the first English printed newspaper, the public have lain +under a mistake for nearly a century. Some ten years ago, however, Mr. +Thomas Watts of the British Museum exploded the long prevalent fallacy +that the “_English Mercurie_,” dated in 1588, was originally the +progenitor of modern journals. A copy of such a paper exists in the +Birch Collection; but it is a manifest forgery, the concoction of which +was traced to the second Lord Hardwicke. It pretends to give news from +the expedition against the Spanish Armada; but, besides a host of +blunders in dates, it is printed on paper made posterior to the date it +bears. The truth is that no periodically printed newspaper appeared till +thirty years after. + +When the reign of James the First was drawing to a close; when Ben +Jonson was poet laureate, and the personal friends of Shakspeare were +lamenting his then recent death; when Cromwell was trading as a brewer +at Huntingdon; when Milton was a youth of sixteen, just trying his pen +at Latin verse, and Hampden a quiet country gentleman in +Buckinghamshire; London was solicited to patronise its first Newspaper. +There is now no reason to doubt that the puny ancestor of the myriads of +broad sheets of our time was published in the metropolis in 1622, and +that the most prominent of the ingenious speculators who offered the +novelty to the world was Nathaniel Butter. His companions in the work +appear to have been Nicholas Bourne, Thomas Archer, Nathaniel Newberry, +William Sheffard, Bartholomew Downes, and Edward Allde. All these +different names appear in the imprints of the early numbers of the first +Newspaper—THE WEEKLY NEWES.[1] This prime, original progenitor of the +acres of news which are now rolled out from the press failed, after many +lapses and struggles, chiefly occasioned by the Star Chamber. Its end +was untimely. The last number appeared on the 9th of January, 1640. +Could it have survived a little longer it might have run a long career, +for the incubus which smothered it was itself stifled—the Star Chamber +was abolished in 1641. + +Footnote 1: + + The Fourth Estate, by F. K. Hunt. + +Butter’s print was succeeded by a host of “Mercuries,” but none of them +were long-lived. They were started for particular objects, to advocate +certain views, and sometimes to circulate the likeliest lies that could +be invented to serve the cause espoused. Each of these was laid down +when its mission was accomplished. During the civil war, nearly thirty +thousand journals, pamphlets, and papers were issued in this manner. In +the heat of hostilities, each army carried its printing-press as part of +its munitions of war. Leaden types were employed with as much rancour +and zeal as leaden bullets. These were often headed as News, such as +“Newes out of Worcestershire,” “Newes of a bloody battle,” fought at +such a place, &c. In 1662 a regular periodical, called the “Kingdom’s +Intelligencer,” was started, and in the following year the +“Intelligencer, published for the satisfaction and information of the +people,” was set up by Sir Roger L’Estrange. + +All these were superseded by a journal, which has stood its ground so +well that the last number came out only yesterday. This was the “Oxford +Gazette,” set up in that city in 1665, and now known as the “London +Gazette.” For many years after the Restoration this was the only +newspaper; for the law restricted any man from publishing political news +without the consent of the Crown. Charles and James the Second withheld +that consent whenever it suited them, and put those who took “French +leave” into the pillory. + +As a specimen of a newspaper, when these restrictions were abated, after +the flight of James the Second, we may instance the “Universal +Intelligencer.” It was small in size, and meagre in contents. It +appeared only twice a week, and consisted of two pages; that is to say, +one leaf of paper a little larger than the page on which the reader’s +eye now rests, and with hardly so much matter. The number for December +11, 1688, boasts two advertisements. A small paragraph amongst its News +describes the seizing of Judge Jefferies, in his attempt to escape from +the anger of his enemies. Besides this interesting morsel of +intelligence, the paper has sixteen lines of News from Ireland, and +eight lines from Scotland; whilst under its News of England, we have not +very much more. One of the items tells us, that “on the 7th inst. the +Prince of Orange supt at the Bear Inn, Hungerford.” There are other +headings, such as “Forrain News” and “Domestick News.” Each item of +intelligence is a mere skeleton—more in the nature of memoranda, or +notifications of events, than accounts of them. “Further particulars” +had not been invented then. + +By Anne’s time, journalism had improved, and—when the victories of +Marlborough and Rooke, the political contests of Godolphin and +Bolingbroke, and the writings of Addison, Pope, Prior, Congreve, Steele, +and Swift, created a mental activity in the nation which could not wait +from week to week for its News—the first daily paper was started. This +was the Daily Courant, which came out in 1709. Other such journals +followed; but three years afterwards, they received a severe check by +the imposition of the Stamp Duty. “All Grub Street,” wrote Swift to +Stella, “is ruined by the Stamp Act.” On the 7th of August, 1712, he +writes:— + + “Do you know that Grub Street is dead and gone last week? No more + ghosts or murders now for love or money. I plied it pretty close the + last fortnight, and published at least seven penny papers of my own, + besides some of other people’s, but now every single half-sheet pays a + halfpenny to the Queen. The ‘Observator’ is fallen; the ‘Medleys’ are + jumbled together with the ‘Flying Post;’ the ‘Examiner’ is deadly + sick; the ‘Spectator’ keeps up, and doubles its price; I know not how + long it will hold. Have you seen the red stamp the papers are marked + with? Methinks it is worth a halfpenny the stamping.” + +Grub Street was not, however, so easily put down; and from that time to +the days of Dr. Johnson, newspapers had considerably increased in number +and influence. In the Idler the Doctor says:—“No species of literary men +has lately been so much multiplied as the writers of News. Not many +years ago, the nation was content with one Gazette, but now we have not +only in the metropolis Papers for every morning and every evening, but +almost every large town has its weekly historian, who regularly +circulates his periodical intelligence, and fills the villagers of his +district with conjectures on the events of war, and with debates on the +true interests of Europe.” + +In Dr. Johnson’s day, the newspaper press was fairly set upon its legs, +and it has gone on with some few vicissitudes to its present condition. +As illustrations of the antecedents of the modern newspaper, we now +purpose giving, at random, a few curious extracts from the earliest of +them. + +The Daily Courant, dated March 1, 1711, contains the following +announcement of a publication which is still read with delight, and +which was destined to play an important part in the reform of the coarse +social manners of the time. It runs thus:— + + “_This day is Published_, + + “A paper entitled THE SPECTATOR, which will be continued every day. + Printed for James Buckley, at the Dolphin in Little Britain, and sold + by A. Baldwin, in Warwick Lane.” + +In the first number thus announced, which was written by Addison, the +Spectator says:—“As my friends have engaged me to stand in the front, +those who have a mind to correspond with me may direct their letters to +Mr. Buckley’s, in Little Britain.” + +Hogarth never painted a more graphic picture of a horseman of the last +century than that drawn in the Postman of Saturday, August 10, 1710. It +is presented in the form of a hue and cry after a stolen horse. + + “A Full Face, Round shoulder Middle sized Man, with a light Bob Goat’s + Hair Wig, a snuff-coloured Secretary Drugget coat, the trimming the + same colour, 2 waistcoats, one of Black cloath, the other blue, + trimmed with silver lace, Black cloath breeches, a Mourning Hatband, + wears a cane with a silver Head, made to screw at the top, a seafaring + man, stammering in his speech, his name William Tunbridge but goes by + the name of William Richardson, rode away from 7 Oaks in Kent the 20th + of July last, with a Sorrel Horse full 14 hands high, a star in his + forehead, white feet behind, high mettled, loth to have his hind feet + taken up, Bob Tail, a black saddle stitched with silver, Tan Leather + stirrup Leathers with a slit crupper buckled on the saddle with 2 + buckles. Whoever gives notice of man or horse to Mr. Adams, Postmaster + of Seven Oaks, shall have a guinea reward and reasonable charges.” + +The Daily Courant of Thursday, March 15, 1711, puts forth the +announcement of a performance at the Haymarket Theatre, “on the 1st of +April,” to which the Bottle Conjuror’s promised feat must sink into a +mere common occurrence. A gentleman was to sup off several children “to +the music of kettledrums.” The same advertisement appeared in the +Spectator on the day after, namely, Friday, March 16:— + + “On the first of April will be performed at the play house in the Hay + Market an Opera called the Cruelty of Atræus. N. B. The scene wherein + Thyestes eats his own children is to be performed by the famous Mr. + Psalmanazaar, lately arrived from Formosa, the whole supper being set + to kettle drums.” + +Scattered through the journals of 1712 are advertisements of a patent +medicine, which has not wholly ceased to be imbibed by the ailing of +1850. The Spectator of April 18th has it thus:— + + “Daffy’s famous Elixir Salutis prepared by Catherine Daffy, the finest + now exposed for sale, prepared from the best drugs and the original + receipt which my Father Mr. Thomas Daffy having experienced the + virtues of it imparted it to Mr. Anthony Daffy who published the same + to his own great advantage. This very original receipt is now in my + possession, left me by my father under his own bond. My brother Mr. + Daniel Daffy, late apothecary in Nottingham, made this Elixir from the + same receipt and sold it there during his life. Those who know me will + believe me, and those who do not know me may be convinced I am no + counterfeit by the colour, taste, smell and just operation of my + Elixir. Sold at the Hand and Pen, Maiden-lane, Covent Garden, London, + and in many other places in Town and Country.” + +Mist’s weekly journal of Saturday, March 6th, 1725, contains an artful +paragraph most likely emanating from a despairing author whose play had +not succeeded:— + + “Mrs. Graspall, who has been our customer two years, desires us to + inform the masters of Drury Lane playhouse, that if they please to + play the comedy, called _A Wife to be Let_, within ten days, they will + oblige her and a great many of the quality to whom she has + communicated her design.” + +We find by subsequent numbers that Mrs. Graspall’s request was not +complied with. + +There is an anecdote of historical interest in the St. James’s Evening +Post of Sept. 17th, 1734. It relates to the Chevalier St. George, +afterwards the rash but chivalric “Pretender” to the British throne. It +appears that when the Spaniards made the Conquest of Italy, and were +sailing for Sicily, the Chevalier was on board one of their ships with +the young King of Naples, the latter, doubtless, a prisoner;— + + “When the fleet set sail,” says the ‘special correspondent,’ “a blast + of wind blew the young Chevalier St. George’s hat off his head into + the sea. Immediately there were several officious enough to endeavour + to take it up; but the young Chevalier called out, _Let it alone, let + it alone; I will go and get another in England_. Whereupon the young + King of Naples threw his hat into the sea, and said, _and I will go + along with you_. But they may happen to go bare-headed a long time; if + they get no hats till they come amongst you: for we are well assured + that they will find none in England that will fit their heads.” + +The designs of young Charles Edward must have been deeply rooted to have +been entertained so early—for he was then only fourteen years old—and so +long before they were fulfilled. At the end of his ’45 adventures, he +did