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THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
Vol. 20 No. 575.] SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1832. [PRICE 2d.
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[Illustration]
FRAMLINGHAM CASTLE.
Castle of Ancient Days! in times long gone
Thy lofty halls in regal splendour shone!
Thou stoodst a monument of strength sublime,
A Giant, laughing at the threats of Time!
Strange scenes have passed within thy walls! and strange
Has been thy fate through many a chance and change!
Thy Towers have heard the war-cry, and the shout
Of friends within, and answering foes without,
Have rung to sounds of revelry, while mirth
Held her carousal, when the sons of earth
Sported with joy, till even _he_ could bring
No fresh delight upon his drooping wing!
JAMES BIRD.
(_From a Correspondent_.)
This Castle is said to have been founded by Redwald, or Redowald, one
of the most powerful kings of the East Angles, between A.D. 599 and
624. It belonged to St. Edmund, one of the Saxon monarchs of East
Anglia, who, upon the invasion of the Danes, fled from Dunwich, or
Thetford, to this castle; from which being driven, and being overtaken
at _Hegilsdon_, (now Hoxne, a distance of twelve miles from
Framlingham,) he was cruelly put to death, being bound to a tree and
shot with arrows, A.D. 870. His body, after many years, was removed to
a place called _Bederics-gueord_, now St. Edmund's Bury. The castle
remained in the hands of the Danes fifty years, when they were brought
under the obedience of the Saxons. William the Conqueror and his son
Rufus retained the Castle in their own possession; but the third son
of William, Henry I., granted it, with the Manor of Framlingham, to
Roger Bigod.--The castle continued in this family till Roger Bigod,
the last of the race, and a man more turbulent than any of his
predecessors, was compelled to resign it to King Edward I.; Edward II.
gave it to his half-brother, Thomas Plantagenet, surnamed De
Brotherton; from whom it descended to Thomas de Mowbray, twelfth Baron
Mowbray, created Duke of Norfolk 29th of September, 1397. From the
Mowbrays it descended to the Howards, Dukes of Norfolk, Sir Robert
Howard having married Margaret, daughter of Thomas Mowbray, first Duke
of Norfolk. His son, John Howard, was created Earl Marshal and Duke of
Norfolk, 28th of June, 1483. He was slain at Bosworth Field, 1485; and
his son, Thomas, Earl of Surrey, being attainted, the castle fell into
the hands of King Henry VII., who granted it to John de Vere,
thirteenth Earl of Oxford, from whom it again returned to the Howards.
Thomas Howard, third Duke of Norfolk, being attainted, (38 Henry VIII.
1546,) it was seized by the king, who dying the same year, his
successor, Edward VI., granted it to his sister, the Princess,
afterwards Queen Mary. King James I. granted it to Thomas Howard,
first Baron Howard de Walden, youngest son of Thomas, fourth Duke of
Norfolk, created Earl of Suffolk 21st of July, 1603; but his lordship
making Audley Inn his seat, the castle fell into decay, and his son,
Theophilus, second Earl of Suffolk, sold it in 1635, with the domains,
to Sir Robert Hitcham, knight, senior sergeant to James I.; who by his
will, dated 10th of August, 1636, bequeathed it to the master and
scholars of Pembroke College, in trust for certain charitable uses;
the advowson of the living, the castle and the manor, he bequeathed to
the college for its own use; since which time the castle has remained
in a dismantled state.
Loder, in his _History of Framlingham_, thus describes the former
state of the structure: "This castle, containing an acre, a rood, and
eleven perches of land, within the walls now standing, but anciently a
much larger quantity before the walls enclosing the same were
demolished, was in former ages very fair and beautiful, standing
within a park (long since disparked) on the north side of the town;
fortified with a double ditch, high banks, rampires, and stone walls
44 feet high and 8 feet thick; in these walls were thirteen towers, 14
feet higher than the walls, built four-square--whereof two were
watch-towers, one looking towards the east and the other towards the
west: and the rooms within the castle were very commodious and
necessary, capable to receive and contain abundance of people.
"In the first court was a deep well, of excellent workmanship,
compassed with carved pillars, which supported its leaden roof, and
though out of repair, was in being in the year of our Lord 1651. A
chapel stood in the same court, adjoining to the east watch-tower;
which in the reign of Henry VIII. was hung with cloth of arras, of the
history of Christ's passion; and a lamp of the value of seven
shillings was usually burnt before the altar there. On the side of the
court, towards the west watch-tower, was the hall, covered with lead;
and over the gate thereof were formerly cut in stone the arms of
Brotherton impaled with Bouchier, quartering Louvain, supported with a
lion and an eagle. Divers other arms there were in the rest of the
buildings, some cut on stone and some on timber, to be seen in the
year of our Lord 1651--as Bygods, Brothertons, Seagraves, Mowbrays,
Howards, and St. Edmund's, the king and martyr. Between the hall and
chancel, fronting the great castle gate, was a large chamber, with
several rooms, and a cloyster under it, pulled down A.D. 1700; for
which, when standing, in the reign of King Henry VIII., there was one
suit of hangings of the story of Hercules; which are supposed to be
those still remaining at the seat of Lord Howard, of Walden.
"Out of the castle were three passages--one a postern, with an iron
gate, on the east side over a private bridge into the park, where
there were arbours, pleasant walks, and trees planted for profit and
delight. Another passage was on the west side, leading to a dungeon,
and forth on to the mere, now filled up with mire and weeds. But the
largest passage and most used was, and is, that towards the south and
town; there being formerly a portcullis over that gate, which was made
in one of the strongest towers, and a drawbridge without, defended by
an half-moon of stone, about a man's height, standing in the year
1657."
These splendid buildings within the walls have long since been
demolished, so that scarcely a vestige remains; but with their
materials a workhouse has been built for the poor. The only armorial
bearings traceable are three shields over the castle-gate.
Over the centre of the gate is a large one; the arms and
quarterings of John Howard IV., first Duke of Norfolk, who
died in 1485; and with lions for supporters. Crest--a lion
passant-guardant.
1. A bend between six cross crosslets, for ... Howard.
2. Three lions passant-guardant in pale--England, for ...
Brotherten.
3. Checky ... Warren.
4. A lion rampant ... Mowbray.
5. A lion rampant crowned ... Seagrave.
6. Seme de cross crosslets fitchy, and a lion rampant, double
queue ... Broes, or Bruce.
All within the garter.
On the west side, a shield, quarterly--1. Howard--2.
Brotherton--3. Mowbray--4. Seagrave.
On the east side, quarterly--1. Brotherton--2. Warren--3.
Seagrave--4. Broes.
This venerable and majestic remain of antiquity, when viewed at a
distance, has certainly more the appearance of a castle than the ruins
of one, the outward walls being almost entire, and presenting nearly
the same appearance they did thirty years ago.
Framlingham Church is a fine structure, and was built by the Mowbrays;
and the Chancel by the Howards, wherein are several stately monuments
of this noble family.
EDWARD DUNTHORN.
The original of the annexed Cut is a lithograph frontispiece to
_Framlingham_: a Narrative of _the Castle_--a poem of very
considerable merit, by Mr. James Bird, of Yoxford: the introduction to
which furnishes the following impassioned apostrophe to Framlingham
and its decaying Castle:--
Heir of Antiquity!--fair castled Town,
Rare spot of beauty, grandeur, and renown,
Seat of East-Anglian kings!--proud child of fame,
Hallowed by time, illustrious Framlinghame!
I touch my lyre delighted, thus to bring
To thee my heart's full homage while I sing!
And thou, old Castle!--thy bold turrets high,
Have shed their deep enchantment on mine eye,
Though years have changed thee, I have gazed intent
In silent joy, on tower and battlement,
When all thy time-worn glories met my sight;
Thou have I felt such rapture, such delight,
That, had the splendour of thy days of yore
Flashed on my view, I had not loved thee more!
Scene of immortal deeds! thy walls have rung
To pealing shouts from many a warrior's tongue;
When first thy founder, Redwald of the spear,
Manned thy high towers, defied his foemen near,
When, girt with strength, East-Anglia's king of old,
The sainted Edmund, sought thy sheltering hold,
When the proud _Dane_, fierce Hinguar, in his ire
Besieged the king, and wrapped thy walls in fire,
While Edmund fled, but left thee with his name
Linked, and for ever, to the chain of fame:
Then wast thou great! and long, in after years
Thy grandeur shone--thy portraiture appears
From history's pencil like a summer-night,
With much of shadow, but with more of light!
Pile of departed days!--my verse records,
Thy time of glory, thy illustrious Lords,
The fearless Bigods--Brotherton--De Vere,
And Kings, who held thee in their pride, or fear,
And gallant Howards, 'neath whose ducal sway
Proud rose thy towers, thy rugged heights were gay
With glittering banners, costly trophies rent
From men in war, or tilt, or tournament,
With all the pomp and splendour that could grace
The name, and honours of that warlike race.
Howards! the rich! the noble! and the great!
Most brave! most happy! most unfortunate!
Kings were thy courtiers!--Queens have sued to share
Thy wealth, thy triumphs--e'en thy _name_ to bear!
