Title: Monthly supplement of the Penny magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, issue 16, May 31 to June 30, 1832
Editor: Charles Knight
Release date: September 15, 2025 [eBook #76875]
Language: English
Original publication: London: Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, 1832
Credits: Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
On the 3d of February last, a part of the wall of the upper battlement on the south-west side of the Abbey of St. Alban’s fell upon the roof below, in two masses, at an interval of five minutes between the fall of each fragment. The concussion was so great, that the inhabitants of the neighbouring houses describe it as resembling the loudest thunder; and the detached masses of the wall came down with such force that a large portion of the roof, consisting of lead and heavy timber, was driven into the aisle below. The abbey, generally, has been a good deal out of repair for several years; and it is now estimated that 15,000l. will be required to repair the damage, and to save this venerable fabric from further injury.
A public subscription has been opened for this laudable object; and when we consider the interest which the people of this country so properly attach to the monuments of our early civilization, we cannot doubt that the Abbey of St. Alban’s will be rescued, for several more generations, from the devouring grasp of time.
St. Alban’s is, in many respects, one of the towns of England most dignified by historical associations. It was one of the principal places of the ancient Britons before the Roman conquest; and, within twenty-one years after the invasion of the island, was raised, by the Romans, to the rank of a city, under the name of Verulam. Many considerable fragments of the Roman Verulam still exist, at a short distance from the present town, particularly a large piece of a wall, constructed of Roman tile, now called Gorhambury Block. Dr. Stukely, a celebrated antiquarian writer, has calculated that about a hundred acres were included within the Roman wall. The greater part of the city, first built by the Romans, was demolished by the Britons, under Queen Boadicea, in the 61st year after the birth of Christ; but it was soon rebuilt, and the inhabitants continued under the protection of the Romans for a long period. In the persecution of the Christians, under the Roman emperor Dioclesian, in the year 304, Alban, a native of Verulam, who had been a soldier at Rome, suffered martyrdom for his faith; and being the first Briton who had been put to death for his religious opinions, he is called England’s proto-martyr, or first martyr, as St. Stephen is called the proto-martyr of Christianity. In 795, Offa, King of the Mercians, founded an abbey at Holmhurst, close by the ancient Verulam, in honour of St. Alban, and the place was thenceforward called St. Alban’s. The abbey flourished for more than seven centuries. Its buildings, erected from time to time, resembled a town more than a religious house. It had magnificent apartments, in which the kings of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were frequently entertained. The annual revenues, during its greatest prosperity, were valued at 2500l.—an enormous sum in those days.
Of this immense establishment, nothing is left but the present conventual church, a gate-house, and a few scattered walls. The church, which was principally erected in the reign of William Rufus, is in magnitude equal to our largest cathedrals. It measures 550 feet from east to west; if we include a chapel at one end, 606 feet. The extreme breadth, at the intersection of the transepts, is 217 feet. The exterior of this great pile is not very beautiful; but the spectator is struck with its vastness, its simplicity, and its appearance of extreme age. A large part of the original edifice is composed of materials taken from the ruins of the ancient Verulam, consisting chiefly of Roman tile. These portions of the interior are very rude, and form a striking contrast to other parts which were finished after the elegant Norman style was adopted in this country. In this manner it occurs that we see at St. Alban’s a mixture of the round and the pointed arch, in two sides of the same building, directly opposite each other. It is singular that as one side of the building fell into decay, the later style of architecture, that of the pointed arch, should have been used; while the more ancient round arch was suffered to remain on the opposite side. This want of uniformity greatly diminishes the beauty of the interior; but still many of its effects are remarkably striking, particularly that of the vast length of the church from east to west. Some parts of the edifice furnish, also, beautiful and perfect specimens of the most delicate workmanship.
The Abbey-Church of St. Alban’s contains the monuments of several illustrious men, particularly that of Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, the brother of Henry V. But St. Alban’s possesses the much higher distinction of 130being the burial-place, as it was the abode, of the great Lord Bacon. The old Church of St. Michael, in this town, contains the remains of the immortal founder of the inductive philosophy, which delivered the human mind from the tyranny of opinions established by prescription and authority, and led the way for every man to think for himself, and to rely upon the truths of established facts alone as the materials for his conclusions. The following is a representation of Lord Bacon’s monument.
[‘The Economy of Machinery and Manufactures. By Charles Babbage, Esq., A.M., Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in the University of Cambridge.’ 8vo. London, C. Knight, 1832.]
Here is a work of no common interest. Its object, as stated by the author in his introductory paragraph, is “to point out the effects and the advantages which arise from the use of tools and machines;—to endeavour to classify their modes of action;—and to trace both the causes and the consequences of applying machinery to supersede the skill and power of the human arm.” It professes to embrace, therefore, both a very important branch of the science of political economy, and the whole domain of the mechanical arts.
The word manufacture, which means fabrication by the hand, has become singularly inapplicable to the thing which it is used to denote. The human hand now performs but a comparatively small part in most of those processes to which the name of manufactures is given; and in some of the most stupendous and wonderful of them its aid is hardly at all employed. Where the steam-engine plies its mighty energies, man has in many cases little more to do than to look on. If the expression, a manufacturing country, were to be taken in its literal sense, as meaning a country where articles were generally made by the hand, it would be much more truly applicable to Spain, or Russia, or Poland, or Hindostan, or indeed to any other country of the earth, than to ours. We are, of all others, the people who do least by the hand.