indeed go bare-headed for months without a hat or a roof to cover +him. + +The Daily Post of Thursday, August 17th, 1738, must be a priceless +treasure in the eye of the collector for two remarkable paragraphs with +which it is enriched. On one of them was founded the most pathetic and +popular of Scott’s novels—The Heart of Mid-Lothian. The story of the +girl “of a fine soul,” even as told by the paragraphist is touching. The +communication is dated “Edinburgh, August 20th, 1738.” + + “Isabel Walker, under sentence of death at Dumfries for child-murder, + has actually got a remission. This unhappy creature was destitute of + friends, and had none to apply for her but an only sister, a girl of a + fine soul, that overlooked the improbability of success, helpless and + alone went to London to address the Great, and solicit so well (_sic_) + that she got for her, first, a reprieve, and now a remission. Such + another instance of onerous friendship can scarce be shown; it well + deserved the attention of the greatest who could not but admire the + virtue, and on that account engage in her cause.” + +The other paragraph records the death of Joe Miller, posthumous sponsor +of the most profitable jest book ever published. He was as innocent of +it as of any one of the jokes; the collection—having been benevolently +made by his friend Jack Mottley for the benefit of Miller’s +widow—eventually proved to be the best benefit ever known in the +theatrical world. The obituary is brief but complimentary:— + + “Yesterday morning died Jo: Miller, Comedian, of merry memory. Very + few of his profession have gained more applause on the stage, and few + have acted off it with so much approbation from their neighbours.” + +The London Daily Post (there were three “Posts” in those days) of the +same date gives more information on the mournful subject. It says:— + + “Yesterday morning died of Pleurisy, Mr. Joseph Miller, a celebrated + Comedian belonging to the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane; much admired + for his performances in general, but particularly in the character of + Teague, in _The Committee, or the Faithful Irishman_.” + +The papers from which this _mélange_ of extracts has been culled are +pigmies beside the present race of Giants. There is about as much matter +in a single modern London morning newspaper as was contained in a year’s +contents of the Postman, before it had two leaves. To present the +contrast between to-day’s monsters of the press and their antecedents +the more forcibly, we shall conclude with an extract from a paper +recently read by Mr. E. Cowper at the Institution of Civil Engineers, +relative to the _Times_:— + + “On the 7th of May, 1850, the _Times_ and _Supplement_ contained 72 + columns, or 17,500 lines, made up of upwards of a million pieces of + type, of which matter about two-fifths were written, composed, and + corrected after seven o’clock in the evening. The _Supplement_ was + sent to press at 7 50 P. M., the first form of the paper at 4 15 A. + M.; and the second form at 4 45 A. M.; on this occasion, 7000 papers + were published before 6 15 A. M., 21,000 papers before 7 30 A. M., and + 34,000 before 8 45 A. M., or in about four hours. The greatest number + of copies ever printed in one day was 54,000, and the greatest + quantity of printing in one day’s publication was on the 1st of March, + 1848, when the paper used weighed 7 tons, the weight usually required + being 4½ tons; the surface to be printed every night, including the + Supplement, was 30 acres; the weight of the fount of type in constant + use was 7 tons; and 110 compositors and 25 pressmen were constantly + employed.” + +At the beginning of the reign of Queen Anne, we question whether so many +operatives as are now required, with the help of its extraordinary +machinery, to produce the “Times,” found employment on the whole then +existing newspaper press. + + + + + THE ROYAL ROTTEN ROW COMMISSION. + + +The Commission appointed to enquire into and report upon the state of +Rotten Row, was entirely unpaid. The right honourable gentleman on whom +the appointment of the Commissioners devolved, took great credit to +himself that the members of a Commission whose report was likely to +prove of such infinite value to society, and especially to metropolitan +equestrians, had undertaken all the laborious duties appertaining to +their office without expressing the slightest desire for remuneration or +reward. “He believed,” he said, “that all the charges connected with the +performance of this great public duty would begin and terminate with the +mere cost of the indispensable official staff, and he undertook to +pledge his word that the expenses connected with that department should +all be settled at the lowest practicable scale.” + +In accordance with this declaration, the Honourable Augustus Aigulet, +first cousin of the right hon. gentleman aforesaid, was shortly after +appointed Secretary to this indispensable Commission, at a salary of +1400_l._ per annum, and Mr. Slaney, of Somerset House, under a Special +Minute of my Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, was promoted to +perform the active duties of clerk to the Commission, at an increased +salary of 60_l._ a year, “in accordance with the scale of savings +recently effected in the public service.” + +These economic views were further carried out by the saving of rent. The +Rotten Row Commission was to be accommodated in certain new buildings, +recently erected at a small charge of 300,000_l._ The apartments +consisted of an office, a Secretary’s apartment, and a Board-room. Mr. +Slaney took possession of his desk in the office, having instructions to +prepare the large room for the meeting of a Board, which instructions he +duly performed by arranging the inkstands in the centre of a table, and +by spreading sundry sheets of blotting-paper, with a due proportion of +foolscap and official pens, at equal distances on either side. The Board +was to meet at two o’clock. At half-past one the Honourable Augustus +Aigulet opened the door of the office, and proceeded to instal himself +as Secretary. By the time he had taken possession of the key of a great +despatch box, on which was emblazoned, in gilt letters, the words + + ROTTEN ROW COMMISSION. + +the Chairman and three of the Commissioners arrived. Her Majesty’s +Commissioners for enquiring into the state and condition of Rotten Row, +Hyde Park, did not commence business immediately; but began an ardent +gossip about things in general. The noble President was in the midst of +a discussion with his colleagues respecting the exact circumference of +Carlotta Grisi’s ancle, when there came from the chimney an enormous +volume of smoke. With prompt alacrity, Mr. Aigulet rose from behind the +despatch box, rang the bell, summoned the clerk to his presence, and +desired him to poke the fire. This was done; but the result was +overwhelming. The smoke was so dense, that the noble chairman could +scarcely find his way to the chair; but having succeeded, and a board +having been formed, he addressed the secretary. + +“These rooms” he said, “are excessively ill-ventilated; the air is +positively pestilential; we must at once draw up a minute to the +Treasury for alteration.” + +“A minute, my Lord?” + +“Yes, Sir; a minute.” + +Mr. Aigulet took a sheet of paper, folded it lengthways, to make a +margin; and proceeded to write as his superior instructed him. + + ROTTEN ROW COMMISSION. + + [Such a date.] + +[Sidenote: Minute No. 1. ] + + 1, 6, 4—. + + Her Majesty’s Commissioners represent to my Lords, that with a view to + a complete and satisfactory discharge of the important duties devolved + upon them opportunity is necessary for calm consideration of the + varied subjects into which it is committed to them to inquire:—That + such opportunity is totally denied them in the apartments assigned by + my Lords, in which no suitable provision exists for ventilation, and + in which the Smoke appears to come down the Chimney, instead of + ascending in conformity with custom. In order to the due performance + of their duties to the public Her Majesty’s Commissioners, therefore, + request that my Lords will make an order for the attendance and + inspection of the Ventilator-General, with instructions to consider + and report upon a plan for improving the ingress of air, and egress of + smoke, to and from the said apartments of Her Majesty’s Commissioners. + + By order of the Board. + (Signed) AUGUSTUS AIGULET. + +The document was then handed to Mr. Slaney, who made a fine copy +thereof, on an extremely large and thick sheet of cream-coloured +foolscap, enclosed it in a ditto envelope, sealed it with an enormous +official signet, rang the bell for the messenger, and dispatched the +document to the Assistant Secretary of the Lords Commissioners of Her +Majesty’s Treasury. + +In two hours a reply was returned. This sufficiently demonstrates the +extraordinary despatch which all matters of this sort receive at the +hands of “my Lords,” and at once exhibits the fallacy and absurdity of +the constant and therefore unreasonable complaints, which are made by +poor widows, orphans, and other troublesome and disagreeable +complainants concerning the delays which they suppose that they +encounter in getting even the most reasonable claims attended to. + + ROTTEN ROW COMMISSION. + +[Sidenote: No. A. X. L. + C. E. T. + 24783261107. + 1,6,4. + + 1. 1,6,4— + + Minute. + A. C. C. S. + 2460077221.] + + My Lords having taken into consideration the minute of Her Majesty’s + Commissioners appointed specially to enquire into the state and + condition of the district known as Rotten Row, in which statement is + made of the important duties devolving on them, of the necessity for + calm opportunity to consider the subjects committed to their inquiry; + and of the imperfect provision for ventilation, &c., in those + apartments placed at their disposal: are pleased to order that the + Ventilator-General be instructed to inspect and report upon the + condition of the said ventilation, and to propose a plan to be + approved by Her Majesty’s Commissioners, and by them submitted to my + Lords for improving the ingress and egress of air to and from the said + apartments. + + “Communicate this minute to the Ventilator-General, and direct him to + prepare estimate. + + “Inform Her Majesty’s Commissioners hereof.” + +The Treasury minute was acted on, and this was the first day’s work of +the Rotten Row Commission. + +The Ventilator-General, who was thus instructed to attend to the wishes +and directions of her Majesty’s Commission, applied the next day and Mr. +Aigulet formed “a Board” for his reception. He took a survey of the +office, and declared that all the architectural arrangements were so +utterly erroneous in principle, as to place it beyond all possible skill +to render the ventilation perfect. He demonstrated most completely that +for the purposes of ventilation the door ought to have been precisely +where the chimney was, and that the chimney should have stood exactly +where the window was. The window itself he proposed to abrogate +altogether, supplying its place either by oil burners, or by a fan-light +opening into a dark passage, neither of which arrangements would +interfere with the process of ventilation. He suggested, in addition, “a +breathing floor,” which he thought it would be easy to obtain even in +the present ill-constructed edifice; and to obviate the smoke, he +proposed to place a hot air apparatus under Mr. Slaney’s desk, whereby, +he said, the necessity of a chimney would be dispensed with altogether. +A new shaft, communicating with an apparatus in the ceiling would, he +said, carry off all the foul gases generated in the room; and if the +height of the shaft outside was such as to injure the general effect of +the building, why, the fault would not be his so much as that of the +architect who had not adapted the edifice so as to anticipate this +necessary erection. Upon the whole, his opinion was that the Rotten Row +Commissioners would do well to postpone their sittings until early in +the ensuing year, in order to enable him, during the interval, to carry +out his designs for reconstructing the building with a view to its +efficient ventilation. + +Had this recommendation been made at the