Tyrants have bowed thy children to the dust,
Some for their worth--and some who broke their trust!
And there was _one_ among thy race, who died
To Henry's shame!--his country's boast and pride:
Immortal Surrey!--Offspring of the Muse!
Bold as the lion, gentle as the dews
That fall on flowers to 'wake their odorous breath,
And shield their blossoms from the touch of death,
Surrey!--thy fate was wept by countless eyes,
A nation's woe assailed the pitying skies,
When thy pure spirit left this scene of strife,
And soared to him who breathed it into life:
Thy funeral knell pealed o'er the world!--thy fall
Was mourned by hearts that loved thee, mourned by all--
All, save thy murderers!--thou hast won thy crown:
And _thou_, fair Framlinghame! a bright renown,
Yes! thy rich temple holds the stately tomb,
Where sleeps the Poet in his lasting home,
Lamented Surrey!--hero, bard divine,
Pride, grace, and glory of brave Norfolk's line.
Departed spirit!--Oh! I love to hold
Communion sweet with lofty minds of old,
To catch a spark of that celestial fire
Which glows and kindles in thy rapturous lyre;
Though varying themes demand my future lays,
Yet thus my soul a willing homage pays
To that bright glory which illumes thy name,
Though naught can raise the splendour of thy fame!
Mr. Bird is also advantageously known as the author of the Vale of
Slaughden; Poetical Memoirs; Dunwich, a tale of the Splendid City; and
other poems, which abound with vivid imagery, life-breathing
incidents, and interesting narrative; though it is but late justice to
recommend his _Framlingham_ to the admirers of fervid verse.
* * * * *
SPIRIT DRINKING.
"Nothing like the simple element dilutes
The food, or gives the chyle so soon to flow."
The direful practice of spirit-drinking seems to have arrived at its
acme in the metropolis. Splendid mansions rear their _dazzling heads_
at almost every turning; and it appears as if Circe had fixed her
abode in these superb haunts. Happy are those who, like Ulysses of
old, will not partake of her deadly cup. If the unhappy dram-drinker
was merely to calculate the annual expense of two glasses of gin per
day, he would find a sum expended which would procure for him many
comforts, for the want of which he is continually grumbling. If this
sum is expended for only two glasses of spirits, what must be the
expense to the habitual and daily sot, who constantly haunts the
tap-room or the wretched bar? to say nothing of the loss of time,
health, and every comfort.
Dr. Willan says--"On comparing my own observations with the bills of
mortality, I am convinced that considerably more than one-eighth of
all the deaths which take place in persons above twenty years old,
happen prematurely, through excess in drinking spirits."
Spirits, like other poisons, if taken in a sufficient quantity, prove
immediately fatal. The newspapers frequently furnish us with examples
of almost instant death, occasioned by wantonly swallowing a pint or
other large quantity of spirits, for the sake of wager, or in boast.
Dr. Trotter says--"We daily see, in all parts of the world, men who,
by profligacy and hard-drinking, have brought themselves to a goal;
yet, if we consult the register of the prison, it does not appear that
any of these habitual drunkards die by being forced to lead sober
lives." And he contends, that "whatever debility of the constitution
exists, it is to be cured by the usual medicinal means which are
employed to restore weakened organs. But the great difficulty in these
attempts to cure inebriety is in satisfying the mind, and in whetting
the blunted resolutions of the patient; and this is, doubtless, more
easily accomplished by a gradual abstraction of his favourite
potations."
Dr. Lettsom mentions a person who usually drank twelve drams a day;
but being convinced of his approaching misery, took the resolution to
wean himself from this poison. He always drank out of one glass, into
which he daily let fall a drop of sealing-wax. By this means he had
twelve drops less of spirit every day, till at length, his glass being
filled with wax, his habit was cured.
"In the drunkard," says Dr. Willan, "the memory and the faculties
depending on it, being impaired, there takes place an indifference
towards usual occupations, and accustomed society or amusements. No
interest is taken in the concerns of others--no love, no sympathy
remain: even natural affection to nearest relatives is gradually
extinguished, and the moral sense obliterated. The wretched victims of
a fatal poison fall, at length, into a state of fatuity, and die with
the powers both of body and mind wholly exhausted. Some, after
repeated fits of derangement, expire in a sudden and violent phrenzy;
some are hurried out the world by apoplexies; others perish by the
slower process of jaundice, dropsy," &c.
P.T.W.
* * * * *
A SCENE ON WINDERMERE.
"Beautiful scene! how fitted to allure
The printless footsteps of some sea-born maid."
It was a holy calm--the sunbeams tinged
The lake with gold, and flush'd the gorgeous brow
Of many a cloud whose image shone beneath
The blue translucent wave; the mountain-peaks
Were robed in purple, and the balmy air
Derived its fragrance from the breath of flow'rs
That seem'd as if they wish'd to close their eyes,
And yield their empire to the starry throng.
The wind, as o'er the lake it gently died,
Bequeath'd its cadence to the shore, and waked
The echo slumbering in the distant vales,
Diversified with woods, and rural homes.
The calm was lovely! and o'er such a scene
It brooded like a spirit, softening all
That lay beneath its blessed influence!
On Windermere--what poetry belongs
To such a name--deep, pure and beautiful,
As its trout-peopled wave!--on Windermere
Our skiff pursued its way amid the calm
Which fill'd the heart with holiest communings.
On Windermere--what scenes entranced the eye
That wander'd o'er them! either undefined
Or traced upon the outline of the sky.
Afar the lovely panorama glow'd,
Until the mountains, on whose purple brows
The clouds were pillow' d, closed it from our view.
The fields were fraught with bloom, on them appear'd
The verdant robe that Nature loves to wear,
And rocky pathways fringed with bristling pine,
O'er which the wall of many a cottage-home
Graced with the climbing vine, or beautified
With roses bending to each passing breeze,
Attracts the eye, and glistens in the sun--
Were interspersed around; while in the vale
The streamlet gave a silver gleam, and flow'd
Beneath the hill, on whose majestic brow,
Dimm'd with the ivy of a thousand years,
The rural fane, encircled with its tombs,
Displayed its mouldering form. Amid the light
And harmony of this enchanting scene,
'Tis sweet to have a temple that recalls
The heart from earth's turmoil, and hallows it
With hopes that soar beyond the flight of time.
Beautiful Lake! most lovely Windermere!
Thou mirror to the mountains that enclose
Thy shores with zone magnificent;--in storm,
Or calm--when summer wantons with thy waves,
Or winter clouds thy crystal brow with gloom,
Oh! mayst thou still entrance the wanderer's eye,
And keep congenial quiet in his soul.
Thy fairy haunts, where solitude pervades
The feelings like a spirit, might allure
Some visionary youth to muse beneath
The rocks empurpled with the sunny beam,
And blend the music of his harp with thine
In gentlest murmurs,--consecrated Lake!
G.R.C.
* * * * *
NEW BOOKS.
* * * * *
PETER THE GREAT.
(_Concluded from page 303._)
His attention was forcibly attracted to the magnificent building of
Greenwich Hospital, which, until he had visited it, and seen the old
pensioners, he had some difficulty in believing to be any thing but a
royal palace. King William having one day asked him how he liked his
hospital for decayed seamen, the Tzar answered, "If I were the adviser
of your Majesty, I should counsel you to remove your court to
Greenwich, and convert St. James's into a hospital."
It being term time while the Tzar was in London, he was taken into
Westminster Hall; he inquired who all those busy people in black gowns
and flowing wigs were, and what they were about? Being answered, "They
are lawyers, sir;"--"Lawyers!" said he, with marks of astonishment,
"why, I have but _two_ in my whole dominions, and I believe I shall
hang one of them the moment I get home."[1]
[1] Gentleman's Mag. vol. vii.
In the first week of March, vice-admiral Mitchell was ordered to
repair forthwith to Spithead, and, taking several ships (eleven in
number) under his command, hoist the blue flag at the fore-topmast
head of one of them. It is not stated for what purpose these vessels
were put under his command, nor was any public order given. But the
_Postman_,[2] under date of 26th March, says, "On Tuesday the Tzar of
Muscovy went on board admiral Mitchell, in his Majesty's ship the
Humber, who presently hoisted sail and put to sea from Spithead, as
did also his Majesty's ships the Restauration, Chichester, Defiance,
Swiftsure, York, Monmouth, Dover, Kingston, Coventry, Seaforth, and
Swan." And the _Flying-post_, or _Postmaster_,[3] has the following
intelligence: "The representation of a sea engagement was excellently
performed before the Tzar of Muscovy, and continued a considerable
time, each ship having twelve pounds of powder allowed; but all their
bullets were locked up in the hold, for fear the sailors should
mistake." It is stated in the logs of the Humber and the Kingston that
they had two sham fights; that the ships were divided into two
squadrons, and every ship took her opposite and fired three
broad-sides _aloft and one alow_ without shot. The Tzar was extremely
pleased with the performance. It is said, indeed, he was so much
delighted with every thing he saw in the British navy, that he told
admiral Mitchell he considered the condition of an English admiral
happier than that of a Tzar of Russia.[4]
[2] Postman, No. 441.