When we say, therefore, that England is a manufacturing country and that Poland is not, we mean merely that great numbers of articles of use and of luxury are fabricated in the former country, without any necessary reference to the mode in which they are fabricated. But it so happens that such articles cannot be fabricated in great abundance except by means of machinery; and therefore we often use the term manufacturing as nearly synonymous with mechanical, or at least as implying the extensive agency of machinery. It should be borne in mind, however, that agriculture is also a manufacture; and that whether a country produces iron or corn, each branch of industry involves mechanical aid, however we may choose to distinguish between a manufacturing and an agricultural country.
The book upon the subject of manufactures which Mr. Babbage has now given to the world, consists chiefly of a very large and multifarious collection of the mechanical expedients employed in the different branches of our national industry, arranged according to the general principle, of which each is an exemplification. The author has in this way furnished a work which is not less interesting to the mere general reader than it is likely to prove valuable to the student of mechanics. Surrounded as we are in this country by the wonders of mechanical invention, he among us must be singularly destitute of enlightened curiosity who feels no desire to understand the operation of those beautiful and most effective contrivances which he everywhere sees or hears in motion; or to trace through the various stages of their fabrication those numberless articles of use and of ornament of which every one of our shops, and it may almost be said of our houses, is full. The history of some of the most apparently trivial or insignificant of these productions, of a pin or a needle for instance, is often a rich succession of the most exquisite efforts of ingenuity—of the most important results obtained by the simplest means, and of a velocity and at the same time perfection of operation which to the unaccustomed observer would seem little short of miraculous. The wonders of our manufactures are not less deserving of our examination, because they are performed in the very midst of us, and may be made perfectly intelligible to all who care to understand them.
But it is to those who are actually engaged in mechanical invention that this volume is doubtless fitted to render the most important service. Let the particular department upon which a person so employed is exercising his thoughts be what it may, his success is likely to depend in no small degree upon his general familiarity with mechanical contrivances. It has not unfrequently happened that for want of this diversified knowledge the inventors and improvers of machines or of processes have devoted their solitary efforts for a long time in vain, in attempting merely to accomplish what had already been completely achieved in some other department of mechanical skill with which they happened to have no acquaintance. In other cases, a contrivance applicable to many different branches, although introduced in one of the number, has remained unknown to the cultivators of all the others for many years. Thus, for example, the valuable contrivance of the fly-shuttle, although introduced into the woollen manufactory about the year 1738, was not employed in the weaving of cottons, where it was equally applicable, till more than twenty years afterwards. So also, as Mr. Babbage notices, the expedient of placing the workman employed in beating out the blades of scythes in a seat suspended by ropes from the ceiling, to give him sufficient freedom and rapidity of motion to bring the different parts of the iron upon the anvil in quick succession, although introduced in the manufacture of scythes long ago, has only been recently applied to that of anchors; “an art in which,” as he remarks, “the contrivance is of still greater importance.” Now such a work as the one before us is admirably calculated to prevent all this waste of inventive labour, and to ensure the communication of any new or valuable contrivance to all descriptions 131of manufactures in which it is fitted to be available. An inventor, who has made himself completely master of this work, will have obtained a knowledge both of all the principal expedients which have hitherto been employed in mechanics, and of the scientific principles upon which all mechanical devices must depend; and a man so instructed, it may be fairly inferred, will be likely not only to waste but little time in re-discovering what has been already found out, but also to find his efforts in original invention crowned with far more rapid and more satisfying success than would have otherwise attended them.
From the multiplicity of most interesting subjects of which Mr. Babbage has treated, the mere enumeration of which would far exceed our limits, we select only two specimens of the entertainment to be found in the work. The following account of a foreign manufacture would appear incredible, if we did not know to what singular uses the instincts of animals may be directed:—
“Lace made by Caterpillars.—A most extraordinary species of manufacture, which is in a slight degree connected with copying, has been contrived by an officer of engineers residing at Munich. It consists of lace and veils, with open patterns in them, made entirely by caterpillars. The following is the mode of proceeding adopted:—Having made a paste of the leaves of the plant, on which the species of caterpillar he employs feeds, he spreads it thinly over a stone, or other flat substance, of the required size. He then, with a camel-hair pencil dipped in olive oil, draws the pattern he wishes the insects to leave open. This stone is then placed in an inclined position, and a considerable number of the caterpillars are placed at the bottom. A peculiar species is chosen, which spins a strong web; and the animals commence at the bottom, eating and spinning their way up to the top, carefully avoiding every part touched by the oil, but devouring every other part of the paste. The extreme lightness of these veils, combined with some strength, is truly surprising. One of them, measuring twenty-six and a half inches by seventeen inches, weighed only 1.51 grains, a degree of lightness which will appear more strongly by contrast with other fabrics. One square yard of the substance of which these veils are made weighs four grains and one-third, whilst one square yard of silk gauze weighs one hundred and thirty-seven grains, and one square yard of the finest patent net weighs two hundred and sixty-two grains and a half.”
