The Mirror Of Literature, Amusement, And Instruction, No. 391
by
Various
Produced by Jonathan Ingram, William Flis, and the Online Distributed
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THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
Vol. 14, No. 391.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1829. [PRICE 2d.
* * * * *
[Illustration: GURNEY'S IMPROVED STEAM CARRIAGE.]
MR. GURNEY'S IMPROVED STEAM CARRIAGE.
Mr. Gurney, in perfecting this invention, has followed Dr. Franklin's
advice--to tire and begin again. It is now four years since he first
commenced his ingenious enterprise; and nearly two years since we
reported and illustrated the progress he had made. (_See_ MIRROR, vol.
x. page 393, or No. 287.) He began with a large boiler, but public
prejudice was too strong for it; and knowing people talked of high
pressure accidents; the steam, could not, of course, be altogether got
rid of, so to divide the danger, Mr. Gurney made his boiler in forty
welded iron pipes; still the steam ran in a main pipe beneath the
whole of the carriage, and the evil was but modified. At length the
inventer has detached the engine and boiler, or locomotive part of
the apparatus, which is now to be fastened to the carriage, and may
be considered as a STEAM-HORSE, with no more danger than we should
apprehend from a restive animal, in whose veins the steam or mettle
circulates with too high a pressure. Fair trials have been made of
the Improved Carriage on our common roads, the Premier has decided the
machine "to be of great national importance," from sundry experiments
witnessed by his grace, at Hounslow Barracks; and the coach is
announced "really to start next month (the 1st) in working--not
experimental journeys--for travellers between London and Bath."[1]
Crack upon crack will follow joke upon joke; the _Omnibus_, with its
phaeton-like coursers will be eclipsed; and a journey to Bath and the
Hot Wells by steam will soon be an everyday event.
Descriptions of Mr. Gurney's carriage have been so often before the
public, that extended detail is unnecessary. Besides, all our liege
subscribers will turn to the account in our No. 287. The recent
improvements have been perspicuously stated by Mr. Herapath, of
Cranford, in a letter in the _Times_ newspaper, and we cannot do
better than adopt and abridge a portion of his communication.
"The present differs from the earlier carriage, in several
improvements in the machinery, suggested by experiment; also in
having no propellers;[2] and in having only four wheels instead of
six; the apparatus for guiding being applied immediately to the two
fore-wheels, bearing a part of the weight, instead of two extra
leading wheels bearing little or none. No person can conceive the
absolute control this apparatus gives to the director of the carriage,
unless he has had the same opportunities of observing it which I
had in a ride with Mr. Gurney. Whilst the wheels obey the slightest
motions of the hand, a trifling pressure of the foot keeps them
inflexibly steady, however rough the ground. To the hind axle, which
is very strong, and bent into two cranks of nine inches radius, at
right angles to each other, is applied the propelling power by means
of pistons from two horizontal cylinders. By this contrivance, and a
peculiar mode of admitting the steam to the cylinders, Mr. Gurney has
very ingeniously avoided that cumbersome appendage to steam-engines,
the fly-wheel, and preserves uniformity of action by constantly having
one cylinder on full pressure, whilst the other is on the reduced
expansive. The dead points--that is, those in which a piston has no
effect from being in the same right line with its crank,--are also
cleared by the same means. For as the cranks are at right angles, when
one piston is at a dead point, the other has a position of maximum
effect, and is then urged by full steam power; but no sooner has the
former passed the dead point, than an expansion valve opens on it with
full steam, and closes on the latter. Firmly fixed to the extremities
of the axle, and at right angles to it, are the two 'carriers'--(two
strong irons extending each way to the felloes of the wheels.) These
irons may be bolted to the felloes of the wheels or not, or to the
felloes of one wheel only. Thus the power applied to the axle is
carried at once to the parts of the wheels of least stress--the
circumferences. By this artifice the wheels are required to be of no
greater strength and weight than ordinary carriage-wheels; and, like
them, they turn freely and independently on the axle; but one or
both may be secured as part and parcel of the axle, as circumstances
require. The carriage is consequently propelled by the friction or
hold which either or both hind-wheels, according as the power is
applied to them jointly or separately, have on the ground. Beneath
the hind part drop two irons, with flat feet, called 'shoe-drags.' A
well-contrived apparatus, with a spindle passing up through a hollow
cylinder, to which the guiding handle is affixed, enables the director
to force one or both drags tight on the road, so as to retard the
progress in a descent, or if he please, to raise the wheels off
the ground. The propulsive power of the wheels being by this means
destroyed, the carriage is arrested in a yard or two, though going at
the rate of eighteen or twenty miles an hour. On the right hand of the
director lies the handle of the throttle-valve, by which he has the
power of increasing or diminishing the supply of steam _ad libitum_,
and hence of retarding or accelerating the carriage's velocity. The
whole carriage and machinery weigh about 16 cwt., and with the full
complement of water and coke 20 or 22 cwt., of which, I am informed,
about 16 cwt. lie on the hind-wheels."
Mr. H. then enumerates the principle of the improvements:--"That
troublesome appendage the fly-wheel, as I have observed, Mr. Gurney
has rendered unnecessary. The danger to be apprehended in going over
rough pitching, from too rapid a generation of steam, he avoids by a
curious application of springs; and should these be insufficient, one
or two safety valves afford the _ultimatum_ of security. He ensures
an easy descent down the steepest declivity by his 'shoe-drags,' and
the power of reversing the action of the engines. His hands direct,
and his foot literally pinches obedience to the course over the
roughest and most refractory ground. The dreadful consequences of
boiler-bursting are annihilated by a judicious application of tubular
boilers. Should, indeed, a tube burst, a hiss about equal to that of a
hot nail plunged into water, contains the sum total of alarm, while a
few strokes with a hammer will set all to rights again. Lastly, he has
so contrived his 'carriers,' that they shall act without confining the
wheels, by which means there is none of that sliding and consequent
cutting up of the road, which, in sharp turnings, would result from
inflexible constraint.
"Hills and loose, slippery ground are well known to be the _res
adversae_ of steam-carriages; on ordinary level roads they roll
along with rapid facility. In every ascent there are two additional
circumstances inimical to progressive motion. One is, that carriages
press less on the ground of a hill than on that of a plain, thus
giving the wheels a less forcible grasp or bite. But this may be
easily remedied in the structure of a carriage, and is not of very
material consequence in the steepest hills that we have. The other is
more serious. When a carriage ascends a hill, the weight or gravity of
the whole is decomposable into two--one perpendicular, and the other
parallel to the road. The former constitutes the pressure on the road,
the latter the additional work the engine has to perform. Universally
this is the same part of the whole carriage and its load together,
which the perpendicular ascent of the hill is of its length. With
these principles, if we knew the bite of the wheels on the road,
we could at once subject the powers of Mr. Gurney's carriage to
calculation.
"Now, from one of the experiments made in the barrack-yard, at
Hounslow, I find we can approximate towards it. For instance, with one
wheel only fixed to the 'carriers,' the carriage drew itself and load
of water and coke (about 1 ton), with three men on it, and a wagon
behind of 16 cwt. containing 27 soldiers. This, at the rate of 1-1/2
cwt. to a man, in round numbers is 4 tons. Estimating the force of
traction of spring carriages at a twelfth of the total weight, it
consequently gives a hold or bite on the road of 1-12 of 4 tons, or
6 2-3rds cwt. per wheel, or 13 1-3rd cwt. for the two wheels. This is
likewise the propelling force of the carriage. Supposing, therefore,
we were ascending a hill of 1 foot rise in 8, which I am assured
exceeds in steepness any hill we have, we should be able to draw a
load behind of 2 tons 2 cwt., or between 3 and 4 tons altogether....