close of a Session, and the +commencement of the grouse shooting, it is difficult to say whether the +great and important business of the Rotten Row Commission might not have +stood adjourned for six months, as the Ventilator-General suggested. But +as the Opera season was still at its height, and as Mr. Augustus Aigulet +had before his eyes the fear of an awkward question from some of those +busybodies who occasionally interfere about other people’s business in +the House of Commons, the secretary thought it desirable to recommend +the Board to resolve at present only to adjourn to that day week. +Adjourned accordingly. + +This was the Board’s second day’s work. + +On the day of re-assembling, the Hon. Mr. Augustus Aigulet found the +following official communication from the chief of the ventilating +department. + + VENTILATOR-GENERAL’S OFFICE. + + [Such a Date.] + + The Ventilator-General presents his compliments to the Hon. Augustus + Aigulet, and begs to inform him of a serious abuse of Mr. Aigulet’s + authority, discovered in the office of the Rotten Row department, this + morning. + + It is reported to the Ventilator-General that in the absence of Mr. + Aigulet, the clerk of the department, Mr. Slaney caused the chimney to + be swept, and the window to be thrown open. The Ventilator-General + submits that this is an interference with his peculiar duty which the + Secretary to the Rotten Row Commission will not sanction. + + It is also reported to the Ventilator-General that the clerk has had + the consummate assurance to object to the proposed formation of an + apparatus for heating air immediately under his own desk: an + obstruction to the Ventilator-General’s proceedings which calls for + marked reprobation. + + The Ventilator-General repeats the occurrences to Mr. Aigulet, in + order that the fact may be duly laid before my lords. + +The Commissioners having assembled, their secretary read the letter, and +the Chairman ordered in the Clerk. Mr. Slaney appeared, trembled a +little, and thought he had done something dreadful. The following +dialogue ensued:— + +_Chairman._ _Did_ you open the window, Mr. Slaney? + +_Clerk._ Yes, my lord. + +_Chairman._ Did you order the chimney to be swept? + +_Clerk._ Yes, my lord. + +_Chairman._ Be pleased to state, briefly, your reasons for these +proceedings. + +_Clerk._ The chimney was very foul, and the rooms not having been +recently used, the window had apparently not been opened for some time. +The sash line was broken, and there is a little difficulty about opening +it. + +_Chairman._ You may withdraw. + +Blushing to the very forehead, and feeling as if his ears were setting +his hair on fire, Mr. Slaney retired. + +After some discussion at the Board, the following minute to the Lords of +the Treasury, was dictated to the Secretary. + + ROTTEN ROW COMMISSION. + +[Sidenote: Minute No. 2. ] + + 7, 6, 4— + +[Sidenote: No. A. XL. ] + + C. F. T. 24,783,261,107 1,6,4— + + Her Majesty’s Commissioners having had from the Ventilator-General his + report upon the state of ventilation in the apartments allotted to + them in the Treasury Chambers, are of opinion that the adoption of his + plans would involve very considerable expense, and would cause a delay + seriously prejudicial to the business of the Commission. Her Majesty’s + Commissioners, therefore, request that my lords will be pleased to + dispense with the services of the Ventilator-General in this case, as + granted under their lordships’ minute, referred to in the margin, and + instead thereof, that they will pass a minute authorising the + attendance of the Treasury carpenter to repair a line in a window, + which does not at present open with all the facility desirable. + + By Order of the Board. + (Signed) AUGUSTUS AIGULET. + +These labours concluded the third day’s proceedings. + +The fourth day was occupied in receiving counter instructions from the +Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury in accordance with the +Rotten Row Board’s minute, No. 2—and in communicating with the +official carpenter. The result was, that this humble individual +superseded in half an hour the threatened six months’ labour of the +Ventilator-General. + +At its fifth meeting, the Royal Commission drew up a list of witnesses +to be examined. The sixth day was wholly occupied in granting the +summonses, and as the Board has not yet finished examining its first +witness, the report will not, it is expected, be ready for the +Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in May, 1851. + + + + + A VILLAGE TALE. + + + The rooks are cawing in the elms, + As on the very day— + That sunny morning, mother dear, + When Lucy went away; + And April’s pleasant gleams have come, + And April’s gentle rain— + Fresh leaves are on the vine—but when + Will Lucy come again? + + The spring is as it used to be, + And all must be the same; + And yet, I miss the feeling now, + That always with it came; + It seems as if to me she made + The sweetness of the year— + As if I could be glad no more, + Now Lucy is not here. + + A year—it seems but yesterday, + When in this very door + You stood; and she came running back, + To say good bye once more; + I hear you sob—your parting kiss— + The last fond words you said— + Ah! little did we think—one year, + And Lucy would be dead! + + How all comes back—the happy times, + Before our father died; + When, blessed with him, we knew no want, + Scarce knew a wish denied— + His loss, and all our struggles on, + And that worst dread, to know, + From home, too poor to shelter all, + That one at last must go. + + How often do I blame myself, + How often do I think, + How wrong I was to shrink from that + From which she did not shrink; + And when I wish that I had gone, + And know the wish is vain; + And say, she might have lived, I think,— + How can I smile again. + + I dread to be alone, for then, + Before my swimming eyes, + Her parting face, her waving hand, + Distinct before me rise; + Slow rolls the waggon down the road— + I watch it disappear— + Her last “dear sister,” fond “good-bye,” + Still lingering in my ear. + + Oh, mother, had but father lived + It would not have been thus; + Or, if God still had taken her, + She would have died with us; + She would have had kind looks, fond words, + Around her dying bed— + Our hands to press her dying hands, + To raise her dying head. + + I’m always thinking, mother, now, + Of what she must have thought; + Poor girl! as day on day went by, + And neither of us brought;— + Of how she must have yearned, one face, + That was not strange, to see— + Have longed one moment to have set + One look on you and me. + + Sometimes I dream a happy dream— + I think that she is laid + Beside our own old village church, + Where we so often played; + And I can sit upon her grave, + And with her we shall lie, + Afar from where the city’s noise, + And thronging feet go by. + + Nay, mother—mother—weep not so, + God judges for the best, + And from a world of pain and woe, + He took her to his rest; + Why should we wish her back again? + Oh, freed from sin and care, + Let us the rather pray God’s love, + Ere long to join her there. + + + + + THE FIRE ANNIHILATOR + + +“Water, and nothing _but_ water!” exclaimed Mr. John Diggs, the great +sugar-baker (everybody knows old John Diggs), “Water, I say, is the +natural enemy of fire; and any man who dares to say otherwise is no +better that a fool or a charlatan. I should like to knock such a fellow +down. I know more about fire than all the learned talking chaps in +England, and it’s of no use to tell me when a house is in a blaze, that +any thing but water _can_ put it out. Not a bit of it. Don’t attempt to +say so; I won’t hear it!” + +Mr. Diggs gave vent to his feelings in the above oracular form at his +Club, on Thursday evening last, on which occasion he happened to be the +Chairman. It was in consequence of one of the junior members reading a +passage from a scientific Journal, to the effect that water was almost +as much a friend to fire, as an enemy—and that, at any rate, they were +near of kin—quoting Mr. Phillips, the Inventor of the Fire Annihilator, +as a practical authority on the subject. This was what had so enraged +Mr. Diggs, sugar-baker, and chairman of the Albert Rock and Toffee Club. + +Mr. John Diggs is a man who always carries his will before him, like a +crown on a cushion, while his reason follows like a page, holding up the +skirts of his great coat. Honest-hearted, and not without generosity, he +is much esteemed in spite of his many perversities. He possesses a +shrewd observation, and a good understanding, when once you can get at +it; but his energies and animal spirits commonly carry him out of all +bounds, so that to bring him back to rational judgment is a work of no +small difficulty. He is _open_ to conviction, as he always says, but he +is a tip-top specimen of the class who commonly use that expression; his +open door is guarded by all the bludgeons of obstinacy, behind which +sits a pig-headed will, with its eyes half shut. + +This is the man, and in the condition of mind which may be conjectured +from his speech in the chair, just quoted, who drove up in his gig last +Friday, as the clock struck four, to the gates of the London Gas Works, +Vauxhall, in order to hear, with his own ears, Mr. Phillips dare to say +he could extinguish the most violent flames without the use of water; +and to see, with his own eyes, the total failure of the attempt, and the +exposure of the humbug. + +To make sure of entire sympathy in all his perversities, Mr. Diggs had +brought his wife with him; and to insure a ready assistance in the +detection of any tricks, his foreman, Mr. White, had been sent on by the +steamer. A real reason lay at the bottom of all this; for the work-place +and warehouse of Mr. Diggs were worth 60,000_l._; part of which sum, no +insurance could cover; and his stock in trade as well as his works, he +but too well knew, were of a most combustible nature. No laughing +matter—therefore not a thing to be trifled with. + +Mr. Diggs met his foreman in the yard, waiting for his arrival; and the +party having displayed their tickets, were ushered across and around, +till they came to a large brick building, with a long row of arched +window holes along the top, apparently for the ready escape of volumes +of smoke. The window holes all looked very black about the edges. So did +the door-posts. The walls were very dingy and besmutched. Mrs. Diggs had +put on her best spring bonnet with orange ribbons, and her pink and +fawn-coloured silk shawl. She had a sudden misgiving, but it couldn’t be +helped now. + +They were ushered through a large, smutty door, into a brick building, +paved with bricks, and having arched recesses, here and there, at the +lower part. Commodious retreats, in case the flames put forth their +tongues beyond their usual range, and advanced towards the centre of the +building,—as Mr. Diggs devoutly hoped they might. At one end, the wooden +frame-work of a house, with ground-floor, and first and second floor, +presented its front. It was black and charred from recent fire, with +sundry repairs of new planks, which “brought out” the black of the rest, +both without and within, to the greatest advantage. Level with the +lowest window was a sort of lecturer’s stage of rough planks, at the +back of which lay the model of a ship’s hull, some six or seven feet in +length; and to the right of this, the model of a house, with lower and +upper floor, of about two feet and a half in height. + +Fronting this stage, model ship, model house, and actual house, was a +semicircle of chairs and benches—not too near—with ample room left at +the sides for the sudden flight of visitors who had seated themselves in +an incredulous and unimaginative state of mind, nearer than subsequent +events seemed to warrant. Then, there were the arched recesses; then, a +low stage with seats; then, a broad flight of wooden stairs at the +opposite end, by which visitors could ascend to a high platform, leading +also to side galleries, on the same level. The whole place was most +eloquent to the olfactory nerves of coal-tar, pitch, resin, turpentine, +&c. A light sprinkling of sawdust completed the furnishing of this hall, +in which one of the most extraordinary of all our modern discoveries +(provided