One of the most important manufactures of our own country is that connected with the Press, in all its various and complicated operations. The following account of the mode in which a great London newspaper is prepared, will be read with interest in all parts of the kingdom:—
“Another instance of the just application of machinery, even at an increased expense, arises where the shortness of time in which the article can be produced, has an important influence on its value. In the publication of our daily newspapers, it frequently happens that the debates in the Houses of Parliament are carried on to three and four o’clock in the morning, that is, to within a very few hours of the time for the publication of the newspaper. The speeches must be taken down by reporters, conveyed by them to the establishment of the newspaper, perhaps at the distance of one or two miles, transcribed by them in the office, set up by the compositor, the press corrected, and the papers printed off and distributed before the public can read them. Some of these journals have a circulation of from five to ten thousand daily. Supposing four thousand to be wanted, and that they could be printed only at the rate of five hundred per hour upon one side of the paper (which was the greatest number two journeymen and a boy could take off by the old hand-presses), sixteen hours would be required for printing the complete edition; and the news conveyed to the purchasers of the latest portion of the impression, would be out of date before they could receive it. To obviate this difficulty, it was often necessary to set up the paper in duplicate, and sometimes, when late, in triplicate: but the improvements in the printing-machines have been so great, that four thousand copies are now printed on one side in an hour.
“The establishment of ‘The Times’ newspaper is an example, on a large scale, of a manufactory in which the division of labour, both mental and bodily, is admirably illustrated, and in which also the effect of the domestic economy is well exemplified. It is scarcely imagined, by the thousands who read that paper in various quarters of the globe, what a scene of organized activity the factory presents during the whole night, or what a quantity of talent and mechanical skill is put in action for their amusement and information[1]. Nearly a hundred persons are employed in this establishment; and, during the session of parliament, at least twelve reporters are constantly attending the Houses of Commons and Lords; each in his turn, after about an hour’s work, retiring to translate into ordinary writing, the speech he has just heard and noted in short-hand. In the mean time fifty compositors are constantly at work, some of whom have already set up the beginning, whilst others are committing to type the yet undried manuscript of the continuation of a speech, whose middle portion is travelling to the office in the pocket of the hasty reporter, and whose eloquent conclusion is, perhaps, at that very moment, making the walls of St. Stephen’s vibrate with the applause of its hearers. These congregated types, as fast as they are composed, are passed in portions to other hands; till at last the scattered fragments of the debate, forming, when united with the ordinary matter, eight-and-forty columns, re-appear in regular order on the platform of the printing-press. The hand of man is now too slow for the demands of his curiosity, but the power of steam comes to his assistance. Ink is rapidly supplied to the moving types by the most perfect mechanism;—four attendants incessantly introduce the edges of large sheets of white paper to the junction of two great rollers, which seem to devour them with unsated appetite;—other rollers convey them to the type already inked, and having brought them into rapid and successive contact, re-deliver them to four other assistants, completely printed by the almost momentary touch. Thus, in one hour, four thousand sheets of paper are printed on one side; and an impression of twelve thousand copies, from above three hundred thousand moveable pieces of metal, is produced for the public in six hours.”
1. “The Author of these pages, with one of his friends, was recently induced to visit this most interesting establishment, after midnight, during the progress of a very important debate. The place was illuminated with gas, and was light as the day:—there was neither noise nor bustle;—and the visitors were received with such calm and polite attention, that they did not, until afterwards, become sensible of the inconvenience which such intruders, at a moment of the greatest pressure, must occasion, nor reflect that the tranquillity which they admired, was the result of intense and regulated occupation. But the effect of such checks in the current of business will appear on recollecting that, as four thousand newspapers are printed off on one side within the hour, every minute is attended with a loss of sixty-six impressions. The quarter of an hour, therefore, which the stranger may think it not unreasonable to claim for the gratification of his curiosity (and to him this time is but a moment), may cause a failure in the delivery of one thousand copies, and disappoint a proportionate number of expectant readers, in some of our distant towns, to which the morning papers are despatched by the earliest and most rapid conveyances of each day.
“This note is inserted with the further and more general purpose of calling the attention of those, especially foreigners, who are desirous of inspecting our larger manufactories to the chief cause of the difficulty which frequently attends their introduction. When the establishment is very extensive, and its departments skilfully arranged, the exclusion of visitors arises, not from any illiberal jealousy, nor, generally, from any desire of concealment, which would, in most cases, be absurd; but from the substantial inconvenience and loss of time, throughout an entire series of well-combined operations, which must be occasioned even by short and casual interruptions.”
The last Monthly Report of the proceedings of the Committee of Science of the Zoological Society, contains several facts of general interest.
The female Puma, in the Society’s Gardens, brought forth two young ones on the 2d of April. The ground-colour of these is of a paler fawn than that of either of the parents, and they are deeply spotted. The eyelids of one of them were partially unclosed on April 9. The mother, whose temper was always mild, has since become remarkably gentle, purring when the keeper goes into her den, and allowing her young ones to be handled and carried about without appearing 132to be annoyed by such treatment. The young, on the contrary, were, when first born, extremely fierce, hissing and scratching with all their might; they have, however, since become better tempered, though they are still spiteful. The manners of both the mother and the young are similar to those of the domestic cat and her kittens, the former carrying the latter about from place to place in her mouth. For a day or two previously to her littering she pulled the straw in her inner den into pieces and thus formed a nest.