"On a good level road I think it not improbable it might draw, instead
of 7 tons which our experiment would give, from 10 to 11, besides
its own weight, or 100 ordinary men, exclusive of 2 or 3 tons for
carriages; and up one of our steepest hills, 3 tons besides itself, or
25 men besides a ton for a carriage. This it would do at a rate of 8,
9, or 10 miles an hour. For it is a singular feature in this carriage,
and which was remarked by many at the time, that it maintained very
nearly the same speed with a wagon and 27 men, that it did with the
carriage and only 5 or 6 persons. But there is a fact connected with
this machine still more extraordinary. For instance, every additional
cwt. we shift on the hind or working wheels, will increase the power
of traction in our steepest hills upwards of 4 cwt., and on the
level road half a ton. Such, then, is the paradoxical nature of
steam-carriages, that the very circumstance which in animal exertion
would weaken and retard, will here multiply their strength and
accelerate. This, no doubt, Mr. Gurney's ingenuity will soon turn to
profitable account.
"It has often been asserted that carriages of this sort could not
go above 6 or 7 miles an hour. I can see no reasonable objection
to 20. The following fact, decided before a large company in the
barrack-yard, will best speak for itself:--At eighteen minutes after
three I ascended the carriage with Mr. Gurney. After we had gone about
half way round, 'Now,' said Mr. Gurney, 'I will show you her speed.'
He did, and we completed seven turns round the outside of the road
by twenty-eight minutes after three. If, therefore, as I was there
assured, two and a half turns measured one mile, we went 2.8 miles
in ten minutes; that is, at the rate of 16.8, or nearly 17 miles per
hour. But as Mr. Gurney slackened its motion once or twice in the
course of trial, to speak to some one, and did not go at an equal rate
all the way round for fear of accident in the crowd, it is clear that
sometimes we must have proceeded at the rate of upwards of twenty
miles an hour."
The Engraving will furnish the reader with a correct idea of such of
Mr. Gurney's improvements as are most interesting to the public. The
present arrangement is certainly very preferable to placing the boiler
and engine in immediate contact with the carriage, which is to convey
goods and passengers. Men of science are still much divided on the
practical economy of using steam instead of horses as a travelling
agent; but we hope, like all great contemporaries they may whet and
cultivate each other till the desired object is attained. One of them,
a writer in the _Atlas_, observes, that "if ultimately found capable
of being brought into public use, it would probably be most convenient
and desirable that several locomotive engines should be employed on
one line of road, in order that they might be exchanged at certain
stages for the purposes of examination, tightening of screws, and
other adjustments, which the jolting on passing over the road might
render necessary, and for the supply of fuel and water."
An effectively-coloured lithographic of Mr. Gurney's carriage (by
Shoesmith) has recently appeared at the printsellers', which we take
this opportunity of recommending to the notice of collectors and
scrappers.
[Footnote 1: "Literary Gazette," Sept. 19, 1829.]
[Footnote 2: The propellers, I am informed, are not absolutely
discarded. They are now not fixed, but movable, and reserved for
extreme possible emergencies, or for certain military purposes.]
* * * * *
PUNNING SATIRE ON AN INCONSTANT LOVER.
You are as faithless as a _Carthaginian_,
To love at once, _Kate, Nell, Doll, Martha, Jenny, Anne._
SWIFT.
* * * * *
BRIMHAM ROCKS[3] BY MOONLIGHT.
(_FOR THE MIRROR._)
The sun hath set, but yet I linger still,
Gazing with rapture on the face of night;
And mountain wild, deep vale, and heathy hill,
Lay like a lovely vision, mellow, bright,
Bathed in the glory of the sunset light,
Whose changing hues in flick'ring radiance play,
Faint and yet fainter on the outstretch'd sight,
Until at length they wane and die away,
And all th' horizon round fades into twilight gray.
But, slowly rising up the vaulted sky,
Forth comes the moon, night's joyous, sylvan queen,
With one lone, silent star, attendant by
Her side, all sparkling in its glorious sheen;
And, floating swan-like, stately, and serene,
A few light fleecy clouds, the drapery of heav'n,
Throw their pale shadows o'er this witching scene,
Deep'ning its mystic grandeur--and seem driven
Round these all shapeless piles like Time's wan spectres risen
From out the tombs of ages. All around
Lies hushed and still, save with large, dusky wing
The bird of night makes its ill-omened sound;
Or moor-game, nestling 'neath th' flowery ling
Low chuckle to their mates--or startled, spring
Away on rustling pinions to the sky,
Wheel round and round in many an airy ring,
Then swooping downward to their covert hie,
And, lodged beneath the heath again securely lie.
Ascend yon hoary rock's impending brow,
And on its windy summit take your stand--
Lo! Wilsill's lovely vale extends below,
And long, long heathy moors on either hand
Stretch dark and misty--a bleak tract of land,
Whereon but seldom human footsteps come;
Save when with dog, obedient at command,
And gun, the sportsman quits his city home,
And brushing through the ling in quest of game doth roam.
And lo! in wild confusion scattered round,
Huge, shapeless, naked, massy piles of stone
Rise, proudly towering o'er this barren ground,
Scowling in mutual hate--apart, alone,
Stern, desolate they stand--and seeming thrown
By some dire, dread convulsion of the earth
From her deep, silent caves, and hoary grown
With age and storms that Boreas issues forth
Replete with ire from his wild regions in the north.
How beautiful! yet wildly beautiful,
As group on group comes glim'ring on the eye,
Making the heart, soul, mind, and spirit full
Of holy rapture and sweet imagery;
Till o'er the lip escapes th' unconscious sigh,
And heaves the breast with feeling, too too deep
For words t' express the awful sympathy,
That like a dream doth o'er the senses creep,
Chaining the gazer's eye--and yet he cannot weep.
But stands entranced and rooted to the spot,
While grows the scene upon him vast, sublime,
Like some gigantic city's ruin, not
Inhabited by men, but Titans--Time
Here rests upon his scythe and fears to climb,
Spent by th' unceasing toil of ages past,
Musing he stands and listens to the chime
Of rock-born spirits howling in the blast,
While gloomily around night's sable shades are cast.
Well deemed I ween the Druid sage of old
In making this his dwelling place on high;
Where all that's huge and great from Nature's mould,
Spoke this the temple of his deity;
Whose walls and roof were the o'erhanging sky,
His altar th' unhewn rock, all bleak and bare,
Where superstition with red, phrensied eye
And look all wild, poured forth her idol prayer,
As rose the dying wail,[4] and blazed the pile in air.
Lost in the lapse of time, the Druid's lore
Hath ceased to echo these rude rocks among;
No altar new is stained with human gore;
No hoary bard now weaves the mystic song;
Nor thrust in wicker hurdles, throng on throng,
Whole multitudes are offered to appease
Some angry god, whose will and power of wrong
Vainly they thus essayed to soothe and please--
Alas! that thoughts so gross man's noblest powers should seize.
But, bowed beneath the cross, see! prostrate fall
The mummeries that long enthralled our isle;
So perish error! and wide over all
Let reason, truth, religion ever smile:
And let not man, vain, impious man defile
The spark heaven lighted in the human breast;
Let no enthusiastic rage, no sophist's wile
Lull the poor victim into careless rest,
Since the pure gospel page can teach him to be blest.