it prove thoroughly efficient) was about to be subjected to +trial. + +Mr. Diggs having planted his foreman at one horn of the crescent of +chairs, and dragging his wife (whose thoughts of her handsome bonnet and +shawl were written in shady lines all over her face) to a dirty-seated +bench, on the other, he darted straight across to the scene of action, +and without a moment’s hesitation or ceremony, ascended the lecturer’s +stage, and diving with nose and hands into the model of the ship’s hull, +began to explore its contents. + +The hold, and, indeed, all the interior of the hull, he found to be full +of patent fire-wood, for the rapid kindling of fire, each separate piece +being sufficient to light an ordinary fire; but here, there was nothing +else. He passed on to the model house; opened the door, and looked in. +Here, also, he found a quantity of patent fire-wood, lying on both +floors. A trap-door was left open in the roof to allow of the escape of +the smoke. Mr. Diggs now descended from the little stage, and advanced +to the door of the house which was to be set on fire. He entered the +door-way, and immediately found himself in a dark chamber filled with +charred planks, pitched planks, cross-pieces of new wood, blackened +beams, and a variety of hangings and festoons made of shavings saturated +with coal-tar, resin, and turpentine. A staircase, or, rather, a broad +charred ladder, led up to the first floor. Mr. Diggs forthwith ascended, +and stepped upon a flooring perfectly black; in fact, the whole room +seemed made of charcoal, with here and there a new plank laid across, or +slanting upwards, smeared with coal-tar, and adorned like the +ground-floor, with shavings steeped in resin, pitch, turpentine, and +other combustible matter. “Well,” thought Mr. Diggs, “at all events, +there’ll be flames enough.” A second charred ladder formed a staircase +leading to the top floor; but this was so dilapidated and rotten from +recent burning, that our sceptical sugar-baker could venture to do no +more than clamber up, and rest his chin on the blackened boards of the +floor above, in which position he clung by the smutty tips of his +fingers, and stared around, above him, and on all sides. He then slowly +descended, and as he made his way out of the front door, he hugged +himself with the firm belief that if the house were fairly set on fire +(as he determined it _should_ be), and the flames were allowed to get +into full play, nothing could stop them till they had burned the house +to the ground, and communicated with the brick building—when the regular +fire-engines, with their torrents of water, would, of course, be sent +for, with all imaginable speed. + +Meantime, a considerable number of people of all ranks had assembled, +many of them of the aristocratic class, to judge by the row of liveries, +coachmen, and footmen, who lined one of the side galleries. Mrs. Diggs +comforted herself with the sight of many elegantly-dressed ladies, who +seated themselves on the chairs and benches in front of the little +stage, or platform. Perhaps the smoke and smuts might not be so very +bad, after all, or might be driven back by the wind. Of this it was +rational to entertain some hopes, as the whole building was in a +thorough draught, evinced by many a sneeze and cough,—a condition some +of the visitors thought very unnecessary to be endured before the +conflagration commenced. + +Mr. Phillips now ascended the platform, and commenced his brief lecture. +He said he had no sort of intention to undervalue the real service of +water in cases of fire, but only to show that water was by no means the +most efficient agent. The more active part of fire was flame; all fire +commenced with flame, and upon this, when at a great height, water in +any portable quantities, was comparatively powerless. Moreover, there +were many materials, forming the staple commodity of various trades, +which, being ignited, not only defied the power of water, but their +state of combustion was actually increased by the application of water. +This was the case with oil or turpentine, when on fire, with tar, gas, +ardent spirits, &c. Every distiller must know this—and so must every +sugar-baker. + +Mr. Diggs suddenly shifted his _pose_ from the right to the left leg; +but said nothing. This was not the point at issue. + +In illustration of his last remark, Mr. Phillips called upon his +audience to imagine the hull of the model ship to be a ship at sea with +a large crew, many passengers, and a valuable cargo on board,—part of +the cargo consisting of highly combustible materials. The ship takes +fire! The alarm is given, all hands called on deck, the fire-engine got +out, the pumps set to work! But before this has been done, it happens +that a cask of spirits of turpentine has taken fire! (So saying, Mr. +Phillips sets light to a quantity of spirits of turpentine in an iron +vessel in the ship). The flames rise rapidly!—terrifically—they ascend +the fore-rigging, which, being all tarred, is quickly in a blaze! Now +all is dismay and confusion, more especially among the passengers. Some +of these, however, retain sufficient presence of mind to be able to +assist the sailors in pumping. They drench the ship with water,—they +pour a continual stream from the engine upon the flames of the +turpentine! (At these words Mr. Phillips dips a jug in a bucket of +water, and pours it upon the flames.) But it only increases them—(it +does so)—more water is dashed upon the flames by the men (Mr. Phillips +suits the action to the word) and by the boldest of the passengers, but +with no better result. Now, the fire communicates with a second barrel +of spirits of turpentine; the flames rise on all sides, and ascend with +a continuous roar to the rigging of the mainmast, which is rapidly in a +blaze. (The model ship is literally all in a blaze.) In despair and +madness, buckets of water are flung at random—nobody knows what he is +doing; all rush wildly about, preparing to leap overboard at the very +moment they scream loudest for the boats!—the boats!—when an individual +suddenly recollects, as by a flash of thought, that there is a machine +on board called a Fire Annihilator. (Here Mr. Phillips seizes upon a +small brass machine, out of which he causes a white vapour to issue.) In +a second or two the flames are half extinguished;—he carries the machine +to the other flaming mast, and to the casks in the forehold,—the flames +are gone! + +And so they are! Of the volume of flames in the model ship, which by +this time had risen to the height of eight or nine feet, not a flash +remains,—they were annihilated in four or five seconds. The machine +which wrought this wonder was like a brass shaving-pot, or bachelor’s +coffee-pot, and certainly not larger. + +But how was Mr. Diggs affected by this? Did the worthy sugar-baker look +peculiarly wise, or did he stand rather aghast at his own wisdom? +Neither the one, nor the other. Had Mr. Phillips been a fine actor, the +foregoing scene, with its fiery illustration, and the frantic yet +fruitless use of water, would have had a tremendous effect; but his +manner was not sufficiently excited, and, worse than this, he very much +damaged the effect, and the conviction it would have carried with it, by +turning his back towards the audience when he poured the water upon the +flames, so that “standing in his own light,” it was impossible for many +people to see whether the water was really poured into the model ship, +or over the other side, unless they could have seen through his body. +This was not lost upon John Diggs, who loudly murmured his +dissatisfaction, accordingly, in opposition to the general applause of +those who _did_ see, which followed the rapid extinction of the flames. +How _this_ was accomplished Mr. Diggs did not know; he simply considered +that water had not had fair play. He suspected some trick. + +“The existence of water,” pursued Mr. Phillips, “is continuous, flowing, +not quickly to be destroyed; the life of fire is momentary. (He explodes +a large lucifer-match.) Now you see it at its height! (He dashes it into +water). Now it is nothing! Its life is from instant to instant. Why has +it become nothing? Because water is its natural antagonist? No—but +because fire cannot exist without a certain quantity of _air_; and when +it is entirely immersed in water, this requisite quantity of air is +suddenly withdrawn, and the fire as instantly dies. The very same result +would follow if I were to dash a lighted match into oil.” + +“Let us see!” exclaimed Mr. Diggs; but he was called to order by a +number of voices. + +Mr. Phillips had been led many years ago, as he now informed us, to +consider the nature of fire and water. It so chanced that he had +witnessed most of the great conflagrations which have happened in London +during the last twenty or thirty years. The destruction to the Royal +Exchange, the Houses of Parliament—the fire at the Tower, theatres, +great warehouses—he was present at them all; and he could not but +observe amidst the prodigious efforts made to save them, that water was +comparatively powerless upon violent flames; and therefore inadequate to +the task it was called upon to perform. He was also witness of a series +of terrible volcanic eruptions. He was in a seventy-four gun-ship in the +Mediterranean at the time. For thirty or forty days there was an +eruption, and sometimes two or three, almost daily. The most terrific of +these—and by which they were nearly lost, having been driven towards it, +and only saved by a sudden change of wind—was of such force, that the +shock was felt throughout the south of Europe,—from the Rock of +Gibraltar, to Stromboli. A volcanic island was thrown up in the middle +of the sea, from a depth of four or five hundred feet. This island was +of molten lava, and rose in the form of a crescent with an open crater, +into which the sea continually rushed like a cataract. But the fire +within was not extinguished. At each successive eruption, the water was +ejected with a force that sent it up two miles, and sometimes three +miles high—again to descend in thousands of tons upon the crater, but +without extinguishing the fire. The sea was boiling for a quarter of a +mile on one side of the island: the fire was completely beyond its +power. Instead of extinguishing fire, the water was made to boil. But he +observed this further phenomenon. A dense cloud of vapour was sometimes +generated; and whenever the wind bore this vapour into the flames, they +were immediately extinguished. + +A consideration of these phenomena led Mr. Phillips to the following +conclusions. Fire and water are not natural enemies, but very near +relations. They are each composed of the same elements; and in the same +proportions; the component parts of water can be turned into fire; and +when fire ceases to be fire, it becomes water. (This latter proposition +caused Mr. Diggs to prick up his ears, but he said nothing.) The two +elements had by no means the direct and immediate power over each other +that was generally supposed. Water was a compact body, and acting in +this body, it could not act simultaneously on the particles of gases +which produce flame; but a gaseous vapour being of an equally subtle +nature with the gases it has to attack, can instantly intermix with +them. Find, therefore, a gaseous vapour, which shall intercept the +contact of the gases of flame, and thus prevent their chemical union, +their inflammatory forces are thereby destroyed, and the flame is at +once extinguished. + +The means of immediately generating this gaseous vapour had, after +numerous experiments during many years, been discovered by Mr. Phillips. +With this composition, his machine, called the Fire Annihilator, was +charged. + +He pointed to the small model house. It was made of iron, and filled +with combustible materials. He had had the honour of exhibiting it +before many crowned heads. + +“Like the Wizard of the North!” muttered Mr. Diggs, looking +contemptuously at the model. + +The fuel within it, is now ignited. The flames rapidly spread, and +ascend to the upper floor. A thick smoke issues from the trap-door on +the roof. + +“Here,” said Mr. Phillips, “is a house on fire! Some of the inmates are +trying to escape by the trap-door on the roof. They make their way out. +The