Some curious experiments have been made as to the mode of feeding quadrupeds of prey, which is best adapted to bringing them into good condition, and which may therefore be considered the most suited to their natural habits. On January 11 two leopards were weighed. No. 1. weighed 91 lbs.: it was fed in the usual manner with 4 lbs. of beef daily in one meal given in the evening. No. 2. weighed 100½ lbs.: it was supplied with 2 lbs. of beef at eight o’clock in the morning, and with a like quantity at the same hour in the evening daily. On Feb. 16 (after an interval of five weeks) they were again weighed. No. 1. had gained in weight 1 lb.: No. 2. had diminished in weight ½ lb. No alteration was observed in the latter animal as regarded his daily exercise; but he became more ferocious than he had previously been, and was particularly violent.
[The Puma.]
On December 23 two hyænas were weighed. No. 1. weighed 86 lbs.: it was fed as usual with 3 lbs. of beef daily at one meal in the evening. No. 2. weighed 93 lbs.: it was supplied with the same quantity of beef daily, divided into two equal portions, one of which was given in the morning and the other in the evening. On February 16 (after an interval of eight weeks) they were again weighed; and No. 1. was found to have increased in weight 1 lb., while No. 2. had diminished in weight 1 lb. The latter animal was observed to take less exercise than he had previously been accustomed to, and slept more than usual: his temper was not affected, and he did not exhibit unusual signs of hunger.
During the continuance of the experiment all the animals were fasted one day in each week in common with the other carnivorous species kept in the menagerie.
From these experiments it appears that carnivorous mammalia fed with two meals daily, do not continue in equally good condition with those which have the same quantity of flesh daily in one meal only. It further appears that in one instance (that of the leopard) the temper changed for the worse, and thus animals of the genus felis might become more dangerous in a menagerie from the ferocity they would acquire under such treatment; and that in another instance the habits were altered as regarded exercise, a diminution of which, in confined animals, must be injurious to health. The inference deduced is consequently in favour of the continuance of the accustomed mode of feeding the purely carnivorous animals with one meal daily.
The same results were produced by the same experiments upon two of a species less completely carnivorous—the Paradoxure gennet. It may be inferred from the circumstance, that quadrupeds of prey thrive best with long intervals between their meals, and that the difficulty which such animals experience in obtaining food is counterbalanced by their requiring it not so frequently as animals who feed on vegetables.
A Colossal statue of bronze, of which the above is a representation, was erected in Hanover-square, at the end of last year, to the memory of William Pitt. The orator is represented in the act of speaking. This statue, which in many respects is the finest in London, is the work of Mr. Chantrey.
We have occasionally selected a paragraph from a very pretty volume, by Mr. Jesse, published under the above title. The author lives in the neighbourhood of Kew; and, like Mr. White of Selborne, who made a small village in Hampshire one of the most interesting spots to the lover of nature, by his ample descriptions of the natural objects which he saw around him, Mr. Jesse has rendered his walks a vehicle for much instruction and amusement to himself and to others. He principally confines his attention to zoology—the most generally attractive of the departments of natural history; and he looks upon the animal world with so much practical wisdom, being disposed to be happy himself and to see every creature around him happy, that there are few persons who will not read his slight sketches with improvement to their hearts and understandings.
133We copy a passage descriptive of the manner of taking deer for hunting in the king’s parks:—
“In addition to the herd of fallow-deer, amounting to about one thousand six hundred, which are kept in Richmond Park, there is generally a stock of from forty to fifty red deer. Some stags from the latter are selected every year, and sent to Swinley, in order to be hunted by the king’s stag hounds. When a stag, which has been hunted for three or four seasons, is returned to the park, to end his days there, he is generally more fierce and dangerous than any of the others at a particular season of the year. At that time it is sometimes not safe to approach him; and the keepers informed me, that they have been obliged to fire at them with buck shot, when they have been attacked by them. They account for this ferocity, by the circumstance of the deer having been much handled, and consequently rendered more familiar with, and less afraid of, those whom they would naturally shun.
“Does are longer lived than bucks. One doe in Richmond Park lived to be twenty years old; and there are other instances of their having attained the same age.
“A curious circumstance lately occurred, respecting the red deer in the park in question. In the year 1825, not a single calf was dropped by any of the hinds, though they had bred freely the preceding, and did the same in the subsequent year. I find an event recorded in the ‘Journal of a Naturalist,’ as having happened in the same year in regard to cows. It is there stated that, for many miles round the residence of the author, scarcely any female calves were born. This diminution of the usual breed of deer, and the increase of sex in another animal, is not a little remarkable.
[Red Deer.]