[3] Postmaster, No. 449.
[4] Nestesuranoi. Mottley.
On returning from Portsmouth, Peter and his party stopped at Godalming
for the night, where, it would appear, from the bill of fare, they
feasted lustily. Among the papers of Ballard's Collection, in the
Bodleian Library, is one from Mr. Humphrey Wanley[5] to Dr.
Charlett,[6] which contains the following passage:--"I cannot vouch
for the following bill of fare, which the Tzar and his company,
thirteen at table, and twenty-one in all, ate up at Godalming (or
Godliming), in Surrey, in their way home, but it is averred for truth
by an eye-witness, who saw them eating, and had this bill from the
landlord. At breakfast--half a sheep, a quarter of lamb, ten pullets,
twelve chickens, three quarts of brandy, six quarts of mulled wine,
seven dozen of eggs, with salad in proportion. At dinner:--five ribs
of beef, weight three stone; one sheep, fifty-six pounds; three
quarters of lamb, a shoulder and loin of veal boiled, eight pullets,
eight rabbits, two dozen and a half of sack, one dozen of claret."[7]
[5] Author of "Wonders of the little World."
[6] Master of University College.
[7] There are among our countrymen those who are scarcely
outdone by the Tzar of Russia and his companions. At the
same place, and probably at the same house, long known as
_Moon's_, two noble dukes, the one dead, the other yet
living, stopped, as they intended, for a moment, while
sitting in their carriages, to eat a mutton chop, which
they found so good that they each of them devoured
_eighteen_, and drank five bottles of claret.
It would appear, indeed, from all accounts, that the Tzar was a
prodigiously hard drinker, in his younger days. In a letter from Mr.
A. Bertie to Dr. Charlett, and in the same collection, he says, "The
Tzar lay the other night at Mr. James Herbert's, being come from
Deptford to see the Redoubt,[8] which the justices have suppressed, by
placing six constables at the door. Upon that disappointment he fell
to drinking hard at one Mr. Morley's; and the Marquess of Carmarthen,
it being late, resolved to lodge him at his brother-in-law's, where he
dined the next day; drank a pint of brandy and a bottle of sherry for
his morning draught; and after that about eight more bottles of sack
and so went to the playhouse."[9]
[8] It is presumed some notorious place of ill fame.
[9] Ballard's Collection. Bodleian.
The King having given a grand ball at St. James's, in honour of the
Princess's birthday, Peter was invited; but instead of mixing with the
company, he was put into a small room, from whence he could see all
that passed without being himself seen. This extraordinary aversion
for a crowd kept him away from all great assemblies. Once, indeed, he
attempted to subdue it, from a desire to hear the debates in the House
of Commons, but even then the Marquess of Carmarthen could not prevail
on him to go into the body of the house.
Having dined with the King at Kensington, he was prevailed on to see
the ceremony of his Majesty passing four bills; but, it appears from a
note of Lord Dartmouth, that here, as in the Commons, he avoided going
into the house. His Lordship says, "He had a great dislike to being
looked at, but had a mind to see the King in parliament; in order to
which he was placed in a gutter upon the house-top, to peep in at the
window, where he made so ridiculous a figure, that neither king nor
people could forbear laughing, which obliged him to retire sooner than
he intended."
From the same authority we learn that Peter was, at another time,
placed in an awkward situation. "The King made the Tzar a visit, in
which an odd incident happened. The Tzar had a favourite monkey, which
sat upon the back of his chair; as soon as the King was sat down, the
monkey jumped upon him, in some wrath, which discomposed the whole
ceremonial, and most of the time was afterwards spent in apologies for
the monkey's misbehaviour."[10]
[10] Lord Dartmouth.--Note in Burnet's History of his own
Times.
The Tzar is said to have paid a visit to the University of Oxford; but
not a trace appears on any of the records of that university of his
having ever done so. His body physician, Posnikof, who stayed in
England some months behind his master, is, however, known to have been
there. Mr. Wanley writes thus, from London, to Dr. Charlett;--"I will
wait on the doctor (Posnikof,) and if you had been pleased to have
given me orders, I would have been at Oxford before now, for his sake,
and returned hither with him again. His master (the Tzar) gave the
King's servants, at his departure, one hundred and twenty guineas,
which was more than they deserved, they being very rude to him; but to
the King he presented a rough ruby, which the greatest jewellers of
Amsterdam (as well Jews as Christians) valued at ten thousand pounds
sterling. 'Tis bored through, and when it is cut and polished, it must
be set upon the top of the imperial crown of England."[11]
[11] Ballard's Collection. Bodleian. With plain downright
simplicity and free from all ostentation Peter carried
this valuable ruby to the king in his waistcoat pocket,
and presented it wrapped up in a piece of brown paper.
He was introduced to the archbishop of Canterbury, at his palace of
Lambeth, and having expressed a desire to see the different churches
of the capital, and to observe the mode in which the service was
conducted, the archbishop recommended bishop Burnet to gratify his
curiosity in this respect; and to give him all the information, of
which none was more capable, that he might require on ecclesiastical
matters. From this dignitary of the church we have some information
respecting the manner and appearance of this extraordinary character.
The bishop says he wrought much with his own hands, and made all about
him work at the models of ships. Who he had with him, besides
Menzikoff and Golownin, does not anywhere appear, but the
_Postman_[12] of the 29th March says, "The Tzar of Muscovy is returned
from Portsmouth to Deptford, where his second ambassador is arrived
from Holland." The two principal Russian workmen in Holland, of rank,
were Menzikoff and the Prince Siberski, the latter of whom is said to
have been able to rig a ship from top to bottom. The object in
remaining at Deptford would appear to have been, as before stated,
chiefly to gain instruction how to lay off the lines of ships, and cut
out the moulds; though it is said, on the testimony of an old man, a
workman of Deptford yard some forty years ago, that he had heard his
father[13] say, the Tzar of Muscovy worked with his own hands as hard
as any man in the yard. If so, it could only have been for a very
short time, and probably for no other purpose than to show the
builders, that he knew how to handle the adze as well as themselves.
[12] No. 442.
[13] Mr. James Sibbon, who was a journeyman shipwright in
Deptford yard when the Tzar was there; he died in 1769,
aged 105 years.--_Annual Register_ for 1769.
When residing at Deptford he requested to see the celebrated Dr.
Halley, to whom he communicated his plans of building a fleet, and in
general of introducing the arts and sciences into his country, and
asked his opinion and advice on various subjects; the doctor spoke
German fluently, and the Tzar was so much pleased with the
philosopher's conversation and remarks, that he had him frequently to
dine with him; and in his company he visited the Royal Observatory in
Greenwich Park.
As in Amsterdam, so also in London, he visited the manufactories and
workshops of various artificers, and purchased whatever he deemed
either curious or useful; and among other things "he bought the famous
geographical clock made by Mr. John Carte, watchmaker, at the sign of
the Dial and Crown, near Essex-street in the Strand, which clock tells
what o'clock it is in any part of the world, whether it is day or
night, the sun's rising and setting throughout the year, its entrance
into the signs of the zodiac; the arch which they and the sun in them
makes above or below the horizon, with several other curious
motions."[14] He was very curious in examining the mechanism of a
watch, and it is said he could take one of these ingenious machines to
pieces, and put it together again, before he left London.
[14] Postman, No. 136.
The king had promised Peter that there should be no impediment in his
way of engaging, and taking with him to Russia, such English
artificers, and scientific men, as he might desire, with such
instruments as their trade or profession required.
The number of all descriptions of persons that finally left England,
when the Tzar returned to Holland, is stated to have been nearly as
follows:--Three captains of ships of war, twenty-five captains of
merchant ships, thirty pilots, thirty surgeons, two hundred gunners,
four mast-makers, four boat-builders, two master sail-makers and
twenty workmen, two compass-makers, two carvers, two anchor-smiths,
two lock-smiths, two copper-smiths and two tinmen; making, with some
others, not much less than five hundred persons. However uncouth the
manners of Peter may have been, he was a great favourite with King
William, and the Tzar had also a high opinion of his Majesty, whom he
visited frequently, and consulted on all important occasions. The king
engaged him to sit for his portrait to Sir Godfrey Kneller, who
painted a very good picture, said to be a strong likeness, which is
now at Windsor, and the portrait at the head of this volume is
engraved from it.
(The reader will recollect Peter at Zaandam. In after-life he visited
this place,) and the little cottage in which some nineteen years
before he had dwelt, when learning the art of ship-building: he found
it kept up in neat order, and dignified with the name of the _Prince's
House_. This little cottage is still carefully preserved. It is
surrounded by a neat building with large arched windows, having the
appearance of a conservatory or green-house, which was erected in 1823
by order of the present Princess of Orange, sister to the late Emperor
Alexander, who purchased it to secure its preservation. In the first
room you still see the little oak table and three chairs which
constituted its furniture when Peter occupied it. Over the
chimney-piece is inscribed
PETRO MAGNO
ALEXANDER,
and in the Russian and Dutch,
"_To a Great Man nothing is little._"
The ladder to the loft still remains, and in the second little room
below are some models and several of his working-tools. Thousands of
names are scribbled over every part of this once humble residence of
Peter the Great.