fire-escapes of the Royal Society are in attendance with their usual +promptitude; their courageous men are ascending the ladders to assist +the inmates in their descent. But where are the inmates? Two of them +have fallen down somewhere, another has actually got back into the +attic. The reason is, that life cannot exist in that smoke which the +fire generates.” + +A lighted match being held in it, instantly went out. This was repeated +quickly, once or twice. It always went out. The interior of the house +was full of flames. One of the little Fire Annihilators was now applied +to the door of the model. The flames sunk to nothing almost immediately. +A thick vapour was left in their place. But in this vapour life _can_ +exist. Mr. Phillips again lights a match, and applies it to the vapour +issuing through the trap-door. The match continues to burn. Mr. Phillips +then thrusts his arm through the door, and holds the match in the +interior of the house, where it still continues to burn amidst the +vapour. In this vapour human life can equally exist. + +“Don’t believe it!” muttered Mr. Diggs, amidst the otherwise unanimous +applause, in which was lost his additional request,—“Set fire to the +real house, and have done with it!” + +Mr. Phillips here described his machine. Its various complications had +been reduced to a simple form and action. As he has printed this for +general circulation, it will be sufficient to state that the ordinary +size is less than that of a small upright iron coal-skuttle, and its +weight not greater than can be easily carried by man or woman to any +part of the house. It is charged with a compound of charcoal, nitre, and +gypsum, moulded into the form of a large brick. The igniter is a glass +tube inserted in the top of the brick, inclosing two phials—one filled +with a mixture of chlorate of potassa and sugar, the other containing a +few drops of sulphuric acid. A slight blow upon a knob drives down a +pin, which breaks the phials, and the different mixtures coming in +contact, ignite the whole; and the gas of this, acting upon a water +chamber contained in the machine, produces a steam, and the whole +escapes forcibly in a dense and expanding cloud. + +Preparations were now made for setting fire to the three-roomed house. A +“sensation” passed over the room, and several ladies began to rise from +their chairs, and retire from the semicircle in front of the +lecture-stage. Mr. Phillips assured them there was no danger, as he had +a perfect command over the flames; at the same time, he requested the +company to observe that he had purposely arranged that every +disadvantage should be against him. The house was full of combustible +materials—the whole building was in a thorough draught (it was indeed) +and they would observe that the commencement of the full force of the +fire would be almost immediate, and without any of the gradual advances +which were usual in almost all conflagrations. Lastly, he called upon +them to take note that the fury of the flames would be such that no life +could exist near them for a single instant. + +Without further words a lighted match is applied to one of the tarred +and turpentined shavings that hang in the ground-floor of the house. + +It sparkles—blazes—and in one moment the lower room is full of flames! +In the next, they have risen to the floor above—they crackle, roar, and +beat about, springing up to the roof, and darting out tongues and forks +to the right and left of the building, while a dense hot cloud of smoke, +full of red fragments of shavings and other embers comes floating and +dancing over the heads of the assembled company. Everybody has arisen +from his seat,—ladies—gentlemen,—and now all the visitors, are crowding +towards the other end of the building! The whole place is filled with +the roar of flames, the noise of voices, hurrying feet, and rustling +garments—and clouds of hot smoke! + +But suddenly a man enters the building from a side-door, bearing a +portable Fire Annihilator of the size we have mentioned; he is followed +by a second. The machines are vomiting forth a dense white vapour. They +enter just within the door-way of the blazing house. A change instantly +takes place in the colour and action of the flames, as though they grew +pale in presence of their master. They sink. There is nothing but +darkness—and the dense white vapour coiling about in triumph. + +“Life can now exist!” cries Mr. Phillips, rushing into the house, and +ascending the blackened stairs. Mr. Diggs (hoping he might be +suffocated) instantly follows. He gains the top of the ladder, and +plants one foot on the floor. He cannot see for the thick vapour. The +hand of Mr. Phillips assists him, and they both go to the window and +look out upon the company. Mr. Diggs coughs a little, but, to his +disappointment, is not suffocated. In another second or two, he can take +his breath freely. Very odd. + +Mr. Diggs is more than staggered by such a proof. He begins to suspect +there may be something in it. As Mr. Phillips assists the worthy +sugar-baker over a piece of very burnt and precarious-looking flooring, +out at a side hole in the house, as the stairs are no longer safe, Mr. +Diggs thanks him very civilly for his attention, and—he almost adds—for +the satisfactory result of this last experiment; but he checked himself. +Time would show. + +Meanwhile, all was pleasant confusion, and applause, and wonder, and +satisfaction, and congratulation, and the re-arrangement of habiliments, +and the polishing of smutty faces, and laughing and good humour among +the company. With some difficulty, Mr. Diggs discovered his wife, and +with almost equal difficulty recognised her after he had found her. She +had been honoured more than almost any one else, with the falling embers +and black smut of the conflagration. Her pink and fawn-coloured silk +shawl was spotted all over, and looked like a leopard-skin; the orange +ribbons on her bonnet were speckled, and otherwise toadied, while her +face, after a diligent use of her handkerchief (having no glass, or +friend to ask), had a complete shady tint all over it, giving her the +appearance of one of those complexions of lead colour, presented by +unfortunate invalids who have had occasion to undergo a course of +nitrate of silver. Many other persons were in a spotty and smutted +predicament, but none so bad as poor Mrs. Diggs, except, indeed her +husband; but he was insensible to such matters. + +Issuing forth into the spacious yard of the gas works, a final +demonstration was about to be given to the visitors on their way out. A +circular pool, of eighteen feet in circumference, was filled with tar +and naphtha. This thick liquid mixture was ignited, and in a few seconds +the whole surface sent up a prodigious blaze of great brilliancy. A boy +of about eleven years of age (apparently a stranger to the machine, to +judge from his awkwardness) was desired to strike down the knob which +put the portable Fire Annihilator in action. He did so; and immediately +the thick white vapour began to gush forth. The boy carried the machine, +with very little effort, to within four or five feet of the flames. +Instantly the flames changed colour, as though with a sort of ghastly +purple horror of their destroyer—and, in a few seconds, down they sank, +and became nothing. There lay the black mixture, looking as if it had +never been disturbed. But the machine, meantime, went on vomiting forth +its vapour, with surplus power, like the escape-pipe of a steam-engine, +and the boy being in a state of confusion, was bringing the machine back +among the company assembled round, who all begun to retreat, when +somebody connected with the Works told him to let it off against the +dead wall. While this was taking place, the same individual remarked +aloud, that the vapour could not only be breathed after it had ascended +and extinguished a fire, but would not burn even as it gushed forth +fresh and furious from the machine. As he said this, he passed his hand +through it once or twice. Mr. Diggs suddenly thought he had a last +chance,—and, rushing forward, passed his hand (hoping he might be +dreadfully scorched) through the fierce vapour as it rushed out. +Actually, he was not at all scorched. It was only rather hot. He passed +his hand backwards and forwards twice more—a sort of greasy and rather +dirty warm moisture covered his hand—this was all. John Diggs was fairly +conquered—admitted it to himself—and, seeking out Mr. Phillips, went +honestly up to him, and shook him heartily by the hand—saying, with a +laugh, that if all was fairly done, and no necromancy, he had witnessed +a great fact, and he congratulated him. + +Still—in a friendly way—he could not help asking Mr. Phillips for a word +of explanation as to his assertion that fire and water were of the same +family—in fact, convertible, each into the other. Mr. Phillips +accordingly favoured Mr. Diggs with the following remarks:—“Fire,” said +he, “is mainly composed of eight parts of oxygen, and one part of +hydrogen; thus making a whole of nine parts. When fire ceases to be +fire, it becomes water, retaining the same elements and proportions, +viz., eight of oxygen and one of hydrogen, and will weigh (if the +measure has been in pounds) nine pounds or parts. If you decompose these +nine pounds of water by voltaic battery, the gases generated will render +eight pounds of oxygen and one of hydrogen. Moreover, this law of nature +cannot be deranged or disturbed by human agency. If, to make fire, you +take eight parts of oxygen, and _two_ of hydrogen, the false proportion +will not prevent the product of fire; for the principle of fire, as if +by instinct, will elect its own proper proportions, become fire, and +throw over the excess, whether the error be an excess of oxygen or +hydrogen.” + +“Thank you, Sir—thank you!” said Mr. John Diggs;—but he determined to +take a glass of punch with a friend of his, an experimental chemist, +that same evening. + +Now, taking it for granted that there is no necromancy in all this, it +may be asked, how will the discovery affect, not only the Fire Brigade +of London, but the use of fire-engines (with hose and water) all over +the country, and the civilised world. Will they not be superseded? We +answer without hesitation, we think they will by no means be superseded. +One great value of this magnificent discovery of Mr. Phillips, consists +in its immediate command over the active part of fire, viz., flame: +whereby a fire in a large building full of combustible materials, a +private dwelling, a theatre, or a ship at sea, may be extinguished +before it has time to make any very destructive advances. But in all +cases where a fire has gained any ascendancy, and extended over a +considerable space, the use of water _after_ the flames have been +extinguished, continues as important as ever. The _red heat_ which +remains on the smouldering and heated materials, may re-ignite; and it +is to prevent this, that water is still an imperative requisition. +Moreover, water is necessary to drench adjoining chambers, partywalls, +or adjoining houses and premises, to prevent their liability to taking +fire from the conflagration that has already commenced. We earnestly +trust, therefore, that the greatest unanimity will exist in all branches +of this great Fire and Water Question, and that they will cordially +receive the new Vapour into amicable partnership and co-operation. Fully +recognising the immense importance to the community at large, of a body +of brave, well-trained, and skilful men, like those of the Fire Brigade, +and those who compose the staff of the Fire-Escapes of the Royal Society +(and two more efficient and admirable staffs do not exist in this +country, or any other country); we think, after Mr. Phillips’s invention +has passed through every test that can reasonably be required, that all +Fire-engines, and every Fire-escape, would do well to have one or more +of these Fire Annihilators with them as a regular part of their +apparatus. + +Of the Fire-escapes of the Royal Society, the promptitude of their +action (they are almost always first at a fire), and the many lives +saved by them every year—nay, sometimes, in the course of a week—we had +contemplated a substantive account, but have been withheld by the +impossibility of