“There is a fine breed of buck-hounds in Richmond Park, and their sagacity is very extraordinary. In taking the deer, according to annual custom, either for the royal hunt or for the fattening paddocks, a stag or a buck, which has been previously fixed upon, is ridden out of the herd by two or three of the keepers in succession, each of whom is closely followed by a hound, the young dogs only being kept in slips. As soon as the deer has been separated from his companions, the dogs have the requisite signal given to them, and they immediately follow in pursuit. The scene is then highly interesting. A strong deer will afford a very long chase, but when he comes to bay, the dogs generally seize him by the throat or ears; the keepers come up, take him by the horns, and after having strapped his hind and fore legs together, put him into a cart which follows for the purpose, and he is then disposed of as he may be wanted. I have seen an active young keeper throw himself from his horse upon a deer at bay, which he had come up to at full gallop, and hold his horns till assistance arrived. Some danger, however, attends this sport; as, when a deer has been hard pressed, I have seen him, in more than one instance, suddenly turn upon the horsemen and injure the horses, and in one case wound the leg of the horseman. The dogs are so well trained, and are so soon made aware which buck is intended to be caught, that they seldom make a mistake, even if the deer regains the herd after having been driven from it, but press him through it, till they have again separated him from it. It is well known that when a hard-pressed deer tries to rejoin his companions, they endeavour to avoid and get away from him as much as possible, or try to drive him away with their horns. So severe is the chase in Richmond Park in taking deer, especially when the ground is wet, that three or four good horses may be tired by a single horseman in one day’s deer-taking, if each deer is ridden out of the herd, and followed till he is taken. When dogs are in slips, the man who holds them merely rides as near as he can to the person who is endeavouring to single out the deer, and awaits his signal for slipping the dog. These dogs, who are a large, rough sort of greyhound and very powerful and sagacious, are soon taught not to injure the deer when they come to them. The cry of ‘hold them,’ made use of by the keepers in urging them forward, seems to be perfectly understood by the dogs.”
[Remarks on the Statistics and Political Institutions of the United States. By William Gore Ouseley, Esq., Attaché to his Majesty’s Legation at Washington. 8vo. London, Rodwell, 1832.]
The book before us is rather a rambling one; and we cannot say that it appears to us to contain much that is new, or that it has been prepared with all the care, even in regard to its merely literary qualities, which ought to have been bestowed on it. But the work is written in a moderate, fair, and manly spirit, and is calculated to beget a very favourable opinion of the general liberality and philanthropy of the author’s views. Although it contains some sensible remarks upon Mrs. Trollope’s volumes, which we lately noticed, and also upon a variety of other minor points, the greater portion of it is devoted to an examination of the financial results of the American system of government, and a comparison of the burthens which it imposes upon the people with those which are borne by the inhabitants of England and of France. The settlement of this question appears to be the principal aim of the writer; and he has brought together the tables and estimates of various authorities by whom it has been investigated.
In looking at these statements, however, it must be borne in mind, that the two countries are differently situated in many other respects, as well as in regard to their political institutions; and the difference between the amount of taxes paid in the one and that paid in the other, may arise, wholly or in part, from circumstances with which the form of the government has really nothing whatever to do.
It is our duty to mention this circumstance to point out that any belief that the two countries can be brought to the same point of taxation is somewhat irrational. On the other hand we can have no hesitation in expressing an opinion, that the nearer they are assimilated, the greater will be the amount of public happiness in the more highly-taxed country. A wise government will always strive to reduce taxes to the lowest point that is compatible with security against foreign violence, the maintenance of the laws, and the preservation of national credit.
A great part of Mr. Gore Ouseley’s book is made up of extracts from the American Almanac, and other recent publications. The following passage, relating to the gold mines which have been lately opened in some of the Southern States of the Union, contains some curious and interesting information, which is also copied from other works, but which is not generally known:—
“These mines have not been worked to any considerable extent for more than about five or six years, or probably much less. And yet many of them are worked upon an extensive scale, and mills for grinding the ore, propelled by water or by steam, are erected in vast numbers. The company of Messrs. Bissels, which is one of the most considerable, employs about 600 hands. The whole number of men now employed at the mines in these southern states is at least 13420,000. The weekly value of these mines is estimated at 100,000 dollars, or more than one million sterling annually. But a small part of the gold is sent to the United States Mint. By far the larger part is sent to Europe, particularly to Paris.
“Of the working miners the greater number are foreigners—Germans, Swiss, Swedes, Spaniards, English, Welsh, Scotch, &c. There are no less than thirteen different languages spoken at the mines in this State[2]! And men are flocking to the mines from all parts, and find ready employment. Hundreds of landowners and renters work the mines on their grounds on a small scale, not being able to encounter the expense of much machinery. The state of morals among the miners or labourers is represented to be deplorably bad. This may be attributed to the absence of any general organization as yet for the police and regulation of the mines, combined with the usual effects of gold upon the uneducated and needy classes of men (often not the most favourable specimens of their various nations) who generally seek employment in the gold districts. The village of Charlotte, in Mecklenburg County, is in the immediate vicinity of several of the largest mines. It is increasing rapidly.
“One interesting fact deserves mention:—When speaking of the gold mines, there are indubitable evidences that these mines were known and worked by the aboriginal inhabitants, or some other people, at a remote period. Many pieces of machinery which were used for this purpose have been found. Among them are several crucibles of earthenware, and far better than those now in use. Messrs. Bissels had tried three of them, and found that they lasted twice or three times as long as even the Hessian crucibles, which are the best now made. It is to be regretted that some antiquary has not had an opportunity of at least examining these curious relics; and it is hoped that they will be preserved in future, notwithstanding the temptation offered by their superior qualities.