On entering this cottage, Peter is said to have been evidently
affected. Recovering himself, he ascended the loft, where was a small
closet, in which he had been accustomed to perform his devotions and
remained there alone a full half-hour; with what various emotions his
mind must have been affected while in this situation, could be known
only to himself, but might easily be imagined. It could hardly fail to
recall to his recollection the happy period when he "communed with his
own heart" in this sacred little chamber, and "remembered his Creator
in the days of his youth,"--days which he might naturally enough be
led to compare and contrast with those of the last nineteen years of
his life, filled up as they had been with many and varied incidents,
painful, hazardous, disastrous and glorious.
Every one was anxious to bring to his recollection any little
circumstance in which he had been concerned,--among others, a
beautiful boat was brought to him as a present, in the building of
which he himself had done "yeoman service." He was delighted to see
that this ancient piece of the workmanship of his own hands had been
preserved with such care. He caused it to be put on board a ship bound
for Petersburg, but she was unfortunately captured by the Swedes; and
the boat is still kept in the arsenal of Stockholm.
With his old acquaintance, Kist, the blacksmith, he visited the
smithy, which was so dirty that the gentleman of his suite who
attended him was retreating, but Peter stopped him to blow the bellows
and heat a piece of iron, which, when so done, he beat out with the
great hammer. Kist was still but a journeyman blacksmith, and the Tzar
out of compassion for his old acquaintance made him a handsome
present.
[The Editor's conclusion, or brief summary, is sketched as follows.]
The character of Peter the Great, as has been shown in the course of
this memoir, was a strange compound of contradictions. Owing to the
circumstances in which he was placed, and the determination to execute
the plan he had conceived of remodelling the customs and institutions
of his country, he had to maintain a constant struggle between his
good and evil genius. Nothing was too great, nothing too little for
his comprehensive mind. The noblest undertakings were mixed with the
most farcical amusements; the most laudable institutions, for the
benefit and improvement of his subjects, were followed by shaving
their beards and docking their skirts;--kind-hearted, benevolent, and
humane, he set no value on human life. Owing to these, and many other
incongruities, his character has necessarily been represented in
various points of view and in various colours by his biographers. Of
him, however, it can scarcely be said, that
The evil which men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones.
With the exception of a few foreign writers, who have generally
compiled their memoirs from polluted sources, the reverse of the
aphorism may be applied to Peter. His memory, among his countrymen,
who ought to be the best judges, and of whom he was at once the
scourge and the benefactor, is held in the highest veneration, and is
consecrated in their history and their public monuments to everlasting
fame. The magnificent equestrian statue, erected by Catharine II.; the
waxen figure of Peter in the museum of the Academy founded by himself;
the dress, the sword, and the hat, which he wore at the battle of
Pultowa, the last pierced through with a ball: the horse that he rode
in that battle; the trousers, worsted stockings, shoes, and cap, which
he wore at Zaandam, all in the same apartment; his two favourite dogs,
his turning-lathe and tools, with specimens of his workmanship; the
iron bar which he forged with his own hand at Olonitz; the Little
Grandsire, so carefully preserved, as the first germ of the Russian
navy; and the wooden hut in which he lived while superintending the
first foundation of Petersburg;--these, and a thousand other tangible
memorials, all preserved with the utmost care, speak in most
intelligible language the opinion which the Russians hold of _the
Father of his Country_.
* * * * *
THE NATURALIST.
* * * * *
THE DODO.
Every reader of popular natural history must recollect the figure of
this extraordinary bird; although he may not be aware that it is
considered to have become extinct towards the end of the seventeenth
or beginning of the eighteenth century. The conditions of this
disappearance are self-evident.[15] Imagine a bird of the gallinaceous
(_gallus_, cock, or pheasant) tribe, considerably larger than a
turkey, and consequently adapted for food, totally incapable of
flying, and so unwieldy as to be easily run down, and it must be quite
obvious that such a bird could not long continue to exist in any
country to which mankind extended their dominion. This will account
for its being found only in those islands of the Indian Ocean which,
on their being first discovered by Europeans, were uninhabited, or
difficult of access to the nearest people. The group which is situated
to the eastward of Madagascar, consisting of Bourbon, Mauritius, and
Roderigue, were almost the only islands of this description met with
by the early circumnavigators of the Cape; and it is there that we
find the last traces of this very remarkable bird, which disappeared,
of course, from Bourbon and the Mauritius _first_, on account of their
being more visited and finally colonized by the French; and lastly
from Roderigue, an island extremely difficult of access, and without
any safe bay or anchorage for shipping.
[15] We are aware that the destruction or total extinction of
any of the species of animals of contemporaneous creation
with man, is a point of much controversy among
philosophers. The best reply to this doubt is the
repeated discovery of the fossil remains of animals
entirely different from the existing species; proving
their extinction to form a part of the scheme of creative
wisdom.
We obtain these particulars from a paper in the _Magazine of Natural
History_,[16] by John V. Thompson, Esq. F.L.S. This gentleman, during
a residence of some years in the above islands, in vain sought for
some traces of the existence of the Dodo there; he discovered,
however, a copy of the scarce and curious voyage of Leguat, who, and
his companions, appear to have been the first inhabitants of
Roderigue: and from their journal he has translated the following
account of the Dodo.
[16] Vol. i. p. 442.
[Illustration: _The Dodo._]
"Of all the birds which inhabit this island, the most remarkable is
that which has been called Solitaire (the solitary), because they are
rarely seen in flocks, although there is abundance of them.
"The _males_ have generally a greyish or brown plumage, the feet of
the turkey-cock, as also the beak, but a little more hooked. They have
hardly any tail, and their posterior, covered with feathers, is
rounded like the croup of a horse. They stand higher than the
turkey-cock, and have a straight neck, a little longer in proportion
than it is in that bird when it raises its head. The eye is black and
lively, and the head without any crest or tuft. They do not fly, their
wings being too short to support the weight of their bodies; they only
use them in beating their sides, and in whirling round; when they wish
to call one another, they make, with rapidity, twenty or thirty rounds
in the same direction, during the space of four or five minutes; the
movement of their wings then makes a noise which approaches
exceedingly that of a kestrel (Crecerelle), and which is heard at more
than 200 paces distant. The bone of the false pinion is enlarged at
its extremity, and forms, under the feathers, a little round mass like
a musket-bullet; this and their beak form the principal defence of
this bird. It is extremely difficult to catch them in the woods; but
as a man runs swifter than they, in the more open spots it is not very
difficult to take them; sometimes they may even be approached very
easily. From the month of March until September, they are extremely
fat, and of most excellent flavour, especially when young. The males
may be found up to the weight of 45 lb.; Herbert even says 50 lb.
"The _female_ is of admirable beauty. Some are of a blond, others of a
brown, colour; I mean by blond the colour of flaxen hair. They have a
kind of band, like the bandeau of widows, above the beak, which is of
a tan colour. One feather does not pass another over all their body,
because they take great care to adjust and polish them with their
beak. The feathers which accompany the thighs are rounded into a
shell-like form, and, as they are very dense at this place, produce a
very agreeable effect. They have two elevations over the crop, of a
somewhat whiter plumage than the rest, and which resemble wonderfully
the fine breast of a woman. They walk with so much stateliness and
grace combined, that it is impossible not to admire and love them; so
much so, that their appearance has often saved their life.
"Although these birds approach, at times, very familiarly when they
are not chased, they are incapable of being tamed; as soon as caught,
they drop tears, without crying, and refuse obstinately all kind of
nourishment, until at last they die. There is always found in their
gizzard (as well as in that of the males) a brown stone, the size of a
hen's egg; it is slightly tuberculated (raboteuse), flat on one side,
and rounded on the other, very heavy and very hard. We imagined that
this stone was born with them, because, however young they might be,
they always had it, and never more than one; and besides this
circumstance, the canal which passes from the crop to the gizzard, is
by one-half too small to give passage to such a mass. We used them, in
preference to any other stone, to sharpen our knives.
"When these birds set about building their nests, they choose a clear
spot, and raise it a foot and a half off the ground, upon a heap of
leaves of the palm tree, which they collect together for the purpose.
They only lay one egg, which is very much larger than that of a goose.
The male and female sit by turns, and it does not hatch until after a
period of seven weeks. During the whole period of incubation, or that
they are rearing their young one, which is not capable of providing
for itself until after several months, they will not suffer any bird
of their own kind to approach within 200 paces of their nest; and what
is very singular is, that the male never chases away the females;
only, when he perceives one, he makes, in whirling, his ordinary
noise, to call his companion, which immediately comes and gives chase
to the stranger, and which she does not quit until driven without
their limits. The female does the same and allows the males to be
driven off by her mate. This is a circumstance that we so often
witnessed, that I speak of it with certainty. These combats last
sometimes for a long time, because the stranger only turns off,
without going in a straight line from the nest; nevertheless, the
others never quit until they have chased them away."[17]
[17] Voyage de Francois Leguat, Gentilhomme, Bressan, 1708.