doing justice to the various patents without accurate +drawings and diagrams. However, as these are already before the public, +we may content ourselves by saying, that, whether the Royal Society make +use of the Fire-escape invented by Winter and Sons, by Wivell, or by +Davies, the humane exertions of the Society have attained a success +which commands the admiration, and ensures the gratitude, of society at +large. + +Respecting the annihilating properties of water, much may be said, and +will be said; but all in vain, until the water companies are brought to +their senses, and the utter abolition of domestic cisterns and +water-butts is effected. Without the continuous supply system—till all +the water-pipes in all the houses and all the streets are kept always +fully charged at high pressure, conflagrations never will, and never +can, be promptly put out by the agency of what the penny-a-liners have +lately taken to call the “antagonistic element.” Fire-engines, if not +wholly laid aside, must be only kept for exceptional cases, and the Fire +Brigade—well conducted, efficient, courageous as it is—may, some of +these days, be turned into a corps of reserve. With the mains ever +charged, with water at high service, no engines will be required. At the +first alarm of fire, the policeman pulls up the fire plug—which should +be opposite every sixth or eighth house—fixes the hose, and out spouts a +cataract in two minutes. Assistance arrives; trails of hoses are made to +lead from the rows of plugs on either side, or in other streets, and in +five minutes a deluge—and no more fire. + +For the extinguishing of fire, _time_ is a most important consideration. +A few gallons of water would be effective if used at once, where +thousands of gallons would effect little after ten or fifteen minutes +had elapsed. The average time the Brigade engines take in arriving at a +fire after the first alarm is ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, rapid +as are their movements. The Parish engines are far more numerous, but +always last—and seldom of any use when they _do_ come. Conceive a parish +beadle at a fire! + +In some towns in the north—among others Preston, Oldham, Ashton, Bolton, +Bury, and Manchester—the continuous water supply system has been in use +for some time with manifest benefit to the inhabitants. The fire plug +and jet, without engines, have, in these places, already done great +execution. Under recent improvements, also, the same plans have been +adopted in Hamburgh; Philadelphia and other American towns have, in +their wisdom, “done likewise.” On one occasion, at Liverpool, a fire was +extinguished by a hose which was promptly applied; a fire-engine arrived +presently after, when the engine-man, finding the fire had been +extinguished, knocked the hoseman down, as an impertinent fellow. + +In factories, and other large buildings, if an arrangement of the above +kind were adopted, on the first alarm of fire a man would only have to +unwind a hose, and turn a cock. This, with one of the Fire Annihilators +at hand, would probably render the building quite secure. + +These improvements and precautions carry with them a variety of +interesting consequences,—such as the check to incendiarism, the effect +on insurances, the benefit to health by the plug and hose being used +daily in washing the streets, and thus destroying foul exhalations after +a storm, &c. + +While bringing this paper to a conclusion, we learn that Mr. John Diggs +has determined to have a _self-acting_ Fire Annihilator fixed in a +central position of his warehouse; so that if a fire should burst out in +the night, the flames would melt one or other of a series of leaden +wires, any one of which being thus divided, would liberate a heavy +weight, which would instantly run down an iron wire leading to the knob +and pin of his special Annihilator—ignite the contents of the machine, +and destroy the flames in his sugar-bakery, while he slept soundly in +his bed. + + + + + THE SICKNESS AND HEALTH OF THE PEOPLE OF BLEABURN. + + + IN THREE PARTS.—CHAPTER VIII. + +The spectacle of carrying the Good Lady up to the brow was more +terrifying to the people of Bleaburn than any of the funerals they had +seen creeping along by the same path,—more even than the passage of the +laden cart, with the pall over it, on the morning of the opening of the +new burying-grounds. The people of Bleaburn, extremely ignorant, were +naturally extremely superstitious. It was not only the very ignorant who +were superstitious. The fever itself was never supposed to be more +catching than a mood of superstition; and so it now appeared in +Bleaburn. For many weeks past the Good Lady had been regarded as a sort +of talisman in the people’s possession. She breathed out such +cheerfulness wherever she turned her face, that it seemed as if the +place could not go quite to destruction while she was in it. Some who +would not have admitted to themselves that they held such an impression +were yet infected with the common dismay, as well as with the sorrow of +parting with her. If Mary had had the least idea of the probable effect +of her departure, she would have been less admired by the Kirbys for her +docility,—for she would certainly have insisted on staying where she +was. + +“I declare I don’t know what to do,” the doctor confessed in confidence +to the clergyman. “Every patient I have is drooping, and the people in +the street look like creatures under doom. The comet was bad enough; +and, before we have well done with it, here is a panic which is ten +times worse.” + +“I tried to lend a hand to help you against the comet,” replied Mr. +Kirby. “I think I may be of some use again now. Shall I tell them it is +a clear case of idolatry?” + +“Why, it is in fact so, Mr. Kirby; but yet, I shrink from appearing to +cast the slightest disrespect on her.” + +“Of course; of course. The thing I want to show them is what she would +think,—how shocked she would be if she knew the state of mind she left +behind.” + +“Ah! if you can do that!” + +“I will see about it. Now tell me how we are going on.” + +The Doctor replied by a look, which made Mr. Kirby shake his head. +Neither of them liked to say in words how awful was the state of things. + +“It is such weather you see,” said the Doctor. “Damp and disagreeable as +it is, this December is as warm as September.” + +“Five-and-twenty sorts of flowers out in my garden,” observed Mr. Kirby. +“I set the boys to count them yesterday. We shall have as many as that +on Christmas-day. A thing unheard of!” + +“There will be no Christmas kept this year, surely,” said the Doctor. + +“I don’t know that. My wife and I were talking it over yesterday. We +think * * Well, my boy,” to a little fellow who stood pulling his +forelock, “what have you to say to me? I am wanted at home, am I? Is +Mrs. Kirby there?” + +The Doctor heard him say to himself, “Thank God!” when they saw the lady +coming out of a cottage near. The Doctor had long suspected that the +clergyman and his wife were as sensible of one another’s danger as the +most timid person in Bleaburn was of his own; and now he was sure of it. +Henceforth, he understood that they were never easy out of one another’s +sight; and that when the clergyman was sent for from the houses he was +passing, his first idea always was that his wife was taken ill. It was +so. They were not people of sentiment. They had settled their case with +readiness and decision, when it first presented itself to them; and they +never looked back. But it did not follow that they did not feel. They +agreed, with the smallest possible delay, that they ought to succeed to +the charge of Bleaburn on Mr. Finch’s death; that they ought to place +their boys at school, and their two girls with their aunt till Bleaburn +should be healthy again; and that they must stand or fall by the duty +they had undertaken. As for separating, that was an idea mentioned only +to be dismissed. They now nodded across the little street, as Mrs. Kirby +proceeded on her round of visits, and her husband went home, to see who +wanted him there. + +In the corner of the little porch was a man sitting, crouching and +cowering as if in bodily pain. Mr. Kirby went up to him, stooped down to +see his face (but it was covered with his hands), and at last ventured +to remove his hat. Then the man looked up. It was a square, hard face, +which from its make would have seemed immovable; but it was anything but +that now. It is a strange sight, the working of emotion in a countenance +usually as hard as marble! + +“Neale!” exclaimed Mr. Kirby. “Somebody ill at the farm, I am afraid.” + +“Not yet, Sir; not yet, Mr. Kirby. But Lord save us! we know nothing of +how soon it may be so.” + +“Exactly so: that has been the case of every man, woman, and child, hour +by hour since Adam fell.” + +“Yes, Sir; but the present time is something different from that. I +came, Sir, to say * * I came, Mr. Kirby, because I can get no peace or +rest, day or night; for thoughts, Sir; for thoughts.” + +Mr. Kirby glanced round him. “Come in,” said he, “Come into my study.” + +Neale followed him in; but instead of sitting down, he walked straight +to the window, and seemed to be looking into the garden. Mr. Kirby, who +had been on foot all the morning, sat down and waited, shaving away at a +pen meanwhile. + +“On Sunday, Sir,” said Neale at last, in a whispering kind of voice, +“you read that I have kept back the hire of the labourers that reaped +down my fields, and that their cry has entered into the ears of the +Lord.” + +“That _you_ kept back the hire of the labourer?” exclaimed Mr. Kirby, +quickly turning in his seat, so as to face his visitor. He laid his hand +on the pocket-bible on the table, opened at the Epistle of James, and, +with his finger on the line, walked to the window with it. + +“Yes, Sir, that is it,” said Neale. “I would return the hire I kept +back,—(I can’t exactly say by fraud, for it was from hardness)—I would +pay it all willingly now; but the men are dead. The fever has left but a +few of them.” + +“I see,” said Mr. Kirby. “I see how it is. You think the fever is +dogging your heels, because the cries of your labourers have entered +into the ears of the Lord. You want to buy off the complaints of the +dead, and the anger of God, by spending now on the living. You are +afraid of dying; and you would rather part with your money, dearly as +you love it, than die; and so you are planning to bribe God to let you +live.” + +“Is not that rather hard, Sir?” + +“Hard?