“These gold mines prove that the whole region in which they abound was once under the powerful action of fire. And it is a fact, not generally known, that the miners who have come from the mines in South America and in Europe pronounce this region to be more abundant in gold than any other that has been found on the globe. There is no telling the extent of these mines; but sufficient is known to prove they are of vast extent.”—pp. 151-153.
2. North Carolina. The gold mines commence in Virginia, and extend south-west through North Carolina, part of South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, and end in Tennessee. The chief mines at present are those of North Carolina and Georgia.
[Calabria; during a Military Residence of Three Years, &c. In a Series of Letters, by a General Officer of the French Army, from the original MS. London, Effingham Wilson, 1832.]
The Calabrias, which are divided into two provinces, citra and ultra, occupy the extremity of the South of Italy, forming a peninsula one hundred and seventy miles in length, and varying in breadth from seventy to thirty-five miles. The beautiful Mediterranean sea flows round this peninsula, and a chain of the Apennines intersects it. The summit of these mountains is a vast platform called La Syla, which is admirable for pasture, and well provided with farm-houses and villages. The plains washed by the sea would be everywhere most fertile, but they have been neglected, and permitted to become swamped and pestilentially unhealthy in many places.
A little work has just been published, which contains some instructive and amusing information with regard to this part of Italy. This work is the translation of a French volume, entitled ‘Lettres sur les Calabres, par un Officier Français,’ which was published at Paris some twelve or thirteen years since. What the Author may have become we know not, but when he wrote his Letters he was nothing more than a subaltern;—a clever man, as his little book proves, yet still only a lieutenant of the line. But the translator, or publisher, appears to consider that the high-sounding additions of, “A General Officer of the French Army” and “from the original MS.” are necessary to the success of the book in its English dress. It is to be regretted that a volume which contains much to inform and amuse should be introduced to the English reader with the aid of such useless quackery; for the work is really valuable in itself, and requires no such arts to recommend it.
During his three years’ residence, the Author of these Letters, which were written on the spot, when the scenery and the romantic adventures he was engaged in were fresh and full in his mind, traversed the Calabrias several times in their whole extent, and in pursuit of partisans and brigands climbed mountains and penetrated into wild glens which for ages had probably never been visited except by the native robber or huntsman. He saw and described all the great towns, and the sites of the ancient cities of Magna Græcia; and his account of the productions and curiosities, manners and customs of these provinces, is full and most amusing. We subjoin two or three passages, describing the physical character of the country and the manners of its people:—
“The climate of Calabria varies according to the character and elevation of the soil, and is consequently favourable to all sorts of produce. In the plains, sheltered against the north wind, there are found sugar-canes, aloes, and date-trees; while the pine and birch cover the tops of the mountains. The great variety and richness of the productions of Calabria furnish an abundance of all the necessaries of life. It has grain of every description; wines which might be rendered as good as those of Spain and Languedoc, if the inhabitants had more intelligence and industry; and olive oil in such profusion, that it is kept in vast cisterns dug in the earth, or in the rock. Great quantities of silkworms (and silkworms of the very best quality) are bred here, which, together with the growth of cotton, form a considerable article of commerce. The liquorice root grows without cultivation; and in the forests is found a sort of manna, which is in great request. Immense droves of horned cattle pass alternately from the rich grazing grounds of the Syla to the aromatic pasture of the plains, where they remain during the winter. Their flocks are as vast as their herds. Their breed of horses is hardy, active, extremely swift, full of fire, and very numerous. And besides these the Calabrians have the excellent mule, so necessary for a mountainous country, and vast droves of the formidable buffalo, which they tame and employ in labour like an ox. In all parts of Calabria there is a great quantity of game of every description. The seacoasts abound with fish: the sword-fish alone supplies food to a part of the inhabitants during several months of the year, and the tunny forms a lucrative branch of commerce.… All this ought to produce comfort and opulence, but hardly any thing is met with but abject misery! Nature has done every thing for the country, but for many ages the vices of the government have marred its prosperity. The condition of the peasantry is most wretched: there is a total want of emulation. The climate and the soil do all the work. Productions of every kind are the spontaneous gifts of nature without any aid from art and industry. With the exception of a few cities, and some towns that are regularly built, all the other inhabited places present the most miserable and disgusting appearance: the whole interior of their houses is a mass of revolting filth: the pigs live familiarly with the inmates.… These people have no true principle of religion or morals. Like all ignorant masses, they are superstitious to excess. The most atrocious brigand carries in his bosom relics and images of saints, which he invokes at the very moment he is committing the greatest enormities.… The Calabrians are capable of being made excellent soldiers from their robust constitutions, their sobriety, activity, and quickness. If these people, isolated as they are from the rest of Europe, and entrenched behind impassable mountains, were actuated by a pure spirit of patriotism, political and religious, they would become invincible; and the country they inhabit might be rendered a sure and safe asylum against tyranny.”
Our reasons for noticing and recommending this volume to our readers are manifold. It is beautiful in itself; it is written by an American; it is one of the 135best specimens we have seen of the poetical genius of our transatlantic brethren; it is edited by Washington Irving, the most accomplished prose writer of America; and is by him dedicated or rather addressed to Samuel Rogers, the author of the ‘Pleasures of Memory,’ and who, at an advanced period of life, preserves all the generous glow of youth for letters and for arts, and for every thing connected with the intellectual improvement of mankind.