Mr. Thompson finds this evidence strengthened by the facts and
statements of a paper by Mr. Duncan, in the _Zoological Journal_ for
January, 1828; and infers that a bird of corresponding size and
character did actually exist, of which the only remains are a bill and
foot in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, and a foot in the British
Museum, all of which Mr. Thompson examined on his return from the
Mauritius in 1816. The specimen, which in part remains at Oxford, was
originally in the museum of Tradescant, at Lambeth, which was
purchased and removed to Oxford by Dr. Ashmole; the _entire bird_ is
proved to have been in the Museum in 1700; and in a catalogue of the
collection drawn up since 1755, the disappearance of all but the bill
and foot of the Dodo is explained by an order of a meeting of the
visitors in the last-named year. Tradescant, it will be recollected,
was gardener to Charles the Second; and in the portrait of him still
preserved is introduced a Dodo, which belonged to him when alive.
Another painting of the bird, to be seen in the British Museum, is
stated by Mr. Duncan, to have been executed from a living bird, sent
from the Mauritius to Holland, the Dutch being the first colonists of
that island; but, Mr. Thompson thinks, "to dissipate all doubts as to
its accuracy, it should be collated with a description taken from the
Ashmolean specimen, should such be found to exist."
Mr. Thompson is inclined to consider Leguat's natural history of the
Dodo as "the only one that was ever penned under such favourable
circumstances. No doubt this first colony, in so small an island,
considerably reduced the number of the Dodo; but when they finally
disappeared, does not seem to be anywhere recorded." The most
interesting consideration connected with their disappearance is their
being "the only vertebrated animals which we can make certain of
having lost since the creation. If we seek to find out what link in
the chain of Nature has been broken by the loss of this species, what
others have lost their check, and what others necessarily followed the
loss of those animals which alone contributed to their support," Mr.
Thompson thinks "we may conclude that, the first being seen by the
Omniscient Creator, at least no injury will be sustained by the rest
of the creation; that man, its destroyer, was probably intended to
supplant it, as a check; and that the only other animals which its
destruction drew with it, were the intestinal worms and pediculi
peculiar to the species."
Buffon, Latham, and Gmelin have three species of Dodo, while we find
it difficult to establish the existence of one. Indeed, it is
improbable that the three islands of the Mauritius group possessed
each a distinct type of so singular and unique a bird.
* * * * *
MOUNT ARARAT.
Ararat is celebrated as the resting-place of Noah's ark after the
Deluge, and as the spot whence the descendants of Noah peopled the
earth. It rises on the Persian frontier, on a large plain, detached,
as it were, from the other mountains of Armenia, which make a long
chain. It consists, properly speaking, of two hills--the highest of
which, where the ark is said to have rested,[18] is, according to
Parrot, 2,700 toises, or 17,718 feet above the level of the ocean.[19]
The summit is covered with perpetual snow; the lower parts are
composed of a deep, moving sand; and one side presents a vast chasm
tinged with smoke, from which flames have been known to issue.
[18] The precise spot is controverted, as will be seen in an
extract from the ingenious work on Scriptural
Antiquities, quoted in vol. xix. of _the Mirror_, p. 382;
where are notices of the mountain by Morier and Sir
Robert Ker Porter. The latter describes Ararat as
divided, by a chasm of about seven miles wide, into two
distinct peaks, and is of opinion that the ark finally
rested in this chasm.
[19] Edin. New Phil. Journ. By Professor Jameson. No. 23, p.
156.--Note to a paper by Humboldt, on the Mountain Chains
and Volcanoes of Central Asia. Ararat is referred to in
Genesis, viii. 4. Its distance and bearing from
Jerusalem, 650, N.E.b.N.; Lat. North, 39.40. Long. East,
43.50. Country, Erivan; Province, Mahou.--_From the
General Index to the Biblical Family Cabinet Atlas._
[Illustration: _Mount Ararat, from a drawing, by Sir Robert Ker Porter._]
Perhaps the most recent visit to this wonder of the East will be found
described in Mr. J.H. Stocqueler's Journal of _Fifteen Months'
Pilgrimage through untrodden Tracts of Khuzistan and Persia_, in 1831
and 1832:--
"We mounted our horses," says the enthusiastic traveller, "soon after
sunrise, and had proceeded for about four hours over numerous
acclivities, and through a territory of undulations resembling the
waves of the sea deprived of motion, when the southern peak of Ararat
(for there are two), snow-clad and 'cloud-clapt' suddenly burst upon
my view! At first I scarcely dared venture to believe we were so near
this celebrated mount, though its situation and the distance we had
journeyed from Tabreez left no doubt of the fact. I even questioned
the guide, and on his answering that it was the summit of Agri-Dagh
(the name by which Ararat is called by the Turks), I involuntarily
clasped my hands in ecstacy! Who can contemplate this superb elevation
without a mixture of awe and admiration, or fail to recur to the page
of sacred writ illustrative of Almighty wrath and the just man's
recompense? Who can gaze upon the majesty of this mount, towering
above the 'high places' and the hills, and turn without repining to
the plains beneath, where puny man has pitched his tent and wars upon
his fellow, mocking the sublimity of Nature with his paltry tyranny? I
felt as if I lived in other times, and my eye eagerly but vainly
sought for some traces of that 'ark' which furnished a refuge and a
shelter to the creatures of God's mercy when the 'waters prevailed,
and were increased greatly on the earth,' till 'all in whose nostrils
was the breath of life, and all that was in the dry land, died!'
"Though distant forty miles at least from the base of Ararat, the
magnitude of the mountain, of about the centre of which our elevated
position now placed us abreast, caused it to appear contiguous to our
route, and produced that indefinable thrill and sense of humility
which the immediate presence of any vast and overpowering object is so
eminently calculated to generate. I continued to gaze until the
decline of day warned us to seek a shelter, and Phoebus, casting a
parting glance at the crystal summit of the noble glacier, for a
moment diffused over all a soft rosy tint,[20] then sunk into the west
and left the world in darkness."
[20] This peculiar effect of the setting sun on snow-covered
mountains has been observed by other travellers in other
regions. In Switzerland the phenomenon is by no means
rare.
"And sun-set into rose hues sees them wrought."
_Byron._
* * * * *
NUTRIA FUR.
(_To the Editor._)
I read with much pleasure the article in your Number, 574, on Nutria
Fur: it was, to me, particularly acceptable, as I have been connected
for the last ten years with an establishment where, on an average,
150,000 Nutria Skins are annually manufactured, and the wool cut for
the use of hatters. I have searched every book of travels in Brazil,
&c., that I could procure, and the chief English works on zoology,
without being able to gather any description of the scientific name or
habits of the animal. All the information I could collect was from the
captains of various vessels that had visited Buenos Ayres, and brought
cargoes of skins; but their accounts were extremely vague and
unsatisfactory.
I perceive, however, that you have overlooked a peculiarity generally
attributed to the animal, which, if true, is, in my opinion, deserving
notice: viz.--the position of the female's teats, which are not placed
on the belly, as with most animals, but on the side, approaching to
the back, by which means it is enabled to suckle its young on both
sides at once, whilst swimming on the surface of the water; and it
presents, I have understood, a singular group to the observant
traveller.
I have sent the skin of a female Nutria herewith, for your inspection,
as regards the teats, &c. (from which the fur has been cut by
machinery,) with a small sample of the belly fur, prepared for the
covering of a hat; the wholesale price of the latter is now three
guineas per lb.: it is used as a substitute for beaver-wool on
second-rate hats. Our French correspondents term the skins
"Ratgondin."
BENJAMIN NORRIS, JUN.
_Windsor Place, Southwark Bridge Road._
*** We thank our intelligent correspondent for this communication, as
well as for the skin and fur. The skin is rather above the usual size:
its length is 26 inches, the tail being cut off; as is always done
before the skins are exported: the width of the skin is 15 inches; the
teats, nine in number, are in two rows, each row being about 2-1/2
inches from the centre of the back, and about 5 inches from the centre
of the belly; so that they are, as our correspondent observes, _on the
side_, approaching to the back nearer by half than to the belly. This
position of the teats appears to correspond with the animal's habit of
suckling its young whilst swimming.
* * * * *
THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.
* * * * *
THE CHOLERA MOUNT.
_Lines on the Burying-Place for Patients who have Died of Cholera; a
pleasant eminence in Sheffield Park._
_By James Montgomery, Esq._
In death divided from their dearest kin,
This is "a field to bury strangers in:"
Fragments lie here of families bereft,
Like limbs in battle-grounds by warriors left;
A sad community!--whose very bones
Might feel, methinks, a pang to quicken stones,
And make them from the depths of darkness cry,
"Oh! is it naught to you, ye passers by!
When from its earthly house the spirit fled,
Our dust might not be 'free among the dead?'
Ah! why were we to this Siberia sent,
Doom'd in the grave itself to banishment?"
Shuddering humanity asks--"Who are these?