—Is it true? that is the question.” + +When they came to look closely into the matter, it was clear enough. +Neale, driven from his accustomed methods and employments, and from his +profits, and all his outward reliances, was adrift and panic-stricken. +When the Good Lady was carried out of the hollow, the last security +seemed gone, and the place appeared to be delivered over to God’s wrath; +his share of which, his conscience showed him to be pointed out in the +words of scripture which had so impressed his mind, and which were +ringing in his ears, as he said, day and night. + +“As for the Good Lady,” said Mr. Kirby, “I am sure I hope she will never +hear how some of the people here regard her, after all she has done for +them. If anything could bow her spirit, it would be that.” Seeing Neale +stare in surprise, he went on. “One would think she was a kind of witch +or sorceress; that there was some sort of magic about her; instead of +her being a sensible, kind-hearted, fearless woman, who knows how to +nurse, and is not afraid to do it when it is most wanted.” + +“Don’t you think then, Sir, that God sent her to us?” + +“Certainly; as he sent the Doctor, and my wife and me: as he sends +people to each other whenever they meet. I am sure you never heard the +Good Lady say that she was specially sent.” + +“She is so humble,—so natural, Sir,—she was not likely to say such a +thing.” + +“Very true: and she is too wise to think it. No—there is nothing to be +frightened about in her going away. She could have done no good here, +while unable to walk or sit up; and she will recover better where she is +gone. If she recovers, as I expect she will, she will come and see us; +and I shall think that as good luck as you can do; not because she +carries luck about with her, but because there is nothing we so much +want as her example of courage, and sense and cheerfulness.” + +“To be sure,” said Neale, in a meditative way, “she could not keep the +people from dying.” + +“No indeed,” observed Mr. Kirby; “you and some others took care that she +should not.” + +In reply to the man’s stare of amazement, Mr. Kirby asked:— + +“Are not you the proprietor of several of the cottages in Bleaburn?” + +“Yes: I have seven altogether.” + +“I know them well,—too well. Neale, your conscience accuses you about +the hire of your labourers: but you have done worse things than oppress +them about wages. Part of the mischief you may be unaware of; but I know +you are not of all. I know that Widow Slaney speaks to you, year by +year, about repairing that wretched place she lives in. Have you done it +yet? Not you! I need not have asked; and yet you screw that poor woman +for her rent till she cannot sleep at night for thinking of it. You know +in your heart that what she says is true,—that if her son was +alive,—(and it was partly your hardness that sent him to the wars, and +to his terrible fate)—” + +“Stop, Sir! I cannot bear it!” exclaimed Neale. “Sir, you should not +bear so hard on me. I have a son that met another bad fate at the wars: +and you know it, Mr. Kirby.” + +“To be sure I do. And how do you treat him? You drove him away by +harshness; and now you say he shall not come back, because you cannot be +troubled with a cripple at home.” + +“Not now, Sir. I say no such thing now. When I said that, I was in a bad +mood. I mean to be kind to him now: and I have told him so:—that is, I +have said so to the girl he is attached to.” + +“You have? You have really seen her, and shown respect to the young +people?” + +“I have, Sir.” + +“Well: that is so far good. That is some foundation laid for a better +future.” + +“I should be thankful, Sir, to make up for the past.” + +“Ah!” said Mr. Kirby, shaking his head; “that is what can never be done. +The people, as you say, are dead: the misery is suffered: the mischief +is done, and cannot be undone. It is a lie, and a very fatal one, to say +that past sins may be atoned for.” + +“O, Mr. Kirby!—don’t say that!” + +“I must say it, because it is true. You said yourself that you cannot +make it up to those you have injured, because the men are dead. What is +that you are saying? that you wish the fever had taken you; and you +could go now and shoot yourself? Before you dare to say such things, you +should look at the other half of the case. Is not the future greater +than the past, because we have power over it? And is there not a good +text somewhere about forgetting the things that are behind, and pressing +forwards to those that are before?” + +“O, Sir! if I could forget the past!” + +“Well: you see you have scripture warrant for trying. But then the +pressing forwards to better things must go with it. If you forget the +past, and go on the same as ever, you might as well be in hell at once. +Then, I don’t know that your shooting yourself would do much harm to +anybody.” + +“But, Sir, I am willing to do all I can. I am willing to spend all I +have. I am, indeed.” + +“Well, spend away,—money, time, thought, kindness,—till you can fairly +say that you have done by everybody as you would be done by! It will be +time enough then to think what next. And, first, about these cottages of +yours. If no more people are to die in them, murdered by filth and damp, +you have no time to lose. You must not sit here, talking remorse, and +planning fine deeds, but you must set the work going this very day. +Come! let us go and see.” + +Farmer Neale walked rather feebly through the hall: so Mr. Kirby called +him into the parlour, and gave him a glass of wine. Still, as they went +down the street, one man observed to another, that Neale looked ten +years older in a day. He looked round him, however, with some signs of +returning spirits, when he saw the boys at their street-cleaning, and +observed, that hereabouts things looked wholesome enough. + +“Mere outside scouring,” said Mr. Kirby. “Better than dirt, as far as it +goes; unless, indeed, it makes us satisfied to have whited sepulchres +for dwellings. Come and see the uncleanness within.” + +Mr. Kirby did not spare him. He took him through all the seven cottages, +for which he had extorted extravagant rents, without fulfilling any +conditions on his own part. He showed him every bit of broken roof, of +damp wall, of soaked floor. He showed him every heap of filth, every +puddle of nastiness caused by there being no drains, or other means of +removal of refuse. He advised him to make a note of every repair needed; +and, when he saw that Neale’s hand shook so that he could not write, +took the pencil from his hand, and did it himself. Two of the seven +cottages he condemned utterly: and Neale eagerly agreed to pull them +down, and rebuild them with every improvement requisite to health. To +the others he would supply what was wanting, and especially drainage. +They stood in such a cluster that it was practicable to drain them all +into a gully of the rock which, by being covered over, by a little +building up at one end, and a little blasting at one side, might be made +into a considerable tank, which was to be closed by a tight-fitting, and +very heavy slab at top. Mr. Kirby conceded so much to the worldly spirit +of the man he had to deal with, as to point out that the manure thus +saved would so fertilise his fields as soon to repay the cost of this +batch of drainage. Neale did not care for this at the moment. He was too +sore at heart at the spectacle of these cottages and their inmates,—too +much shaken by remorse and fear,—for any idea of profit and loss: but +Mr. Kirby thought it as well to point out the fact, as it might help to +animate the hard man to proceed in a good work, when his present melting +mood should be passing away. + +“Well: I think this is all we can do to-day,” said Mr. Kirby, as they +issued from the seventh cottage. “The worst of it is, the workmen from +O—— will not come,—I am afraid no builder will come, even to make an +estimate—till we are declared free of fever. But there is a good deal +that your own people can do.” + +“They can knock on a few slates before dark, Sir; and those windows can +be mended to-day. I trust, Mr. Kirby, you will give me encouragement; +and not be harder than you can help.” + +“Why, Neale; the thing is this. You do not hold your doom from my hand; +and you ought not to hang upon my words. You come to me to tell me what +you feel, and to ask what I think. All I can do is to be honest with +you, and (as indeed I am) sorry for you. Time must do the rest. If you +are now acting well from fear of the fever only, time will show you how +worthless is the effort; for you will break off as soon as the fright +has passed away. If you really mean to do justly and love mercy, through +good and bad fortune, time will prove you there, too: and then you will +see whether I am hard, or whether we are to be friends. This is my view +of the matter.” + +Neale touched his hat, and was slowly going away, when Mr. Kirby +followed him, to say one thing more. + +“It may throw light to yourself, on your own state of mind, to tell you +that it is quite a usual one among people who have deeply sinned, when +any thing happens to terrify them. Histories of earthquakes and plagues +tell of people thinking and feeling as you do to-day. I dare say you +think nobody ever felt the same before; but you are not the only one in +Bleaburn.” + +“Indeed, Sir!” exclaimed Neale, exceedingly struck. + +“Far from it. A person who has often robbed your poultry-yard, and taken +your duck eggs, thought that I was preaching at him, last Sunday; though +I knew nothing about it. He wished to make reparation; and he asked me +if I thought you would forgive him. Do you really wish to know my +answer? I told him I thought you would not: but that he must confess and +make reparation, nevertheless.” + +“You thought I should not forgive him?” + +“I did: and I think so now, thus far. You would say and believe that you +forgave him: but, at odd times, for years to come, you would show him +that you had not forgotten it, and remind him that you had a hold over +him. If not,—if I do you injustice in this, I should——” + +“You do not, Sir. I am afraid what you say is very true.” + +“Well, just think it over, before he comes to you. This is the only +confession made to me which it concerns you to hear: but I assure you, I +believe there is not an evil doer in Bleaburn that is not sick at heart +as you are; and for the same reason. We all have our pains and troubles; +and yours may turn out a great blessing to you,—or a curse, according as +you persevere or give way.” + +Neale said to himself as he went home, that Mr. Kirby had surely been +very hard. If a man hanged for murder was filled with hope and triumph, +and certainty of glory, there must be some more speedy comfort for him +than the pastor had held out. Yet, in his inmost heart, he felt that Mr. +Kirby was right; and he could not for the life of him, keep away from +him. He managed to meet him every day. He could seldom get a word said +about the state of his mind; for Mr. Kirby did not approve of people’s +talking of their feelings,—and especially of those connected with +conscience: but in the deeds which issued from conscientious feelings, +he found cordial assistance given. And Farmer Neale sometimes fancied +that he could see the time,—far as it was ahead—when Mr. Kirby and he +might be, as the pastor had himself said,—friends. + +The amount of confession and remorse opened out to the pastor was indeed +striking, and more affecting to him than he chose to show to anybody but +his wife; and not even to her did he tell many of the facts. The +mushroom resolutions spawned in the heat of panic were offensive and +discouraging to him: but there were better cases than these. A man who +had taken into wrath with a neighbour about a gate, and had kept so for +years, and refused to go to church lest he should meet him there, now +discovered that life is too short for strife, and too precarious to be +wasted in painful quarrels. A little girl whispered to Mr. Kirby that +she had taken a turnip in his field without leave, and got permission to +weed the great flower-bed without pay, to make up for it. Simpson and +Sally asked him to marry them; and for poor Sally’s sake, he was right +glad to do it. They were straightforward enough in their declaration of +their reasons. Simpson thought nobody’s life was worth a halfpenny now, +and he did not wish to be taken in his sins: while Sally said it would +be worse still if the innocent baby was taken for its parents’ sin. They +had to hear the publication of banns, at a time when other people were +thinking of anything but marriage; and, when the now disused church was +unlocked to admit them to the altar,—just themselves and the clerk,—it +was very dreary; but they immediately after felt the safer and better +for it. Sally thought the Good Lady would have gone to church with her, +if she had been here; and she wished she could let her know that Simpson +had fulfilled his promise at last. Other people besides Sally wished +they could let the Good Lady know how they were going on;—how frost came +at last, in January, and stopped the fever;—how families who had lived +crowded together now spread themselves into the empty houses; and how +there was so much room that the worst cottages were left uninhabited, or +were already in course of demolition, to make airy spaces, or afford +sites for better dwellings; and how it was now certain that above +two-thirds of the people of Bleaburn had perished in the fever, or by +decline, after it. But they did not think of getting anybody who could +write to tell all this to the Good Lady: nor did it occur to them that +she might possibly know it all. The men and boys collected pretty spars +for her; and the women and girls knitted gloves and comforters, and made +pincushions for her, in the faith that they should some day see her +again. Meanwhile, they talked of her every day. + + + CHAPTER IX, AND LAST. + +It was a fine spring day when the Good Lady re-appeared at Bleaburn. +There she was, perfectly well, and glad to see health on so many of the +faces about her. Some were absent whom she had left