The exhibition of actual specimens of American taste and literature will tend to counteract the mischievous effects of those caricatures of American life and manners with which some authors have of late amused the spleen and prejudice of the British public. It is important to remove the illusion produced by writers of talent, who, professing to delineate national peculiarities truly, exaggerate and misrepresent them; regardless, and perhaps unconscious, that by using ridicule and sarcasm on such subjects they are renewing antipathies which never had a rational existence, and which years of friendly intercourse had almost annihilated; and are detaching from us the sympathies of those who by descent, community of free institutions (though differently modified), and identity of language, must naturally be well disposed towards us.
“During an intimacy of some years’ standing,” says Washington Irving to Samuel Rogers, “I have uniformly remarked a liberal interest on your part in the rising character and fortunes of my country, and a kind disposition to promote the success of American talent, whether engaged in literature or the arts. I am induced, therefore, as a tribute of gratitude, as well as a general testimonial of respect and friendship, to lay before you the present volume, in which, for the first time, are collected together the fugitive productions of one of our living poets, whose writings are deservedly popular throughout the United States.”
This is all as it should be, in relation both to Mr. Rogers and his friend. And we confess we augur most favourably of the taste of a country, throughout which, poetry so refined in sentiment, and so pure in execution and ornament, as that contained in the volume before us, enjoys popularity.
We began by recommending Mr. Bryant’s Poems. A perusal of the following specimen, as well as of one or two that we have lately printed separately, will justify our so doing, and there are many pieces in the volume of equal originality and beauty. A warm admiration of the works of nature, strong religious feeling towards the great Author of these works, a singular happiness of description, and a power of clothing his descriptions “with moral associations that make them speak to the heart,” “an independent spirit, and the buoyant aspirations incident to a youthful, a free, and a rising country[3],” are among the charming characteristics of this American poet. We will only add, that the whole, while written in a style elegant enough to please the most fastidious, is simple and intelligible enough for the commonest reader.
3. Washington Irving’s dedicatory Letter to Rogers.
[Pen and Pencil Sketches. Being the Journal of a Tour in India. By Captain Mundy, late Aide-de-Camp to Lord Combermere. 2 vols. 8vo.]
We recommend these two octavo volumes to those of our readers who may be able to obtain the perusal of them. We think that not only great amusement may be derived from Captain Mundy’s work, but that it supplies more information concerning the parts of our dominions in India that he visited, than may be collected from many ponderous volumes. In his lively chapters, indeed, amusement and fun (to use a homely word) go hand in hand with instruction. At the sketch of a human character, European or Indian, Hindoo or Mussulman, or at the sketch of a scene, the Captain is equally at home and happy; and in the first class of his essays he shows so generous and philanthropic a feeling, and in the second so fine a perception and appreciation of the beauties of nature, that he captivates both our affection and our taste. What we admire, too, as much as his talent—and this is perhaps generally the inseparable companion of intellect of a superior order—is his fine cheerfulness of spirit. In his daily life he is always disposed to make the best of things. He is as joyous in his tent, or the equally comfortless bungalow, as in the palace; palanqueens or the back of an elephant, Arabians or ragged coolies[4], are all the same to him! Forward he goes on his journey, only telling you now and then that the thermometer is nearly at 100°, or that it is raining deluges; and he looks for, and finds amusement or interest of some kind or other wherever he moves! At one time we find him hunting the antelope with leopards, at another bringing down partridges with a “Manton;”—here seeing a tiger fighting with a rhinoceros, there himself in deadly conflict with a jungle tiger;—now Mac-adamizing or making roads at Simla, on the Steppes of the Himalaya mountains, now smoking his hookah at Calcutta. At his professional duties he is as cheerful as at his sports, and one cannot help perceiving he is in possession of that valuable but very attainable secret of making “a pleasure of business.”
The following piece of practical philosophy, or how to make the best of a bad lodging, is a lesson for all classes:—
“The elevation of Simla above the sea is seven thousand eight hundred feet; and, during the month of May, I find the thermometer was never higher than 73°, or lower than 55°, in my garret. This apartment, occupied by me during our stay in the hills, was pervious both to heat and cold, being, in fact, of that elevated character, which in England is usually devoted to cheeses, or apples and onions, and forming the interval between the ceiling of the dining-room and the wooden pent-roof of the house, which descending in a slope quite to the floor, only admitted of my standing upright in the centre. Though this canopy of planks was lined with white-washed canvas, it by no means excluded the rains so peremptorily as I, not being an amphibious animal, could have wished; and, during some of the grand storms, the hailstones rattled with such stunning effect upon the drum-like roof, that the echo sung in my ears for 136a week after. This my exalted dormitory was rendered accessible by a wooden ladder; but, spite of its sundry désagrémens, I thanked my stars—in whose near neighbourhood I was—for my luck in getting any shelter at all, without the trouble of building, in the present crowded state of Simla. I enjoyed a splendid view from my windows (I beg pardon, window), and the luxury of privacy, except at night, when the rats sustained an eternal carnival, keeping me in much the same state as Whittington during his first week in London. I soon grew tired of bumping my head against the roof in pursuit of these four-footed Pindarrees[5], and at length became callous to their nocturnal orgies—and kept a cat[6].”