And what their sin?"--They fell by _one_ disease!
(Not by the Proteus maladies, that strike
Man into nothingness--not twice alike;)
By the blue pest, whose gripe no art can shun,
No force unwrench--out-singled one by one;
When like a timeless birth, the womb of Fate
Bore a new death, of unrecorded date,
And doubtful name. Far east its race begun,
Thence round the world pursued the westering sun;
The ghosts of millions following at its back,
Whose desecrated graves betray'd their track;
On Albion's shore, unseen, the invader stept;
Secret, and swift, and terrible it crept;
At noon, at midnight, seized the weak, the strong,
Asleep, awake, alone, amidst the throng,
Kill'd like a murder; fix'd its icy hold,
And wrung out life with agony of cold;
Nor stay'd its vengeance where it crush'd the prey,
But set a mark, like Cain's, upon their clay,
And this tremendous seal impress'd on all,
"Bury me out of sight, and out of call."
Wherefore no filial foot this turf may tread,
No kneeling mother clasp her baby's bed;
No maiden unespoused, with widow'd sighs,
Seek her soul's treasure where her true-love lies;
--All stand aloof, and gazing from afar,
Look on this mount as on some baleful star,
Strange to the heavens, that with bewildering light,
Like a lost spirit, wanders through the night.
Yet many a mourner weeps her fall'n estate,
In many a home by them left desolate;
Once warm with love, and radiant with the smiles
Of woman, watching infants at their wiles,
Whose eye of thought, while now they throng her knees,
Pictures far other scene than that she sees,
For one is wanting--one, for whose dear sake,
Her heart with very tenderness would ache,
As now with anguish--doubled when she spies
In this his lineaments, in that his eyes,
In each his image with her own commix'd,
And there at least, for life, their union fix'd!
Humanity again asks, "Who are these?
And what their sin?"--They fell by _one_ disease!
But when they knock'd for entrance at the tomb,
Their fathers' bones refused to make them room;
Recoiling Nature from their presence fled,
As though a thunder-bolt had struck them dead;
Their cries pursued her with the thrilling plea,
"Give us a little earth for charity!"
She linger'd, listen'd; all her bosom yearn'd;
The mother's pulse through every vein return'd;
Then, as she halted on this hill, she threw
Her mantle wide, and loose her tresses flew.
"Live!" to the slain she cried: "My children live!
This for an heritage to you I give;
Had Death consumed you by the common lot
Ye, with the multitude, had been forgot;
Now through an age of ages ye shall _not_."
Thus Nature spake;--and as her echo, I
Take up her parable, and prophesy:
Here, as from spring to spring the swallows pass,
Perennial daisies shall adorn the grass;
Here the shrill skylark build her annual nest,
And sing in heaven, while you serenely rest;
On trembling dewdrops morn's first glance shall shine,
Eve's latest beams on this fair bank decline,
And oft the rainbow steal through light and gloom,
To throw its sudden arch across your tomb;
On you the moon her sweetest influence shower,
And every planet bless you in its hour.
With statelier honours still, in Time's slow round,
Shall this sepulchral eminence be crown'd;
Where generations long to come shall hail
The growth of centuries waving in the gale,
A forest landmark, on the mountain's head,
Standing betwixt the living and the dead;
Nor, while your language lasts, shall travellers cease
To say, at sight of your memorial, "Peace!"
Your voice of silence answering from the sod,
"Whoe'er thou art, prepare to meet thy God!"
_Blackwood's Magazine_.
* * * * *
THE STEAM ENGINE SIMPLIFIED.
It is a universal property of matter, that by the application of heat,
so as to raise its temperature, it suffers an increase in its
magnitude. Also in different substances, when certain temperatures are
attained by the application of fire, or other methods of heating, they
undergo a change of form. Solids, at certain temperatures, are
converted into liquids; and liquids, in like manner, when heated to
certain degrees, become aeriform fluids or gases. These changes are
familiar to every one in the ordinary phenomena attending water. Below
the temperature of 32 deg. of the common thermometer, that substance
exists in the solid form, and is called _ice_. Above that temperature
it passes into the liquid state, and is called _water_; and when
raised to the temperature of 212 deg., under ordinary circumstances, it
passes into the aeriform state, and is called _steam_. It is to this
last change that we wish at present principally to call the attention
of the reader. In the transition of water from the liquid state to the
state of vapour or steam, an immense change of bulk takes place. In
this change, a solid inch of water enlarges its size about 1,700
times, and forms 1,700 solid inches of steam. This expansion takes
place accompanied with a certain force or pressure, by which the
vapour has a tendency to burst the bounds of any vessel which contains
it. The steam which fills 1,700 solid inches at the temperature of
212 deg., will, if cooled below that temperature, return to the liquid
form, and occupy only one solid inch, leaving 1,699 solid inches
vacant; and, if it be included in a close vessel, leaving the surfaces
of that vessel free from the internal pressure to which they were
subject before the return of the water to the liquid form. If it be
possible, therefore, alternately to convert water into vapour by heat,
and to reconvert the vapour into water by cold, we shall be enabled
alternately to submit any surface to a pressure equal to the elastic
force of the steam, and to relieve it from that pressure, so as to
permit it to move in obedience to any other force which may act upon
it. Or again, suppose that we are enabled to expose one side of a
movable body to the action of water converted into steam, at the
moment that we relieve the other side from the like pressure by
reconverting the steam which acts upon it into water, the movable body
will be impelled by the unresisted pressure of the steam on one side.
When it has moved a certain distance in obedience to this force, let
us suppose that the effects are reversed. Let the steam which pressed
it forwards be now reconverted into water, so as to have its action
suspended; and at the same moment, let steam raised from water by heat
be caused to act on the other side of the movable body; the
consequence will obviously be, that it will now change the direction
of its motion, and return in obedience to the pressure excited on the
opposite side. Such is, in fact, the operation of an ordinary
low-pressure steam-engine. The piston or plug which plays in the
cylinder is the movable to which we have referred. The vapour of water
is introduced upon one side of that piston at the moment that a
similar vapour is converted into water on the other side, and the
piston moves by the unresisted action of the steam. When it has
arrived at the extremity of the cylinder, the steam which just urged
it forwards is reconverted into water, and the piston is relieved from
its action. At the same moment, a fresh supply of steam is introduced
upon the other side of the piston, and its pressure causes the piston
to be moved in a direction contrary to its former motion. Thus the
piston is moved in the cylinder alternately in the one direction and
in the other, with a force equivalent to the pressure of the steam
which acts upon it. A strong metal rod proceeds from this piston, and
communicates with proper machinery, by which the alternate motion of
the piston backwards and forwards, or upwards and downwards, in the
cylinder, may be communicated to whatever body is intended to be
moved.
The power of such a machine will obviously depend partly on the
magnitude of the piston or the movable surface which is exposed to the
action of the steam, and partly on the pressure of the steam itself.
The object of converting the steam into water by cold, upon that side
of the piston towards which the motion takes place, is to relieve the
piston from all resistance to the moving power. This renders it
unnecessary to use steam of a very high pressure, inasmuch as it will
have no resistance to overcome, except the friction of the piston with
the cylinder, and the ordinary resistance of the load which it may
have to move. Engines constructed upon this principle, not requiring,
therefore, steam of a great pressure, have been generally called
"low-pressure engines." The re-conversion of the steam into water
requires a constant and abundant supply of cold water, and a fit
apparatus for carrying away the water which becomes heated, by cooling
the steam, and for supplying its place by a fresh quantity of cold
water. It is obvious that such an apparatus is incompatible with great
simplicity and lightness, nor can it be applied to cases where the
engine is worked under circumstances in which a fresh supply of water
cannot be had.
The re-conversion of steam into water, or, as it is technically
called, the _condensation_ of steam, is however by no means necessary
to the effective operation of a steam-engine. From what has been above
said, it will be understood that this effect relieves the piston of a
part of the resistance which is opposed to its motion. If that part of
the resistance were not removed, the pressure of steam acting upon the
other side would be affected in no other way than by having a greater
load or resistance to overcome; and if that pressure were
proportionately increased, the effective power of the machine would
remain the same. It follows, therefore, that if the steam upon that
side of the piston towards which the motion is made were not
condensed, the steam urging the piston forwards on the other side
would require to have a degree of intensity greater than the steam in
a low-pressure engine, by the amount of the pressure of the
uncondensed steam on the other side of the piston. An engine working
on this principle has therefore been called a _high-pressure engine_.
Such an engine is relieved from the incumbrance of all the condensing
apparatus and of the large supply of cold water necessary for the
reduction of steam to the liquid form; for instead of being so
reduced, the steam is in this case simply allowed to escape into the
atmosphere. The operation, therefore, of high-pressure engines will be
readily understood. The boiler producing steam of a very powerful
pressure, is placed in communication with a cylinder furnished in the
usual manner with a piston; the steam is allowed to act upon one side
of the piston so as to impel it from the one end of the cylinder to
the other. When it has arrived there, the communication with the
boiler is reversed, and the steam is introduced on the other side of
the piston, while the steam which has just urged the piston forwards
is permitted to escape into the atmosphere. It is evident that the
only resistance to the motion of the piston here is the pressure of
that portion of steam which does not escape into the air; which
pressure will be equal to that of the air itself, inasmuch as the
steam will continue to escape from the cylinder as long as its elastic
force exceeds that of the atmosphere. In this manner the alternate
motion of the piston in the cylinder will be continued; the efficient
force which urges it being estimated by the excess of the actual
pressure of the steam from the boiler above the atmospheric pressure.