Weak, trifling man, O! come and ponder here
Upon the nothingness of human things--
How vain, how very vain doth then appear
The city's hum, the pomp and pride of kings;
All that from wealth, power, grandeur, beauty springs,
Alike must fade, die, perish, be forgot;
E'en he whose feeble hand now strikes the strings
Soon, soon within the silent grave must rot--
Yet Nature's still the same, though we see, we hear her not.
J. HORNER.
_Wilsill, near Pateley Bridge, Sept. 1829._
[Footnote 3: Yorkshire. This wonderful assemblage lies scattered in
groups, covering a surface of nearly forty acres of heathy moor.
The numerous rocking-stones, rock-idols, altars, cannon rocks, &c.
evidently point out this spot as having been used by the Druids in
their horrid and mysterious ceremonies. The position of some of these
rocks is truly astonishing; one in particular resting upon a base of
a few inches, overhangs on all sides many feet; while others seem
suspended and balanced as if they hung in air.]
[Footnote 4: Human sacrifices formed part of the religious rites of
the Druids.]
* * * * *
MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS.
* * * * *
PLEDGING HEALTHS.
The origin of the very common expression, to _pledge_ one drinking,
is curious: it is thus related by a very celebrated antiquarian of
the fifteenth century. "When the _Danes_ bore sway in this land, if
a native did drink, they would sometimes stab him with a dagger or
knife; hereupon people would not drink in company unless some one
present would be their _pledge_ or surety, that they should receive no
hurt, whilst they were in their draught; hence that usual phrase, I'll
_pledge you_, or be a pledge for you." Others affirm the true sense of
the word was, that if the party drank to, were not disposed to drink
himself, he would put another for _a pledge_ to do it for him, else
the party who began would take it ill.
J.W.
* * * * *
RUSSIAN SUPERSTITION.
The extreme superstition of the Greek church, the national one of
Russia, seems to exceed that of the Roman Catholic devotees, even in
Spain and Portugal. The following instance will show the absurdity of
it even among the higher classes:--
A Russian princess, some few years since, had always a large silver
crucifix following her in a separate carriage, and which was placed in
her chamber. When any thing fortunate happened to her in the course
of the day, and she was satisfied with all that had occurred, she
had lighted tapers placed around the crucifix, and said to it in a
familiar style, "See, now, as you have been very good to me to-day,
you shall be treated well; you shall have candles all night; I will
love you; I will pray to you." If on the contrary, any thing happened
to vex the lady, she had the candles put out, ordered her servants not
to pay any homage to the poor image, and loaded it herself with the
bitterest reproaches.
INA.
* * * * *
THE SELECTOR;
AND LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS_.
* * * * *
LIBRARY OF ENTERTAINING KNOWLEDGE.
_FRUITS_.
This Part (5) completes the volume of "Vegetable Substances used in
the Arts and in Domestic Economy." The first portion--_Timber Trees_
was noticed at some length in our last volume (page 309,) and received
our almost unqualified commendation, which we are induced to extend to
the Part now before us. Still, we do not recollect to have pointed
out to our readers that which appears to us the great recommendatory
feature of this series of works--we mean the arrangement of the
volumes--their subdivisions and exemplifications--and these evince a
master-hand in compilation.
Every general reader must be aware that little novelty could be
expected in a brief History and Description of Timber Trees and
Fruits, and that the object of the Useful Knowledge Society was not
merely to furnish the public with new views, but to present in the
most attractive form the most entertaining facts of established
writers, and illustrate their views with the observations of
contemporary authors as well as their own personal acquaintance with
the subjects. In this manner, the Editor has taken "a general
and rapid view of fruits," and, considering the great hold their
description possesses on all readers, we are disposed to think almost
too rapid. We should have enjoyed a volume or two more than half a
volume of such reading as the present; but as we are not purchasers,
and are unacquainted with the number to which the Society propose
to extend their works, we ought not perhaps to raise this objection,
which, to say the truth, is a sort of negative commendation. Hitherto,
we have been accustomed to see compilations of pretensions similar
to the present, executed with little regard to neatness or unity,
or weight or consideration. Whole pages and long extracts have been
stripped and sliced off books, with little rule or arrangement, and
what is still worse, without any acknowledgment of the sources.
The last defect is certainly the greatest, since, in spite of
ill-arrangement, an intelligent inquirer may with much trouble, avail
himself of further reference to the authors quoted, and thus complete
in his own mind what the compiler had so indifferently begun. The work
before us is, however, altogether of a much higher order than general
compilations. The introductions and inferences are pointed and
judicious, and the facts themselves of the most interesting character,
are narrated in a condensed but perspicuous style; while the slightest
reference will prove that the best and latest authorities have
been appreciated. Thus, in the History and Description of Fruits,
the Transactions of the Horticultural Society are frequently and
pertinently quoted to establish disputed points, as well as the
journals of intelligent travellers and naturalists; with occasional
poetical embellishments, which lend a charm even to this attractive
species of reading.
To quote the history of either Fruit entire, would not so well denote
the character of the work as would a few of the most striking passages
in the descriptions. In the introductory chapter we are pleased with
the following passage on _Monastic Gardens_.
"The monks, after the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity,
appear to have been the only gardeners. As early as 674, we have
a record, describing a pleasant and fruit-bearing close at Ely,
then cultivated by Brithnoth, the first Abbot of that place. The
ecclesiastics subsequently carried their cultivation of fruits as
tar as was compatible with the nature of the climate, and the
horticultural knowledge of the middle ages. Whoever has seen an old
abbey, where for generations destruction only has been at work, must
have almost invariably found it situated in one of the choicest spots,
both as to soil and aspect; and if the hand of injudicious improvement
has not swept it away, there is still the 'Abbey-garden.' Even though
it has been wholly neglected--though its walls be in ruins, covered
with stone-crop and wall-flower, and its area produce but the rankest
weeds--there are still the remains of the aged fruit trees--the
venerable pears, the delicate little apples, and the luscious black
cherries. The chestnuts and the walnuts may have yielded to the axe,
and the fig trees and vines died away;--but sometimes the mulberry is
left, and the strawberry and the raspberry struggle among the ruins.
There is a moral lesson in these memorials of the monastic ages. The
monks, with all their faults, were generally men of peace and study;
and these monuments show that they were improving the world, while the
warriors were spending their lives to spoil it. In many parts of Italy
and France, which had lain in desolation and ruin from the time of
the Goths, the monks restored the whole surface to fertility; and in
Scotland and Ireland there probably would not have been a fruit tree
till the sixteenth century, if it had not been for their peaceful
labours. It is generally supposed that the monastic orchards were in
their greatest perfection from the twelfth to the fifteenth century."
Again, the
_NATURALIZATION OF PLANTS._
"The large number of our native plants (for we call those native which
have adapted themselves to our climate) mark the gradual progress of
our civilization through the long period of two thousand years; whilst
the almost infinite diversity of exotics which a botanical garden
offers, attest the triumphs of that industry which has carried us
as merchants or as colonists over every region of the earth, and has
brought from every region whatever can administer to our comforts and
our luxuries,--to the tastes and the needful desires of the humblest
as well as the highest amongst us. To the same commerce we owe the
potato and the pine-apple; the China rose, whose flowers cluster round
the cottage-porch, and the Camellia which blooms in the conservatory.