Even an hair-breadth escape from a midnight robber in no way interrupts the Captain’s joyous mood:—
“I retired to my tent this evening pretty well knocked up; and during the night had an adventure, which might have terminated with more loss to myself, had I slept sounder. My bed, a low canopy, or ‘four feet,’ was in one corner of the tent, close to a door, and I woke several times from a feverish doze, fancying I heard something moving in my tent; but could not discover anything, though a cherang, or little Indian lamp, was burning on the table. I therefore again wooed the balmy power, and slept. At length, just as ‘the iron tongue of midnight had told twelve’ (for I had looked at my watch five minutes before, and replaced it under my pillow), I was awakened by a rustling sound under my head; and, half opening my eyes, without changing my position, I saw a hideous black face within a foot of mine, and the owner of this index of a cut-throat, or, at least, cut-purse disposition, kneeling on the carpet, with one hand under my pillow, and the other grasping—not a dagger!—but the door-post. Still without moving my body, and with half-closed eyes, I gently stole my right hand to a boar-spear, which at night was always placed between my bed and the wall; and as soon as I had clutched it, made a rapid and violent movement, in order to wrench it from its place, and try the virtue of its point upon the intruder’s body—but I wrenched in vain. Fortunately for the robber, my bearer, in placing the weapon in its usual recess, had forced the point into the top of the tent and the butt into the ground so firmly, that I failed to extract it at the first effort; and my visitor, alarmed by the movement, started upon his feet and rushed through the door. I had time to see that he was perfectly naked, with the exception of a black blanket twisted round his loins, and that he had already stowed away in his cloth my candlesticks and my dressing-case, which latter contained letters, keys, money, and other valuables. I had also leisure, in that brief space, to judge, from the size of the arm extended to my bed, that the bearer was more formed for activity than strength; and, by his grizzled beard, that he was rather old than young. I, therefore, sprung from my bed, and darting through the purdar of the inner door, seized him by the cummerbund just as he was passing the outer entrance[7]. The cloth, however, being loose, gave way, and ere I could confirm my grasp, he snatched it from my hand, tearing away my thumb-nail down to the quick. In his anxiety to escape, he stumbled through the outer purdar, and the much-esteemed dressing-case fell out of his loosened zone. I was so close at his heels, that he could not recover it; and jumping over the tent-ropes—which, doubtless, the rogue calculated would trip me up—he ran towards the road. I was in such a fury, that, forgetting my bare feet, I gave chase, vociferating lustily, ‘Choor! choor!’ (thief! thief!) but was soon brought up by some sharp stones, just in time to see my rascal, by the faint light of the room through the thick foliage overhead, jump upon a horse standing unheld near the road, and dash down the path at full speed, his black blanket flying in the wind. What would I have given for my double-barrelled Joe at that moment! As he and his steed went clattering along the rocky forest road, I thought of the black huntsman of the Hartz, or the erl-king! Returning to my tent, I solaced myself by abusing my servants, who were just rubbing their eyes and stirring themselves, and by threatening the terrified sepoy sentry with a court-martial. My trunks at night were always placed outside the tent, under the sentry’s eye; the robber, therefore, must have made his entry on the opposite side, and he must have been an adept in his vocation, as four or five servants were sleeping between the khanauts. The poor devil did not get much booty for his trouble, having only secured a razor, a pot of pomatum (which will serve to lubricate his person for his next exploit[8]), and the candlesticks, which on closer inspection, will prove to him the truth of the axiom, that ‘all is not gold that glitters,’ nor even silver.… The next morning, on relating my adventure, I was told that I was fortunate in having escaped cold steel; and many more comfortable instances were recited, of the robbed being stabbed in attempting to secure the robber[9].”
But it is in his account of Indian hunting with which the volumes abound, and which are truly excellent, that Captain Mundy gives full way to his buoyant spirit and hilarity: and as the animal pursued is not the timid hare or the paltry fox, but generally the cruel, destructive, and formidable tiger, and as there is both adventure and danger, we can frequently follow him in these hunts with great interest. The following account of the sagacity of an elephant in a lion-hunt must conclude our extracts:—
“A lion had charged my friend’s elephant, and he, having wounded the lion, was in the act of leaning forward in order to fire another shot, when the front of the howdah (elephant’s castle) suddenly gave way, and he was precipitated over the head of the elephant into the very jaws of the furious beast. The lion, though severely hurt, immediately seized him, and would doubtless shortly have put a fatal termination to the conflict, had not the elephant, urged by the mahout (the driver, who sits on the elephant’s neck), stepped forward, though greatly alarmed, and grasping in her trunk the top of a young tree, bent it down hard across the loins of the lion, and thus forced the tortured animal to quit his hold! My friend’s life was thus preserved, but his arm was broken in two places, and he was severely clawed on the breast and shoulders. The lion was afterwards slain by the other sportsmen who came up.”
4. A coolie is a rough Indian pony.
5. An immense association of robbers that a few years ago devastated India. They have been suppressed by the British.
6. Vol. i. p. 235.
7. The tents in India have double flies; the outer khanaut, or wall, forming a verandah, of some four feet wide, round the interior pavilion.
8. Indian thieves oil their naked bodies to render their seizure difficult.
9. Vol. i. p. 165.
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