The superior simplicity and lightness of the high-pressure engine must
now be apparent, and these qualities recommend it strongly for all
purposes in which the engine itself must be moved from place to place.
The steam-engine therefore consists of two distinct parts,--the
boiler, which is at once the generator and magazine of steam, and the
cylinder with its piston, which is the instrument by which this power
is brought into operation and rendered effective. The amount of the
load or resistance which such a machine is capable of moving, depends
upon the intensity or pressure of the steam produced by the boiler,
and on the magnitude of the surface of the piston in the cylinder,
upon which that steam acts. The rate or velocity of the motion
depends, not on the power or pressure of the steam, but on the rate at
which the boiler is capable of generating it. Every stroke of the
piston consumes a cylinder full of steam; and of course the rate of
the motion depends upon the number of cylinders of steam which the
boiler is capable of generating in a given time. These are two points
which it is essential should be distinctly understood, in order to
comprehend the relative merits of the boilers used in travelling
steam-engines.
The motion which is primarily produced in a steam engine is a
reciprocating or alternate motion of the piston from end to end of the
cylinder; but the motion which is necessary to be produced for the
purposes to which the engine is applied, is rarely or never of this
nature. This primary motion, therefore, is almost always modified by
some machinery interposed between the piston and the object to be
moved. The motion most generally required is one of rotation, and this
is accomplished by connecting the extremity of the piston-rod with a
contrivance constructed on the revolving axle, called a _crank_. This
contrivance does not differ in principle from the common winch, or
from the key which winds a clock. The motion of the piston-rod
backwards and forwards turns such a winch. At each termination of the
stroke, the piston, from the peculiar position of the crank, loses all
power over it. To remedy this two cylinders and pistons are generally
used, which act upon two cranks placed on the axle at right angles to
each other; so that at the moment when one of the pistons is at the
extremity of its stroke, and loses its power upon one crank, the other
piston is at the middle of its stroke, and in full operation on the
other crank. By these means an unremitting force is kept in action.
_Edinburgh Review._
* * * * *
SONG.
BY ROBERT GILFILLAN, AUTHOR OF "ORIGINAL SONGS."
Tune.--"_Gin a body meet a body._"
Bonnie lassie, fairest lassie,
Dear art thou to me;
Let me think, my bonnie lassie,
I am lov'd by thee!
I speak na of thy ringlets bright,
Nor of thy witching 'ee;
But this I'll tell thy bonnie sel',
That dear art thou to me!
O! beauty it is rare, lassie,
And beauty it is thine,
Yet my love is no for beauty's sake,
'Tis just I wish thee mine!
Thy smile might match an angel's smile,
Gif such, save thee, there be;
Yet though thy charms my bosom warms,
I'll tell na them to thee!
Thy sunny face has nature's grace,
Thy form is winsome fair;
But when for long thou'st heard that sang,
O! wherefore hear it mair?
Thy voice, soft as the hymn of morn,
Or evening's melodie,
May still excel, as a' can tell,
Then wherefore hear't frae me?
Bonnie lassie, fairest lassie,
Think na't strange o' me,
That when thy beauty's praised by a',
Thou get'st nae praise frae me?
For wha wad praise what none can praise?
Yet, lassie, list to me;
Gie me thy love, and in return
I'll sing thy charms to thee!
_Metropolitan._
* * * * *
ANECDOTE GALLERY.
* * * * *
RECORDS. BY THE AUTHOR OF "MONSIEUR TONSON."
_An Odd Angler_.
Dr. Birch was very fond of angling, and devoted much time to that
amusement. In order to deceive the fish, he had a dress constructed,
which, when he put it on, made him appear like an old tree. His arms
he conceived would appear like branches, and the line like a long
spray. In this sylvan attire he used to take root by the side of a
favourite stream, and imagined that his motions might seem to the fish
to be the effect of the wind.--He pursued this amusement for some
years in the same habit, till he was ridiculed out of it by his
friends.
_Jack Spencer_.
It is said that he once contrived to collect a party of hunch-backed
men to dine with him, some of whom indignantly quitted the table.
Another whimsical party which he assembled at his house consisted
merely of a number of persons all of whom stuttered; but this meeting
at first threatened serious consequences, for each supposed he was
mocked by the other, and it was with great difficulty that their host
restored peace, by acknowledging the ludicrous purpose of his
invitation.
_Dr. Johnson._
Dr. Johnson was long a bigoted Jacobite. When he was walking with some
friends in Kensington Gardens, one of them observed that it was a fine
place. "Phoo," said Johnson, "nothing can be fine that belongs to a
usurper." Dr. Monsey assured me, that once in company, when the
conversation was on the age of King George the Third, he heard him
say, "What does it signify when such an animal was born, or whether he
ever existed?" Yet he afterwards said, in his account of his interview
with His Majesty, that it was not for him "to bandy compliments with
_his sovereign_."
_Cards._
Mr. Murphy told me also, that he was once present at Tom's
Coffee-house, in Russell Street Covent Garden, which was only open to
subscribers, when Colley Cibber was engaged at whist, and an old
General was his partner. As the cards were dealt to him, he took up
every one in turn, and expressed his disappointment at every
indifferent one. In the progress of the game he did not follow suit,
and his partner said, "What! have you not a spade, Mr. Cibber?" The
latter, looking at his cards, answered, "Oh, yes, a thousand;" which
drew a very peevish comment from the General. On which Cibber, who was
shockingly addicted to swearing, replied, "Don't be angry, for ---- I
can play ten times worse if I like."
_All on one Side._
Major Grose told me that when he was quartered in Dublin, he ordered
an Irish sergeant to exercise the men in shooting at a mark. The
sergeant had placed a pole for them to take aim, stationing a certain
number on one side, and an equal number on the other, in direct
opposition. The Major happened to reach the spot just as they were
going to fire, stopped them, and expressed his surprise that the
sergeant should have placed them in so dangerous a position, as they
must necessarily wound, if not kill each other. "Kill each other!"
said the sergeant, "why, they are all our own men." As the men so
contentedly remained in the dangerous position, it may be inferred
that they were as wise as the sergeant. This story illustrates that of
Lord Thomond's cooks, which when the keeper let loose, were fighting
each other,--much to his surprise he said, as they belonged to one
person, and were "_all on the same side_."
_Vails to Servants._
It is said that this practice prevailed to such a degree, even at the
house of the great Lord Chesterfield, that when he invited Voltaire a
second time to his table, the French wit in his answer declined the
invitation, alleging that "his lordship's _ordinary_ was _too dear_."
Another evil practice of servants to the higher orders, at that time,
was carried to such a height that it wrought its own cure. It was
usual at the old Italian Opera-house to allot a gallery to the
footmen, that when their masters or mistresses had appointed the time
to leave the theatre, their servants might be ready to attend. But
these _livery-men_ took it into their heads to become critics upon the
performances, and delivered their comments in so tumultuous a manner,
that the managers found it absolutely necessary to close the gallery
against them, and to assign it to those only who paid for admission.
Just before the abolition of this _party-coloured_ tribunal, a wag who
was fond of music, but who had more wit than money, appeared at the
gallery door, when the porter demanded the name of his master. The wag
boldly answered, "I am the Lord Jehovah's servant," and was admitted,
one of the door-keepers saying to the other, "I never heard of that
man's master before, but suppose it is some scurvy Scotch lord or
other."
_New Reading._
Mr. John Kemble used to relate many whimsical anecdotes of provincial
actors whom he knew in the early part of his life. He said that an
actor who was to perform the character of _Kent_ in the play of "King
Lear," had dressed himself like a doctor, with a large grizzle wig,
having a walking-stick, which he held up to his nose, and a box under
his arm. Being asked why he dressed the Earl of Kent in that manner,
he said, "People mistake the character; he was not an earl, but a
doctor. Does not Kent say, when the king draws his sword on him for
speaking in favour of Cordelia, 'Do kill thy _physician_, Lear;' and
when the king tells him to take his 'hated trunk from his dominions,'
and Kent says, 'Now to new climes my old trunk I'll bear,' what could
he mean but his _medicine chest_, to practise in another country?"
_Absence._
The first Lord Lyttleton was very absent in company, and when he fell
into a river, by the oversetting of a boat, at Hagley, it was said of
him that he had "sunk twice before he recollected he could swim." Mr.
Jerningham told me, that dining one day with his lordship, the earl
pointed to a particular dish, and asked to be helped of it, calling
it, however, by a name very different from what the dish contained. A
gentleman was going to tell him of his mistake. "Never mind,"
whispered another of the party; "help him to what he asked for, and he
will suppose it is what he wanted."