The addition even of a flower, or an ornamental shrub, to those which
we already possess, is not to be regarded as a matter below the
care of industry and science. The more we extend our acquaintance
with the productions of nature, the more are our minds elevated by
contemplating the variety, as well as the exceeding beauty, of the
works of the Creator. The highest understanding does not stoop when
occupied in observing the brilliant colour of a blossom, or the
graceful form of a leaf. Hogarth, the great moral painter, a man in
all respects of real and original genius, writes thus to his friend
Ellis, a distinguished traveller and naturalist:--'As for your pretty
little seed-cups, or vases, they are a sweet confirmation of the
pleasure Nature seems to take in superadding an elegance of form to
most of her works, wherever you find them. How poor and bungling are
all the imitations of Art! When I have the pleasure of seeing you
next, we will sit down, _nay, kneel down if you will_, and admire
these things.'
* * * * *
"It is one of the proudest attributes of man, and one which is most
important for him to know, that he can improve every production
of nature, if he will but once make it his own by possession and
attachment. A conviction of this truth has rendered the cultivation of
fruits, in the more polished countries of Europe, as successful as we
now behold it."
The work then divides into _Fruits of the Temperate Climates_, and
of _Tropical Climates_; the first are subdivided into Fleshy, Pulpy,
and Stone Fruits and Nuts, in preference to a strict geographical
arrangement. Under "the Apple" occur some very judicious observations
on
_CIDER._
"The cider counties of England have always been considered as highly
interesting. They lie something in the form of a horse-shoe round
the Bristol Channel; and the best are, Worcester and Hereford, on
the north of the channel, and Somerset and Devon on the south. In
appearance, they have a considerable advantage over those counties
in which grain alone is cultivated. The blossoms cover an extensive
district with a profusion of flowers in the spring, and the fruit is
beautiful in autumn. Some of the orchards occupy a space of forty or
fifty acres; and the trees being at considerable intervals, the land
is also kept in tillage. A great deal of practical acquaintance with
the qualities of soil is required in the culture of apple and pear
trees; and his skill in the adaptation of trees to their situation
principally determines the success of the manufacturer of cider
and perry. The produce of the orchards is very fluctuating; and the
growers seldom expect an abundant crop more than once in three years.
The quantity of apples required to make a hogshead of cider is from
twenty-four to thirty bushels; and in a good year an acre of orchard
will produce somewhere about six hundred bushels, or from twenty to
twenty-five hogsheads. The cider harvest is in September. When the
season is favourable, the heaps of apples collected at the presses are
immense--consisting of hundreds of tons. If any of the vessels used in
the manufacture of cider are of lead, the beverage is not wholesome.
The price of a hogshead of cider generally varies from 2l. to 5l.,
according to the season and quality; but cider of the finest growth
has sometimes been sold as high as 20l. by the hogshead, direct from
the press--a price equal to that of many of the fine wines of the
Rhine or the Garonne."
* * * * *
_OLD APPLE TREES._
"At Horton, in Buckinghamshire, where Milton spent some of his earlier
years, there is an apple tree still growing, of which the oldest
people remember to have heard it said that the poet was accustomed
to sit under it. And upon the low leads of the church at Romsey, in
Hampshire, there is an apple tree still bearing fruit, which is said
to be two hundred years old."
The _Fig_ and the _Fine_ are equally interesting, and in connexion
with the latter we notice the editor's mention of the fine vineyard
at Arundel Castle. Aubrey describes a similar vineyard at Chart Park,
near Dorking, another seat of the Howards. "Here was a vineyard,
supposed to have been planted by the Hon. Charles Howard, who, it is
said, erected his residence, as it were, in the vineyard." Again, "the
vineyard flourished for some time, and tolerably good wine was made
from the produce; but after the death of the noble planter, in 1713,
it was much neglected, and nothing remained but the name. On taking
down the house, a stone resembling a millstone, was found, by which
the grapes were pressed."[5] We were on the spot at the time, and saw
the stone in question. Vines are still very abundant at Dorking, the
soil being very congenial to their growth. "Hence, almost every house
in this part has its vine; and some of the plants are very productive.
The cottages of the labouring poor are not without this ornament, and
the produce is usually sold by them to their wealthier neighbours, for
the manufacture of wine. The price per bushel is from 4s. to 16s.;
but the variableness of the season frequently disappoints them in the
crops, the produce of which is sometimes laid up as a setoff to the
rent."[6]
We have heard too of attempts in England to train the vine on
the sides of hills, and a few years since an individual lost a
considerable sum of money in making the experiment in the Isle of
Wight.
At page 257, observes the editor,
_A VINEYARD_
"Associated as it is with all our ideas of beauty and plenty, is,
in general, a disappointing object. The hop plantations of our own
country are far more picturesque. In France, the vines are trained
upon poles, seldom more than three or four feet in height; and 'the
pole-clipt vineyard' of poetry is not the most inviting of real
objects. In Spain, poles for supporting vines are not used; but
cuttings are planted, which are not permitted to grow very high, but
gradually form thick and stout stocks. In Switzerland, and in the
German provinces, the vineyards are as formal as those of France.
But in Italy is found the true vine of poetry, 'surrounding the stone
cottage with its girdle, flinging its pliant and luxuriant branches
over the rustic veranda, or twining its long garland from tree to
tree.'[7] It was the luxuriance and the beauty of her vines and her
olives that tempted the rude people of the north to pour down upon her
fertile fields:--
'The prostrate South to the destroyer yields
Her boasted titles and her golden fields;
With grim delight the brood of winter view
A brighter day, and heavens of azure hue.
Scent the new fragrance of the breathing rose.
And quaff the pendent vintage as it grows.'[8]
"In Greece, too, as well as Italy, the shoots of the vines are
either trained upon trees, or supported, so as to display all their
luxuriance, upon a series of props. This was the custom of the ancient
vine-growers; and their descendants have preserved it in all its
picturesque originality.[9] The vine-dressers of Persia train their
vines to run up a wall, and curl over on the top. But the most
luxurious cultivation of the vine in hot countries is where it covers
the trellis-work which surrounds a well, inviting the owner and his
family to gather beneath its shade. 'The fruitful bough by well' is of
the highest antiquity."
Passing over the Mulberry, Currant, Gooseberry, and the Strawberry,
the account of the Egg Plant is particularly attractive; and that of
the Olive is well-written, but too long for extract.
Among the _Tropical Fruits_, the Orange and the Date are very
delightful; and equal in importance and interest are the Cocoa Nut
and Bread Fruit Tree. In short, it is impossible to open the volume
without being gratified with the richness and variety of its contents,
and the amiable feeling which pervades the inferences and incidental
observations of the writer.
A word or two on the embellishments and we have done. These are
far behind the literary merits of the volume, and are discreditable
productions. Where so much is well done it were better to omit
engravings altogether than adopt such as these: "they imitate nature
so abominably." The group at page 223 is a fair specimen of the whole,
than which nothing can be more lifeless. After the excellent cuts of
Mr. London's Gardener's and Natural History Magazines, we turn away
from these with pain, and it must be equally vexatious to the editor
to see such accompaniments to his pages.
[Footnote 5: Picturesque Promenade round Dorking. Second Edit. 12mo.
1823, p. 258, 259.]
[Footnote 6: Ibid p. 143.]
[Footnote 7: The Alpenstock, by C.J. Latrobe, 1829.]
[Footnote 8: Gray's Alliance of Education and Government.]
[Footnote 9: See the second Georgic of Virgil.]
* * * * *
SHAKSPEARE'S BROOCH.