walking about in the +strength of their prime; but others whom she had last seen lying +helpless, like living skeletons, were now on their feet, with a light in +their eyes, and some little tinge of colour in their cheeks. There were +sad spectacles to be seen of premature decrepitude, of dreadful sores, +of deafness, of lameness, left by the fever. There were enough of these +to have saddened the heart of any stranger entering Bleaburn for the +first time, but to Mary, the impression was that of a place risen from +the dead. There was much grass in the churchyard, and none in the +streets: the windows of the cottages were standing wide, letting it be +seen that the rooms were white-washed within. There was an indescribable +air of freshness and brightness about the whole place, which made her +feel and say that she hardly thought the fever could harbour there +again. As she turned into the lane leading to her aunt’s, the sound of +the hammer, and the chipping of stone were heard; and some workmen whom +she did not know, turned from their work of planing boards, to see why a +crowd could be coming round the corner. These were workmen from O——, +building Neale’s new cottages, in capital style. And, for a moment, two +young ladies entering from the other end, were equally perplexed as to +what the extraordinary bustle could mean. Their mother, however, +understood it at a glance, and hastened forward to greet the Good Lady, +sending a boy to fetch Mr. Kirby immediately. Mrs. Kirby’s dryness of +manner broke down altogether when she introduced her daughters to Mary. +“Let them say they have shaken hands with you,” said she, as she herself +kissed the hand she held. + +It was not easy for Mary to spare a hand, so laden was she with +pincushions and knitted wares; but the Kirbys took them from her, and +followed in her train, till the Widow Johnson appeared on her threshold, +pale as marble, and grave as a monument, but well and able to hold out +her arms to Mary. Poor Jem’s excitement seemed to show that he was aware +that some great event was happening. His habits were the same as before +his illness, and he had no peace till he had shut the door when Mary +entered. Everybody then went away for the time; plenty of eyes, however, +being on the watch for the moment when the Good Lady should be visible +again. + +In a few minutes, the movements of Jem’s head showed his mother that, as +she said, something was coming. Jem’s hearing was uncommonly acute: and +what he now heard, and what other people heard directly after, was a +drum and fife. Neighbour after neighbour came to tell the Johnsons what +their ears had told them already,—that there was a recruiting party in +Bleaburn again; and Jem went out, attracted by the music. + +“It is like the candle to the moth to him,” said his mother. “I must go +and see that nobody makes sport of him, or gives him drink.” + +“Sit still, Aunty; I will go. And there is Warrender, I see, and Ann. We +will take care of Jem.” + +And so they did. Ann looked so meaningly at Mary, meantime, as to make +Mary look inquiringly at Ann. + +“Only, Ma’am,” said Ann, “that Sally Simpson is standing yonder. She +does not like to come forward, but I know she would be pleased.” + +“Her name is Simpson? How glad I am he has married her!” whispered Mary, +as she glanced at the ring which Sally was rather striving to show. “I +hope you are happy at last, Sally.” + +“Oh, Ma’am, it is such a weight gone! And I do try to make him happy at +home, that he may never repent.” + +Mary thought the doubt should be all the other way—whether the wife +might not be the most likely to repent having bound herself to a man who +could act towards her as Simpson had done. Widow Slaney was not to be +seen. The fife and drum had sent her to the loft. She came down to see +Mary; but her agitation was so great that it would have been cruelty to +stay. They heard her draw the bolt as they turned from the door. + +“She does not like seeing Jack Neale any more than hearing the drum,” +observed the host of the Plough and Harrow, who had come forth to invite +the Good Lady in, ‘to take a glass of something.’ “That is Jack Neale, +Ma’am; that wooden-legged young man. He is married, though, for all his +being so crippled. The young woman loved him before; and she loves him +all the more now; and they married last week, and live at his father’s. +It must be a sad sight to his father; but he says no word about it. +Better not; for Britons must be loyal.” + +“And why not?” said the Doctor, who had hastened in from the brow, on +seeing that something unusual was going forward below, and had ventured +to offer the Good Lady his arm, as he thought an old comrade in the +conflict with sickness and death might do. + +“Why not?” said the Doctor. “We make grievous complaints of the fatality +of war; and it _is_ sad to see the maiming and hear of the slaughter. +But we had better spend our lamentations on a fatality that we can +manage. It would take many a battle of Albuera to mow us down, and hurt +us in sense and limb, as the fever has done.” + +“Why, that is true!” cried some, as if struck by a new conviction. + +“True, yes,” continued the Doctor. “I don’t like the sight of a +recruiting party, or the sound of the drum much better than the poor +woman in yonder house, who will die of heart-break after all—of horror +and pining for her son. But there is something that I like still less; +the first giddiness and trembling of the strong man, the sinking +feebleness of the young mother, the dimming of the infant’s eyes; and +the creeping fog along the river-bank, the stench in the hot weather, +and the damp in the cold, that tell us that fever has lodged among us. I +know then that we shall have, many times over, the slaughter of war, +without any comfort from thoughts of glory to ourselves or duty to our +country. There is neither glory nor duty in dying like vermin in a +ditch.” + +“I don’t see,” said Warrender, “that the sergeant will carry off any of +our youngsters now. If he had come with his drum three months since, +some might have gone with him to get away from the fever, as a more +terrible thing than war; but at present I think he will find that death +has left us no young men to spare.” + +And so it proved. The sergeant and his party soon marched up to the +brow, and disappeared, delivering the prophecy that Bleaburn would now +lose its reputation for eagerness to support king and country. And in +truth, Bleaburn was little heard of from that time till the peace. + +Mary could not stay now. She had been detained very long from home—in +America—and somebody was waiting very impatiently there to give her a +new and happy home. This is said as if we were speaking of a real +person—and so we are. There was such a Mary Pickard; and what she did +for a Yorkshire village in a season of fever is TRUE. + + + + + THE REVENGE OF ÆSOP. + + + IMITATED FROM PHÆDRUS. + A blockhead once a stone at Æsop threw: + ‘A better marksman, friend, I never knew,’ + Exclaimed the wit, and gaily rubbed his leg; + ‘A hand so dexterous ne’er will come to beg. + ‘Excuse these pence; how poor I am, you know! + ‘If _I_ give these, what would the rich bestow? + ‘Look, look! that well-drest gentleman you see; + ‘Quick, prove on him the skill misspent on me! + ‘Here, take the stone. Be cool—a steadfast eye— + ‘And make your fortune with one lucky shy.’ + The blockhead took the counsel of the wit; + He poised the pebble, and his mark he hit. + ‘Arrest the traitor! He has struck the king!’ + And Æsop, smiling, saw the ruffian swing. + + + + + THE GOLDEN FAGOTS. + + + A CHILD’S TALE. + +An old woman went into a wood to gather fagots. As she was breaking, +with much difficulty, one very long, tough branch across her knee, a +splinter went into her hand. It made a wound from which the blood +flowed, but she bound her hand up with a ragged handkerchief, and went +home to her hut. + +Now this old woman was very cross, because she had hurt herself; and +therefore when she arrived home and saw her little granddaughter, Ellie, +singing and spinning, she was very glad that there was somebody to +punish. So she told little Ellie that she was a minx, and beat her with +a fagot. But the old woman had for a long time depended for support upon +her granddaughter, and the daily bread had never yet been wanting from +her table. + +Then this old woman told little Ellie that she was to untie the +handkerchief and dress the wound upon her hand. + +“The cloth feels very stiff,” said the old woman. + +And that was a thing not to be wondered at, for when the bandage was +unrolled, one half of it was found to be made of a thick golden tissue. +And there was a lump of gold in the old woman’s hand, where otherwise a +blood clot might have been. + +At all this Ellie was not much surprised, because she knew little of +gold, and as her grandmother was very yellow outside, it appeared to her +not unlikely that she was yellow the whole way through. + +But the sun now shone into the little room, and Ellie started with +delight: “Look at the beautiful bright beetles there among the fagots!” +She had often watched the golden beetles, scampering to and fro, near a +hot stone upon the rock. “Ah, this is very odd!” said little Ellie, +seeing that the bright specks did not move. “These poor insects must be +all asleep!” + +But the old woman, who had fallen down upon her knees before the wood, +bade Ellie go into the town and sell the caps that she had finished; not +forgetting to bring home another load of flax. + +Grannie, when left to herself, made a great many curious grimaces. Then +she scratched another wound into her hand, and caused the blood to drop +among the fagots. Then she hobbled and screamed, endeavouring, no doubt, +all the while to dance and sing. It was quite certain that her blood had +the power of converting into gold whatever lifeless thing it dropped +upon. + +For many months after this time little Ellie continued to support her +grandmother by daily toil. The old woman left off fires, although it was +cold winter weather, and the snow lay thick upon the cottage roof. Ellie +must jump to warm herself, and her grandmother dragged all the fagots +into her own bedroom. Ellie was forbidden ever again to make Grannie’s +bed, or to go into the old woman’s room on any account whatever. +Grannie’s head was always in a bandage; and it never required dressing. +Grannie could not hurt Ellie so much now when she used the stick, her +strength was considerably lessened. + +One day, this old woman did not come out to breakfast; and she made no +answer when she was called to dinner; and Ellie, when she listened +through a crevice, could not hear her snore. She always snored when she +was asleep, so Ellie made no doubt she must be obstinate. + +When the night came, Ellie was frightened, and dared not sleep until she +had peeped in. + +There was a stack of golden fagots; and her grandmother was on the floor +quite white and dead. + +When she alarmed her neighbours they all came together, and held up +their hands and said, “What a clever miser this old woman must have +been!” But when they looked at little Ellie, as she sat weeping on the +pile of gold, they all quarrelled among each other over the question, +Who should be her friend? + +A good spirit came in the night, and that was Ellie’s friend; for in the +morning all her fagots were of wood again. + +Nobody then quarrelled for her love; but she found love, and was happy; +because nobody thought it worth while to deceive her. + + * * * * * + + Monthly Supplement of ‘HOUSEHOLD WORDS,’ + + Conducted by CHARLES DICKENS. + + _Price 2d._, _Stamped 3d._, + + THE HOUSEHOLD NARRATIVE + + OF + + CURRENT EVENTS. + + _The Number, containing a history of the past month, was issued with + the Magazines._ + + + Published at the Office, No. 16, Wellington Street North, Strand. + Printed by BRADBURY & EVANS, Whitefriars, London. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES + + + ● Fixed typos; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. + ● Renumbered footnotes. + ● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. + ● The caret (^) is used to indicate superscript, whether applied to a + single character (as in 2^d) or to an entire expression (as in + 1^{st}). + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78155 *** |