Arthur Murphy, whose mind was chiefly occupied by dramatic subjects,
after he became a barrister, dining one Sunday at the chaplain's
table, St. James's Palace, being too early, strolled into the Chapel
Royal during the service, and desiring a seat, he thus addressed one
of the attendants on the pews, "Here, _boxkeeper_, open this _box_."
* * * * *
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
* * * * *
CURIOUS LAWS RELATING TO CAPS.
In England, in the year 1571, it was enacted, "that every person above
seven years of age should wear on Sundays and holidays a cap of wool,
knit-made, thickened and dressed in England, by some of the trade of
cappers, under the forfeiture of three farthings for every day's
neglect, excepting maids, ladies, and gentlewomen, and every lord
knight, and gentleman, of twenty marks of land, and their heirs, and
such as have borne office of worship in any city, town, or place, and
the wardens of the London Companies."
In France, those who had been bankrupts were obliged ever after to
wear a green cap, to prevent people from being imposed on in any
future commerce. By several arrets, in 1584, 1622, 1628, and 1688, it
was decreed, that if they were at any time found without their green
cap, their protection should be null, and their creditors empowered to
cast them into prison; but this practice is not now continued.
Among the formation of the different domestic trades of the metropolis
into fraternities, or companies, were the _Capellarii_, or Cappers.
Respecting these, Hugh Fitz-Otonis, the city _custos_, in the 54th of
Henry III., made certain ordinances, in the presence of the aldermen,
as that none "should make a cap but of good white or grey wool, or
black; that none dye a cap made of white or grey wool into black, they
being apt, so dyed, to lose their colour through the rain," &c.
P.T.W.
* * * * *
WRESTLING.
At Hornchurch, in Essex, there is a singular custom on Christmas Day
of wrestling for a boar's head, which is provided by the occupier of
Hornchurch Hall. This custom is said to have originated in some
charter, with which a correspondent, (H.B.A.,) is totally
unacquainted.
* * * * *
PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS
Mr. Turner has collected (_Hist. Eng._) many curious facts relative to
the condition of the Jews, especially in England. Others may be found
dispersed in Velly's _History of France_; and many in the Spanish
writers, Mariana and Zurita. The following are from Vaissette's
_History of Languedoc_:--It was the custom at Toulouse to give a blow
on the face to a Jew every Easter;--this was commuted, in the twelfth
century, for a tribute. At Beziers another usage prevailed--that of
attacking the Jews' houses with stones, from Palm Sunday to Easter. No
other weapon was to be used; but it generally produced bloodshed. The
populace were regularly instigated to the assault by a sermon from the
bishop. At length, a prelate, wiser than the rest, abolished this
ancient practice, but not without receiving a good sum from the Jews.
* * * * *
THE GATHERER.
* * * * *
_Crusades._--Mr. Hallam, in his excellent _History of the Middle
Ages_, (vol. iii. p. 359), gives the following view of these
misconceived glories of history:--"The crusades may be considered as
martial pilgrimages on an enormous scale; and their influence upon
general morality seems to have been altogether pernicious. Those who
served under the cross would not indeed have lived very virtuously at
home; but the confidence in their own merits, which the principle of
such expeditions inspired, must have aggravated the ferocity and
dissoluteness of their ancient habits. Several historians attest the
depravation of morals which existed both among the crusaders, and in
the states formed out of their conquests."
_Slave Trade in England._--In England it was very common, even after
the conquest, to export slaves to Ireland; till, in the reign of Henry
II., the Irish came to a non-importation agreement, which put a stop
to the practice. William of Malmesbury accuses the Anglo-Saxon
nobility of selling their female servants as slaves to foreigners. In
the canons of a council at London, in 1102, we read--"Let no one from
henceforth presume to carry on that wicked traffic, by which men of
England have hitherto been sold like brute animals." And Giraldus
Cambrensis says that the English, before the conquest, were generally
in the habit of selling their children and other relations, to be
slaves in Ireland, without having even the pretext of distress or
famine, till the Irish, in a national synod, agreed to emancipate all
the English slaves in the kingdom.
_Opulent English Merchants._--Some idea of the ancient commercial
wealth of Great Britain may be gathered from a glance at the rapid
increase of English trade from about the middle of the fourteenth
century. Thus, in 1363, Ricard, who had been lord mayor, some years
before, entertained Edward III. and the Black Prince, the Kings of
France, Scotland, and Cyprus, with many of the nobility, at his own
house in the Vintry, and presented them with handsome gifts. This
eclipses the costliest entertainments of our times, at the public
expense. Philpot, another eminent citizen in Richard II.'s time, when
the trade of England was considerably annoyed by privateers, hired one
thousand armed men, and dispatched them to sea, where they took
fifteen Spanish vessels with their prizes. We find Richard obtaining a
great deal from private merchants and trading towns. In 1379, he got
5,000_l._ from London, 1,000 marks from Bristol, and in proportion
from smaller places. In 1386 London gave 4,000_l._ more, and 10,000
marks in 1397. The latter sum was obtained also for the coronation of
Henry VI. Nor were the contributions of individuals contemptible,
considering the high value of money. Hinde, a citizen of London, lent
to Henry IV. 2,000_l._ in 1407, and Whittington one half of that sum.
The merchants of the staple advanced 4,000_l._ at the same time. Our
commerce continued to be regularly and rapidly progressive during the
fifteenth century. The famous Canynges, of Bristol, under Henry VI.
and Edward IV. had ships of 900 tons burden.
_Gold-beating._--Reaumur asserts, that in an experiment he made, one
grain of gold was extended to rather more than forty-two square inches
of leaf-gold; and that an ounce of gold, which in the form of a cube,
is not half an inch either high, broad, or long, is beat under the
hammer into a surface of 150 square feet. The process is as
follows:--The gold is melted in a crucible, and taken to the
flattening mills, where it is rolled out till it becomes of the
consistence of tin; it is then cut into small square pieces, and each
piece is laid between a leaf of skin (known by the name of
goldbeaters-skin); two parchment bands are then passed over the whole,
and each band is reversed; it is then hammered out to the size of the
skin, taken out, cut and hammered over again, and so on till it is
sufficiently thin; when it is placed in books, the leaves of which are
rubbed with red ochre, to prevent the gold adhering to them. There are
gold leaves not thicker, in some parts, than the three hundred and
sixty thousandth part of an inch. BURTON.
_Ancient Pitch-in-the Hole._--A soldier was brought to Alexander to
exhibit a trick which he had acquired, of pitching a pea into a
distant hole, which just fitted it;--when the reward which the great
conqueror bestowed upon the soldier for his useless application of
time was a peck of peas. P.T.W.
_Pekin._--Balducci Pegalotti, a Florentine writer upon commerce, about
the year 1340, describes Pekin (under the name of Cambalu) the capital
city of China, as being one hundred miles in circumference. He also
states the journey from the Genoese territories to Pekin as of rather
more than eight months, going and returning; and he assures us it was
perfectly secure, not only for caravans, but for a single traveller,
with a couple of interpreters and a servant.
_Mercers and Drapers._--Among the trading companies into which the
middling ranks were distributed on the continent, in the twelfth
century, those concerned in silk and woollens were most numerous and
honourable. None were admitted to the rank of burgesses in the towns
of Aragon who used any manual trade, with the exception of dealers in
fine cloths.
_Usury._--The interest of money was exceedingly high throughout the
middle ages. At Verona, in 1228, it was fixed by law at 12-1/2 per
cent.; at Modena, in 1270, it seems to have been as high as 20. The
republic of Genoa, towards the end of the fourteenth century, when
Italy had grown wealthy, paid only from 7 to 10 per cent. to her
creditors. But in France and England the rate was far more oppressive.
An ordinance of Philip the Fair, in 1311, allows 20 per cent. after
the first year of the loan. Under Henry III., according to Matthew
Paris, the debtor paid 10 per cent. every two months; but this is
absolutely incredible as a general practice.
_Worsted._--Blomefield, the historian of Norfolk, thinks that a colony
of Flemings settled, as early as the reign of Henry II., at Worsted--a
village in that county--and immortalized its name by their
manufacture. It soon reached Norwich, though not conspicuous till the
reign of Edward I.
_The Lord's Prayer in Arawaak._[21]--Kururumanny--haamary caleery
oboraady--bachooty deweet bossa--baynse parocan, bayin so
pareeka--yahaboo ororoo adiako--meherachehbeyn dacotooniah--Ebehey
nebehedow wakayany odomay--Mayera toonebah dayensey--Boboro
talidey.--_Hedouainey._--_Jour. Geog. Soc._
[21] An Indian nation, settled in British Guiana.
* * * * *
*** Our Correspondent E. has been misinformed. The translation of the
Letter of Lord Byron, inserted in our Number 575, as the first, will
be found in Moore's Life of Byron, vol. vi. p. 147, new edit.--but
without the subscription of "Peer of England."
* * * * *
_Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset
House,) London; sold by G.G. BENNIS, 55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin,
Paris; CHARLES FUGEL, Francfort; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers._
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