[Illustration]
(_TO THE EDITOR OF THE MIRROR._)
Having frequently observed in your valuable publication the great
attention which you have paid to every thing relating to the "Immortal
Bard of Avon," I beg leave to transmit to you two drawings (the one
back, the other front) of a brooch or buckle, found near the residence
of the poet, at New Place, Stratford, among the rubbish brought out
from the spot where the house stood. This brooch is considered by the
most competent judges and antiquarians in and near Stratford, to have
been the personal property of Shakspeare. A. is the back; 1 and 2,
faint traces of the letters which were nearly obliterated, by the
person who found the relic, in scraping to ascertain whether the
metal was precious, the whole of it being covered with gangrene
or verdigris. 3 and 4 are the remains of the hinge to the pin.
Fortunately the W. at the corner was preserved. B. represents the
front of the brooch; 1, 3, and 5, are red stones in the top part
(similar in shape to a coronet) 2 and 4 are blue stones in the same;
the other stones in the bottom or heart are white, though varying
rather in hue, and all are set in silver.
HJTHWC.
N.B. The above is shown to the curious by the individual who found
it--a poor man named Smith, living in Sheep Street, Stratford.
* * * * *
SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS
* * * * *
The greater portion of the following Notes will, we are persuaded, be
new to all but the bibliomaniacs in theatrical lore. They occur in a
paper of 45 pages in the last Edinburgh Review, in which the writer
attributes the Decline of the Drama to a variety of causes--as
late hours, costly representations, high salaries, and excessive
taxation--some of which we have selected for extract. In our affection
for the Stage, we have paid some attention to its history, as well
as to its recent state, and readily do we subscribe to a few of the
Reviewer's opinions of the cause of its neglect. But to attribute this
falling off to "taxes innumerable" is rather too broad: perhaps the
highly-taxed wax lights around the box circles suggested this new
light. We need not go so far to detect the rottenness of the dramatic
state; still, as the question involves controversy at every point,
we had rather keep out of the fight, and leave our Reviewer without
further note or comment.
NOTES ON THE DRAMA.
(_FROM THE EDINBURGH REVIEW, NO. 98._)
_ORIGIN OF ADMISSION MONEY._
There were at Athens various funds, applicable to public purposes; one
of which, and among the most considerable, was appropriated for the
expensed of sacrifices, processions, festivals, spectacles, and of
the theatres. The citizens were admitted to the theatres for some time
gratis; but in consequence of the disturbances caused by multitudes
crowding to get seats, to introduce order, and as the phrase is,
to keep out improper persons, a small sum of money was afterwards
demanded for admission. That the poorer classes, however, might not
be deprived of their favourite gratification, they received from the
treasury, out of this fund, the price of a seat--and thus peace and
regularity were secured, and the fund still applied to its original
purpose. The money that was taken at the doors, having served as a
ticket, was expended, together with that which had not been used in
this manner, to maintain the edifice itself, and to pay the manifold
charges of the representation.
"_DRAMATIC REPRESENTATIONS NATURAL TO MAN._"
Travellers inform us, that savages, even in a very rude state, are
found to divert themselves by imitating some common event in life: but
it is not necessary to leave our own quiet homes to satisfy ourselves,
that dramatic representations are natural to man. All children
delight in mimicking action; many of their amusements consist in such
performances, and are in every sense _plays_. It is curious, indeed,
to observe at how early an age the young of the most imitative animal,
man, begin to copy the actions of others; how soon the infant displays
its intimate conviction of the great truth, that "all the world's a
Stage." The baby does not imitate those acts only, that are useful
and necessary to be learned; but it instinctively mocks useless and
unimportant actions and unmeaning sounds, for its amusement, and for
the mere pleasure of imitation, and is evidently much delighted
when it is successful. The diversions of children are very commonly
dramatic. When they are not occupied with their hoops, tops, and
balls, or engaged in some artificial game, they amuse themselves in
playing at soldiers, in being at school, or at church, in going to
market, in receiving company; and they imitate the various employments
of life with so much fidelity, that the theatrical critic, who
delights in chaste acting, will often find less to censure in his own
little servants in the nursery, than in his majesty's servants in a
theatre-royal. When they are somewhat older they dramatize the stories
they read; most boys have represented Robin Hood, or one of his
merry-men, and every one has enacted the part of Robinson Crusoe,
and his man Friday. We have heard of many extraordinary tastes and
antipathies; but we never knew an instance of a young person, who
was not delighted the first time he visited a theatre. The true
enjoyment of life consists in action; and happiness, according to
the peripatetic definition, is to be found in energy; it accords,
therefore, with the nature and etymology of the drama, which is,
in truth, not less natural than agreeable. Its grand divisions
correspond, moreover, with those of time; the contemplation of the
present is Comedy--mirth for the most part being connected with the
present only--and the past and the future are the dominions of the
Tragic muse.
_GRECIAN THEATRES._
The climate of Athens being one of the finest and most agreeable in
the world, the Athenians passed the greatest part of their time in the
open air; and their theatres, like those in the rest of Greece and
in ancient Rome, had no other covering than the sky. Their structure
accordingly differed greatly from that of a modern playhouse, and the
representation in many respects was executed in a different manner.
But we will mention those peculiarities only which are necessary to
render our observations intelligible.
The ancient theatres, in the first place, were on a much larger scale
than any that have been constructed in later days. It would have
been impossible, by reason of the magnitude of the edifice, and
consequently of the stage, to have changed the scenes in the same
manner as in our smaller buildings. The scene, as it was called, was
a permanent structure, and resembled the front of Somerset House, of
the Horse Guards, or the Tuileries, and was in the same style of
architecture as the rest of the spacious edifice. There were three
large gateways, through each of which a view of streets, or of woods,
or of whatever was suitable to the action represented, was displayed;
this painting was fixed upon a triangular frame, that turned on an
axis, like a swivel seal, or ring, so that any one of the three
sides might be presented to the spectators, and perhaps the two that
were turned away might be covered with other subjects, if it were
necessary. If parts of Regent Street, or of Whitehall, or the Mansion
House, and the Bank of England, were shown through the openings in
the fixed scene, it would be plain that the fable was intended to be
referred to London; and it would be removed to Edinburgh, or Paris,
if the more striking portions of those cities were thus exhibited. The
front of the scene was broken by columns, by bays and promontories in
the line of the building, which gave beauty and variety to the facade,
and aided the deception produced by the paintings that were seen
through the three openings. In the Roman Theatres there were commonly
two considerable projections, like large bow-windows, or bastions,
in the spaces between the apertures; this very uneven line afforded
assistance to the plot, in enabling different parties to be on the
stage at the same time, without seeing one another. The whole front of
the stage was called the scene, or covered building, to distinguish it
from the rest of the theatre, which was open to the air, except that
a covered portico frequently ran round the semicircular part of the
edifice at the back of the highest row of seats, which answered to
our galleries, and was occupied, like them, by the gods, who stood in
crowds upon the level floor of their celestial abodes.
Immediately in front of the stage, as with us, was the orchestra;
but it was of much larger dimensions, not only positively, but
in proportion to the theatre. In our playhouses it is exclusively
inhabited by fiddles and their fiddlers; the ancients appropriated it
to more dignified purposes; for there stood the high altar of Bacchus,
richly ornamented and elevated, and around it moved the sacred Chorus
to solemn measures, in stately array and in magnificent vestments,
with crowns and incense, chanting at intervals their songs, and
occupied in their various rites, as we have before mentioned. It is
one of the many instances of uninterrupted traditions, that this part
of our theatres is still devoted to receive musicians, although,
in comparison with their predecessors, they are of an ignoble and
degenerate race.
The use of masks was another remarkable peculiarity of the ancient
acting. It has been conjectured, that the tragic mask was invented
to conceal the face of the actor, which, in a small city like Athens,
must have been known to the greater part of the audience, as vulgar
in expression, and it sometimes would have brought to mind most
unseasonably the remembrance of a life and of habits, that would have
repelled all sympathy with the character which he was to personate. It
would not have been endured, that a player should perform the part of
a monarch in his ordinary dress, nor that of a hero with his own mean
physiognomy. It is probable, also, that the likeness of every hero of
tragedy was handed down in statues, medals, and paintings, or even in
a series of masks; and that the countenance of Theseus, or of Ajax,
was as well known to the spectators as the face of any of their
contemporaries. Whenever a living character was introduced by name, as
Cleon or Socrates, in the old comedy, we may suppose that the mask was
a striking, although not a flattering portrait. We cannot doubt, that
these masks were made with great care, and were skilfully painted,
and finished with the nicest accuracy; for every art was brought to
a focus in the Greek theatres. We must not imagine, like schoolboys,
that the tragedies of Sophocles were performed at Athens in such
rude masks as are exhibited in our music shops. We have some
representations of them in antique sculptures and paintings, with
features somewhat distorted, but of exquisite and inimitable beauty.
_THE ROMAN STAGE._
The Drama of ancient Rome possesses little of originality or interest.
The word _Histrio_ is said to be of Etruscan origin; the Tuscans,
therefore, had their theatres; but little information can now be
gleaned respecting them. It was long before theatres were firmly and
permanently established in Rome; but the love of these diversions
gradually became too powerful for the censors, and the Romans grew,
at last, nearly as fond of them as the Greeks. The latter, as St.
Augustine informs us, did not consider the profession of a player as
dishonourable: "Ipsos scenicos non turpes judicaverunt, sed dignos
etiam praeclaris honoribus habuerunt."--_De Civ. Dei_. The more prudish
Romans, however, were less tolerant; and we find in the Code various
constitutions levelled against actors, and one law especially, which
would not suit our senate, forbidding senators to marry actresses; but
this was afterwards relaxed by Justinian, who had broken it himself.
He permitted such marriages to take place on obtaining the consent
of the emperor, and afterwards without, so that the lady quitted the
stage, and changed her manner of life. The Romans, however, had at
least enough of kindly feeling towards a Comedian to pray for the
safety, or refection, of his soul after death; this is proved by a
pleasant epitaph on a player, which is published in the collection
of Gori:--
Pro jocis, quibus cunctos
oblectabat,
Si quid oblectamenti apud
vos est
Manes, insontem reficite
Animulam."
_COSTUME._
It is probable that the imagination of the spectator could without
difficulty dispense with scenes, particularly if the surrounding
objects were somewhat removed from the ordinary aspect of every-day
things; if the performance were to take place, for example, in the
hall of a college, or in a church.
The costume that prevails at present almost universally, is so
barbarous and mean, and it changes in so many minute particulars so
frequently, that it is impossible to conceive the hero of a tragedy
actually wearing such attire. A more picturesque dress seems therefore
to be indispensable; but the essentials of the costume of any time,
from which dramatic subjects could be taken, are by no means costly.
All that is absolutely necessary in vestments to content the fancy,
might be procured at a trifling expense, and the hero or heroine
might be supplied with the ordinary apparel of Greece, or Rome, or of
any other country, at a small price. We must carefully distinguish,
however, between the necessaries and the luxuries of deception; the
form, and sometimes the colour, demand a scrupulous accuracy; the
texture is always unimportant. We may comprehend, therefore, how the
old English theatre, notwithstanding the small outlay on decorations,
by a strict attention to essentials, possessed considerable
attractions; we may readily believe, that there were many companies
who were maintained by their trade; "that all those companies got
money and lived in reputation, especially those of the Blackfriars,
who were men of grave and sober behaviour."
_THE OLD DRAMA._
Our literature is remarkably rich in old dramas; but they are of
little use to the present age. Fastidiousness and hypocrisy have grown
for many years, slowly but surely, and have at last arrived at such
a pitch, that there is hardly a line in the works of our old comic
writers, which is not reprobated as immoral, or at least vulgar.
The excessive squeamishness of taste of the present day is very
unfavourable to the genius of comedy, which demands a certain liberty
and a freedom from restraints. This morbid delicacy is a great
evil, for it renders the time of limitation in all comic writings
exceedingly short. The ephemeral duration of the fashion, which is
all the production of a man of wit can now enjoy, discourages authors.
There is no motive to bestow much care on such compositions, and they
fall below the ambition of men of real talents--for the best part of
the reward of literary labour consists in the lasting admiration of
posterity; and as some new fastidiousness will consign to oblivion, in
a short time, every comic production, it is plain that such a reward
cannot be reasonably anticipated. We are more completely, than any
other nation, the victims of fashion. Everything here must either be
in the last and newest fashion, or it must cease to be. The despotism
of fashion in dress, in furniture, and in the pattern of the edges of
plate, is perhaps inconvenient--it is, however, not very important;
but it is a cruel grievance that it should interfere with and
annihilate an entire department of our literature.
_HOURS OF REPRESENTATION._
Dramatic representations were formerly given, not only in Greece and
Rome, but in England also, in the daytime, and in the open air. "The
Globe, Fortune, and Bull, were large houses, and partly open to the
weather, and there they always acted by daylight;" and plays were
first acted in Spain in the open courts of great houses, which were
sometimes covered, in whole or in part, with an awning to keep off the
sun. The word _sale_, which is used as a stage direction, meaning not
_exit_, but he enters, i.e. he comes out of the house into the open
air, is an evidence of the old practice. We are inclined to think
that the morning is more favourable to dramatic excellence than the
evening. The daylight accords with the truth and sobriety of nature,
and it is the season of cool judgment: the gilded, the painted, the
tawdry, the meretricious--spangles and tinsel, and tarnished and
glittering trumpery--demand the glare of candle-light and the shades
of night. It is certain, that the best pieces were written for the
day; and it is probable, that the best actors were those who performed
whilst the sun was above the horizon. The childish trash which now
occupies so large a portion of the public attention could not, it is
evident, keep possession of the stage, if it were to be presented, not
at ten o'clock at night, but twelve hours earlier. Much would need to
be changed in the dresses, scenery, and decorations, and in many other
respects, in the pieces, the solid merits of which would be able to
undergo the severe ordeal; and if we consider _what_ changes would be
required to adapt them to the altered hours, we shall find that they
will be all in favour of good taste, and on the side of nature and
simplicity. The day is a holy thing; Homer aptly calls it [Greek:
ieron aemar], and it still retains something of the sacred simplicity
of ancient times. It is, at all events, less sophisticated and
polluted than the modern night, a period which is not devoted to
wholesome sleep, but to various constraints and sufferings, called,
in bitter mockery, Pleasure. The late evening, being a modern
invention, is therefore devoted to fashion; to recur to the simple and
pure in theatricals, it would probably be necessary to effect an
escape from a period of time, which has never been employed in the
full integrity of tasteful elegance; and thus to break the spell, by
which the whole realm of fancy has long been bewitched. An absurd and
inconvenient practice, which is almost peculiar to this country, of
attending public places in that uncomfortable condition, which is
technically called being dressed, but which is in truth, especially in
females, being more or less naked and undressed, might more easily be
dispensed with by day, and on that account, and for many other reasons,
it would be less difficult to return home.
_DECLINE OF THE DRAMA._
It is not unlikely that the drama would be more successful if it were
conducted more plainly, and in a less costly style. The perfection
of the machinery and scenery of the modern theatres, seems to be
unfavourable to the goodness of composition and acting; since the
accessaries are so excellent, the opinion is encouraged, that the
principals are less important, and may be neglected with impunity.
The effect of good scenery at the first glance is, no doubt, very
striking, but it soon passes away. If we saw a Garrick acting
Shakspeare in a large hall, without any scenes, we should cease in a
few minutes to be sensible of the want of them. We are almost disposed
to believe, that exactly in proportion as scenery has been improved,
good acting has declined.
The present age is too much inclined to make human life, in every
department, resemble a great lottery, in which there are a very few
enormous prizes, and all the rest of the tickets are blanks. The
stage has not escaped the evil we complain of; on the contrary, it is
a striking instance of the mischief of this unequal partition. The
public are of opinion, that it is impossible to reward a small number
of actors too highly, and to pay the remainder at too low a rate;
to neglect the latter enough, or to be sufficiently attentive to the
former. On our stage, therefore, the inferior parts, and indeed all
but one or two, and especially in tragedies, where the inequality
is more intolerable, and more inexcusable, are sustained in a
very inadequate manner. In foreign theatres, on the contrary, and
especially in France, the whole performance is more equal, and
consequently more agreeable. There is perhaps less difference than is
commonly supposed between the best performers and those in the next
class. Whatever the difference be, it is an inconvenience and an
imperfection that ought to be palliated; but we aggravate it. The
first-rate actor always does his best, because the audience expect it,
and reward him with their applause; but no one cares for, or observes,
the performer of second-rate talents: whether he be perfect in his
part, and exert himself to the utmost, or be slovenly and negligent
throughout, he is unpraised and unblamed. The general effect,
therefore, of our tragedies, is very unsatisfactory; for that is far
greater, where all the characters are tolerably well supported, than
where there is one good actor, and all the other parts are inhumanly
murdered. This latter is too often the case on our stage for with
us art does little, nothing being taught systematically. The French
players, on the contrary, are thoroughly drilled, and well instructed,
in every requisite.
* * * * *
BISHOPS' SLEEVES.
To Joan it has been always conceded that she is as good as her lady
in the dark, but it is only of late years that Joan has presumed to
rival her mistress in the light. The high price of silks and satins
protected the mistress against this usurpation of her servant in the
broad day. Clad in these, she was safe, as in a coat of mail, from
the attack of the domestic aspirant, who was seldom able to obtain
possession of the outworks of fashion beyond an Irish poplin or a
Norwich crape. The silks and satins were a wall of separation, as
impenetrable as the lines of Torres Vedras, or the court hoop and
petticoat of a drawing-room in the reign of George III. The new
liberal commercial system has entirely changed the position of the
parties. The cheapness of French silks, and other articles of dress,
has placed female finery within the reach of even moderate wages, and
a kitchen-wench will not condescend to sweep the room in any thing
less than a robe of _Gros de Naples_ or _batiste_. Something must be
done on the part of the mistress to arrest the progress of invasion,
and assert the vested rights of the superior classes of female
society. Invention is the first quality of genius, and to woman it
is granted in a high degree. Thus gifted, the mistress, in a happy
moment, conceived the idea of bishops' sleeves, an article of dress
which precludes all hope or chance of imitation in the kitchen. A
muffled cat might as well attempt to catch mice, as a maid-servant to
go about the business of the house in bishops' sleeves. She could not
remove the tea-equipage from the table without the risk of sweeping
the china upon the floor; if she handed her master a plate, he must
submit to have his head wrapped up in her sleeve; and what a figure
must the cook present after preparing her soups and sauces! The female
servant thus accoutred might, indeed, perform the office of a flapper,
and disperse the flies; but although this was an office of importance
among the ancients, it is dispensed with at a modern table. With the
introduction of bishops' sleeves, the rivalry on the part of the maid
must cease, and the mistress remain in undisturbed possession of her
pre-eminence. Every friend of good order, every one who would retain
each individual female in her proper place in society, and prevent its
members from trespassing on each other, must, therefore, rejoice in
bishops' sleeves; and devoutly pray, that differing from every other
fashion that ever preceded it, the fashion of bishops' sleeves may
endure for ever.--New Monthly Magazine.
* * * * *
SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY
* * * * *
_IRIS LUNARIS._
That rare and beautiful phenomenon the _Iris Lunaris_, or moonlight
rainbow, was observed by Mr. W. Colbourne, jun. and a friend of his,
from an eminence about a quarter of a mile from Sturminster, on the
evening of the 14th instant, about twenty minutes before nine o'clock,
in the north-west. Its northern limb first made its appearance;
but after a few minutes, the complete curvature was distinctly and
beautifully displayed. The altitude of its apex seemed to be nearly
forty degrees. Nothing could exceed the beauty of the appearance of
this arch of milky whiteness, contrasted as it was with the sable
rain fraught clouds which formed the background to this interesting
picture. It continued visible more than five minutes, and gradually
disappeared at the western limb.
RURIS.
_Sturminster_.
_WESTPHALIA HAMS_
Are prepared in November and March. The Germans place them in deep
tubs, which they cover with layers of salt and saltpetre, and with a
few laurel leaves. They are left four or five days in this state, and
are then completely covered with strong brine. At the end of three
weeks they are taken out, and left to soak for twelve hours in clear
well-water; they are then exposed, during three weeks, to a smoke
produced by the branches of juniper.--_From the French._
_LONDON PORTER._
The bitter contained in porter, if taken wholly from hops, would
require an average quantity of ten or twelve pounds to the quarter
of malt, or about three pounds per barrel; so that if we consider the
fluctuation in the price of hops, we shall not be surprised at the
numerous substitutes, by which means the brewer can procure as much
bitter for sixpence as would otherwise cost him a pound.
Quassia is, probably, the most harmless of all the illegal bitters.
The physicians prescribe the decoction to their patients to the extent
of a quarter of an ounce of the bark a day--as much as the brewer was
accustomed to put into nine gallons of his porter.--_Library of Useful
Knowledge_.
_BLACK GAME_
Have increased greatly in the southern counties of Scotland and north
of England within the last few years. It is a pretty general opinion,
though an erroneous one, that they drive away the red grouse; the
two species require very different kinds of cover, and will never
interfere.--_Note to White's Selborne, by Sir W. Jardine_.
_BIRDS OF PREY._
All birds of prey are capable of sustaining the want of food and water
for long periods, particularly the latter, but of which they also seem
remarkably fond, drinking frequently in a state of nature, and during
summer washing almost daily.--Ibid.
_EGYPT._
M. Champollion, in one of his recent letters, tells us that the whole
of the island of Elephantina would hardly make a park fit for a good
citizen of Paris, although certain modern chronologists would fain
make it into a kingdom, in order to dispose of the ancient Egyptian
dynasty of the Elephantines.
In another letter dated March last, he says, "Our establishment is in
the Valley of Kings, which may truly be called the abode of death, as
not a blade of grass is to be found in it, nor any living creature,
except the jackall and hyaena, which the night before last devoured, at
the distance of 100 steps from our palace, the ass which had carried
my Barabra servant Mahomet, during the time that he was agreeably
passing the night of the Ramadan in our kitchen, which is in a royal
tomb, entirely dilapidated."--_Translated in the Literary Gazette_.
_BEET-ROOT SUGAR._
The Anti-Slavery Monthly Reporter for September, among the advantages
which will probably lead to the discontinuance of the cultivation of
sugar by slaves, enumerates the rapid extension of the manufacture of
beet-root sugar in France; a prelude, as the editor conceives, to its
introduction into this country, and especially into Ireland.
_DRY ROT._
The American Commodore Barron recommends pumping air from the holds of
vessels as a remedy against dry rot; the common mode of ventilation,
by forcing pure air, or dashing water into the hold, being found an
imperfect preservative.
_ALLOYED IRON PLATE._
Iron, coated with an alloy of tin and lead, so as to imitate tin
plate, and not to rust, is now manufactured to a considerable
extent in Paris; and its use for sugar-pans and boilers, and in the
construction of roofs and gutters is expected to be very considerable.
_INTERESTING QUESTION._
Whether in the sea there be depths where no creature is able to
live, or whether a boundary be assigned to organic life within those
depths, cannot be ascertained. It, however, clearly appears from
the observations made by Biot, and other naturalists, that fishes,
according to their different dispositions, live in different depths of
the ocean.--_From the German_.
_CATS._
In Kamtschatka, Greenland, Lapland, and Iceland, there are no cats,
nor does the lynx in Europe extend farther than Norway.--Ibid.
_VESSELS MADE OF THE PAPYRUS._
The last number of the _Magazine of Natural History_ contains an
article of great interest, on Vessels made of the Papyrus, illustrated
with cuts, from which it appears that vessels have from the earliest
times, been formed from the paper reed, and that they are at present
in use in Egypt and Abyssinia. The author is John Hogg, Esq. M.A.
F.L.S. &c. whose antiquarian attainments have greatly assisted him in
the elucidation of this very curious subject.
_REMAINS OF LA PEROUSE._[10]
M. Derville, who commanded the Astrolabe, in the lute-voyage
undertaken to search for traces of the expedition of La Perouse,
considers the island, the summits of which were observed fifteen
leagues to windward, by the frigates La Recherche and L'Esperance,
which composed the expedition of Admiral D'Entrecasteaux, in 1793, and
to which the name of the Isle de la Recherche was then given, to be
the identical island, Vanikoro (or Vanicolo) on the shores of which
the remnants of La Perouse's vessel have been found. The geographical
position of latitude and longitude of the Isle of Vanikoro, agrees
exactly with that of the island to which the name of Recherche was
given by D'Entrecasteaux. That island was then confounded with the
number of other islands, which had been seen by the expedition, and
which it had been found impossible to examine in detail.--_Athenaeum_.
_STUDY OF CHEMISTRY._
Numbers there are, far above the lower classes, who still consider the
elements of all things as consisting of earth, air, fire, and water;
an error which classical-learning, no less than the expressions of
common parlance, tends to perpetuate. Let us hope that the days are
at hand, if not already arrived, in which the acquirement of such
fundamental knowledge will be looked upon as at least equally
necessary with the study of languages, and the cultivation of taste
and imagination.--_Library of Useful Knowledge_.
[Footnote 10: For a Report of this discovery, see MIRROR, vol. xiii p.
409.]
* * * * *
THE GATHERER.
A snapper up of unconsidered trifles.--SHAKSPEARE.
* * * * *
ORIGIN OF THE WORD WORSTED.
Worsted, in the county of Norfolk, though formerly a town of
considerable trade, and much celebrity, is now reduced to a village,
and the manufactures, which obtained a name from the place, are
removed to Norwich and its vicinity.
Shakspeare has not been very courteous towards the _worsted gentry_;
had he lived in our times, they might have _worsted_ him for a libel:
he says in King Lear, "A base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three suited,
hundred pound, filthy, worsted stocking knave."
P.T.W.
* * * * *
I asked a poor man, how he did? He said, he was like a washball,
always in decay.--_Swift_.
* * * * *
CAT-FANCIER.
Lady Morgan gives the following anecdote in her _Book of the Boudoir_.
"The first day we had the honour of dining at the palace of the
Archbishop of Taranto, at Naples, he said to me, you must pardon my
passion for cats, (_la mia passione gattesca_) but I never exclude
them from my dining-room, and you will find they make excellent
company." Between the first and second course the door opened, and
several enormously large and beautiful Angola cats were introduced by
the names of Pantalone, Desdemona, Otello, &c. They took their places
on chairs near the table, and were as silent, as quiet, as motionless,
and as well behaved, as the most _bon ton_ table in London could
require. On the bishop requesting one of the chaplains to help
the Signora Desdemona, the butler stepped up to his lordship, and
observed, "My Lord, La Signora Desdemona will prefer waiting for the
roast."
* * * * *
ANCIENT FAMILY.
There was much sound truth in the speech of a country lad to an idler,
who boasted his ancient family: "_So much the worse for you_," said
the peasant, as we ploughmen say, "_the older the seed the worse the
crop_."
* * * * *
At North Ferryby, in Yorkshire, the following very instructive
lines, are inscribed on a handsome tablet to the memory of Sir T.
Etherington, an Alderman of Hull, and late a resident in the above
place:--
"Taught of God we should view losses, sickness, pain, and death,
but as the several trying stages by which a good man, like Joseph,
is conducted from a tent to a court; sin his disease, Christ his
physician, pain his medicine, the Bible his support, the grave his
rest, and death itself an angel expressly sent to relieve the worn out
labourer, or crown the faithful soldier!"
Louis XIV. was presented with an epitaph by an indifferent poet, on
the celebrated Moliere. "I would to God," said he, "that Moliere had
brought me yours."
* * * * *
ON MEMORY.
What an unknown and unspeakable happiness would it be to a man of
judgment, and who is engaged in the pursuit of knowledge, if he had
but a power of stamping all his own best sentiments upon his memory in
some indelible characters; and if he could but imprint every valuable
paragraph and sentiment of the most excellent authors he has read,
upon his mind, with the same speed and facility with which he read
them?--_Watts_.
* * * * *
Upon a stone in St. Margaret's churchyard, at Lynn, in Norfolk, is the
following inscription to the memory of William Scrivenor, Cook to the
Corporation, who died in the year 1684:--
Alas! alas! _Will Scrivenor's_ dead, who by his art,
Could make death's skeleton edible in each part,
Mourn, squeamish stomachs, and ye curious palates,
You've lost your dainty dishes and your salades;
Mourn for yourselves, but not for him i'th' least
He's gone to taste of a more heav'nly feast.
At Whitchingham Magna, in the same county, is the following epitaph to
Thomas Alleyne, gent. who died Feb. 3, 1650, and his two wives:--
Death here advantage hath of life I spye,
One husband with two wives at once may lye.
* * * * *
A recent American newspaper has the following notice to its
readers:--"The editor, printer, publisher, foreman, and oldest
apprentice (_two_ in all,) are confined by sickness, and the whole
establishment is left in the care of the _devil_."
* * * * *
LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THE
Following Novels is already Published:
s. d.
Mackenzie's Man of Feeling 0 6
Paul and Virginia 0 6
The Castle of Otranto 0 6
Almoran and Hamet 0 6
Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia 0 6
The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne 0 6
Rasselas 0 8
The Old English Baron 0 9
Nature and Art 0 8
Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield 0 10
Sicilian Romance 1 0
The Man of the World 1 0
A Simple Story 1 4
Joseph Andrews 1 6
Humphry Clinker 1 8
The Romance of the Forest 1 8
The Italian 2 0
Zeluco, by Dr. Moore 2 6
Edward, by Dr. Moore 2 6
Roderick Random 2 6
The Mysteries of Udolpho 3 6
Peregrine Pickle 4 6
* * * * *
_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD 143, Strand, (near Somerset
House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic;
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